Seasons

It is winter time here in Botswana. It took me a little while to get used to having winter during the months that are summertime in America and vice versa. In my mind, June and July were supposed to be hot months, but the temperatures at night get pretty chilly here this time of year. It was a nice change to get to wear jackets and long sleeve shirts after many months of burning heat and dripping sweat. I like winter time here. It isn't frigid but it does get nippy. After a few months of the cold, though, I start to miss summer. God was so creative when he made different seasons for us to enjoy. I appreciate the changing seasons so much. 

Another type of season that we get to experience is the changing seasons of our life as time ticks by day after day. There are the seasons of childhood, of growing up, of adulthood, perhaps of being parents and then grandparents. There are the seasons of having this job or that job, of living in this place or that place, of going through this struggle or that struggle. Every one of us has different seasons that we go through on this journey called life. Some seasons we love and wish they would go on forever, but other ones we hate and pray for them to end as soon as possible. Every season has at least two similarities, and they are that no matter what sort of season it is there are lessons to be learned and that a season by its very definition is only temporary. 

Living in Botswana has been my most recent season of life, at least in the broad sense of the word. But very shortly the times will be changing and I will be moving forward to a new season. Only one month remains of my time in Botswana before I depart to move back across the ocean to America. It will be a new season with new and exciting changes, and I am looking forward to all that it will bring. 

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Proud to be a what?

Here is a joke for you. 

What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? 

Trilingual. 

What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? 

Bilingual. 

What do you call someone who speaks 1 language?

American. 

I'm an American, so I can tell that joke. While it is meant to simply be funny, there is a bit of truth to it. The vast majority of people I have met in the various countries I have visited thus far, with the exception of Americans, speak at least two languages. I personally still only speak English despite taking two years of Spanish in school and spending two years living in a foreign country, so I am definitely guilty as charged. I travel the world and expect other people to understand my English no matter where I am. That seems a bit stuck up and proud when you stop and think about it. Oh but that's right, I am proud to be an American, so it's all good.

The Internet (or at least my Facebook newsfeed) has recently been exploding with news and opinions and arguments over Confederate flags, racism, gay marriage, the Supreme Court, and other such topics. There are as many opinions floating around out there as there are people engaged in the discussion, and that's a lot. My opinion of it all? Well my opinion actually doesn't matter. But I will tell you my thoughts if you're really that interested. 

I've read several "I am no longer proud to be an American" type statements since the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, and I have to wonder, was it ever a good idea to be proud to be an American? There are supposedly some good kinds of pride, like taking pride in your work or being proud of your heritage, but isn't the correct attitude for even those things actually gratitude? You could take pride in the work of your hands if you actually had anything to do with the fact that you have hands at all or that those hands have certain talents or abilities. But hands are a gift. Talent is a gift. So are heritage and family and background. Instead of being proud of our nationality, let's be grateful for the many blessings and freedoms we have as Americans. The United States is very blessed in everything from natural resources to freedom of speech, but that has led us to a sense of entitlement that considers having a smartphone and getting purified water when you turn on the tap to be rights instead of blessings. So, I am not proud to be an American. But I definitely am grateful to have been born in a country where I don't have to worry about my family being kidnapped by terrorists or drug lords at any moment, where I can connect with friends on social media because the government hasn't blocked it and only allowed us access to their own propaganda material, and where I can dial three buttons on my phone to get almost instant high quality medical care or police help in an emergency. I want to humbly thank God for blessings like that instead of proudly expecting them. 

Anyone who is surprised by the direction our country is going must not have associated it yet with what the Bible says about pride. I'm pretty sure that pride leads to destruction, not an increase in greatness or morality. 

Humility is the opposite of pride, but grace is what I consider to be the key here. An accurate grasp of the grace of God helps me with my own personal struggle with pride. It opens my eyes to how little control we as humans actually have over things, which in turn reminds me to be thankful for the good things that I have but absolutely do not deserve. Death is what I deserve, not freedom. By God's grace I instead have life and true freedom. Am I proud of that? Nope. But I am extremely grateful. 

So when we mourn over the moral decline of our country, let's remember that it is only a country. What I pray God helps me truly mourn over is the individual lives that are being lost because they did not know Jesus. Instead of being proud of my Christianity, I want to be grateful for His grace that is sufficient for me and for every other person in the world. Instead of being disgusted by my country of birth, I want to be busy recruiting for His country of everlasting life. Instead of being angry at the courts or the government, I want to be angry at my sins and my failures. 

And those are my thoughts. 

---

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." -Proverbs 16:18

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Cultures

Have you ever read the little blurb on yogurt containers about the "live and active cultures" inside? It's a little creepy to think that your spoonful of yogurt is alive. But the comforting part is that it doesn't act alive until you have consumed it, so you don't have to watch it dancing around and being all active in your spoon. I would go cross eyed with each bite. 

When I refer to a culture, it isn't typically the dancing yogurt ones that I mean. Biology aside, the anthropological use of culture refers to the "complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." And that is straight from WikiPedia, so don't just take my word for it. We all live in certain cultures and subcultures based on our geographical location, the family we are part of, the line of work we pursue, et cetera, et cetera. Culture shock and new cultural experiences are part of the territory when we venture outside of our little culture bubbles and pop right through the soapy wall of a new bubble floating in the sea of humanity. Some of us are adventurous bubble hoppers who love the new experiences and the knowledge that come from spending time in new cultures and wonder just how different the next one will be? Some of us never leave the cozy comfort of our own bubbles and are completely happy that way. But either way, each bubble contains the life and activity that are unique to that specific culture. Like yogurt, the cultures are all live and active.

