That is a line from a good 'ol song by NeedtoBreathe called Garden. That has been my prayer today. I wish for all that I do to be for God and after God. I have been struggling with letting go of my burdens and allowing God to take them from me. It's been very difficult here because there have been so many things which discourage me. The whole computer thing is really just a bummer. I got my computer back yesterday and it worked...for about 3 minutes. Then it froze and shut down again and won't turn on. So that is just a major bummer there. Ha, I have been secretly hoping that everyone will feel so bad for me that they will pool their money together and buy me a new computer.
Haha, ya, well, God continues to speak to me through good friends and situations. My friend Ashton has spoken a lot of good truth into my life these past days. It's been very helpful. I am someone who needs to be shown how to do something or else I don't get it. That's how it is with letting go of my burdens and letting God take them. I just don't know how to do that. But today Ashton had a great devotion and some perfect scriptures for me. One of the things that stuck out to me was in her devotion book.
It's written as letters from God to the reader. One portion of it said, "The only thing that is prohibiting me from doing a special and magnificent work in your life is you." For me that makes total sense. I want to do things on my own, a lot of times apart from God.
And then on the bus to our service site, I was really thinking and praying about that. And I just had this picture of the Father standing there waiting for me. Then I handed Him my computer and He just hucked it behind him as if it were nothing. Then I handed Him my wife and he..didn't huck her, He placed her behind Him. I gave Him my theology paper that I have to write and is kind of looming over my head, and He tore it in half and threw it up in the air so that papers scattered everywhere. I gave Him my iPod and broken camera, He chucked 'em behind Him like they were totally worthless. And then I just saw Him with arms open wide longing for an embrace with me. He just wants to hold me and for me to focus and strive after Him.
All the things I am going through and struggling with are basically worthless in the grand scheme of things and are all behind God, at least, that is where their place should be, BEHIND GOD.
He wants to hold me, He wants to hold all of us and simply love us. Pray that I will seek God and fix my eyes upon Him, in faith, trusting that He will take care of me and watch over me.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Lekker Boet
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? I often wonder what exactly Jesus meant by this as he gave up his spirit to his father. I am still not exactly sure but I kinda feel like asking God the same question now. As in, "Why God are you allowing continued strife and hardship in my life?" I know the answer to this question but knowing the answer does not make it any better. The past two weeks in particular have extraordinary, phenomenal, incredible, ridiculous, amazing and now sad. We are in our last week here at African Enterprise and it is beginning to hit me.
I am not ready to leave.
Even though we have exactly one month left here in Africa I have no desire to leave my church family, my African Enterprise family and my Walk in the Light family. We started service sites two weeks ago since we finished school then. I knew I would want to be at Walk in the Light simply because I heard about it before I even came here and somehow knew it's where I would be. We go to this ministry every single day except for weekends and some Mondays. This ministry is specifically for the people of Haniville, a community across the street who live in government provided housing. And by housing I mean mostly one to two room buildings made of sticks and mud. Some are made from brick and plaster.
Anyway, Walk in the Light has a church, a house for the pastor and his family, an office, a computer room and large amount of farming land. The land directly behind the building is gardened by the grannies (gogos) for food. There is an old storage building that had tons of junk and random stuff in it when we first arrived. That room has now been completely renovated. The nurses had to do a community project and they proposed that building be made into a care center. So we moved everything out, organized it, dumped the rubbish, tore out the carpet, helped lay the new cement floor and painted the walls. Hospital beds were brought in and some workers built a bathroom and did the majority of the flooring.
Starting here was difficult because, unlike other service sites, we did not have any direction or really any clue what we were doing. Bruce, the man in charge, is not good at communication and is only there for like 10 minutes some mornings. So we started out painting Karin and Wilfred's house where they will be staying. They are from Holland and have come to draw up plans for the new building which will be put it on top of the hill overlooking Haniville. So Bruce would come and say, "This is what you are doing today." But we wouldn't necessarily have supplies so we had to find a lot of things on our own. Then, tuesdays and thursdays the gogos come for a group meeting, which we didn't know about the first week. So that was frustrating. And we are supposed to implement community engagement tools we learned in our class during these meetings, but it didn't really work out the way we planned. We had a lot of troubles the first week and I got super frustrated along with my team.
However, God has proven himself to be very very faithful and during the times where we had no ideas, we would have to learn to go before the Lord in prayer and He would give us ideas for what to do. Fridays, the Sr. Youth of the town come for a meeting and Bible study. They meet every friday and anyway but they handed it over to us to run for the past two weeks and this week. It's been incredible knowing these people. They are college age like myself.
It's really hard to communicate what has been happening the past few weeks because I haven't had time to blog and there's just too much to write down. Plus, I don't have a computer so that makes it difficult as well. Anyway, know that the relationships we have there are very tight and beautiful. We went to their church this morning and it gave me such a great picture of what Heaven is sure to be like. The Zulus are very gifted with loudness and the ability to be great at singing. Seriously, the entire church service is singing and dancing and praying out loud. At one point, we were singing Hallelujah over and over again, and it was so so beautiful that it gave me that glimpse of Heaven.
We have been digging a 4 and a half foot deep by 3 ft wide hole for a septic tank. We have also been digging a 2 x 3 x 20 ft trench for the piping. It is going to connect the bathroom in the new care center. Seriously, I am on the verge of tears right now because it's so difficult to explain all the amazing and difficult things that have gone on the past two weeks. I am sorry I have not blogged in that time to keep you updated. I will miss this place so much. I will miss these people so much. We also delivered food packs to certain people within Haniville and got the opportunity to pray for them inside their homes. There is a lot of pain and hopelessness and hurt. But there is also a lot of joy and fellowship. This community really takes care of each other, something I don't see a lot in America. And I don't want to paint a picture of Africa being this place of endless hopelessness and darkness. It really isn't, there is a lot of great stuff going on. I severely dislike groups and people who come in on missions and with organizations with the mindset of, "My way of doing things is right and your way of living is wrong. You are poor so let me tell you the correct way to live." TERRIBLE
We have really tried to have a mindset that we wish to be taught and we are here to learn, not tell. We have these next 4 days to spend at Walk in the Light. I think I may cry every single day because we leave Sunday for Cape Town.
This couple at church invited me to speak at their home group three weeks ago. Darrell and Dene are such awesome people within North Hills church. That entire body of Christ is my church family here in South Africa. They approached me separately on different occasions to come to their home group, which consists of about 15-20 people. They wanted me to share my heart and to share the passion I have for men and just God in general I think. Anyway, I went last week and didn't share because the entire home group ended up praying for me the whole time. Dene is a very strong prophet and so while we were worshiping she said she felt that someone was very discouraged in the room and that person should not be afraid to ask for prayer. Obviously it was me and that had just happened to be the most difficult day at Walk in the Light so I just blew out every single thing I was struggling with. And for the next hour or so everyone layed hands and prayed for me. The Lord granted many visions and words of wisdom and encouragement for me through the body. Then one of my dear friends Ruth, gave me a book called, Tell Your Heart to Beat Again by Dutch Sheets. I think it's mostly about giving everything over to the Father because I have trouble with giving things to God.
But everyone there signed it for me and wrote notes in it for me. But since I didn't get to share they invited me back the next week. And they said I could bring people also. So I asked my good friend Ashton if she wanted to come, and she said she knew that I was going to ask her. It's just crazy how God works. Weeks before that I felt I needed to go to a different church for some reason. And that day Ashton was the only other person going. That day at church the Lord led me to speak with two guys and learn about their stories and pray for one man specifically. Then I felt that I should ask Ashton to hear her life story, so we basically hung out the next two days and talked. I learned all about Ashton and her struggles etc.
I learned that she really missed her home group back in the states. Weeks later Dene told me to bring people. I just knew that Ashton needed to come. So we got picked up by Darrell and arrived at their house. The group is mostly older adults around 45 years old and then two of my really good college friends Kristen and Gina, oh and ashley too. So I spoke. And it was one of those times when I didn't even have to think about what to say because the spirit spoke straight through me. I told a bit of my life story, specifically about my calling to men, and the times when the Lord appeared to me. My struggle with pornography/masturbation and victory in Christ over them. Intermixed I would be led to incorporate scripture with what I was saying. And I just saw tears in the eyes of the people there, including dear Ashton. Seriously, it was perfect.
I then felt led to declare freedom from bondage and sin and everyone was in agreement. There was prayer and encouragement and truth in that place. I told them before I started speaking that I felt like the apostle Paul when he greets the churches in his letters. He loves and misses them so much and knows that he can go back and have a place to stay and food to eat. That's exactly how I feel about that church family. I have grown so close with them and know that when I go back to the states I will always have that family to return to and pray for. I know I will be in their prayers as well. I just love them so much. Dene is like a second mother to me and those people are amazing. Brett is another guy my age who I've become quite close with. I will miss them dearly. Then I got invited to speak at a men's breakfast this past saturday but it didn't happen because it was at 5am and we were going to uShaka Marine world that day, which was soo soo fun. You can literally do whatever you want on the waterslides. We had six people going down at once in huge trains, we were going down headfirst and doing all sorts of nonsense. It's also like a Sea World type place so there is a massive aquarium and dolphin shows etc. I won a dance contest and got a year round pass to uShaka. Haven't decided who I will give it to yet.
Well, this is quite long and I need a break. Sorry again but I have much much more to write. Hopefully I can write another tomorrow. I really just want to meet my wife and get over this last hurdle of patience and waiting. It was told to me that my story will be similar to Isaac's in that the Lord will provide my wife when the timing is right. The thing to note for me is that Isaac was busy working and living his life when he met Rachel. He wasn't looking around every single corner for her. I need to do the same, but I do have trouble with it. Watch. Wait. Listen.
