The Glorious Shame of Christmas

I think it is a good thing to have a time in our calendar each year that is set aside to specifically remember Christ's birth.

However, the event and the story has become wrapped in an almost 'romantic' ribbon of artistic licence!  We have made it to have a glorious, happy, beautiful, glitzy, comfortable, warm and cozy 'feel' to it.  

The reality of the first Christmas - Christ's birth, was somewhat different.

The magnitude and glory of Christ's birth was real, but it was in a way that was 'upside-down' to the world's idea of magnitude and glory. 

It was also the beginning of the story of the coming of the Messiah - the beginning of what is described in Isaiah 53.

This was the beginning of what could be described as a life of shame in the eyes of the world of that day.

Consider this:

• 9 months prior, a woman became pregnant before her betrothal period had been completed.  To those looking on, she had done something shameful - something that Joseph could have divorced her for (ie it would have appeared to others that she had been unfaithful to him).  In his love for her, he wanted to do the divorce in such a way as to keep it quiet and not bring additional unnecessary shame upon Mary, and her family.  But an angel came and explained the situation to him and he didn't divorce her but instead, with obedience and trust in God, chose to share her shame.  We have no idea, as scripture doesn't tell us, if other people believed their story of the conception.  Maybe some did and her cousin Elizabeth would have endorsed their story as true.  But in all likelihood many would not have believed them. So to some degree Jesus was born in the context of a shadow of shameful and questionable circumstances of which the whole village would have been very aware.

• the family Jesus was born into was not some prestigious family.  It was not a religious leader's family.  It was not a priest's family or a Pharisee's family or wealthy nobleman's family.  It was the family of a lowly carpenter.

• when the time came for him to be born, he didn't even have a nice comfy place.  As Scripture says, "foxes have holes ....but the Son of Man has no-where to lay his head". (Matt 8:20)  So Joseph and Mary, became innovative and must have thought that the straw in the animal feed trough would at least mean he wouldn't be on the floor with risk of an animal walking on him or lying in some animal manure.  He was born in the indignity of the room for animals because there was no place for him in the rooms where other human beings were staying.

• so the King of Kings had been born - but who did the angels announce it to?  Not the leaders of the land. No, the lowest of the low - shepherds.  Here in Botswana, the equivalent is called a 'herd boy' and they are the lowest of low jobs.  In those days, shepherds were illiterates, the guys people hardly had a thought for, the guys who had to sit outside in all weathers and all night and take care of sheep. In fact they were so 'low' on the social ladder, they had no civil rights and were not even supposed to be rescued if they fell into a pit and had the reputation of being thieves!  They were seen as being in a perpetual state of impurity and defilement since they were constantly walking on animal excrement in the fields and often handling dead animals. These guys were despised. A Jewish commentary said there 'is no more disreputable occupation than that of a shepherd'!
•  

• a while later, probably close to two years later, some Wise Men (magi - astrologer/astronomers) came to visit the toddler Jesus and bring valuable gifts as a sign of honour and worship.  There is no record that the local community leaders  came to visit.  It was foreigners who came.  Thus began Jesus' life of being rejected or ignored by his own people.

• with the visit of the Wise Men came the news that Jesus was in danger - he was being 'hunted' by one who had a vicious murder plot and once again his father was given instruction for his life via a dream involving a visit from an angel.  The family now had flee from their homeland of Israel to become essentially refugees in Egypt.

• when they settled again back in Jewish territory, they returned to the village of Nazareth that was home.  Nazareth was not a prestigious city but a tiny obscure humble village of less than 200 people. It seems it wasn't known for anything positive when Scripture records for us 'can anything good come out of Nazareth?' (John 1:46) This was not a town you would boast about coming from.

In a culture which is very honour/shame focused (as the New Testament culture was - see deSilva's book 'Honor,Patronage, Kinship and Purity'), to not associate with the 'prestigious' of society marks you as less honourable, less valuable, less important.  Not only that, but for those of nobility to associate with the lower ranks of society was considered shameful and just 'not done'.  

Jesus entered our world within the ranks of those who could make others feel shameful.

However, Jesus' birth was the beginning of showing us :

• The extreme way in which he loved us - to be willing to leave the glory of heaven and come as a helpless baby of a lowly family and live as a servant on this earth.

• The 'incredibleness' of true glory comes from the greatness of true humility. 

• That he was willing to take the life of the lowest in order that we might be given the opportunity to share in His life, the heights and glory of which make us co-heirs with him

• That his coming to earth was also about bearing our shame, and we needed to understand and see a little of that shame which we have in the eyes of God, by watching the Son of God enduring shame in the eyes of man.

