Having arrived back in Pretoria just over a week ago, we've braved the jet lag, settled in, and are getting into a good rhythm of work and ministry again. It was so good to see friends and family for Christmas. We hope your Christmas season was blessed, and we trust for your 2017 to be full of the blessings and purposes of God. Last month as New Year's Eve approached, I noticed how many people were excited for 2016 to end. Conversation and social media were littered with epithets of relief about the coming end of the year. Good riddance! So glad this one's over and done with! Well, that sucked. Here's to 2017. The more of these I saw and heard, the more I began to remember: I hear the same things every year. So I made a decision: when 2017 ends, I will have lived in such a way that I say, What a ride! Can't wait to see what God has in store for 2018!
What crazy person decides to read in the book of Numbers for devotional time? Yeah, me… that’s who. What tedium! What boredom! “All Scripture is God-breathed,” I remind myself. So what is all this counting about? Why is this here? And why I am I spending this moment in time reading it? That moment counted because God spoke to my heart. “At the Lord’s command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry. Thus they were counted, as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Numbers 4:49, NIV) At the command of God, each person was counted. If God has counted each and every one, why do I waste so much time discounting myself? Every person counts. The work they do, counts. You count. As I move through our city, I am overwhelmed by the sheer population counts. So many people! But each one with a story. Each one loved and counted by God. Including me. Broken, crazy me. My surrendered, laid down life counts. I have an assigned work by the living God that matters. So I will stop counting my list of items that disqualify me and hear the word of the Lord. There are so many people waiting, searching, longing to know that they count to someone, anyone. The someone they long for is Father. But how will they know, unless I stop discounting myself and tell them?
Every person counts! Chandra A few weeks ago, on 21 June, violent riots swept through parts of Pretoria and the surrounding municipality in protest of a Zulu being nominated for mayor in an area that is predominately Sotho. Buses were burned, businesses (mostly foreigner-owned businesses) were looted and ransacked, and many streets made impassable by violent crowds. Several innocent people died.
Last week, in the early predawn hours of 3 July, a deadly fire raged through an informal settlement in Pretoria, destroying 300 shacks and claiming four lives. But something beautiful has arisen amid the rubble and ash of recent events in Pretoria. The Church has responded in a show of unity and love for her community. Rather than statements of condemnation against looters, rioters, and corrupt government officials, I am hearing prayers for mercy and revival. And when hundreds of homeless lost their illegal shacks together with what little they owned, within hours a venue at a nearby church was overrun with clothing, blankets, food, and other supplies. Beautiful. This after a month in which 170 churches in Pretoria, in an unprecedented display of unity, preached on the same topics in their churches for all five Sundays in May. There was sharing of pulpits. There were combined prayer meetings. There was one church. Beautiful. Both Jesus and John noted that the defining visible characteristic of people who've truly been with Jesus is LOVE. It's beautiful to see love on display. The enemy is always at work trying to destroy lives and undermine God's ways and wisdom. If we are not careful, we respond in kind, playing right into his hands. We respond to divisive rioting with vigilantism or condemnation. We respond to corrupt government with dishonoring conversations and actions. We respond to tragedy with apathy or judgement ("serves 'em right!"). But the real power comes in moving in the opposite spirit. We respond to division with internal unity and by seeking common ground with others. We respond to corruption in government by conducting ourselves honourably and praying for our leaders. We respond to tragedy with generosity. What does the Lord require of us, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God? (Micah 6:8) I pray that you discover His power and grace to respond to whatever ugly is around you with the beauty of God. It was hot. The 330 ml can was already refreshing, its cool surface soothing my sweaty hand.
