The more I learn about and experience trying to be a disciple of Jesus, the more I find myself straining to look at the center - what is at the center?   Of course, I know the answer - it is Christ and the cross. Paul says, "I gave to you what was of first importance...Jesus died on the cross."  I know how to say that, but what does it mean?. What is at the center of our lives when we have died to ourselves and live resurrected lives by the Spirit's power as we were created to live? And then, how do you lead others in that? How do a group of orphan and needy children grow up to live that?

This past weekend we had our dedication program for our completed school building. It is now three stories with eighteen classrooms. We were facing a heavy deadline - the program was Saturday, and at midnight on Friday night the scaffolding made of wood was still around the entire building. We had 10 hours to go. About 10 of my teachers and myself and the security guys picked up our hammers and got to work - at 9:30 am Saturday morning, 30 minutes before the program, we finished and the building looked great. These guys just poured themselves into the work all night long. The typical person here would have asked,"what are you giving me for this?" but these guys just did it for the kids and the school and had a lot of fun doing it.

Richard, Jennifer, and Nicolas Agbenorwosi grew up at the Village of Hope - they were orphaned as young kids and now are all in college and high school. Jennifer was our top student in the first class of graduates last year, making a perfect score on the National Exam and now attends Accra Girls High School. She organized the kids over the holidays and taught them some cultural dances to do at the program. They had so much fun, and the crowd of over 1000 people here on Saturday loved it. Jennifer was going around telling all the kids who danced what a wonderful job they did and how proud she was of them.

Nicolas just finished high school and came home for Christmas and gave a Christmas present to every brother and sister at the Village of Hope - all 164 of them - in gratitude for all that he has been given here. Nicolas is a leader everywhere he goes. He was what we call "Student Body President" at his school. He is kind to everyone and loves to learn and read. The most inconspicuous thing about Nicolas is that he has severe polio and can barely walk. Everything about his life stands out as excellence and service.

Salamatu is a young orphaned girl at the Village of Hope. She is in the 2nd grade (Class 2) and is just one of the most amazing little girls. She is a girl that cannot hide any emotion she is experiencing - it comes out all over her face and body. If she likes something she claps and jumps and screams - i love her passion. She received some stickers in the mail as a gift from someone - she was jumping up and down and so excited. Then she wrote a letter to the person saying thanks and on the letter put every sticker that she had received to decorate the letter nicely. She literally gave away her entire gift to say thank you.

Maybe that’s the answer...maybe that’s how we lead, how we live. We do not simply talk about or worship the center - we live the center - we live the cross - we give recklessly and passionately. I define "reckless" as behavior that causes people to say, "you're crazy, that is enough, stop now." And yet we go on. And we only make the distinctions that Jesus made - which, by the way, were none. He gave recklessly to those who got it and those who did not. He gave to those who deserved it, and those who did not. He gave to those who were accepted and those who were not. And in those acts of reckless giving, he revealed the center of it all.