Walkers.in.Africa

Last dance at the Atlantic ocean

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God is kind of like the Pacific Ocean

“I find it very funny when Christians act like they know so much about God Almighty. What was He doing two hundred million billion billion billion years ago? I don't know. What will He be doing in two hundred million million billion billion years from now? I don't know that either. There is a lot about God that we do not know, and when we act like we think we know so much it is kind of like ants trying to describe civilization in midtown Manhattan; they know there is something really big and out there, but it is really quite elusive and beyond them.

God is kind of like the Pacific Ocean I find. You know you can read about the Pacific but that is not the same as going to the edge and splashing around. Even if I go to the edge of the Pacific Ocean and I splash around in it, that doesn't mean that I know now ever breadth, depth and detail of the Almighty Pacific. I don't know what it is like all the way down to the sea floor and every layer in between, and I don't know what it is going to be like swimming across it to the other shore in China. There is a lot about the Pacific that I do not know when I'm splashing around the shore on the West Coast. Even if I am splashing there I can't go very deep, very far, for very long, because it is very much bigger then I can attempt to contain or control; it will overwhelm and sweep me away. About the best I can do with the Pacific is scoop up my little personal handful of experience and while there is a lot of detail I will not know out that scoop, I can at least assess the character of the Pacific accurately: It's wet and salty. And so in spite of all I do not know, this much I have assessed accurately about the Pacific, you follow my idea?

I think God is kind of like that, all the way to the bottom of the sea floor and all the way to the shore of China, the Pacific's character remains constant at least in those two regards: wet and salty. There may be much I don't know, that much I have learned. And so it is like this with God, there is a lot I don't know, He doesn't bother to explain, He doesn't ask us to find out. But at the end of the day in my walking with the LORD these decades I have taken out a little splash around scoop and I have learned that He is good and He is love. In fact He has earned back my trust and has proved that He is better then I initially would have thought when I first began this journey.”

-Sy Rogers

(Props to Sarah Kane for the picture. Thanks for some of my favorite memories Sarah <3)

I will live to carry Your compassion

The hot Africa sun is beaming through the cracks of the makeshift walls, the only source of light in the small dim shack. The woman opposite me shares her life story, her brown eyes and small smile offer friendship, her words share a situation of no hope. Even if her family was whole, even if she had a beautiful home and a regular paycheck, in the end her words would've still echoed a story of no hope. My listening ear and friendship are not enough. The Giver of Hope had freely given to me and now He was prompting my heart to share what I had freely received. She knew of God, she knew Jesus had come to this earth, died, and rose again . . . but she didn't know why. I pulled out my Bible and began to share the greatest, most mysterious, compelling love story of all time.

This is just one person, one story of the thousands of people in the squatter camps in Africa. There are countless stories that are yet to happen. Jesus is moved with compassion for people, is our hearts breaking for what breaks His? Is compassion true compassion if it does not compel us to do something? Jesus knew that this short time on earth was our only preparation for eternity. The Light of the World went to illuminant the darkness, the Giver of Life came to heal the sick. He said, “Follow Me” . . . “Go make disciples of all nations.”

I am sitting in our cute country cottage with a bright storm thundering on our tin roof. My friend Katie is singing silly rhyming songs with her guitar, Sarah is whipping cream for the yummy brownies she baked, and Crystal is busy typing away on her computer. I love these women so much, crazy to think we met just two months ago.

This past week we were blessed to be joined by a missions team from America. What a joy it was to minister alongside them. We were out doing shack to shack ministry when my group met Justice, Caroline, and their little son Kendall. They live in one of the nicer shacks which has a cute, vibrant garden. One can tell that Justice takes pride in his little garden by its immaculate appearance. Justice invited us in and asked us to share with him about the love of God, so the team began to share.

Little Kendall-

As I sat there the LORD gave me a picture analogy to share with Justice. This is what I shared:

Our hearts are like a garden. The soil is rich with so much potential. There are beautiful plants unique to the soil of each individual's heart. As in all gardens there are weeds, rocks, and dry soil.

We have the key to the garden, but a garden cannot take care of itself. It is up to us whether we give Him the key or not.

He knows the plants (gifts) that are uniquely you. He knows how to cultivate, prune and cause them to grow to their fullest. He sees the dead branches, the weeds and rocks in our garden yet He looks beyond and sees the potential of the garden. His heart bursts with desire to nurture it.

If we give Him the key, He will come in and throw out the rocks and pull the weeds. Yes, the process can be painful for us, but He does it for our good. He pulls out but He also fills up.

