Dear Friends, Greetings in Jesus' Name. Another year has dawned albeit overshadowed by by one of the worst disasters in human history. Our little island, the teardrop on the cheek of India, is one of the worst affected. Most of you have been inundated with pictures of the destruction both here and in other nations of the Indian Ocean so I will spare you more of those. As many of you know, we serve with the Dutch Reformed Church in Sri Lanka and this one in Matara, among our oldest churches, just being revitalized with a growing congregation has been badly damaged but miraculously no members have been harmed. |
The interior sustained extensive water damage and much of the antique furniture ruined. But in the midst of this I will share with you my perspective on three vignettes that are reason for hope for us and the many others who have suffered. The pictures are through the courtesy of our South African pastor, Jan de Bruin. The first is the Christmas offering of the day before, seen here, amounting to about $15. Intact. Unlooted. The first impression of the pastor was that the paper money was unusually clean and the coins gleamed in the surrounding red mud and trashed furniture. Does God preserve? Apparently. Who, what, and why we may never know...this side of eternity. |
 |
| The second is water. When the faucet in the kitchen was turned on, out gushed clean, uncontaminated water. Attaching a hose, our team was able to use it to scrub and wash the church and remaining furniture so that it looked more like the oasis that it was meant to be. Does God provide? Certainly. The external element so destructive just a day before was now available in his sanctuary to cleanse and purify without the effort of having to fetch it. |
 |
| The third is this lady, seen here with our pastor, Lionel. She is the grandmother of one of the youth in the congregation but a member of a different church. She is paralyzed and was in her bed when the tsunami hit. Unable to carry her out, those with her prayed and committed her to God's care before they raced out ahead of the surging waters. When they subsided, the next day, Lionel headed to her home expecting to have to extricate her body and bury it. But, from amid the debris of her destroyed house she waved to him! Alive. Unscathed. The mattress she lay on had floated on the surface of the flood waters to settle back, leaving her unharmed. Does God care? Absolutely. I cannot speak for her until I have talked with her but I can, at this time, only speculate on the apprehension and fear that must have been mitigated by a peace that passes all understanding now reflected in her eyes. |
 |
So here we are with a challenge to be a blessing of redemption to those surrounding us perhaps best expressed in this verse of "The Hymn for Ceylon" which we sang during our Watchnight service just a few days ago. "Then bless her mighty Father, with blessing needed most, In every verdant village, by every palmy coast, On every soaring mountain, o'er every spreading plain, May all her sons and daughters, thy righteousness attain." The Dutch Reformed Church, in partnership with two international groups (Campus Crusade for Christ and Christian Reformed Church World Relief), is currently meeting immediate needs of food, dry rations, and other necessities as we are requested by the coordinating body of the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka in and around Colombo, in the East and the South. As we did once before, we will clean out wells, clear debris and seek to locate and rehab a specific location and group of people, whether in a hidden village or a particular area of a town. We will also seek to establish a presence in and sustain a long-term effort in one or two locations where we can make a lasting difference. Some of you may be led to share in this, so Daystar University has graciously set up an account to handle what you donate. Special gifts could be sent by mail to: Daystar U.S., 5701 Normandale Road #323, Edina, MN 55424-2400 and designated Navamanie Sri Lanka Mission. We encourage you to visit this website (www.DaystarUS.org) for an earlier update and an opportunity to donate online by following the links at the bottom of the page. All of these donations will be forwarded to the Dutch Reformed Church's Tsunami Relief Account here in Colombo in due course to be used with contributions from other churches worldwide as well as from Campus Crusade for Christ and the Christian Reformed Church in more permanent forms of relief, aid and settlement. We will update this site with more specific needs as they become known so please check it at intervals at least in the coming month or two. For those who want to know what the status and expressed needs are please visit http://www.cnosrilanka.org/. This site, just set up by the Sri Lanka government, will probably have more frequent updates than we can hope to achieve and could be used as a source of information. Please note that any donations made at this official government site will be outside our control. Two other websites you may want to visit: http://www.infolanka.com/news/ is a portal that will let you access the daily newspapers and even radio stations while http://www.theacademic.org/ pulls together articles relating to Sri Lanka from other websites. Thank you for the opportunity to be here, to serve on your behalf, to bless as we have been blessed.May yours be a truly blessed year. In His Matchless Grace, ron, marsha and miriam navamanie |
Donations can be made by check or credit card. Please designate your donation: Navamanie Sri Lanka Mission. By check, send to: Daystar
U.S. By credit card: |