I'm leaving for Botswana tomorrow morning bright and early at 7:30AM. Please pray for safe travels and a fruitful trip. It will be a difficult trip doing hard work in hot weather but I'm looking forward to seeing more of the continent.
I will have no internet access for the next two weeks so no updates will be forthcoming but I plan to have tons of pictures posted when I get back and look forward to blogging about it.
Till then happy Easter and God Bless!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thoughts On Easter
It is Holy Week so I thought it would be good to write a message that was back to more spiritual things.
Before we had Thrive Church tonight I was flipping through my Bible. I usually do this at this time because I have nothing else to do. I found myself at Isaiah 58. The section was titled "True Fasting." A couple interns have fasted recently so I was intrigued. I had no memory of this section before.
Basically it goes over a scene of people who want to be closer to God and say "look at the fasting and things we have done, why haven't you responded?"
God replies essentially saying "Away with you!" "You may have fasted but you were still harsh to your neighbor, you have only thought of yourself during the entire time."
God then describes the fast he desires in verses 6-10. Basically he says when you fast don't think of yourself but think of others.
Here is my point. In much of Christendom today we have uplifted personal piety over simple obedience to God.
We do many prayers, and we attend many church events and we buy many Christian books all in the hope of feeling closer to God. We try to be holy at all times and we end up judging harshly the people who do not meet the standard we have set for ourselves.
The problems with this are myriad but can be summed up concisely: they are all me-centered, not God centered.
Christianity is the one religion where God through his infinite mercy and grace has brought himself close to us. He paid the price, he died on the cross, he defeated sin and he gave us the Holy Spirit. Why are we trying to do so much to be close to a God who is already right next to us?
It is also striking how much we uplift ourselves over others. Many Christians, including myself, often act as little more then self-righteous pharisees. We pray loudly and repeatedly, we surround ourselves with only Christian people and we dismiss with a scoff the many people who are literally dying to get some of the truth that has been so generously bestowed upon us. Again we see our faith as only about ourselves, not about God.
God does not want our prayers, our sacrifices, our church attendance. He wants our hearts. He wants us to be completely sold out for him and he wants us to lift his name above every other. I am not saying that doing religious things are bad, they are essential; but to do them with the wrong heart makes them worthless.
This Easter I pray that we look beyond ourselves. I pray that our attitudes will be the same as Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5) I pray that we see others as better than ourselves. And I pray that we will recognize that while we are completely unworthy of any blessing we have received from God he gives them to us anyway. He made the ultimate sacrifice, he doesn't need anymore.
Let us follow God with all of our heart, soul, and mind this Easter and through that let us change the World, not for our glory, but for His.
God Bless.
Before we had Thrive Church tonight I was flipping through my Bible. I usually do this at this time because I have nothing else to do. I found myself at Isaiah 58. The section was titled "True Fasting." A couple interns have fasted recently so I was intrigued. I had no memory of this section before.
Basically it goes over a scene of people who want to be closer to God and say "look at the fasting and things we have done, why haven't you responded?"
God replies essentially saying "Away with you!" "You may have fasted but you were still harsh to your neighbor, you have only thought of yourself during the entire time."
God then describes the fast he desires in verses 6-10. Basically he says when you fast don't think of yourself but think of others.
Here is my point. In much of Christendom today we have uplifted personal piety over simple obedience to God.
We do many prayers, and we attend many church events and we buy many Christian books all in the hope of feeling closer to God. We try to be holy at all times and we end up judging harshly the people who do not meet the standard we have set for ourselves.
The problems with this are myriad but can be summed up concisely: they are all me-centered, not God centered.
Christianity is the one religion where God through his infinite mercy and grace has brought himself close to us. He paid the price, he died on the cross, he defeated sin and he gave us the Holy Spirit. Why are we trying to do so much to be close to a God who is already right next to us?
It is also striking how much we uplift ourselves over others. Many Christians, including myself, often act as little more then self-righteous pharisees. We pray loudly and repeatedly, we surround ourselves with only Christian people and we dismiss with a scoff the many people who are literally dying to get some of the truth that has been so generously bestowed upon us. Again we see our faith as only about ourselves, not about God.
