A Needed Furlough

Robin and I are preparing to return to the US in November for a furlough of at least several months. September was the four year anniversary of our move here to South Africa and together with our board of directors we have decided that now is the time for us to return to US for at least a time. As an organization Two Tunics needs to evaluate its work since it was conceived in 2004. We need to seek God for his plan for both the future of the organization and role of Mike and Robin in the ministry.

As we are preparing to talk with our board, churches and other supporters about the work of the last four years we have been thinking about how to measure and report what has been accomplished. What is success and where have we seen it? What is failure and what have we hopefully learned from it? What lasting impacts have been made in the lives of people? How has God been glorified?

The temptation is to measure success and results as the world does, with numbers. How many AIDS patients accessed ARV treatment? How many children were fed? How many teachers were trained and creches (preschools) built? How many people came to know Jesus as their Lord and savior? How can we effectively communicate to our supporters the value of the investment they have made in the work of Two Tunics these last four years? What was the return on their dollar? How do we justify that all our time and activity and separation from family has been worth it?

Then thankfully, this morning God gave me a fresh perspective on our upcoming furlough. I was re-reading the final chapter called The Goal of the Gospel in Watchman Nee's book "The Normal Christian Life". In it Nee is commenting on the story in Mark 14 of the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Nee wrote these words.

"We could labor and be used to the full: but the Lord is not so concerned about our ceaseless occupation in work for him. That is not his first object. The service of the Lord is not measured by tangible results. No, my friends, the Lord's first concern is with our position at his feet and our anointing of his head. ... Often enough the giving to him will be in tireless service, but he reserves to himself the right to suspend service for a time, in order to discover to us whether it is that or himself, that holds us. "

I pray that God will use the time of our furlough to discover to me what it is that holds me. Is it my service for Him or the Lord Himself?

Giraffe Prayer

This week is the 4 year anniversary of our move to South Africa. It has been an eventful 4 years but when I think back on it now it seems to have passed very quickly. Robin and I are preparing to return to the USA in November for a furlough and have many details to take care of both here and in the US to prepare for our time there. But after the last very busy 5 months working for Genesis we realized we needed to take a break here and get away for several days to rest and refocus. So we spent this last week in two cottages, one in the southern Drakensberg mountains and one in the the bush of northern KwaZulu-Natal. Our time was very blessed as we were able to relax and refresh in the the beauty of God's creation. (Although there were a few harrowing moments, but more of that later.)

Over the years I've done a lot of traveling and seen a lot of the world but there is something about being in the African bush that touches you in ways that few other places do. This week we stayed in a small cottage ("lodge" when you're in the bush) in the Kuleni Game Reserve near the large Hluhluwe Game Park. There are about a dozen small lodges in Kuleni but other than driving to and from your lodge it is a walking only game reserve. Obviously they don't have lion, buffalo, elephant or other dangerous game in the reserve.

Late one afternoon as we were walking in the reserve we had seen several animals including wildebeast, kudu, warthog and several small antelope. But we were hoping to see some zebra and especially giraffe. As on other occasions when on game viewing outings ("safari" doesn't seem to fit the occasion), I prayed to God, "God it would be so cool if we could see a ... (giraffe in this case)" And then as on other occasions I've always felt a little weird about saying those prayers. Is that really something I should be bothering God about? I know the Bible says pray continuously but does that including asking God to fill up my "Big 5" list?

This issue was on my mind because it had been brought up as I was reading "Walking with God" by John Eldridge this week. In it he talks about having this moment by moment conversational relationship with God. That seemed so right to me but when he talked about hearing "fish" when praying to God about whether to go fishing one day or to do something else, it didn't set just right with me. Does God really tell people to go fishing (for fish, not people)? Yea, I know Christ told Peter to throw his net on the other side of the boat but that was about demonstrating who He was, not about a nice day of catch and release on the river.

Well anyway I said the prayer, feeling a little weird about it. Within 5 minutes as we walked up a gentle rise in the trail through grass and low shrubs I looked off to the right and saw the tall brown form of a giraffe in the distance. We put the binoculars on him and we could see his face turned and looking at us even though he was a long way off. We continued on the trail as it rose gently and turned to the right. A small herd of impala were feeding on the grass and quickly darted off as we approached them. As we turned the bend toward where we had seen the giraffe Robin said, "look there are 3 of them". I said "no look there is another over there and look there is also a young one behind its mother". In fact there were 6 giraffe including the youngster clustered around the path ahead.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We were so blessed to be able to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitat, doing what giraffes do. They didn't seem to mind us being there. I believe God brought them to us to bless us. What I realized is that because I had prayed for God to bring us a giraffe, there was no way I could not give Him the credit. God wants us to pray to him about the desires of our heart, about the everyday issues like fishing because then He is revealed as the one in control of our lives. We rightfully have to acknowledge Him working in our lives. Otherwise we may be deceived into thinking things come our way by chance. There was no way we were going to come across 6 giraffes, right on our path by chance. Only by prayer. Thank you God!

