Happy Anniversary

Sunday was our 17th Wedding Anniversary  and I decided to write a poem for my hubby as a bit of a surprise!

It's not anything profound and I wouldn't call myself an expert poet, but none-the-less I thought I'd share some of our Anniversary joy......

Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary Hubby xxxxxxx

Seventeen years, my dear hubby, you've been married to me

We've done much together, from OZ to across the sea!

High times and low times have both come our way,

But the Lord has been faithful, He's been our stay.

In months, those years number Two hundred and four,

Little did we know back then all that would be in store!

We have cried, we have laughed, together we've grown,

As we looked to the Lord, on eagles wings we have flown.

Eight hundred and eighty four weeks, we've been one.

Not just in body, giv'n each other, have we come,

But in heart, as we seek more and more through God's Son,

To bring glory to the Creator, in submission, and love.

In days, its six thousand, two hundred and five

Each one titled: "I am yours and You are mine".

We belong to each other, and both to the Lord,

Relying on Him, bound in a three strand cord.

Almost five hundred thousand, if its hours we count

As each passes, comes a further increase in amount,

In which, two sinners, joined together, trusting the King,

Pray He will grow us and use us, for blessing to bring.

Minutes and seconds while each important, are millions.

But from these tiny portions can come potent actions.

They must be guarded with caution, with care and with Christ,

His armour our protection, His Word our path's light.

Each moment together is a gift from the Lord

To be cherished with thanks and for the other outpoured.

May our life and our words bring grace that is sweet,

Till the day when in heaven we shall all bow at His feet. 

Broken Nights

This past month I have been 'amazed' at how many different night time 'events' have occurred to give night after night of interrupted sleep!

It seems to us that tiredness through lack of sleep is one of the weapons Satan tries to use to keep God's 'harvesters' functioning on 'less capacity'.  We know in our own situation how much of a positive difference a good eight hours sleep can do, and how much night after night of irregular broken sleep can wear us down......

But this last month the 'variety' of sleep stealing events has been quite incredible - some of which are very unique to living where we live.  

Yes we are in Africa but these sleep breakers are not Lions roaring or drums beating, they are the 'edge of the city' urban African kind........

I thought you might be interested to read a little bit more about what makes up our daily lives....or our daily nights and their interruptions!

 - neighbourhood DOGS barking - at other stray dogs, maybe at possible intruders wandering the streets, or just talking to each other across the suburbs! (real life Lady and the Tramp!)

- but we have had a few nights where all the neighbourhood dogs were barking because of COWS wandering the streets with their bells going 'ding, ding' as they move along

- POWER SURGES  that turn on our touch lamps in the middle of the night - sometimes several times a night - so now we unplug the lamps!

- SECURITY ALARMS in neighbouring houses going off either for legitimate reasons of intruders or residents coming home late and triggering the alarm or leaving windows open on very windy evenings that trigger alarms

- while we live in a relatively quiet neighbourhood normally, periodically our neighbours have a party or guests over and decide to take their hi-fi systems out into their yard and put the MUSIC AT FULL VOLUME, or their friends will pull up in a car with a powerful stereo system, open all the doors and turn it up to full volume so that they can hear it inside the house!  Thankfully this has mostly stopped on the stroke of mid-night - as is the law here - but not always.

- although its not a late night thing, some nights we have had a small group of BRASS BAND players over the back of our yard decide that their jam session should start at 8pm and they always have it out in the open air of their backyard! We think they must mostly play at funerals because their repertoire is small and mostly hymns.  And after years of regular 'practice' they are still trying to get right the couple of tunes that they play over and over and over!

- POWER CUTS have been an ongoing issue, and normally they occur during the day, but this last month we had one night when the power came on and off maybe 6 times during the night.  That would be fine but our gate bell for some reason rings every time the power comes back on and the 'bell' part has one speaker in our dining room and one in our bedroom!....and its quite loud! and every time our dog Zac hears it, he runs to bark at someone who he thinks has come to the gate!

- in addition to this of course, we have had quite wide temperature fluctuations this winter and some nights we have actually woken up by feeling too hot under the blankets (in summer the heat is often a cause for poor sleep, and we have also managed to wake each other up on a few occasions by our SNORING.

- one night the company our CELL PHONE is with even decided to send an 'information message' at 3am that triggered a 'message' 'ding-dong' on the phone.

- this doesn't account for many times of pain from medical conditions when Andrew was having trouble with his knee and I have POTS pain episodes.

