A Lent Devotional

A Lent Devotional

ACE volunteer Christina Kershaw came down on a mission trip with Bethel Baptist Church in 2018. As she was recently reflecting on her time in Jamaica, she wrote the following devotional. May her experience and reflection bless you during this Lent season!

READ: John 13:1-17

Story time: I had the amazing opportunity to spend a week on mission serving with ACE in Jamaica back in 2018. Prior to covid, the local infirmary was open for visitors to come hang out and minister to the residents. These residents consisted of mostly elderly men and women who had no family, were disabled, or just had no place in society outside of the infirmary walls… the “forgotten,” for lack of a better word.

We had the opportunity to sing songs, play games, paint their nails, and even apply lotion for them. I went ahead and grabbed a bottle of lotion and went around slathering everybody up! I thought, “This is nothing new. I’m in my comfort zone. I basically do this for a living working as a nurse at the hospital.” So great! Until…. one of the residents asked me to lotion up her feet. Her BARE FEET with my BARE HANDS. Up until this moment, everyone had been getting nice little hand and arm massages from me, but I didn’t dare go for anyone’s feet!

I was hesitant. I asked her to clarify it was in fact her feet she wanted me to lotion. She, of course, nodded yes. I started sweating (and it wasn’t because of the Jamaican sun). If anyone knows me personally, I can be quite the germaphobe, so the thought of me touching someone else’s feet (without gloves like in a hospital and ESPECIALLY someone I don’t know) freaked me out just a little bit.

I pumped a few squirts of Suave lotion, said my prayers, and went for it. She thanked me and I continued on to the next person.

WHY am I telling this story you ask?

Right before I decided to tend to her feet, I immediately thought of the story in John 13 where Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. Feet are one of the dirtiest parts of the body, especially the feet that walked the earth during ancient times. It was cultural for men to wear open sandals and sometimes even be barefoot. Imagine the dust, dirt, and grime that these disciples had hiding in between their toes! But, Jesus, the King of the cosmos, humbled Himself and washed their feet. Wow.

To put this into perspective, read how Jesus “knew his hour had come” and yet, He still ministered to His friends. He knew that He was about to be tortured in insufferable ways, die a horrible death, and ultimately be ripped apart from His Father in just the next few hours! Can you imagine all the agony He was feeling inside knowing these terrible events were happening, and happening soon?

And yet…

He served His disciples and washed their feet. Not only would He make one of the dirtiest parts of their bodies clean, but soon, completely and eternally cleanse them of the dirt in their hearts that separated them from the Father. Jesus, who rightfully deserves ALL glory and worship from us, humbled Himself to a man to serve us and die for us. How much more should we as His followers walk in His footsteps and love others just the same?.

The next time you are faced with an opportunity to minister to your neighbor, think of your Savior and don’t forget to WASH THEIR FEET!

PRAY: Thank You, Lord, for humbling Yourself and dying a criminal’s death so that I may live eternally with You. Thank you for washing away all my iniquities and making me a new creation. Help me to die to my flesh daily and serve those around me so that they may know and experience Your love for them. Amen.

John 13:14: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Happy Easter!

Many Hands Make Light Work

Many Hands Make Light Work

Many hands make light work

This old saying portrays a picture of what ACE has experienced this spring on the ground. For the first time in years, we have been blessed with many incredible volunteer teams in a row! Ranging from families, high school students, college teams, and a great mix of young adults, they came to help us get caught up on our many outreach programs. They worked tirelessly around St. Mary at the schools, on our farm, and even preparing for some new businesses and items coming online later this year. We’d love to highlight some of the many projects they worked on.

For those of you have contributed to many aspects of the Peace House, the update is that it’s almost complete! Yes, you have heard this before, but it’s true; we just had no idea how much back and forth it takes to complete a building like this. The final touch this week was the addition of the front doors. Thanks to some friends and donors of ACE, our doors were purchased and ready for painting. Granted, we still need a door opener and glass on the side, but just looking at these doors makes all of us swell with pride.