• That God didn't send Jesus to just rescue the wealthy and prestigious of our world.  God is not about only noticing those whom the world takes the time to notice.  No, God notices the needs of the lowest of the low, those the rest of society hardly has a thought for.  God chose the lowest, as the first to tell of the news of Christ's birth.

• God isn't only interested in those who are in close proximity to the good news - he wants those far and wide to come and worship him.  He cares about the foreigner, those far away, those of other belief systems who need to come and bow at the feet of the King of Kings - our Creator - our Saviour!

• While this world might lay great weight on values such as where you were born and in what circumstances or the neighbourhood where you live now, God does not. God is more interested in who you are than where you live.  He is more interested in whether you are part of His family, than what family you come from on this earth. And He is more interested in whether you know Jesus is the Son of God come from heaven than which town on earth he grew up in.

The scandal and ironry of Christ's birth is that it was wrapped in shame yet at the same time filled with glory and honour - the King of Kings was born to dwell with us and reconcile us to God - Jesus our Immanuel!  Jesus birth was the beginning of the most realistic demonstration God could give us that He uses the shameful things of this world to confound the wise!  His ways are not our ways naturally, but we must come to understand His ways and allow them to become our ways supernaturally! 

And this is possible not just because Jesus is with us - in the sense of beside us, but because he came to dwell in us.  He came to make a way possible to restore His life to us so that He could live His life in and through us.

Christ in you - the hope of glory!

...to discover even more on the scandal/irony of the first Christmas that is rarely emphasised or spoken of, in addition to the links included above, I would encourage you to read:

http://msc.gutenberg.edu/2008/07/the-scandal-of-jesus-birth/

Too cute!

Its so much cheaper and easier for little girls to play 'mummies' here.  They don't need a dolly's pram or crib - just a piece of cloth....and before you know it Teddy is strapped on the back and they are off to help their mummies in the garden.

When two of my little 'grand-daughters' were visiting with their mummies today who were helping us with some gardening, these two littlies were (mostly!) happy as can be with their 'babies' on their backs just like their mummies used to do with them.

...and I just had to take a photo!...and thought others might like the little glimpse into African childhood, and to share the joy!

December! .....already?

It's nearly Christmas time again, where has the year gone?

Surely 12 months haven't passed….has it truly been so long?

Christmas sales are advertised, shops are playing Christmas songs,

The calendar says 'December', and I know that couldn't be wrong!

I better check those Christmas gifts and get wrapping for family overseas,

Then there are decorations to hang and food to stock the deep freeze,

The 'to do list', is long and consumes my mind with all that's needed 

BUT…. All this hustle, is overtaking the real reason for the season.

What will I GET for Christmas, is the child's primary thought

But the Father above, GAVE His son, so our redemption was bought.

He sent Jesus to this earth so by His death salvation was wrought

The baby in the manger - through the cross, to us New Life Has brought.

Familiar carols like 'Silent Night', and the shining star a-top the tree

Fill our hearts with Christmas joy, but are meant to point to the nativity.

When the Saviour was born Shepherds left their flocks, and Wise Men came to see.

Christ is the reason for Christmas: Come now, worship Him as King!

SF

Honour; Shame; Identity;...and technology warnings!

I continue to be fascinated by how the facets of honour and shame emerge in our 21st Century Western society.

A report in a recent news bulletin on the lecture of a neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, that warned of the dangers of re-wiring by digital technology of young brains, contained some startling and insightful content....

Here is an excerpt from that news article:

Impressing your social media 'audience'

She said an inspirational teacher or parent could be the key to young people developing the skills "to join up the dots" of the world around them.

Baroness Greenfield said social media had its worthwhile uses, such as for communicating with family or friends across the world, but there was a problem when people had lists of friends "they didn't actually know".

She said such "friends" were actually more of an audience.

"You are out to entertain and seek their approval and the danger lies then in constructing an artificial identity that's not really you at all," she said.

"Everything you do is done for the approval and to impress this audience, who inevitably will be vicious and nasty because they're not constrained by face-to-face communication."

She feared some young people might grow up with short attention spans, keen to conform with their peers and lacking an ability to discern impact of their actions.

"I just wonder whether we might be looking at a generation who are completely self-centred, short attention spans, not very good at communication, rather needy emotionally and with a weak sense of identity?" she said.

"[We need to] look at how we deal with that situation rather than just saying it's all cool, 'we've all got iPads and aren't we trendy?'"

To summarise some of her statements, she is saying that: 

....the current generation of children risk gaining an 'artificial identity' by seeking 'approval' from non-'face-to-face communication' that are more of an 'audience' than really friends.....