And lekker boet means cool man in Afrikaans
I am not ready to leave.
Even though we have exactly one month left here in Africa I have no desire to leave my church family, my African Enterprise family and my Walk in the Light family. We started service sites two weeks ago since we finished school then. I knew I would want to be at Walk in the Light simply because I heard about it before I even came here and somehow knew it's where I would be. We go to this ministry every single day except for weekends and some Mondays. This ministry is specifically for the people of Haniville, a community across the street who live in government provided housing. And by housing I mean mostly one to two room buildings made of sticks and mud. Some are made from brick and plaster.
Anyway, Walk in the Light has a church, a house for the pastor and his family, an office, a computer room and large amount of farming land. The land directly behind the building is gardened by the grannies (gogos) for food. There is an old storage building that had tons of junk and random stuff in it when we first arrived. That room has now been completely renovated. The nurses had to do a community project and they proposed that building be made into a care center. So we moved everything out, organized it, dumped the rubbish, tore out the carpet, helped lay the new cement floor and painted the walls. Hospital beds were brought in and some workers built a bathroom and did the majority of the flooring.
Starting here was difficult because, unlike other service sites, we did not have any direction or really any clue what we were doing. Bruce, the man in charge, is not good at communication and is only there for like 10 minutes some mornings. So we started out painting Karin and Wilfred's house where they will be staying. They are from Holland and have come to draw up plans for the new building which will be put it on top of the hill overlooking Haniville. So Bruce would come and say, "This is what you are doing today." But we wouldn't necessarily have supplies so we had to find a lot of things on our own. Then, tuesdays and thursdays the gogos come for a group meeting, which we didn't know about the first week. So that was frustrating. And we are supposed to implement community engagement tools we learned in our class during these meetings, but it didn't really work out the way we planned. We had a lot of troubles the first week and I got super frustrated along with my team.
However, God has proven himself to be very very faithful and during the times where we had no ideas, we would have to learn to go before the Lord in prayer and He would give us ideas for what to do. Fridays, the Sr. Youth of the town come for a meeting and Bible study. They meet every friday and anyway but they handed it over to us to run for the past two weeks and this week. It's been incredible knowing these people. They are college age like myself.
It's really hard to communicate what has been happening the past few weeks because I haven't had time to blog and there's just too much to write down. Plus, I don't have a computer so that makes it difficult as well. Anyway, know that the relationships we have there are very tight and beautiful. We went to their church this morning and it gave me such a great picture of what Heaven is sure to be like. The Zulus are very gifted with loudness and the ability to be great at singing. Seriously, the entire church service is singing and dancing and praying out loud. At one point, we were singing Hallelujah over and over again, and it was so so beautiful that it gave me that glimpse of Heaven.
We have been digging a 4 and a half foot deep by 3 ft wide hole for a septic tank. We have also been digging a 2 x 3 x 20 ft trench for the piping. It is going to connect the bathroom in the new care center. Seriously, I am on the verge of tears right now because it's so difficult to explain all the amazing and difficult things that have gone on the past two weeks. I am sorry I have not blogged in that time to keep you updated. I will miss this place so much. I will miss these people so much. We also delivered food packs to certain people within Haniville and got the opportunity to pray for them inside their homes. There is a lot of pain and hopelessness and hurt. But there is also a lot of joy and fellowship. This community really takes care of each other, something I don't see a lot in America. And I don't want to paint a picture of Africa being this place of endless hopelessness and darkness. It really isn't, there is a lot of great stuff going on. I severely dislike groups and people who come in on missions and with organizations with the mindset of, "My way of doing things is right and your way of living is wrong. You are poor so let me tell you the correct way to live." TERRIBLE
We have really tried to have a mindset that we wish to be taught and we are here to learn, not tell. We have these next 4 days to spend at Walk in the Light. I think I may cry every single day because we leave Sunday for Cape Town.
This couple at church invited me to speak at their home group three weeks ago. Darrell and Dene are such awesome people within North Hills church. That entire body of Christ is my church family here in South Africa. They approached me separately on different occasions to come to their home group, which consists of about 15-20 people. They wanted me to share my heart and to share the passion I have for men and just God in general I think. Anyway, I went last week and didn't share because the entire home group ended up praying for me the whole time. Dene is a very strong prophet and so while we were worshiping she said she felt that someone was very discouraged in the room and that person should not be afraid to ask for prayer. Obviously it was me and that had just happened to be the most difficult day at Walk in the Light so I just blew out every single thing I was struggling with. And for the next hour or so everyone layed hands and prayed for me. The Lord granted many visions and words of wisdom and encouragement for me through the body. Then one of my dear friends Ruth, gave me a book called, Tell Your Heart to Beat Again by Dutch Sheets. I think it's mostly about giving everything over to the Father because I have trouble with giving things to God.
But everyone there signed it for me and wrote notes in it for me. But since I didn't get to share they invited me back the next week. And they said I could bring people also. So I asked my good friend Ashton if she wanted to come, and she said she knew that I was going to ask her. It's just crazy how God works. Weeks before that I felt I needed to go to a different church for some reason. And that day Ashton was the only other person going. That day at church the Lord led me to speak with two guys and learn about their stories and pray for one man specifically. Then I felt that I should ask Ashton to hear her life story, so we basically hung out the next two days and talked. I learned all about Ashton and her struggles etc.
I learned that she really missed her home group back in the states. Weeks later Dene told me to bring people. I just knew that Ashton needed to come. So we got picked up by Darrell and arrived at their house. The group is mostly older adults around 45 years old and then two of my really good college friends Kristen and Gina, oh and ashley too. So I spoke. And it was one of those times when I didn't even have to think about what to say because the spirit spoke straight through me. I told a bit of my life story, specifically about my calling to men, and the times when the Lord appeared to me. My struggle with pornography/masturbation and victory in Christ over them. Intermixed I would be led to incorporate scripture with what I was saying. And I just saw tears in the eyes of the people there, including dear Ashton. Seriously, it was perfect.
I then felt led to declare freedom from bondage and sin and everyone was in agreement. There was prayer and encouragement and truth in that place. I told them before I started speaking that I felt like the apostle Paul when he greets the churches in his letters. He loves and misses them so much and knows that he can go back and have a place to stay and food to eat. That's exactly how I feel about that church family. I have grown so close with them and know that when I go back to the states I will always have that family to return to and pray for. I know I will be in their prayers as well. I just love them so much. Dene is like a second mother to me and those people are amazing. Brett is another guy my age who I've become quite close with. I will miss them dearly. Then I got invited to speak at a men's breakfast this past saturday but it didn't happen because it was at 5am and we were going to uShaka Marine world that day, which was soo soo fun. You can literally do whatever you want on the waterslides. We had six people going down at once in huge trains, we were going down headfirst and doing all sorts of nonsense. It's also like a Sea World type place so there is a massive aquarium and dolphin shows etc. I won a dance contest and got a year round pass to uShaka. Haven't decided who I will give it to yet.
Well, this is quite long and I need a break. Sorry again but I have much much more to write. Hopefully I can write another tomorrow. I really just want to meet my wife and get over this last hurdle of patience and waiting. It was told to me that my story will be similar to Isaac's in that the Lord will provide my wife when the timing is right. The thing to note for me is that Isaac was busy working and living his life when he met Rachel. He wasn't looking around every single corner for her. I need to do the same, but I do have trouble with it. Watch. Wait. Listen.
And lekker boet means cool man in Afrikaans
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Stuff like this happens every week
Ya, it's been 16 days since I have last reached the computer to write about happenings here in the Southernmost point of Africa. I think this may be partly due to the last post which wiped me out; things have been quite busy as well, and frustrating/exciting/hectic/WOW GOD
I don't really know what to talk about because so much has happened. We had a homecoming dance here and that was excellent fun. I think our group needed to just dance the night away because we were done with finals. Yeah, we finished school last week and have now begun the service site aspect of our journey. I, along with 7 others, are serving at a place called Walk in the Light ministries. We have only been there two days but it is already incredible. The only thing we have done is paint the inside of a house, walk around the nearby township, Haniville, and enjoy a sr. youth service. It's incredible. I knew from the first time we visited the place a few weeks ago, I would be there. The man in charge, Bruce, has been trying to get a new building started on top of a hill overlooking the township. When we were there the first time he was sharing what he felt the Lord had begun to work in that place, with the new building and all. At that moment the Father allowed me to see a vision of the future and what it would look. I saw the dead fields full of beautiful flowers and lush trees/foliage. And I heard the verse in Matthew 5:14 echo in my head, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill which cannot be hidden."
I shared this with Bruce and he said the same thing had been prophesied years before and it was huge confirmation for what they wanted to do there. This place is to be a refuge for the community to come and attend church, be in the library, be cared for in a clinic and simply rest. Exciting.
The Lord has been growing and maturing me like never before. I cannot explain all of the things that have happened but I will mention a few. Before the start of this past summer the Lord told me that the summer would be a time of growth, and it sure was. That was such a difficult season in my life of perseverance. And then going in to this semester, the Lord revealed to me that this semester was going to be a time of extended growth and maturity...and my oh my, has it ever been.
