You have got to be kidding me!

I was shocked by what I saw in Lome last Friday at my mechanic’s “shop”. One of his apprentices walked by and I did a double take. Calling him over for inspection confirmed my suspicions. He had escaped from his previous employer and had found his way to Togo. He even still had his Wal*Mart vest on.

Could this be a mirage? Upon further investigation he revealed that he is Togolese and has never left. Alas, does this mean there is now a Wal*Mart in Togo, for here before my very eyes was a “vested” employee (albeit of the mechanical persuasion)?

Or is this the reality washing up on the shores of Togo, West Africa? Wal*Mart is now so prolific that

employee clothes are for sale in the third world.

Or is this a foreshadowing of Wal*Mart’s future ventures into the African market?

Oh that we could waltz into a Wal*Mart with ease and take a gander at the multitude of products lining the shelves.

Sigh.

 

Just sitting …

Next week I’m going to the beach.  It is for a retreat with our other missionary friends in West Africa that we call WAMR.  Usually it is held at Coconut Grove in Elmina, Ghana and this year will be no exception.  It is a wonderful time of renewal, but I usually don’t come back very renewed.  It might be because the hotel also has a nine hole golf course and I usually spend my renewal time trying to get the little white orb to go in the little white cup.

I think this year I am going to spend more time … just sitting.

This is not like a new year’s resolution.  This is the me I’m becoming.  I am beginning to see the value of just sitting.  For when I just sit, I hear things, like the ocean, like the laughter of my children, like the songs of various birds, like the beautiful voice of my wife, and other amazing things.  I see things that normally escape my line of sight.

Before you all jump on me about saying that I can’t go to Coconut Grove without playing golf, I must say that you are absolutely right.  It would not be the correct thing to do.  It is tradition that I hit the ball, several times.  I am just vowing ahead of time to opt out of a few rounds and just sit while taking in the wonder of God.

Wish you could be there with us, just sitting,

praising Him for all He has done, and dreaming of all that He is going to do.

The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.  Psalm 126:3

 

Living Word

One thing I love about the Bible is the way it comes to life in dramatic and very undeniable ways creating within us an experience that deepens with time and has far reaching effects.

There is a leader in Ahepe named Feli who for many years was at best a churchgoer. About six years ago, Feli became the default leader of the church in his neighborhood. He was still selling lottery tickets and riding the fence of sincerity. He wanted to believe, but just wasn’t sure if he could depend on God to really take care of his family.

About two years ago a gracious opportunity presented itself to Feli that upon giving up the lottery he would have ownership of a corn grinder and begin a new chapter.

He took it. This is equivalent to a loss of at least 50% of his income. Since then he has vaulted the fence and has really grown in his love for Jesus.

There were two “Bible come to life” events for Feli last week that really encouraged me. Two ladies had missed worship on Sunday morning. So, in the afternoon Feli went looking for them. He found them in their fields grinding and cooking cassava to sell at market on Monday. He began encouraging and working with them and before he left they sent him home with a huge bowl of roasted cassava which his family ate throughout the week. Then on Thursday, Togo’s labor day, Feli was called to a feast. Upon arriving, there were several men gathered who were decked out in their festive garments ready to eat. Feli was invited to bless the meal. After the meal was over the group requested for Feli to share a message from the Bible. He taught from Matthew chapter six about how God blesses us and takes care of all our needs if only we will seek him and his will. His message was well received and he went on his way.

It hit me as I sat with him this past Friday, how dramatically his life has changed and how even the cynical population of his village has taken note of this transformation. What happened? What made the difference? He took God at his word and God is faithful.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

 

Ten minutes?

O.K., I have a confession.  In my desire to write with wit and depth I regularly go for quite a bit longer than ten minutes.  Maybe I should change it to

thirty minute musings which take  two minutes to read

Or maybe what is true is that it would take others only ten minutes to muse conclusively what it takes me thirty minutes to arrive at.

Forgiven?

Thanks.  I feel much better now.