  * though she makes very insightful observations, I believe she is actually observing a consequence of a deeper cause - that being what happens when we seek approval primarily from people rather than from God. The problem she sees here is true - but its step 2 of a process where step 1 of neglecting God has already occurred and been ignored.

* when we stop living first and foremost 'Coram Deo' (before God's face), and are only living before the face of people and those people are only through a 'cyber life', we have the problem she describes.

* though God as our Creator desires us to live first and foremost before His face, He also created us for relationship - person to person, face to face.  When we put aside the first commandment to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, we have trouble.  When we go even further and put aside the full context of loving our neighbour and settle for 'cyber life', we are in even more trouble and are denying both ourselves and our neighbours the love of true friendships, and destroying our lives, families and communities in the process.  Even if we say we are Christians and we desire to live for God's approval, we need to be very careful that we are not being taken 'off track' by the world's obsession with technology. It can all too easily become an obsession that destroys part of God's purposes for us as human beings who are meant to be loving one another as God has loved us.  God loved us in such a way as to 'dwell among us', interact face to face with us, touch us and be touched and experience others lives 'warts and all'.

* living this 'virtual world' way removes us from the accountability of personal interaction in addition to the accountability we should have before God.  Society then creates a collection of self-absorbed and self-worshipping individuals rather than any sense of true community.  Without God and without living according to how He created us to live, we as sinful human beings will simply do a very good job of getting ourselves deeper and deeper into the traps set by the Father of Lies, the Devil himself.  

As the excerpt above nuances, this issue is all about honour and shame and identity- whose approval we seek and what we are trying to hide. 

Consider what Jackson Wu said on a recent blogpost:

If we don't think God alone deserves worship, then we will worship some other created thing. Yet, we should be aware that what we worship and our view of ourself are always intertwined. What we worship reflects our value system and worldview.

We become what we worship.

As result, our "face" and our worship are tied together. Eventually, our worship and our seeking of face are indistinguishable. Our "face" belongs to what we worship. We pursue our face more and more. Before long, we start worshipping ourselves.

Our mirror becomes our altar.

When we all pursue "face" (mianzi) in this way, human relationships disintegrate.

Though contrary to popular belief, we can see why biblical monotheism is the only hope we have for harmony in the world.

While technology has its positives, we must not take it as some neutral issue in all its forms and functions - we must be aware that the Father of Lies is also the Angel of light and is out to steal, kill and destroy while making it look like he offers something wonderful, enjoyable and beneficial.  If we don't weigh it against the absolute truth of God and His word, we can so easily get sucked in.  Those who don't know God and think they can ignore His absolute authority and truth, are beginning to see that there is a trail of damage emerging alongside the benefits of technology.  

May we as Christians set the example as ones who reflect a more balanced godly use of technology and not neglect the need for tactile interaction with God's world, and the need for true, deep, face-to-face friendships where the 'love one another' and 'love your neighbour' commands are lived out for the world to see and be blessed by.

May we as Christians be more careful and bold to live 'Coram Deo' and desire to live primarily before the face of God.

May we with grace and sensitivity take the opportunities around us to shine true Light into such conversations, the Light that brings LIFE and true HONOUR in God's eyes!

The Amazing Steppe Eagle

As I was enjoying some time outside on our porch recently, I looked up into the deep blue sky and there, far, far away, high above me was a very large bird riding the wind currents.

He looked so graceful.  I wondered what type of 'big bird' he was.

I tried to remember what I saw and then went and had a look through our bird book.  After significant searching in the book and further on the internet, my amateur conclusion (from the markings on his underwing) was that he was most probably a young Steppe Eagle (although of course I can't be sure).

But if it was a Steppe Eagle, it is an amazing bird.

Apart from being about 2m across in wingspan, he is famous for a couple of other achievements!

Firstly the Steppe Eagle was used in a study to try to understand how birds cope in difficult wind conditions.  Eventually scientists discovered they do super fast processes of 'collapsing' their wings under them in an effort to stay 'stable' in gusty unfavourable winds.  A rather amazing system!  

Check out this article in Science Daily for more information on the Steppe Eagles 'wing tucks'!

or for more technical data

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5822248_Automatic_aeroelastic_devices_in_the_wings_of_a_steppe_eagle_Aquila_nipalensis

Secondly the Steppe Eagle is noted in my bird book as a 'summer visitor' and doesn't breed in these parts.  Well that was interesting, but where does he visit from each year?

3 guesses?

a) Saudi Arabia

b) Russia

c) Kenya

 - the answer is :.....Russia!