Yesterday, I was able to experience a part of the culture here in Botswana that was new to me. A friend of mine from church had two of his cousins pass away last week, and they have a tradition here that is somewhat of a memorial service to honor the deceased and to support the grieving family. Each evening between the person's death and his or her burial, friends and family members come to the house of the family and meet for a time of prayer and hymn singing. When my two church friends and I arrived, we were given the last three plastic chairs on the front row of the men's side. The women all sat on the ground to our right, and each one wore a head covering of some sort while the men all remained bare-headed. The male family members (father, brothers, uncles) sat in a row of chairs facing the gathering, and soon after our arrival the first song started. In between songs, the men at the front would stand up and speak or pray, and one man, who appeared to be a preacher rather than a family member, spoke from the Bible for a few minutes. All of the proceedings were in the Setswana language, so as the only white person present I simply hummed along with the songs and guessed at the gist of the words being spoken. After 20 or 30 minutes, the service ended and it appeared that a meal was going to be served, but we left before that happened and after shaking many hands on the way out. 

The entire tradition is one that fosters unity in the midst of grief and offers loving support to the deprived family. There were even tents pitched in the yard for those who had traveled a long distance to pay their respects. Clearly it was important for anyone close to the family to attend. And it was repeated every night for several days until the actual burial. 

The best thing about seeing and experiencing varying cultures is the chance to learn. Picking up on good traditions or habits from many different cultures can make you a better rounded person and can even change your perspective on life in some aspects. This Botswana funeral tradition emphasizes the importance of continual support and encouragement for those who have lost a loved one. We have our own ways of doing this in America, such as providing meals and buying flowers, but to see this method of coming together repetively put a new twist on it. And it is twists like that which keep our different cultures all alive and active. 

There and Back Again

With the release of the third and final Hobbit movie last month I thought the title to this post was rather fitting. Bilbo Baggins may have gone to perilous places filled with near-death experiences and then returned to the comfort and safety of the Shire, but for me it was rather the opposite. I left the dangers (mostly perceived dangers stereotypically associated with Africa) of my abode in Botswana and trekked off to the comfort and relative safety of my motherland for a few weeks of holiday vacation. So I have indeed been there and back again.

To quickly sum up my time back home for any interested readers I will give the highlights of my four weeks in America. The first two weeks were spent in Texas, and the days flew by as I relished the reunion with my family after one year and three months of living overseas. I was able to visit my grandmother in the hospital, meet my newest baby cousin, sing lots of Christmas carols, play games with friends and family, shop at Walmart, devour way more Christmas goodies than I should have, visit my brothers new townhouse, drive on the right side of the road, go on a flight with my dad, eat at Chic-Fil-A, watch the Hobbit movie, shoot guns, celebrate the birth of our Savior, and simply spend quality time with my parents and siblings. It was a wonderful and relaxing time that I am very grateful to have had. 

The next two weeks were spent in New Jersey with my girlfriend's family, and even the coldness of the weather didn't seem to slow down the spinning wheels of time. While there I was able to watch snow falling, celebrate New Years, go hunting for deer and turkey, attend an American church, meet new people, watch movies in front of a crackling fire, get one year older, eat lots of delicious food, go on dates with the woman I love, visit New York City, go bowling, have game nights, watch football (not soccer), and absolutely enjoy time spent with my girlfriend and her family. It all seemed to flash by and end before I knew what happened, but I thank God for the ability to make the trip back to the U.S. and have such a wonderful time.

During my 16 months here in Botswana I have grown accustomed to the way of life and the little idiosyncrasies of this part of the world compared to home, so I was expecting a bit of reverse culture shock when I returned to the states. There was an initial moment of shock when I first walked back inside a Walmart Supercenter and saw carts stacked to overflowing with stuff that nobody really needed, and realizations of the excess and waste of American culture did flit through my mind from time to time. However, I felt at home in most ways almost instantly and could have easily settled back into the way of life there once again. 

But should I? 

Should any of us get too comfortable with the earthly lifestyle that we live in no matter what country we may call home? For me, getting comfortable usually leads to lethargy or even apathy. I start to lose motivation when I am satisfied with the way things are. Contentment is a good quality to have when it comes to things like earthly possessions (that don't matter) and our calling in life (that we can't change), but I never want to be content with my relationship with Christ or with the way I am living my life. Those can always be made better, at least I believe they can.

Here's an example. I am comfortable with the people I know here in Maun. I know some from work, a few from church, a handful from conducting business around town, and that is enough for me. As a result, I rarely take the time to get to know new people at work, at church, or around the village. I have my circle of acquaintances and friends already, so why step out of my comfort zone and reach out to make new friends? That's not how a quiet guy like me operates. Yet with an attitude like that I am purposefully restricting my own sphere of influence and minimizing my ability to have an impact where it really matters - in people's lives. 

My comfort zone is killing me. I was originally excited to move here, start a new job, and meet new people because it would take me outside my comfort zone. But comfort zones are obviously mobile because mine followed me to Botswana and eventually caught up with me. 

So, largely due to my time in the U.S.A., I am being challenged again to stop being lazy, I mean comfortable, and to get up, reach out, and pursue people, God, and the things in this brief life that really matter. It's easy to say but proving harder to do, as with most resolutions, but with the Lord on my side I can succeed! 

Here are a few pictures from my trip:

The Siblings

Playing Around

Visiting Granny

New Year's Eve

Central Park, NYC

Going Hunting

 

Silence

Have you ever been somewhere that was so absolutely silent that you could hear the blood flowing through your veins? It is quite incredible. You hear your own pulse and the low murming of your body doing what it constantly does just to keep you alive. The rest of the world is absolutely still and quiet.

Lying on my back in the middle of a massive salt pan one still night and gazing up at the stars, I was able to experience such silence. It is a very rare opportunity in this day and age and requires the perfect environment and conditions in order to occur. It's a little bit strange, but silence is so out of the norm for most of us that sometimes we hate it. A safari guide was telling a story at dinner the other night about a family from New York City who came to stay in camp and actually had to play recordings of city noises on their computers at night in order for the children to fall asleep. Believe me, honking taxi cab noises seem very out of place in an area like the Kalahari desert, but if noises are what you are accustomed to, then noises are what will make you feel comfortable. 