I wedged my fingertips under the dusty tab and peeled it back. The familiar "ksshhh-POP!" made my mouth water in anticipation. Ahh, the sweet sound of Coke, I thought, it's the same everywhere. Which made me wonder, sipping a Coke on a hot, dusty afternoon in Kananga, what else has sounded the same everywhere I've gone. In our broken world, if one listens long enough one can discover the beauty we all have in common. Like the sound of laughter. Or the joy of praise. The cacophony and stench of poverty, overcome by the fragrant offering of worship. Friendly smiles. The scent of hard work. Curious children, and the sweet "aha!" of discovery. "Whitey" sounds the same everywhere, whether it's lekgoa, gringo, huero, mzungu, mulungu, matoke (which means "squashed banana"!) or something else, but the embrace of the body of Christ is unmistakable. Above all, there is the undeniable presence of God. This is my Father's world! Oh, let me ne'er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong God is the ruler yet! We had the privilege of taking a young lady from England on a walking tour through our village. I love it when I have the chance to walk among the people of Lusaka. Amid the beauty, one encounters the most unusual things. A random taxi driver proposed marriage. (We politely declined!) A woman sitting in her yard doing laundry shouted to someone in her shack that they must come out and see the lekgoa (“white people”). We walked among illegal electricity wire connections lining the dirt paths up the mountain. These are actually not surprising things in a township, but this is no typical tame stroll for a foreigner. As we neared the top of the mountain filled with shacks, we met a young man all alone. My heart leapt. I knew God sent us to him. God wanted him to know how much He loves him and that He sees him and cares deeply for him. He was shocked and obviously moved by this unexpected encounter. May your normal and expected day be repurposed by the wildness of God’s love for another! We believe the Cross completely satisfied the debt for every sin. We believe that "Jesus Paid It All." Or, do we? I've often spoken with beautiful people who don't realize that they are allowing the transgressions of others to define them. That one painful, unjust event has become a frame of reference through which almost everything else in their lives is viewed and appraised. And they still see the one who damaged them as an offender or an enemy: not as a fellow child of God. The truth is, the one who hurt us can never make things right. He or she can't pay enough money or endure enough personal torture to settle what is owed. Nor can he or she repair the damage that has been caused. Never, in this life or the next. That's where the Cross comes in. See the monstrosity on the Cross--the brutally disfigured human form, all that blood. Is it enough? Do we really believe that the Cross has paid not only for our own sins, but for the sins that were committed against us? Beyond that, do we believe that Jesus can not only pay that other person's debt, but heal us from the damage that was caused? Do we believe it, or not? I want to see people free from the sins of others! I want to see people dancing in the healing that Jesus paid for them to have! Beyond even that: is the Cross enough for a nation? We get to live in a nation in which racial tensions explode at the drop of a pin, due to very real evils that were committed in the past. Democracy can't fix that. Taking land and jobs from one group of people and giving them to another can't fix that. But the Cross can. Pray with us for real reconciliation to sweep through beautiful South Africa as believers turn to the Cross and take hold of the reality of what Jesus really accomplished there. What a Saviour! Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow "What does it mean?" As a foreigner in a foreign land immersed in foreign culture, I have asked this question a million times. At Berakah, I have seen it again and again. A thin rope tied around a child's waist. "What does it mean?" It is considered a harmless custom to protect the child from sickness, to keep the baby well and to ward off evil spirits. In short...a fetish. I just recently had a conversation with one of our teachers who loves God. And yet sincerely believes the cultural tradition. It is what has always been done. And because the rope was given at one of the community churches, it must be okay. I didn't judge her. I just discussed the meaning of a fetish with her and shared God's thoughts about it. For her consideration. Light shining on the darkness. Please pray for us as we confront darkness and all of its lies here in South Africa! "Light shines in the darkness and darkness cannot overcome it." - John 1:5
We recently witnessed a wonderful move of God at Hatfield Christian Church, the local church out of which we work in the communities surrounding Pretoria.
During corporate worship a group of children found their way to the front of the auditorium, waving flags and dancing. They didn't look like mature worship leaders or professional dancers. They looked like kids having fun. Someone in leadership saw them, and rather than shut them down, he invited them onto the platform to dance and wave their flags before the Lord in full view of the congregation. Before long, there were reconciliations happening all throughout the building. Generation affirming generation, male honouring female, and every tribe and race embracing and celebrating one another, all in the context of glorious praise to God in at least five languages. It was stunning! And we pray that what God has begun among His people will cover this scarred nation, a salve bringing healing and peace. Psalm 8:2 says that God has ordained strength from the praises of children to silence the enemy. Everyone's praise is always powerful--because of a mighty God! But there is something special when God moves amidst children's praise. What better to silence the jaded, demonic voices of bitterness, gender tension, and racial strife than the wonder-filled praise of all-powerful God coming from innocent lips! The millenia-old saying is still true today: there comes a beautiful clarity in the spirit when children praise. What would happen if you and I praise today? What would happen if you and I empower our children to praise today? "It's not glamorous."
We've heard so many maxims about the nature of ministry and missions. It's spelled, W-O-R-K. It's not all fun and games. We live in this incredible space where we greatly enjoy the place we live and the work we do, and at the same time are overwhelmed at the enormity of the task at hand. Kids' songs and candy treats won't turn this around. Money will accomplish nothing. The real problem lies in the spirit. When we're told of an 11-year-old raping a 3-year-old, taxis raining bullets on one another as pedestrians walk by disinterested, newborn children daily abandoned at a garbage dump, you can know the problem lies deeper than economics or culture. That's where you come in. You are our biggest asset. A spiritual problem is only solved in the spirit. Will you join us in praying for the families and community in which we work? Pray that the back of poverty--that filthy demonic stronghold--is broken. Pray for mothers to stand up and defend their daughters, and for fathers to understand their value and turn to their children. Pray for the Lord to give us strategies to bring revelation to the community we work in and empower them to break the strongholds over their region. It's not all fun and games. But it is our great privilege and joy. Thanks for being a huge part of our team! |
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Mike & Chandra Noviskie,
missionaries to South Africa CCF Missions is a ministry of Christian City Fellowship. |