God does not want our prayers, our sacrifices, our church attendance. He wants our hearts. He wants us to be completely sold out for him and he wants us to lift his name above every other. I am not saying that doing religious things are bad, they are essential; but to do them with the wrong heart makes them worthless.
This Easter I pray that we look beyond ourselves. I pray that our attitudes will be the same as Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5) I pray that we see others as better than ourselves. And I pray that we will recognize that while we are completely unworthy of any blessing we have received from God he gives them to us anyway. He made the ultimate sacrifice, he doesn't need anymore.
Let us follow God with all of our heart, soul, and mind this Easter and through that let us change the World, not for our glory, but for His.
God Bless.
Friday, March 14, 2008
LaunchPad & Hope House
I thought it would be good to write about my two major ministry activities here. These are the LaunchPad class I teach weekly and Hope House, the orphanage we visit weekly.
Here is some brief information about each and how they are going.
LaunchPad
LaunchPad is Thrive Africa's Biblical discipleship classes. Currently 7 classes are taught each week in different locations in the townships of Intabazwe, Qwa Qwa and the surrounding areas.
The classes are on a few different topics. Some are Foundations of Faith, some are Being a Contagious Christian. The one I teach is called "Christ In you" which I teach with another intern named Kaylen. We teach at the Botisbelo Secondary (High) School in Qwa Qwa.
The classes focus on how we are changed when we become Christians and how we should live with Christ in us. We have a curriculum of 10 different lessons that have scripture and points, but we have to go over each lesson to put examples in and personal stories. It has been a challenge to get used to teaching each week but I think my examples are getting better and my eye contact with my class is definitely improving.
The first lesson we gave the kids a chance to accept Jesus before we started so Christ was really in them. Most of the 11 or twelve there accepted. It is awesome to not only see salvation decisions but to be able to pour into these high schoolers lives with the Word and Spirit. While attendance fluctuates, we have a good core of about ten students who have comes every week. Our last few weeks we have had over 20 students with a high of 29 students.
Pray that these students will continue to grow as we teach them. They are so eager to learn about God and it is a privilege to be able to teach them.
Hope House
Hope House is the highlight of my week. Every friday (today) we go and spending a couple hours with the kids. There are about 40 ranging from babies to high schoolers. We teach them a bible lesson, do a craft with them and play games with them. While we have only been going for just under two months we all know each other well now and have giant smiles when we meet each other. Some of the younger toddlers stand at the fence as we get into our cars to leave.
Last week we led the kids in a salvation prayer. It appeared that most of the older ones were eager to pray. These kids are all so precious and it it awesome to have fun with them.
Pray for them, at least one of the babies has HIV and others do too (we do not know which ones do or don't of course.) Pray that they will grow in love and confidence in order to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Your support is making this possible. I can't thank you all enough. Blessings.
Here is some brief information about each and how they are going.
LaunchPad
LaunchPad is Thrive Africa's Biblical discipleship classes. Currently 7 classes are taught each week in different locations in the townships of Intabazwe, Qwa Qwa and the surrounding areas.
The classes are on a few different topics. Some are Foundations of Faith, some are Being a Contagious Christian. The one I teach is called "Christ In you" which I teach with another intern named Kaylen. We teach at the Botisbelo Secondary (High) School in Qwa Qwa.
The classes focus on how we are changed when we become Christians and how we should live with Christ in us. We have a curriculum of 10 different lessons that have scripture and points, but we have to go over each lesson to put examples in and personal stories. It has been a challenge to get used to teaching each week but I think my examples are getting better and my eye contact with my class is definitely improving.
The first lesson we gave the kids a chance to accept Jesus before we started so Christ was really in them. Most of the 11 or twelve there accepted. It is awesome to not only see salvation decisions but to be able to pour into these high schoolers lives with the Word and Spirit. While attendance fluctuates, we have a good core of about ten students who have comes every week. Our last few weeks we have had over 20 students with a high of 29 students.