My spiritual gifts have been solidified. I am a warrior with a very specific and huge calling in life, to speak truth to men and fight the strongholds that the enemy has in men's lives (pornography, masturbation) and fight what the world and media say a man should be. The Father speaks to me a lot through visions and has given me the gift of discernment. The Father has given me a heavenly language to speak his praises during times I am alone or when the Sprit is moving powerfully. He allows me to see/sense the spiritual realm when it is important to see what is going on. He has gifted me with a strong leadership gifting and ability to dictate the Lord's word to groups of people. (the leadership thing I have not fully embraced because I don't necessarily like it and have been sick of taking initiative, but have started to embrace it more since the Lord has allowed interpretation of my dreams lately. That's a cool thing, God speaks to almost every person on campus here in their dreams. He has provided prophetic dreams as well. Anyway, one of my professors interpreted a dream I had and it meant that I needed to continue to practice my leadership and embrace it)
At d-group this tuesday I was feeling strangely hard hearted so the rest of the people in my group prayed for me. (Mind you, all the past week I had been getting really annoyed with people for some reason and had begun to have an identity crisis, meaning I have begun to realize I don't know who I am) So after they prayed for me the first time I told them I was not accepting any of their prayers and felt really angry for whatever reason. Seriously, I felt something had hardened my heart and I did not know what. They prayed for me again and this time one of my friends had a word from the Lord for me saying that I am God's favourite. This confused me at the time but now I understand that we are all God's favourite. I disagreed with him completely during the prayer and instantly the Lord gave another person a vision for the moment which I can't explain because this would just go on forever. But then we finished and I got up to leave and instantly saw/sensed two demons waiting at the door. I knew that they were sent to pester and bug me.
I was leaning up against a pool table and then one of my good friends came up to me and said, "God knows who you are." This didn't make sense at the time but I understand now. But as soon as I went outside the two demons went straight behind me and began to follow me. One of my friends said he was going to the prayer chapel so I told him I would meet him there. Then, as I was walking back to my chalet I decided to get my guitar from a friend who was borrowing it and noticed Byron and Zach, both guys from my d-group walking towards my chalet. When I came back with my guitar, they were standing right outside my chalet and I just smiled and realized that the Lord had sent them specifically to protect me against the two demons that were sent for me.
So I told them this and we walked to the prayer chapel with Byron and Zach on either side of me. I felt very safe and noticed that the demons could not even come anywhere close to us. We got in the prayer chapel and began to worship. The Lord gave me a vision for Zach and I saw a war hammer above his head. I told him and he said the Lord had given him his life verse about 3 years earlier which comes from Jeremiah 1:9-10 "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." He is a warrior commissioned to tear down strongholds but also to build up and encourage/help others. He had been sent to help me with my identity struggle. The Lord gave Zach a dream the night before about this exact situation, which I will not explain as it would take up too much space. Adam Bailey was reading scripture while Byron was praying. Then Zach realized that this is what a Christian community ought to be doing, worshipping, reading scripture, and praying.
Earlier that day Byron and I had talked a lot about marriage and my struggle with thinking about marriage and my wife, because it has been a plague on my mind and a massive annoyance. It was revealed to me that Byron has been sent to help me with that specific struggle. I have also realized since then that the two demons that were sent to pester me are the two things with which I have been struggling the most, my identity and my marriage/wife. But the Lord has sent Byron and Zach to help me out with those. It is also interesting that before any of this ever happend, all three of us had signed up to do the same service site.
Then Calvin walked in and began to pray and worship with us as well. So now all 5 of the guys in our d-group were in the prayer chapel together and I was just loving it. When I looked outside the window I saw tons of angels and demons having this massive battle. And I just laughed because God is victorious and it is funny to me that the enemy even tries to thwart His plan. Now it is difficult to describe the things I see because there are not human words to describe them. So when I say I see things it is more of a see and sense combined. I seense them. Not physically like one sees another human being. But in the spiritual realm.
So we ended up all sleeping over together in the same chalet. When our d-group met again two days later, yesterday, the we told the girls in our group and it turns out that each person had a different vantage point to that night and the things that happened. Zach had a dream about him and I overcoming a huge obstacle and working together, Rachel had a dream about Byron and I praying for my wife, Joanie had a vision about the confusion in my head, the Lord to calvin to come to the prayer chapel, both Caitlin and Emily spontaneously, at the same time, were urged to pray for my wife a few weeks ago when we were at church and the Lord has all brought us together!! I have told these things with great generalness because if I were to give every detail of every thing that happened this would take you 5 hours to read. The purpose of this is just to give an example of the kind of things that are happening here.
Seriously, this kind of stuff happens every single week. And God is faithful. If you want to talk about this or get more clarity, let's skype!! My username is awengro. I love the Lord so much and He has been growing me and every one else like sooo soo much!!
It will be hard going back to the states and being with people who have not experienced these things. I think I will have a difficult time. Pray for my room mates back at school, Micah, Chris, Adam, Jeff, Andrew and I forget the other guy. I don't know him that well but I think he is like 27 and is one of micah's friends.
And please pray for my wife and for the continued movement of the spirit here and back home. Sidenote, today we went ziplining through the forest! So much fun!! And we have been going crazy on the slip n' slide!
I don't really know what to talk about because so much has happened. We had a homecoming dance here and that was excellent fun. I think our group needed to just dance the night away because we were done with finals. Yeah, we finished school last week and have now begun the service site aspect of our journey. I, along with 7 others, are serving at a place called Walk in the Light ministries. We have only been there two days but it is already incredible. The only thing we have done is paint the inside of a house, walk around the nearby township, Haniville, and enjoy a sr. youth service. It's incredible. I knew from the first time we visited the place a few weeks ago, I would be there. The man in charge, Bruce, has been trying to get a new building started on top of a hill overlooking the township. When we were there the first time he was sharing what he felt the Lord had begun to work in that place, with the new building and all. At that moment the Father allowed me to see a vision of the future and what it would look. I saw the dead fields full of beautiful flowers and lush trees/foliage. And I heard the verse in Matthew 5:14 echo in my head, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill which cannot be hidden."
I shared this with Bruce and he said the same thing had been prophesied years before and it was huge confirmation for what they wanted to do there. This place is to be a refuge for the community to come and attend church, be in the library, be cared for in a clinic and simply rest. Exciting.
The Lord has been growing and maturing me like never before. I cannot explain all of the things that have happened but I will mention a few. Before the start of this past summer the Lord told me that the summer would be a time of growth, and it sure was. That was such a difficult season in my life of perseverance. And then going in to this semester, the Lord revealed to me that this semester was going to be a time of extended growth and maturity...and my oh my, has it ever been.
My spiritual gifts have been solidified. I am a warrior with a very specific and huge calling in life, to speak truth to men and fight the strongholds that the enemy has in men's lives (pornography, masturbation) and fight what the world and media say a man should be. The Father speaks to me a lot through visions and has given me the gift of discernment. The Father has given me a heavenly language to speak his praises during times I am alone or when the Sprit is moving powerfully. He allows me to see/sense the spiritual realm when it is important to see what is going on. He has gifted me with a strong leadership gifting and ability to dictate the Lord's word to groups of people. (the leadership thing I have not fully embraced because I don't necessarily like it and have been sick of taking initiative, but have started to embrace it more since the Lord has allowed interpretation of my dreams lately. That's a cool thing, God speaks to almost every person on campus here in their dreams. He has provided prophetic dreams as well. Anyway, one of my professors interpreted a dream I had and it meant that I needed to continue to practice my leadership and embrace it)
At d-group this tuesday I was feeling strangely hard hearted so the rest of the people in my group prayed for me. (Mind you, all the past week I had been getting really annoyed with people for some reason and had begun to have an identity crisis, meaning I have begun to realize I don't know who I am) So after they prayed for me the first time I told them I was not accepting any of their prayers and felt really angry for whatever reason. Seriously, I felt something had hardened my heart and I did not know what. They prayed for me again and this time one of my friends had a word from the Lord for me saying that I am God's favourite. This confused me at the time but now I understand that we are all God's favourite. I disagreed with him completely during the prayer and instantly the Lord gave another person a vision for the moment which I can't explain because this would just go on forever. But then we finished and I got up to leave and instantly saw/sensed two demons waiting at the door. I knew that they were sent to pester and bug me.
I was leaning up against a pool table and then one of my good friends came up to me and said, "God knows who you are." This didn't make sense at the time but I understand now. But as soon as I went outside the two demons went straight behind me and began to follow me. One of my friends said he was going to the prayer chapel so I told him I would meet him there. Then, as I was walking back to my chalet I decided to get my guitar from a friend who was borrowing it and noticed Byron and Zach, both guys from my d-group walking towards my chalet. When I came back with my guitar, they were standing right outside my chalet and I just smiled and realized that the Lord had sent them specifically to protect me against the two demons that were sent for me.
So I told them this and we walked to the prayer chapel with Byron and Zach on either side of me. I felt very safe and noticed that the demons could not even come anywhere close to us. We got in the prayer chapel and began to worship. The Lord gave me a vision for Zach and I saw a war hammer above his head. I told him and he said the Lord had given him his life verse about 3 years earlier which comes from Jeremiah 1:9-10 "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." He is a warrior commissioned to tear down strongholds but also to build up and encourage/help others. He had been sent to help me with my identity struggle. The Lord gave Zach a dream the night before about this exact situation, which I will not explain as it would take up too much space. Adam Bailey was reading scripture while Byron was praying. Then Zach realized that this is what a Christian community ought to be doing, worshipping, reading scripture, and praying.
Earlier that day Byron and I had talked a lot about marriage and my struggle with thinking about marriage and my wife, because it has been a plague on my mind and a massive annoyance. It was revealed to me that Byron has been sent to help me with that specific struggle. I have also realized since then that the two demons that were sent to pester me are the two things with which I have been struggling the most, my identity and my marriage/wife. But the Lord has sent Byron and Zach to help me out with those. It is also interesting that before any of this ever happend, all three of us had signed up to do the same service site.
