This past month has been one of the most exciting and challenging in a long time (maybe the most ever). As we have gone through the ups and we have found a lot of very real encouragement and even learned many valuable lessons. We have relied on past friendships and even made some new friends along the way. Challenging, as it has been, it has also been rewarding and somehow the difficulties only seem to heighten the expectation of what God is doing in our lives.

I will just tell you about one particular instance this past month. I share this because it really demonstrates the heart of our mission and also it is something that really spoke deeply to my soul.

One of the difficulties we have faced here is having running water at our home. Let me describe to you our dilemma. Upon arriving at our house in Chongwe we realized that just because we have “running water in our home”, this doesn’t mean that we should expect what those words seem to represent. Actually at our home the water only runs between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and when it runs it is coming straight from the Chongwe River. It actually comes out of the faucet a light brown color with bits of debris, sand, and small bugs.

You can imagine us arriving to our home that afternoon. We were hot from moving, and the water has been off since the morning. The bottled water we had wasn’t much and it was also hot. To top it off, someone had left a broken pipe on and the entire back of our house was standing in about three inches of water. The beds that we had built didn’t fit in the doors, and we had no stove, fridge, or food. At that moment we were really hit with reality. We tried to comfort ourselves with the notion that this experience was helping us to understand the plight of much of the world who live in these conditions constantly; but, to be honest it didn’t help much. After the bush and the heat and all the “problems”, we were teetering on the edge of sanity.

We regained our composure and after a few days we felt like we had footing and were making progress. I am happy to report that a couple days ago (about 15 days after moving in), we completed the raising of a water tower so that now we have water available throughout the day. Along with this we put on a filter so that at least the water is mostly free of debris and almost clear. Of course, we can’t drink it, but if we boil it we can at least us it for cooking and such.

Now here is the issue to which God really spoke to me. As you can imagine there have been stressful moments. In the midst of it all I will admit that I wondered why it all was happening to us, why things were not just working out. Why we had it so bad. Then one day I was in Lusaka, trying to take care of another problem. I met up with Davis Daka (our National Director for Gospelink). He, of course, was concerned and sorry for the stress we had been having. Later on I found out from a different pastor that actually Davis had been having his own water problems. His situation was similar to mine, but opposite. Instead of having no water, he had too much water. In fact, his house was flooded from all the rains. To top it off he lives in a compound where the open sewage and stench is bad even in the dry season, much less when those waters have risen into the streets and into their home. On top of it he can’t afford to move or rent anywhere else. I was broken. To tell you the truth we have it so easy. Even us, here with all of our “problems”, we still have everything we need. If it gets too bad we can make a way out. We can pay for something else, we can put up a water tower, we can go out to eat, and we can go stay for a night in a hotel; but, David cannot and most the world cannot.

It is like one conversation I overheard. One man was showing another how to take one of our discarded cans and make it into a lamp. I thought that it was great, what an ingenious idea. Yet, I come to find out that the reason was not for creativity, but because the cost of candles is too high. What kind of world do we live in where people can’t afford the cost of a simple candle? To me, the sobering truth is that even though we are living far below the American standard, compared to the world standard we are still far above the majority.

So today I am just going to try and take these difficulties as they come, and as the Word says, “count them all joy.” In some strange way I have seen that most difficulties will only help to make the blessings shine that much brighter. After all, we would never experience the greatness of pleasure if not for the reality of pain.

p.s. At the end of this month I will post a complete update of all our happenings so far, with pictures and all. Please stay tuned!

Recently I started reading a book called Compassionate Leadership.  I came across a really interesting question in the introduction.  To preface the question the book makes an observation.  That observation is that some beloved Bible characters have names or title associated with them.  In some cases they are equally known by their title or for their titles as they are for there given names.  Think about some of these examples.  The books authors mention Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement,” whose actual name was Joseph.  Joseph (aka Barnabas) was a Levite, who incidentally was one of the two men considered in the running for the apostleship position to replace Judas.  His name was changed to Barnabas to represent his character.

I began thinking about this and came up with a few other examples.  For instance, you have James and John who were called the “sons of thunder.”  Then there is James (the brother of Jesus), known as “camel knees” because of his constant, fervent prayer.  Thinking back to the Old Testament I remember King David who was known as “the man after God’s own heart”, and also Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.  Unfortunately this naming also works towards the negative, as in the case of Jonah, who is sometimes called “the reluctant prophet.”

So this observation builds the framework for the following question; “If someone changed your name to correspond to your lifestyle, what would they call you?”  Wow!  I am baffled by this question for two reasons.  The first is the obvious; that is, what would that name to be?  Now the second reason, which is the underlying weight of the issue, is what would be the one quality or passion that I would want my entire life to count for?

What if my time here on earth was soon spent and I were known for what my life amounts to at this point.  Again, the question is not what would I want that name to be, instead it is what would that name be.  That is a really sobering thought.  It reminds me that it is not what we want to become that defines who we are, instead it is who we are that will define what we become.

I am going to be thinking about this question of what it is that I would want to be remembered as.  It is a question which will require some time.  How about for you, what would your title be today?  Beyond that, what would you want it to be?  What is the one thing that you would want to be remembered as?  I would love to hear your responses to this, and I will be thinking about it myself.