I’ll just keep the title if that is o.k.  It is kind of African of me anyway.  Why just the other day when Tucker and I headed up the mountain to take our jump we couldn’t find a taxi cab.  So we just began walking up the road.  I thought, well, it shouldn’t take too long.  Then, after five minutes I saw someone coming down and I asked this woman how long it would take to get to the top.  She, who was not wearing a watch, volunteered that 30 minutes would be sufficient for the journey.  Tucker and I began marching briskly and only about 30 percent of the way up and thirty minutes later did I realize the gross error that I had made.  Blessedly two motorcycle taxis showed up just after my confessing this miscalculation to Tucker and him forgiving me.  They hauled us to the top for a mere dollar each and we flew.

So, I guess in an African sort of way ten minutes can be anywhere from five to fifty.

There I go, self-justification at its best.

 

The dilemma of confession - part 3

Well, I guess this is the last installment on this subject, at least for a while.  My heart is pricked and I realize that the biggest thing that keeps me from sharing my brokenness is my pride.  My, what a shame, to miss out on so much love, victory, and power because I want others to think well of me.  Am I actually that deceived to think that they don’t know I make mistakes?

I guess the church could use some rawness.  Ideally a place where we invite Jesus to be among us to deal with real people and their real problems in real time.  A sort of celestial reality show without censorship.  What is that church like?

I love that about Togo and worship among the Watchi people.  It is raw, untamed, unrefined, and rather pure.  The praise time is rather chaotic, there is always the stray goat that wanders through and you can sing whatever song you like.  It is flexible and could go on for two or three hours, just the singing that is.  As for being open to confession, they studied the word with me and said, let’s start doing that.  That is a good idea.  We should share our burdens, and it began.

It seems so simple.  It is so simple.

I love the promise of I John 1:7, it is a healthy church:  “But, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Truth, exposure, revelation, love, fellowship, healing, encouragement, and grace being born from a willingness to be vulnerable to my family of faith as I share my weaknesses and struggles and you share yours.  I hope you are part of that kind of family.  If you aren’t then maybe God will use you to get the ball rolling.

 

The dilemma of confession - Part 2

We don’t like even the thought of it, do we? Confession sounds so ancient, so archaic.

But, we hear David as he says he wasted away while keeping silent.

Are we all wasting away in our silence as we refuse to share with our family in Christ the struggles of our lives?

Jesus said that God wants us to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). I took this growing up to be relating to “form” as in the right way to worship, but now I see that it is a matter of telling the truth. There is this thing about being in the light from John 3:18-21 that catches me, about how those who reject Jesus don’t want to come into the light because of potential exposure. Truth revealed. It sets us free according to John 8:32. So, then John restates his point a little more clearly in I John 1:5-10 and he really begins stepping on my toes. To be in the light in fellowship with each other and God we must confess, or should I just say tell the truth about our struggles, weaknesses, challenges, failings, in other words … sin. James even commands us to do it in chapter five of his letter.

So, who wants to get the ball rolling? Any volunteers?

Times up.

Blessings.

 

The dilemma of confession - part 1

Since returning to Togo, there has been a common thread consistent through all my prayers, studies, teachings, and conversations.  It is the desire for God’s presence here among the Watchi.  I am not sure as to the root of this desperation; maybe it is the reality of our last year among them; maybe it is because the presence of other forces is so evident; or perhaps it stems from a renewed zeal of mine to walk with Him.  I am not really sure.  All I know is that I want to see Him and know Him here, as I never have before.

I must ask myself at this point in my musings, why hasn’t His Presence been more evident?  What has kept Him?

As I look around at the Watchi, I see a people who are living poorly and fearfully.  Foolishly they are fearful of everything but God.  As you pass by the idols of each village and compound, it is apparent that the Watchi don’t fear God.  As Proverbs teaches, this fear is the beginning of wisdom and truly wisdom is what is needed among the Watchi.

My ten minutes is almost up.

I long for God to show up among the Watchi and in my house as well.  Reverence and devotion are born from the fear of God.  Love comes as well, deep love that explodes within us at the realization of his mercy and forgiveness for us.  Passion for Him consumes us as hope invades our heart, that we could live a different, bolder, and more significant life with Him … forever.

