These were a few of my thoughts after 18 days in Zambia and Zimbabwe. My mission was to teach female church leaders and pastors’ wives. I was travelling with the Global Training Network (globaltrainingnetwork.org). This organization educates and equips pastors and church leadership in the Majority World, where 80% of pastors have no formal training. It was one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my life. I am still processing all my thoughts, but I know I was changed by this experience
8 Reflections on Africa
Dust
Dust everywhere
Dust so thick you can’t see through the windshields
Dust floors in a home
Dust floors in a church with no walls
“…All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”
Water
Don’t drink the water
Water bottles to brush your teeth
A village with no running water
Women walking with jugs of water on their heads
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10
Waiting
Lots of waiting…
Layovers at the airport
Waiting hours for dinner
Waiting for Wifi
Waiting for people to arrive (then realizing they have walked 2 hours to get there)
Waiting for their Mess-i-ah!
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
Psalm 130:5
Generosity
People have so little
Compliment her hat and she gives it to you
Humbled by a special offering for a pastor from our team
If they only knew how much we had!
“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:43-44
Fear
Fear in a child’s eyes…
Such big eyes filled with fear
Only to realize their fear is of me, someone white, someone different
Fear that I, too, have been afraid of those who are not like me.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:7
Names
New names to show they are a new creations in Christ:
Loveness, Lovemore, Faith, Grace, Purity
“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Hunger
Hunger for food
Hunger for the Word
Hunger for teaching
Hunger for Truth
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 6:35
Worship
Dancing
Clapping
Drums beating
A capella voices
Beautiful harmony
Impoverished materially, yet rich with joyful, grateful hearts
Worship like never before
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”
Psalm 150:6
Life lesson learned in Africa: Regardless of how much we have, or what we are going through, there is always a reason to praise God!