Jesus and the Crowds

Here’s another segment from Eckhard Schnabel’s work on Early Christian Mission (pp. 241-242). It struck me as it made me think about the crowds in Togo. If you’ve followed the news reports, you probably think of the crowds as angry and violent. Believe me when I tell you that those folks are the minority, though they are certainly not to be dismissed lightly. What I saw in the eyes and heard in the voices of my Togolese neighbors was fear. They are indeed sheep without a shepherd, or perhaps it would be better to say, they are sheep who do not trust and who fear their shepherds. And like the crowds of Jesus’ day, Jesus has compassion on them. Please keep them in your prayers this week.

Here’s what Schnabel has to say:

“The crowds that wanted hear Jesus preach and see him heal do not appear as monochromatic. Rather, the presentation of the crowds reflects the historical reality that would surround any charismatic and popular itinerant preacher who is also controversial. Because crowds of people wanted to hear Jesus preach again and again, and because they brought their sick trusting that he would heal them (while ignoring the negative verdicts of priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes), they appear in an essentially positive light. The people of these ochloi are not true followers of Jesus who are committed to being his disciples, but are neither they like the Pharisees and scribes who reject him. They know that he is a prophet, and they ask themselves, at least on one occasion, whether he might be the Messiah. . . . The crowds stand between agreement and mistrust, between acceptance and rejection – they are the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 10:6). This is the reason why Jesus has compassion on them.

“… [A]s Jesus extended his compassion to the crowds, Christians should receive all the curious, the neutral and the skeptical people whom they encounter in their everyday lives with similar compassion. It was Jesus who sent the disciples to the crods that pressed around (Mt. 9:35-38) in order to preach and heal people (Mt 10:1, 7-8). . . .

“Hans Bietrand* observes that ‘it is especially to these people, who have nothing in particular to offer, that Jesus directs his teaching and his compassion (Matt. 9:33),’ in contrast to the ochlos as the ignorant masses who did not keep the law’ (John 7:48-49).”

I hope that provides some food for thought. It did for me. In personal news, God is looking out for us here in Ghana. We have received a generous offer of a place to stay at the Village of Hope. We plan to move there Monday and remain for about a week, before attending the annual West Africa Missionary Retreat at Coconut Grove Beach Resort in Elmina, Ghana. This is always a highlight, so pray that all the missionaries planning to attend will be able to travel there safely.

*H. Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, p. 800.

Evacuation!*

This is a word that brings chills to the bones of every missionary -- something we hope to never experience, but know that chances are pretty high that we might.

For the Tabligbo team, evacuation became a reality today. We struggled with the decision before last Sunday's presidential election, but chose to wait things out and pray that we would not have to exercise this option. We spent several days "living like Martha Stewart, not necessarily her lifestyle, but feeling that we were under house arrest, only occasionally venturing outside of our compounds. That was primarily to communicate with our teammates, as telecommunications were out in the country from Sunday until Wednesday.

After the ruling party candidate was declared the winner of the election, the security situation quickly deteriorated in the south of the country where we live, and where the opposition parties have their strongest support. We heard of attacks on foreigners in the capital city of Lome, and though we felt that we were secure in Tabligbo for the time being, all of our trusted friends and neighbors were expecting the situation to worsen. Not knowing whether or for how much longer we would be able to travel out of the country, we decided to leave in the hopes that we will soon be able to return to Togo.

We left Tabligbo at 5:30 a.m. and did not experience any difficulties with our "flight" out of the country. There was evidence of yesterday's conflicts -- remains of fires and barricades that had since been removed. We passed into Ghana by a little used border crossing. Some Togolese military gave us a few hassles, but by and large, we were well received by border officials on both the Togolese and Ghanaian sides.

The Bontragers and Newlins were scheduled to fly out of Accra on May 8. The Bontragers have been able to change their tickets and will leave here on May 1. The Newlins, who are on a different airline, may be able to leave on May 4. We are so thankful for all these families have meant to our team.