In the middle of it all is confession; a willingness to admit fault and verbalize failure as we ask to be pardoned.  It is humbling.  It is the opposite action of pride.  We resist it.  We hate it.  To confess is to admit our continual need for Him.  It is the realization that we, although having improved substantially, have still quite a distance to go.  Repentance follows and both of them happen in reaction to the fear of God.

Am I wise enough to fear Him?  Do I realize who I am praying to?  Can I possibly conceive how great He is and how much He loves me?  How can I possibly help the Watchi to grow in this?

out of time.

 

Sometimes …

There are days, you know the kind, when things just don’t go as planned. Like when the electricity starts flowing into the house at around 300 volts instead of 220 and lights begin to pop and suddenly the microwave has lost the will to live. Death by electrocution. This comes as an acute shock as your supply of propane gas for your stove has just run out at the same time as the rest of the entire country, literally. Then you begin the hunt for the last remaining bottle of propane in the country, you find it, and they say it is not really there. You say, “What?” It is before your very eyes within your reach even, but, denied. They refuse to sell it to you. Then you go home to watch your wife cook on the hot plate, and your thankful the electricity hasn’t gone off, yet. The water is still on, so while you are cooking the fourth course on the one hot plate you dash out to fill the washing machine, and you forget. You proceed to fill the entire laundry room with three inches of water, but the machine is full now and the kids get to earn extra x-box time if they mop up all the water and if there is still electricity and if the x-box survives 300 volts. Sometimes it just takes a lot of energy to live.

You consider simplification, but think it would be too boring. You might actually have time to pray. You might not have so much stuff that is susceptible to electrocution. You might even throw a ball with your son or look into your wife’s eyes and remember how much you love her. You might have time to see the sights, smell the roses, and do all the other unregrettables, that we don’t have time for now, because of the maintenance of our so very complicated and cluttered lives.

Sometimes we almost consider a change, but then again, why would we want to do that? We would have to give up so much.

 

Did I really just do that?

There are many ways to be overwhelmed by God’s beauty and underwhelmed (that should be a word, shouldn’t it) by your own strength or lack of thereof. In those moments of smallness face to face with God’s greatness, vocabulary becomes limited to things like wow and primeval yells. There is really nothing like it.

Had that today here in Togo as Tucker and I strapped ourselves to parachutes and ran off the side of a mountain. Watching Tucker go was … wow. Going myself was … WOW. Incredible and so refreshing to be loved by such a great God and enjoy his beauty in such unexpected ways. The mountains, valleys, clouds, wind, birds, trees, rocks all screaming in unison, “GLORY!” And then there you are, sailing along with nothing between you and a very long fall to earth. WOW, the parachute really works.

Faith is the WOW of our lives. It is faith and hope coming together bound by our weakness and his strength, and love. Then, WOW, he comes in and rescues, saves, intervenes, heals,

and we cry,

GLORY.

Cool thing was that we did it for $30 each.

 

Reconstruction

We’ve got our hard hats on and we are well into it. After being away for eight months in America, we are back in Togo and the work is … different, more Togolese. In our absence some things went by the wayside, some things were modified, and some things disappeared altogether.

We had thought about this prolonged absence and what would come from it. We thought it would be a good test. We thought God would use that time to bless them with maturity and surety of faith. We thought that some things and some people, even trusted friends, would fall and fail. We thought that others, unlikely candidates would rise to the occasion.

We were right.

All of that came to pass.

So now what do we do. We are thrilled.  We are disappointed.  We are encouraged.  We are holding onto hope.

We reconstruct. Some things we trash, with the help of our Watchi leaders, altogether. Others we modify. Even others we tweak. Through it all, though, we pray.

That is what the hard hat is for. The prayer. The prayer is different from others I have prayed. The prayer is that which was done in the flesh, burn it up and that which is of Spirit, bless it. If it is from me, God, bring the house down around me, but if it is infused with and based on You, God, bless it to thrive.

We are leaving. What will be left? He who was here long before we arrived.

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.