Aside from outside noises that reach our ears, what about inner noises that fill our minds from the thoughts we think? You can be in the quietest place on the planet and still "hear" lots of things in your mind. Men are said to have a "nothing box" where their minds can go and be completely empty as they zone out and think about absolutely nothing. Whether that is true or not, most people's minds are thinking the vast majority of the time rather than sitting dormant. What do we think about? I have personally been guilty of claiming to have been in my nothing box simply because I didn't realize what thoughts had been passing through my mind just moments earlier. Seriously, who thinks about what they are thinking about? But now I have you thinking about whether or not you think about what you are thinking about, right? I thought so. 

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8 ESV)

What thoughts we allow in our minds is very important. And yes, we are the ones who allow thoughts to stay in our minds. They may pop up seemingly out of nowhere, but whether or not they are allowed to stay is up to us. As 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "Take every thought captive to obey Christ." Those of us who belong to Christ are no longer subject to a yoke of slavery, not in our minds or our lives, and must be masters of our thoughts under the Lordship of God. 

So in any moments of silence you may have throughout the day, meditate on your blessings, on the Bible, and on things that bring honor to our Savior. When thoughts that are not good creep in, get rid of them! I will be right there with you trying to do the same thing. 

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him." (Psalm 62:5 ESV)

Just keep spinning, just keep spinning

Within a one week span, I got my truck stuck in the sand - twice. A little bit of digging and a friendly tug from another vehicle was all it took to get me right out, and, so as to not make my truck look like a sissy, there were two other vehicles that we had to also assist in getting un-bogged. Coming from east Texas I am much more used to mud than sand, so it was an interesting experience just driving through the stuff let alone getting stuck. The second time the truck got stuck was the worst. As it tried to plow its way out of a deep patch of sandy road, I could feel it digging itself in deeper until the chassis bottomed out on the sand and the wheels just spun freely without touching the ground enough to pull it forward any further.

Sometimes I think we feel that way in our lives. Our wheels are spinning and spinning as we get up early every morning, work hard all day long, and go to bed exhausted at night just to repeat the cycle again the following day. We feel stuck in one place. What progress do we have to show for our hard work? We feel as if we aren't going anywhere. What is the point of working and working all the time anyway? 

It is easy to get stuck in a rut and lose sight of why we have even been traveling the road we are on in the first place. In college when a certain test or project was weighing me down and clouding my mind with doubts as to whether or not all of the effort was even worth it, I would look back in time to the way God had led me to that place and that remembrance would strengthen my resolve to press forward. I may not be in college anymore, but real life is much the same way. When the alarm clock goes off before the crack of dawn and another long, hot day of flying people from one place to another stares me in the unshaven face I wonder, "what in the world am I doing in Africa? I could fly much faster and cooler airplanes in America and be closer to family and friends that way. Why am I here? This routine is going to get old." And then I look backwards at my tracks through the sand and remember that I am here for more than just the completion of a daily routine. 

Don't get so focused on the road that you miss the beauty of the passing landscape. The purpose of my truck's spinning wheels was to carry us through the amazing countryside and allow us a glimpse of God's incredible handiwork and creativity. Our daily routines of work, eat, and sleep are for the purpose of propelling us through life where we can look around us and reach out with a helping hand or kind word to others traveling this road of life. 

I think of Peter walking on the water and how he was doing just fine until He looked away from the face of Jesus and down at the waves swelling up on every side. Don't let the sand or the waves pull you down. Those wheels have to keep spinning. Those feet have to keep walking. 

Hunger

I live in Africa. Every kid in America knows it as the place with starving children who would love to eat their vegetables. Naturally there is some truth to that stereotype, particularly in certain African countries, but the people of Botswana don't generally go hungry or face the threat of starvation. Not physically at least...

Like anywhere in our fallen world there is spiritual hunger here. Like anywhere in our fallen world it is often fed with false religions and lusts of the flesh. And like anywhere in our fallen world the bread of life is still available for all who will come and partake. All of us have that "God sized hole" in our hearts that nothing but Christ can fill, and yet I believe that even with Christ we are still hungry - at least we should be. Just as physical hunger of the stomach returns every so often once the most recent meal has been digested, our spiritual hunger for God's word and His presence should start to gnaw at us if we go too long without feeding it. 

The flight schedules here in Maun are busiest between 9 AM and 4 PM and I regularly have back to back to back flights during that seven hour period. I don't mind the work or the flight hours, but as I was first settling into such a daily schedule, my stomach complained. There is no time to eat lunch when you fly like that. Occasionally you can sneak in a sandwich in-flight if you have an empty leg and remembered to pack one, but eating with passengers on board is both rude, unprofessional, and dangerous to any weak stomachs onboard that might catch a whiff of the food's scent. So I have gotten used to only eating two meals a day for the most part. It isn't a bad thing. I still weigh the same amount as I did six years ago when I left home for college. I have gotten used to it so much that my stomach has given up grumbling around midday. And therein lies the danger. If we quench our conscience and the hunger pangs of our spirit enough times we may eventually lose them. We may grow accustomed to the new normal of a dry spiritual life and fail to yearn, desire, and hunger for the bread and water of life. And that is a bad thing. 

So as I sit here slurping down spaghetti noodles and smacking on some well seasoned butternut squash, the delicious food reminds me of what I was missing out on all day long. As I read and ponder the Words of Life from my Bible tonight before bed, the delight that it brings my heart and the fruit that it bears in my life will remind me of the importance of keeping a steady diet of scripture flowing to my soul. 

Starving children would love to eat your leftover vegetables. Dying souls would love to know the truth about life in Christ. 