Listening Back, Together

As most of you know, for the last 4+ months I have been serving as the General Manager of Genesis on an interim basis. As I've shared previously during this time I have struggled to contribute regularly to this blog. Why do we struggle so with things we are committed to? Maybe its because we are not as committed as we say we are. Or maybe something or someone else distracts us from our commitments (tries to change our priorities). That something could be something good (like serving others for me) or something not so good (like laziness and selfishness for me). That someone could be a friend, an acquaintance, or a foe (even The enemy).

I think it is a combination of all those things/people that has contributed to my struggle with the commitment I have to communicating through this blog. But I think there may be another even more important reason why I've struggled and why we often struggle with things we are committed to. And that is wrong thinking about the thing we are committed to. Sometimes we blame other things, especially busyness when the real problem is not thinking right about what we've committed to. In the case of sharing my faith walk with others through Slender Wires I've realized that I've been thinking wrong about what I should be writing in these posts.

Over the last months as I've been working at Genesis I've been surprised how much of my time is doing paperwork, sitting in front of the computer, dealing with emails, writing policies, responding to audits, developing budgets and fundraising strategies. All that stuff, so I thought makes for pretty boring reading. I said I wasn't blogging because I was too busy but really I wasn't blogging becuase I felt what I was doing and living day to day would bore people and not inspire or encourage them. I felt like I had to have an emotional story or something clever or profound to share in my posts. I did manage one what I thought was a pretty clever post related to something as boring as audits and doing accounts "I reckon" :).

Then this week I started reading Walking with God by John Eldredge. In it he says he's going to share of series of stories of what it looks like to walk with God over the course of a year. It's a goal that is similar to what I want to do with Slender Wires. And as he says, "How much more valuable might this be if we could share with one another the stories of our true encounters with God - not the mountain top ones, but the everyday encounters...". He also quotes Frederick Beuchner about writing an autobiography. Buechner says "... it seems to me that no matter who you are, and no matter how eloquent or otherwise, if you tell your own story with sufficient candor and concreteness, it will be an interesting story and in some sense a universal story..." . The mundane not the mountaintop is valuable when shared. My excuse of not having anything interesting to share was just that, an excuse and based on wrong thinking.

But why is it that the mundane is important to share. How does my telling the mundane everyday happenings of my life contribute to anyone else's faith journey. I think Buechner anwers that as well. "If God speaks to us at all other than through ... the Bible and the church, then I think he speaks to us largely through what happens to us... " . And if I am going to hear God speaking to me in this way I have to "listen back over what has happened to me" in the mundane times as well as the exciting times (partly because there are a lot more of them). And as I listen back to hear God in the everyday events of my life, you have the opportunity to listen back over what has happened to you. We find Buechner is right, our stories are universal. And maybe you and I will hear God together. Cool! Let's stay commited to sharing our stories.

I Reckon So

In my current role as Genesis GM a lot of my time is being spent dealing with the US government PEPFAR grant that has been providing so much funding to both Genesis and Project Positive Ray over the last 3 years. Last month I had to submit to USAID a large document in response to the audit of the program for 2007. In it we tried to justify why we should not have to pay back several thousand dollars in questioned costs. This entire past week we have had auditors here doing the same type of audit for 2008. Now we have another long list of issues to address for the auditors before they submit their report to USAID. Not a lot of fun and not what I think Paul had in mind when he said God "gave us this ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinth 5:18).

But all this financial stuff I've been dealing with did make something I read recently more real to me. I've been reading (and re-reading) "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee. This is another author of whom I say read everything of his you can get your hands on. I'll say more about what God has taught me through this book soon but today I just want to focus on what Nee says about "reckoning". He is commenting on Romans 6:11 where Paul says "In the same way count ("reckon" in KJV) yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Earlier in Romans 6:6 Paul had said "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with". But as Nee explains it is not enough to know something is fact we have to also reckon it so. The Greek word translated "reckon" or "count" means "doing the accounts". Then Nee makes the statement that I find so interesting. He says, "Accounting is the only thing in the world that we human beings can do correctly". (And I hope we did it correctly regarding the USAID funding)

To paraphrase Nee, can an artist paint a landscape with perfect accuracy? (It wouldn't be art if he did) Can history be told with absolute accuracy? Can a map be made perfectly correct? As I relate to you the story of my journey here in South Africa can I do it without exaggeration or understatement? I might be able to spell words correctly (thanks to spell-check) but do I have any chance of using them correctly? The only thing I have a chance to do with perfect accuracy is arithmetic. That's probably why I like working with numbers. Things are either right or wrong. My accounts either balance or they don't. If I spend 20 Rand ($2.58 today) but record only 10 Rand in the ledger, I haven't reckoned properly.

So what about my real experience in life. Has the body of sin been done away with in my experience of life. If not it is because I have not done the accounts properly. I have not reckoned correctly. Something in the ledger of my life does not match the real facts. My old self was crucified with Him. God placed me in Christ on the cross, not just for forgiveness but for death. I have been baptised into His death. I know it is so, but I don't reckon it so.