A garden is in need of constant care, yes? We must daily make that decision to let Him enrich our lives. It is up to us to take His Word to heart, allowing it to saturate the dry soil.

He pours out His heart for the garden of our hearts. He is preparing us for something bigger then life on this earth. He is preparing us for eternity where our garden will be transplanted into His heart, the place it was originally created to be.

Justice held my gaze as I shared this picture of God's love for our hearts, I could tell he was beginning to grasp hold.

The people here are so picture oriented. When they forget something instead of saying, “I can't remember” they say, “It's running away”. I've been challenged to come up with creative, picture oriented ways to share the gospel. I love how the LORD speaks the language of each one of our hearts.

Hell and Destruction are before the LORD; so how much more the hearts of the sons of men.

-Proverbs 15:11

Here is some water :)

Matthew 13 -What does the soil of your heart look like?

Proverbs 16:1 -Preparation

Psalm 31:7-8 -He considers my trouble

Psalm 39:3-7 -Oh LORD, open my eyes!

Job 9:4 -Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?

Job 7:7 -Oh to remember that my life is a breath!

Hosea 10:12 -Seek Him

Go therefore and make disciples. . .

It is a warm summer afternoon and fifteen joyful people are crowded into a small shack. There is a variety of languages and occasional peals of laughter as they go through the translation process. You hear joyful shouts of children outside as they climb all over their missionary friends. I welcome you to discipleship group in the Kya Sands community.

We love it! Bridging the gap between cultures can be difficult, we sometimes struggle to come up with analogies to explain a Biblical principle but we are learning and growing together and it is beautiful!

You should have seen everyone's shinning faces when they received Bibles in their own languages, they were and are so grateful! One woman humbly asked if she could bring a pad and paper to take notes! Another asked with slight frustration why she had never been taught these things from scriptures before. Two women ask for prayer after the meeting was over and all the women stayed to pray over them. Upon their requests we are now meeting together twice a week.

Pray that these women will go and share of the new hope that is in them, pray that they will be gripped by a spirit of boldness to proclaim His truth, pray that they will daily search God's Word with open hearts, pray that their hunger for His Word will never leave but only intensify. Pray for us as we lead this group of women, pray that we will be Spirit led in everything we do and say. To God be the glory, may He be the wind in our sails!

Here is a small video clip from our Tuesday discipleship :)

Props to Sarah Tapp for her wonderful leading!

Africa - a land of Extremes

Africa is a land of extremes. You have the extremely wealthy living next to the extremely poor. You walk into Monte Casino (the inside is built to replicate Venice) and walk out feeling like you've been to another world. You have people driving Hummers and then scores of people that have no transportation. You have those who have forgiven and then those who are still hurting from the Apartheid. You have people on fire for Jesus and then you have people who have only ever heard of the name of Jesus. Oh Africa, do you even realize that God is here and He wants to have a relationship with you which will outshine any of the extremes in this world? The great emptiness you feel points to an awesome God who can fulfill your desires. He is EXTREMELY in love with you.

I've been reading Captivating. The first few chapters talk about how God reveals Himself through women. I love this quote from the book:

“After years of hearing the heart-cry of women, I am convinced beyond a doubt of this: God wants to be loved. He wants to be a priority to someone. How could we have missed this? From cover to cover, beginning to end, the cry of God's heart is, 'Why won't you choose me?' It is amazing to me how humble, how vulnerable God is on this point. 'You will find me,' says the Lord, 'When you seek me will all your heart' (Jer. 29:13).

In other words, 'Look for me, pursue me – I want you to pursue me' Amazing. As Tozer says, 'God waits to be wanted.'”

My heart cries for Africa, and not only Africa, for the lost. Do you not know that He is for you? That He will never forsake you in your weakness? Allow yourself to be pulled from this temporal world of extremes and into His everlasting arms.

Ministry:

We began ministry in Kya Sands squatter camp. I left a piece of my heart there after talking to the people. There as a woman named Life (Cool name huh? A great way to start a conversation about the Giver of Life!). I was able to encourage her in her walk with the LORD and pray for her brothers. Then there was Joseph. Joseph has the biggest, most joyful smile. His kids names were: Believe God, Worship God, and Praise God . . . How cool is that? This man is living in poor conditions yet he is praising God and sharing Him with his neighbors, he even asked for our names and wrote them down so he could intercede on our behalf. I was so blessed and humbled by this man of God! I was able to speak with a young woman who and only ever heard the name of Jesus, I was overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin.

You know, sometimes you just fall flat on your face when you're ministering, it is hard to lead devotions and share the gospel. . . It hurts to have your pride ripped out! This internship is called Impact ME (Missions Experience), but I decided it should be called Bulldoze ME ;). I'm learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, in other words, I'm learning to say, “Help me God!”.