.....yes all these have happened in about the last month!  I know new mums know more about lack of sleep than probably I have even known, but if there is one thing I have learnt through this once again,  is how good a continuous 7-8 hours sleep can be.  Sleep really is a gift of refreshment from the Lord and not a gift to be taken lightly or abused by 'burning the candle at both ends'.  Our bodies need their sleep and our bodies benefit physically from sleep and we are much better prepared to deal with emotional strain and spiritual temptation when we have had good sleep.  

So here's an unusual prayer request......pray for good sleep for your missionaries!

Thank you Lord for sleep!

Facebook vs Face-to-face

As I write this blogpost and avail myself of the wonders of technology, I am becoming more and more aware of the not-so-good side of technology.  I'm not just talking about things like ease of access to pornography, or internet dating.  It seems to get much more subtle than that.  More and more is coming across my 'desk' in relation to the issue of technology and social networking.  Once upon a time this might have been something that a missionary in Africa wouldn't have to be worried about, but believe it or not, technology is permeating Africa at a phenomenal rate.

While cell phones and smart phones are popular in the West, they are also very very popular in Africa, not least in Botswana.  In fact statistics recently released reveal that Botswana has one of the highest cellphone usage rates around.  Smart phones and iPads have even brought the internet to those who skipped ever owning a computer.  I am continually amazed at the inroads of technology here, including social networking media.  Here are some examples:

uI went to a craft market fair at a local school a few months back and was talking to an artist who was displaying some of his paintings.  When I asked for his contact details, he couldn't give me a business card, but instead pulled out his iPad and sent me an email.  When I got home and checked my emails on my laptop at home, I learnt that if I wanted to view his artwork I had to do so on FaceBook.

uif I want to post a comment on the local Botswana newspaper website I must have a Facebook account to do so

uno longer is it just my friends in Australia who ask if we are on Facebook, but I am also getting asked it by local folk here

 u I have been sent more 'invitations to join' Facebook, Linkdin and the like, by Africans than by Australians

But I'm actually not jumping up and down with excitement that Botswana is 'up with the rest of the world' on this.  

You see also on the flip-side......

uthe whole Facebook and Twitter issue came up during the Olympics with the concern that athletes were so busy updating their status and 'twittering' that they weren't getting enough sleep and it was affecting performances.  One Australian coach even stated he would like to confiscate all the smart phones of his athletes!

uwhere once we had seen instances of relatives getting angry here with each other because certain ones had not come to visit as often as expected, now friends are getting angry with each other when their other friends don't update their Facebook page enough, or respond to their friends on Facebook enough.  Students are getting harassed by their friends for social networking 'tardiness' when they are trying to prepare for exams.  Yes even here in Africa!

ubecause the Western World introduced it, Africa thinks its a sign of showing they are 'up with the best' if they are using technology like the West

uthe West is starting to get concerned over the massive use of Facebook and I've read that even some celebrities are choosing to stay away from social media for a variety of reasons including the fact that saying too much, too quickly on Facebook and Twitter might come back to bite you.  Potential employers are now going to people's Facebook pages to get a picture of the character of a person over time. Psychologists are also getting concerned -  the likes of Facebook and Twitter are now falling into the category of activities that can become obsessive and addictive.  They are also revealing to us just how self-focused and self-obsessed we are.  In other words our sinful hearts are not immune from the 'traps' of social networking whether we realise it or not.  Maybe the quicker we realise it the better, and guard our hearts from yet another tactic of the Evil One who prowls around like a roaring lion seeing who he might devour.  click here to read more on this. 

uA Neuroscience Professor at Oxford University is very concerned about the effect of Social Networking on children's brains and the dangerous patterns it sets for their life - there are lots of reasons to be concerned.

Now, I'm not saying that computers, cell phones, smart phones, iPads, Facebook or Twitter, or webpages or blogposts for that matter are inherently evil - no way.  But I am getting more and more concerned that even we as Christians may be getting further into a 'sticky web' or the 'lure' of technology's offerings without thinking carefully about what we are doing and its effects.  We can be caught by the very trap that it isn't inherently evil, deceiving us into unconsciously equating that to it having no capacity to do anything evil (non-God-glorifying) in my life.

I found a comment on the link above (on what the Psychologists are now saying) also expressed an interesting insight :

it "appears" that a lot of people are lonely and they're searching for relationships that they have a hard time finding outside of the world of technology. The irony is that technologically enables us to reach people around the world – we're more connected than ever before, but in the end, face-to-face relationships decline and loneliness entails. 