At present, we are all staying in the Baptist Guest House in Accra until Sunday. Their rooms are occupied after that point, and we need to find something a little more affordable for longer term stay.

We can all be contacted by our normal email addresses. In addition, the Parkers and Koonces have cell phones. Here are the numbers as you would dial them from the States:
Koonces 011-233-24-4090298
Parkers 011-233-24-3638990

Please keep the Togolese Christians in your prayers as fears are high in our part of the country. Also pray that we will be able to return to Togo soon, and that our homes will remain secure in our absence.

We plan to stay in Ghana at least through the annual West Africa Missionary Retreat that ends on May 12.  

*Today’s post also appears in the Tabligbo Times, our team’s weekly e-newsletter.  To subscribe, go to www.watchiharvest.com.

 

Guests In The World

Rabbi Tanhuma (A.D. 380) told this story:

“Once a boat load of gentiles was sailing the Mediterranean.  There was one Jewish child in the boat.  A great storm came upon them in the sea.  Each person took his idol in his hand and cried out.  But it did not help them.  Once they saw that their cries were of no avail, they turned to the Jewish child and said, ‘Child, rise up and call out to your God.  For we have heard that he answers you when you cry out to him, and that he is heroic.’  The child immediately rose up and cried out with all his heart.  The Holy One, blessed be He, accepted his prayer and quieted the seas.  When the ship reached dry land [at the port], everyone disembarked to purchase his needed staples.  They said to the child, ‘Don’t you wish to buy anything?’  He said to them, ‘What do you want of me?  I am just a poor traveler.’  They said to him, ‘You are just a poor traveler?  They are the poor travelers.  Some of them are here, and their idols are in Babylonia.  Some of them are here, and their idols are in Rome.  Some of them are here and their idols are with them, but they do them no good.  But wherever you go, you God is with you.’”

Eckhard Schnabel* comments,

“… people who know that their god is far away feel free [to live as they please (ap)] and at home everywhere because their god cannot see them; people who know that Yahweh is omnipresent realize that he is, as Creator, the Lord of the world, in which a person can only be a guest.”

Today we are feeling our status as guests here in the world and particularly Togo.  We are spending the day at home while the rest of the country is voting in very controversial presidential elections.  Many are predicting trouble regardless of who is announced as the winner.  Because we know that our God is heroic, because  he is Lord of the world, we are at peace as we wait and pray for the people of Togo.

*The above story and Schnabel’s comments are found in Eckhard J. Schnable, Early Christian Mission, Vol. 1, Jesus and the Twelve (Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 2004), pp. 167-169.

Ministry of Waiting

I just received this from my friend Judy Miller, who serves as business facilitator for the Baptist mission in Benin, just next door to Togo. I thought it was an honest and realistic look at missionary life.

This week I thought of you as I sat waiting in our local bank. Waiting, waiting, waiting. I was there trying to cash 2 checks. Ahhhhh my grandiose dreams as a new missionary….expecting great things of God, attempting great things for God, Carey, Taylor, Moon now they got a lot done for the Lord. Waiting, waiting........

I strike up conversations with all the new employees in that back section of the bank; fresh out of the local university trying very hard to impress their colleagues and the occasional client who gets back here to the holy of holies. They eventually let their guard down and laugh at this white woman that attempts to speak their language. I always ask what village folks are from because I know a good bit of the geography here in the south. Opportunities present themselves to share about my work and my Savior.

After about 4 hours of waiting and 2 trips to a very busy downtown just to cash 2 checks the Lord whispers to me, it’s all in the waiting. These employees watch how I react to unpleasant circumstances of being made to wait an outrageous amount of time and how our business was being handled. While I like to report that every minute I was there glorified the Lord, I’m sure the reality is my impatience came through. I did have a chance to share and even return with daily devotionals for these reading material starved educated young people. Pray that the Lord would indeed be glorified in my ministry of waiting.

