2017 Malawi Ramblings #6

Presently I am seated in the breezeway of my host-home – truly lovely and comfortable, my Malawi home away from home.  The breezes are warm; the skies are clear and blue, hazy with a few puffy clouds at the horizon; and the jacaranda, bougainvillea and roses promising and fresh: it is spring in Malawi.  The birds are chirping, the chicks in the yard are attending clucking hens – and the gardener beams his youthful smile. 

My flights yesterday from Indianapolis to D.C., from D.C. to Addis Ababa, and from Addis to Lilongwe were all uneventful and easy – and those who greeted me upon my arrival, in response to my taking delight in the midday warmth, said, “Ah, no.  It is too hot!”  Malawians, “the warm heart of Africa”, enjoy neither heat nor cold, for they are unaccustomed to either.  That is, from an American perspective, they know not the heat of Arizona, Texas, and Florida in August, nor the cold of North Dakota, Upper Michigan, and Maine in January.  Comparatively, the seasons here are those of San Diego – little variation.

Again, my twenty-five hours en route were easy – hardly a moment of turbulence – whereby I uttered this morning, “I am truly a blessed man.”  And I am, although with my utterance I was reminded of that Jewish experience: to be blessed has meant suffering, thus prompting many a Jewish mama to quip: “Enough with the blessings all ready!” 

            However, most likely informing my remembrance is my experience of last year, when I left this present home with the unrelenting pain of a kidney stone stuck.  Even so, because of that stone, I knew the loving kindness (חֶ֫סֶד) of God through the leadership of Kaning’a CCAP, who provided for me, wisely curtailing my visit, sending me home to the care of “my people.”

This morning, as I remembered their provisions, I thought of the many of you, who, when informed of my returning here, promptly sent emails of encouragement.  One such email read:  “Praying.  Praying.  Praying.”  As if caught in a sudden, springtime downpour, I know that I am showered with prayer, which will sustain me, whatever the next eighteen days brings.  Thus I am reminded of Paul’s words to his beloved Philippians: “I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance (σωτηρία)”[1], and so it will for me and for those about me.

More soon,

            Stan

[1] Cf. Philippians 1:19.

2017 Malawi Ramblings #4

            As I anticipate this fourth trip to Malawi (which of course makes me neither an expert traveler nor an aficionado of Malawian customs and culture), I am well aware of those thoughts and feelings coursing through me.

            For instance, my mind turns to those listings of clothes, medicines and books with the appropriate check marks; and yet, the attending questions almost always remain: Have I/we thought of everything?  Even if all the items upon the lists are checked, might I/we have overlooked an essential “something,” not found upon the list?  What might happen if I arrive in Malawi without...?  Indeed, what might happen – apart from hearing that consistent African refrain: “God is good, and God is good all the time.” 

            Of course, details and planning are important, but so too is Sovereignty.  Thus I remind myself of last year’s venture, when I needed to cut-short my visit to Malawi, because my little, kidney stone friends became vociferous.  Upon that occasion I heard, and have heard subsequently, “You need to go home, so that your people can take care of you.”  So home I flew, greatly aided and abated by the wisdom of the Kaning’a CCAP church leadership.  Those little oxalate crystals strengthened a bond between the Kaning’a church and me.

            In these moments of preparation, I am reminded of the cultural faux pas (or two or three or four) I have made, no doubt up to and including the recent present.  As I hope to bring comfort and encouragement to those whose cultural orientation might be that of shame and honor, I will do well to quell some of my anti-authoritarian, US-freedom-and-rights tendencies.  Instead, as I’m beginning to better understand, I will do well to recognize that I am very near the eighth decade of life; that I have received/earned certain degrees; and that I have gained some modicum of wisdom simply by the living of life.  These I should not deprecate in the hearing of those who esteem age and certificates and wisdom, thus provoking unnecessary confusion and disappointment. 