Isn't that amazing!  Every year they fly south for the winter - even as far south as the Kalahari Desert!  .....that's a very long way!  - ALMOST 10,000kms!

On one journey from Botswana to Kazakhstan, one of them was tracked travelling an average of 177km per day but they can do up to about 350km per day, so the journey takes them about 8 weeks.

Apparently they like to eat ground squirrels, other rodents, crickets, reptiles and termites - all of which are available for his menu in this part of the world, that's for sure!

God's creation never ceases to amaze!  

.....learn more about the Steppe Eagle here

Trust in the midst of Mis-placed Honour and Shame

T r U S t

We are learning a lot about 'trust'.

And it has popped up in a very interesting context recently - both here in Botswana and in Australia..... in relation to elections.

In the lead up to the recent national elections here the ruling party (who were returned to power), had signs and banners saying they were the party people 'can trust'.

Then just recently an Australian news bulletin email (ABC 3-11-14) came our way saying:

 "Victorian Premier makes trust a central election issue -
The Victorian Premier has made an election pitch to voters calling on them to decide who they can trust to manage the state's finances.  .......Dr Napthine said the election was about three things: choice, trust and good decisions......."Over the next 24 days, Victorians will be left in no doubt, it is only the Coalition that they can trust to keep our finances in order, to have the money to pay for facilities and services that Victorians need and deserve. To deliver safer communities, to attract investment, to create jobs, and provide opportunities for Victorians to live satisfying and fulfilling lives," he said." (emphasis mine)

Now, maybe I was just unobservant in years past, but I don't recall an Australian election ever before making 'trust' a key election issue.

Not only is this an issue related to every human being, it is an issue of particular interest to us  in our research on honour and shame.

Trust is not a stand-alone commodity, it can only exist where there is something/someone to trust. It means 'to rely on' or 'to put faith in' or 'to believe in'.  

To expect people to have some level of degree of trust of each other requires other people to be trustworthy - faithful - reliable.  It is true that ultimately the only totally faithful and trustworthy One is God Himself, and Scripture tells us not to put our ultimate trust in man but in God. (Ps 118:8)  But God created us in His image, to function in this world according to His character and life within us, which though lost at the Fall, is to be evident in all Christians as we allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in us....and part of that fruit is 'faithfulness' - ie trustworthiness.  It is also still the standard by which this world and relationships within it are designed to function. We of course should be people who can be trusted to keep our word, tell the truth, fulfill committments, love others etc.

However, when a culture (family, community, nation) is or becomes a culture with mis-placed honour and shame and people live for the approval of others rather than or above the approval of God, trust breaks down....well trust in the sense of honesty, anyhow.

When trust breaks down in a society  that once had it, it is no longer something that 'goes without saying'.  It is no longer something automatically assumed.  Honesty becomes some rare jewel as opposed to something good and widely enjoyed.

Our Western world has failed to realise how much its Christians have in the past provided 'salt in society' and how much the history of a Judeo-Christian ethic has formed a safe environment for what the Victorian Premier described as the desire to "live satisfying and fulfilling lives". It has failed to realise that true and full trust is built on honesty.  Honesty can't occur without truth.  In fact the concept of honesty presupposes the existence of truth.

However, the Western world has also failed to realise that they have built for themselves an inconsistency and thus an unreachable goal - that of consistent reliable honesty while denying the existence or need of consistent reliable (absolute) truth.  

The last couple of generations in the Western World have been living in a fools paradise, thinking they can have the benefits of honesty while denying absolute truth.  Society seemed to be able to work with both, whereas in reality it was simply a section of society that refused absolute truth while a large proportion of society was still living under the awareness of absolute truth.  This has slowly changed and now society is living with a large proportion refusing absolute truth and only a small proportion acknowledging absolute truth. The balance has shifted.  Honesty is becoming a rarer commodity because universal honesty according to an external standard is only possible when someone acknowledges an 'absolute truth' outside of themselves or their family or their society.

The west has played with fire and is now getting burnt.  It has said there is no absolute truth - that your 'truth' is as good as my 'truth' or someone else's 'truth'.  But you can't have three 'truths' or three hundred 'truths' that differ from each other and are inconsistent with each other and still have 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' in a community.  I can no longer 'trust' you to act according to a standard that will govern us both, if we don't both acknowledge the 'absolute truth' over both of us.  Everyone does what pleases themselves and is 'right' according to their 'own truth'.

The result: honesty is a rare commodity, trust breaks down and also becomes a rare commodity.   A society loses a sense of safety and community, and thus loses the joy of satisfying and fulfilling lives.

