Can You Hear Us?

Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Mark 8:34-38

I wrote this song after I met a man at the Urbana 06 mission conference with an amazing story. He was missing a couple of teeth and wore thread-bare sandals. He told me that when he was about twenty years old, he left his comfortable and “normal” life in the U.S. to move into the garbage city in Cairo, Egypt. I asked him, “Why?” I will never forget his answer. He told me that he moved to Cairo “To love people to Jesus. To love the dirty, broken and lost. To live with them. To wash my face with them, with their dirty water and their homemade soap. To brush my teeth with them with their homemade toothpaste. To eat with them, even if it was just once a day. To sleep as they slept.  To get sick as they got sick, with no funds for medicine. To bring light into the darkest corners of their drug-ridden and alcohol-flooded streets. To fight alongside of them for their land.”

This man went to some of the poorest people on earth as Jesus came to us, leaving all comfort and wealth and becoming one of them. When I met him two years ago, he told me that there had been a few brothers and sisters added to the Kingdom in his neighborhood, and I am confident the harvest is plentiful in his garbage city. However, the workers are few. “Lord of the harvest, send more workers!” I don’t remember this young man’s name and he may not live much longer on this earth, but I can imagine the Lord saying “Well done, good and faithful servant” when this man enters His presence. What a beautiful sound it will be.  And I imagine he will have the most beautiful teeth in all of heaven!

-Kaitlin

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 5:13-16

I wrote the lyrics to this song in one sitting, as a prayer for a little girl very close to my heart. I had just spent the evening with her, swinging and talking. My heart was broken and I was overwhelmed as I pictured her mom’s black eye, the empty cupboards of her kitchen and the mountain of obstacles that she has to face in her life. As my mind wandered, I couldn’t help but imagine her, fifteen years down the road, as a hardened and abused woman, a statistic.

It doesn’t have to be that way, however. Although the odds are stacked against Elizabeth, Jesus does not balk at obstacles. This song is my pleading prayer: “Jesus, please save Elizabeth.”

- Kaitlin

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Romans 10.13-15

In the Volta region of Ghana (the original home of the voodoo cult), some little girls are given over by their families to local the priests to pay for the sins of others-for up to three or four generations. These young girls are called trokosi, which is Ghanaian for “slaves to the gods.” They are enslaved for the rest of their lives, imprisoned within the temple walls until they are told to come or go. Their babies, fathered by the priests, belong to the temple, and can be taken from them at any time. If they run away, they are made to believe their whole family will be cursed. This burden weighs heavily on their shoulders and keeps them doing as they are told. Most die very young, abused from years of malnutrition, rape and hard physical labor.

This is their song. They live a life of slavery and abuse because they (and their families) fear the alternative-the curse of the gods as punishment for sin. If only they knew that someone has already paid that debt.

How will they know if no one goes?

- Kaitlin

More about trokosi in Ghana.

Frequently Asked Questions about trokosi slavery.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Isaiah 61.1

According to UNICEF, more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases every year. That’s more than 30,000 each day. One child every 3 seconds. Every day, 6000 children lose their parents to AIDS. Around 270 million children have no access to healthcare services. Half the world-nearly three billion people-live on less than two dollars a day. There are currently an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide, and at least 2 million of them are children trafficked into the sex industry.

Meanwhile, I eat three meals a day and then some. I spend $2 on a cup of coffee without thinking twice. I consider keeping the thermostat at 62 degrees (to save money) “roughing it.” In my world, it’s hard to know how to respond to the knowledge that in the time it has taken me to write this sentence, 4 more children have died of starvation or preventable diseases.

I could drastically change my lifestyle and save every last penny in order to use it to help feed the starving, fight against human trafficking, and contribute to organizations that provide healthcare to those who don’t have access to it. But that might be taking it too far. I can’t be expected to build my lifestyle around the needs of others. That would be ridiculous.

Or would it?

- Kaitlin

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18.1-4

One cold evening in January 2008, I sat down to read my email. I was troubled because of the post-election violence I had been reading about in Nairobi, Kenya. My heart ached for the people and I felt so helpless to do anything about it. I opened my inbox and saw an email from my dear friend, Julie. Normally, her emails could more accurately be categorized as “novels,” but this time I was surprised to see nothing but this link, followed by this short paragraph:

In the last couple of weeks, a group of children in a slum in Nairobi began praying together-asking the Lord to bring an end to the recent violence there, which has taken the lives of more than 1000 people and displaced another 300,000 in the last month. A pastor noticed the group and invited them to use the church building. By the end of the week, roughly 200 kids were meeting to pray. Since they have begun praying, no one else has been killed in their neighborhood, no more houses have been burned, and, in fact, there is now reported calm throughout the country. Peace talks will continue tomorrow morning.

I was moved to tears as I sat humbled by the faith of these children. As it turns out, there was something I could do to help-something that could make a real difference. I could pray, because as the Kenyan children in the article reminded me, “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5.16).

As I read on, the article described the surprise of the people when the violence ended so suddenly. The children who had been praying so faithfully didn’t understand why everyone was so amazed-they knew that Jesus answers prayer!

I picked up my guitar and began setting to music the story of these little kids in Nairobi, who taught me how to pray in the face of such overwhelming need-consistently and faithfully. I can’t wait to meet them someday.

This is a song about the power of prayer and the faith of children who didn’t know any better than to believe that God would listen to them.

- Kaitlin

Welcome to the new Can You Hear Us? website! We are excited to be in the final stages of production for our new self-titled project. It’s been about two and a half years in the making, but we are finally finishing up the vocal recordings and are getting ready to move into the mixing phase.

Once the album is finished, you will be able to purchase it here via Paypal or debit/credit card. We will also be posting the stories behind many of the songs on this page as well, so be sure to check back here periodically for updates!