When the auditors did their work this week they found some errors. We will need to pay some funds back to USAID, although hopefully not too much. When God audits the account of my life He will find many errors. I didn't reckon properly. I placed sin in the ledger when it wasn't entitled to be there. Thankfully, whatever the balance owed its been paid in full. Today I start again with an account that is fully reconciled. I know I died with Christ. Sin will not find a place in my account today. I am dead to sin. I just need to reckon so.

Jacob's Well

It's been too long since I shared with y'all. (I've been around a lot of Texans lately). Since I stepped into the GM position at Genesis, most days have been long and hectic. Lots of good stuff going on but lots of hard stuff as well. I find that by the end of the day or the weekend there is not physical or emotional energy to sit down and record my thoughts and experiences. Then yesterday I got an email from Missy. She had had a rough day at work and had come to Slender Wires hoping there might be a word of encouragement or wisdom. She was disappointed because it had been over a month since I had posted. She emailed me saying she understood the reason and knew I was struggling to find the time. She just wanted me to know that she noticed.

Missy's email was such an encouragement to me. Someone noticed and more amazingly missed hearing about my faith journey. I realized anew that God wants us to share our journeys with each other. In fact an important part of our journey is sharing it with others. I've recommitted to be faithful in this. Thanks Missy.

Anyway, part of what I have been busy with has been with mission teams visiting Genesis. The Texans I mentioned are from Lake Pointe Church in Dallas Texas. Recently 2 teams from Lake Pointe, an adult and a youth team totaling about 35 people each spent about 10 days here. They had a great ministry working in several of Genesis' programs. One member of Lake Pointe Church who came on previous mission teams the last 2 years is Ami Cheek. As a result of those visits Ami decided to commit a year of her life to come and work full time with Genesis. Ami arrived in April and was excited to have the Lake Pointe teams arrive this year, not least because her sister was a member of the team.


One of the exciting things that happened during the Lake Pointe visit was the drilling of a bore hole well at Genesis' Khula project in a poor rural community. Please go to Ami's blog "Faith Into Action" http://faithintoaction.blogspot.com/ to read the story of Jacob's Well. I think it will encourage you as it has us. God is good!

Jacob at God's Well

Also, don't miss watching this video.

Act Your Way Into Feeling

On Sunday before last I visited Shiloh Church in Port Shepstone. I had been invited to attend their service to receive a gift from their Sunday school class for the needy children and families that we support through our Two Tunics "Communities for Kids" programs (see http://projects.twotunicssa.org/ for more information). As Robin was away back in the US, Onnie Mgaga our Two Tunics programs manager attended with me to accept the gift of food and toys for the creches we support.


Onnie and I receiving the donations from Shiloh Church.






As we were singing during the praise and worship time of the service the worship leader suddenly stopped the music and singing. We were singing the song "The Joy of the Lord is My Strength", but as the leader pointed out we were showing no evidence of the joy of which we were singing. "How can you sing this song with such lack of joy on your faces" the leader asked. She challenged the congregation to sing it again this time with real joy. And so we did and even though the voices may have been a little off tune, both we and God were blessed as we sang with joy. And experienced the joy we were singing about.

That experience brought to mind something I had read a few days earlier. Over the years I have read some of John Maxwell’s material on leadership. Since stepping into the General Manager position at Genesis I have been reading his book “The Maxwell Daily Reader”. The May 7th entry was on enthusiasm and made this statement. “You need to act your way into feeling.” My initial response was that this didn't seem right. Isn't that hypocrisy, when we act in ways we don't really feel? But as I thought about it more I realized the statement was true and in fact a very important truth for me to apply in my life.

I had to ask myself, how much joy have I been experiencing (feeling and demonstrating) recently? I had to honestly answer, not much. Some satisfaction, some contentment, some thankfulness. But joy? Not really. Now obviously joy is not happiness. But often I do not experience joy because my circumstances are not happy. I don't feel happy so I don't experience joy.

In the appendix to his book "The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare" Dr Ed Murphy presents a Daily Affirmation of Faith that I have been meditating on and trying to recite regularly. The opening paragraph concludes, "In this day I will not judge God, His work, myself or others on the basis of feelings or circumstances." As a follower of Christ I should not live my life based on feelings that often are the result of circumstances. Rather I base my life on the truth of God's word which reveals to me who God is, the nature of His works, who I am and who my fellow man is.

Psalm 100 exclaims, "Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth". Why? "The Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." Later the psalmist proclaims "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." This is true even when my circumstances are not happy. Even when I don't feel joy, I need to act based on the truth of God's word. We are instructed by the apostle Paul to "Rejoice always". It's not an option, its an instruction. I need to act my way into feeling, not based on my circumstance but on God's word. As we in the congregation began to act joyful as we sang we felt and experienced joy. God wants us to act joyful when we don't feel joy. He wants us to act loving when we don't feel love. As we obey He blesses with the feelings of joy and love. He fulfills our every desire.

