Choking on Your Teeth?

I simply wanted to offer anyone help in retrieving their teeth from the back of their throat because of the overwhelming suprise that might have hit them because of my blog post. Surprise!!! I have received too many emails compelling me to write so I am going to respond to the nudging and do a little better. LOL. Keep watching and you never know...

Hands and Feet

I have never had much trouble speaking. Probably my favorite classes in school were my 7th, 8th and 9th grade speech and drama classes. Maybe part of the reason was that my father was the teacher, but more than that I simply enjoyed public speaking. I enjoyed preparing for it and I enjoyed the delivery. To hold the attention of an audience and know that they were listening to what you had to say was very fascinating to me. Now that my subject matter is primarily about God and his love for us, my motivations have changed as well as my reason for speaking. When I spoke in speech class, it was often for a grade or a competition for which I could really get fired up about. Now, I feel a different kind of burning. This is a burning from deep within to share the truth about God and who we are in relation to Him. However, as great as it is to speak truth and to share the Good News with others, it is probably more important to live that message in the presence of those who also need to hear it. I can never stop speaking. But maybe I need to do a little more serving as well. Perhaps I need to learn to speak with my hands and feet. Over these past six year in Togo, I have had many opportunities to speak. I have also had many opportunities to serve. I am ashamed to say that my learning curve has been considerably bent. Not until recently have I begun to understand and reach out to those in need here in Kabiye land. I have given out a lot of spare change during these past six years, but I cannot count many times that I have poured Jesus into them. He lives in me and I am filled daily to overflowing with his presence and power. So why have I waited so long? What has held me back? The answer is fear and pride. I have really struggled with these two monsters over the past few years but have finally begun to break free from them and the other side is much more free and fresh. I have intended for some time now to teach a lesson on servant hood and use John 13 where Jesus washes his disciple’s feet. As a part of the lesson I wanted to wash the feet of my listeners as an illustration of exactly what Jesus did. Have you seen Kabiye feet? Pedicure shops are few and far between! Sandals, dust and the dry season make for some dirty, stinky, dry and cracked feet. Quite frankly, I avoided this lesson because I did not want to touch their feet! Recently, however, something inside me changed (miracles still exist) and I felt compelled to illustrate Christ’s example of servant hood and kingdom living. One particular afternoon in the village of Ajadaa, I was washing the feet of one of the Christian young women and came across a large abscess on the back of her heal. Before I could react and pull my hand away, the abscess burst and I won’t go into the rest. I am not easily disgusted by things like this, but at that moment my gag reflex went into overdrive and I just knew that I was going to vomit right there on the spot. I believe it was by God’s grace that I did not but instead held on to her foot and continued to clean. She winced and I apologized and I cleaned out the wound explaining that she needed to keep it clean and bandaged and then moved on to the next pair of feet. That moment and that image have remained burned onto the back of my skull and through it, and many other pairs of feet, God has taught me a great deal about what it means to have hands and feet for God. I thought immediately of Jesus touching the leper and of how many countless poor, dirty, sick and lonely people he touched in a meaningful way. He took time and expended energy not just throwing them some chump change, but he really reached into their lives and gave them a piece of himself. That is what we are called to do. Regardless of our station in life we are called to touch and love people. Instead of just tossing some change to the beggar, I need touch his or her hand, look into their eyes and ask them how they are doing. Take the time and expend the spiritual energy necessary to touch and maybe even change a life. That has been a big challenge for me. However, God’s grace and power is helping me be more like the Christ who washed his disciple’s feet, cleansed the lepers and healed and loved countless others. What an impact we could all have in this world if we didn’t try to make our Christianity antiseptic. Jesus never said anything about being squeaky clean followers of him. We need to be the hands and feet of Christ that are willing do anything to give someone a glimpse of who Jesus really is and what it means to be his children.

A Good Friend

Outside of my immediate circle of missionary friends, I do not have many good friends here in Togo. Whether this is because of my personality or because of the vast difference in cultures, I do not know, but one exception to this reality is a man named Adam. Adam is a master electrician who I met during our first several weeks here in Togo while we were working on our houses to make them comfortable and safe to live in. He came highly recommended as an electrician and a good, honest person by the missionaries who lived in Kara. I very quickly developed an honest and sincere respect not only for his knowledge of electrical work but also for his gentle and humble spirit. In our six years here in Togo, I have never heard a negative word uttered about Adam or his work. The only thing that has nagged me about Adam is that he does not know God. You see, Adam is a devout follower of Islam. It isn't his Islamic beliefs that bothers me, because I have a great respect for his sincere devotion and faith to the tenants of Islam. Many people hear the word Islam or Muslim and their minds are taken immediately to images of 9/11 or some other moment of violence or terrorism. However, my experience with Muslim people in Togo is that they are some of the most peaceful, gentle and genuine people I have met here. Adam is no exception. Over the past six years as our relationship has slowly deepened into a friendship my heart has continually been touched by God concerning Adam's lost state. I can relate it to the technique so many people use when trying to decide whether or not to make a big money purchase. The desire enters your heart and then you sit on it for a while. If the desire continues to come into your mind over the course of several weeks or months, then perhaps you should pursue making the purchase. Well, God's continually putting Adam on my heart was a sign to me that I needed to speak the truth of God's love to him. And so I have waited and waited for the right moment. Yesterday, both Adam and I were doing work to prepare our guestrooms for our Tabligbo friends who will be coming at the end of the week. Of course Adam was doing the electrical work and I was putting together bed frames. As I stood there cleaning the bed frames, I very suddenly felt deeply compelled to speak to Adam about Jesus. I can only explain that deep compulsion to speak as a direct leading by the Spirit of God. I believe it was so because of the openness of Adam's heart to stand there near to me and openly discuss his faith and my faith. 2 Corinthians 5:14 came to my mind where it says that Christ's love controls us or compels us. Adam has never experienced or understood the love of Christ as I have and that very love compelled my heart and mind to act and to speak truth. In our conversation, Adam related to me how other missionaries had spoken to him as well and I told him that God was clearly pursuing him and wanted him as His own. That comment drew a look of surprise and interest and our conversation ended with an agreement to continue talking and maybe even sitting down to take a look into God's Word. I love Adam and have a great burden on my heart for his eternal salvation. I desire for him to know and experience the sweet and refreshing relationship with God that is available to him right now. I am sharing this story with you because I need you to share this burden with me and allow that burden to take you to your knees in the presence of God in prayer for Adam. I hope to continue updating you on my relationship with Adam and more importantly his relationship with God. And one day my prayer is that I can share with you the story of how Adam accepted Jesus as his Savior and how he has entered into a wonderful relationship with his God.

Welcome

I want to welcome you to my new blog. I hope you will visit it regularly as I will be trying my best to post regularly. The posts will be reflecting happenings in our work among the Kabiye as well as my own thoughts and experiences here with our family and our work. I hope you enjoy the blog as much as I have enjoyed many of yours. Thanks!