Glasses

A kind church in America gave us a box full of glasses to give away here in Zambia. A couple members from the church we are working with have been complaining about their eyes. Yesterday I brought some of the glasses to church in the bush and tried to surprise them knowing they would truly be thrilled. For many of the older people in the church, it is difficult to read the Bible simply because their eyes are hurting. This gift from Grace Baptist Church is allowing people not only to see better but also to read their Bibles better! Praise the LORD. 

Pictured below is Mr. Tonga - he has been excitedly coming to church for the last couple months. About 4 or 5 weeks ago he mentioned he had dropped his glasses somewhere and they were lost. When I brought him a new pair of glasses yesterday he was like a little boy jumping up and down and just so excited. Imagine not being able to see and one day coming to church and someone has given you the gift of sight! Of course, you see the spiritual application there as well... many of us walk around blindly or with our sight significantly reduced until we meet with God and He restores our vision enabling us to walk by faith and see the things of God. The church can be a place where people get their vision corrected and are enabled to see, rejoicing, and giving thanks as Christ is preached and God's Word is known!  We still have lots of glasses to give out and look forward to being both a physical and spiritual blessing to the people in Chinunda area. Imagine,  being able to SEE!

2 Kings 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:

Psalms 119:18  Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

John 9:25   He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

funeral or church...?

The drive to Church Sunday was made difficult by the heavy rains from the previous night but with the help of 4x4 we made it safely. As we arrived, there was a procession of 200+ people coming down the road. We all immediately understood this to be the march of mourners on the way to a funeral. After making some inquiries, we found a man in his early 40s had died on Saturday after apparently enduring years of physical illness. Some said he had stopped taking his ARVs (HIV medicine) which likely caused his deterioration.

In these rural areas funerals take precedence over almost everything else. No one came to the church but a group of small children. We used the time to tell the children some Bible stories and sing some songs... but eventually, time was gone and I just decided to preach a short message. I was thrilled to see that eventually some adults arrived and we had a wonderful church service as we encouraged ourselves in the most holy Faith through God's word.

Before leaving for home, we went to visit the family of the deceased. We wanted to give some words of encouragement and pray for God's help at this time. I really didnt have many words but as I was stammering along I just tried to remind everyone that death is one event that will happen to all of us. Most of us dont want to think or even talk about this subject but as a preacher, it really is my desire to see people prepared for this inevitable event. 

transition

We have a Bible study that normally meets twice a month on Sunday afternoons for ex-pats living in the Chipata area. Many of the people that come are working with NGOs and have 1 or 2 year contracts to stay in Chipata. Of course, that means many of the people transition in and out of our little study. There are a couple families that seem to be long term in Chipata which brings the stability and allows us some continuity of thought! A couple months ago a family from Paris left Chipata and now this week a single man from Chicago is leaving us.

The picture below doesnt really represent well since at least 2 full families are missing along with a few of the men that normally come and single folks. We are always keeping our eyes open for those we can invite in with the hopes of encouraging them with God's word for as long as they are here! We are inching our way through a verse by verse study of Colossians and really trying to fully understand what the Lord would have for us. Please pray the Lord would work in each of our hearts as we study His word!

Psalms 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalms 119:140  Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.

Psalms 119:160  Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

washed out road

Every Saturday morning we go to a small bush church to teach and have Bible study. However, last night we started receiving heavy rains that didnt let up until late this morning. There are two roads that lead to our church location. One road is completely impassable during the rainy season so we normally take the slower/longer road. We were doing ok for most of the way until we came to a bridge. Apparently the dam had over flowed and water was rushing under the bridge and around the bridge. I was hesitant to cross but figured we could probably make it. Just about the time I was getting my nerve to go for it a woman showed up and began talking to us. She told us that 3 vehicles had recently been washed down river at this spot and the latest one left the driver trapped inside until he could be rescued.

Because the road is so narrow, I had to then back up for roughly 1/2 km on an extremely slippery/muddy "road". These are just not the things we learn in Bible school!! ;-)

Just another day...

You really never know how things are going to go while preaching in the bush. We arrived at the church and put down the reed mats for the women to sit on. It wasnt very long and we all realized there were thousands of termites coming through the mat. Of course, nobody wants to sit with termites and we were forced to change things around a bit. 

From there things seemed to move forward well and I was able to preach the message without any more complications. It was not until we were about to give announcements that a small snake decided to come in from behind me and slither towards the women sitting on the ground. HA! I was surprised to see an older woman jump so fast. It was just a baby snake of maybe some 12 inches in length but snakes always seem to get lots of respect no matter the size. We changed its direction and it moved out of the church without any more hassle. 

I have been preaching through the Gospel of John. Today we did a message from John 10 that touched on Jesus being the only way to salvation (the door), that Jesus is the only true way to the Abundant Life, and that Jesus provides true Safety/Security to His sheep. Sometimes it is easier to prepare for the actual message than the circumstances in which the message will be preached!!