            As I have thought of lists and cultural blunders, and as I anticipate Thursday’s 6am flight from Indianapolis to D.C., eventually landing me in Lilongwe at 12noon on Friday, my thoughts turn to “rest.”  I need to rest prior to leaving on Thursday; I need to rest en route to Addis Ababa and then Lilongwe; but most essentially, I need live the words: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Faithfully,

            Stan

2017 Malawi Ramblings: #2

For several weeks now, central Indiana has had beautifully clear skies and warm temperatures, but relatively little rain – whether the rainfall has been unseasonably low, I do not know.   This, however, I do know: the Californian within me has delighted in these temperatures and conditions, and has had little difficulty watering our yard, for this was normative throughout my childhood and youth.  Salinas, where I grew up, typically had 10-12 inches of rain per year, and yet was known as “the salad bowl of the world.”  This was so, because the climate was temperate year-round, and because the Salinas Valley funnels into Monterey Bay.  Many, if not most evenings, bound by the coastal mountains, fog journeys from along the coast thirty to forty miles inland, only to recede mid-to-late morning the next day.  These conditions in combination with the Valleys’ rich, black soil result in the harvesting of two or three crops per year: celery, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, strawberries, carrots, artichokes, spinach (and in more recent decades, wine grapes).

My thoughts have turned to the natural richness of the Salinas Valley – and certainly Indiana has its own riches: acres and acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, hay and tomatoes – because in three week’s time I will be in Malawi.  Upon my landing at Lilongwe’s Kamazu International Airport, I will step into that country’s dry and warm season: dusty orange swirls will arise from the hard-packed, dirt roads; the leaves of trees and flowers will have a thin, rust-like film; and the hillsides and mountains will have dry, stunted grass, not unlike California.  One of the differences between the two locales, however, is that the Malawian countryside is mostly deforested, and farmers there (80% of the population) do not have the marvelous network of irrigation systems and canals.  I grew up in a land of rich, natural resources; if I had been born and raised in Malawi, my view of water and trees and grass would be markedly different.

As I think of Malawi, in contrast to our yard of green grass, healthy, shade trees, and happy flowers, I am very thankful for those, like the Marion Medical Mission, who at this season of the year, seek to drill 2500, sustainable wells within the central region of Malawi.  These wells encourage health and life for the people and land of Malawi, and reduce many, foul-water diseases.

The water of life …

In my next rambling, I will give further thought to water.

Faithfully,

            Stan

2017 Ramblings #1

Four weeks to day I trust that I will once again have landed safely at Kamuzu International Airport, Lilongwe, Malawi.  Having left Indianapolis at 6am, October 19, I am scheduled to land in Malawi at 12:50pm the following day, October 20.  Hopefully throughout that flight – in fact, throughout my entire stay in Malawi – my little kidney stones will remain quiet.  They haven’t voiced any complaint since last October, 2016.

As in the past, my hope is to encourage pastors and church leaders, all the while seeking to strengthen and deepen relationships: certainly my relating to them, but more importantly, their relating to one another and to our Lord.  This will happen in a structured manner, as I teach and lead twenty-to-thirty pastors at a retreat site, where we will gather Monday evening, October 23, only to part Thursday afternoon, October 26.  Hopefully within this four-day span, the Living Word will have refreshed us, as we share together in John’s Gospel, using the resource I’ve written, The Sent One. 

This strengthening will also occur, as I meet with church elders and deacons the following week, October 30 to November 4.  The intent and resource for these leaders will be the same as for their pastors, but we will study and learn together upon successive evenings, 6-8pm, with extended time on Saturday morning.  We estimate that approximately one hundred elders and deacons will gather for these moments of teaching, sharing and learning.

With great anticipation and thanksgiving, I look forward to this my fourth visit to Malawi; and yet, I know that I will always be their guest.  Clearly, I am not Malawian, and I remain foreign to much of their culture; but what I have been given, I gladly share, trusting that they will use what they glean from me, reinterpreting it for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in their midst.  Thus, as I no doubt will seek to remind them, I will be present with them not unlike the Apostle Paul’s approach to the believers in Rome:

            “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine… For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”.  (Romans 1:11-12, 16)

Through “2017 Ramblings” I hope to share my experience with you.

Faithfully,

            Stan