Since we’re trapped inside time we get pretty impressed when we look back and see how God has sovereignly prepared us for ministry opportunities we have today. But since it’s all part of His eternal decree, it was all part of the plan since before time began. So for Him, it’s all in a days work…except, days didn’t exist yet.
Lately I’ve had some opportunities just like that. Christian, one of the elders at church, and I have been trying to find a time to get together for some guitar lessons. After six months we’ve determined it probably won’t happen, so we reverted to video lessons. He’s recording me playing some of the songs we frequently sing in church, then he’ll go back and play along. Despite the awkwardness, I think it’s great because it’s something that will outlast my time here. As long as he’s self-motivated, he can learn on his own schedule and won’t be dependant on me.
I’ve already gotten to use my volleyball skills a bit with the youth camp and the Mariental outreach, so naturally I was excited to hear that some of the kids in the J.G. Bible Study I’ve been going to are on the volleyball team. Willem, the team captain, has been frustrated that their faculty advisor isn’t very helpful when it comes to practices, so before their game today I offered them some tips during warm-ups. When the faculty advisor had to leave for an appointment, I was appointed the acting coach. Unfortunately they lost the game, but it was close, and it gave me an idea of some things we can work on before the big tournament on Saturday.
So needless to say, it’s pretty cool that when billions of people and thousands of years were still just a thought in God’s mind, amidst all that He chose me, prepared me, and continues to use me as a guitar player and a volleyball coach, all for His glory.
The Specialist
More question...still no answers
We were able to sit down yesterday with Sylvia Beukes, the National Director for Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministries (HPOM), and clarify some of our questions and concerns about what would happen if Social Services were to place the kids under Hope’s Promise and Jenny were to become an HPOM mommy. Some of us get the feeling that if she’s singled out to receive so much aid then she’ll have no connection to the surrounding community and therefore no support network apart from us. When asked about the cultural implications, Sylvia raised a very poignant question, “What has culture done for these kids?” . . . Well they’re still alive. They’re not eating out of dustbins. They have a roof over their head. They’re going to school. It may not be an ideal system from what we’re used to, but it’s what they have. They’re culture is based on survival, not accumulating wealth. If living conditions aren’t up to our standard, we must understand that’s not the point. So I think my ultimate question is beginning to take shape, Is there a way to work within their system rather than replace it with ours? Can we come alongside side them on their road, rather than dragging them down ours? I realize how messy and emotionally charged that question is, but I think it's one we must struggle with. I also realize, I must be ready for the answer to be No.
Thank you for your gracious responses and understanding the value of a question, whether or not I have an answer.
How can I understand unless someone instructs me
I felt like Philip speaking to the Ethiopian eunuch as the eyes around the table lit up with new understanding. This was my third week going to the Bible study at J.G., the other secondary school in Okahandja. They’ve been meeting on Thursday afternoons for a few years now, but I was just recently invited when I visited the school with the team from Palm Beach Atlantic a few weeks back. Today we were studying John 5. As usual, we read through the passage then discussed what stuck out to us or what questions people had. Once we got started the questions just kept pouring out as we ran the gambit from the paradox of the Trinity to the deity of Christ, praying to Mary, baptizing infants, the final judgment, and what does poor in spirit mean. It’s like they’re hungry for truth and can’t get enough of it. Just like the eunuch, they’ve had the Scriptures, but they need someone to come instruct them in it. As I was walking away with Willem, the student leader of the group, he kept saying, “I learned so much today!” How true does the prophet write, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Is 52:7)
Towards a solution
I thought I was as angered and heartbroken about entitlement as I could get, but that was before I heard Rosa’s side of the story. Rosa is Jenny’s next door neighbor and also one of Joan’s precious preschool teachers. Joan relayed the story like this…
Rosa came into their Thursday afternoon preschool teachers meeting fuming mad. She proceeded to unload, like pulling the stop out of a hole in a dike. She said her neighbor had a fire the other night, but none of the other neighbors came to help. Rosa was the only one. And as fast as she could pull things out of the house the onlookers were stealing them. They justified themselves by saying, “Well the Americans will replace it all for her anyway.” Those were their exact words. It makes me about as mad as Rosa probably was, but it forces me to analyze how much am I part of the problem, because I know they’re right.
The whole African tribal culture is built around the sharing of resources to help each other survive. When we step in with aid we interrupt the delicate balance of that culture that has survived for centuries without us. There were five white people at her place Wednesday morning helping clean up from the fire. But had we not been there others would’ve stepped in and helped out. Rosa would’ve gladly opened up her own home to let the children stay the night, but the white men took them out of their culture to sleep under his roof. We help replace clothes and mattresses, but truthfully, if we were never there, others would have shared and they would’ve gotten by. That’s the beauty in their culture that we’ll never fully understand.
America is not the savior of Africa. Africa doesn’t need to be saved from themselves. They need Jesus. I don’t know how to say in more forthrightly than that.
Am I suggesting we abandon people to their poverty? By no means! I’m suggesting we work within their cultural framework to help in a way that doesn’t ostracize them from their families and communities. I’m suggesting we point people to Christ, leading them toward a dependency on God, not on white aid. Trials help produce perseverance and faith. When we remove them from their trials, there’s no reason to trust in God. We must walk a road with them, not just give them a car and directions on how to bypass the road altogether. But as frustrated as I get (can you tell??) I must remember I have no perfect solution. And in my efforts towards one, I’m sure I leave my own pile of wreckage in the wake. It forces me to the very same place, total reliance on the Source of all wisdom, which in the end may be the whole point in the first place.