Then Calvin walked in and began to pray and worship with us as well. So now all 5 of the guys in our d-group were in the prayer chapel together and I was just loving it. When I looked outside the window I saw tons of angels and demons having this massive battle. And I just laughed because God is victorious and it is funny to me that the enemy even tries to thwart His plan. Now it is difficult to describe the things I see because there are not human words to describe them. So when I say I see things it is more of a see and sense combined. I seense them. Not physically like one sees another human being. But in the spiritual realm.
So we ended up all sleeping over together in the same chalet. When our d-group met again two days later, yesterday, the we told the girls in our group and it turns out that each person had a different vantage point to that night and the things that happened. Zach had a dream about him and I overcoming a huge obstacle and working together, Rachel had a dream about Byron and I praying for my wife, Joanie had a vision about the confusion in my head, the Lord to calvin to come to the prayer chapel, both Caitlin and Emily spontaneously, at the same time, were urged to pray for my wife a few weeks ago when we were at church and the Lord has all brought us together!! I have told these things with great generalness because if I were to give every detail of every thing that happened this would take you 5 hours to read. The purpose of this is just to give an example of the kind of things that are happening here.
Seriously, this kind of stuff happens every single week. And God is faithful. If you want to talk about this or get more clarity, let's skype!! My username is awengro. I love the Lord so much and He has been growing me and every one else like sooo soo much!!
It will be hard going back to the states and being with people who have not experienced these things. I think I will have a difficult time. Pray for my room mates back at school, Micah, Chris, Adam, Jeff, Andrew and I forget the other guy. I don't know him that well but I think he is like 27 and is one of micah's friends.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Women and Men: A Scriptural Analysis
| This is a response I had to do for my theology class. I have avoided this topic for as long as I can remember but the Lord has finally broken through in me and I needed to figure out what I believed on the topic of gender roles/women in ministry as it is foundational for what the Lord has called me to do later in life. It's long but I feel very good about it. I choose to do this particular response not of my own will, for the Father has finally broken through in me to research and attempt to understand what He has set down in scripture regarding this topic. I normally shy away from this debate because it creates so much division and hurt, not only within the church, but amongst friends and family as well. All the times I have encountered this specific debate I have felt an extreme anguish in my heart and spirit, and have been tremendously saddened by hurtful comments and lack of concern for unity in the body. People choose to be closed to hearing opposing views which creates walls and strongholds. I think this is what I feel/sense whenever this discussion comes about. However, the Lord has called me to speak truth to men specifically and contribute to revival of men of in our nation as well as the world. As such, I need to be firmly rooted in what I believe on this topic as it will affect whatever ministry our Abba has called me to. Furthermore, I did not expect to write the previous sentences in this thread, it just kind of happened. I suppose I feel context to my response needs to be given. Anyway, I shall begin with a slight overview of the two very distinct sides to this 'disagreement.' But first, what do evangelical Christians all affirm? Well, that both genders are "created in the image of God." This is straightforward and direct in Genesis 1:26-27. Both men and women are formed with equal dignity, value and worth as stated in Across the Spectrum. Second, all believers, male and female, are gifted with the Holy Spirit for ministry and the uplifting of the body. There is no doubt in my mind that all of these things are true. I affirm them with full confidence and believe there need not be debate on the aforementioned points. However, the difficulties come with the interpretation of scripture in regards to gender roles and women in ministry. What follows is my critique and attempted understanding of the views with personal thoughts thrown in. I have been processing my thoughts for most of the day now and it has been enlightening/difficult/eye-opening. Here' goes. The Egalitarian view essentially affirms the 'oneness' of humanity in that because we are all created in the image of God, there should be no distinction among leadership roles. Equality among genders in regards to the church means leadership based on gifts, not gender. This view has a difficult time with verses that "express forbid women to exercise spiritual authority over men." Across the Spectrum cites 1Tim. 2:11-14 directly which says, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." But the next verse says, 15"yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control." I am not entirely sure what the implications are of verse 15 but I wonder why it was left out. I do recall reading something today on this topic that we as humanity are made complete in each other. Man is not complete without woman, as is the same for women not being complete without men. As for the command to "rule" over creation, yes it does seem to be given to both male and female. As a matter of fact Gen. 1:27 says "...in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." God then gives the command to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." But let's backtrack here. God says in v26 "let us make man in our image, after our likeness." First, man does not mean male here, it means mankind, or rather, humanity. So then God says, "And let THEM have dominion over..." How can there be a them if Eve has not even been created yet? (the Bible uses the word made in reference to Eve which actually means built, so God built Eve from Adam's rib) She is not taken from Adam until v22! Does this mean there was not necessarily gender yet? The beginning of chapter 2 states how man/woman (as we understand it) came into being. 2:5-7 "When no bush of the field (or open country) was yet in the land (or earth) and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up--for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land (the first time it rains in history is during the flood of Noah), and there was no man to work on the ground, and a mist (or spring) was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground--then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." So mankind, humanity, did not even come alive until chapter two, after God had given the command to have dominion over all the earth. Then God says, v18 "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him (or I will make a helper corresponding to him). Because God had given the command to man to work the garden he was alone. And yet, God, in the previous chapter, had already created male and female in His likeness. But now, in chapter 2, there begins a distinction between man and woman. The following verses say how God brought all the animals to Adam (meaning man) to name, but there was no helper for him. did not find this suitable at all. So already, God finds that it is not good for humanity, us, to be alone. We are created to be in relationship with others! So God, in v21-22 now, causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep and God takes a rib 'out of' Adam and made (built) woman and "brought her to the man." Adam then says, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken our of Man." Then follows one of the most important verses in scripture, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (when the marriage is consummated in sex, well, it should be in marriage or else the one flesh things is screwed up and you have people becoming one flesh with many people. This leads to terrible terrible emotional trauma and spiritual turmoil within and around said person). Notice how it says, "hold fast to his WIFE," not girlfriend, not boyfriend, not random guy/girl at the club, but WIFE. Sex has now been set down for marriage between husband and wife in vs. 24. Back to 1 Timothy. Yes, it is true that the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. HOWEVER, let's take a look at the scriptures here. In Gen. 3:1-6 there follows a conversation between the serpent (Satan) and the woman (Eve). The serpent says to the woman, "Did God actually say 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?" (The word 'You' used here is in plural form in the Hebrew, so God commanded both man and woman this) v2 "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You (again in plural form) shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you (plural) touch it, lest you die.' The serpent then goes on to say how you will not surely die, and then the woman sees that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is good for food, and then she "took of it's fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband WHO WAS WITH HER, and he ate."Whoa whoa whoa, so the man was with the woman the entire time! This is evidenced by the plural form of you and verse 6 which clearly states that the man was with her. So now, man and woman realize they are naked, make clothes to cover themselves and hide. But God is walking in the garden "in the cool (or wind) of the day" as man and woman are hiding amongst the trees, and God "called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" OK. STOP. The fact that God calls to Adam implies that Adam was the one with the responsibility here. This also implies that Adam had spiritual authority because he was the one God had called to for an explanation. Otherwise, would God not have called to woman? I mean, she was the one who was deceived and then gave the fruit to Adam. However, Adam shirked his responsibility in looking out for his wife and now is being held accountable by God for it. God asks Adam in v11, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" In chapter 2:16, before woman was even created from Adam, God tells Adam, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." God gave that command directly to Adam before woman had even been created! So it seems to me that it was Adam's responsibility to tell his wife about this command, which he did because woman tells Satan (the serpent) that they are not supposed to eat of that particular tree. Therefore, it was Adam's responsibility to make sure neither of them fell into that temptation. Unfortunately, woman did, with Adam right there, and now there is punishment. To the serpent the Lord cursed him to go around on his belly in the dust for all the days of his life. And this next part interests me, v15"I will put enmity (meaning hatred, hostile feelings, animosity, antagonism) between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." I wonder if that's the reason why a lot of women/children are afraid of, and/or hate creepy crawly things? Now obviously there are men to who don't like them but from the years I've lived, it seems to me that girls and kids are more fearful and disliking of snakes and creepy crawly things. Just a thought. To the woman, who still has not been named, at least to our knowledge, the Lord says, v16 "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for (the meaning of this for is against, which I don't really understand) your husband and he shall rule over you." We modern day folk take the words rule and submission to be a negative, hierarchal type of thing which it is most definitely not. Man ruling over woman does not mean, forcing woman to be a slave, make all his food, bring him his slippers and paper, do all the chores, etc, it's not like that at all. I think it means responsible for. Man is to be responsible for woman. That is a huge calling which I think men today, generally speaking, have failed greatly at. To Adam He said, v17"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground..." So here it seems that God is given Adam the curse of toil, or working the ground. It seems to me that this is a role that men have been given: to work and provide by the sweat of their brows. And to women it seems that they have been given the role of child birthing and, subsequently, rearing. ONE ROLE IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE OTHER. Each role is equally as important and serves as a compliment to each other, God created woman to be a helper, or correspondent, to Adam. God created Adam to be responsible and take care of his wife, which is the place where lots of men today struggle, and quite frankly, fail at. And in v20 woman finally gets a name, Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Woman is given the task of being a mother. v23"therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken." Man has been given the task to work and toil. So in the very beginning of scripture we see God create man and woman for a unique, and specific purpose. One is not to be lorded over the other. Our society has twisted the terms and created negative stigmas for words such as rule and submission. These two were originally meant to be done in a respecting and helpful way, not an oppressive and indignant way.With these roles now laid out I would like to turn back to the original debate. Paul is saying in 1 Timothy that he expressly forbids a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. But let's take a look at the context here. First of all, Paul is writing a personal letter to Timothy who had been appointed to lead the church in Ephesus. This church was plagued with false teachers, therefore needing doctrinal correction, and needed instruction on orderly worship as well. In chapter 2:8 Paul writes, "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling (this implies that there were men who were angry with each