Last Day In Bouaké

Well, I’m packing my things today, because tomorrow I’m moving to Korhogo for my 9 month homestay! I am really excited, really nervous, and trusting the Lord to guide me and shepard me.

I have noticed an increase in spiritual warfare as this time of transition has drawn closer, but God is good and I know that I must cling to Him. I have gotten back into the habit of memorizing scripture recently, which has been an invaluable help to my soul. I’ve set the goal of memorizing the book of Romans, of which I have chapters 1 and 12 memorized now, with Chapter 2 up next. The first chapter is a hard one to swallow, as it is filled with sobering words of judgement starting at verse 18. It reminds me to pray for those who have yet to put their faith in Christ. I am longing to call people “to the obedience that comes through faith” here where I am at.

God has been using this crisis in Cote d’Ivoire to remind me of the spiritual battle waging on all around me. That is the real war which we ought to be concerned about. Jesus said in Matthew 24: “You will hear of wars and rumor of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed….Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…All these are the beginnings of birth pains.” This is a reminder to me that I need not be alarmed, because it is no surprise at all what is going on here in this country. Also, things will surely be resolved sooner than later, which is even more reason not to worry. The more pressing matter is the battle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Am I equipping myself with the armor of God each day? Am I remembering the time I need with my Savior each day, or am I too ‘busy’ for these things? Satan knows how God speaks, in the quiet, relentless way that He does. Satan would be delighted to keep me busy, distracted, surrounded by noise – music, learning French, listening to sermonsm, etc – all good things in and of themselves, if only to keep me from silence.

As I move forward along the path on which God has placed me and on which he walks ahead as a “lamp to my feet and light to my path”, I would ask a few things of you who read this:

Please pray for these things –

My walk with God to continue to grow, my transition to Korhogo, life with a family whose language and culture are still difficult for me to understand, my learning of French, my relationships with people at the Koko church, and for the rest of the Journeyers as well. Also pray for Cote d’Ivoire, for the people who know Jesus and those who do not, and for the Spirit of God to move in the hearts of those he has chosen here.

“Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thes. 5:16-18

NOTHING BUT CHRIST

01/16/2011
“Lord, if Thou wilt but allow me to take this set-apart place, by Thy grace, I shall covet no inheritance. NOTHING BUT CHRIST.”

These are words from Jim Elliot’s journal during his sophmore year at Wheaton College, at the age of 20 years old. Eight years later he would pay the ultimate price to spread the gospel to the Auca Indians in Ecuado. The last several days I have been reading his biography, “Shadow of the Almighty,” written by his wife Elisabeth. I think the story of Jim’s life is helping me to understand better what it means to be a ‘living sacrifice’. Jim writes a few pages later on:
“No one warns young people to follow Adam’s example. He waited till God saw his need. Then God made Adam sleep, prepared for his mate, and brought her to him. We need more of this ‘being asleep’ in the will of God. Then we can receive what He brings us in His own time, if at all. Instead we are set as bloodhounds after a partner, considering everyone we see until our minds are so concerned with the sex problem that we can talk of nothing else when bull-session time comes around. It is true that a fellow cannot ignore women – but he can think of them as he ought – as sisters, not as sparring partners!”
Jim later writes about how he has “committed” Betty to God much as Abraham did his son, Isaac. He compares her to one of the “devoted things” of Jericho in Joshua 6, though not meant for destruction but for God, as a burnt living sacrifice. He says that the subtle danger in doing this is in “retaining hopes that He would give her to me eventually….But this was as if I had never ‘devoted’ her at all, for there was still a future claim on her….Ah, how like again – hidden in the tent in secret were those secret longings for something I may not have, gloated over in lonely moments. But the Cross is final. There is no turning back now, nor halfway stopping place. I must go on, asleep until God sees my need of Eve – if such a need ever arises. Fix my heart wholly, Lord, to follow Thee, in no detail to touch what is not mine.”
God has chosen this passage of his journal to speak to me personally. Not only in concern to marriage specifically (though it does apply), but as a rule in general. I have to take all of my hopes, all that is precious to me, and cast them into the raging, consuming fire of God’s will. Just as Abraham did not consider his Son to precious as to keep him from obedience to God, so must I also offer myself as a living sacrifice to God, relinquishing all I hold dear to Him. These things must become ‘devoted’ things unto God, not devoted for destruction but for obedience. To continue hoping for them shall be the same as not devoting them at all.
I think it might be impossible to cast away one’s hopes and dreams, never again to secretly wish for them. That is, unless one’s vision is directed solely on Christ. In light of Christ everything else seems to fade away into obscurity. When Christ is the sole focus and passion of my heart, only then will everything else fall into it’s rightful place in my life as well. I can then present my requests to God as a sacrifice, and sleep in peace knowing that he will meet my needs according to His perfect will.

