from Elliott
It was a challenging question posed by our Pastor today. He noted that the Wise Men came from the East and they were astrologers not the good Jewish folk of the area. But somehow God used them to celebrate the birth in Bethlehem. Perhaps, the local folks were not willing to hear God's whisper.
They followed a star to find the manger - representing hope for us Christ followers. It seems today that we have a choice of many stars to follow as we seek our future. So many seem so bright when we first gaze upon them but as we follow them many times they fizzle out or when we get to the destination we find that we were following the wrong one and there is no 'there' there. We must discern the difference between the fleeting and the eternal.
As you gaze into the night sky here in South Africa you can well imagine how one could physically follow a star but at the same time find it difficult to know which one. The stars are brilliant here especially in the rural area where we are. On a clear night there are so many in the sky, they light up the land below as if there was a full moon. As you gaze upon them you can imagine the magnitude of God's universe and the completeness of God's creation. There are literally thousands of them visible - each one different in their location, brightness and their relationship with the others.
God calls us to follow a star. His Word tells us which one to follow, how to pursue it and how to know that you have found your way when you get there.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
"You Are an African"
from Katherine
Last Sunday, Pastors Themba and Lucky, our friends from Bizana, a market town about an hour from our home, invited us to visit their church. We were excited to join them and Elliott had a brief greeting in mind as you are always asked to 'bring greetings' to the congregation. When we arrived at the church, a large corrugated tin structure, Themba came to the car to greet us and asked Elliott if he had his message. Elliott was taken aback but Themba really wanted him to preach!
And preach he did - for 45 minutes. I was shocked and told Elliott he was a true African!
He preached long and loud and pointed often to his Bible just like the African preachers. He preached about God having an individual plan for each of our lives and that His plans were to 'prosper' (Jer. 29:11) us but God, not us, chose how 'prosper' was defined. Elliott then wondered whether the God that is all about a relationship with His Creation might define prosperity as our growing relationship with God. Our response to that would be to honor God by the way we chose to live out that plan (Col. 3: 22-24).
Last Sunday, Pastors Themba and Lucky, our friends from Bizana, a market town about an hour from our home, invited us to visit their church. We were excited to join them and Elliott had a brief greeting in mind as you are always asked to 'bring greetings' to the congregation. When we arrived at the church, a large corrugated tin structure, Themba came to the car to greet us and asked Elliott if he had his message. Elliott was taken aback but Themba really wanted him to preach!
And preach he did - for 45 minutes. I was shocked and told Elliott he was a true African!
He preached long and loud and pointed often to his Bible just like the African preachers. He preached about God having an individual plan for each of our lives and that His plans were to 'prosper' (Jer. 29:11) us but God, not us, chose how 'prosper' was defined. Elliott then wondered whether the God that is all about a relationship with His Creation might define prosperity as our growing relationship with God. Our response to that would be to honor God by the way we chose to live out that plan (Col. 3: 22-24).
Monday, November 14, 2011
Our Favorite 'Jewish' Food
from Elliott
Katherine has done a great job of finding those familiar food items at the local shops and even introduced us to quite a few new indigenous 'favorites'! Most places have quite a selection of snack foods like potato chips and a variety of similar crunchy things. Most have different names and we aren't sure what ingredients are in some.of them. One of our favorite new flavors is chutney which is a flavor that South Africans put on almost anything.
One item we hard a hard time finding was pretzels. In the US they are always adjacent to, or an alternative calorie type, the potato or corn chips but here they are hard to find in a basic store here. While at a specialty shop a couple of towns away Katherine found them! They weren't in the snack food aisle as you would expect, they were on an ethnic foods aisle labeled 'Jewish Food'. The inquiring mind went into action and she found out why - these pretzels were manufactured in Israel. Never knew they were known for their pretzels but in my opinion it sure beats matzos!
Katherine has done a great job of finding those familiar food items at the local shops and even introduced us to quite a few new indigenous 'favorites'! Most places have quite a selection of snack foods like potato chips and a variety of similar crunchy things. Most have different names and we aren't sure what ingredients are in some.of them. One of our favorite new flavors is chutney which is a flavor that South Africans put on almost anything.
One item we hard a hard time finding was pretzels. In the US they are always adjacent to, or an alternative calorie type, the potato or corn chips but here they are hard to find in a basic store here. While at a specialty shop a couple of towns away Katherine found them! They weren't in the snack food aisle as you would expect, they were on an ethnic foods aisle labeled 'Jewish Food'. The inquiring mind went into action and she found out why - these pretzels were manufactured in Israel. Never knew they were known for their pretzels but in my opinion it sure beats matzos!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Language Forensics
from Elliott
You can learn a lot about how people think by the words they chose. That is one reason we hope to greatly improve our understanding of Xhosa. An example is how people respond to the question of 'how you are doing?' or 'Kunjani?' When you ask it of an individual standing alone you would expect them to say - 'I am well' or 'ndiyaphile'. Many times the response will instead be, We are well' or 'siyaphile.'
The difference being a simple prefix - ndi vs. si or I vs We. 'We are well' They are speaking for their family not just themselves. It suggests a perception of their relationship with their family and position within. It is usually the mamas who speak collectively because of their intense maternal instinct that extends well beyond their own biological children to include other family members and even community members that they have responsibility for.
Just a couple of letters difference but it tells you a significant amount about the person!
You can learn a lot about how people think by the words they chose. That is one reason we hope to greatly improve our understanding of Xhosa. An example is how people respond to the question of 'how you are doing?' or 'Kunjani?' When you ask it of an individual standing alone you would expect them to say - 'I am well' or 'ndiyaphile'. Many times the response will instead be, We are well' or 'siyaphile.'