When people are more concerned for honour and are afraid of shame before people as their sole standard for living, and there is no sense of absolute truth and a God who sees and knows all, then people have no cause for concern for truth outside of themselves - they just do whatever suits their personal goals at the time.  But there is a cost, not least that trust breaks down - one's word is no longer consistent in all situations...and thus a sense of community breaks down, a sense of safety breaks down and satisfying and fulfilling lives seem less obtainable.

A slight variation on this is that when a person loses sight of God, instead of having the attitude of "It doesn't matter what other people think, I'll do what God thinks is right", that person doesn't just remove God from the picture, they replace that place of highest honour and authority in their lives with themselves.  So now they say "It doesn't matter what other people think, I'll do what I think is right".  When a person displaces God as absolute authority, they also displace him as absolute truth.  When a whole community of individuals do this, and such individuals become the majority in that community, then that community no longer has a 'community norm' that holds them together except that no-one knows how anyone else is going to act anymore.

The short definition of that is 'dis-trust'.

But deep down in each of us, we yearn for community. We were made for relationships.  But for relationships and a sense of belonging, and 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' we have to have trust.  Where it has become a rare commodity, it can now be held out as a rare jewel being offered, rather than the good that all (or almost all) once enjoyed.

Now of course, whether political party promises of trust are to 'be trusted' is another topic of discussion.  But the point is, that it is a topic to be used at all, is significant.  It infers that all around us are people and groups that cannot be trusted.  It infers that the 'norm' now is untrustworthiness.  It infers that the group offering trustworthiness, is different, better and will bring a return of the 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' we all wish for.

The truth is that 'trust' is a pre-requisite for 'satisfying and fulfilling lives', but only when that trust in placed first and foremost in the One who is totally trustworthy.  When the majority of members of a community are putting their trust in the One who is totally trustworthy, as their Absolute Truth and Authority - there will be an overall level of trust in the society.  Without it there will not.

As Christians it starts with US. Are we living in such a way as to allow the Fruit of the Holy Spirit to be evident? Are we trustworthy and faithful?  Are we known for keeping our word, fulfilling commitments, giving sacrificially, loving others, being diligently honest, upholders of truth, faithful at work, at home, at church? Are you the salt you need to be in the contexts God has placed you. Yes it starts with US.  It starts with ME.  It starts with YOU.

In a futre blog I would love to share with you some excerpts from a terrific book I have just finished reading all about 'trust' and the consequences of its presence or lack in a society and economy.  Meanwhile if you can source a copy for yourself, though not a Christian book, I would highly recommend it.  It is called "Trust: the social virtues and the creation of prosperity" by Francis Fukuyama.

Is Technology Helping or Hindering Missions?

For sure there are many ways in which technology is helping advance the gospel, especially in the areas of IT and the internet.

---Just to start with, the ministry we have been able to do with the Pocket Preacher Audio Player filled with over 300 hours of bible teaching and the audio bible is mostly the result of sourcing and communication that we are able to do over the internet.

---It is true that the cell phone has almost totally invaded Africa.  

Folk in remote villages far out in the centre of the Kalahari Desert even have cell phones. (although a large number don't have funds to make calls, they have a phone so they can receive calls!) - even our little 3 year old 'grand-daughter' knows how to use many aspects of her father's phone including the camera!

---It is also true that in the urban areas in particular a growing number of people have email addresses and some have smart phones, and there are 'dongles' available from cell phone companies to be able to access the internet via the cell-phone network.

---We have greatly benefited from the use of email to send communication to home offices, supporters and family, which not only speeds up processes but saves money.

In that way, of course the Internet is a help.

However, this picture can be very deceiving.  

What may appear to a Westerner that all of Africa now has total access to all that is on the internet, is simply not true.  

To use our context as an example:

• firstly a person has to have enough money to be able to buy internet time, and its not cheap when compared with western prices, 
• and they need access to electricity in some form.
• many people do overcome the need for power/cash by only using their office/work email address if they have one. This means though that they should only be attending to personal internet matters in their lunch break and what they can download and print off may be limited and they have no access at all in their non-office hours (weekends/holidays/after hours - the very times when a person actually has some time to read, they have no access).
• the best internet is available only through copper wire post-paid landline phones (pre-paid customers who are many, are not eligible) which a large part of the country doesn't have access to.
• - and that service is mostly incredibly slow.  While sometimes speed can be almost acceptable there are times when it has taken us 1.5hrs to download a 6.5MB document!
• if a person doesn't have access to a landline phone but has an internet equipped cell phone or a 'dongle' for their computer(if they have one), then they can buy 'airtime' for internet access.  But again speeds can be incredibly slow - so slow that secure webpages that require passwords sometimes can't be opened because the server times out during processing.
• there are no free wi-fi 'hot spots' that we know of except in high-end restaurants and many require you to be a patron before you can be given a code to gain access.  And not all restaurants have this service available for free, many charge a fee for a limited number of minutes.  
• there are a few internet cafes but the charges they have are prohibitive for most folk to do anything beyond a few minutes quickly checking a few emails.  And if the power is out, and the cafe has no back-up generator, there is no internet access at all.

