Lessons to Learn

Lessons to Learn

I want to share a few brief stories of encounters I have had in recent weeks that have impacted me in one way or another.  There are so many lessons to learn in this life and so much to take from our interactions with those around us. …

When I returned to Faradje a few weeks ago I learned that one of the former pastors of the local church had died.  I went to his house to see what I could do to help his wife and to pay my respects.  While there I was humbled in a way I have probably never been humbled before.  There I was to try and comfort a widow in her time of grief and instead she brought me tea.  As she mixed the milk and sugar into the tea I couldn’t help but wonder at the hospitality she was showing me in spite of her grief.  I believe it was probably the most undeserved and most blessed cup of tea I have ever had in my life.

Another event that happened as I returned to Faradje that struck me in a particular way was when one of my Congolese colleagues bought a motorcycle for his father.  His father is a pastor who often has to travel quite a distance to visit various churches and had been doing so by bicycle for a number of years.  His son saved up his salary and at the end of this past month bought a motorcycle.  When he brought back the motorcycle there was a lot of celebrating – he even bought me a coke to celebrate!  It was a big deal!!!  It reminds me of the parable of the man who found a treasure and sells all he has to buy the field in which the treasure is stored.  When he got the treasure he was filled with great joy.  Here, the father is still riding the motorcycle around with most of the wrapping still on it because it is such a treasured gift.

There was another parable that was practically acted out in real-life for me last week and that is the parable of the lost son.  One of my colleague’s daughters was abducted by the LRA from Faradje on the 25^th of December 2008.  She was held captive by the LRA for almost a year and a half and had traveled many thousands of kilometers by foot from Congo to CAR and had survived multiple bombings, attacks and forced marches through the bush.  Several weeks ago she was able to escape from the LRA and two weeks ago she was brought back to Faradje.  Last Sunday we held a great big feast and celebration because of her return – I have rarely in my life been filled with as much joy as I had that day as we celebrated her safe arrival home.  The parallels between her return and our celebration and the celebration our Father has when we return to him could not be missed – the local administrator even talked of how he had written her as “born again” in the town register due to the assumption that she was dead or would die.  When we went to pick her up with her friends to bring her to the party we asked the kids to sing a song as we drove down the road.  The song they sang is roughly translated as follows: “Yahweh be glorified!  Here, we are in preparation. Here, we are waiting for only you. Oh Yahweh be glorified.”  It struck me as so true – here we are waiting; waiting for our God to take us home where we will have no more fear, no more tears. Here we are in preparation.