Join me in praying for Benin’s neighbor, Togo. They are scheduled to have an election on Sunday. Suffice it to say there has been lots of protest and antics which could easily lead to violence over the weekend. Pray that the Lord will guard His children during all these events. Pray for PEACE. Pray that our missionaries will be safe and protected from any unrest.

FACTBOX - Key facts about Togo

Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX - Key facts about Togo
Here is some information on Togo to keep in mind as you pray for this Sunday's elections.

Community in Action

Yesterday two men came to my gate. They both are employees of one of my teammates who is in the States on furlough right now. One works in the house and the other is a guard. Before leaving, my teammate had paid his employees in advance for the time he would be away. But now, halfway through the furlough, the money is gone – all spent. They were wondering if I could give them each a $20 salary advance so they could get by for the remaining month and a half. Being a stick-in-the-mud, I told them that I would contact their boss, and gave them $5 each for the meantime.

How could both their three-month salaries be gone after a month and a half? How could this be anything other than blatant irresponsibility?

Well, it really isn’t. It seems that “a brother” (which can mean anything from next of kin to a fifth cousin) suffered three gunshot wounds during the political protests here a couple of weeks ago. They claim that he was an innocent bystander. They, and who knows how many other members of “the family,” had emptied their pockets to pay his hospital bills. Fortunately, he will live.

This reminded me of a couple of features of African culture. One is the tight sense of community. When there is a need, members of the community respond. There is a bond that brings about an obligation. There is also the assumption that, if they are in a similar need, the community will respond to help them. I’m reminded of the primitive communalism in the early Jerusalem church, where “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had” (Acts 4:32). In a true community, there is no “private property.” There is a just a voluntarily redistribution, as hearts respond to need. (That’s where it differs from communism.)

The second feature is a concern for the immediate present that eclipses worries about the future. Deal with the here-and-now, and worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow. Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”?

Now I don’t idealize African community. There are drawbacks. No doubt some of these very attitudes have hindered “development” as we understand it. But I couldn’t help but be impressed by the simple trust that led these men to do the right thing—help their brother—first, and worry about the consequences later.

This morning I had another visitor – a villager who had ridden his heavy, gear-less Chinese bicycle into town to seek help to pay medical bills for his daughter, who had just spent four days in the hospital. She is better, but you don’t get out until the bills are paid. Her bill was $25. This time, I was able to help, but it didn’t involve the risk that the two men had taken on behalf of their brother. It didn’t even involve sacrifice on my part, because someone else had given me money to use to help children here. I was just re-distributing what had been loaned to me. But when it comes down to it, isn’t that what all of our giving – even all of our spending – is?

Now, it would be irresponsible if I used the money in some way other than how the giver had intended. How much more should we reflect on how the Giver of all good things intends for us to use what he has put into our hands, and how irresponsible it is to use it otherwise!

Vicar of Christ?

OK, I have to say something. Benedict XVI has just been elected as pope. Fox News just interviewed a young (sounded young, I only have satellite radio) American seminarian, who was rejoicing that there is now a pope, because the pope is the representative of Christ on earth. The church, he said, had been like sheep without a shepherd in the interim between popes.

Wait a minute. I thought Jesus was the Good Shepherd; had he abandoned his sheep? (Granted, men do serve as shepherds, but that is on a more local level, not for the whole church.) And can a single man, or any single Christian aspire to fully represent Christ? Doesn't the fact that the church is the Body of Christ, mean that it is the church as a whole who represents Christ on earth?

Well, obviously, I'm not a Catholic and can't understand or appreciate all of their perspectives. It's just that I've read a lot about identification with and commonality between Catholics and biblical Christianity, and I think there's a danger of forgetting how far apart we are theologically.

That' s not to say there is no good there or that there is nothing we can learn. I've been challenged by Henri Nouwen and you're hard pressed to find better NT theology than Luke Johnson. But when Catholics speak as Catholics, there's still a big gap.