Windings

A little over a week ago I was flying along Botswana's borders with South Africa and Zimbabwe doing my best to make sure I didn't violate international airspace and get into all kinds of trouble for it. There is no wall in the sky along the border to indicate where the forbidden line to cross extends upward into the blue sky. The corresponding lines on the map and the GPS indicate that the border is very wavy and goes all up, down, and around as it makes its way across the countryside. Why couldn't someone have just made the boundary between these countries a straight line and prevented me from needing to change my course so much as I fly between airports? I crane my neck to look across and downward through the passenger-side window at the border down below and find my answer. Thousands of feet below lies a winding river, snaking its way across the otherwise dry landscape. That river is the borderline. And for reasons of gravity and terrain, rivers don't normally flow in a nice straight line like the border I wished for would need. They wind back and forth, and so did I as I followed along the northern side of this particular river. 

As Christians we often refer to the "straight and the narrow" way that we follow to Heaven, and there are a number of Bible verses we can refer to which talk about straight paths. But in reality it seems more accurate to refer to following Christ as the narrow way and to our lives on this earth as full of turns and windings rather than being straight. Certainly we must maintain the straightness of truth compared to the twisting of evil, but a straight path is one you can look ahead on for many miles and see what is coming. If you can look years ahead in your life and see everything that will come, then three cheers for you. As for me, I am doing good just to know what might happen tomorrow. 

As humans we want answers. We want advance notice. We want time to prepare. But life doesn't always give us what we want - surprise! Change happens fast. We really don't know what tomorrow holds. As the saying goes, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken." Since my arrival in Botswana there have been ups and downs with immigration paperwork, pilot licensing, flight scheduling, and so on that taught me to be prepared for the unknown and to expect the unexpected....if that is even possible. People have come and gone with our organization and life continues to wind its way back and forth. Doors have opened in one direction and closed in others. But as different as the path for each of our lives may be and as many turns as we must make away from what we expected, all of us have the same final destination. Like Ecclesiastes 1:7 says of flowing water, "All rivers run into the sea" so all lives end in eternity, either with God or apart from Him. 

As the windings of a river, so my life twists and turns along it's course. 

Faith. By Definition

Words are strange things. Basically they are shortened or condensed versions of what we are trying to say. Think about it. A single word has a meaning (or even multiple meanings) that requires many more words just to explain. Try to imagine what it would be like for us to talk in definitions. Instead of saying "I feel happy today" it would be "I perceive myself to be in a state of mind characterized by or indicative of pleasure." It reminds me of the way Eugene Melsner from the Adventures in Odessey radio show talked. When I am sitting in church here in Botswana and listening to a translator take an English phrase and turn it into understandable Setswana it sometimes seems like they are having to define the English words rather than give a direct word-for-word translation because they use so many words in place of a very few English words, or vice versa. 

I was thinking about words and definitions today as I read Hebrews 11:1, which is basically giving a definition of the word faith. The verse says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." That right there is a definition of what faith is. And yet, when I read it I am not satisfied. All of my questions about faith are not answered by that. So a word needs a definition and then a definition needs an explanation and the explanation may change depending on the application. See, I told you words were strange things. 

If we keep pressing on into Hebrews 11 after the definition of faith there are many examples of it and how it was applied in the lives of certain Biblical characters. Here is a non-exhaustive list by verse:

2. By faith men gained approval

3. By faith we understand

4. By faith Abel offered a sacrifice

5. By faith Enoch did not see death

7. By faith Noah prepared an ark

8. By faith Abraham obeyed God's calling

11. By faith Sarah received the ability to conceive

17. By faith Abraham offered up Isaac 

29. By faith the Israelites passed through the Red Sea

30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell

So in all of these instances people had confidence in what they hoped for, whether they were hoping for a child or deliverance or victory, and assurance about what they did not see, whether they didn't see how the world could flood or a sea could part or an old womb could be opened. Sounds simple enough. I think the problem comes with the definitions of confidence and assurance. Confidence means "full trust" and assurance means "full confidence" or "full full trust" if you will. That is a lot of trust. It leaves NO room for doubt. Zero. Zilch. Nada. And that, my friend, is not so simple - as least not for me. 

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6 ESV)

Desolate

The word desolate has a few different meanings. It can mean barren, solitary, forlorn, dismal, or deserted. To me, this picture of a salt pan in Botswana looks desolate. There is nothing but hard packed dirt for as far as the eye can see in places like this. 

Sometimes my spirit feels desolate. If a heart surgeon were to open me up at times like that he might not find anything but hard packed dirt inside (or maybe not). But seriously, there are moments and places in our lives where we feel solitary, dismal, or deserted. Perhaps it's because of how someone we love has treated us. Perhaps it's because of circumstances that always seem to be going against us and beating us down. Perhaps it is even because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to well up inside of us with a spring of living water like He promised. The only chance a desert has of getting any greenery to sprout up or plants to take root is if it gets sufficient water. Likewise, it is the living water of Jesus which is our only hope for growth and life. 

So whenever I see a desert I think "Wow, this place could use some water." Then when I see a person with a parched soul I think "Wow, this person needs Jesus to give them new life." But let's not fool ourselves. I can become a parched soul too if I quench the Spirit as 1 Thessalonians 5:19 talks about. An occasional rain in the desert does no real good. It takes good steady rains that come consistently for a long time to bring about any change to desolate salt pans. I also need consistent time in God's Word and in prayer with Him to be the fruitful follower that He wants me to be. 

Instead of living in desolation, I choose to dwell in the land of milk and honey - the only oasis in this dry and dying world. 

2,160 Hours Later...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6 ESV)

The time for casting away the distraction of the Internet has ended for me, and the time for keeping in touch with the world again has returned. As of the 1st of April my 90 day hiatus from the World Wide Web (and I have discovered that it is world wide just like it claims) has come to an end. I am grateful for the time it allowed me to have for focusing on the Lord, getting settled in my new home, and starting to connect with the people God has surrounded me with here in Botswana. It was a blessed time that was beneficial in more ways than one. 

