Hiatus

Here is the deal, glockenspiel--

I need to go offline for the next few weeks. The remaining time in my internship is filled with busy-ness, fatigue, and planning. I am seeing a team of short-term individuals to the States tomorrow, as they have been here for 10 days. If I failed to mention it to you, that is because I have been extremely preoccupied!!! They leave Wednesday night, then my parents and I will fly to see my younger brother finish high school. Even as I write, I'm dozing off far too frequently than is acceptable.

With that said, I plan to resurface again. The 26 of June seems reasonable; as I will have recently re-entered my first culture by then. This is not an intentional disconnection with you, but rather an attempt to maintain my long-term sanity, thus empowering myself to return to you with a new, fresh state of mind. I may post the occasional picture, but writing will be kept to a strict minimum.

Do continue to pray for me, that God should give me wisdom and show me more of his character, and that the plans he has for my family would come to pass.

God bless you with his truth and call you to his glory as long as you are his own. Live in Love.
Fati says hi.

Lessons Earned

My apologies for missing our appointment yesterday.  Following the net four (also parenthetical) page breaks, I will intimate a truncated version of that upon which I intended to expound, and the reason for my having now neglected that task.

(Well, I was going to mention a conversation I had with a cousin of mine, wherein we came to understand the unity of the gospel through the books of Job and Colossians, the fact that God’s utmost desire is God’s glory from Colossians, and that all things have been made toward that purpose, but in greater detail.

However, as I was in the very act of publishing those sentiments, my electronic device (O, technology!) decided that my actions merited the deletion of my entire train of thought, such that now, and especially as my time of slumber has long past, that intellectual locomotive is now irreparably derailed.  My apologies to you, dear reader.  Perhaps next time, the Lord willing, I will use a surer method of blog publishing that involves neither operator error nor system malfunction.

Suffice it to sat that glory is God’s; all glory.  He shares it with no one but, because of Christ Jesus, his people are enabled to partake of his Holy Spirit and have the very same Spirit make his abode, their living bodies.  It means that God’s ultimate purpose is God’s glory, and that God is good such that we, who confess Jesus as Lord and believer that God raise him from the dead, are enabled to share in glory, previously restricted to the Almighty.  Are we worthy?  No.  Are we made worthy?  Yes; Jesus has counted us worthy because of what he has done.

I was also going to make much fuss about the global bacon shortage for the year 2013.  At this point, though, my mind is degenerating into the primordial soup that a part of humanity deems to have been the origins of life.  And so, I bid you Adieu.)

Today, I would like to take the remaining space to tell of the family’s latest project.  We have two dogs, Gbenga and Chino.  Gbenga is a mix of Rottweiler and Doberman, and Chino is fully Boerboel (a South African breed.  Of course mentioning the origin of Chino’s breed immediately unearthed my ignorance to that of Gbenga’s mix, despite my familiarity thereof).  They seem to be developing personalities as they mature.  Gbenga is nearly a year old, and Chino trails by only a couple of months.  For the past few months, and especially in this last month or so, the gruesome twosome have been finding ways to get out of the yard, either around or underneath our chain-link fence, much to the dismay of the family and the families of the surrounding Nkwanta-ites.

I have, in fact, just come inside from a long, productive day of interweaving iron rods into the fence and hammering them into the ground to prevent unwanted (on the part of the humans) departure of the canine creatures from the house’s immediate premises.

About 20 minutes after we (my dad, my cousin, and I) came inside for the day, we see Gbenga and Chino outside the fence.  Yippee.  So, more searching led us to see that we had a few more rods to put into the ground well.  As I type, I hear no barking.  That means that the dogs are either asleep or that they have escaped yet again.  In the latter case we shall hasten to change the dogs’ names to Houdini and Angel!

With this said, I will sign off for now.  I am still trying to post every Tuesday and Saturday, as I said in the last post.  Hindrances will be due to electricity, or to time left on the Internet (it is essentially pre-paid usage).

If you want the Gospel, read Ephesians 2:1, 2 and Colossians 1:21 and John 3:16.  If you want it now, then know that you do not have to be an enemy with God forever. He has made reconciliation to and relationship with God possible.  Where does that hope come from?  God.  Who is that hope?  God himself.  If that is not good news, what else could you possibly have in mind?

