Throwing his shoe he jumped back at the sight of a spider, the size of his hand. This was not just any spider but a spider that when bitten makes the inside of your body burn, poison spreading throughout it.
This actually really happened at the beginning of our time in Zambia to Wayne, our team leader. It really is a miracle that he didn’t get bit, but to me it is also something that really reflects the time in Zambia and brings together something I have learned and seen this year, in so many ways.
As we took a mini bus to Kabwe, Zambia our last and final ministry point for the year, we were greeted by yet another frustrating situation. We sat on the mini bus, waiting to leave, when a man began actually sitting on us, telling us to move now, not asking us just doing…. He proceeded to force his way in very rudely. The same bus once again charged us more than all the other people, because we are white, stealing money from our hands. Greed and pride poisons the soul…
We arrived at our destination at the OM base in Kabwe and spent two weeks doing what we could to help and support a South African missionary family. We helped them build a fish pond and visited many ministries. One of our ministry days, we went to a hospital to pray for the sick and the dying. We prayed for the psych ward, children’s ward, and men’s ward—seeing people more hopeless and in despair then most people you will meet. They have been bitten by the poison of hopelessness.
As you go from country to country, ministering to people from all different walks of life, you and them begin to label each other and put each other in a box, creating a gap and separation between you. This separation is all based on the physical stuff. Do you see yourself as different than the one dying of Aids? Or the one naked and with no food? Do you see yourself better or different? We all look at each other differently and label ourselves as well as those around us. Whether we are poor or wealthy, whether we have a home or don’t or have gone to school or not. There should be no division put between the poor and the ones that have. No division between those we minister to and those who minister with us. We are all one and the same yet we have been bitten by division and bitten by pride.
The last several weeks in my own personal journey, God revealed a story I had told and lived my life with just because I wanted people to accept me and acknowledge me, as well as for myself to accept who I am. Rejection has been a huge dominating thing in my life.
As we return to South Africa and travel through Zambia and Botswana, we see elephants walking in the fields we pass. As lovers of Jesus I think one of the biggest things God has called us to be is aware. We are called to see! Whether we are to be aware and see the danger and thing that is about to bite us, whether we are to see the people around us, whether to see our emotional hurt in our lives, or whether to see the blessings and good things that are right in front of us… we are called to see and be aware!
As we arrive in South Africa and cross the finish line, I can say it has been the best and most challenging journey. As we begin our time in South Africa, all the teams joining together once again, I can’t wait to share this life changing journey. Yet this life changing journey has just begun… Adventure AWAITS!
I bless you beloved to be aware of all God is doing around and in you, and to be aware of all that is happening good and bad. I bless you to see!