So Much To Say...So Little Time

The list on my phone of things to blog about keeps growing, while the number of blogs I actually write doesn't change.  I thought that life & ministry in Nsoko would slow down in September after the busy season of teams was past, but that's not the case.  I feel like now that teams are coming less frequently, ministry with & among & to the Swazis has really begun.  Balancing the administration work of the ministry, as well as the relationships in this area is very time consuming!  There are always more people I want to visit, more prayers to pray, more kids to hold, more carepoints to visit & more things to learn.  I could spend a lifetime at each of our ten carepoints & the communities surrounding them.  But each day I am taking things one step at a time, trying to keep up on processing all that is going on in my heart through each day, and occasionally making a note of what God is calling me to share with a broader audience through this blog. 

I have great intentions of blogging to catch up, but just in case I don't - here are the things that are on my heart to share.  And if I do end up blogging about them all....consider this a preview!

~ My one job no matter where I am is to abide in Christ & love people - I strive to do this here in Swaziland just as I tried to do it in Colorado.  The environment may look different, but the goal is the same.

~ How do we describe & explain God's extravagant, abundant, unending love in a culture so steeped in poverty & scarcity with that as the perspective that shapes their worldview?

~ Bittersweet juxtaposition - the flowers on the thorn trees, the flowers on the cactus...all around me are pictures of the harsh reality of total depravity, yet also the beauty of the redemption & restoration process that began at the cross & will be fulfilled someday when Christ comes back.

~ Gancane, gancane (bit by bit, small small)...there's a children's song that says "Inch by inch & row by row, we're gonna make this garden grow.  All we need is a rake & hoe."  As we tediously work to begin the garden at the Anchor Center for people from homesteads to have a place to grow vegetables, I am reminded daily of the spiritual parallels - and overwhelmed by how much work it takes to keep the weeds down!  

~How do incarnational ministry & development mix?  We read "don't do for them what they can do themselves" but when comes the time to live incarnationally & join them in the work?  How do we balance this?

 

~ In a culture where many people are illiterate and many people are super-spiritual, what does it look like to love the Bible & think theologically?

~ Swazi's national deficit:  The reality of fatherless nation...

~ What song is in your heart?  As Swazis are always dancing & singing, it makes me wonder what song would be bursting out of my mouth & heart each day?