How To Be The Means Of Grace To Others

James 2:15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, "Go in peace, be warmed and well-fed," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by works, is dead.

We decided early on that we would be as transparent as possible in the hopes that others might benefit in some small way by our various dilemmas and experiences. This latest decision has to do with hiring workers. If you have been exposed to mission life much at all then you know that this is a debatable issue. Many will accuse missionaries who hire housekeepers, or gardeners, or security guards of living in excessive, wasteful luxury. I've heard that it's true (though I've never seen it) that there are some missionaries who drive around in Mercedes, living the 'high life' in large compounds with full staffs of workers while native Christian neighbors living in the area shake their heads in shame for the excessive lifestyle of the Western missionary. I hope that this is the exception; not the rule.

Anyway, there was a day when I looked down my super-spiritual nose at missionaries who lived with any helpers at all as living in wasteful extravagance. I found it appalling! That was until I became a full-time missionary myself and was suddenly forced to deal with these issues personally. And then I realized, this issue is not so cut and dried. I've been humbled.

So we will share with you how the Lord is leading us. This is not a justification of what we have decided to; but simply an explanation. Here are three major arguments for why we will, by the grace of God, be hiring workers:

1. It is common among the Zambians themselves to have a housekeeper and a gardener / guard. Almost all of the families at Trinity Baptist Church employ people like this. These are not 'health and wealth' charismatics either. These are extremely reserved and cautious reformed baptists who hold to the Five Solas and the 1689 London Baptist Confession. And they are common folk earning average incomes.

2. It is a cultural expectation. The "rich" help the poor by providing jobs. As Westerners, we are perceived as definitely having the means to help. If we don't, we communicate to those around us that we are uncaring and unmerciful, which dishonors the name of Jesus. While we are not slaves to cultural expectations, we are slaves to the righteousness of Christ and we must, as the Holy Spirit leads us, put into practice James 2:15 and prove that our faith is accompanied by legitimate works of mercy to the poor and needy that can really benefit them long term.

3. It is a legitimate need. Our wives will tell you that they had no idea how much work it would take just to live here! Steph looked at me just yesterday and said, "Whew! It's a lot of work just living through the day!" I have watched her and helped her. It's an all-day job just to prepare three meals, let alone shop for groceries (not at Wal-Mart, but at about six different shops and markets in order to get the best prices), wash the laundry, hang the laundry on the line to dry, iron all the laundry (in order to kill any mango fly eggs that may have been laid on the laundry while it was hanging outside - these eggs hatch and the larvae burrow into your skin), sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and, on top of all that, try to homeschool the kids! There is a legitimate need for some housekeeping help.

So, we are in a position to help two families by providing two jobs. One is a housekeeping job for a lady named Carol. She is Lozi and she's a single mom with two kids. She has three glowing references and seems very professional and trustworthy. The other is a gardener / security job for a man named Millson. He is Tonga and we think he is a true Believer. His life lately has been absolutely tragic. His sister died last year. His father died just two months ago. His only child was killed by a drunk driver last month. The security company, Buffalo Eyes, who employs him pays K190,000 per month which is $38 U.S.. After he pays for rent (K 75,000) and water (K 25,000) and buys maize meal (K50,000) he only has K 40,000 left over to buy other necessities. So that's $8 U.S. to try to buy other groceries or clothes for his sister's two children that are living with him now or anything else they might need. Can you imagine?

When his child died he had no money to pay for a coffin. He had to buy the cheapest wooden box he could find, dig the child's grave and bury him all on his own. No one came to the funeral from his charismatic church except the pastor. Finally, on top of all that, his mother recently had a stroke. When he told me these things I was absolutely humbled. WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS. So we have decided to hire Millson as our gardener / security guard so that he can quit his job with Buffalo Eyes. He's a good, honest, hard-worker who appears to genuinely love the Lord. Our pastor, Michael Bwembya agrees. We will start him at almost double what he makes now (a fair wage) and will take some of the pressure off him and his family. This is just one way in which we feel that we can live out James 2:15 to prove that our faith is genuine by being a practical means of grace to those in need.

We are your servants for Christ's sake

I have never seen the depth of my own selfishness like I have in the last four days of working with the Lozi people. A brother brought to my attention the first four chapters of 2 Corinthians and this new reading has been like sun beams cutting through morning fog. I'll admit, it hasn't been an easy discovery.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake."

I'll describe the process of visiting the Kuta, which is the Lozi "royal establishment" in Mwandi, an hour's drive east of Sesheke. This is the place where a group of higher chiefs make judgements on tribal matters in their area.

After changing a tire and eating a quick breakfast, we left our campsite at sunrise on the first day and began the long drive down the west side of the river, over the bridge and up the east side to pick up Chief Imbwae in his second village (where his favorite wife lives). After we went through all the formalities of greeting, discussion, and the presentation of our customary gifts to him (a bale of sugar, a bale of salt, bottles of cooking oil, and two bags of maize meal), we drove all the way back to the main village (about five hours total of driving on very rough roads) to meet with the entire village of Ilwendo to get their official "approval" before going to meet with the Kuta the next day. We arrived back at our campsite after dark.