Pray that these students will continue to grow as we teach them. They are so eager to learn about God and it is a privilege to be able to teach them.
Hope House
Hope House is the highlight of my week. Every friday (today) we go and spending a couple hours with the kids. There are about 40 ranging from babies to high schoolers. We teach them a bible lesson, do a craft with them and play games with them. While we have only been going for just under two months we all know each other well now and have giant smiles when we meet each other. Some of the younger toddlers stand at the fence as we get into our cars to leave.
Last week we led the kids in a salvation prayer. It appeared that most of the older ones were eager to pray. These kids are all so precious and it it awesome to have fun with them.
Pray for them, at least one of the babies has HIV and others do too (we do not know which ones do or don't of course.) Pray that they will grow in love and confidence in order to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Your support is making this possible. I can't thank you all enough. Blessings.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
African Church (and other things)
The first mission team arrived (from Desert Springs, Arizona) on Saturday night and that meant we were able to go to African Church on Sunday Morning!
I had never been to an African church so I got decked out. I put on my pair of khakis that I had been saving for special occasions and I even tucked my shirt in which I never do.
We went to New Life Church in Intabazwe, the smaller township that is right next to Harrismith. The Pastor was a big jolly looking man named Mbana who was in a Hawaiian style t-shirt that was loud and proud for Jesus. His bright gold watch and ring was a bit disconcerting to see in such a place of poverty but regardless this guy was completely sold out for Jesus.
The actual church building was barely larger than the one room in my home church that I helped teach sunday school in. However as we walked into to hear the music and singing we knew we were in a place of God.
It was a nice reminder to see people who were passionate for Jesus even though they did not have a million dollar building or even a building with more than one large room.
After singing for 15-20 minutes we had great joy when a bunch of the older kids from Hope House walked in. They seemed as happy to see us as we were them and one even came over and sat with us. Their smiling faces are a great joy for me here.
Singing is generally accompanied by swinging hips here and while I didn't get that far in my worship I did get started clapping my hands and swaying as best I could. I honestly love hearing the combined singing of others more than singing out loud myself. In any case the songs, a mixture of sesotho and english were great.
One thing I must point out is the absolutely crazy interpretation during church. Whoever is speaking is interpreted by someone but they change languages constantly. It is an interpreters nightmare I imagine. One second the speaker is doing sesotho, then english, then zulu. Its fun to behold.
African church was lots of fun and I enjoyed being more deeply in the culture and seeing how they worship. I look forward to returning.
Computer Issues
On a sad note my totally awesome laptop had its hard drive busted during an unfortunate accident by one of my fellow interns. While Ive only had it for a few months so I did not lose much data is it very sad. Right now I am typing this entry on a ghetto laptop that Thrive has as an extra. I hope to get my laptop fixed soon but until then Im stuck with this. I may not be as able to upload pictures as easily but I'll let you know about that. Finally I will probably start writing my monthly newsletter next week. Stay tuned!
I had never been to an African church so I got decked out. I put on my pair of khakis that I had been saving for special occasions and I even tucked my shirt in which I never do.
We went to New Life Church in Intabazwe, the smaller township that is right next to Harrismith. The Pastor was a big jolly looking man named Mbana who was in a Hawaiian style t-shirt that was loud and proud for Jesus. His bright gold watch and ring was a bit disconcerting to see in such a place of poverty but regardless this guy was completely sold out for Jesus.
The actual church building was barely larger than the one room in my home church that I helped teach sunday school in. However as we walked into to hear the music and singing we knew we were in a place of God.
It was a nice reminder to see people who were passionate for Jesus even though they did not have a million dollar building or even a building with more than one large room.
After singing for 15-20 minutes we had great joy when a bunch of the older kids from Hope House walked in. They seemed as happy to see us as we were them and one even came over and sat with us. Their smiling faces are a great joy for me here.
Singing is generally accompanied by swinging hips here and while I didn't get that far in my worship I did get started clapping my hands and swaying as best I could. I honestly love hearing the combined singing of others more than singing out loud myself. In any case the songs, a mixture of sesotho and english were great.
