Come and Listen...

We have been home for a week. Jetlag should be abating, the last of our photos uploaded, and our attentions are turning towards a new school year. Nevertheless, our hearts and minds have experienced an inextricable shift and are still being drawn back to Zambia. We encountered God in the people and places of this intriguing land. The experience of being disconnected from daily life fertilized our souls’ receptivity to opportunities of growth in all aspects of our beings.

The stories we have to tell are many and varied. Some are heartwarming while others rend us to the core. We are changed by what we have seen and felt and learned. Our feet have tread on African soil and our hands have touched African bodies. In return, our hearts have felt the warmth of Zambian hospitality and the unfettered love of her children. We were welcomed with exuberant joy and embraced by strangers in a strange new land.

I invite you to sit with us and inquire. Let us share our hearts and give you a glimpse into the world as we now see it. Travel alters perspectives and routines. Service changes not only the hearts and lives of those being served, but often more so those who are serving. While our photographs may seem almost infinite in their number, the images etched in our hearts by the God of creation are the ones we most want to bring home with us and share with you. 

Our vocabulary has expanded just as has our worldview.  We have experienced the beauty of termite mounds; the taste of nshima, caterpillars, and warthog; the nearness of lions, monkeys, and elephants; and the blessing of children with names such as Gift, Beauty, and Grace.  We have literally looked deep into the eyes, hearts, lungs, ears, and mouths of precious children in places like Family Legacy, Arising Life, Mapalo, and Mackenzie.  Together with the beautiful children of Lusaka and Ndola we danced and sang about the goodness of God and the uniqueness of Christ.  We lived in chalets; witnessed the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21^stcentury; and relished in the “inclement weather” of an African winter.

Each of us has a story to tell that is at once shared and unique.  Take the time to sit with us; to ask probing questions; and to listen to our hearts.  There is a stirring deep within us that is looking for an outward expression. 

A total lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon and covers the Moon with its shadow. When this happens, the Moon can turn red, earning it the nickname of Blood Moon. Just as the Earth changed the Moon so too have our futures been eclipsed by the love of Zambian children.  While the Moon returned to its natural state, we cannot. God is doing a mighty thing in us. 

Come and listen.

“Come and listen, come to the water's edge, all you who know and fear the Lord. Come and listen, come to the water's edge all you who are thirsty, come.
Let me tell you what He has done for me; Let me tell you what He has done for me; He has done for you; He has done for us.”

-- David Crowder