Can't Say No To God

As I mentioned in my last post, there have been big changes at Genesis and with my role there. Just to remind you Genesis is an NGO started by the Norwegian Settler's Church as an HIV/AIDS and community outreach ministry of the church. The flagship ministry of Genesis is the 40 bed inpatient HIV/AIDS palliative care center (Genesis Care Centre or GCC). One of my roles here has been as the Medical Director of the GCC for the last 2.5 years and I feel blessed to be part of the ministry that happens there. Genesis is a big operation now with about 70 employees and many volunteers in several ministries in addition to the GCC.

Some of the patients and staff at the Genesis Care Centre

In late February the Genesis General Mangager submitted his resignation effective the end of March. Genesis asked me to step into the position but there were many issues to work through -I don't have a work permit here, Iam registered as a doctor here only as a volunteer, a major funder PEPFAR had some concerns with the decision as I had been contracted under their grant to provide certain services etc. And most of all I'm a doctor, not a business manager (even a non-profit business).

There are so many issues and challanges with taking on this position that normally I would have quickly said "no thanks, I'm happy doing the ministry we have here as Two Tunics". But then there is the God part of the decision. You see God had been preparing Robin and I for the possibility of my stepping into leadership of Genesis. Several months before there was any hint of change in leadership at Genesis God spoke in a fairly specific way to Robin (she seems to be better at hearing His voice and God often uses her to speak to me). When God tells you He is going to do something and then He does it, is it ok to say "no thank you" and walk away because its going to be messy and its going to be hard and I'm happy serving Him as I am now?

Well obviously I didn't think so. It was something I couldn't walk away from but maybe out of lack of faith what we eventually agreed to was that I would be the Interim Acting General manager for the next 4+ months as a volunteer. PEPFAR is requiring Genesis to have an open competitive hiring process for a permanent GM so I could only be named "Interim" anyway at this time.

The last few weeks have already been hectic as I have been plunged with both feet into the many issues that urgently needed to be dealt with for Genesis to move forward and fulfill its vision to be an effective ministry to the AIDS and poverty affected communities in the area. Already I have found myself asking "why do I want these headaches" and "is this really what I'm supposed to be doing". Then I remember the answer. I am saying "yes" to God. I wouldn't want to give Him any other answer.

Thank God for the Gospel

It's been a few weeks since I've posted. Life has been a little crazy over the last month or so. There are many big changes taking place at Genesis and I have been asked to take over more of the day to day management of the bulk of the programs and not just manage the medical care of patients in the Genesis Care Centre. I'll give an update on all of that soon but it has been a matter of much discussion and prayer as it impacts on all that Two Tunics is doing as a ministry here in South Africa.

What I want to share today is an experience I had yesterday at the Genesis Care Centre. I had been asked to do an interview with a Dutch radio station that is recording a series of programs related to the upcoming election here in South Africa. Election day is 22 April 2009 and this will be the fourth free national elections since the end of apartheid. It is a foregone conclusion that the ANC (the party of Nelson Mandela) will win the majority, probably by a 2/3 majority, and Jacob Zuma will become the next President of South Africa. He is the one who was recently acquitted of rape but admitting having sex with the young woman who was HIV positive and said he "showered afterwards in order to help prevent getting HIV". He has also recently publicly married a young woman as his fourth wife (he's married to all 4, not divorced and remarried).

The dutch radio station is going to include a program on the issue of AIDS in their election series and was quite interested in how those working with HIV/AIDS see Jacob Zuma's impact on the issue. But I don't want to talk politics today. What I want to share is about guilt and forgiveness.

As the reporter and I toured the Genesis Care Centre he asked if he could interview on tape a couple of the patients, all of which have advanced HIV disease. We proceeded to interview 2 women and a man on the wards who were quite open and willing to talk about the impact of their disease on their lives (knowing that the interview would only be broadcast outside the country). As we were speaking with the man, I will call him Vusi although that is not his real name, the reporter asked him about how he got HIV. He said that he had been having sex with many women at the same time because in his culture, one is seen as an important man if he has many partners. He stated he now realized that that is wrong and he has committed to changing his life style and realizes he must have only one partner.

Toward the end of the interview the reporter asked Vusi if he had children. He said he had 6 children by 2 woman (I'll call them his wives although I'm not sure if he is married to either). He said his youngest son was 6 months old and was with his wife. He was asked if his son and wife were healthy. He said his son was sick with TB. The reporter then asked directly if they had been tested for HIV. Vusi said both his wife and son were positive. The reporter then said "so you have given this disease to at least 2 other people". At that point Vusi put his head down and began to cry (something not common for a Zulu man in public). He said it was "very painful".

I was surprised by the directness of the reporter's statement as it wasn't a question and had a judgemental tone to it. Vusi did not seem offended or angered by the statement but rather demonstrated true remorse. At that point I put my arm around Vusi as he sat slumped over his bed. I shared with him that we are all guilty of many wrongs. The Bible clearly states that we are all sinners and equally guilty in the eyes of God. I shared that although we are all guilty we can receive forgiveness from God, because through Jesus, God has provided a way for us to be forgiven. If we turn away from our sin, repent and receive that forgiveness through Jesus, we can experience a new life of peace with God. That does not mean that there will be no consequences of our sin but that we will not be judged by God and can forgive ourselves and others.