One thing I must point out is the absolutely crazy interpretation during church. Whoever is speaking is interpreted by someone but they change languages constantly. It is an interpreters nightmare I imagine. One second the speaker is doing sesotho, then english, then zulu. Its fun to behold.
African church was lots of fun and I enjoyed being more deeply in the culture and seeing how they worship. I look forward to returning.
Computer Issues
On a sad note my totally awesome laptop had its hard drive busted during an unfortunate accident by one of my fellow interns. While Ive only had it for a few months so I did not lose much data is it very sad. Right now I am typing this entry on a ghetto laptop that Thrive has as an extra. I hope to get my laptop fixed soon but until then Im stuck with this. I may not be as able to upload pictures as easily but I'll let you know about that. Finally I will probably start writing my monthly newsletter next week. Stay tuned!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Living the African Life, Southern Style
I realized my last few entries haven't given a good idea of day to day life here. Here are a bunch of random details and stuff thats going on that will hopefully feel more connected to my time here.
First I should say that internet is actually quite good considering where I am. Right now I'm typing this halfway up a mountain on the middle of a game reserve. I'm over 2km from the entrance of the reserve that merely opens up to a dirt road. Take a left on the road and follow for probably close to 5k will take you to an actual tar road. Take another left follow for probably 8k and you reach the N3, The Main Highway between Johannesburg and Durban. Harrismith is only about 5 minutes from this point. Harrismith is a nice quaint town that we visit once a week to enjoy. During our town time we buy groceries for the next week, do light shopping, pick up mail and visit KFC (the only fastfood in the town). We have begun to frequent a local coffee shop that has quite good shakes and desert beverages. Its small but a very nice little town.
Running on the base is becoming much more enjoyable. We are close to 6000 ft in elevation and if you have never run much let me describe this to you. Running up a hill at elevation is like taking the worst hill that you've ever hiked up and doubling its gradient and length. Lets just say the lungs aren't too pleased with you when you crest the top. Thinking about it your legs feel like crap too.
It is getting better though and to be honest there is a hill that I have run in New Hampshire that was considerably worst than anything I have run before. Im getting about 3-4 runs in a week and get to enjoy seeing the local game during almost every run. Lechwe are quite beautiful as are blesbok. Look them up if you don't know what Im talking about. I just had my best run here on tuesday. It was cool late afternoon and my lungs felt good and my legs felt even better. Being able to run here is awesome.
Living accommodations here are quite nice but you have to come to terms with the reality of moths. Every night you get used to seeing moths flying around and killing at least a few. They can be annoying but generally aren't too bad to deal with. You also get used to persistent flies buzzing around your head during the day. Again a minor annoyance but not a big deal.
An annoying thing is that two of the last few nights we were visited by a bat in our cabin. Getting them out made for a bit of an unwelcome night-time activity but I'm looking forward to a bat free night tonight.
I'll have an entry about ministry soon. I wanted to tell you all that I leave for Botswana on March 25th. We are going to northern Botswana for about 2 weeks to help out the ministry Love Botswana Outreach mission (www.lovebotswana.com) We will be doing hard manual labor lightly renovating a house as well as anything else needed.
Please pray for me as I seek to prepare my heart for this new experience. It will be hot, hard and tiring but we get to bless an awesome ministry so Im excited for another opportunity.
Launchpad and Hope house are going amazing. Please pray for growth in the students I teach and that they will live out living with Christ on a day-to-day basis.
If you have not done this already bookmark www.thriveafrica.org. They have great near daily updates in their field blogs as well as great pictures of me and the other interns doing our thing here.
Thank you for your support and be blessed.
First I should say that internet is actually quite good considering where I am. Right now I'm typing this halfway up a mountain on the middle of a game reserve. I'm over 2km from the entrance of the reserve that merely opens up to a dirt road. Take a left on the road and follow for probably close to 5k will take you to an actual tar road. Take another left follow for probably 8k and you reach the N3, The Main Highway between Johannesburg and Durban. Harrismith is only about 5 minutes from this point. Harrismith is a nice quaint town that we visit once a week to enjoy. During our town time we buy groceries for the next week, do light shopping, pick up mail and visit KFC (the only fastfood in the town). We have begun to frequent a local coffee shop that has quite good shakes and desert beverages. Its small but a very nice little town.