other and quarreling and praising God while perhaps judging others and then quarreling/arguing about how to worship); likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works." This implies that there were women who were coming to worship at that church scantily clad, and super dressed up with ultra expensive items perhaps to get the attention of others. Women who profess godliness, should not be doing these things but she be acting in a good way and in modesty. So Paul says that he does not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man because woman was created to be a helper to man. In this particular church in Ephesus it seems that there were women who were lording knowledge over men and perhaps finding pride in that. They might have been trying to teach deceptive things, (false prophets) and this these women should not be teaching over the men appointed to lead the church, namely Timothy and possibly others. v15"Yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. This could mean that the women acting out should continue on in faith and love and holiness with self-control. And it also seems that Paul is taking it back to Genesis with the whole child-bearing thing, maybe saying remember your role is to be a helper not a disruption. Also, a lot of people take this verse and others like in a mean and condescending way. NOT AT ALL. When Paul was writing this he was not thinking to himself, "Those darn women, why don't they just submit to their husbands and shut up in church? Why don't they just be good women and let the men do all the teaching?" UHHH, no. Paul had a very good relationship with the women who were authority figures in the church. Although there are not many, let's take Priscilla for example. She is actually the only woman mentioned in scripture with any kind of authority in a church setting, other than Phoebe who Paul greets as a deaconess, and Dorcus (Tabitha) whom Peter raised from the dead. I will get into that later though. Priscilla, or Prisca, which was her formal name, was married to Aquila. They had just come from Italy because the Emperor had made a decree saying that Jews could not live in Rome. Paul lived with them and worked with them. They had their own business as leather-makers which Paul took part in. They came with Paul to Syria and then to Ephesus where Priscilla and Aquila stayed. Here they set up a church in their own home where they taught the ways of Jesus. Then Apollos came through, an "eloquent man, competent in the scriptures" (acts 18:24) and he began teaching. v25 "He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John." So Priscilla and Aquila v26"took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately." The Bible does not say that Priscilla alone taught him, but that they both, as a couple taught him. This was in a church setting. If it were outside of a church setting I don't think it would such a big deal if it was just Priscilla. I mean, I need clarity on a lot of things regarding spirituality and the scriptures and lots of times there are women who fill me with wisdom and can instruct me wisely. But I think in 1Timothy Paul is referring to a pastoring and preaching to the church body. So the next time we see Priscilla and Aquila they are in Rome and Paul greets them specifically in Rom. 16. asking to greet (Rom. 16:3) "Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well." Prisca is mentioned before her husband Aquila numerous times which is odd for this time period, implying her as the more authoritative or stronger one perhaps. However, this does not mean that she controlled Aquila or lead the household necessarily. This is a prime example of a powerful husband/wife team in ministry. In 1 Corinthians 16:19 Paul greets them "warmly" and uses Aquila's name first this time, adding power to the 'power couple' argument. And finally in 2Timothy 4:19, as Paul awaits execution, he heads his list of greetings with Prisca and Aquila. Thus, it is demonstrated that Paul was excellent friends with a strong woman of the Lord and did not think women should shut up and be put in their place. Also, I wonder if Priscilla and Aquila had kids. Because if they did not then it may make lots of sense as to why Prisca was so active in teaching and working. Or they had kids that were grown and gone. Otherwise, the couple may have been busier raising them. The same goes for Dorcus, she was a perfect example of a well respected woman in Jewish society. She was a widow and probably fairly old so her children, if she had any, would most likely have been grown and doing their own thing in life. She "was full of good works and acts of charity" and the community loved her dearly (Rom. 9:36). Scripture does not say anything specific regarding her being a leader of any church though.But, during this timeframe it is incredibly important to note the Greek ideals of the time period. Greek philosophy was greatly admired at the time in the Mediterranean world, and it had a profound impact on the way that people saw their world. One of the greatest philosophers, Plato, proposed the theory of dualism, suggesting that everything in the cosmos had an equal and opposite other. This theory had a profound impact on the way women were viewed, and it was not to women's advantage. On the one side was man, civilization, reason\logic, good and light. While on the other side was woman, nature, emotion, evil and darkness. This next section was taken from a website which speaks on the issue of Jewish women and the current thought process of the surrounding cultures. Keep in mind thatCivilization was the ideal; Nature was mistrusted and potentially dangerous Logic and reason were admired; emotion was something to be overcome Goodness was always preferable to evil. Light, especially in the pre-industrial world, was preferred to darkness. These are examples only, but they show that Platonic dualism placed women like Tabitha/Dorcas in a negative category. Women were closer to the natural/animal world than men. By nature they were irrational and untrustworthy, and therefore unfit to make their own decisions and govern their own lives. They had to be looked after and controlled, never treated as equals. This differed from the traditional Jewish way of looking at the world, which saw all things in creation as integrated and complementary, rather than as opposites of each other. An example of this is the creation story of Eve, which relates that the first woman was created from a rib taken by God from Adam's side, thereby suggesting that a man could never be fully complete unless he was in partnership with a woman. Jewish and Jewish/Christian women resisted the ideas of Platonic dualism, which patronized them and diminished their status. While Christianity remained a Jewish sect, the status of women within the Christian communities was high.But as the ideas of Christianity moved out into the Gentile, Hellenised world - of which Joppa was a prime example, the first Christians found they had to use the Greek philosophical framework. So Jesus' original ideal of mutual respect between the sexes was watered down and changed. Women were given roles that were acceptable in the outside, Hellenistic culture. The Christian church stepped back from the radical ideals of the first Jewish/Christians. We can also look at the two great female leaders in the Old Testament, Deborah and Miriam. Deborah was a Judge during a time when Israel did not have a ruler. She was a prophetess as well as the leader of the people at the time. The people of Israel would come up to her for judgment. Now the word judge is different than we think nowadays. A Judge then was someone who in times of peace had authority to settle disputes and problems and, in times of war, act as a rallying point to gather tribes and organize resistance. Deborah did all these things and helped defeat the forces of Sicera by appointing Barak to fight against him. It is important to note, however, than she did not teach in a synagogue or temple or anything of that nature. As a matter of fact, not even the rest of the male judges taught on spiritual matters. They were mostly appointed by God to rescue Israel from foreign countries who were afflicting and/or oppressing them. Miriam was the sister of Aaron and Moses and was a leader of the women of the people of Israel. She was not a spiritual leader of the people as this was Moses job primarily and then Aaron after him. When Aaron and Miriam questioned Moses authority in Numbers 12, the Lord calls all three of them together and says, "Hear my words; If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" After that, the Lord leaves them and Miriam is left leprous for questioning Moses authority. I do not know why just Miriam was leprous as Aaron spoke against Moses too but it is clear that spiritual authority is given to men. The Levitical priests, those who could go into the Holy of Holies and perform the sacrifices for the whole nation of Israel, were all men. But, as stated earlier, this does not undermine the role of women whatsoever. I personally see women as gifted specifically in song and dance. Miriam lead the nation of Israel in song and dance. Exodus 15:20-21 states, "Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing." It then records the song of Miriam. Deborah also sang in Judges 5 after the defeat of the Canaanite armies. I have a couple sisters in Christ who will dance and sing loudly and beautifully when the Spirit of the Lord is upon them. I also think Jesus chose men for his disciples for a reason. The argument against it says that this was merely a cultural act to acquiesce to the culture of the time. But Jesus had proven many times before that He was countercultural and was perfectly able to have chosen women to be his disciples and start the church. However, he chose men, I believe because of the responsibility we have as spiritual heads. However, I certainly do believe that the Lord uses women to step up when men have failed to fulfill their roles. I do not know if this was the case with the deaconess Phoebe mentioned in Romans 16 though. Scripture does not expand upon this. In Across the Spectrum the Complementarian View holds, "three considerations caution against interpreting this fact as evidence that the biblical ideal for male headship has been overturned. God has demonstrated his willingness to accommodate his will to imperfect circumstances when necessary. God was at times willing to use pagan kings, false prophets, even donkeys to speak his Word and further his purposes when other more appropriate means were not available. So, too, God has at times acquiesced to using women as spiritual leaders when men were unwilling to fulfill the task." I don't know if I agree entirely with this statement as I feel that women have not been used in scripture to be spiritual leaders over men, once. I find that each time women are seen in the Bible in reference to spiritual teaching or authority in the church, there is accompaniment of a man. I also don't like how this is phrased with the donkeys and all that. I feel like they are comparing women to pagan kings, donkeys etc, and I just don't like that at all. But again, I do think that when men fail at their role, as I think they have been recently, women will step up and take the reins. This can result in chaos in the home and marriages as well. Not because women are stepping up but because men are failing in their roles, which causes women to take on too much. If you haven't noticed, there is a 50% divorce rate in the U.S. The same is for Christian marriages as well. We also have an incredibly high rate of child abuse, runaways, and suicides. 100 years ago, this was not the case. I think it's because people understood more their God-given roles. Men, generally speaking, want respect. They will do whatever they can to get that respect, even if it involves yelling, abuse, power trips or anger. Women, generally speaking, long to be loved. And they will sometimes do whatever they can to get that love. Sometimes it can be dressing inappropriately to get attention from guys or it could be cutting or becoming entrenched in anorexia/bulimia to get skinnier to be loved and accepted among a certain group. Whatever it is, God is the almighty King who rules. His word is final and His plan for our lives is perfect. I believe men and women are both equally gifted but society and our fallen, sinful minds have twisted biblical language to mean something that it is not. Submission and rule is not something evil. It is not meant to create inequality, it is meant to help husbands and wives work together to glorify God and work successfully in ministry, as we saw with Priscilla and Aquila. Madeleine L'Engle writes, "Indeed we are in a bind. For thousands of years we have lived in a paternalistic society, where women have allowed men to make God over in their own masculine image...To substitute person for man has ruined what used to be a good theological word, calling up the glory of God's image within us. Now, at best, it's a joke." Our pathetic attempts at equality are just ridiculous. She continues on with the beginning of a desexed hymn, "Dear Mother-Father of personkind... No. It won't do. This is not equality. Perhaps we should drop the word woman altogether and use man, recognizing that we need both male and female to be whole." I agree. We need each other to survive. We were created to complement one another and the enemy, I believe, has twisted words and word usage, he has twisted society and the way we interpret scripture, making us believe that scripture teaches that men are to 'rule' over women and women are to be gentle, quiet spirits, and stupidly submissive in all things to their husbands and to men. Well, to that I SAY NO. I hope this makes sense. I seriously, studied and worked on this issue all day and I feel very strongly that the Spirit has helped me gather my thoughts and put them down coherently. This also happened when I wrote my senior sem paper. Thank you God. I can't say for certain that all the views expressed in here are correct but I can say that it is what I believe about the topic. |
THIS IS REAL LIFE!!!
