What a Savior!

One Wednesday night at church we went through Ephesians 4:1-14 and really looked at each phrase. I thought the notes I took were worth sharing. So, here goes!
God the Father chose believers – those who are “in Christ” because of the work of Christ – God looks at us through the lens of Christ’s perfection – from eternity past He made this plan – that believers would be set apart for Himself – to be like Christ – spotless, righteous, acceptable, pleasing to the Father.

The Father chose believers to be adopted as sons – children of God – with the status of natural-born children – through the work of Jesus – because this is what God desired to do!

God did this with the goal of His beauty being admired – so that His kindness could be shown and known – believers are seen as pleasing, perfect, completely righteous in God’s sight – our position as perfect in Christ.

In Jesus we were bought back out of slavery to sin (now slaves to righteousness) by His giving His life on the cross as the payment of our debt to release us from obligation – legally pardon and redeem us – because of His abounding mercy, His costly kindness and favor and motivated by His abounding, unlimited loving kindness. Jesus did this not as a reaction or out of duty, but because it was according to His plan.

The Holy Spirit set us apart – secured – certified our position – predicted as certain to happen (as an engagement is to a wedding or a down payment as security of total payment) – that we will receive our portion of the riches that will come to us as members to the family of God when we are claimed at His return. This is ultimately so that His beauty, excellence, fame is worshipped, celebrated, honored, hoped in, loved.

After reading – are you amazed to see that we are the recipients of such kindness and extravagant love? He is the Giver!
“Sing praises to the LORD, O you His saints and give thanks to His holy name.” Psalm 29:4

Cultures Coming Together?

Lately I have been pondering differences in cultures – African vs. Western – concerning money and faith. Marriage is actually a third that is still rolling around in my mind.

Money. I was at the settlement this past week and noticed M had some earphones like the ones I use with my IPod. I asked her about them and she showed me her new cell phone. She can listen to the radio through it! I was amazed and wondered if I could listen to the radio through mine. She checked and said, “no, but for R50 I could get one like hers.”

R50 is the equivalent to $7.50-$8.00. This does not sound like much until you remember that a good day’s wage for her is R100. Just the week before, I had taken M some food and after looking it over, she asked if I could give her ~R20 for taxi fare to the clinic to pick up her medication. How can someone buy an expensive cell phone knowing that there might not be food to eat or money for necessities? It just boggles my mind.

Why does the African spend all he has today and not save for tomorrow? The Bible teaches a balance between giving and saving/providing for your own needs and sharing with others in need. My parents never bought anything they could not pay for in cash. They did have a mortgage on their home, but I have a childhood memory of when it was paid off. Even with cars, they saved and paid cash. Three children were put through college without debt, by a combination of saving and living on a tight budget.

In some ways our culture in America is changing to be more like the African – living for today. People are content if they can pay their mortgage, with no thought to ever paying it off. When there is extra money, bigger houses are bought. Why pay off your charge card when you can just pay the minimum balance.  What has caused this change in thinking? Is it just a simple case of materialism? I would love to hear your thoughts on this! It does have spiritual implications.

Retreat and Reflect

If we are friends on FB, you have seen pics of our Victoria Falls trip.  It was truly a once in a lifetime trip thanks to Corryton Church.  The Victoria Falls were breathtaking.  Of course I spent a lot of time wondering how the first people discovered the falls.  Did they know that such a “loud noise” ahead is a signal to get out of the water!  Then there was the walking with the lions.  I am a lover of cats so this activity was a dream.  My own little Charlotte had just gone to cat heaven so I was in need of some time with cats.  The sunset cruise was so relaxing.  Seeing the wildlife was great, but my favorite part was just hearing the water and seeing the sunset.

After a trip like this, one would guess that I would come back feeling refreshed.  Au contraire!  I came back feeling “down” and empty actually.  I wonder if my “mood” is a reaction to the extravagance of the trip.  And maybe in part because I was disappointed that I did not share my faith with anyone in Zimbabwe.  I did have a conversation with a taxi driver about why Jesus came, but he seemed to already be firm in his faith.

I still do not really know why I am feeling this way.  But, if feeling down causes me to pray more and read my Bible more and examine my heart more . . .

I will trust in the Lord – the One who has never forsaken those who seek Him.

