Things I Learned in Africa   

I have some very dear friends who are right now in Africa on a mission trip.  While thinking about and praying for them, I remembered something I once wrote several years ago after returning from my first trip to Africa.  Here it is...

1.   People in Swaziland are very friendly, but they drive on the wrong side of the road.  Their hot and cold water faucets are also on opposite sides than we have.

2.   God is not exclusively American.  The Holy Spirit is alive and well and dwelling within the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Africa.

3.   There are still people who want to hear the word of God.  They’re glad to sit on the ground or on a rock outside their home.  They’re even willing to walk in wintertime darkness to gather with the church to learn more of what the Bible teaches.

4.   God blesses different people in different ways.  We saw hundreds of people who have very few possessions, but God has given so many of them beautiful straight white teeth.  And despite the many challenges of their lives, they still so very often share those wonderful smiles.

5.   Christians and children there want to be hugged just like we do here in America.

6.   Similarly, people in Africa have many of the same struggles and challenges that we face here in America.  Some of their circumstance may differ from ours, but they’re still a lot like us.

7.   We saw what poverty really looks like.  So many people (including the church secretary there) live in very small one-room homes costing as little as $35 a month.  That might not sound like much, but it is to people who typically make only $5.00 per day.

8.   We got to see a glimpse of what singing in Heaven might be like.  Not only was their style of singing very exciting and animated, their genuine spirit of joy and devotion was quite evident.

9.   It is possible to be so caught up in a worship service that you hardly notice you’ve been sitting down for three hours.  It is also possible for children to sit a long time without misbehaving.

10. You don’t have to have electricity to have church.  I was preaching one night when we heard a loud explosive noise followed by complete darkness.  Someone thought quickly and brought me a flashlight, and the translator and I kept right on going.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Walk Alone    The following article is from an email that was sent to me once by a dear friend (who, coincidentally, was diagnosed with breast cancer just a short time later)... My cousin, Donnie, lost his beautiful sweet wife to pancreatic cancer earlier this month. Jeannine was a precious person. She touched the lives of many people, family, and friends. Jeannine and I were not as close as we had been in the past due to raising children and busy lives, but there are some things that will always be with me because of her. When our grandmother was in a nursing home in Chatom, Jeannine and I would travel, with her little one, Kimberly, to visit Nanny every Friday. Jeannine began visiting Nanny long before I had the opportunity to travel with her. We would load up her little car with the walker and car-seat and head to Chatom. Jeannine enjoyed this so much. She told me one of the reasons was so that Nanny could enjoy Kimberly as much as she could in her last years on ...
Read more
Show Your Thanksgiving to God    “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:1-5). We should certainl y be thankful, and indeed we have much for which to be thankful. Here is a list of 5 ways in which we can show our thanksgiving to God. 1. Remember Him Always remember the Lord. In every aspect of our lives, let us remember Him. In Colossians 3:3-4, the apostle Paul wrote, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” As Christians, the Lord is our life. He is eve...
Read more
A Good Support System    In 1 Peter 1:3, the Bible says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (NAS). Another version puts it this way: “God has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family.” The Bible says that when you become a baptized believer in Christ, you become a member of a new and very spe cial family. When you were born physically, you were born into a natural family initiated by a father and a mother. When you were reborn spiritually (or born again, which means getting a new start), you were born into God’s family. You became a part of His family. The Bible says that this new family of God is called the church. As Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:15, that family “is the church of the living God, the support and foundation of the truth.” In the Bible, the church is ...
Read more