Guest Blogger Emily Kate

"The poor and the needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." Isaiah 41:17

One of the world's most dedicated missionaries, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, has said that "the purpose of life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others." We can never meet this goal without our obedience to the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples that their love for Him would be measured by their obedience.

Our world does not know what this means. Too many of us refuse to reach outside our everyday lives. We become little, meaningless, plastic people sitting inside a snow globe. We sit on our little snow globe benches and wait for someone to shake the globe and change the world.

People who are obedient to God are the people who will trust in Him, take a risk and do something unexpected that will have an impact for eternity.

My dad is Kevin Kate. He is an ordinary man in some ways. A few things make him different. My dad refuses to live in a snow globe. He wants to change Eternity for as many people as he can. He knows he has to trust God to help him do it.

In 2006 my dad started traveling to Haiti to drill water wells. He drilled wells here in the US for 20 years and knew the Holy Spirit was urging him to use his skills for God. He knew that he could not be obedient to the Holy Spirit without trusting God.

Haiti is an island not far from the Florida coast, but it seems like the edge of the world. It was beautiful once. But now the land has been deforested and stripped. No top soil remains for good farming. Almost 2 million Haitians do not get enough to eat every day. Haitians that live in remote villages are most vulnerable. Every year heavy tropical rains rush down the deforested mountains and wipe out the shacks where the people live. Their meager fields are destroyed. Bad roads keep them isolated. There is no fresh water readily available. At best it is miles away and because children walk all day to carry water for their families, they cannot go to school. Without the wells that are drilled by men like my dad, many children die every day from drinking filthy water.

It is dangerous to travel in Haiti. Many times it will take my dad hours to travel a few miles. The roads are sometimes lined with UN troops and other armed men. Sometimes they are lined with bandits. Supplies are very hard to get. Every time my dad leaves for the plundered island of Haiti he risks everything. He may never see our farm again. He may never see my mom again. He may never see me again but still he goes. He knows that 3,000 people a day will benefit from a clean water well. He knows children will be free to go to school. He knows that if he can leave a well behind he has increased the survival rate of those using it. But most importantly, my dad knows that if they are given a better chance for survival, they are given a better chance of meeting Jesus.

On his last trip in 2008, my dad got hit in the head with a drill pipe that flew from the drilling rig. He came home with two black eyes, a concussion, a brain bruise and four skull fractures. He needed surgery and it took him a long time to recover completely. My dad could have died. It was enough to stop anyone from going back.

But my dad knows God protected his life. Every day he remembers the Haitian people. He remembers the pastors that were praying for him as they tried to get him to a hospital. He remembers the Haitian lady that insisted on taking care of him there. She remembered he had drilled a well in her village. It didn't matter that she didn't speak his language.

My dad has planned more trips to Haiti. He listens to God and he waits. He waits for equipment to get through customs. He waits for the tropical storms to clear this year. But mostly he waits for God to say "Go."

**Editors Note: Proceeds from the Circle of Friends Worship Team song "Pour Your Love Down" go to support Kevin Kate's Water Well Project. Click on the 'COF Worship Team' link on the left to see the video or donate to the project. Read more about Kevin Kate on our 'News' link.