This past weekend it was my groups turn to take the journey into the African wilderness on what would become my one of my most favorite experiences.
We left early on Saturday morning. There was a feeling of excitement surrounding the group like a think down blanket. Some may say that there was 'magic in the air.' We then gathered our belongings for the three day excursion and hopped into the crowded bus.
I soon found out though, that our safari guides, Matt & Andrew, were driving a much more comfortable vehicle with cushy reclining seats and AC. As you might expect, I quickly asserted myself into the middle back right seat where I sat in complete joy for the 4 hour journey to the safariing grounds, also known as HLUHLUWE-IMFOLOZI. I will teach you how to pronounce that when I get back.
Anyway, we finally arrived, after listening to The Lion King soundtrack 47 times, and I could hardly contain myself. I do not know if the rest of the group sensed my excitement as I put on my safari hat and vest, but I WAS PUMPED! After eating lunch we gathered into our safari vehicles which were open air trucks. My friends and I would soon find out that we chose very wisely in going with Reg Codrington, the most amazing man in the universe, who also happens to be the director of things here on the South African campus.
As soon as we drove into the reserve, which is a couple of thousand acres I think, we saw this:
Massive giraffe walked right across the road in front of us and we were all absolutely astonished at how massive these things are. We soon realized though that giraffes, impala and rhino are quite numerous so it stopped being super exciting after the second day, and after seeing like 59 of them. Still awesome though.
Our camp was really cool. The 3 other men and I were escorted to wondrous chalets with hot showers and a ceiling fan. However, I was awoken by the sound of flies, moths and beetles late that night. There were hundreds. I spent a good 10 minutes killing them with my pillow...then fell fast asleep next to my good man zach west.
The next day, Sunday, we were out on the prowl for 12 hours...and boy did we see everything!!
ON THE PROWL
We saw tons of buffalo, rhino, impala, giraffe, zebra and quite a few elephant. hyena and kudu. But we were always on the lookout for the big prize, LION! In africa, there are what is called the BIG 5. The animals in this group are called that because when hunters first began to hunt them, it was either kill it in one shot or your dead. Any member of the BIG 5 will annihilate faster than a jack rabbit on a hot summer's day. They include: Elephant, rhino, lion, jaguar and buffalo.
We saw all of them except for the elusive jaguar. At the end of this day we were hot on the trail of a lion pride that had been sighted in our area by a river bed. We were so pumped and had been praying for the Lord to reveal His glory manifested in these animals all day, so cool. Turns out He wanted to manifest himself in those and an incredible sunset.
But still no lions. It was not until the next day, early in the am that we saw the most incredible creatures. The pride of lion had been spotted by another group stalking a buffalo in the river bed. They had then turned up toward the road but were in the brush somewhere so all three of our vehicles were rolling along the same road trying to spot them. And then....
We were freaking out because they were so close to our vehicle right on the road. And a few minutes later, as we were driving back, we saw them crossing the road again!! It was times like these in which we kept having to remind ourselves that this is real life and not a dream!! Best weekend ever.
Side note: Last night there was a crazy thunderstorm right over campus. The lightning was outrageous and would light up the entire sky like it was day and the thunder literally shook the ground. So, as any outstanding american citizens might do, my good man Joey and I decided we should bust out our 90ft slip n' slide at 11:30pm!! It was sooo much fun!!
We left early on Saturday morning. There was a feeling of excitement surrounding the group like a think down blanket. Some may say that there was 'magic in the air.' We then gathered our belongings for the three day excursion and hopped into the crowded bus.
I soon found out though, that our safari guides, Matt & Andrew, were driving a much more comfortable vehicle with cushy reclining seats and AC. As you might expect, I quickly asserted myself into the middle back right seat where I sat in complete joy for the 4 hour journey to the safariing grounds, also known as HLUHLUWE-IMFOLOZI. I will teach you how to pronounce that when I get back.
Anyway, we finally arrived, after listening to The Lion King soundtrack 47 times, and I could hardly contain myself. I do not know if the rest of the group sensed my excitement as I put on my safari hat and vest, but I WAS PUMPED! After eating lunch we gathered into our safari vehicles which were open air trucks. My friends and I would soon find out that we chose very wisely in going with Reg Codrington, the most amazing man in the universe, who also happens to be the director of things here on the South African campus.
As soon as we drove into the reserve, which is a couple of thousand acres I think, we saw this:
Massive giraffe walked right across the road in front of us and we were all absolutely astonished at how massive these things are. We soon realized though that giraffes, impala and rhino are quite numerous so it stopped being super exciting after the second day, and after seeing like 59 of them. Still awesome though.
Our camp was really cool. The 3 other men and I were escorted to wondrous chalets with hot showers and a ceiling fan. However, I was awoken by the sound of flies, moths and beetles late that night. There were hundreds. I spent a good 10 minutes killing them with my pillow...then fell fast asleep next to my good man zach west.
The next day, Sunday, we were out on the prowl for 12 hours...and boy did we see everything!!
ON THE PROWL
We saw tons of buffalo, rhino, impala, giraffe, zebra and quite a few elephant. hyena and kudu. But we were always on the lookout for the big prize, LION! In africa, there are what is called the BIG 5. The animals in this group are called that because when hunters first began to hunt them, it was either kill it in one shot or your dead. Any member of the BIG 5 will annihilate faster than a jack rabbit on a hot summer's day. They include: Elephant, rhino, lion, jaguar and buffalo.
We saw all of them except for the elusive jaguar. At the end of this day we were hot on the trail of a lion pride that had been sighted in our area by a river bed. We were so pumped and had been praying for the Lord to reveal His glory manifested in these animals all day, so cool. Turns out He wanted to manifest himself in those and an incredible sunset.
But still no lions. It was not until the next day, early in the am that we saw the most incredible creatures. The pride of lion had been spotted by another group stalking a buffalo in the river bed. They had then turned up toward the road but were in the brush somewhere so all three of our vehicles were rolling along the same road trying to spot them. And then....
We were freaking out because they were so close to our vehicle right on the road. And a few minutes later, as we were driving back, we saw them crossing the road again!! It was times like these in which we kept having to remind ourselves that this is real life and not a dream!! Best weekend ever.
Side note: Last night there was a crazy thunderstorm right over campus. The lightning was outrageous and would light up the entire sky like it was day and the thunder literally shook the ground. So, as any outstanding american citizens might do, my good man Joey and I decided we should bust out our 90ft slip n' slide at 11:30pm!! It was sooo much fun!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
And I have found that the Christian life is NOT GLAMOROUS TO THE FLESH
I have just finished reading what is now one of my top 2 favorite books. The Heavenly Man is about the life of Chinese Christian Brother Yun whom the Lord used to bring revival to China. Through him the Lord brought about the unity of the house churches and millions came to know the Lord. His life, as well as his family's and other house church believers around the country, suffered tremendous tortures and griefs for the sake of Jesus.
I AM COMPLETELY CHANGED AND EMPOWERED AFTER READING THIS BOOK.
At the end, Yun talks about the Christian life and the Lord revealed the stage of life I am in right now.
"I have found that the Christian life is not glamorous to the flesh. When a little seed is put into the ground it is not comfortable. It lies in the dark isolation of rough soil for months, suffers in the frozen ground of winter and the heat of summer, and is even covered with stinking manure and fertilizer. Only after it has silently endured all these trials is the seed ready to spring to life and produce a harvest that will feed many." This is the exact metaphor for my life right now
Yun also speaks about the complacency and spiritual sleep of the western church which I found extremely true. There needs to be revival. What follows is an excerpt from the book:
"Before I travelled to the West I had absolutely no idea that so many churches were spiritually asleep. I presumed the western church was strong and vibrant because it had brought the gospel to my country with such incredible faith and tenacity. Many missionaries had shown their lives for the sake of Jesus.
On some occasions I've struggled while speaking in western churches. There seems to be something missing that leaves me feeling terrible inside. Many meetings are cold and lack the fire and presence of God that we have in China.