Ever Hear A Song

and you realize that your heart knows it already?

Like your heart is singing for the second time a tune which has come to your ears only now,

then your mind remains in wonder while your soul second your heart, and your spirit says, as the Hebrews, amen;

so at last your body rejoices outwardly with this uneven although mostly approving response to its inward and through-ward masters, while the tune may have begun already to fade into the background, and your heart marks the second tally and the ears, though twice the heart and haughty-high, lag once behind?

My apologies for the blog delay, folks. The electricity went out last night and I couldn't get my hands on the wireless modem. It rained heavily and constantly, too, for somewhere in the vicinity of 5 hours...at least that's when I stopped thinking about it. That was actually the first one we've had in Nkwanta since arrivin in early July. Yesterday, I spent some time at the keyboard; it was a gift given to me last year by my parents :) and now that I'm here, well, it finds its home with me! Later in the morning, I swept my room to lessen the possibility of aggravating my allergies. I moved around alot, and I think I was productive although I have not the slightest clue as to what filled my time, for when I next took notice of myself and surroundings, time had hurried into the afternoon. I had intended to study for the upcoming teaching module. I will be teaching the book of Colossians so, of course, I need to be as familiar with it as possible. I know not which day I will teach, because the module lasts three weeks, beginning this next Monday. For this good work, then, I will prepare myself as well as I am able.

Today, perhaps, will be filled with work. Whether out of doors or in, is immaterial at present. For whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or whatever, do it all to the glory of God. I wonder if I can take a nap to the glory of God. Or keep my dogs from breaking out of the yard. Worth a try.

Live in Love. God is Love. Get the Drift?

posted from Bloggeroid

Reason to Complain.

Thursday evening, I had the blessed burden of sharing God's word in a village called Kekyebi (Kechebee). Kekyebi is even more 'village ' than where we are, in Nkwanta. Here in Nkwanta, there is electricity most of the time. We are the meeting place of many surrounding areas so that on Monday, market day, there is a surplus of wares for sale. Kekyebi is about 30 minutes away by motorbike. *motorbike=motorcycle, rather than motorcross-type vehicle

On this particular night:

First, I was told that I would be picked up at 6:00, to make it to the Youth Week service at 6:30 or so.
Pastor Ofori reached his house at 6:00 and told Evans and me that he would come and get us as soon as he had eaten dinner.
Pastor Ofori sends his son to pick us up around 6:30. His house is about 5 minutes away.
When we arrive at Pastor Ofori's house, we find him siphoning gasoline from his motorbike little by little, filling a small container and pouring the fuel into another motorbike. His own headlight had gone out, and a friend had offered another to use for the evening. I rode with Pastor Ofori; on his bike with him, that is. My friend and co-minister, Evans, rode on the second bike with another young guy.
By 7:00, we're heading to Kekyebi. It gets dark here at 6:00, and it's my first evening bike ride.
The road is great...if one is walking it...and is not afraid of dust. By this, I mean that the road is all dirt, and riddled heavily with potholes. Also, bugs that hurt when they hit your face at 56 (or so) miles per hour.
All this before arriving.

We wait 15 minutes after we arrive for someone to show up and unlock the door.
Then, we wait 15 minutes for others to show up.
Then the service starts at 8:30, not 7:00.
Then, we finish at 10:20.
Then, there's the ride back.

But, the point was to share the gospel. That was the reasonthat IS the reasonwhy the pastor keeps going and going and ministering. And Pastor Ofori did it all while making jokes and singing and worshipping with the utmost earnestness. Every intention of this man is founded upon the glory of God, it seems. He had clearly been working all day, and hadn't eaten much until 6:00 that evening. Yet, even after we had arrived back to my house, he had apologized for the bumpy road!

What if all God's children understood the worth of sharing God's word? That night was my privilege to share, and now I know a can appreciate more deeply the privilege of God's call, whatever it may be, above even one's own comfort.

Who are you? Why does it matter? What are you doing about it?

posted from Bloggeroid