Christmas Revisited...

After having written a few posts, I have received several comments and e-mails about my thoughts. These comments from various people (along with the messages I have heard at church) have inspired me with a challenge for everyone reading this post. Actually the comment from Andrea inspired me the most I think, about actually living out what we believe. I have sat through countless sermons (each of them very good and very inspiration) where the preacher has used all sorts of words that, while they mean a lot to Christians, they mean almost nothing to the 'un-churched', the 'un-saved', 'sinners'. The problem in many Christian circles is that we use words that people (sometimes even us) don't really know or understand the meaning of. So my challenge is this:

This Christmas I challenge each one of you to 'evangelize', 'share the gospel', 'pray for', 'lead to the Lord', whatever you want to call it...I challenge you to share your faith with one person over the Christmas season, but there's a catch. Do it without using any of the 'Christian Lingo'; without using 'born again' or 'saved' or 'salvation'.

So that is your mission and that is my mission. This will be my last post from Lusaka and when I return from South Africa I hope we can all share how it went.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Gut Nacht!!

When It Rains...It Pours

...and I don't mean that in a negative sense but I do mean it more than just the obvious (i.e. it has rained the last couple of days and it has poured...and it seems like the first two months weren't really that busy and this past week I've been extremely busy).

Ok, so the last two posts were not really about what I’m doing here but I’m allowed to speak my mind sometimes!! You can only talk to bugs for so long before you need to talk to real people!

This week has been actually relatively productive. Monday started off ok (not horrible but not great) but ended really well. In the morning I harvested some rape from the garden. Nothing too exciting but it was kind of nice to have something to show for the work we’ve put in the garden. I had to go into town to talk to Mrs. Banda so I left about 9:30 from the project. Now I’ve learned by now that even if people say it won’t be long, it will be long. Knowing that I had to return to Northmead after I was done work, I thought I better bring along the things I need for there in the morning, just in case it takes a while (it turns out I was right, I just stayed in town).

After talking with Mrs. Banda, I was dropped off at the Pannar Seeds head office to find prices for more seed for the garden. I arrived there just as everyone was leaving for lunch. I though “great, now I have to wait. Oh well, at least I brought a book.” So I sat and read for about 10 minutes when the general manager came back from visiting a client. He saw me sitting there and I told him I was here to buy seed but I had to wait until they came back from lunch. So he invited me upstairs to his office and we had a nice chat for about an hour. It turns out he’s from South Africa and has been in Zambia for about four or five months. We talked about everything from maize to the snow I’m missing in Canada. Anyway, I got the prices for seed when the other workers came back and made a contact at Pannar that I think will be very useful for the project. God is great!

On Tuesday, I started the day helping Oscar find a way to hook the disc up to the tractor. The bolts for the hitch won’t stay on and we didn’t want to wreck it anymore before we can get it fixed permanently. So we attached a bar to where the plow usually is and put a hole in the middle for the disc to attach to. We actually managed to get it to work without damaging things. Again, God is great! The rest of the day I spent planting things in the garden. I planted rape and made holes for green pepper. Tuesday evening, we had visitors come to look at the project. Some very important people from the Pentacostal Assemblies of God in Zambia and in Canada came to see what life is like at the Lazarus Project. I had heard there were visitors but I guess I didn’t clue in that they hadn’t come yet. After work I usually take a shower and get cleaned up but today I was slow getting to my room and I ended up playing with the boys for a while (we were playing duck, duck, goose, or their version of it). Anyway, when I was playing with them, the visitors showed up, complete with Bishop Banda and two other pastors from Northmead. I was still in my clothes from work, all nice and smelly and dirty. I don’t think they minded though. After all, I am a farmer!

Wednesday was perhaps the 'quietest' day. Nothing too exciting happened during the day but David Shelley (my supervisor in Canada) called in the evening. It was great to talk to him and share how things are going, but at the same time it definately made the next couple of days busy (but I'm not complaining - I have always maintained that I would rather be very busy than very bored, so this is good).

