A WORD ON AFRICA

I sit, I think, I recall. Africa. I was there. What comes to mind? Hot, scantly clad natives, mud huts, malaria, harvest field, hunger, poverty and AIDS. Well every one of those words would describe Africa quite well, except hot, it wasn't it was actually quite nice. I saw mud huts, I slept under a mosquito net, I saw hunger, I saw poverty, I shook hands with and touched hundreds of people being destroyed by AIDS.

I saw. This is my testimony and my experience. I saw. Hearing something only allows you to be taken into a shallow level of understanding about something. Hearing about something makes you aware of its presence, it allows you to think over what it is you hear about and wonder. Well I not only heard but I saw. I saw a lot of things that words alone don't accurately describe but things that will forever change my outlook on life. I cannot articulate all of it, but I give you this testimony in a few short words. I saw a boy covered in dirt, yet smiling ear to ear. I saw a child whose enlarged stomach gave evidence of its emptiness. I saw pain. I saw people whose flesh covered up the death that fills their blood. I saw youth laugh at the thought of a life of sexual morality and purity. I saw a country being destroyed by AIDS resulting in 84,000 deaths a year. I saw a country that AIDS keeps the average lifespan at 20 years. I saw injustice to humanity. I saw poverty at its best. I saw an orphan ailed by HIV healed by God. I saw faces illuminate with hope because a message of good news. I saw a man walk 12 miles to find out how to become a follower of Jesus Christ. I saw a New Testament church. I saw men of God who are tirelessly expanding the kingdom of God in Africa. I saw much. My heart is in Africa for my heart belongs to the God who is indeed on the move in Africa.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS AT THE FALL

Where to begin? Its funny how life begins once you leave the familiar. I have over the last several years gone through a series of new beginnings and will soon be embarking on a whole new adventure into some unfamiliar territory. This is were life begins though. These new beginnings, leaving the familiar for the unknown has given me the chance to grow in ways in which embracing the familiar would never have given me. How often do we settle for and hold on to that which we know so well. I am one of those people, well maybe its just because were I am at in this time of my life where if I don't have something new to jump into I become bored. Contentment. Am I content? In some ways yes in alot of ways no. Contentment is both my misery and my comfort. My misery, in that if I remain in a life of contentment I will soon be over taken by a draw to the unknown resulting in a certain misery of not knowing whats over the next ridge. My comfort, in knowing that everything will be ok if I stand still. Life will go on and it will most likely be good yet how often do we simply stand still out of the fear of not knowing whats on the other side of a decision. Sometimes you have to ust let go and jump in. Theres a beautiful feeling that comes in letting go and jumping in to something unknown. Why is that? Yes that feeling is wrapped in fear yet there is something in that fear that draws you closer into the adventure of discovery. Falling, falling, falling. Its like when you jump off a cliff into water, there is a moment of fear before you jump, a moment of fear while you are falling, yet in the fall there is a beautiful moment of discovering what its like to let go and simply fall. Many decisions in life require you to not know how deep the water is your jumping into or knowing at all if there is anything below to stop your fall. However, I guess the beauty in the fall is simply trusting in the unseen. The fall is the adventure. Live life. Learn how to let go and fall into the unknown and the unfamiliar, a process I am still learning. Though it is the hardest part of life it is the most rewarding because it results in the aliveness of your soul. Journey on. The adventure begins at the fall.