Day 1

I’ve typed 10 sentences, and deleted them all since none of them could properly sum up my first 18 hours in South Africa. I have resigned to rambling. You’ll just have to keep up with this jet-lagged A-D-D American with a lot to say and no words to say it. Good luck. 

The flight. 

All three of them. Memphis to ATL was okay. Only an hour. ATL to Amersterdam on the other hand was excruciatingly long and painful. I’ve never had trouble on planes before, but on this one, I was sick all 7 and ½ hours. It was not fun to say the least, but I will tell you. It didn’t take long for me to be reminded of several things. 1) Satan is good at the game He plays. 2) God ALLOWS Satan to play these games. 3) Just like Job, maybe my sickness was to bring glory to God in the end somehow, and God’s glory is our ultimate goal as Followers of Christ. And 4) People have endured much worse things than motion sickness in order to share the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. 8 hours of it was nothing in comparison to so much that so many face. This, however, does not make me any less thankful for the landing of that plane. I had to get off. The next half of this story is far better than the first. I boarded the plane to Cape Town about 20 minutes after stepping off the last, very nervous about the 11 hour flight I was facing, b/c I was still feeling sick after the last one. I found that my seat was next to the window and sharing a row with a married couple. We began small talk and I recognized their accent as South African. They had been in the States to visit their son, his wife, and grandchildren. They asked what I was doing in Cape Town and I felt comfortable enough to tell them the name of the organization I would be working with and what I was doing with it. They seemed intrigued and proceeded to tell me about how he is a minister at a church about 300 miles from Cape Town as well as other ministries that he volunteers with! It was such a blessing! They had the sweetest spirits. Within an hour of our flight, after beginning to read because they started speaking to each other in Afrikaans, I was handed a piece of paper with both of their names and all of their contact info inviting me to come visit them while I am here. I was overjoyed. I will not be able to visit them, however, their kindness and love for the Lord will not be forgotten. We spent the entire flight buzzing in and out of conversation, mostly about God and the church; where it is today, and where it should be. They gave me some Afrikaans words to memorize (I, of course have forgotten all of them). Afrikaans is one of the native languages to South Africa, derived from Dutch. Halfway through the flight it dawned on me that I was not feeling sick, and had not felt sick since boarding the plane. God used those sweet people to comfort me, and they didn’t even have to try. I made sure to tell them what a blessing they were as the plane descended into Cape Town, and thanked them for being so kind to me. Rev. Jasper (the man’s name) leaned in a little bit to us and said, “Well, God is the great architect, is he not?” Yes, Rev. Jasper. Our God truly is the great architect. I didn’t deserve or need comfort in that time. But God saw the desire of my heart, for one last piece of confirmation that I was where I needed to be, and who knew that I would find it in the sweet wise couple next to me.

I will not forget something that Rev. Jasper said as we were discussing the Church. We were talking of the way that so many people in the church focus entirely too much on unimportant things and that their (our- I am always having to check myself on this issue) faith is in church and not God. Seeing the Saving Gospel of Jesus spread to those who have not heard and others who need to hear it, and caring for the poor and the ‘least of these’ are not the top-priority of many Christians, if you know what I mean. It's uncomfortable, it's hard, and it doesn't fit in with the American Dream. Bottom line. On this, Rev. Jasper had this to say, and it really struck me so I thought I would share. He said, “It is the difference between an organization and an organism.” An organism is a living breathing thing. It has life! It is active! It reproduces! Isn’t that such a wonderful way of thinking about it?... I am not going to add any more to that. I am just going to let you chew on it, and let God fill you up with His wisdom on the topic. Are you a part of an organism or an organization? Are YOU an organism or have you resigned yourself to a lifeless faith that is nothing but christian "to-do" lists?

Food for thought? I hope so.

More stories from this rambler to come soon!