Is this heaven?

Last week at our church we celebrated International Day. It was a great time of worshipping together, eating together, and hearing others worship in their native tongues and cultures. It makes me think of what a big God we serve!
Our pastor started off with the question, “Is this heaven?” Then he answered, “NO, this is Addis Ababa.” He further exhorted that if we were still questioning whether this is heaven, we should just wait until Monday morning while we’re driving to work – then we’d know for sure. But he went onto explain that this is a taste of heaven. People from 60 nations were worshipping with us. Many were wearing their national dress – some with colorful scarves and gowns, others with the traditional white Ethiopian dress or Indian saris.

They asked everyone to stand and represent their home country. Within just a few feet of us, there were people representing over a dozen nations. How wonderful to literally join with the Body of Christ from Norway on one side, Ethiopia on the other, South Korea in front of us, a Kenyan man beside them, with others from Malawi, Canada, India, Tanzania and so many more. There were those representing countries where their Christian brothers and sisters are currently being persecuted. It was a powerful ending as we joined together with “every tribe, every tongue, every nation” singing together about how “all the powers of darkness can't drown out a single word when all God's children sing out, Glory, glory, hallelujah, He reigns.”

 

 After the service, we all went outside to enjoy the national food of so many different nations. What a sweet foretaste of what the table in heaven will be like. Some of you may be discouraged to know that I’m thinking heaven isn’t all beef and potatoes. I bet there’s some doro wat, curry, noodles, and some big pots of some sort of stew where an enthusiastic lady pulls out a bone with some sort of meat on it “especially for you”. I’m thinking it’s not all acapella singing out of hymnbooks either. Probably some bongos with women shouting, men chanting and maybe even a little dancing. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be a beautiful tapestry of God’s people worshipping from their hearts in the ways he’s made them.

September Newsletter

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September 2010 Update

Hiking Ethiopia's Countryside

This past Monday was a holiday for Ethiopians and so we had the day off work. A German couple from our small group Bible study invited us to go along with them and some other friends of theirs on a hike just north of Addis Ababa.

We drove about an hour and a half to a place known as Debre Libanos. Getting out of the city is a huge relief—the drive itself was a reprieve from the usual chaos that comes with navigating around Addis Ababa.

Kevin and I, two Swiss, two Ethiopians, and about a dozen Germans arrived and took off for what would be a 5.5 mile, 4-hour hike around a canyon, by a waterfall, and along cliffs. It was gorgeous and a perfect way to spend the holiday.

Here we are getting ready to start out on the hike:

 The kids exploring the waterfall:

 We saw so many baboons around the water area.

 The four boys eating their lunch together. They all attend the German school here.

2 of our best friends

Here's a blog in honor of our two puppies that have grown up so fast since we found them last February. I would not have considered myself a dog-lover before but these two guys have melted my heart!

 

 

 

Land of Opportunity

We’ve been back in Ethiopia now for a week after spending 7 weeks in the US. Our time there was refreshing, uplifting and encouraging. While we were there in the US, it was interesting to see what things seemed different or peculiar to us after having spent the last year in Africa.


I thought to myself the other day, “America truly is the land of opportunity”. We may scoff at the welfare system, immigration issues, people who seemingly are milking the system, or how our government handles these issues. There are certain situations that may illustrate the lack of opportunity for some in America. But in the end, possibly more so than any other place in the world, people get a chance at life.

I was struck by this when I visited a couple of my former students from Atlanta – who have now finished their freshmen years of college. The students I taught in Atlanta were some of the most disadvantaged in our nation, living in a neighborhood full of crime, most in a dysfunctional family, and already years behind their peers in education. Some of their situations were so destitute that they had little chance to overcome, but most had an opportunity for education and food. If they worked hard and didn’t succumb to the harsh circumstances around them, there would be possibilities to go to college and financial assistance provided. This is extremely far from what we see in Ethiopia. Most adults are unemployed with no financial assistance, many of the handicapped and mentally ill are forced to live on the streets, children slip through the cracks without an education or proper food, and the list goes on. Even if they do all they can, for too many the result is still absolute poverty.

I have a slightly different view of America now. Maybe the Statue of Liberty is speaking truth when she says, “Give me your tired, poor…” Let us all pray that America, and we as American Christians, continue to be a people that care for the poor and disadvantaged among us and around the world. May we use the vast wealth and opportunity we’ve been given to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

Soccer or Football??

