Clothes don't make the man,

(65) paper doll (Photo credit: crackedmoon)

but what we wear each day might say a lot about who we serve. Recently I received an email with a subject line that read: "Do you dress like your quilt?" My first thought on that question was "gee, I hope not," as I mentally pictured myself dressed like a paper doll in quilt tops I have made. Hmmm, there was that one that had a three dimensional cat with a tail made from a boa. No way. I have loved every quilt I have made, but honestly has anyone ever looked at a quilt and thought "that would make an awesome dress!?" You get my point. 

We get up every day and get dressed, and we do it with our audience and our planned activities in mind so that our dress is appropriate for the occasion. We want to put forth the best image we can because we know our reputation is at stake. People notice what we wear, whether we like it or not, and they form opinions of us based on their impressions. 

People also notice what we as Christians are "wearing." Romans 13:14 says we are to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ."  Isaiah 61:10 says the Lord "has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." As a believer, my Savior's reputation is at stake and I want to present well an image of Him. People's opinions of Christ, and maybe their eternities can be at stake. I don't dress like my quilt, but I hope and pray that each day I dress like Christ.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." --Colossians 3:12-14

A plane, a wrench, a pen, and a spatula ---

What do these have in common? All of these and more can be tools for ministry! Check out my latest post on the MAF Blog .

Speaking of ministry tools, I have found a really cool tool that is ministering to me! Cool beans! Last year about this time I was already falling behind in my New Year's resolution to memorize more scripture. I never lost my conviction that I needed to be more consistent in my efforts to hide God's Word in my heart, but I needed a little accountability and a little bit of affirmation. Nothing material, just the pleasure of having a way to visualize my progress so that I felt encouraged instead of discouraged. Sort of like when our kids are little and we make a chart with their learning and behavior goals or their chores and we give them little star stickers to put on the chart each time they make progress. Silly? Yes. Effective? Yes.

Memverse is a web site for folks who want to memorize Bible verses but it has a lot of other features as well. You can read a daily devotional from Spurgeon, keep track of verses you've already learned and periodically review them so that you retain them, practice your new verses, see what the most popular verses are that others are learning, read the Memverse blog, and see your progress! I am not receiving anything for recommending Memverse and they have not asked me to. They do not even know I am writing about them. I'm just so excited about this tool that is a perfect fit for me that I wanted to tell others about it. If like me, you made yet another resolution to memorize more scripture, Memverse is free and does not require any downloads, so give it a try!

Three and a half weeks

For three and a half wonderful weeks, Josh was here with us. Yesterday was his last day with us and each of us spent the day trying unsuccessfully to think about anything else besides the fact that he was leaving. We didn't do anything spectacular during those weeks. We just enjoyed being five again, catching up, talking, laughing, Christmas, etc. As you can see by the photos, Josh adds a certain charm and personality to any group he is part of. 

Part of preparing to leave Kinshasa is pre-checking your bags. Pre-checking bags here is not the same process at pre-checking bags for a U.S. airline. It is not done over the internet. There is no curbside kiosk for tagging and dropping luggage. Oh, no. In Kinshasa one would to, ever leave their luggage with stranger in front of the airport. Pre-checking luggage means you take your suitcases downtown to the office of whatever airline you are going to fly with (not all airlines offer this service either.) You present your tickets and passport and they weigh your bags and check them and print your boarding passes for you. You can also pay your exit tax in advance and get a receipt so you don't have to do it at the airport. We go through this process because it is waaaay easier than checking bags at the actual airport. We have had "security" find things in our bags they liked a lot and try to take them, right in front of us. Sometimes they ask for them. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they ask for money in exchange for letting you keep your own possessions. Pre-checking your bags with the airline means your luggage bypasses the airport staff and is handled only by the airline.

Yesterday we learned that another reason you might want to pre-check your bags is if you have a weight issue. The customer in front of us in line to weigh luggage was trying to get a bin of dried eels through. We know they were eels because the bin was open. It was also overweight. The ensuing discussion/debate was causing a delay and the line was backing up. The official pointed to Josh's luggage and told David to pick it up. When he picked it up easily, she declared it all 50 lbs and sent it through. So if you have  slightly overweight bags and strong arms, you might want to try getting in line behind the eel guy.

Josh's flight was in the evening. David took him to the airport and the kids and I stayed home and boohooed together. Then we all got busy trying to distract ourselves from our sadness. By the time David got home I had done a load of laundry, worked ahead in my Bible study book, baked brownies, baked cookie bars, made two batches of oatmeal muffins, and washed dishes, and lost all my holiday season weight (just kidding, it's still there). I would call it comfort food but we aren't stress eaters so none of it even got touched until breakfast today. A friend pointed out to me that saying goodbye hurts so intensely because we have been so blessed to have a close-knit family. I am very grateful for that! 

