A Week Among the Children of Bulawayo

While my time in exotic Wisconsin shaped my mind, my time among the people of Bulawayo Zimbabwe sculpted my heart. This was not my first time among orphans in Africa, but it was the first time I lived with them, sat in their homes, and spent afternoons playing with them.

What comes to mind when you hear about African orphans? Need? Broken lives? What you can do with the price of a cup of coffee? I'll be honest, most of what I knew came from Sally Struthers commercials and odd parental warnings when I didn't eat all my dinner.

Here's what I saw: Smiling faces, kids playing soccer (futbol) in the yard, children and adults seated in the living room an hour each evening for Bible study prefaced with exuberant worship songs during which the children danced together. Yep, danced together. I spoke with one of the "aunties" who cares for the children. She lives in the home with her husband and biological child. All the kids see her as a parent, and she sees all the kids as her children. Her own child embraces all the kids as brothers and sisters. If I said that about Americans we might agree that this would be nice in theory but assume it would not happen in practice. I'm telling you, I saw it.

Can 94 children and a host of "aunties" and "uncles" truly be a family? I think so. I believe I saw the body of Christ formed from brokenness. He makes all things new.

A Few Days with Dallas Willard

God molded me in two different ways over the past two weeks. Both were spiritual challenges, but one came through the molding of my mind and the other the molding of my heart.

As I mentioned in the last post, I took two trips back to back. I'll cover the first trip in this post. The first was a conference with Dallas Willard as the keynote speaker. It is not an overstatement to say that Dr. Willard's work has been one of the most influential factors in my Christian life. To spend a few days with him listening to his insights on the state of human depravity and the call to make disciples of Christ-like character was both a thrill and a challenge. It was an honor to be able to sit down with a man like this and thank him for the influence he has been on my life.

A few quotes will give you a taste of my experience:

On the question of original design: "What did God create us to be? For many Christians there is no answer to this question."

On the source of the human problem: "All of the troubles and failures of human existence are rooted in failure to think rightly about God."

On the Lord's prayer: "Unless we desire to hallow his name, then we will not want his kingdom to come or his will to be done."

On the full message of the Gospel: "Put your confidence in Jesus and live with him as a disciple now in the present Kingdom of God."

On the question of who we are: "You are a never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe."

On the relationship between faith and knowledge: "We are a people of knowledge, not of faith. Faith is based on knowledge." "It is on the basis of knowledge that people come to faith."

On the sermon on the mount: "We make a mistake when we try to do the things in the sermon rather than trying to become the kind of person who would do these things naturally."

On the relationship between grace and effort: "Grace is God accomplishing in my life what I cannot accomplish on my own." "Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Those touched by grace exert tremendous responsive effort."

On the use of God's commandments: "Once you begin to grow in the Christian life, you see that God's commandments are a natural expression of who we are."

On becoming like Jesus: "As Jesus' apprentice I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of God as he would lead it if he were I. I am with him in all my circumstances learning to be like him."

Dr. Willard's thought inspires to think more deeply about my spiritual growth. We are told to be renewed through the transformation of our minds, and I believe Dr. Willard is a Spirit-led guide for those pursuing this sort of transformation. If you are thinking of reading something from him, I highly recommend The Spirit of the Disciplines.

2 Weeks, 2 Extraordinary Trips

Tomorrow morning I set out on a two week whirlwind trip that will take me to both exotic Zimbabwe and exotic Wisconsin. You heard me, exotic Wisconsin.

Though I have to kiss my family goodbye and send them off to Michigan to stay with family, which I'm not excited about, I am excited about these two trips I'll be making back-to-back over the next two weeks. First, I'll be hanging out with about 40 other pastors in Green Lake, WI. Our host? Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at USC and and author of some of the best books you'll ever read on spiritual growth, spiritual discipline, and life in Christ. His big ones are The Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines, but almost everything he writes is golden.

On Friday I come home for two days; long enough to wash my clothes and repack. Then it's off to Zimbabwe where I will be staying with a small team at an orphanage just outside of Bulawayo. There I will be doing some work projects, playing with the children, and preaching. Mostly what I will be doing is working with my friend and travel companion John Hetrick to learn about the orphanage for the possibility of future partnership.

I'm sure I'll have plenty to share when I return. Please pray that God will use this time both to pour out his Spirit in me and to use me for solid ministry. Also ask God to make the time away from my wife and son bearable. Thanks.