Thursday I had to come into town and answer some of the questions from Dave (find prices and information for greenhouses, etc.) It included a stop at the Massy Fergusson dealership to inquire about fixing the hitch permanently. This will be done on Monday this next week, which means it will be another busy week. On Thursday I also went to the choir practice (relax, I'm not singing, I'm doing the sound for them!) I took the bus from where I was to the church and it looked like it was going to rain (and by rain I mean it looked like God was going to pour the Atlantic Ocean on Lusaka). And what would you know...as soon as I stepped off the bus, the heavens opened up and God said "I hate you Alfalfa." By the time I got ran to the church, I was completely wet (well except for the back of my legs because I ran fast enough that the water didn't get there). Just to make matters more interesting, there was a nativity play going on at the church so no choir practice. Oh well, a little water never hur...well...ummm...oh never mind.

Friday was a little less crazy but still no less interesting. I didn't mention but on Thursday the company installing the fence to separate the garden from the school (and thereby prevent the boys from walking all over the plants) came and started construction of the fence. They returned on Friday and put in the gate. So now we have a bunch of posts and a gate, all we need are the electric wires that run between the posts. This should be done next week by Tuesday (making next week even more busy).

Amoung all the business here, I managed to plant more rape, green pepper, okra and eggplant. The okra and rape have germinated well (the pepper and eggplant are coming but they take longer). I have also managed to plant more in my garden and it is starting to grow too. I planted Zucchini, which are doing great. The maize is also growing (although I haven't really done anything this week to make it grow, I let God take care of that).

This next week promises to be another exciting week with all sorts of adventures. To top it all off, Claudia will be here next Friday morning for a few days before we go to South Africa. To say that I'm excited is probably an understatement but needless to say, I hope this week goes by fast!!

Anyway, I think that's all for now. Thanks for all the comments and e-mails about my last couple of posts. I'm glad I have inspired people to think more about Christmas.

Oh well, have a wonderful weekend.

Christmas..brought to you by the letter "J"

Christmas season is upon us (it has been here longer for some than for others) and I thought I would share some random thoughts that have come to mind. I can not claim them as my own but gladly acknowledge Bruxy Cavey’s contribution to my life.

Last year one of my MSN names was “Christmas – The Ultimate Love Story.” One of my friends pointed out that maybe Easter was the ultimate love story since that is when Jesus (God) died for us. At first I thought maybe she was right and now I think she is right to a point but I also think Christmas is extremely important.

When we look at what happened some 2000 years ago in a little town in Judea we find some fascinating things. I’m sure we all know the stories of Christmas, the virgin birth, the shepherds, the three kings, etc. so I won’t go into them but I will look at what exactly happened when Jesus was born and what that meant for God, for the people in Israel and for us today.

First, what did the birth of Jesus mean…for God. Well, when the Angel came to Mary and said she would be with child and she is to name him ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ something happens that no other religion or faith system on earth claims: God has become one of us. He has come down from heaven to earth and took on a human form. And let me point out, it wasn’t the form of a king or a mighty warrior, it was the form of a baby and before that a fetus. God became the most vulnerable of all humans. (On a side note, one thing Bruxy has pointed out in one of his sermons is about the virgin birth. Most people, including me until I heard this, have always assumed that when the Angel appeared to Mary and said she would be with child that God supplied the sperm and Mary provided the egg – making Jesus both Divine and human. But is it not possible that God provided not only the sperm but also the egg? Adam wasn’t born from another human but he was fully human so is it possible that God could have put a fertilized egg in Mary? I think it is…but I digress…back to Christmas).

Now to really understand what the birth of Jesus meant for God look at the possibilities God could have chosen. We needed someone to die for our since once and for all. God could have commanded a prophet or a righteous man of God to die for us, and maybe that could have worked. But that’s not God showing us His love, it’s Him showing His power. He can command someone to die. What makes Jesus so special is that God says someone needs to die for our sins…and then He says “Let me die.” So Easter is special for this reason, among others. But the biggest difference between Easter and Christmas is that before He was born, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing (I believe He also knew before Easter too but before He was born, He was in heaven and knew everything). The point is Jesus voluntarily came to earth known completely that He would die and that for even the shortest instant He would be separated from God, something He desperately did not want. And even knowing this, He still came and died. To quote from Relient K, Jesus “the first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my Saviour? And the first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever?”