From a Distance

Abram Journeying into the Land of Canaan (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Bible study topic for the high school girls this week was Hebrews 12:1-2 and in preparation I decided to go back and read chapter 11 for context. I wanted to help the girls see what all these heroes of the faith had in common that made them heroes. They didn't all have the same race to run, each had their own mission from God. They didn't face all the same obstacles and hardships. They were different ages, genders, and nationalities. Some of them made big mistakes. Some of them were afraid or doubtful. But they all obeyed. In faith. I'm kinda glad that how much faith they had isn't a detail that is recorded in Scripture, only that they had it. Maybe some of them started with only a mustard seed's worth. 

My attention was drawn especially to Abraham. Perhaps it's because being a missionary makes me feel like I relate to Abraham just a teensy weensy bit:

     "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God." (vs.8-10)

Our family said yes to God when He said "Go," without knowing where we were going. We have made our home here as strangers in a foreign country and in some ways will always be regarded as strangers regardless of how long we stay or how well we adapt. Abraham lived in tents. Even in the promised land he was a transient. His son and grandson also had to live in a strange land, just as our children had to come here and be foreigners alongside of us. 

But Abraham was not focused on his circumstances. He was focused on the promise! He knew that the earthly promised land he pitched his tent in was nothing compared to the heavenly promised land he was looking forward to! And he wasn't the only one.

     "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (vs. 13-16)

They saw them and welcomed them from a distance. You have to be looking forward, not back, to see what's on the horizon. They admitted they were aliens. The Message Bible says it like this: "They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world." 

Transients. Just passin' through. 

 Have you ever seen someone you love way off in the distance and waved a greeting? Or even just across an airport terminal? You don't just wave. You smile. You beam! If you are related to me you shout and maybe jump up and down a few times. And you take off toward them! You can't wait to get to them! The closer you get, the more excited you become.

I may not always know where I am going, but I know I want to keep looking forward in anticipation of all He has in store for me. I want to welcome it from a distance.

Not a laughing matter

Congo (Photo credit: babasteve)

Americans joke about magic, make light of witches and witchcraft in October, and even decorate their homes with images of witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, and gore. In places like Congo, those images and the things they represent are not a laughing matter. Many people in the Democratic Republic of Congo believe and participate in magic, ndoki (witchcraft) and fetisheurs, or witchdoctors. One of the shocking things I have learned since coming here is that even people who claim to be Christians still hold on to these old beliefs and take them quite seriously. Magic and animism have been handed down from their ancestors and are deeply ingrained in their culture.

I have no doubt that some things do have a spiritual cause. When a witchdoctor casts a spell or makes a prediction, and it works, obviously he is either an extremely lucky guesser or there is a demonic force at work. Pastors here have first hand experience with demonic powers that we do not understand, but unfortunately many have not experienced the power available in God to rule over those demonic powers.  On the other hand, many things here that occur are incorrectly blamed on magic, curses, etc. such as a bug bite that gets infected after it is scratched with dirty fingernails, or a baby that has a weak cry and a sunken soft spot because he is dehydrated.

The prevalence of these beliefs, even among Christians, and the negative social, spiritual, and physical impacts, really hit me when a friend of mine had a direct encounter with it. A boy, whom we will call "Bikuma" to protect his privacy, had an infection develop in a sore on his leg, growing in size and severity until it was serious and fearsome to look at. Bikuma had been told that it was "mbasu," black magic, that someone had thrown or shot at him with some charm or powder they had purchased from a witchdoctor as revenge for something he had supposedly done to them. He went to the witchdoctor and pay paid him to figure out who Bikuma had wronged, then paid for a "cure."  Bikuma and his family believed his wound was demonic in origin and that conventional medicine, i.e. antibiotics, would not work. He was also malnourished, which did not improve his ability to fight the infection. His face, hands and feet swelled from the lack of protein in his diet, causing further breakdown in his skin. My friends found out about Bikuma and sent food and antiseptic for him and offered to help. His family was too impoverished to give him the care he needed and agreed to let him be hospitalized.

 The first FOUR hospitals that Bikuma was taken to rejected him, possibly simply because he had "mbasu."

 After six weeks in the hospital with antibiotics and proper nutrition he is much better. The doctors said he needs a skin graft but because of the malnutrition his skin is not in good condition for the procedure so he still has a large open wound that will have to be dealt with later. That is now being treated on an out patient level. Perhaps in the future a skin graft will still be an option.  In the meantime, it is a continued battle to keep him healthy and the large wound free from infection.



Another good thing that came out of this was that people took notice that someone unrelated to Bikuma was paying for his care and asked why strangers would do that, so it provided opportunities to witness and share about the love of Christ.

The word "mbasu" comes from the Bayaka tribe, but it has many other names. It is not limited by education level, ethnic group or tribe, geographic location, or socio-economic status. People who are labeled with having mbasu are stigmatized and subjected to atrocious "treatments" from witchdoctors, many of which do more harm than good. Pray for Bikuma's continued healing. Pray that his recovery will open people's eyes to the truth and that they will praise the Great Physician and stop placing their faith in witch doctors. Pray for pastors and leaders here to have access to discipleship and training that are soundly based on the Word of God.