Shamari Wangu!

Hello all! It's been a while, I know. Things have been very busy here, but I decided that it was about time to let you all know what we've been up to here in beautiful Africa.

We've really fallen into the rhythm of apprenticeship at this point. We are in the Contending posture now. It's about fighting to see the kingdom of God present in the situations and lives around us. This has become very real in the situation myself and Jody find ourselves in working with Zimbabwe refugees. What does the reality of the present kingdom of God mean for them?

To brag a little bit on my friend Jody (he's the guy who got me involved with the refugees), he has made a real effort to not just work with the refugees at the camp but to find people even in our own backyard. One of the guys he met, Manatsa, became a regular part of our communities lives. He was living here in Pretoria North at a construction site that he was working at, which is common for anyone who can find work. As our community became more burdened for what was happening to the Zimbabwe people here and in their own country we started asking more questions of ourselves about what we could do now, besides just praying about it. We can't go in and overthrow the government, but how can we see the kingdom of God manifest for those around us? We decided that we should take Manatsa into our home. After a little bit of room hopping he has more permanently become my roommate. He is a great guy and a man of God. Recently we started a bible study with some of the people we know from the camp that we go to and Manatsa has been coming and helping us with it. It's been such an amazing experience doing this bible study. Jody and I have actually only led a couple. Some of the Christians at the camp got so excited about the way we do bible study that they started leading some themselves. It's been a great exercise in humility and openness to realize that it's not just me who has something to teach these people, but they have a lot to teach me!

This Manatsa teaching me how to cook pap, a traditional African food.

The language you see behind you on the white board is Shona, the major language of Zimbabwe. This is one of two lessons in which I found out that I'm not very good at learning languages...

Over all things are going really well here. It's very strange to look back at the person I was before I came on this trip. It's hard to explain it or put my finger on it, but things are just different. One thing that an apprentice from Scotland said to me while I was there that really confirmed that I wanted to do this apprenticeship was that he really saw himself becoming more like Jesus. Now, this may sound like an arrogant or just weird statement at first, but I really get what he was trying to say. I see it in myself. I'm starting to think differently, look at the world differently, even look at God differently. Now this doesn't make me feel any holier than I did yesterday. The reality is that the more you begin to know about God the less you actually know about him, the deeper the mystery becomes. It's like in a mystery story when what was thought to be the last clue was uncovered, only to find that the mystery was more complex than you could have ever imagined. The goal seems to be to become ok with that, to become ok with the mystery, the ambiguity. The other part is that the closer you seem to get to God, the more desperate you are for him. There is this idea I recently read about (How (Not) to Speak of God by Pete Rollins) that takes Pascal's idea of the "God-shaped hole" that we all have in us and turns it a bit on its head. The original thought with the God-shaped hole was that all mankind has this hole in them that we try to fill with all manner of things, but only God can truly satisfy or "fill" that need in us. Rollins says that maybe when our lives intersect with Gods, when our stories become intertwined, the wake of Gods movement through our lives creates a hole, almost like a black hole, that can never be satisfied. There is more of God than we can ever understand so this void in us never completely fills. We will never know enough or be close enough, there will always be more.

So with that I will sign off. I love you all and miss you like CRAZY! I know it's a little early to be thinking this but I can't wait to be home. I truly love Africa and I see traveling as a part of my short and long term future but I've never been this far and this long away from friends and family. You all have a special place in my heart and I can't wait to celebrate what God has done in my life and in Africa with you face to face. Until then I will soak up every moment and opportunity I can. So, until next time, cheers!

Prayers and Creeds

Hey everyone, I'm going to be posting on a new blog that some friends of mine and I have started called Prayers and Creeds. Click on the link to check it and find out what it's all about. Email me if you want to know more.

God's Economy

So I'm going to play a little word association game with you. I'm going to say a phrase, and then I want you to remember the first thing that comes to mind. Ok? Here we go...


Fair Trade...


So what did you think of? That's right, coffee. Now I'm all about the fair trade coffee and we have a pretty rad supplier of strictly African fair trade goodness, but why does fair trade have to apply directly to coffee? What can't it be a much bigger idea than that?

I am writing this because I just started downloading Derek Webb's cd the Ringing Bell for free. And not the good old fashion pirate way, but a legitimate site from some artists who had an interesting idea; fair trade music. What if we let you pick the price of the cd? Or better yet, if you just spread the word about it we'll let you download it for free, because we want a different type of connection with our fans. There are several artists on this site and you can go there (http://www.noisetrade.com) and read more about what they're doing. Especially for musicians, the idea of allowing their music to be downloaded for free instead of for a fee is a counter cultural idea.

Now this got me to thinking about the idea of trading goods for goods and what it would look like if people stopped caring so much about cold, hard cash and started sharing what they had without cost to those who needed it. What could happen if we stopped relying on the all mighty dollar (Rand, Euro, Pound, or wherever your form of currency) and started helping those in need, and in turn they would help you in your need? This isn't a new concept, it's the early church in Acts. Now most of us who have been on this journey for some time know this story. We read it, say "What a nice thought" and go back to life as normal, maybe throwing a little extra cash in the basket this week at church and feel good about ourselves. I'm the guiltiest of all in this, because even though I have that nice afterthought that everything I have belongs to God, the way my life plays out doesn't show it. What I have is mine. I've worked for it (or in my current case I did the leg work to raise it) and I should determine where it goes and what it does, and I hold onto it with a not-so-loose grip. That is not the economy of God's kingdom. When will I truly follow Jesus's teaching on money? It's not at all about 10% of my wealth, but it's about everything I have. It's about my money, food, clothes, car, home, friends, trade/vocation, it's about everything I have to offer this world. What if my 10% is actually cheating God?

So, what would the implications be if we all started sharing? And I mean really sharing without interest, without a sense of personal justice, without holding it over someones head when they have taken more than they have given. Could it then be possible that we could then know no one who had need? What if the church, God's people, are the avenue through which God wants His people to not worry about tomorrow? Jesus speaks about the birds of the air and the flowers in the fields, and how he cares for them regardless of what they do for the kingdom. Could we care for people without considering what they can do for us, what they have to offer us? I know that's a stretch for me, but it seems that in God's economy this is the very point he is trying to make, that the last are first.

When I drink a cup of fair trade coffee, what does that mean? It means that someone who was once making next to nothing for their work is now being paid a fair wage for their labor and in some cases are also better educated in how to do their job (ie, better farming techniques). In one case that I was a actually able to hear from the source, a woman who could only send one child to school can now send both due to the fact that she was being paid a fair wage and was also taught better ways to farm her crops. Though it's small, I think thats a picture of the kingdom on earth.