Some Blogs I Read

I’ve now linked to a few of my fellow bloggers. Each has a unique style and purpose, so head on over and find the ones who interest you. I plan to add to this list periodically. Of course, listing of a blog does not imply that I endorse all views therein represented. If you read something you like, or something you disagree with, leave a comment, but make sure that truth and grace are equally valued. This is more about sharing, interacting, and growing than getting it right every time.

Pray for Togo

CNN.com - Pre-poll clashes kill at least 7 in Togo - Apr 17, 2005
Please pray for the people of Togo in view of coming elections on Sunday, April 24. Except for one day of violent clashes, things have been calm in our small town. We're not so concerned for our own safety, as for the people of Togo and their future.

A Few Questions

(Today's post is a little long -- stay with me if you can.)

I think I was a junior in college when I returned to my roots and started listening to country music again. It just wasn’t cool when Iwas in high school in the seventies. Back then, we were listening to brand newrock music that since has come to be described as “classic.” Talk about feelingold. When I was a junior in college, however, my parent’s college fund ran out,but they did let me borrow a 1972 Ford Pinto (yes, the exploding kind), so I could live and work off campus. The Pinto only had an AM radio, so I foundmyself listening to WSM, none other than the flagship station of the Grand Ol’ Opry. Even todaywhen I’m in the Nashville area, I nostalgically tune in.

Perhaps this helps explain why, since I got access to Worldspace Satellite Radio a few months ago here in Togo, I’ve spent hours listening to their “UpCountry” channel. Sometimes I’m embarrassed by the worldly or sexual content of the songs, but more often I’m impressed by the human and spiritual side of the music. Yesterday, I heard what was to me a new song, though it may have been out for a while in the States, sung by Clay Walker.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the lyrics, but the song begins by enumerating several modern-day dilemmas concerning the existence of evil in the world which the composer can’t understand, but then, taking a cue from chapters 38 to 42 of the book of Job, the composer confesses that he or she wasn’t there when God hung the stars, filled the stars, etc. In other words, humans can’t answer all of God’s questions, so we are in no position to demand that he answer all of ours. Still, the composer dares to ask God “A Few Questions” – hence the title of the song and the album.

I looked for more information on the song on Walker’s website, and found this quote from him,

“I was taught as a kid that you don’t question God, but this is written so well it’s pardonable.”

Somewhere along the line Walker’s teachers, decided that it was wrong to question God. I don’t know where they got that idea, but it wasn’t from the Bible. Though God never answers Job’s questions, he doesn’t condemn him for questioning. In fact, God was angry with Job’s friends who refused to question him, “because you have not spoken of me what is right, as myservant Job has” (Job 42:7, NIV).

And Job isn’t the only one to question God in Scripture.

Abraham questioned God’s decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (he lost), but Moses managed to talk God out of wiping out the children of Israel (Gen. 18:16-19:29; Exodus 32:9-14). The Psalms are full of people questioning God, and God chose to keep those questions in the Bible. A quick search revealed thirty-one occurrences of the word “Why” in the English text of the NIV ofPsalms, including these:

• "Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?” (10:1)
  
• “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (22:1)
  
• “Why have you forgotten me?” (42:9)
• “Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Arouse yourself!”(44:23)
• “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” (115:2)
  

Even in the book of the Apocalypse, we find the martyrsunder the throne, in the very presence of God, questioning him, asking, “How long, Sovereign Lord?” (Rev. 6:10)

Obviously, God is not as disturbed by our questions as we might think. In fact, he invites us to ask. Obviously, we can go too far. We can question God, but we dare not accuse him. We dare not put "God in the Dock" (C.S. Lewis). Like Job, we do not have all the facts and we cannot expect to understand all of the cosmic forces involved in our struggles.But still, we can ask. Often times he calls us to wait.

He seldom answers quickly or in the way we expect to hear from him. He calls us to trust. He calls us to faith, but he allows us to doubt, to question, and to wait -- to wait for that day when either all of our questions will be immediately answered, or they just won't seem so pressing anymore. After all, we'll have forever.