Sweet Charlotte

Charlotte died yesterday (August 29, 2011).  We brought her and Peaches to our home from the Newburgh Humane Society in July after Annie’s first grade year.  She lived 18 very healthy and happy years.

 Charlotte was a very sociable cat.  That is a nice way of saying, she loved to meow – constantly.  She was also very needy – She needed a lap to sit on – constantly. 

This picture was taken, I think about a month ago.  Rick, our brother in law adopted Charlotte when we were accepted to move to South Africa.  He drove 6 hours to pick her up.  Rick’s kindness and compassion in taking Charlotte will never be forgotten.

Motivation and Mission

While in the US I heard a sermon entitled “Motivation and Mission.” I was encouraged to examine my motivation for sharing the Gospel. Do I encourage others to seek a relationship with Jesus because that is what I am supposed to do? Or are my words coming from my worship?

Isaiah (26:8b and 9a) writes, “Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You.” Every time I read these scriptures I must search my heart and examine my daily walk. Do I have a deep yearning for God? Is making Him known the desire of my heart?

What will I say to someone today about Jesus? Will Jesus even be on my mind? When I spent time with Him this morning, was it just out of habit? Was it like a husband and wife sitting across the breakfast table from each other – each with their section of the newspaper – at times mentioning something they read? Maybe a quick mention of something that is needed to be brought home from the store. Or was it a deep conversation? As I read the Word, did I see God’s character, His care? Did I pour out my heart to Him or did I just read off a “grocery list” of needs to Him?

Today as God speaks to me through His Word – as Pastor Debruyn reminded me – as God “starts the conversation,” will I listen and respond to His Word with admiration and love? Will I see what a gracious privilege it is to hold a Bible in my hands that is in my language?

Will I have that sense of unworthiness as I am in His presence? Will I then be filled with worship, joy, gratitude as I am reminded that He has made me worthy – that because of Jesus’ death for me I am given His righteousness? And as I again ponder the love of God that He would send His Son, Jesus to die for my sin – will I overflow with such worship and joy that I cannot help but tell others?

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.

(Spirit of God, Descent Upon My Heart   by George Croly  1854)

“Maa-widge”

Does the title bring back that scene from The Princess Bride?  Regrettably, I can not remember what the man said after that.  I wish I could recall his description of marriage.

Pastor Chris and I were discussing just that topic this morning.  Marriage seems more complicated here than in the states.  A couple cannot just get married.  There is the large matter of the labola.  A labola is an arranged payment between a groom and the bride’s family in exchange for their daughter. It seems that originally it was meant as a way for the families to build a relationship.  The payment was traditionally made in cash or cattle by the groom.  Labola is a way for the groom to say ‘thanks for raising a good daughter.’ 

The problem comes in when the groom has no means of raising the amount of money required by the bride’s parents.  It also can seem to be a way of “buying” a woman and making her something he owns instead of a marriage partner to cherish.  Labola has been blamed for the spread of HIV-AIDS.  Since the husband might see the wife as a possession that has not pleased him, he feels free to have other wifes or “partners.”  Sadly parents seem to prefer that their children commit adultery rather than bless a marriage without receiving the money.

None of the women I am studying the Bible with are technically married though they have lived with the same man for years and have children with him only.  So, the dilemma.  How is this remedied?  There is just not excess money to pay the woman’s family.  Should they live apart until the money is raised?  What if the husband is not a believer and refuses to pay the money?  Does she move out and take her children?  Who will support these women?

I have been challenged to search the scriptures for answers.  Does “marriage” require a ceremony?  Does “marriage” require the blessing of the families?

A Recipe

Sitting here in my office – with freezing cold air coming from the doorway / colliding with the toasty warm sunshine pouring in the windows – my thoughts have gone to food! 

The staple food here would have to be “Pop” and I have a scar on my hand from cooking the Zambian version.  It is basically corn meal cooked until it is so thick it takes massive amounts of muscle to stir.  If I never eat it again, I really will not mind.

So, what food am I craving at 10:00am?  Before I tell you, let me explain that butternut squash is a vegetable that is in abundance here.  And you can buy it already peeled and cut in chunks!  We eat it roasted, baked, in soup, in stew, in muffins and well, I think that covers it.  So, back to the recipe I wanted to give you.  Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash.  This will make your kitchen smell heavenly and oh my – the symphony on your taste buds!