I'm going to sign off with this beautiful hymen:

The bride eyes not her garment

But her dear bridegroom's face.

I will not gaze at glory,

But on my King of grace;

Not at the crown he giveth,

But on his pierced hand:

The Lamb is all the glory

Of Emmanuel's land.

-The Sands of Time are Sinking

First Day of Ministry:

On Thursday we went to the Kya Sands Impact Kids creche (preschool). We walked into the school yard and all the kids came running toward us. We were quickly smothered in hugs accompanied by giggles as they kept yelling, “Techa, techa!”, which is their version of “teacher”. I helped out in the 2-3 year olds classroom. The kids were mostly overcome with excitement to have me there, though a few shy ones stared at me with their big brown eyes. I picked up a little one who was crying quite loudly, poor little Lesed didn't know what to think of his first day of school! He fell fast asleep in my arms as I sat helping the other kids with crafts. Needless to say, it was a fun and very busy morning! Their need for love and attention was evident. What a blessing it was and is to be used by the LORD to love on His kids.

*Here is a picture of Lesed :)

Later that day we went to the Kya Sands squatter camp which is home to about 13 thousand people! It was as I expected: crowded rows of shacks (made up of anything people can get their hands on), smelly, unsanitary, and full of the feeling of hopelessness. I was then hit by the realization that the kids I was playing with earlier actually lived in this camp! The kids were running around playing in disease infested water, no one watching or really caring about them, they were literally at the mercy of whomever. Suddenly Impact Kids looked like a little bit of heaven on earth.

Desire of All Nations:

Here in Africa the need for hope seems more obvious. The people here are not surrounded by the material wants of this world, which too often serve to pacify the truth of our greatest need. Our greatest need is Jesus. He is our only hope and only in Him is the fullness of joy found.

“For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts.”

Challenges:

We have been receiving some great teaching and encouragement from the Impact Africa staff. I have been challenged to:

-Know who I am in Christ. Look up all the scriptures, they're amazing to go over and over.

-Know Him as the one and only desire of my heart. Jeremiah 29:13

-Throw aside the variations of the old pattern of thinking, for there are new things in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

-Set my expectation on Him and Him alone.

-To take Him at His word, believing that He is who He says He is.

-And so much more!

I want to end with this quote that I've found inspiring:

“God shows himself great not only in shaping the universe to his design

but in reshaping our small hearts to accomplish his large purposes”

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

The Journey Begins:

I am so small and God is so big! I was reminded

of that fact when I gazed out of the airplane window. The football fields were tiny, the waves of the ocean slow and small. “As the heavens for height and earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.” -Proverbs 25:3

I was having my quiet time on the airplane and these verses stood out to me: “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He himself was about to go . . . Then the seventy returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.' And He said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, nothing sh

all by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because you names are written in heaven.'” Luke 10:11, 17-20. What a comfort to know that we go before His face, to the places where He himself is about to go. We can return with joy in the power of the LORD, rejoicing that our names

are written in heaven. It reminds me of a verse from one of Leeland's songs “I'll follow You into the homes of the broken, follow You into the world, meet the needs of the poor and the needy God, I'll follow You into the world.”

Needless to say I was SO HAPPY to get off of that airplane. Though we did have a few good laughs on the plane, we were quite delirious and the people snoring exceptionally loud was funny. Thank God we made it through customs quickly. I must admit that I enjoy to study people: it was fun seeing all the different cultures in a foreign airport and listen to the variety of languages.

SOUTH AFRICA:

Am I really here? That thought flashes through my mind often. Africa is BEAUTIFUL - the landscape is full of brilliant, lush green colors. Our little cottage is in the country and I am lovin' the peace and quite (though there are some really loud, interesting sounding birds!). It is fun to suddenly be in summer when it is winter back home. The days are longer (especially when you are wide awake at 4am as your body is wondering what the heck is going on with the time change).

Johannesburg is overflowing with people. Highways and streets are full of a constant stream of pedestrians attempting to weave through traffic. It is common to see people cruising around in the back of pickups. The contrast of the poor and the wealthy is shocking, they literally live right next to one another.

We did our first shopping trip yesterday, haha, and I thought I was bad at shopping in the states (!) You should see me in a store that is in a totally different layout then I'm use to, everything is in a different currency, and I don't recognize half of the names or brands of things … it was fun though :D.

In a few days we will begin ministry in the squatter camps and start teaching the kids at the preschool - so exciting!