The following was written by Christine Kalondu Ngui after she joined me on a trip to Burundi — her first trip in a plane! Christine is a Kenyan who has qualifications in accounting. Her role is CCW Accountant, supporting primarily the Africa region but also providing some support to CURE Clubfoot Worldwide globally. Beyond the finance domain, Christine has also assumed the role of “office manager extraordinaire” for the CCW Africa Regional Office!

Christine, waiting to board

For the first time in everything, everybody experiences a level of anxiety and timidity. For my first time on a plane, I was so early to my checking in; I wanted to have enough time to avoid simple embarrassment. But this was not enough to suppress the anticipation in me. Under other circumstances, perhaps this anticipation would vanish with the presence of family members escorting, but thank God for my colleague Linda, who helped me beyond expectation, with good care and concern.

But still, this does not kill the anxiety; I anticipated taking off so much. As soon as the pilot was done with the announcements, we took off safely, and my mind completely switched from the Kenya Airways flight and almost forgets that I’m headed for Burundi for a mission.

I’m overwhelmed by the overflowing thoughts, and I’m starting to think of how wonderful our God is, and I’m thinking, “Wow! How wonderful that God can appoint one into the ministry of witnessing healing of His children’s feet in different countries in Africa.”

My thoughts suddenly gain a Christian perspective. If I’m thinking of how wonderful God is, does that mean I am praising God? I am now thinking of worship as a ministry, my place of work as being my pulpit. As the accountant, I can be praising by balancing my accounts and the finances.  I acknowledge it is by the hand of God, “How marvelous are Your calculations.”

I am thinking even as we do this life-changing work, we can still be defining how great God’s own generosity is. Just the thoughts of floating heavy metals on air, marvelous God’s work.  The doctor may also be thinking, “Wow! When holding that injection and applying casts on the children, God’s healing is so superb.” Only work dedicated to God could make a lifeless flying bird and could make that child walk.

With these thoughts, I thereby gather up my mind that I am going on a mission, and through these accounts and projects, a child will benefit. Therefore, I dedicate myself that I will do it as though I am doing it for God. Let everybody make their place of work a place of worship, doing all things for the grace of God. We don’t have to go up the mountains preaching; if not a preacher by spoken word, become a preacher by working while defining God’s marvelous doings in your career, as you inject, as I account, as we cook, in our giving and by our doing, we are becoming a better us, a better you, a better me.

I was so deep in my thoughts such that I did not hear the pilot’s announcements; as though woken from a dream, it was the commotion on the wings of the plane that startled my thoughts.  My 60 minutes in the air were over; I had just landed on Burundi land.

I said to myself, “Go for that mission of changing children’s lives!”