Let me know what you think!!

Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

• 2  teaspoons  paprika
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1/2  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (1-pound) beef shoulder roast or petite tender roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 4  shallots, quartered
• 4  garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2  cup  fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3  cups  (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 pound)
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Add beef; toss well to coat.
3. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
4. Add beef and shallots; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
5. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.
6. Stir in broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil.
7. Bake in 325˚ oven for 1.5 hours.

Sprinkle with cilantro.

Remembering 40/40

Doug and I were reminiscing our 40/40 days a couple of weeks ago.  Yes, 40/40 when we went to Zambia for 30 days.  Sort of makes you wonder why it is called 40/40.  (I think it used to last 40 days???  I could be wrong about that – but why else would they have named it 40/40.) 

Doug was having fond memories and mentioned that he wished we could go back and do the “tent camping” part again.  My first thought was – yes, that was nice  . . . loved the food . . . the visits in the compounds  . . .   But  . . . brushing my teeth by the tree with my “headlamp” shining down to make sure where I was spitting . . . being careful not to dare look down when entering the outhouse.  Poor Katherine made that mistake and had a bat fly (out of the squatty potty) towards her headlamp!  I am not sure which I enjoyed less – the squatty potty when we tent camped or the squatting to potty beside the road as we traveled by bus to the camp site!  

Ah, 40/40.  I can still hear Doug telling the people who were trying to decide if we needed to go, that “we were more than willing to do whatever they decided.  There was no reason why we could not go.”  While he was saying those words, I was jumping up and down and screaming – “I do not want to go. . . I do not want to go . . . I do not like bugs . . . I do not like to eat strange food . . .”  Of course I was doing / saying those things in my mind while smiling on the outside.

You know how that all turned out.  We were sent to Zambia for cultural training.  And I learned so much more than I ever would have expected.  Mostly I learned that God really does give you grace to handle whatever He hands you.  When the massive spider crawled out from behind the dresser and moved to the left when I moved to the right or to the right when I moved to the left – I did not scream!  I did not even leave the room!  I did decide to let him live – after all the room was probably his.  And every night  when I went to bed (after checking under the covers and on top of the covers and praying that God would keep him away from me as I slept or to please not let me wake up if he crawled across me) I slept soundly.

When offered a fried caterpillar to eat with my lunch, I took it and chewed and swallowed it with a smile.  I just told myself the liquid that came out when I bit the little critter was probably grease.  And no one offered me the disgusting (fly covered in the market) dried fish that reeked.  I am still amazed that I was unfazed by the roaches that were crawling over me as I sat and talked with a woman in her home.  (If you could see me going after the ants in my house in Jo’burg – you would be amazed too.) 

I do not want to go back to 40/40.  But, I also do not ever want to forget the faithfulness of God during those days.

Day One – Year Two

I had planned to continue with my saga of last year’s journey (at least my memory of it).  But, thought I’d tell you about my adventure yesterday.  Doug needed to be at the airport around 7:3oam to fly to Peru, so we came into the office early.  (He needed to get some things to take with him.)  I dropped him off at the airport and then began my drive back to the office.  It’s a short drive – just one exit off the motorway from the airport.

So far so good!  I found my way onto the motorway heading in the right direction.  And – I always love it when there is slow moving traffic in the outside lane.  For some reason I still am not a fan of 5th gear.  I took my exit onto – are you ready – Barbara Road!   Stopped for a red light, then made my turn.  The traffic in front of me was  backed up so even though the light was green I had to stop.  The car behind me did not.  It’s funny how you remember things.  The “slow motion effect” and all these details floating around in your mind later that you are trying to sort out.

When I was hit, I think my foot was still on the brake.  I’m sure it had to be since I was stopped.  Driving a manual transmission my foot always is on the brake when stopped for fear of rolling either forward or backward.  But, there I was hitting the car in front of me.  I quickly grabbed my cell phone and called Barry (the LC – in charge of cars, housing, and almost everything it seems at the Office here).  He told me to get the driver’s details.  Then Regardo (the name of the man who crunched my car) asked if we could maybe drive up to the petrol station so we would not be blocking traffic.  I quickly called Barry again to see if that was ok.  It was . . .