Running on the base is becoming much more enjoyable. We are close to 6000 ft in elevation and if you have never run much let me describe this to you. Running up a hill at elevation is like taking the worst hill that you've ever hiked up and doubling its gradient and length. Lets just say the lungs aren't too pleased with you when you crest the top. Thinking about it your legs feel like crap too.
It is getting better though and to be honest there is a hill that I have run in New Hampshire that was considerably worst than anything I have run before. Im getting about 3-4 runs in a week and get to enjoy seeing the local game during almost every run. Lechwe are quite beautiful as are blesbok. Look them up if you don't know what Im talking about. I just had my best run here on tuesday. It was cool late afternoon and my lungs felt good and my legs felt even better. Being able to run here is awesome.
Living accommodations here are quite nice but you have to come to terms with the reality of moths. Every night you get used to seeing moths flying around and killing at least a few. They can be annoying but generally aren't too bad to deal with. You also get used to persistent flies buzzing around your head during the day. Again a minor annoyance but not a big deal.
An annoying thing is that two of the last few nights we were visited by a bat in our cabin. Getting them out made for a bit of an unwelcome night-time activity but I'm looking forward to a bat free night tonight.
I'll have an entry about ministry soon. I wanted to tell you all that I leave for Botswana on March 25th. We are going to northern Botswana for about 2 weeks to help out the ministry Love Botswana Outreach mission (www.lovebotswana.com) We will be doing hard manual labor lightly renovating a house as well as anything else needed.
Please pray for me as I seek to prepare my heart for this new experience. It will be hot, hard and tiring but we get to bless an awesome ministry so Im excited for another opportunity.
Launchpad and Hope house are going amazing. Please pray for growth in the students I teach and that they will live out living with Christ on a day-to-day basis.
If you have not done this already bookmark www.thriveafrica.org. They have great near daily updates in their field blogs as well as great pictures of me and the other interns doing our thing here.
Thank you for your support and be blessed.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Religion versus Spirituality
Being here, an ocean away from the distractions of home and focusing so much on God and Christianity, questions about my own faith are being raised constantly. Here are some thoughts on this subject.
Ready for a bombshell? I consider myself far more religious than I do spiritual. Now I know it is much more fashionable for evangelicals to say they are spiritual and that they hate the word religion but hopefully I can shed light on why I am the opposite and maybe even put forward an argument on why being religious is better for me than being spiritual.
Christians often use the following phrases: “God told me to do this”, “I am waiting for God’s call in my life”
I never use this language because I would be lying if I did. God has never spoken to me in a literal sense or even a more figurative sense, such as a dream or a vision. I can see the many blessings God has given me in my life and I can see how God has led me to this point (see the first entry of my blog) but he does not speak to me in the spiritual sense. Many Christians say “I’m waiting for God’s call in my life” and too often it seems like it ends up being a cop-out in order to continue the status-quo.
Honestly if I waited for God’s call in my life to do something I would have done nothing up to this point in my life. I did not decide to apply and go to South Africa because God spoke to me. I came because it was the best opportunity that was put before me and because I have always wanted to go to Africa and because it was the right thing as a Christian to do.
I am more religious than spiritual. I go to church weekly on my own volition. I read the Bible more or less daily. Rather than have devotions I read straight-through the Bible chapter by chapter. I am almost completed reading the Bible for the second time in this manner. I have studied apologetics thoroughly and excessively. I pray daily and while it has become more spiritual here, it is still something I am not great at. I know Christianity, I know its doctrines and I know why I believe them. Overall, Christianity is as intellectual for me as it is spiritual, if not more so. I do not say this to point out that I am better than anyone (I'm not) but to show how being religious more than spiritual has worked for me.