In the west many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possession to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord. When he saw the crippled beggar he said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazreth, walk!" Acts 3:6
In a similar way, I pray that God might use the Chinese church to help the western church rise up and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's almost impossible for the church in China to go to sleep in its present situation. There's always something to keep us on the run, and it's very difficult to sleep while you're running. If persecution stops, I fear we'll become complacent and fall asleep.
Many pastors in Europe and America have told me they want to see great revival. I'n frequently asked why China is experiencing revival but most places in the west are not. This is a big question to answer, but some reasons are very apparent to me.
When I'm in the west I see all the mighty church buildings and all the expensive equipment, plush carpets and state-of-the-art sounds systems. I can assure the western church with absolute certainty that you don't need anymore church buildings. Church buildings will never bring the revival you seek. The pursuit of more possessions will never bring revival. Jesus truly stated, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15
The first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the Word of the Lord. God's word is missing. Sure, there are many preachers and thousands of tapes and videos of Bible teaching, but so little contains the sharp truth of God's Word. It's the truth that will set you free.
Not only is knowledge of God's word missing, but obedience to that Word. There's not much action taking place.
When revival came to believers in China, the result was thousands of evangelists being sent out to all corners of the nation, carrying fire from the altar of God with them. When God moves in the west, is seems you want to stop and enjoy His presence and blessings too long, and build an altar to your experiences. You can never really know the Scriptures until you're willing to be changed by them.
All genuine revivals of the Lord result in believers responding with action and soul winning. When God truly moves in your heart you cannot remain silent. there will be a fire in your bones, like Jeremiah, who said, "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9
I've seen people in western churches worshipping as if they're already in heaven. Then someone invariably brings a comforting message like, "My children, I love you. Don't be afraid, I'm with you." I'm not opposed to such words, but why is it that nobody seems to hear a Word from the Lord like, "My child, I want to send you to the slums of Asia or the darkness of Africa to be my messenger to people dying in their sin?"
Multitudes of church members in the west are satisfied with giving their minimum to God, not their maximum. I've watched men and women during offering time in church. They open their fat wallets and search for the smallest amount they can give. This type of attitude will never do! Jesus gave his whole life for us, and we give as little of our lives, time and money as we can back to God. What a disgrace! Repent!
This may sound strange, but I even miss the offerings we used to give in China. On numerous occasions the leader of a meeting would announce, "We have a new worker who is leaving tomorrow to serve the Lord." Immediately every single person would completely empty their pockets of everything they had. With that money the worker would buy a train or bus ticket and leave the next day. Often this money was not just everything we had in our pockets at the time, but everything we owned in the whole world.
Just because you have a church building doesn't necessarily mean Jesus is with you. He is not welcome in many churches today. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus said, "Here I am I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Often this verse is used as an invitation for salvation, but actually the context Jesus was speaking in was very different. He was standing outside the door of the church in Laodicea, knocking to get in!
Of course not all Western churches are asleep. Of all the strong churches I have visited in the West I've noticed one thing they all have in common: a strong and sacrificial commitment to missions among unreached nations. I'm talking about a heart to establish God's kingdom in the most gospel-starved and spiritually dark areas of the world, where nobody has ever heard the name of Jesus. When you start putting your time, prayers and finances there you will soon experience God's blessing on the work of your hands.
Many churches look beautiful on the outside, but are dead where it counts, on the inside. If you truly want to see God move, the two main things you must do is learn the Word of God and have the obedience to do what God tells you to do.
Many Christians have also asked me why miracles and signs and wonders are so prevalent in China, but not so evident in the west.
In the West you have so much. You have insurance for everything. In a way, you don't need God. When my father was dying of stomach cancer, we sold everything we had to try to cure him. When everything was gone we had no hope but God. We turned to him in desperation and saw him mercifully answer our prayers and heal my father. We reasoned that if god could do that then he could do anything, so our faith grew and we've seen many miracles.
In China, the greatest miracles we see are not the healings and other things, but lives transformed by the gospel. We believe we're not called to follow signs and wonders but instead signs and wonders follow us when the gospel is preached. We don't keep our eyes on the signs and wonders; we keep our eyes on Jesus.
Every house church pastor in china is ready to lay down his life for the gospel. When we live this way, we'll see God do great things by His grace."
Oh how the spirit is allowed to move when we put aside our pride and possessions.
I AM COMPLETELY CHANGED AND EMPOWERED AFTER READING THIS BOOK.
At the end, Yun talks about the Christian life and the Lord revealed the stage of life I am in right now.
"I have found that the Christian life is not glamorous to the flesh. When a little seed is put into the ground it is not comfortable. It lies in the dark isolation of rough soil for months, suffers in the frozen ground of winter and the heat of summer, and is even covered with stinking manure and fertilizer. Only after it has silently endured all these trials is the seed ready to spring to life and produce a harvest that will feed many." This is the exact metaphor for my life right now
Yun also speaks about the complacency and spiritual sleep of the western church which I found extremely true. There needs to be revival. What follows is an excerpt from the book:
"Before I travelled to the West I had absolutely no idea that so many churches were spiritually asleep. I presumed the western church was strong and vibrant because it had brought the gospel to my country with such incredible faith and tenacity. Many missionaries had shown their lives for the sake of Jesus.
On some occasions I've struggled while speaking in western churches. There seems to be something missing that leaves me feeling terrible inside. Many meetings are cold and lack the fire and presence of God that we have in China.
In the west many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possession to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord. When he saw the crippled beggar he said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazreth, walk!" Acts 3:6
In a similar way, I pray that God might use the Chinese church to help the western church rise up and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's almost impossible for the church in China to go to sleep in its present situation. There's always something to keep us on the run, and it's very difficult to sleep while you're running. If persecution stops, I fear we'll become complacent and fall asleep.
Many pastors in Europe and America have told me they want to see great revival. I'n frequently asked why China is experiencing revival but most places in the west are not. This is a big question to answer, but some reasons are very apparent to me.
When I'm in the west I see all the mighty church buildings and all the expensive equipment, plush carpets and state-of-the-art sounds systems. I can assure the western church with absolute certainty that you don't need anymore church buildings. Church buildings will never bring the revival you seek. The pursuit of more possessions will never bring revival. Jesus truly stated, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15
The first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the Word of the Lord. God's word is missing. Sure, there are many preachers and thousands of tapes and videos of Bible teaching, but so little contains the sharp truth of God's Word. It's the truth that will set you free.
Not only is knowledge of God's word missing, but obedience to that Word. There's not much action taking place.
When revival came to believers in China, the result was thousands of evangelists being sent out to all corners of the nation, carrying fire from the altar of God with them. When God moves in the west, is seems you want to stop and enjoy His presence and blessings too long, and build an altar to your experiences. You can never really know the Scriptures until you're willing to be changed by them.
All genuine revivals of the Lord result in believers responding with action and soul winning. When God truly moves in your heart you cannot remain silent. there will be a fire in your bones, like Jeremiah, who said, "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9
I've seen people in western churches worshipping as if they're already in heaven. Then someone invariably brings a comforting message like, "My children, I love you. Don't be afraid, I'm with you." I'm not opposed to such words, but why is it that nobody seems to hear a Word from the Lord like, "My child, I want to send you to the slums of Asia or the darkness of Africa to be my messenger to people dying in their sin?"
Multitudes of church members in the west are satisfied with giving their minimum to God, not their maximum. I've watched men and women during offering time in church. They open their fat wallets and search for the smallest amount they can give. This type of attitude will never do! Jesus gave his whole life for us, and we give as little of our lives, time and money as we can back to God. What a disgrace! Repent!
This may sound strange, but I even miss the offerings we used to give in China. On numerous occasions the leader of a meeting would announce, "We have a new worker who is leaving tomorrow to serve the Lord." Immediately every single person would completely empty their pockets of everything they had. With that money the worker would buy a train or bus ticket and leave the next day. Often this money was not just everything we had in our pockets at the time, but everything we owned in the whole world.
Just because you have a church building doesn't necessarily mean Jesus is with you. He is not welcome in many churches today. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus said, "Here I am I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Often this verse is used as an invitation for salvation, but actually the context Jesus was speaking in was very different. He was standing outside the door of the church in Laodicea, knocking to get in!
Of course not all Western churches are asleep. Of all the strong churches I have visited in the West I've noticed one thing they all have in common: a strong and sacrificial commitment to missions among unreached nations. I'm talking about a heart to establish God's kingdom in the most gospel-starved and spiritually dark areas of the world, where nobody has ever heard the name of Jesus. When you start putting your time, prayers and finances there you will soon experience God's blessing on the work of your hands.
Many churches look beautiful on the outside, but are dead where it counts, on the inside. If you truly want to see God move, the two main things you must do is learn the Word of God and have the obedience to do what God tells you to do.
Many Christians have also asked me why miracles and signs and wonders are so prevalent in China, but not so evident in the west.
In the West you have so much. You have insurance for everything. In a way, you don't need God. When my father was dying of stomach cancer, we sold everything we had to try to cure him. When everything was gone we had no hope but God. We turned to him in desperation and saw him mercifully answer our prayers and heal my father. We reasoned that if god could do that then he could do anything, so our faith grew and we've seen many miracles.
In China, the greatest miracles we see are not the healings and other things, but lives transformed by the gospel. We believe we're not called to follow signs and wonders but instead signs and wonders follow us when the gospel is preached. We don't keep our eyes on the signs and wonders; we keep our eyes on Jesus.
Every house church pastor in china is ready to lay down his life for the gospel. When we live this way, we'll see God do great things by His grace."