I think I have gone on long enough and I don’t want to bore anyone so I will try to write again about what the birth of Jesus meant for Israel and what it means for us today. Actually, maybe I’ll let you think about what it means for us today and you can listen to Bruxy Cavey from The Meeting House and his series called “The Jesus Scandals” to find out what it meant for Israel.

Jesus was born to die, that was His purpose in life. What’s yours?

Random Thoughts...brought to you by the letter "C"

On Monday this week I accomplished something incredible: I read through Nick’s blog, the entire thing from start to finish. Amidst the stories of music and uliean pipes and tin whistles (or penny whistles) I realized a few things (plus an e-mail from my mom with some encouraging words that were actually written by Claudia, which is helping me to see just how amazing the person I am going to marry is). Here are some of my random thoughts inspired by Nick’s blog (thanks Nick!)

First, I realized how passionate Nick is about music (and all that comes with it). I think of that and am encouraged. When we can find something that we can be excited about and always enjoy, I think it helps us understand God a little more. He didn’t make us so that we could walk around on earth and be miserable, he wants us to be happy. When we can truly enjoy part of God’s creation (yes, tin whistles are part of God’s creation), I think we learn how to enjoy God in another way.

Second, I realized how much I miss snow. Now before you start to panic and think I’m crazy, I have always liked snow, especially when it first snows and it starts to feel like Christmas. Here in Zambia we have many of the same decorations (and Nick, they were put up after Independence Day – Oct 24th) and much of the same music. But no snow. Having grown up in an region where it snows quite a bit during the winter, Christmas has always been marked with lots of white stuff on the ground. I guess this year I will only be able to dream of a white Christmas.

Third, besides snow, I also miss everything that comes with it: snowmen, snowballs, sledding and skating (ok skating just comes with freezing temperatures but I’m in Zambia, the only place that freezes is the inside of my fridge when it’s turned down too cold). One of my friends that I met at Boyne River (Denise) sent me a Christmas card a while ago (I think the beginning of November). The reason for the early card was because she also sent some pictures along and the card went well with the pictures. The pictures she sent were from when Boyne River was closing and there was a big farewell day one Saturday in February. A bunch of the interns played hockey on the pond and Denise sent a couple of great pictures (the card has kids playing hockey on the front). I think this was the first time that I realized I would miss snow, and Nick’s blog, with his skiing, and snowfall, and mountains only compounded the feelings.

Fourth, I realized how much I will miss my relatives this Christmas. It has always been great to get together with all my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandma and just celebrate. I am blessed with a wonderful extended family, where everyone loves to have fun. From watching football to eating turkey to playing Rummy Royal (I still remember when John and Kate had to search on the floor for fallen pennies to stay in the game and they found some and came back and beat everyone else), Christmas has always been, as Bruxy Cavey would say, a time for community, where we can get together and be who God has created us to be.

After we graduated, my mom and dad gave Claudia and I each a book. The books were written so that little kids can understand them with pictures they would love to look at but with stories that will touch older people. The book my mom and dad gave me was all about lasts and how we always remember our firsts, the first time a kids walks or talks or the first time he goes to school but we very often don’t know when something will be the last time. I think Claudia and her parents didn’t know that last Christmas would be their last at home with just the three of them as family. I didn’t know that three Christmases ago would be my last with all my relatives as a single guy. And this year will be my last Christmas before I get married.

As we go through life, we are faced with many changes. These changes are opportunities for us to grow and to be challenged. When I look at the 14 months of my life, I can see how much things have changed and how much I have grown. Last September, I was a single University student entering his last year of school with not even a thought of even leaving Southern Ontario. I made a choice, a conscience decision, to trust God with me life. It started with trusting God that he would bring along the right person at the right time (which was at least not until after January of 2005…or so I though) and I would not have to look. At the time, I thought the decision was nothing special and really not that tough to make but Chris Hutton pointed out that it’s a big step, to say “God, you have control” instead of “God I want control.” I realize now that it may have been a big step but since then I have had many more ‘big steps.’ Looking back I realize if I hadn’t taken the first step, I never would have been ready for the second or third. So after all that’s happened in the last year, I am now a university (sorry Kate) graduate working as a farmer in Zambia with a fiancée in Tanzania.