As I turned into the station I did not see Regardo behind me!  The driver of the car in front (that I had hit) had gotten out and looked at his damage, then drove off!  Regardo was a couple of cars back.  He was very apologetic.  Transmission fluid was running out of his radiator (or was it antifreeze???).  Barry came (along with Truitt ) and helped me get all the details needed (he was just a couple of blocks away at the office).  We drove back (Truitt rode with me) to the office so Barry could pick up what he needed for the police station. 

Ok.  You know how people say, “This isn’t Kansas, Dorothy.”  Well there are people who say South Africa is not really Africa.  Apparently they have never been to a police station.  We went in and said we needed to get a police report because of a vehicle accident.  The man behind the counter asked if we had a black pen.  The forms he was filling out must be filled out in black ink.  He asked various questions – one being – how old was the driver who hit you?  It was almost painful watching him write.  I told him the accident occurred on Barbara Road.  He wrote “Bara Road” – quandary – do you tell the man with all the authority he spelled it wrong?  We didn’t.  After the three page form was filled out in minute detail, he got out the log book and  began writing the same facts into it.  Finally, we were finished. 

Barry asked for a copy of the report.  We were told that since the report should have been done in the precinct where the accident occurred, we would need to go to another office to get a copy.  (I found that very confusing since the only copy was the piece of paper stuck in his log book.  Whew – the office was in a building next door.  The lady behind the desk told us that we would have to fill out some forms in order to get the copy.  She disappeared and then returned with a copy of the form.  I signed some papers.  We were then told that they “sold” the copies.  Barry paid.  She disappeared again, then returned and gave us the papers – after getting our fax number – could not figure that out since we had the copy in our hands.

Barry showed me my new car – white toyota corolla.  It seems old and “broken in” but I must say I kinda  like it.  It’s smaller and I’m not distracted by a radio or CD player.  I have now figured out the security system in it.  I figured out part of that yesterday when I left the office and the alarm went off and would not stop.  This morning when it would not start (the car – not the alarm) I learned that I have to lock it even when it is parked in the garage or it thinks it is being stolen.  I figured out the defroster when I drove to the post office and got caught in a massive deluge of rain. 

I have to admit – I hope I have it all figured out now!

One Year Ago Today . . .

One year ago today we landed in Jo’burg.  We left Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday the 10th and arrived on Monday morning the 12th.  We had two overnight flights along with a 12 hour layover in Germany.   It was a flight schedule I hope I never experience again!

We were picked up by Stan and Nancy from the Guesthouse.  (I remember seeing Nancy the following Thursday,  wondering where I had met her.)  We stayed awake until around 7 that night and slept until 7 the next morning.  I can say for a fact that my mind was mush all that first week.

We moved into our house on Thursday the 15^th and wondered how we were ever  going to figure out the keys, the burglar alarm and remote control.  I remember wondering if we would ever be able to leave the house alone.  It seemed to take teamwork to push the right buttons and turn the right key.

Then the walls . . . I remember feeling claustrophobic with high walls so close to the house.  It felt like we were living in a maze.  You could not see the houses in the neighborhood for the fences.  The barbed wire and electric wiring on the tops of the high brick “fences” made the neighborhoods look just plain dangerous.

Next, driving on the left side of the road.  It was terrifying to sit in the passenger seat.  I was constantly closing my eyes and leaning to the right.  And my knuckles were white from gripping my legs to keep me from screaming when we made a turn.  I missed having my purse on the seat next to me.   Instead it  was placed securely under my feet to keep from enticing  a “smash and grab”. 

And then there was that hill.   Every time we stopped on that hill, I knew I’d never learn to drive in Johannesburg.  I knew that every time I took my foot off the brake I’d take out every car in line behind me.  Between not being able to drive and not enjoying being a passenger – I was beginning to long for a city with good public transportation!

And that is when – Praise the Lord – it was time to go to 40/40 in Zambia.  Just when I was nearing the point of tears, God in His great wisdom had it planned to remove me from the country!  We headed to Zambia – a land full of public transportation and empty of high walls!!!  (At least there were no high walls we were staying.)

To be continued . . .