By: Jared Phillips
The Lord truly works in marvelous ways, and my internship with Patrick Karanja was a clear example of that.
I met Patrick just hours after arriving in Kenya, and we immediately discovered that we shared many of the same interests. During our conversation, he began telling me about a new project that had been weighing on his heart. He had become burdened by the needs of pastors throughout Kenya who faithfully serve for years without ever taking time to rest. As he studied the biblical teaching on rest and reflected on the examples found throughout Scripture, he became convinced that God was leading him to do something about it.
After purchasing a small farm property outside Nairobi for future development, he learned that the owner was willing to sell the adjoining property at a discounted price. He decided to purchase that property as well so it could become a pastoral sabbatical retreat. As he described the struggles pastors face and his desire to provide them with a place for rest, reflection, and prayer, I was struck by something familiar. The words he used, the burden he expressed, and even the emotion in his voice reminded me exactly of a conversation I had years earlier with a family friend.
Then Patrick mentioned the name he wanted to give the project.
I stopped him and said, “I have to tell you a story.”
Years ago, a man visited my church who called himself Jetro. He had trusted Christ as a young man and had even attended Tennessee Temple University. But over time, the things of this world captured his heart, and he left the things of God in pursuit of wealth. For a while, he succeeded beyond what most people could imagine. He made millions of dollars and owned houses, businesses, and expensive cars.
But God was not finished with him.
Eventually, God allowed everything to be taken away—even his family. Through those losses, Jetro realized that the Lord was calling him back. He rededicated his life to Christ and devoted himself to missions.
Each winter he came to the Black Hills to rent snowmobiles, earning the money he would use for mission trips during the summer. Before long he had served in places like Mongolia and Nicaragua. Then he traveled to Kenya.
We loved hearing his stories from the mission field.
On his second trip to Kenya, he was trying to share the gospel with someone who did not speak English. He found a Kenyan woman who offered to translate for him. Through that conversation he discovered that she was also a Christian. She later accompanied him on ministry trips because she spoke several local dialects, allowing him to reach people he otherwise could not have communicated with.
As they served together, they fell in love. She had been widowed in a car accident and was raising three young children. Eventually they married, and Jetro brought her and the children to the United States. My family was there to welcome them when they arrived.
When the pandemic came a couple of years later, he became very ill. We prayed for weeks that God would restore Jetro, but he only just lingered. After awhile we began to realize that God was waiting for us to understand that He wanted to bring Jetro home. Around the same time his wife Kafi came to the same realization. Although it was hard, we knew it was God’s will. He passed away close to Christmas 2020.
Up to this point, I still had not explained to Patrick why I was telling him this story, but now then I said, “Jetro had a dream with us.”
It was the very same vision Patrick had just described. The purpose was the same. The burden was the same. The ministry was the same. Even the way Patrick described it sounded almost identical to what Jetro had shared with us years before.
Then I asked him one question: “Do you know what Jetro wanted to call his project?”
The answer was Shepherd’s Rest—the exact same name Patrick had chosen without ever hearing Jetro’s story. Patrick was stunned.
He told me that he had recently begun questioning whether this vision had truly come from God or whether it was simply his own idea. But after hearing that story, those doubts disappeared. God was working behind us all to fulfill His own purpose. It was not Jetro’s nor Patrick’s dream, but something God had purposed, and he was going to work it all out, including bringing me all the way to Kenya just to share that story with Patrick. And in His providence, He brought me all the way to Kenya, years after Jetro had shared his vision, simply so I could encourage Patrick with that story at exactly the right moment.
During my internship, Patrick entrusted me with responsibilities that helped move Shepherd’s Rest from a vision toward reality. I was able to apply what I had learned in Property Law by reviewing the land purchase agreement, but I also gained experience in areas I had never studied in law school.
Patrick put me in charge of drafting many of the organization’s foundational documents, including its statement of faith, code of conduct, conflict of interest policy, anti-fraud and financial controls policy, safeguarding policy, donor policies, and other governance documents. Afterward, we conducted a mock consulting session in which we reviewed each policy together, discussing not only its provisions but also the reasoning behind them.
Through this internship, I learned far more than legal drafting. I saw firsthand that God’s sovereign purposes continue regardless of our circumstances. I developed practical skills in nonprofit governance and compliance, learning how to help organizations establish structures that both satisfy legal requirements and protect their ministries for the future.
Patrick also taught me how to conduct nonprofit consulting meetings and encouraged me to begin offering these services to ministries throughout Africa, even before graduating from law school.
Looking back, I am reminded that God often works through people who never meet each other, across years and even continents, weaving together His purposes in ways no one could have planned. We may only see one small piece of the picture, but the Lord sees the whole. His timing is perfect, His plans are sure, and His work never fails.
This post was written by a student at Regent University School of Law. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.