Last week while Andrew was in town, he stopped at a cafe and was going to make good use of time and get some internet tasks done. He discovered the cafe charged a fee, but he decided to pay the fee anyhow, for the convenience of internet access.  However, just after he typed in the code and the timer started ticking, in walked someone he hadn't seen for ages. The person spotted him and came over for a chat.  By the time they finished chatting the time was almost 'up' and the money wasted.

So ............when a Western 'ministry' group announces with pride that they now have all their resources available for free on the internet, that isn't the whole story. Most people in Africa probably still can't access it.

We have just had word that yet another evangelical international Christian ministry, that up to now produced their excellent magazine in printed form, is no longer going to do so.  It will all be on the internet.  

So now, we can no longer subscribe to receive a printed copy.  

More than half the reason we subscribed was not just so we could read it, but so all the people who come through our house can read the copy from our coffee table, or borrow it later.  And when the copies get to be a couple of years old we send them to a Bible College for their library so all the rural pastors from various parts of Africa doing training there can have access to it for many years to come. 

These are people who now will NOT be able to benefit from the content of the magazine.  

Africa so desperately needs access to good solid bible teaching.  Printed teaching resources that are available to multiple readers is a great way to do this.

Of recent days/years we have had another major international daily devotional producer cease making printed copies available to Africa (we are not sure if anywhere else in the world can still get them). When we enquired we were told that people can now find them on the internet. 

We also know of a major strong, biblically sound producer of printed bible study booklets and sample sermons on CD who stopped producing both, saying they are now available on the internet for free.

Rather than being missions and 'God's global church' focused, the West is being very narrow minded and self-focused in making such decisions.

When an item is only available in electronic form or on the internet, that has impact in ways most Westerners don't even begin to comprehend:

• most people won't have access, but if they do ......

• only one person (the one who owns the computer or smart phone) can access the material and no one can access any other material similtaneously- essentially it can't be shared except with another person with current access to the internet on a separate device.

**** a book/magazine on the other hand can be read by many people over many years and even while the 'original owner' is reading something else!

• the material can only be accessed while the person has money, access to the internet and power to keep their device charged. If they want to re-access the same information later they have to pay for internet time again

****printed material can be read anytime and is not reliant on internet access or power or a charged device and can be read over and over for no extra expense

• if the material requires printing off or downloading, the person has to have a device large enough to store the data along with other data and/or ability to print off the material

****the cost of buying a book or bible study notes or other materials is actually normally cheaper than printing off one copy of the book even if there is no purchase cost, and the quality of the finished product is much more robust and long lasting than a bunch of A4 printed sheets that then have to be bound (more cost).

• to access something on the internet you have to fairly much already know what you are looking for specifically and go directly to that site/article or type a specific key word into a search engine

- whereas a book or magazine on shelf or a coffee table is there to browse even if you weren't thinking to do so or had never heard of it.

When sound Biblical teaching in printed form is withdrawn there are consequences...

When evangelical publications cease to produce material in printed form (whether books, cheap magazines or free booklets), it doesn't leave some neutral void. 

We can't just say: "its sad, but 'so be it' ". 

No, people will still read what they have access to - material from the cults and the like.  The JWs are still distributing literature.  The big 'Prosperity Gospel' churches such as "Pastor Chris of the 'Christ Embassy'", still distribute thousands if not millions of his basically free devotional book every year around the world, particularly across Africa. (see blogpost from Pastor Conrad Mbewe in Zambia about Pastor Chris to get an idea of the type of teaching that is flooding Africa)

And yet here we have strong, sound biblical resources not increasing the light of Christ in places like Africa, but shrinking it - shall we say hiding it under a 'bushel' (Luke 11:33) - the bushel of the mostly inaccessible internet.

So though Technology may be helping some aspects of missions, there are more and more other ways in which we feel it is actually taking missions backwards.  And it really saddens us. 

- not so much for ourselves
(though we prefer to not have to read everything on-line, we can make the effort to do so - but the truth is that less will be read).

.......but.....

......We are sad for Africa.  