Small Worlds

Sometimes the simplest thoughts are the most profound. I came across one of those yesterday that set me thinking in lots of different directions. In his blog for yesterday, Mike Cope said, “In small worlds, miniscule differences look VERY LARGE” (emphasis his).

I grew up in a small world. It was a great place to grow up. It was very safe, secure, and certain. I guess it was around about the eighth grade that my world started to get larger. I joined the debate team at my school, and most weekends found us traveling to such exotic locations as Nashville, Memphis, and Birmingham. When I spent three weeks in Washington, D.C. at the age of fifteen without my parents, I may as well have been going to a different planet; it was that different from anything I had known before. In my college years, I made it to Australia, and afterwards to New Zealand for three years. I discovered Oceania. Grad school led me to Africa and, well, here I am. And while I’ve been here, I fell in love with a beautiful Singapore girl, so now Asia has come into my world. I think my world has gotten pretty big, not just through travel, but even more so by the people I’ve met.

I am entirely in agreement with what Mike was trying to say about seeing our differences in perspective – that we need to focus on what we have in common – especially among those in the same religious tradition – than on our differences. As my world has gotten larger, I’ve seen more and more those points of contact, and found a kinship with those whom I would have regarded as anathema in my growing-up years. We have far more deadly enemies, and whether or not we feel we can always join forces, we need to realize that many others out there are fighting a common enemy, and serving a common Commander.

Mike’s observation also made me think of movies like A Bug’s Life and Antz, where whole communities carry out their activities in their microcosmic worlds, with little knowledge of the world around them. Each blade of grass, each leaf, and each bug is HUGE; the differences that we do not notice, make a difference to those involved.

So, I guess I’d just like to say that we need to realize that those miniscule differences to look and are indeed large, from a certain perspective. I need to understand how things look from that point of view.

Sometimes I miss my small world. For insiders, the sense of community in a small world is very heartening. In many ways, my large world community is much bigger, but it is not nearly as intimate. What I long for – and sometimes achieve – is small world intimacy with a large world perspective; a perspective that lets me see that my world is not so far apart from many others.

Operation Lion Heart

The Connection.org : Operation Lion Heart

Today is a boring day. I’ve spent most of the day entering corrections to a leadership training booklet into a Word document. The original text had a lot of errors, and the corrections are tedious. The fact that it’s in the Ewe language doesn’t make it any easier. I don’t think I could stick with this if it weren’t for the encouragement from my teammates as to the value of these books.

To relieve the boredom, I keep my satellite radio running in the background. This morning I was treated to bluegrass and a special on the group Alabama. This afternoon I’m listening to NPR, and thus the day was redeemed by the special I just listened to called “Operation Lion Heart.”

It’s about a little boy who was severely injured when he picked up an unexploded bomb in Iraq. His father risked his own life by begging for help at U.S. security checkpoint where he was suspected as a suicide bomber. The U.S. forces responded, and the little boy was sent to the U.S. for medical treatment.

Because of the special treatment he received, Iraqi insurgents suspected the father of being an American spy, and the family members remaining in Iraq were forced to flee from their home. Eventually the whole family was reunited in the States, where they now live.

The reporters who followed and reported the whole process have been awarded the Pulitzer prize. Have a look at the moving pictures and the story at the link above.

Some people have assumed that the reporters were trying to make a comment about the war, but they insist that they were simply reporting the story in front of them. Whatever their motives, this story is remarkable in that it reminds us in a powerful way of our shared humanity, even with those whose worldview differs radically from our own. Of course, cultural differences are profound, but the Image of God is even moreso.

The Parable of the Missing Plane Tickets

Behold, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who lost his plane tickets. Having received the tickets two weeks before, the man went on a far journey and straightway forgot where he had put the tickets. When he returned home, he was exceedingly vexed in spirit because he could not find his tickets. Searching as would a widow for a lost coin, he and his faithful spouse searched every room, every drawer, every stack of papers in the house, but the elusive tickets were not to be found. They sought the help of the Almighty in their search and retired to a good night’s rest, yet without the plane tickets in hand.