Not surprisingly, 3 months of being away from the world in a sense was not a cure-all that caused all of the problems and trials of life to go away, but that was not what I expected anyway. A recurring theme in my Biblical lessons learned recently has been about trials. Paul talked about them a good deal in his letters to the New Testament churches, and I have learned, or at least been reminded again, of the value that hardships can have our spiritual lives and the very fact that they are to expected as we follow The Lord and walk in His way. Trials and difficulties come up on a daily basis here at work, but as my supervisor likes to say, they are just opportunities to grow in grace. And there lies the key to it all. We must learn and grow in the midst of hard times instead of allowing them to make us hard, cynical, or bitter. The notion that hard=bad is neither accurate nor Biblical and yet it has been something that I have had to change in my way of thinking. It seems like an easy life makes a soft Christian, and a soft Christian makes only a tiny impact for Christ if any at all. That is not what I want. And so The Lord continues to work in my life day after day in both the hard times and the good times. 

The main changes that have taken place for me in the year 2014 are that I moved permanently up to the town of Maun, successfully went through a month of initial operating experience in the Cessna 206, and am now busy flying in and around the Okavango Delta region of northern Botswana. On the Sundays when I am free I attend services at the local Baptist church (which is quite an experience in itself) and I have been plugged into a small group Bible study that occurs most every weekend as well. In addition to the other Flying Mission personnel that I work with each day I have had opportunities to develop relationships with safari camp staff and a few local people that I come in contact with regularly. The flying is great, but it is the people that matter the most. 

Every day is a new adventure full of new opportunities, and not just because I am in Africa. God gives us all life that we may have it more abundantly. My life is abundant, and I am very thankful.

The End of an Age

The past decade or two has been called a number of different names – the information age, the digital age, the computer age – and has been a time of immense growth in computer technology and the internet, among other things. With the new technology many new opportunities, moral and ethical questions, scientific and medical possibilities, temptations, and much more have entered the everyday lives of the modern populace. Do the benefits of technology outweigh the negative influences it has exerted on culture and common life? That’s a debate that I don’t care to have. However, I am planning to do a sort of experiment on the subject.

On January 1^st of 2014 I am going to drop off the face of the earth. Not literally, of course, but in the sense of disappearing from the digital world of internet and computers. For personal, spiritual, and perhaps even scientific reasons, I am taking a sabbatical from the social media world of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. I am turning my back on my numerous email inboxes (except for my work email, for hopefully obvious reasons) and even my prestigious online blog (ha!). I am refusing to keep up-to-date on global news via online networks and websites.

To put it bluntly, I am fasting from the internet for 90 days.

The majority of the world won’t know and certainly won’t care that I am going “offline” until April 1^st (no fooling), but for the tiny minority that will care and will notice, I thought it best to offer a little advanced warning and a sort of explanation. No, I haven’t un-friended you on Facebook. No, I haven’t been eaten by an African lion. The world will go on without me. I'm pretty certain of that.

Outside of my co-workers, fellow Botswana residents, and the tourists/passengers on my flights, the only contact I plan to have with “the outside world” will be old fashioned snail mail sent to my company address in Gaborone. If you want that address, feel free to contact my family or to look it up on the World Wide Web. Plan on 2-4 weeks of transit time for any letters you may mail. The donkey carts that deliver mail over here are pretty slow. Not really, but the time it takes for me to get mail will depend on the flight schedule of our air ambulance planes, so it is unpredictable.

In case of emergency, contact my company or my family. Or you could just call 911.

Enjoy the internet for the next 90 days! It should be faster without me clogging up the bandwidth. If you would continue to pray for me during this time of internet silence, I would most definitely appreciate it. As for me, I’ll be enjoying life as it used to be with no internet to distract, to communicate, or to enlighten. I am actually hoping it will be the best of times, the age of wisdom, the epoch of belief, the season of light, and the spring of hope for me rather than the opposite. And just perhaps, during the sabbatical I will be able to say with my own personal meaning, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I [have] than I have ever known.” Oh yes, and I do plan to read some Charles Dickens with my additional free time. It will be great. 

Family

Christmas is about Jesus Christ. Christmas is about the gift of God's Son as a savior to the world. Christmas is about remembering and celebrating the virgin birth of baby Jesus. Christmas is about family.

The birth of Jesus was so important because of who He was, and especially who His Father was. Millions of babies have been born on this earth, but none of them besides Jesus were the son of God Almighty. Jesus was important because of His family. 

As Jesus walked the earth and ministered to its inhabitants, He was building the foundation for a spiritual family. Being fully man and yet resisting every temptation to sin that you and I as humans must face, Jesus conquered sin. Dying on the cross while completely innocent, Jesus conquered sin. Rising from the grave after three days of being dead, Jesus conquered sin. He was the perfect sacrifice that has torn the curtain between humanity and God the Father to allow us all to become children of The Most High. Because of God the Father and God the Son, we can now be adopted into the family of God. 

We celebrate Christmas every year with our biological families or families by marriage or by adoption on this earth, but we also get to celebrate it with our spiritual family around the world. All of us who have been saved by the blood of Christ are brothers and sisters to one another. We are all related. In a way, it is because of the first Christmas that we are all part of the same family.

Here in Botswana, thousands of miles away from my biological family in Texas and my adopted family members in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico, I am thankful that I have spiritual family members with whom I can celebrate the birth of Christ. At the same time, I will most definitely miss being with my brothers and sisters by birth, my parents, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins that I have been with for every Christmas up until now. So let me encourage those of you who have the blessing of spending this Christmas season under the same roof as your loved ones and family members to make the most of it. Remember that the presents and food and traditions are only as good as they are because of the people you are with as you enjoy them. Remember that not one of us is guaranteed another Christmas with those that we love and that each moment, each smile, each memory made is precious. Enjoy Christmas with your family! Whether you spend this holiday season with biological, adopted, or spiritual family members, remember that you and I are blessed. 