Oh how the spirit is allowed to move when we put aside our pride and possessions.
Monday, October 4, 2010
When a Ton of POO Gets Dumped on You, Scoop It Up and Use It as Fertilizer for the Good and Useful Crop that's Coming
Of course you are wondering where this genius phrase came from. Well, I will tell you. My dear mum e-mailed me this wonderfully encouraging letter which contained the aforementioned phrase. I had told her all about my trials and dumb annoyances mentioned in the previous blog and that is what she came up with. AWESOME
Anywho, I guess you could say that I have been shoveling loads of poop onto a flat bed truck and using it to fertilize the good and useful crop that is coming. In lamens terms, tons of little annoying things have been happening to me. For example, pretty much everyday I end up with a new cut or scrape or gash or bruise from who knows what. Luckily, the 10 beautiful nurses we have with us have been dressing my wounds and keeping me safe. Also, I sneeze probably 587 times a day because I don't even know why. But NBD PTL TIA (no big deal, praise the Lord, this is africa) Seriously, I am in such a good mood because of all the wonderful encouragement and love that is shown amongst the people in this group. I enjoy them very much.
THIS JUST IN: Update from the previous weekend spent in Ecabazini!
Yes good evening and good morning to those of you who subscribe to/read Adam'g blog. It has become apparent that he has not blogged in quite some time because of all the adventuring. So, here is the update from this past week.
Half the group went on a Safari and the other half went to a Zulu homestead. I was with the group that ventured to the Zulu homestead of Ecabazini. Upon arrival, we were met face to face by the zulus who dressed in their traditional garb for us. The men had the most excellent loin cloths ever with arm bands, leg bands, head bands shields and spears. The unmarried women only wore skirts so they were bare chested. the married women wore shirts and dresses though.
They build their homestead on a slope. Not at the top and not at the bottom. If it's at the top it will get struck by lightning and if it's at the bottom the lake will flood and wash it away. The first thing we did was move in to our respective huts which are made from mud and grass. They showed us how they built their huts and it is probably the most articulate process ever. But it does work wonders because it's totally rain proof and does not get hot with the sun. We then discovered the many uses for cows. All the cows are herded into a ring in the center of the camp during the night. When they poop the manure goes down into a hole and collects in a kind of septic tank underground. The methane from the manure rises to the surface and is collected in piping system which is used in each household to start fires, burn candles etc. This way, the manure does not smell bad at all and is then used to coat the clay floors of each hut once a week. This is done by hand and is actually quite fun. We got to do this and the manure is a wonderful exfoliate as well.
We then swam in a croc infested lake, learned about the medicine man and their beliefs (while we were in his hut, there was a very real and huge spiritual heaviness present) and then had the best dinner ever. They cooked us the most amazing meat ever right over the fire, and then we had chicken, zulu bread (which is the best!) and some spectacular, although I can't remember the name of it, beans, rice, cabbage tomatoes all mixed up. SOOO good. ah yes, it was called putu. Then there was samp which was a cron meal type deal.
That night everyone was herded into the main hut and treated to some awesome zulu beer and dancing. Their dance is pretty hardcore because it involves lots of stomping and yelling (apparently, the warriors used to do this dance on thorns!) Then they made all the guys get up and do it. They picked the best stompers and made them do a dance off. SOO MUCH FUN. The same was done for the females as well.
But the most fun came later that night when my good friend Zach and I discovered the zulu loin cloths in the kitchen hut. As you might suppose, we quickly stripped down, put on the clothing and ran around camp with our spears and shields. We hunted some of the girls who were going to the toilet and freaked them out pretty good and then did an intimidation dance in their hut.
Afterwards, we practiced our night time spear throwing and stabbing by dismembering an aloe vera plant and wrecking a bamboo wall. ZZZZ best!
The next day we got to hold and play with baby goats (most precious things in the whole world), make ceramic pots, build beaded bracelets, and STICK FIGHT!!
Seriously, look up zulu stick fighting on youtube. We got to fight the zulu warriors...best day ever. Then we ate hot dogs and left. THE END
Thank you for tuning into KTLADAM for this brief weekend update
As I was saying, I enjoy these people. After we got back to campus from the zulu homestead we busted out a 90ft slip 'n slide and got absolutely destroyed!! So much fun though!! My back is wrecked from sliding off the end into sticks and hard grass. I should also have a broken nose and no front teeth because I decided I would try and surf the whole way down. This ended up with me slipping (it is called a slip 'n slide) and slamming my face straight into the ground. Luckily, all 10 nurses were there to save my life again. THANK YOU NURSES
Then we went to Durban for the day. We checked out some serious marketplaces and I purchased all the things a white american might purchase such as : vuvuzela, south african flag, random souveneirs, and a south african world cup jersey for pretty much no money at all. We then swam, once more, in the Indian Ocean. This was the warmest water I have ever swam in!
Apparently, it is also one of the most shark infested places on earth too. Tons of attacks and deaths.
Well, NBD PTL TIA
And remember, When a ton of poo gets dumped on you, scoop it up and use it as fertilizer for the good and useful crop that's coming
Anywho, I guess you could say that I have been shoveling loads of poop onto a flat bed truck and using it to fertilize the good and useful crop that is coming. In lamens terms, tons of little annoying things have been happening to me. For example, pretty much everyday I end up with a new cut or scrape or gash or bruise from who knows what. Luckily, the 10 beautiful nurses we have with us have been dressing my wounds and keeping me safe. Also, I sneeze probably 587 times a day because I don't even know why. But NBD PTL TIA (no big deal, praise the Lord, this is africa) Seriously, I am in such a good mood because of all the wonderful encouragement and love that is shown amongst the people in this group. I enjoy them very much.
THIS JUST IN: Update from the previous weekend spent in Ecabazini!
Yes good evening and good morning to those of you who subscribe to/read Adam'g blog. It has become apparent that he has not blogged in quite some time because of all the adventuring. So, here is the update from this past week.
Half the group went on a Safari and the other half went to a Zulu homestead. I was with the group that ventured to the Zulu homestead of Ecabazini. Upon arrival, we were met face to face by the zulus who dressed in their traditional garb for us. The men had the most excellent loin cloths ever with arm bands, leg bands, head bands shields and spears. The unmarried women only wore skirts so they were bare chested. the married women wore shirts and dresses though.
They build their homestead on a slope. Not at the top and not at the bottom. If it's at the top it will get struck by lightning and if it's at the bottom the lake will flood and wash it away. The first thing we did was move in to our respective huts which are made from mud and grass. They showed us how they built their huts and it is probably the most articulate process ever. But it does work wonders because it's totally rain proof and does not get hot with the sun. We then discovered the many uses for cows. All the cows are herded into a ring in the center of the camp during the night. When they poop the manure goes down into a hole and collects in a kind of septic tank underground. The methane from the manure rises to the surface and is collected in piping system which is used in each household to start fires, burn candles etc. This way, the manure does not smell bad at all and is then used to coat the clay floors of each hut once a week. This is done by hand and is actually quite fun. We got to do this and the manure is a wonderful exfoliate as well.
We then swam in a croc infested lake, learned about the medicine man and their beliefs (while we were in his hut, there was a very real and huge spiritual heaviness present) and then had the best dinner ever. They cooked us the most amazing meat ever right over the fire, and then we had chicken, zulu bread (which is the best!) and some spectacular, although I can't remember the name of it, beans, rice, cabbage tomatoes all mixed up. SOOO good. ah yes, it was called putu. Then there was samp which was a cron meal type deal.
That night everyone was herded into the main hut and treated to some awesome zulu beer and dancing. Their dance is pretty hardcore because it involves lots of stomping and yelling (apparently, the warriors used to do this dance on thorns!) Then they made all the guys get up and do it. They picked the best stompers and made them do a dance off. SOO MUCH FUN. The same was done for the females as well.
But the most fun came later that night when my good friend Zach and I discovered the zulu loin cloths in the kitchen hut. As you might suppose, we quickly stripped down, put on the clothing and ran around camp with our spears and shields. We hunted some of the girls who were going to the toilet and freaked them out pretty good and then did an intimidation dance in their hut.
Afterwards, we practiced our night time spear throwing and stabbing by dismembering an aloe vera plant and wrecking a bamboo wall. ZZZZ best!
The next day we got to hold and play with baby goats (most precious things in the whole world), make ceramic pots, build beaded bracelets, and STICK FIGHT!!
Seriously, look up zulu stick fighting on youtube. We got to fight the zulu warriors...best day ever. Then we ate hot dogs and left. THE END
Thank you for tuning into KTLADAM for this brief weekend update
As I was saying, I enjoy these people. After we got back to campus from the zulu homestead we busted out a 90ft slip 'n slide and got absolutely destroyed!! So much fun though!! My back is wrecked from sliding off the end into sticks and hard grass. I should also have a broken nose and no front teeth because I decided I would try and surf the whole way down. This ended up with me slipping (it is called a slip 'n slide) and slamming my face straight into the ground. Luckily, all 10 nurses were there to save my life again. THANK YOU NURSES
Then we went to Durban for the day. We checked out some serious marketplaces and I purchased all the things a white american might purchase such as : vuvuzela, south african flag, random souveneirs, and a south african world cup jersey for pretty much no money at all. We then swam, once more, in the Indian Ocean. This was the warmest water I have ever swam in!
Apparently, it is also one of the most shark infested places on earth too. Tons of attacks and deaths.
Well, NBD PTL TIA
And remember, When a ton of poo gets dumped on you, scoop it up and use it as fertilizer for the good and useful crop that's coming
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Sawubona!