The following day, their search continued, but to no avail. Emails were dispatched, soliciting others to join in prayers that the missing tickets be found. And then a phone call came – a phone call from the very friend who delivered the plane tickets. A friend who had never before placed a phone call to this distant land; a friend who was able to stir up the man’s recollection, until he remembered one place where he had not yet searched. While he was yet on the phone, his loyal wife sought the tickets in a suitcase and lo, they were there.

And how shall we compare the kingdom of heaven to this search? It is the dedicated search for something valuable, and we are reminded of the value of each person to God. How he searches for each one of us, and calls us who are found to join him in that search for the lost ones. It reminds us that no search is successful without God, for this search could not have been successful without him. It reminds us that the search for lost people, must involve more than one searcher. Most who are found, respond to multiple invitations from multiple people. It reminds us, finally, that worry profits little, but trust in God and diligence in the search will yield their reward.

St. George's Castle -- Elmina, Ghana 

Choosing Slavery

This week we visited the slave “castle” in Elmina, Ghana. Situated on a beautiful stretch of West African coastline, this imposing structure, begun by the Portugese in the 15th century, is arguably the oldest extant European structure in Africa.

At the castle, we visited the dungeons where men and women were held for up to three months before they passed through the “point of no return,” a narrow door from where slaves were boarded onto ships. Half of them would die before reaching the foreign slave markets. We heard stories of how the commanding officer took his pick of the captured women, and saw the cannon ball to which those who resisted were chained. We were struck by the irony of the large upper room used as a chapel when the Dutch occupied the fort. The chapel is positioned immediately above the women’s dungeons.

That same day I was listening to a discussion of the problem of human trafficking on a Ghanaian radio station. Thousands of Africans seek a better life abroad by entrusting themselves to these traffickers who promise them passage across the Sahara to North Africa, where they hope to traverse the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Many die on the journey. Relatively few make it to Europe. Those who do arrive face the difficulty of living as illegal immigrants. the Ghanaian commentator concluded by speculating that, if a slave ship were to arrive at the coast of Ghana today, there would be no problem filling its hold with volunteers wanting to go abroad at whatever the cost.

The spiritual implications of this irony struck me, and those implications form a paradoxical two-edged sword. One edge of the blade cuts against those who choose slavery to unrighteousness – to sex, to drugs, to people, to demons – all the many ways that such slavery manifests itself. the foolishness of such slavery is evident, but that doesn’t stop us from rushing headlong into it.

The opposite edge of the sword cuts against those who choose to be slaves of righteousness. People are slaves to whatever master they serve (Rom. 6:16).. If Jesus is my Master, I must sell myself out to him completely. I must board that ship, risking my life, ready to sail for unknown ports.

Why would anyone choose such a voyage? For much the same reason as the Ghanaians who risk the sands of the Sahara. Because of hope – hope that the ultimate destination will be worth it. Yet for me, this hope is not the unlikely chance taken by the modern-day slaves. It is a “sure and certain hope,” an “anchor that keeps the soul.”

To hope is elpidzo in Greek – “confident expectation,” as my professor repeatedly impressed upon me. In French, it is espérer, a verb that stubbornly refuses to assume the uncertain subjunctive mood.

I hope for a better city, whose Builder and Maker is God (Heb. 11:16). So I have passed the point of no return and I have boarded the ship, and there is no going back.

Nazinga Video

There is a video available about Clark Lungren and Nazinga (click title above for link). Here is an excerpt from the promo materials:

"Clark Lungren, the son of Canadian missionaries, spent his childhood in West Africa. He returned to Burkino Faso in 1974, a land-locked country suffering from constant drought, poaching and government apathy. He had a plan.