In the midst of our Christmas joys let's not forget those people who don't have a family, whether physical or spiritual, to be with on Christmas morning. The world is full of orphans, widows, and lost souls who will be sad and have an aching heart this December 25th. Perhaps besides simply counting our own blessings this Christmas, we can somehow manage to also be blessings to those who need it most. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and says it even better than I can: http://youtu.be/XvDBGVoGKD0

Christmas is all about family! 

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"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father..." - James 1:17

Praise Ye The Lord!

The Bible, especially Psalms, is full of commands and reminders to praise God for all of His wonderful works. Honestly, though, I forget to do that as much as I should. It certainly isn't because He hasn't blessed me or exhibited His power and greatness in and around my life every single day, because He has done that. My lack of sufficient praise unto God is due to my failure to recognize and appreciate all of His blessings in the midst of everyday life and its busy schedule. What a lame reason.

Last week was an incredible testimony to the greatness of God and yielded many more reasons to praise Him. To set the stage, let me explain how things work here in Botswana when foreign nationals initially enter the country. When citizens of another country cross the border or pass through customs at the airport they are given a stamp in their passport that basically serves as a tourist visa and allows them to stay in the country for a maximum period of 90 days. People like me who are trying to move here for a job must apply for a residence permit and a work permit through the immigration office or else they will be required to leave the country after their 90 day pass expires. The past few months have been a difficult time for international applicants to obtain approval to stay or work in the country. Some of FMS's new employees have had to leave the country and are going through an appeal process to attempt to be able to come back and work. Lots of other organizations and individuals we have talked to are having the same problems. That being said, last Friday was my final day to be able to stay in the country on my 90 day passport stamp. The clock was ticking and my days were disappearing rapidly last week when I was called into the immigration office on Wednesday. Four and a half hours of waiting in line later, an immigration officer handed me a residence permit and a work permit over the counter and I walked out of that office with a miracle in my hand. With only two days to spare, God showed Himself strong on my behalf and has allowed me to stay and to work in Botswana!

God deserves praise for more than just opening doors and providing for His children. Look around. His creation is awesome! Over the weekend I went camping at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary with some FMS friends. The pans (large, flat open areas of ground) were covered with rhino, wildebeest, kudu, ostrich, impala, springbok, zebra, giraffe, eland, warthog, gemsbok, water buck, and a variety of neat birds (watch the video from the trip here). Watching all of these animals frolicking around as the sunset lit up the Botswana sky was amazing. Not to be outdone, the night sky was filled by a crescent moon and a plethora of dazzling stars and constellations. The flickering flames of our fire, the distinct smell of African wood smoke, and the varying tastes of delicious foods were all small and often unappreciated examples of the creativity, power, and greatness of our God that we experienced that night.

I have always loved this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson: 

"The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you."

Life is full of wonderful things that we should praise The Lord for every single day. He has done great things and will continue to do great things. Just praise Him!

 

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"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!" - Psalms 150:6

Chronicles

I've started a few different blog posts over the past week, but haven't finished them yet. So much has been churning in my mind for a brief while but then disappears like a mist blown away by the breeze as soon as I try to solidify it into words on a page, or on a computer screen actually. What I've decided to do in this post to somewhat bypass my typer's cramp (did I just invent a new term?) is just chronicle some of what has happened since I arrived in Botswana. It will be more facts and less thoughts than usual. Please forgive any repetitions that may slip in from previous posts. 

Cessna A2-FME

Nine and a half weeks ago, I arrived in the beautiful country of Botswana. My contract with Flying Mission Services was as a pilot, and I was slated to fly Cessnas into the Okavango Delta region around the city of Maun. Since arriving, I have submitted applications for both a work permit and residence permit to allow me to begin working and living legally in the country for the next two or more years. Neither one has been granted yet. In fact, many applications like mine have been denied in the past few months, so I'm very grateful that I can trust God to take care of mine and teach me more about Him through the whole process! In the meantime, I've technically been volunteering at the FMS offices here in Gaborone. The first few days and weeks here I was scrambling to get through ground school, testing, and applications as quickly as possible. It's a waiting game for my permits right now, but I still have one more step each to complete for the validation of my pilot's license and my mechanic's license. Monday and Tuesday of this week I will be taking a check ride in a Cessna 206 up in Maun with a Botswana pilot examiner. After that, it will just be a matter of time, hopefully. Taking one more written test is all that I need to accomplish for my mechanic validation. Lord willing, the end of the waiting is in sight! 

The beauty of a sunset in the bush

The office work I've been doing has included writing some new in-house tests for incoming company pilots, researching aircraft maintenance compliance for various planes being worked on in the hangar, counting airplane parts to verify the amount of inventory in stock, and helping cook for the monthly company braii (cookout). There are definitely some days where I feel useless and impatiently want my authorization to start flying to come through. Remembering that God has a plan for His ultimate good in all of this always perks me back up though!

Braiing some chicken and sausage 

Outside of the office I have been able to connect with some of the local community through sports like ultimate frisbee, running, volleyball, and tennis; get to know other FMS personnel on camping trips, at pool parties, and lots of cookouts; and spend time with some IMB missionaries, the founder of FMS, and the young men's group from a local Baptist Church. Some of the new foods I have been able to try so far include zebra, impala, and goat head as well as Ethiopian, Indian, and Lebanese cuisine. It has all been delicious! I've always been a sucker for delicious foods, and there are plenty of them here. One thing that has been a little shocking for this small town, tee totaling, country boy who has lived in the homeschooling and Christian college bubbles his whole life is the amount of alcohol that gets consumed over here. Apparently a social event here isn't complete without beer, wine, rum, whisky, or homemade moonshine (ok, I haven't actually seen anything home made yet). The country as a whole has an alcohol problem that the government has attempted to curb by continually raising taxes on alcoholic beverages. But, in the words of Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life, "No, I didn't have a drink!" 