Some years ago a friend of mine in Australia made a comment to me that she is having a ministry a 'tea and talks' or 'coffee and chats' - simply times of meeting with people and talking over a cup of tea or coffee for building face to face relationships.  She has been amazed at how many people have expressed how much they value those times.  She has found that many people are desperate to actually build a meaningful relationship with someone that is face to face, who will take the time to listen to the issues that weigh on their hearts and to do it in a confidential way with someone that cares and shows love and compassion.  In one way we are more 'connected' to people than ever before because of technology.  But I have to ask myself whether we are getting too comfortable with connecting and forgetting what it is to have rich deep relationships that build each other up, that give and receive love toward one another and that can reveal, comfort and heal matters deep in our hearts that really direct and affect our lives?  Are we becoming more connected socially at the expense of becoming disconnected relationally?

Much of our ministry is to young adults who in a culture that says it values relationships but these relationships are meant to function in a culturally approved way that requires honour given to the elder at all times and asking questions is mostly not allowed.  It is a culture where age-mates are the ones who share with each other the most because then the issue of 'eldership' isn't a problem.  This means that people don't learn from the elders as much as they could, but it does mean that Facebook is very attractive because it keeps age-mates in contact even when geographically far apart.  But it also often ends up a substitute for taking the time to actually meet up with people. And as Christians we need to be aware that while the world might think that its a good thing that Facebook is helping young people learn from their peers rather than adults, that is not what God desires for how His church is to function.  In a right and good (not just cultural) way, the older generation is supposed to be teaching and training up the younger, and kids are meant to be honouring the authority of the parents above their peers.  In fact the MacArthur Foundation in defence of Teens using social networking said: 

Young people are motivated to learn from their peers online.

• The Internet provides new kinds of public spaces for youth to interact and receive feedback from one another.
• Young people respect each other's authority online and are more motivated to learn from each other than from adults.

To me this is actually a support for the dangers of Social networking rather than support for its benefits, especially in the light of Scripture.

 It is also very popular in a culture that has an intensive like for gossip - "We Africans like to gossip" I was told.  Everyone likes to know about everyone else.  But underneath there is a desperate cry for meaningful relationships where each person can be honest with each other, be encouraged and challenged by each other, be built up by each other, be spurred on to Godliness by each other, be heard and understood by each other, learn from each other, rejoice together and cry together in such a way that we hear each other's laughter and feel the warm embrace of a hug when there are tears.

I ask myself if the increase in superficial social networking relationships will also only increase sexual relationships outside of marriage? More and more people are actually depriving themselves and others of meaningful relationships that involve a physical presence and so they then go looking for that physical presence relationship of 'belonging' and 'one-another' love in the wrong places.  Is Social Networking Media fuelling this problem?

So...

.... am I saying that Christians shouldn't be on Facebook or Twitter? - NO. There are great positives including keeping up to date with friends and family overseas.

Am I saying that as I read the research, observe Australia and also Botswana in relation to Social Media that I believe we need to be far more cautious than we are? - YES  

Am I saying that we need to examine the role that Social Media plays in our lives? - YES

Am I saying that we cannot underestimate the need to guard our hearts and examine the motives for why we use or access Social Media? - YES

Am I saying that we need to be very, very careful not to neglect, and in fact pro-actively cultivate personal, face-to-face, heart-to-heart meaningful relationships where we can fulfill our biblical mandate to bear one another's burdens, weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice and actually 'sit' physically with those we are called to love even if it means uttering no words (like Job's friends did at first - but cannot be done via FaceBook)? - YES......

.....and Am I saying that the church needs members willing to do this as we relate to each other? - YES....

.....and Am I saying that the older men and women in the church need to be doing more to develop meaningful relationships with younger men and women so as to teach by word and example what it means to be men and women who love and honour God?- YES

.....and Am I saying that as the church we need to be coming alongside our neighbours, whoever they may be and letting them see that 'relationship' as God desires it and gives it, is far more than the world can ever give? - YES  

Superficial FaceBook connections are not God's idea of what we were created to be to each other and ultimately to enjoy with our Creator.

As the body of Christ - His hands, feet, etc .... on this earth, we have been called to live each day we are given to His glory.....

We have a message to share and to live, 

love and care to demonstrate and give, 

to those around us.