The next day we got up before dawn, ate breakfast, picked up Nduna Ilwendo, the vice Nduna, the secretary, the counselor, Chief Imbwae (the regional chief who we brought over to the west side the day before), and our friend, Dominic, and traveled to Mwandi (about a three hour drive) and arrived at about 10 am. Along the way, we were responsible for feeding all of these men both days of traveling. So imagine us stopping along the road to serve breakfast and lunch. After arriving at the "royal establishment", we sat for two hours waiting for an audience with the Kuta (counsel of chiefs). Just after we ran to pick up some fish (complete with eyeballs and scales!) at the local market for the men to eat for lunch, the Kuta called us in. We went through all the formalities only for them to tell us that we would have to come back and see the Senior Chief (or lesser king depending on the context) for him to meet with us, question us, and give his final approval. So nothing final was accomplished that day.

With heavy hearts we drove back through Mwandi and stopped for the men to buy more fish. We drove on with the truck reeking of fish. The men wanted to do some shopping in Sesheke while we took Chief Imbwae back to his village on the east side of the Zambezi. This whole section took about two hours (we stopped several times to pick up people who were traveling with heavy loads along the side of the road - some men had been walking for three days to get to Sesheke) and so we arrived back in Sesheke at 7:30 pm, picked up the men we had left for shopping in the market (one of them had purchased a mattress that we loaded on the top of the truck) and we made the journey back to the village to drop them all off at their homes. We delivered Nduna Ilwendo (and the customary gifts that we brought for him) and made it back to the campsite at 10:00 pm; a sixteen-hour day. It's difficult to describe the range of emotions we felt that day. I was absolutely exhausted. I felt completely used up and sucked dry. I battled bitterness, self-pity, and discouragement. I didn't eat any supper that night. I just went to bed and poured out my heart to Jesus.

The next morning I was deeply humbled by the reminder of what Jesus endured all the time during his days of ministry. What I had endured the two previous days was NOTHING in comparison. I had endured so much less - and had endured it miserably! I was reminded from the writer of Hebrews that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are and yet He endured it without sinning even once!

Mark 1:32-35
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons... and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Jesus knew what it was like to be absolutely spent at the end of the day. What desperation must He have felt for time alone with His Father in order to be strengthened and rejuvenated? The realization finally hit home - Jesus understands me and knows my weaknesses. And so I sat in the early morning sun feeling loved by my Lord; repenting of my own self-centeredness; admiring the magnificent God-Man, the merciful Servant of all, who was used up and poured out every single day on an ungrateful and undeserving world; and asking for more grace to be like Him.

"The Land"

On May 19 we headed out to Ilwendo, to camp on the land where we hope to build our homes. This was the first time the wives or children had seen the land. It is 12 acres and overlooks the Zambezi River. The rapids can be heard loudly! It is a very peaceful place. The kids loved seeing hippo tracks down by the water's edge! As a mom I'm just glad they won't be wandering up the hill to the houses! Here are a few pictures of that trip.






Shannon and Morgan at the waters edge, writing in the sand.















Setting up the "bush shower".







The "bush toilet" (before the tent was put around it).









What an incredible view!! This place is a tremendous blessing from the Lord.









Nathan really loved this tree. He almost fell asleep in it while listening to his Ipod! He loves the land. He helped carry buckets of water up from the river, build campfires and set up camp. I'm told this is really a "boy's paradise"!

River Cruise

On the drive from South Africa to Zambia we drove through Chobe National Park in Botswana. We took a cruise on the Chobe River. We saw so many of God's amazing creatures! Here are just a few. The kids had a great time. We saw the hippos and elephants up too close for my liking! But what an adventure!!!

Thoughts On a Move to Zambia and the Resurrection

I have wanted to post this blog since the day we left U.S. soil on the 12th of April, Resurrection Day. In the last month, I have had a recurring and reassuring truth rattling around in my scattered mind. Look at this series of statements made by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 -

"v13 if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain... v17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins... v19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."

There have been so many times lately when I've looked around at the absolute chaos of learning to live in this alien culture of Zambia - standing in endless ques, being tossed back and forth from office to office trying to get work permits, vehicles registered and groceries purchased at the local vegetable market - and I've thought to myself, "If this isn't real, if Christ hasn't been raised and we have sold all our possessions, uprooted our families, and moved halfway around the world in the hopes of some false future reward with Christ in Heaven, then we must be the most pathetic people in the world!

But praise Christ! He is real, He has been raised and every earthly pleasure that's laid aside in exchange for a future weight of glory is never in vain.

London

We stayed at The Highbury Centre. This is a place where missionaries can stay when traveling through London. This was like a haven for us. We were so tired and here we found comfortable beds, hot showers and fellow believers who encouraged us. What a blessing.





Do all tourists take a picture like this?












We ate lunch at a Thai restaurant. We did enjoy the food but as you can see everyone was a little jet-lagged!





















Resting for a few minutes before heading back to the tube. The girls are eating chocolate coins they won for filing in all the questions in the Kids Guide as you tour Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey was incredibly beautiful. We saw the marker for the grave of David Livingstone, missionary to Africa.

Overlooking the Thames River.

On Our Way!

After traveling for several weeks we are settling into life here in Livingstone, Zambia. We have finally gotten internet at home! So, we are now able to upload pictures! We wanted to document our journey as we were going but found it too difficult to locate good internet connections.
These pictures are from our flights to Johannesburg, South Africa. All of the kids enjoyed watching movies! We had to make them try to sleep!




Once in London we rode the tube into town to tour the British Museum.

We saw some amazing things dated back to Bible times. We saw things that Moses, Esther, Daniel or even Abraham might have seen! We were experiencing some serious jetlag at this point. We also had been carrying our backpacks for two days and they seemed to get heavier everytime we picked them up! Whenever we sat dow we fell asleep!