Giraffes beneath a cloudy sky

I have had a few minor challenges in the past nine weeks, but overall it has been a great time of learning and growing. My car had to go into the shop for repairs on two different occasions, but God showed his goodness by allowing it break on the day before my warranty from the dealer expired. It's hard to call it a trial or hard time when my car gets fixed for free. The first time I tried to turn in my application for my pilot's license here, it was rejected and I became a bit dejected. But again, The Lord has been faithful, and I should be able to successfully resubmit the application within the next week to 10 days. On the electronic front, my laptop crashed and the batteries ran out in both of my wrist watches last month. A quick shopping trip should remedy those issues, though. I have to remind myself that these "problems" are so insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Most of them can be classified as learning experiences and faith builders more easily than as trials or tribulations. I am very blessed.

Camping in South Africa for a weekend

I always request your prayers for my time here in Africa, for FMS, and for the nation of Botswana. It may not appear that dark or lost from the outside looking in, but there is great need for Jesus in this country. 

Inventory

Over the past week or two, the parts department at FMS has been preparing for an audit. One aspect of the preparations is counting and verifying inventory. The parts room is lined with shelves that are stacked with boxes that are filled with parts, and each of those many thousands of parts has to be counted.

The boxes were all dusty and some even had dead bugs and spiderwebs in them - evidence that no one had needed that exact part in many months, or maybe even years. The tiny star-shaped lock washers that were almost too small to be able to pinch between your fingers and the bags and bags full of rivets were probably the hardest items to count accurately. It was simple to count fuel sending units and seatbelts because of their size, but the nuts, screws, and washers were an entirely different matter. 

One screw, two screw, there screw, four.... My mind began wondering what analogy could be drawn between counting airplane parts and our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. I suppose we need to be sure to audit ourselves from time to time and see what inventory we have in our lives. Have we counted our blessings today? That's usually a cheerful way to start out - by looking at the good things God has blessed us with and being thankful. How many of the nine fruits of the spirit that Galatians 5 talks about do we have evident in our daily walk with The Lord? Try counting those for yourself. If we count the numbers if sins we committed, the number of mistakes we made, or the number of times we failed today, that may be a depressing part of our spiritual inventory, but it is still important. Counting sins isn't important because the number itself matters. It's important to identify different forms of sin in our lives and hearts so that we can fight against them and try to clean them out of our parts room completely. 

One of the difficult things about taking inventory during the middle of a busy workday was all of the noise and commotion going on all around you. Eighty-six, eighty-seven, eighty-eight... Then someone would bust through the door and call your name. Like a flash, that last number you had counted vanished from your mind, and you had to start all over. Life is full of distractions too, and these tend to pull us away from the duties and responsibilities we need to concentrate on as Christians. In the middle of going through your prayer list, someone suddenly calls you and needs your help, pronto! After a few steady weeks of daily Bible reading you contract a bad illness, and in a matter of days, the good habit gets broken and thrown out the window. It happens. Sometimes  we just have to start again and not lose heart. 

Look at the bright side, at least we don't have to count the hairs on our head or the stars in the sky - God has those numbered already! 

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)

Bare Feet

For as long as I can remember I have hated wearing shoes. Not just leather dress shoes or heavy work boots, but any kind of shoe or boot. They stifle and oppress my free-spirited feet to no end. I have been known to fight grass fires, cut down trees with a chainsaw, fly an airplane, and many other random things while being barefoot. It sounds crazy (and probably is crazy), but I just like being barefoot. 

The Bible talks about feet in a number of passages. Romans 10:15 says "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" Psalms 119:105 says "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." In John 12 Mary anoints the feet of Jesus and then in chapter 13 Jesus gets down on the floor and washes His disciples' feet. The feet of Jesus were pierced by nails at Calvary, but in the end, the Bible says that all things will be put into subjection under those same feet.

I know that I'm a part of the body of Christ, and sometimes I wonder if I am the feet. It seems appropriate. Feet do the traveling to get the body from one place to another. Feet are down in the dirt and the ditches getting the soldier across the battlefield. Feet help support and hold up the body. Feet are used to kick Satan in the face or a stubborn brother in the pants. Feet are under a lot of weight and pressure. Feet sometimes get stepped on by others or poked with thorns. Feet seem disgusting and unsightly to some people. Feet can be broken or twisted. Feet need washing and care and protection. Feet are just one of the many parts of the body with a job to do - and that job is not to be propped up on the couch all the time doing nothing. 

At first glance, it seems almost conceited to think that I might be likened to the feet of the body of Christ, His church. Feet are important, and they might even be considered one of the more important parts of the body. I must be full of myself! That's the wrong viewpoint though. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that all parts of the body are important and rely on one another to function as a whole.

If I'm the feet, then I have the responsibility to keep moving so the hands can reach out and touch the needy and the ears can listen to the cries of the hurting and the eyes can see where The Lord is leading. We all have to work together as the church in our different but equally important roles. So let's get up off the couch and get walking! 

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But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." (1 Corinthians 12:18-21 NASB)

Wrestling

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)

Once upon a time not so very long ago, when I was a young boy, I used to be quite a prolific wrestler. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I was a good wrestler, just that I did it a fair amount. After so many wrestling matches with my brothers and my friends growing up, I probably should have tried out for the college wrestling team! Most of our bouts were all in good fun, with an occasional one spurred on by an argument gone sour, but what I liked about them was that I could actually grab hold of my opponent and use my appendages and body weight to pin him down into submission. It was a purely physical struggle. Since then, I have grown up. No longer do I wrestle against fellow humans using physical strength and size. No longer does the match end with a tap out or a cry of "uncle!" No longer are the stakes simply boasting rights or an elevated ego. The fighting I have to do now is much more serious, difficult, and real than any boyhood struggles. 