The other day a fellow intern announced to us that she was going to do a two-week fast from TV, non-worship music, and food. She is doing this because she prayed and God told her to do this fast and during it God would tell him the vision she had for her. Let me be clear, I have no doubt that God spoke to her and this fast is completely genuine. As my friend, I hope God blesses her experience and I look forward to hearing about how God spoke to her during the next two weeks. I believe and am glad for all the spirituality in Christians today, but this is not me at least not at the moment.
In today’s pluralistic Western culture many Christians are trying to win people to Christ by saying it’s not religion it’s a relationship, it’s spiritual. That is all well and good but I think we must tread carefully. Christianity unmoored from its Biblical, historical, doctrinal truths can quickly become little more than glorified New Age feel-good mysticism. (There are examples of mysticism in the Bible, including certain visions, but I mention it here with its negative, non-Christian connotation).
I do not write this to make everyone more religious. I write this because Christianity is so rich, so wonderful, and so true, that it can speak to everyone. It can speak to me as an excessively logical, educated, western American and it can speak to the poor Indian Hindu child who has never owned a thing in his life and it can speak to the formerly New Age pagan who used to believe that everything was spirit. Christianity is the great truth of our existence and I would feel greatly saddened if it was restricted to only one understanding of it.
May God Bless you as you discover how Christianity and its truth is meaningful for you.
Ready for a bombshell? I consider myself far more religious than I do spiritual. Now I know it is much more fashionable for evangelicals to say they are spiritual and that they hate the word religion but hopefully I can shed light on why I am the opposite and maybe even put forward an argument on why being religious is better for me than being spiritual.
Christians often use the following phrases: “God told me to do this”, “I am waiting for God’s call in my life”
I never use this language because I would be lying if I did. God has never spoken to me in a literal sense or even a more figurative sense, such as a dream or a vision. I can see the many blessings God has given me in my life and I can see how God has led me to this point (see the first entry of my blog) but he does not speak to me in the spiritual sense. Many Christians say “I’m waiting for God’s call in my life” and too often it seems like it ends up being a cop-out in order to continue the status-quo.
Honestly if I waited for God’s call in my life to do something I would have done nothing up to this point in my life. I did not decide to apply and go to South Africa because God spoke to me. I came because it was the best opportunity that was put before me and because I have always wanted to go to Africa and because it was the right thing as a Christian to do.
I am more religious than spiritual. I go to church weekly on my own volition. I read the Bible more or less daily. Rather than have devotions I read straight-through the Bible chapter by chapter. I am almost completed reading the Bible for the second time in this manner. I have studied apologetics thoroughly and excessively. I pray daily and while it has become more spiritual here, it is still something I am not great at. I know Christianity, I know its doctrines and I know why I believe them. Overall, Christianity is as intellectual for me as it is spiritual, if not more so. I do not say this to point out that I am better than anyone (I'm not) but to show how being religious more than spiritual has worked for me.
The other day a fellow intern announced to us that she was going to do a two-week fast from TV, non-worship music, and food. She is doing this because she prayed and God told her to do this fast and during it God would tell him the vision she had for her. Let me be clear, I have no doubt that God spoke to her and this fast is completely genuine. As my friend, I hope God blesses her experience and I look forward to hearing about how God spoke to her during the next two weeks. I believe and am glad for all the spirituality in Christians today, but this is not me at least not at the moment.
In today’s pluralistic Western culture many Christians are trying to win people to Christ by saying it’s not religion it’s a relationship, it’s spiritual. That is all well and good but I think we must tread carefully. Christianity unmoored from its Biblical, historical, doctrinal truths can quickly become little more than glorified New Age feel-good mysticism. (There are examples of mysticism in the Bible, including certain visions, but I mention it here with its negative, non-Christian connotation).
I do not write this to make everyone more religious. I write this because Christianity is so rich, so wonderful, and so true, that it can speak to everyone. It can speak to me as an excessively logical, educated, western American and it can speak to the poor Indian Hindu child who has never owned a thing in his life and it can speak to the formerly New Age pagan who used to believe that everything was spirit. Christianity is the great truth of our existence and I would feel greatly saddened if it was restricted to only one understanding of it.
May God Bless you as you discover how Christianity and its truth is meaningful for you.
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