While all that was going on the Peace House, some of our volunteers focused on the Campus right next door, where our interns and long-term volunteers stay. It has been challenged for years with popping floor tiles and cracking in the main hall and the dining room. We decided to commission a group to chop it up and remove the tile, and what we found underneath was a beautiful terrazzo floor. It’s been there since the early 90s when the house was built. Anyone know how to make it come alive again? It’s dull but has potential. Every time we get this kind of help, we are pleasantly surprised at what our teams uncover. Thank you for making the old new again.

In the last few busy months, it’s been fun to see how our Jamaican ACE staff pulled together in such a great way to work with them and each other. Ms. Foster, our Executive Director, has done an excellent job training, teaching, and coaching all of us to work as a team. Charity and Brian Zalk and family have continually increased their availability on the ground with the ACE crew. Things are going so smoothly that Allen and Marla sit back and smile, pleased at how everyone is beginning to own their own lane. Keep all of us in your prayers as everyone is learning how to operate as a team.

Teamwork makes the dream work, another old saying… and in this case, we are so grateful for such a successful and fun start to the year!

Back to School!

Back to School!

While the Ministry of Education is maneuvering the system and making changes daily, our students hardly seem to notice as they enjoy the official start of the 2023 school season. It feels great for us and for them to have a sense of normalcy finally. Smiles and laughs greeted us at our annual (again!) backpack distribution event, where we gave out book bags, supplies and books to each student in our Child Sponsorship Program. Thanks to our sponsors, the day was not only well received by the many students but their parents as well.

ACE staff seemed to enjoy the event as our own Arlene was present with her camera, taking pics of each child as they displayed their name on a sign to identify them after all this time. If you have ever had a child, you know they can grow rapidly from one year to the next – try two!! We loved to see how much they’ve changed and how ready they are for this new year ahead!

Remember all that PB&J we ask each team to bring down? Well, every student received their own PB&J to take home and share. ACE will always find a way to utilize what teams bring down, and this has been a long-standing traditional donation from our volunteers. Kids learn better when they are fed and happy, so we are starting the school year on the right foot, thanks to all of you!

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Paying off the Farm

Paying off the Farm

Remember the ask ACE made to all of you the last quarter of 2021 to help us pay off the Green Life Llanrumney Farm? As you know, the farm is the place where all our micro-businesses will flourish to keep us hiring more and more Nationals. We want to keep you posted on how we are doing in raising the $700k needed by 2024.

Take a look at the graph to see how it’s going. Pretty impressive, we think. It’s also a faith-builder for ACE and, hopefully, for all of you who gave the funding to help us reach these goals. So far, with the help of many generous sponsors, we went over the $100k mark in 2021. Thank you!

If you are led to help us get to the $350k mark by summer and $500k by December, we would be grateful. After all, seeing is believing – and seeing is always a confirmation that it was completed in the supernatural world before it became visible in the natural.

Just watch what God will do this year… and it’s all good!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Christmas and Celebrations

Christmas and Celebrations

Thanks to ACE’s dear friends, Tina and Luke, all of our sponsored students and friends celebrated Christmas in style! As the COVID syndrome continues globally, the Rebel Ministries team came through unafraid, full of life and energy. The last week of 2021 ended with lots of laughter and smiles as our team and staff hosted several separate parties across a few days.

The farm was our background for open air fun and storytelling. Students had cards and gifts from sponsors, and the celebration of Jesus’ birth was at the forefront! Most of all, it was such a “shot in the arm” of encouragement for ACE. Beyond the partying, this team worked so hard every single day, and it gave us hope for what 2022 will look like. Thank you all for making our end of year and first of year so fantastic

As for the rest of you considering coming to Jamaica, well, come on… we’ve got work for you and our staff is ready for some American humor! Are you ready for us? Let’s make it happen!

 

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