......We are sad for Pastors who will now never read this magazine and the wealth of its content which could help equip them. 

......We are sad for new Christians who we can no longer 'sign up' to receive the daily devotional, and growing Christians we can no longer even buy some of the cheaply available great bible studies that were produced in printed form but are now only available on-line. 

We can't even afford to be printing all these items off, let alone find the time to do it - the average African hasn't a chance. 

In fact it almost makes us more than sad - it almost makes us mad!  

Is this really 'loving one another' when we don't make provision for those who have less than ourselves? 

We might give to missions in the Sunday offering but are we really thinking about what it means to be part of God's mission to the world?

What does God think?  

Is He Sad?  Is He Mad? 

Would Jesus have had a similar reaction to what he did in the temple when those who purported to be providing a service to God's chosen people were actually more interested in their finances than truly serving?...and thus many of those who wanted to be able to sacrifice couldn't because they simply didn't have the resources available to access what they needed or they had to spend more than they should to obtain it. Jesus called it theft!

Now those people would never have called themselves thieves or thought of themselves that way - they would have just thought they were maximising their financial opportunities!  

They didn't see themselves as guilty. ( Scripture tells us we are all busy doing 'what is right in our own eyes'.)  But they should have been ashamed of themselves.

But what about God's perspective?  For sure the money changers got a bit of a shock to be publicly labelled as thieves!  

We need to take a closer look at God's bigger perspective on this issue of cancelling printed media in favour of internet media only accessible to those with the wealth and a piece of technology to access it.

Supposed 'Cost Effectiveness' seems to be overtaking a missional perspective.

On one hand we hear so much about the need to 'Reach the Unreached' and yet some of the effective means to reaching many who are unreached are actually being removed.  Access to solid teaching in forms that many of the 'unreached' need it for it to actually 'reach' them, is being reduced.

Whatever happened to trusting the Lord for the further resources needed to reach those who need to hear who will not hear without a preacher - even if that preacher is a book/magazine/booklet?  

Whatever happened to innovation and creativity - maybe making the magazine smaller or produced less often or fewer colour pages or cheaper paper or...or ...or?

We would really like to somehow send a 'wake-up call' to the wider Christian world, with a plea especially for sound biblical groups to make every effort to NOT stop printed media and consider being 'missional' before simply being 'economical'!

This doesn't only affect places like Africa.

What about those in the 'West' who don't have a computer?  Not everyone does and its not only the elderly who don't.  The poor, the elderly and anyone else for whatever reason doesn't have access to the internet are all excluded as well when print media is removed.

However, in the midst of bad news there is some good news!

 - we want to mention one organisation that is not following the trend.  Randy Alcorn/Eternal Perspectives Ministries does make their magazine available on-line and does include a request with their printed versions that if a person can access it on-line to please do so.  However, when we wrote to them explaining why we still subscribe to a printed copy, they were right with us.  Thank you Randy and EPM!

That little magazine is read over and over again by various ones who come through our door and lives are being impacted.

What can you do to encourage a true missional perspective over supposed 'cost effectiveness'?  

What can you do to encourage and better love your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world?

'been thinking a bit about.....Redeeming the time

The previous blogpost included these words

So often in our fast paced, instant, rushing world, we have to pause a little longer if we are going to be able to see, what is actually there all along....stuff we just don't see because either we don't take the time to linger in observation, or take the time to gain a new perspective, or take the time to wait to let the light (of truth from God's Word - Ps 119:105) increase! 

and they got me thinking further....

Early on in my 'POTS' life, as I came towards my 40th birthday and contemplated my years so far and years to come, I wrote a poem about 'taking time'.  Even in Africa I am surrounded by situations that want to 'take my time'.  Urban Africa can sometimes seem crazy and chaotic and that can lead very easily to a sense of circumstances just pulling in all directions and 'taking time' that had been planned for something else.

I know, that sometimes what we see as 'interruptions' in life can be God's divine appointments.  But on the other hand we can be so ruled by the 'need' to respond to what appears to be the 'urgent' around us all the time, that sometimes we end up doing tasks that are the exact opposite of Divine appointments.  I once saw a poster that said something to the effect of : "If you truly have too many things to do in your day, there are some things that God didn't put there".

The difficulty of course is in the pressure of the moment of urgent decisions, to remember to pause long enough to ask ourselves what are priorities, and ask the Lord for His wisdom.

SAYING NO!

But I am convinced that we (that I) need to learn more about when to say 'no'.  When we are children we normally learn that word 'no' first.  We say 'no' when we don't want to do something asked of us.  There is nothing wrong with the word, however.  We just have mis-placed (wrongly placed) where we should use it.  We should be saying 'no' when God doesn't want us to do what others ask of us or what we may want to do ourselves.