All of this was communicated through an interpreter who then said Vusi knew the truth of what I had said because he was a priest in his church. I am not sure of the church and most priests or pastors of the local indigenous churches are not trained and are more or less self appointed. I encouraged him to speak to Pastor Abraham, the Genesis chaplain about what we had discussed and he indicated he has been talking with Abraham.

As I was speaking to Vusi, the reporter was listening and recording the conversation. He was quiet and I wondered what he was thinking. Was he a Christian? Had he ever heard the gospel message before? How would he or another non-Christian (assuming he is not a born again believer) have dealt with Vusi's painful guilt? I would be at a loss to deal with it if it were not for the gospel. Perhaps the conversation I had with Vusi will have a greater impact on the reporter than with Vusi (who apparently has already accepted gospel forgiveness).

I thank God for the answer he has given me for the pain of guilt that I experience in my life. I cannot imagine the pain of knowing I was responsible for the suffering, illness and possible death of my 6 month old son from AIDS. But I am also thankful that I have an answer to share for the emotional pain that is part of every HIV/AIDS patient that I see. Without it I am helpless and can offer little hope. Thank God for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Amazing Day

I think this photo journal tells the story.

NBC Mission Team Update

Today was an amazing day for us and the NBC Team as we held Two Tunic's first of a kind "Creche Health Awareness Event" (creche = pre-school). This event was targeted to the creche teachers, helpers and parents but also to the children. Many of the basic child health, safety, hygiene and child development concepts that are common sense to us are not widely appreciated or practiced by the parents and caregivers of the children in the creches we support. The event brought together the teachers, helpers and parents from the 3 creches we support in the Gamalakhe township.

The NBC Team gave talks on hand washing, oral hygiene, child safety, basic first aid and importance of play in child development. some involved the children and others were focused on educating the parents and caregivers. Each child was given a packet with toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and other gifts. Each child also received a T-shirt saying "Jesus Loves Me" in both English and Zulu ("Ujesu uyangithanda").

Here's a few photos of the event.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Pastor Ranjeeth and Donna Seepersad put on a puppet show that the adults enjoyed as much as the children. We are so grateful that the team was here to enable us to put on this program. Tomorrow we will do another full day program in a rural community focusing on HIV/AIDS education. Hopefully we won't wear the team out! But we are putting them to good use and God is blessing us and many others.

NBC Mission Team Day Two & Three

Here's some more photos of the teams activities working with Two Tunics the last 2 days. They have been hectic but a blessing to many.

Northview Bible Church Mission Team Day One

Last night the Northview Bible Church Mission Team arrived in Durban, South Africa. They are such and encouragement to us in the work we are doing. The team of five women will be with Two Tunics doing ministry for about 10 days. This is a quick photo tour of their first 24 hours with us. Check back regularly the next couple weeks for more updates and photos.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Church on the Hill

Today Robin and I had the pleasure and privilege to worship at Norwegian Settler's Church. This is our regular place of worship here in South Africa and our second home church (along with Northview Bible Church in Spokane). When we came to live and serve here in the Port Shepstone area we came on our own on behalf of our small organization Two Tunics. We were not coming to join a team already on the ground and did not have a larger mission organization ready to support, guide and encourage us. We realized one of the first priorities for us needed to be to find a church and a small group for Christian fellowship. God provided for us the Norwegian Church and then a home cell group with in that church. Both have been a blessing to us.

Robin and I with some of the members of our home cell group







The Norwegian Settler's Church is just that, a church started by Norwegian settlers a little over 125 years ago. Today it is a thriving, predominately white interdenominational church. It sits on a hill with a view that in a sense captures life on the South Coast (as this part of KwaZulu-Natal is known). Toward the sea (lets call it east) the church overlooks the beach communities with their hotels, restaurants and shops that are a holiday destination for people from throughout South Africa as well as Europe and further abroad. It is in this community that Robin and I live.

Margate beach on Christmas day

Toward the south the church overlooks rolling hills of sugar cane fields where predominantly white and Indian farmers grow the historical number one cash crop for this area. Toward the north the church overlooks the industrial outskirts of Port Shepstone know as Marburg. Here textile factories, the Coke bottling plant and other light industries offers jobs at salaries that barely cover transport and food costs. This is also a residential area for many "coloreds", an official designation for a mixed race group distinct from blacks. This area is known for its violence, alcohol and drug abuse.

Toward the west the church overlooks an area known as Mkholombe, a shanty town that merges into a slowly expanding government housing area. No one knows how many people live in the sprawling shanty town but is definitely in the many thousands. In this community are the effects of extreme poverty, hunger, AIDS, drug abuse and despair. 40% of pregnant mothers in this community are HIV positive. Young children, many of them orphans roam the dirt paths between tin and mud shacks. Many sick with AIDS lie alone on dirt floors, abandoned by their families because of the stigma associated with AIDS.