We’re in the middle of an exciting time here in Ethiopia, actually for the entire continent of Africa. It doesn’t make many headlines in the US, but everyday here people are talking about the World Cup – the international football (or soccer) championship that’s currently being played in South Africa. I think it’s about the equivalent of March Madness.

Being from America, soccer ranks probably around 9th place on my favorite sports list. But it’s quickly climbing now this year – I think it just passed NASCAR. As I’ve added many international friends over the years, I realize how much the rest of the world loves this sport, and how we don’t. One of my British friends would say, “so you Americans call that sport where you kick the ball your feet soccer, but the sport where you carry the ball in your hands you call football.” Then he’d just shake his head.

It’s the first time the World Cup has been hosted in Africa. It’s amazing to hear everyone talking about the games each day. We hear the cheers rise from local restaurants or bars when an African team scores. Earlier this year the World Cup trophy was displayed here in Addis and many people bought tickets to just go see the trophy. They televise all the games for the entire tournament on our one TV station, and they have converted the event center here into an 8,000 people theater to watch the games on a big screen. We watched a game this week between Germany and Ghana with our friends from Germany and Ghana. They had their soccer jerseys and national colors on, were cheering for every shot at the goal and jeering the other team.

Not many profound thoughts here, but an appreciation for people’s pride in their countries and continents. I don’t have that much passion for US soccer, let alone for the Mexico team or some Canadian sport. It’s refreshing to see. But the US has made the final 16 teams, and they play Ghana (Africa’s last team remaining) today, so I’m going to try my best.

Longings

Lately I’ve been longing for life that’s predictable. Where day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year, you know what to expect: consistency. Living in a way that you do things in the same way that your mother did them. I’ve been longing for life where everyone knows that the whole family will get together for each birthday that comes around. Every year. The meal, the gifts, the cake: predictable, yet joyful and full of fun. A life where things do change, but slowly. Generations follow the same pattern. There are others to model and extremes are tempered by social norms. There you have a place; a home. Familiar faces surround you everywhere you go.

Here, there is no such predictability. As a stranger in a foreign land, there are no consistent family gatherings to look forward to. We haven’t been here long enough to figure out the “norms” or to have a solid base of friends. Everyday life is new, changing, and unpredictable. Which can be exhausting for someone like me. For some people new things are energizing; for others they are energy-zapping. At the beginning, even the first couple of months, the newness was exciting. Now however, I find myself longing for something easy, comfortable, predictable, and consistent. The unknowns we face every single day often leave me exhausted. Our lives are changing so much I can’t seem to adjust to this “new normal.” If I step back, I believe I am adjusting and it’s just happening gradually (but it’s hard to step back and get that perspective). At the same time I know I must not only adjust & settle, but also grown in my ability to adjust and change and be flexible.

Here are a few of the strange unpredictable things we face: one day there is sugar, the next day and for weeks afterwards, there is a shortage. One day it takes 25 minutes to get to church; the next Sunday 45. The electricity goes off without warning, and stays off for an extended period of time. One day our househelper doesn’t show up because of some Ethiopian holiday you had no idea about. Half the things on a menu the waiter says they don’t have available at a restaurant.

There are some consistent things here: I can get a half kilo of bananas for 3 birr anywhere in the city. Our two puppies are always happy to see us. When our househelper arrives she will do the dishes and hang out the laundry. Church worship will be wonderful. For all these things, I am very grateful.

When I stop and think about it, do I really want a life that’s always predictable and consistent? There are definitely some parts of it that I would love, but I can also see myself falling into a life of complacency. I would find myself “far too easily pleased” as C.S. Lewis would say.

I read an article recently about contentment and the author quoted John Piper. From her article: “Piper says that when he looks at all the atrocities and suffering in the world ‘it makes [him] tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, middle-class, ordinary, untroubled American life.’”

Pretty strong words (but that’s typical of Piper). For the missionary in Nigeria who wrote that article and for me, those words help me get perspective in the midst of my longings and feeling-sorry-for-myself times. I have the privilege of living for a period of time in a foreign land, in a foreign culture, getting to know God better and seeing Him work. There are days when the longings are stronger than others. There are days when I can get the proper perspective easier than others. In both of those types of days though, God is at work in me and around me and for that I can be grateful.