Chickens for Bibles

I am going to try to take a very awesome idea and explain it to you while trying to keep it brief and not lessen the awesomeness of it all.
Our church is working with a children's center in Zambia called, Hope Children's Center. We are also working with a Zambian national pastor named Navice. Navice is a man of God, sharing the love and hope of Christ wherever he goes and starting new churches with the new believers. These new believers and new churches need Bibles.
Audrey is in our church's junior high ministry called 180. Junior highers have lots of time and an amazing amount of money and more than enough energy. The 180 pastor, Joel, is hoping to help these kids live out their faith by raising money for Bibles and new church starts in Zambia.
Shelli is a believer in our church. Shelli is a mom, an ambitious woman, and has a heart for God. Shelli lives on a farm and raises chickens for eggs and chickens for meat.
These three people lives have intersected in a way so that 180 (jr. high) kids, lead by Joel are going to help raise nearly 100 "meatmaker" chickens (think roast chicken, etc.) donated by Shelli to sell for profit to raise money for Bibles.
Two of those kids got started this past weekend. Audrey and Bailey helped Shelli clean out the brooder and get it ready for 50 day old chicks to arrive. Granted, it wasn't a hard task, but the work still had to be done. Just some hosing down and scrubbing with a brush. The brooder keeps the peeping chicks warm and cozy for about 2 weeks.

Then on Thursday, the kids and I, along with their small group leader, Heather and her son, Brady, went to visit the chicks and change the paper in the brooder. 50 chicks make a lot of poop, so this has to be done at least once a day. In about 8 weeks, these will be nice and plump and it will be a different story then.

How is this related to Easter? Now, I don't think this is too much of a stretch to say that spring equals new life and miracles happen every day as you look around seeing dormant trees, plants and grasses burst into green. If you think of the idea of a sweet little chick, regardless of it later outcome, you tend to think of new life and miracles again. Christ died because we were dead in our sins- that is Good Friday. What we celebrate in Easter is that He came back to life- a miracle! Our sins equal death. Christ took all of our sins, our death upon himself. Then, out of his death, He came back to life! Not an easy thing, my friends. When we place our faith in him, we are given new life, given hope, given the power of the resurrection!
This is true for us and it is true for those believers in Zambia. So, as Shelli, Joel, others and we help raise these chickens, we are helping to give hope of Easter!