Beyond the Broadcast: Our Bold New Season Begins. Watch Now ->
Beyond the Broadcast: Our Bold New Season Begins. Watch Now ->
Her name is Eldana. It means “knowledge of God.” She’s 3 years old — a precious child.
As a member of Ethiopia’s ancient Gefat community, she’s a tiny, fragile member of a group descended from one of the “Lost Tribes of Israel” that has for centuries practiced distinctively Jewish customs and traditions.
To God and Eldana’s family, the worth of her life and health is beyond calculation. But in truth, all it takes is $15, just pennies a day, to help save the life of a child like Eldana.
You see, Eldana is thirsty. And the relentless equatorial sun regularly drives her to the mudhole at the edge of her village. This is her family’s primary water source.
But the water is not safe to drink. So Eldana must decide if she’s thirsty enough to dip her little plastic cup into the reddish-brown liquid and then drink it.
At just 3 years of age, she knows the water smells bad. What she doesn't know is that it’s teeming with bacteria which can make her desperately sick — and may very well leave her blind, or even kill her.
She dips. She hesitates, eyeing the murky water in her cup. She drinks. Thirst wins. It always does. No child should ever have to make this choice.
Even so, this heartbreaking scene plays out day after day, with child after child, among people of the “Lost Tribes of Israel” in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and other African nations.
And that’s why I’m writing you today.
We made a promise to the Gefat people that we would help them — to clean up their unsafe water by bringing them as many LifeStraws as possible on our next Medical Outreach there.
So, what’s a LifeStraw?
It’s a remarkable, almost miraculous, personal water filtration device that provides roughly 4,000 liters of clean, life-giving water.
Its beauty is in both its simplicity and its cost: It provides a day’s worth of life-saving water for merely pennies!
Right now, you can deliver a LifeStraw to a child like Eldana or another member of the “Lost Tribes of Israel” for only $15. And $75 will provide a Family LifeStraw — enough clean drinking water for a family of five for three years!
The best news is, this blessing of purified water is delivered along with the Good News about the Messiah who described Himself as “Living Water”!
Will you provide a LifeStraw to at least one person in desperate need by sending the most generous, compassion-filled gift you can right now?
A biblical look at the why, what, when, and how of thankfulness.
Pray for two locally-led outreaches this month: Ethiopia's Beta Avraham congregation serving the Kechene Jewish community and Zimbabwe's first Lemba-run medical clinic.
Prayer points for the Jewish people during a week of mixed emotions: remembering the October 7 Hamas attack anniversary and celebrating Simchat Torah.
The seven-day Feast of Sukkot is one of the most unusual holidays God established for Israel to observe. In this article, we explain the various observances God commanded for Sukkot and the invitation He includes by adding instructions for an eighth day, which is known as Shemini Atzeret.
