Playing Russian Roulette - A Minute for the Congo Mission - November 3, 2019
11/10/2019
- A very long time ago, I was caught speeding on a late Sunday night. I was traveling on a deserted state highway in rural Georgia. I was in a hurry to reach home and to go to bed. Being stopped for speeding, I suspected I would have to pay a fine. But paying a bigger than expected fine, was not what I hated the most. I hated the half hour drive to the county seat in the opposite direction that I was traveling, in order to pay that fine. I was really upset and I arrived home over two hours later than I expected. It was a double penalty. In the Gospel According to Luke, chapter 19, verses 1-10, Zacchaeus self-imposes a double penalty upon himself. The scripture reads as follows. "He Jesus, entered Jericho and was passing through it. "A man that was named Zacchaeus, "he was a chief tax collector and was rich. "He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on the account "of the crowds, he could not, "because he was short in stature. "So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, "because we was going to pass that way. "When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay "'at your house today', and he hurried down "and was happy to welcome him." All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He is going to be the guest of one who is a sinner". Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions Lord I will give to the poor. "If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back "four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come "to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. "For the son of man's come to seek out "and to save the lost." In Congo, the rural poor may live through a triple penalty every day with their drinking water. Some girls and women have to walk over 30 minutes to get water for their family. And the trip for the water is down a steep hill to the water source, and back up the hill with 40 pounds of water on their head. And finally, the water may be contaminated with fecal bacteria known as E. coli, which causes sickness or even death. They are playing Russian roulette two or three times a day. As a minimum, water sources should be periodically tested to determine the level of contamination. Congo Helping Hands provides training and supplies to help village health officials to perform water quality testing. We need your donation to support this vital program.