Vision Ministries – October 2025

Some thoughts from Barbara at Vision Ministries for whom we are filling Smartie tubes with 20p’s to help bring clean water to the people living in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi.

Wings of Change

I read a story a Pastor in America shared – true or false – I do not know, but there is a lesson for all of us here.

The church service finished after a brilliant meeting when the Pastor was approached by a smelly, dishevelled man.

The man looked up at the Pastor rather sheepishly, as if saying, “Could I talk to you?”

The Pastor thought “What a way to end a Sunday. I’ve had such a good time, preaching and ministering, and here’s a fellow probably wanting some money for more wine.”

The guy walked up to him – the smelt was horrid – like nothing the pastor had ever encountered.

“What’s your name?” “David.”
“How long have you been on the street?” “Six years.”
“How old are you?” “Thirty-two.”

He looked fifty—hair matted, front teeth missing, wino, eyes slightly glazed.

“Where did you sleep last night, David?” “Abandoned truck.”

The Pastor took money out of his pocket.

But David said, “I don’t want your money. I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because I’m not going to make it. I’m going to die on the street.”

The Pastor started to weep not for David but for himself.

Here he was, going to give a couple of dollars to someone God had sent to him.

He put his arms around David, and they wept on each other.

The smell of David became a beautiful aroma.

The Pastor said ‘Here is what I thought the Lord made real to me’:

‘If you don’t love this smell, I can’t use you, because this is why I called you where you are.

This is what you are about. You are about this smell.’

We could say that we would never react like the Pastor, but if we do then we too need to look at our attitudes, preconceived ideas of people and situation, our judgmental thoughts.

We need to take a lesson from the butterfly. It didn’t start life that way – it started as a caterpillar. But then it was time for change – it wraps itself in silk, which when it hits the air forms a chrysalis, and in the process of time, transformation takes place, and a beautiful new creation appears.

‘David’ didn’t start out life as a wino, but somehow, he became imprisoned in the caterpillar stage of life. Until, that is, he recognised the need and time for change!

Trina Paulus, author of Hope For The Flowers writes, – ‘How does one become a butterfly? You must want to learn to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar’.

The Pastor was a comfortable caterpillar, it took ‘David’ to walk into his church, to bring about a God change in both their lives.
A quote from Mother Theresa,