The rain also provides a fitting analogy for the start of this year.  Last year was difficult in so many ways; dry with an overload of stress, dry with worry and fear, dry with mistakes and falling down, dry with a hunger for so much more…  I would like to think of this year as the start of the rains.  I am filled with much hope.

In John 7, Jesus talks about giving living water to those who thirst – about pouring out his Spirit on his people.  He gives to those who ask and I have certainly been asking.  The rains start slowly, sputtering and maybe only for a few minutes but they come nonetheless and when they do they are unquenchable.  We, the beloved, are meant to live filled with this water, this unquenchable Spirit who moves in us, making us more like Jesus.  It is exciting to be reminded and filled anew with life that is joy and peace, even in the face of difficulties.

I am back in Bunia from a month in the US, still serving as Country Director for Samaritan’s Purse here in Congo.  There are many challenges ahead as we look for ways to expand our programming and seek to encourage the Church to act like the precious Bride of the King.  We have an exciting program this year where we are partnering national missionary teams with our relief projects to build up the local church through discipleship programs and community evangelism.  We are also looking at ways we can shift from our general food distributions to long term agriculture projects that will have a greater impact on the lives of people as they recover from years of war.  I would ask for prayer as the work load leading all of these activities can at times be overwhelming and requires wisdom far beyond my years.

On a more personal note, I have been dating the most beautiful woman, Bethany, for a number of months and she has been an enormous encouragement and companion in this adventure of serving here in Congo.  She is currently back in the states which is not at all fun for the time being, but we were able to travel together to California and Arkansas in January which was great.

This year is shaping up to be a busy one.  I will be traveling to North Carolina in early March for meetings at SP’s headquarters and then will be back out to keep at the work.  Please pray for our team here that we will have strength to stay the course and remember to drink daily for the waters that Jesus offers to fill us with.

Blessings.

I have a burden for this country; a burden to see it transformed into a haven of justice and peace – a place where the Church is leading the efforts to bring about radical societal change that emulates shalom.  Unfortunately it feels like the church is failing.   The failures of the church are not something that are specific to Congo, it is a worldwide phenomenon, but I do think that the failure of the church is quite stark here when each Sunday the churches are packed to overflowing and yet at the end of the day there is nothing to show for it – people still go back to their lying, cheating, corrupt lifestyles as if there is no contradiction. 

There has been a strong emphasis lately on the upcoming elections that will take place next week.  There are mixed views in the country about whether the elections will go smoothly and peacefully but for the most part there is a general sense of apathy.  At the end of the day people don’t really expect to see much change.  Those that do expect change, expect it to take place at the hands of their leaders with very little participation by the population at large – there is no sense of personal responsibility.  People want change but are unwilling to start with themselves as individuals.

The Christian’s responsibility is to be a society changer – salt and light.  We are called to live radically different lives than the world would expect of us.  It calls for loving God and loving our neighbors; neither of which leave much room for selfishness and personal gratification.   We are called to love our enemies and pray for them.  We are called to give to those in need, practice hospitality, put up with each other’s faults and a plethora of other instructions that take our eyes off of self and put them first and foremost on our King and secondly on the work of His kingdom.

I have a burden for this country.  Jeremiah talked of having the law written on our hearts.  I desire that for this place.  My heart cries out for a new generation of believers who will not be content to just go to church while living a life of contradiction.  We need honest, sincere, Spirit-filled people who will stand for the Word and its truth in the way that we live … and it’s got to start with me. 

Congo will be voting next week.  Please pray that the country and in particular those who believe would not return to lives of apathy after the elections. Pray that they would take on the responsibility of being society changers.  Pray that they would have the law written on their hearts and minds.

Places change, perspectives change, people change, and at the end of all that change there is befuddlement.  Is this really the same place? Am I really the same person as that kid 17 years ago?  Was the world ever as carefree as it seemed back then? I am sitting in the same house I sat in 17 years ago listening to the same rainy-season rain clouds thunder their presence and the same birds chirp the afternoon song, and yet so much is not the same.  Time has a way of rattling lose our youthful innocence and replacing it with somber realities fixed in harsh experience.  Yes, there is still laughter, there is still love, there is still unspeakable joy and that voice that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously, but nonetheless they are fixed against the backdrop of a world spiraling in depravity.

This house has seen its share of war.  This red clay has drunk more than its share of human blood and produced less than its obligation to the toil that worked it. Sun and Rain have done their part and yet this ground refuses to bless. Sorrow holds it back and the weeping of children held captive in the gardens adds bitterness to the soil.  Why should there be hunger?

I went to church this morning.  We sang the same songs from the same song book that must span generations; the only difference was the poorly regulated sound system belching out electric guitar melodies that didn’t match the singing.  We heard the same announcements about the need for community involvement in church activities that have poured from the pulpit without effect since I was a kid.  The sermon emptied the pews with more compulsion than the draw of the Sunday market.  With more aptitude than ever, we the faithful made a mockery of the Almighty with our habitual actions, repetitions and nonsensical religion that showed no sign of life-changing, soul-shattering, unfailing love, least of all an indwelling of the Holy God by his Spirit at work in us. Life batters us and we cling to the ordinary humdrum of tradition and motion in lieu of transformation, belly-fire conviction and joy.

Faradje.  I will not let this world dictate to me that sorrow, suffering and hypocrisy are going to be the end-all for the Church in this place.  My King’s Kingdom is one that will not fall; though we battle within and without the victory is sure, it is promised, it is written and it will be.  I will not and cannot settle for the status quo and a jaded acceptance of imperfection and religiosity – the Church, the Bride is called to be holy and set apart for the King.

I have done a lot of traveling.  In early March I went to the (cold) North Carolina mountains for a week of meetings with SP representatives from around the world.  Following those meetings I came back to Congo to the sad news that a close friend of mine was about to die in hospital in Kampala and so I went to see him and the following week traveled to his funeral in a village called Adi.  This past week I have been traveling to all of our different project sites with a team from our headquarters in the hopes that we will be able to generate more interest in our work with some good stories and pictures of the work.   It has been a month of sadness and joy, weariness and rejoicing.  I think life in general is that way.

There are so many changes going on in the world right now it is hard to keep track of the day.  One day a mighty man is extending his grip over a nation and the next he is a pitiful reminder that we are like grass that withers and is gone.  There are buildings that stood tall and strong like enduring fortresses for many seasons that now lie in piles of rubble – the best we could offer has humans in a pile of scrap that will be discarded.

These are trying times; times when people are rioting because they can’t afford a meal and times when justice seems impossible especially in a place like Congo where Kony continues to rampage through villages seemingly untouchable by the law.

And yet we have seen rejoicing. I remember how Jesus sent out the 72 and they came back rejoicing because of what they had seen.  We too have moments of rejoicing in what we have seen.  Recently a team of pastors visited churches in northern Congo with SP funding and they came back rejoicing that they had had the opportunity to share the Gospel and encourage their brothers and sisters.  Sometimes we forget the enormous hope that we have to share until we go out and start sharing it. They returned rejoicing.

I was recently encouraged by Hebrews 3:13 which talks of encouraging or warning each other as long as it is “today” so that we won’t be deceived by sin and hardened against God.  Today – today I might not know which day it is but it certainly a day for the Kingdom.

Ps. 33: 21 – In HIM our hearts rejoice, for we trust in HIS holy name.

Photos Courtesy of Bethany Fredrick