n our church today there are so many hungers, as many as the individual members and more, hungers as poignantly chronicled in the influx of members as in those who leave our ranks.

The Bible speaks to each of these hungers through a single longing that runs through and above every other yearning. This hunger is chronicled in each individual life, often in ways that we do not, or cannot, tell.

Like me, you’ve probably sung the song often as you traipse through life; perhaps also, like me, you have not always lived it:

“I’ve a longing in my heart for Jesus. I’ve a longing in my heart to see His face."

I have been privileged recently to meet some people who, more often than not, make it a point to feed that longing in some interesting ways. Their goal is to feed that longing so that, like the rock of

Daniel 2, it grows to consume all that was before and all that would come after it.

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and Abiah* leaves her office well in time to be on her knees in her local church at 1:00 p.m. As she arrives three other women join her. They will spend the next five hours together alone in His presence, worshiping in song and prayer and through sharing the Word, before the rest of the church arrives for the weekly midweek prayer meeting. Why are these four middle-aged women, with jobs, husbands, and children, taking this kind of time-out in the middle of this and every bustling Mombasa week? Abiah says, “We’re just four hungry women, feeding a hunger that grows each time we seek to fill it."

Prayers and testimonies are ascending from young voices in the back corner of a church in the middle of Nairobi’s noisy business district. Today the crowd is 14 strong. From all corners of the busy city teenagers converge upon this place of quiet rest for one reason only—to be near to the heart of God, together. Twice a week during lunch hour these young Adventists come away from all in the city that clamors so arduously for their attention to feed a different hunger—a hunger, they rejoice, that blessedly stays. They have friends—not Adventists—who consistently attend. At first they came just to be with their friends; now they come because they, too, long for more of Him.

“So which NGO [nongovernment organization] are you from?" This is the seventh person who’s asked. Everyone here represents one of the seven NGOs managing the food aid program within this, one of Kenya’s hardest hit drought-stricken districts. Everyone, that is, except Angela.* She’s here because she’s hungry. Her hunger has driven her from her young family to this, the farthest end of the country. She has braved the dangers of the journey to explore ways in which she, her family, and her youth group can be involved in helping to alleviate the suffering of the Turkana people. “In feeding their hunger," she admits, “I hope to feed mine."

It’s 6:30 a.m., and the church parking lot is emptying out. That’s right, emptying out! The members—husbands, wives, young adults, youth, children—have been within since sundown for a kesha —an all-night praise and worship service. “We do this at least once a quarter now, and our church is seeing the results. It’s a powerful thing, my sister, a powerful thing! The more we kesha, the more we long for Him."

O joy! O delight! Should we go without dying . . . caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory, when Jesus receives His own.

* Not real name.

_________________________
Maureen O. Aseno is director of women’s ministries and communications for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in East Africa.