Norwegian Settlers' Church sits on a hill overlooking these four communities, realities that together make up a microcosm of this South Coast region of South Africa. Most of the church's members come from the coastal and farm communities. They live, work and relax in a world of one or two of these realities. The other two are often unrealities to them as they have little or no contact with them. A few years ago Pastor Trevor Downham challenged the church regarding whether anyone would notice if the church disappeared. That challenge resulted in the formation of Genesis which today continues to provide care, support and hope to those in communities around the church affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty.

Genesis is fulfilling the desire of the church to be relevant to all of the communities surrounding it. Genesis is one of the key partners of Two Tunics and I am currently acting as the Medical Director of the Genesis Care Centre, a 40 bed HIV palliative care centre run by Genesis as a ministry of the church. Sometimes we think as we walk into our churches on Sunday morning "this is church". But I prefer to think "this is church" as I walk onto the Genesis wards this week helping to care for sick, dying and despairing people who would be without hope were it not for this church choosing to be the church to the pleasure and glory of Jesus Christ.

An Atheist Says Africa Needs God

A couple weeks ago I came across an article on the TimesOnline (London Times) by a columnist named Matthew Parris (click on the title of this post to go to the article). The title of his column definitely got my attention; "As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God." Apparently he had been born and spent his boyhood in what is now Malawi and just before Christmas returned for a visit after 45 years.

He states in the article that he is "now a confirmed atheist". But he also says traveling in Malawi refreshed a belief that "confounds" his ideology and "stubbornly refuses to fit" his atheistic worldview. The observation that he can't avoid is that he is "convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa". In contrast to government programs, international aid organizations and secular NGOs which can provide education and training alone, "In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts."

It is important to note that he doesn't say Africa needs Christians or Christian services. He says (as a card carrying atheist) Africa needs God, because only God can change hearts. Wow! He admits he used to try to avoid this truth by applauding the practical good works that churches and missionaries do in Africa. And he would then say "It's a pity ... that salvation is part of the package".

The observation that brought him to this truth, against his ideology, that Africa needs God, was one that was consistent in his boyhood in Africa, later as a young man traveling in Africa and now years later returning to the Africa of his boyhood."The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall. "

As a missionary of Two Tunics working in Africa our work focuses to a large extent on the social needs associated with AIDS - medical treatment, HIV prevention education, support of orphans and vulnerable children. Sometimes I feel a need or have a desire to design our social services in a way that is not necessarily linked to evangelism. I don't want to be appear to be providing our care and support services in order to win converts. I feel at times like I need to justify or even apologize for our Christian evangelism which is counter to much of their African culture. Sometimes I even feel like I am being more true to what it means to really follow Jesus' when I just live the gospel rather than preaching it as well.

I have to thank an atheist for reminding me that what I am doing (bringing hope for the future)is all about changing hearts. That only happens as someone speaks the gospel message of Jesus Christ into the lives of others. Thankfully we have South African partners in our work who have Zulu pastors and staff who are very intentional about speaking the truth that changes hearts into the lives of those we serve. I'm thankful for Abraham, Amos, Joseph, Penny and Edmara among others. What I must do is help these Africans whose hearts have been changed by God to provide Africa with what it really needs.

Vision Sunday, Part 2

In the previous post I shared some about Vision Sunday at Norwegian Settler's Church (NSC) this past Sunday. Living in Africa and working in the area with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world makes one really understands the importance of visionary leadership. One sees every day the truth of Proverbs 29:18 that "where there is no vision people perish" (KJV). Much of the struggles in Africa can be attributed to a crisis of leadership; leadership without vision.

Thankfully our church here in Africa (NSC) does have visionary leadership. On Sunday Pastor Trevor Downham shared his and the other church leadership's take on the vision of NSC. As described in the last post this vision for the church is based on a vision of God that results in a recognition of God's holiness (purity with a purpose). God is pure, we are not and God purposes to do something about it. Trevor described it as God having a burden. Specifically he described the burden of God as - "the lost". (Christian jargon for unclean people in an unclean world who have yet to receive a vision of a holy God.) I might just say God has a burden for dying people. (Understanding death to be a consequence of sin, and life being spiritual and eternal as well as physical and temporal.)

All this has been leading up to sharing with you the Vision of Norwegian Settler's Church:

Our Core Value: People

Our Priorities: (which translate into programs)

• Discipleship (learning to follow Christ)
• Teaching (learning to apply scripture)
• Children (when most people come to know Christ)
• Youth (our future church)
• Community (meaning outreach rather than a huddle)

Our Mission: Love God & Serve People

I like it. I want to be a part of it. Lord, help me live it.

Vision Sunday

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday in the US. But it was Vision Sunday at Norwegian Settler's Church (NSC), our home church here in South Africa. Trevor Downham, the senior pastor truly is a visionary leader. He is in large part the reason that the Genesis ministry and the Genesis Care Centre exist. Proverbs 29:18 says "where there is no vision, the people perish"(KJV). Because there is a man of vision in this place, people are living who would otherwise have died.

Yesterday Pastor Trevor presented NSC with his, and the other church leadership's vision for the church. One of the statements he made was that "you can only have a vision for God if you have a vision of God". He went on to look at what happens when someone receives a fresh vision of God.