I was reminded by a longtime Botswana missionary the other day of the spiritual dimension to our current struggle to obtain permits and approval to stay in the country. It's easy to get annoyed or impatient when the speed of progress seems slower than dripping molasses on a freezing winter day. It's even easier to direct that impatience or frustration towards the government workers and blame them for all of your troubles. In general though, they are just doing their jobs. I'm sure it isn't easy to sort through forms all day and decide how to handle different applications. They are human beings too with their own difficulties to face at work and at home in their personal lives. The real enemy here is the same enemy that all Christians fight against. Perhaps the fights and struggles take on different forms for different people, but I believe we are all fighting against sin, the flesh, and the devil on a daily basis. Our flesh makes us impatient and prone to grumble at delays and setbacks. The devil works against our efforts to enter the country and bring the good news of the Gospel to its people. Sin surrounds us. And so we wrestle. Not with our hands as much as our prayers and not with our physical strength as much as our spiritual weapons. Botswana is full of darkness that we have to struggle against in order to be lights for Christ. There is much evil that needs to be countered with righteousness here, and I believe Satan is fighting to keep Christians out in every way possible - by legal, financial, and medical means to name a few. 

The most important concept to remember is that we have to fight back. The biggest assumption in Ephesians 6:12 is that we are actually wrestling against those "spiritual forces of evil." It doesn't say "For God does not wrestle against flesh and blood." Nope. It says that we are the ones wrestling. We have to take temptations and throw them over the ropes. We have to pin sin down in our lives and force it to tap out and leave the ring in defeat. This is war, folks. Everyday and everywhere we are engaged in the ultimate struggle between good and evil. Let us fight the good fight by taking up the full armor of God and standing in the ranks of His army! 

Please, pray for me and for the members of the body of Christ who are in Botswana. Pray that Satan will not be successful at keeping us out or keeping us from fulfilling the work that God has allotted for us here. Pray that we would stand strong, shine bright, and strive for righteousness. The book of James reminds us that the prayer of the righteousness man availeth much. It is one of our mightiest (but often underused) weapons! Let's use it in the fight!

Not Me, Not Mine

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. - Philippians 3:12.

I was reading through Philippians chapter 3 before bed last night and was struck by the phrase "because Christ Jesus has made me His own" in verse 12. Eight little words, yet they grabbed my attention and drew me back like a magnet. Paul wrote that brief line as his reason for "pressing on" to attain Christ-likeness and righteousness through the death of his inner sinful self. Speaking for myself (and perhaps a few other people will agree with me), I can come up with a number of reasons that I am trying to become more like Jesus. I want to be kind and compassionate towards others. I want to live a life that leaves a positive legacy. I desire to be an example to other believers in my speech, conduct, faith, love, and purity. Stop right there. Yes, those are good and Biblical things to desire for your life, but the one commonality that they share and that bothers me is that they all revolve around me, myself, and I. 

What is the purpose of life? The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever." Notice what that statement is not focused on - man. Man's purpose is God. It's not about us. We aren't here for ourselves. Life is not meant for us to become good or better or best. Our brief life on this earth is all about God, His purposes, His kingdom, and ultimately His glory. Bringing it back around to the reasons that Christians should want to be more like Christ, I believe that our focus should be on becoming like Jesus because God commanded us to do so, because God receives glory from that, because God sent His one and only son to die for us. Forget about becoming like Christ more so that people will like you more. I have meaning and purpose "because Christ Jesus has made me His own." And that should be the motivation for everything I do in my life. 

I am not my own. My life been bought with the highest price to ever be paid. Therefore, I am called to glorify God. Kindness, compassion, and a legacy can and do bring glory to God. My point, though, is that we (or at least I do) tend to focus too much on the intermediate goals of self-improvement and not enough on the ultimate goal of honoring God because He is worthy.

The fruits of the spirit are not meant to make us better people. Giving, sharing, and helping are not done to make us better philanthropists. It isn't about us at all. It is all about Jesus!

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

The Delta

Delta is a letter in the Greek alphabet. It is the name of an elite special operations commando group, that nobody is supposed to know about. It is used to denote the fourth item in a group. And, it also means an area covered in diverging branches of a river. The Okavango Delta in Botswana is just that, an area of wetlands formed by the spreading out of the Okavanga River. It is an area that is rich with wildlife because of the abundance of water in the midst of an otherwise very dry area and hot climate. The delta region is an ideal place for many animals to live their lives. 

It makes me think of the importance that water has in regards to life. I heard someone talking the other day about how scientists are hoping to use some sort of chemical process to turn the dirt on Mars into water so that things can be grown on the planet's surface. When you are flying over the barren bush of the African plains, anytime you see a random hut and animal corrals in the middle of nowhere you can be sure that there is a well (or borehole as they call them here) on that little plot of ground. You can plant the best seeds in the most fertile dirt in the world, but if there isn't water, then the seeds will never sprout and grow. Why did God design things in the universe to work like that? Why does so much depend on little H2O molecules? I think He designed it that way to teach us something. He built this analogy into the workings of science and nature to illustrate that any form of life always requires one all-important ingredient. 

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13, 14 ESV)

The all-important ingredient in our lives is Jesus. He is the water that gives life. He is the water that causes seeds to sprout. He is the water that soothes a parched soul. Jesus is life.

Last week I spent 4 days up in Maun, Botswana where I will be based once I get approved to legally fly here. The purpose of my time in Maun was to do a little flight training in the FMS aircraft I will be flying and to pass a check ride to get my certificate of training saying that my flying meets the standards of a commercial pilot. In addition to that, I was able to ride along in the copilot seat on a number of tourist transport flights in a King Air 90 and the Cessna 207 that I flew for my training. The strips we went in and out of were all dirt and sand except for the main Maun airport, which was paved and had a control tower. On the legs where I wasn't doing any flying I watched for wildlife and was able to spot 30+ elephants, a zebra, possibly a herd of hippos, what I think may have been a roan antelope, and some herds of impalas. It was pretty exciting! The winds, airstrip length and condition, high temperatures, busy airspace, heavy payloads, and extensive wildlife activity will make the flying here challenging but definitely very exciting as well! 

The town of Maun

An airstrip we flew over but didn't land on

Passenger pick up and drop off

Lining up for takeoff