The result of his work is the Nazinga Game Reserve, 18,002 square miles a stone's throw from the Ghana border. The area had a high wildlife population in the 1950s, but it had been hunted almost to the point of no return. After a U.N. development officer told him that wildlife was "history," Clark received the blessing of the local government to start a new reserve. He entered into an agreement with locals: they would help him build water holes, and, when the animal populations increased, they would be allowed to hunt an agreed amount. Eventually, 250 miles of new waterways were built in a land where even humans need two gallons of water a day to survive. Anti-poaching patrols were also added. Traps were collected, and game wardens were added to the area. After 10 years, the animal population increased tenfold."

In talking with Mr. Lungren, I found that he is disappointed that, since the Game Ranch has been turned over to the government, there has not been the same emphasis on blessing the local population through the game, as he had hoped. The Game Ranch is used primarily as a source of tourism dollars (including mine!), rather than providing food and jobs to local people has he had intended.

This just reminded me of the falleness of our world. Working from a Christian worldview, Mr. Lungren sough to bless people and treat God's creation with respect and dignity. But fallen humanity has taken a balanced, Christian approach to the environment and twisted it to be used for mostly material purposes.

Travel Mercies

God has been especially gracious to us this week throughout our travels. I've just posted a photo of some of the elephants we saw at Nazinga Game Ranch in Burkina Faso. That day was by far the most spectacular of our travels. But beyond the spectacular, we were reminded many times of God's continual presence with us.

First, thanks to those who prayed for us. We were also praying, and God did keep us safe over 3,000 kilometers of driving.

It's amazing all the people you run into on such a trip. In northern Ghana, we were stopped by the gendarmes (sort of like the National Guard in the States). It was a routine stop and nothing surprising. Suddenly, a white man roared up on his motorcycle. It took me a minute to see past the helmet, but I recognized him as John Crocker, a Southern Baptist missionary who happens to be from Huntsville, Alabama, the same town as my friend/guest, Alan Henderson.

While visiting at the American Rec Center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, we ran into a Filipino missionary family who we had met in the Paris airport over three years ago. We also met Clark Lungren, founder of Nazinga Game Ranch. Yesterday, when driving over 700 kms from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Kumasi, Ghana, we met up with Papa Christian Nsoah and his wife Lizzie at a toll booth in northern Ghana. Papa Christian stood in for Maureen's father at our wedding and he and Sister Lizzie are very dear to us. All of these were just reminders of how God orchestrates so many things in our lives of which we are unaware.

I also found this travelling experience rather humbling. Often I think that, after twelve years in Africa, I am beyond culture shock. But the past couple of days have been particularly stressful for me in dealing with peoplehere in Ghana. Perhaps it is the fatigue from doing all the driving, but I am surprised that things can still get to me like the used to. Maybe it's just God's reminder that I have to continue to adjust, and especially to remain humble and patient in dealing with people.

Elephants in Nazinga Game Ranch 

My Kids Don't Deserve . . .

I've been trying to post this since Friday, but have been having trouble posting by email.

We just left a game park in Burkina Faso that was originally set up as an elephant sanctuary. Burkina Faso now has West Africa’s elephant population, and we were thrilled to see many of them as we drove through the rugged terrain Friday morning. In preparation for this and similar trips, my wife had picked up some binoculars for our sons – a pair for each – when we were in the States last year. They were kids’ binoculars, but they did have some functionality. We got them each a pair to avoid the constant competition between them the last time we went to a game park.

I think our three year old’s binoculars were rendered useless within a few minutes of coming out of the box. We still had one pretty good pair. After we had been out looking at the elephants, we returned to our cabin to pack up. In the course of the packing, I found our older sons’ binoculars lying on the dusty ground. He was off playing chase. My immediate thought was, “My kids don’t deserve these gifts.”

I was immediately convicted almost as soon as the thought entered my mind. How often must my God, my Father, think the same thing about me. How often am I ungrateful or fail to properly use the gifts that he has given me. God has a purpose for every gift, yet how often do I allow my gifts to lie in the dust, while I play chase – chasing pleasure or distraction or anything other that what God intends for me.

Over twenty years ago I heard Joe Beam define grace as, “When God gives us what we need, not what we deserve.” I certainly need a lot of it.