There are many examples in the Bible of people getting a new or special vision of God. One of the best examples is Isaiah 6. Dr Del Tackett in Focus on the Family's The Truth Project describes 3 things that happen when Isaiah or anyone else has a clear vision of God. 1) They have a fresh understanding of who God is. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 2) They have a fresh understanding of who they are. "Woe is me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips". And 3) They have a fresh understanding of their circumstances. "I live among a people of unclean lips".

In his message on Sunday Trevor emphasized a key attribute of God that is always prominent when one has a vision of God. This attribute is clearly preeminent in each of the three understandings that Dr. Tackett pointed out from Isaiah's vision. It is God's holiness. "Holy, holy holy". "Woe is me". "I live among a people of unclean lips". God is holy. I am not. There is a problem in the world.

There are 2 aspects of holiness that are demonstrated in Isaiah 6. One of them, purity is commonly thought of with holiness. God is pure. I am not. I live among people who are unclean(impure). But another aspect less often associated with holiness is evident as well and that is purpose. God in His holiness says "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" God in His holiness has a purpose and a plan. Things are not to stay as they are. Isaiah was made clean and I can be as well- "your guilt has been taken away and your sins atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). God in His holiness sends one who can be about transformation in the world. He sent One. His holy purpose is being accomplished. He is still sending.

Here I am, send me.

(Check back in a day or two for part 2 - the NSC vision.)

1,000,000,000 People

During our recent trip to Franschhoek (see my last post "The Winelands") Robin and I enjoyed some of the best meals we have had in a long time. Franschhoek is considered the gourmet capital of South Africa and 8 0r 10 of the 100 best restaurants in the country are in this one small village and the surrounding wineries.

Robin and I have always enjoyed good food and one nice thing about living in South Africa is that eating out is quite reasonable. Even at the best restaurants the prices are a lot cheaper than equivalent restaurants in the US or Europe. And now with the dollar-Rand exchange rate at something over 10 it is a great deal. So we were able to enjoy some wonderful meals at several excellent restaurants during our 3 days in Franschhoek.

Part of the purpose of our trip was to get away from the realities and seemingly never ending needs associated with the work we are doing here in South Africa. Getting away from time to time is quite necessary if one is going to be able to sustain this type of work. In this regard the trip was a success as we were able to get away from phone, internet, emails, people begging at the gate and all the other daily demands that are a regular part of our life here.

However, even as we were enjoying our escape and especially several wonderful restaurants there was one thing I couldn't seem to get away from. It was the title of this post which was also the headline on the second section of the Sunday Independent newspaper on January 4th this year. I couldn't seem to get the number one billion out of my mind. You see as the article explained, that is the number of people that will go hungry in 2009. And this has nothing, or at least very little to do with the worlds current economic crisis.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organizations makes annual estimates of the number of people who will go hungry and is predicting the number to go over one billion for the first time in history. This is despite a second record worldwide harvest in as many years and contradicts the undertaking of world leaders in 2000 to cut in half the number of hungry by the year 2015. The biggest factor in the increasing rates of hunger is the increase in food prices so that more and more of the worlds poor are unable to afford adequate nutrition even if it is available. The Sunday Independent article points out that although "At a special summit in June last year, rich governments pledged $12.3 billion to tackle the food crisis, but so far they have handed over only $1 billion of it, as they have scrambled to provide trillions to bail out failing banks."

I am thankful that I am one of the privileged and becoming few that can afford food. Certainly I am among the privileged elite who can afford to eat in a restaurant. I am not saying that I should have to give up eating as much or even eating out (as I said it is not really a food shortage). But I am convicted that I need to be more intentional about helping in some way to meet the growing hunger in the world.

Robin serving meals to children after school

Two Tunics name comes from Luke 3:11 where John the baptist says "let him who has two tunics share with him who has none and let him who has food do likewise". One of the things we are doing as Two Tunics is giving nutritional support to vulnerable and hungry children. We have established a partnership with Food 4 Africa through which we are providing a nutritional porridge food supplement daily to over 500 children at community based day care and after school feeding projects. We also provide healthy daily snacks (peanut butter, brown bread, milk, fruit etc.) to children at several of the creches (pre-schools) we support. Two Tunics is about sharing and I am proud to a part of this work that is doing something small in the area of the world's hungry children.

Robin feeding Food 4 Africa porridge at a creche

999,999,500 to go. Can any of you take on a few more?

The Winelands

This past week Robin and I enjoyed a visit to Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands. It is a beautiful area as well as being the gourmet capital of South Africa. Needless to say we are a little more plump now. The week before going I started reading "The True Vine" by Andrew Murray. Murray was an 19th century South African pastor and prolific writer who grew up in Wellington, not far from Franschhoek (read anything and everything by him). Being surrounded by wineries as I was reading his study of Jesus' parable of the vineyard from John 15 really brought it home to me in a new and special way.