The difference being a simple prefix - ndi vs. si or I vs We. 'We are well' They are speaking for their family not just themselves. It suggests a perception of their relationship with their family and position within. It is usually the mamas who speak collectively because of their intense maternal instinct that extends well beyond their own biological children to include other family members and even community members that they have responsibility for.
Just a couple of letters difference but it tells you a significant amount about the person!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
from Katherine
We have just returned from Chiang Mai, Thailand where we attended a Mission Society conference. "Why?" you ask. Camaraderie with fellow missionaries and their kids from Africa, Asia and Europe. We learned, shared, laughed, worshiped and more.
At first I felt guilty about leaving the Pre School and other ministries in South Africa but our sending agency felt the time away would be valuable. So there I was being loved on, encouraged, comparing notes with other missionaries and being reminded that people are people all over the world. I came home both tired and refreshed!
We have just returned from Chiang Mai, Thailand where we attended a Mission Society conference. "Why?" you ask. Camaraderie with fellow missionaries and their kids from Africa, Asia and Europe. We learned, shared, laughed, worshiped and more.
At first I felt guilty about leaving the Pre School and other ministries in South Africa but our sending agency felt the time away would be valuable. So there I was being loved on, encouraged, comparing notes with other missionaries and being reminded that people are people all over the world. I came home both tired and refreshed!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Garden Spirituality
from Elliott
I do 'hear' God a bit better than normal while working in the garden. Today I was thinning the carrots...it seems that my seed was much more productive than I was expected and I ended up with extremely dense seedlings! On the one hand I was overly proud that they had done so well but I realized what looked like lush growth was actually going to choke them out and they would never grow to full size.
The only way to give them the proper growing room would be to remove about every third one - but which ones should I remove and what should I do with them? I could not just remove the weakest ones since they all looked the same above the ground. What was different though was the invisible growth below the surface. I paused wondering if I was going to be wasting some good ones since I would just be picking them at random.
It reminded me of spiritual pruning - when God removes that part of each one of us that is not of His plan and hinders our growth. We too might look like the lush row of carrots on the outside to our peers but God knows that not all is well with our soul and that we have too many things 'crowding out' the person that God has created us to become.
Of course, many times those things needing pruning are not always visible to us or other people much like the portion of the carrots that lie beneath the surface. But nothing is invisible to God so as a loving Gardener He goes about removing that which hinders our growth. And while the process might appear in the short term to reduce us or challenge us as the season unfolds new growth occurs and, like the carrot, we take on the appearance that the Gardener had originally intended- achieving our fullest potential!
I do 'hear' God a bit better than normal while working in the garden. Today I was thinning the carrots...it seems that my seed was much more productive than I was expected and I ended up with extremely dense seedlings! On the one hand I was overly proud that they had done so well but I realized what looked like lush growth was actually going to choke them out and they would never grow to full size.
The only way to give them the proper growing room would be to remove about every third one - but which ones should I remove and what should I do with them? I could not just remove the weakest ones since they all looked the same above the ground. What was different though was the invisible growth below the surface. I paused wondering if I was going to be wasting some good ones since I would just be picking them at random.
It reminded me of spiritual pruning - when God removes that part of each one of us that is not of His plan and hinders our growth. We too might look like the lush row of carrots on the outside to our peers but God knows that not all is well with our soul and that we have too many things 'crowding out' the person that God has created us to become.
Of course, many times those things needing pruning are not always visible to us or other people much like the portion of the carrots that lie beneath the surface. But nothing is invisible to God so as a loving Gardener He goes about removing that which hinders our growth. And while the process might appear in the short term to reduce us or challenge us as the season unfolds new growth occurs and, like the carrot, we take on the appearance that the Gardener had originally intended- achieving our fullest potential!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
A Hunger for Knowledge
from Elliott
It was amazing! We had a registration day today for our third session of computer training. Four classes will be offered- two introductory and two levels of Word. When I arrived at 11:00 to set up for the Registration which was to begin at 12pm there were already 42 people in line!
We only have four computers so to offer a good learning environment we have had to limit classes to 16 learners. Yes, they have to take turns during the class period! But they are very much willing to do so...just so they can have an opportunity to be in the class.
I had been concerned because in previous sessions the intro class was offered without charge and now we are charging a modest R25 (~$3) fee to help defray the cost of materials and build a reserve for computer repairs and supplies.
By 1:30 all 64 spots were taken and they was a list of alternates. It is difficult to turn people away or tell them they have to wait until the next session. They clearly see personal value in the knowledge that they can gain. And if it increases there potential for employment then we will have made a good investment. And in the meantime, we can share the Gospel in the class devotion each week! That makes it all worthwhile!
It was amazing! We had a registration day today for our third session of computer training. Four classes will be offered- two introductory and two levels of Word. When I arrived at 11:00 to set up for the Registration which was to begin at 12pm there were already 42 people in line!
We only have four computers so to offer a good learning environment we have had to limit classes to 16 learners. Yes, they have to take turns during the class period! But they are very much willing to do so...just so they can have an opportunity to be in the class.
I had been concerned because in previous sessions the intro class was offered without charge and now we are charging a modest R25 (~$3) fee to help defray the cost of materials and build a reserve for computer repairs and supplies.
By 1:30 all 64 spots were taken and they was a list of alternates. It is difficult to turn people away or tell them they have to wait until the next session. They clearly see personal value in the knowledge that they can gain. And if it increases there potential for employment then we will have made a good investment. And in the meantime, we can share the Gospel in the class devotion each week! That makes it all worthwhile!
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