(On a different note – I’m going to the rock quarry again tonight with everyone! I’m really excited to do this again with the group. Though my heart and prayers are with Heidi and Beckie, who are up North due to take care of Beckie’s needs, and also with Kati who is still in Burkina Faso. I miss you girls!)

What my brain has experienced lately....

Blog 1/10/11

Wow! This month is already blazing by already! Praise God for his goodness and new mercies in this new year!

God has been teaching me a lot lately. I’m going through a theology course on how to study the bible which is opening my eyes to reading the bible in completely new ways. I’m also working on memorizing several chapters that I love. I have a goal this year to memorize Romans. Also I finished Mere Christianity (finally), which challenged my thinking a lot. My heart has been receiving a lot of healing, and my head a lot of new ways ot thinking. Good stuff!

Here’s an update on life here….

This morning I went into town by myself for the first time! Well, other than the one time I rode a bike into town to meet Sefiou. It was a lot of fun, though a bit out of my comfort zone…I hung out with some vendors in the panya

market, walked around town to familarize myself a bit better, and took a moto taxi back to campus. Probably other than having an entire 1 hour conversation (plus or minus) in [broken] french….the most interesting part was probably when a group of 10 or 15 guys crowded around me trying to steer me to their bus that was going to Abidjan. They were all saying, “Aller à Abidjan, aller à Abidjan.” HAHA, I’d say Abidjan definitely is the last place I want to be at right now. If you don’t remember why, just look at the pic I posted above from Abidjan. Don't worry, it's not like that here.

Over Christimas break, I went with Rod, Devin, Chazz, and the Grudda family to a town an hour east of Korhogo called Komboro Koro. It was a village way off the beaten path, mud huts and all….definitely a new experience for me! We built a roof for a new Baptist church that was being constructed. It was a lot of work, and really rewarding!

Oh, and before I went there, I spent a night in Korhogo with Meleé (a Christian radio DJ there) at the radio station. That was an interesting experience too.

In 2 weeks I am going back up to Korhogo to have my 9 month homestay with an Ivorian family. I have been placed with a family from the Koko church, the biggest church in Korhogo (that I know of). I think it has something like 600 members, and after talking to Rod, Bakary, and Pastor Kao, I am pretty excited about the ministry opportunities there. I’ve got to keep in mind though, that the reason I’m here is not to do ministry – I’m here to learn. Yes ministry is very important – serving nationals builds great relationships and trust with them – but I need to focus on being a learner first and foremost. It’s ALL about building relationships, and if I can’t show that I’m willing to learn from them, then relationships are going to be hard to build beyond a superficial level. It will be a great exchange on life experience, love, wisdom, perspectives on life and God, etc…I’m stoked!

French wise, I’m still pretty shaky, but I feel that I have received all the tools here at École Baptist that I will need to be an effective French learner during my homestay. And that’s what the goal here was French-wise – to equip us with all the basics, so that we can master them later when we are in enviornments that are predominantly French speaking. One thing that was encouraging today: I had a conversation with a worker at Ecomax about language. He said that he was from Nigeria (hence English was also his first language) and that when he moved here he lived with a family and learned French in 5 months. That’s exciting to hear! The kind of experience I’m getting here, you just can’t buy in schools. In a matter of months I can learn french as well as someone who goes through years of courses. I get to learn it through speaking, not just on paper, an advantage you’d be hard pressed to find in most parts of the world.