The first 3 verses of John 15 give us some very important truths:

• Jesus is the true vine


• God is the gardener


• I am a branch


• The purpose is fruit


• God's word is what prunes (cleans) me

Then in verse 4 the instruction comes. "Abide in me, and I in you." This is where the potential trap comes over which I stumble easily. I tend to see abiding as the fruit (goal). Abiding becomes the work I need to accomplish rather than producing fruit. I worry about what it means to abide an how do I live out abiding every day. Abiding becomes my religion. And then I wonder why I don't experience the "and I in you". And why don't I see more fruit being produced?

Murray points out that this is "Because the attention was turned to the abiding as a work we have to do, instead of to the living Christ, in whom we were to be kept abiding, who Himself was to hold and keep us." The secret to this mystery is found in verse 5 where Christ repeats the opening statement of the parable. "I am the vine." If we really see Christ as the true vine the abiding will come of itself. "..Souls who have never been especially concerned with the thought of abiding are abiding all the time, because they are occupied with Christ".

As I said in the Desiring God post on 1 January, I want 2009 to be about a return to my first love. I want to continually see Jesus as the true vine. I want Jesus to overwhlem me with a deeper understanding of who he is. Lord help me to focus on Jesus this year, today and not on the fruit or even the abiding, but only Him.

Redeeming the Time

Today I went to make clinical rounds at the Genesis Care Centre as I do almost every Monday. The Care Centre is a 40 bed inpatient HIV/AIDS palliative care unit that is operated by Genesis, a ministry of Norwegian Settlers Church. Each time I am there I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this work to lovingly care for patients with advanced AIDS. At the same time I am often frustrated by the fact that so many of the patients come to us with such advanced disease with very little hope of recovery. Today one of the male patients died while I was making rounds. What's frustrating is that effective HIV treatment with ARV medications is readily available in South Africa. Almost all of the patients that come to Genesis Care Centre could have avoided being in the situation if they had made the decision to seek help a year or even 6 months ago. Yet largely because of the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS they chose ignorance and denial over testing and treatment. Now often they are ready to make a different decision but the opportunity is gone. Despite good treatment many of these young men and women will die.

The Genesis Care Centre

My visit to the Care Centre brought to mind something I have been thinking a lot about during this New Year period - time. Time: a year, a day, a moment. Time: past, future, present. Time: 2008, 2009, today.

Jonathan Edwards said (in 1734) "There is nothing more precious than time and nothing of which men are more wasteful". I think he was right. Time is the most precious thing we have in life. What makes something precious is its importance together with its scarcity. Edwards describes 4 aspects of time that make it precious.

Time is important because our welfare depends on it. Our welfare in this world and more importantly our welfare for eternity. Time is short. This truth becomes more self-evident with each year I grow older. James 4:14 says "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". Time is uncertain. We know that time is short but we don't know how short. Will today be my last day? Time is irrecoverable. 2008 is past and the time I failed to use wisely is gone forever. My youth is gone no matter how hard I try to recover it.

As I thought about this last point I realized something else important about time. It is precious in inverse proportion to its duration.

A year is precious,
but how much more a day
and of this moment
I cannot begin to say.

If I didn't appreciate the preciousness of time in 2008, I can in 2009. And what I don't do in January I can still do in February (or probably more likely, March). If I let this morning slip by without telling my wife I loved her, I can still tell her this evening (and I better do it today). But this moment that is now gone forever cannot be recovered. It can only be redeemed. Lets commit to redeeming every moment this year, or at least today.

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity ("redeeming the time" in KJV), because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

Desiring God

The title of this post is also the title of a book by John Piper. If you're pressed and don't have time to read this blog post, it's OK. Just go out and get the book, read it, and enjoy it!

Hopefully some of you are still with me. I shared in the last post ("A 2008 Report Card") that as I look back on 2008 I am convicted that I have failed an important test this past year. Along with the Ephesian church I have often forsaken my first love (Revelation 2). Like them I have been busy for God, doing good things and even enduring hardships at times. But often during this past year my relationship with Christ has been dry and felt empty more than stale. At times I have sat wishing I felt closer to God, struggling to pray, distracted by the work and the needs as well as by my own concerns.

In his book Piper describes and promotes what he calls "Christian Hedonism" as he addresses what Psalm 73:25 is talking about. What does it really mean and look like in my life to agree with the Psalmist that "the earth has nothing I desire besides you (God)", to make and keep Jesus my first love.

As I was beginning to draft this post including the reference to John Piper's "Desiring God", I went to his web site of that title. There I read his article "I Love Jesus Christ" dated 31 Dec 2008. In it he is expressing almost exactly what I wanted to express in this post. He describes how those words impacted his life and what it means to love Jesus. It's nobody's surprise that John Piper can express it better than I, but it surprised me that God moved John Piper to pray for 2009 exactly what He moved my heart to pray.

Would you pray with me that in 2009 we would love Jesus Christ more than we ever have? And may our Lord Jesus grant that from time to time we would deliver quietly and naturally a thunderclap into the hearts of others with the simple words, “I love Jesus Christ.”

So I will just ask you to click on the title of this post to go to the Desiring God website. Then click on This Weeks Taste and See entry for December 31, 2008. I want to invite you to join John and I in making this prayer a reality in 2009 in each of our lives. Let's desire God Himself and not only His blessings this year