When we say 'no' to demands or even kind requests of others, in order to say 'yes' to what God wants us to do with our time, we are not doing wrong, but doing right.  In a sense we are choosing to 'take time' for what God wants, instead of letting other people and things 'take our time'....or rather 'take the time God has given us to do His will'!  I used to tell counsellees and those I taught 'Time Management' to that 'We must learn to say no to the things we should say no to, so that we can be free to say yes to the things we should say yes to'.... I could take that one step further to say: "We must learn to say no to the people we should say no to so that we can say yes to God who we should be saying yes to".  (and that's whether the 'people' are others or ourselves!)

REDEEM THE TIME

As we 'take time', we are doing what Scripture commands us to do when it says to 'redeem the time for the days are evil'. (Eph 5:16) I once thought this meant we should make the most of time, because time is short and so we must get 'busy' doing God's work before time runs out!  But this just puts us on the world's busy track of overwork, exhaustion, task over relationships and people-pleasing over God-pleasing.

I have come to a whole new understanding of what it means to 'redeem the time'.....since redeem means to 'buy back'.  Instead of just being 'busy about God's work', we are instead meant to be on God's agenda and simply use the time the way He wants.  We are to rest when he wants us to rest, talk when he wants us to talk, be quiet when he wants us to be quiet, listen when he wants us to listen, be thankful when he wants us to be thankful (which is always), rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, and most of all take time to gain His perspective, understand His truth, rest in His love, and remember to walk in His strength.  

We are to fill our lives with the priorities that surround this command in Ephesians 5 - God's priorities for us, instead of the evil priorities of this world.  This passage is chock-full with guidance for priorities that will honour the Lord with our time - I encourage you to re-read the whole chapter.

It is interesting that the example in Scripture immediately following verse 16 of Ephesians chapter 5, (in the context of the intervening phrase 'do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is').... is that of letting many hours or days or more of life being 'taken' in abusing alcohol by getting drunk (- and the many hours of lost additional time from hangovers or foolish actions while being drunk that lead to all kinds of other matters that will 'take time' to sort out) - a foolish choice with time-stealing consequences. Scripture then gives us the better God honouring option of instead being filled with the Spirit and letting God's Wisdom and Will so consume us that we are sensitive to His guidance and direction for how to 'take back the time' that would otherwise be filled with foolish and evil pursuits.  After all, our 'time' is our 'life' - what we fill our time with is what we fill our life with - if we want our life to be God-honouring, our time has to be God-honouring.

I know I need to be so careful not to let circumstances buffet me along in life and 'take time' that God wants allocated to something else.  When I do, I end up being 'captive' to foolish (unwise) choices and the evil priorities of this world and their accompanying stress.  Instead I need to be 'praying without ceasing' - constantly and vigilantly bringing God into my situations, seeking His will and priorities ensuring that I am taking time to do His will, and that is so easy to forget to do. 

But if I focus on seeking God's will for my time, there won't be time left for the evil priorities of this world!...ie the principle of 'if we live by the Spirit we will not fulfil the desires of the flesh'. (Galatians 5:16)

Here is the poem I wrote some time back that helped me summarise some of God's priorities for my time - priorities that I need to remind myself of again and again and again!

Take time to smell the roses,

Take time to hear the bees, 

Take time to watch the sunrise, 

Take time to feel the breeze. 

 Take time to taste God's goodness, 

In His Word hear His voice, 

Take time to feel His strong arms, 

Trust Him, rest and rejoice. 

 Take time to know Him deeply, 

Serve others, grow in grace,

Take time to seek His glory, 

Sin aside, let's run the race.  

Take time, Yes, Christ is in you, 

Focus and depend on Him, 

His life lived in and through you,  

Is your vict'ry over sin.

Take time, look to God in prayer

Give your worries to the Lord

He will work it all for good

As He promised in His Word.

Take time, your home is coming, 

 Don't rush or lag behind, 

Take time, follow God's agenda, 

Soon you'll see Heaven's prize. 

Lessons from the Glossy Starling

Botswana is home to some amazing birds.

Since moving out of the city and to the 'bush' almost two years ago, I have been amazed at the variety of birds I have seen through the window from my reclined position on my 'day bed' or while taking in the sights from our front porch. The count so far is over 30!

However, because of my limited mobility, getting good photos of them has been almost impossible.  So for the most part, I simply have to enjoy them when I see them.

This photo is of the Glossy Starling and was actually snapped at the local Game Reserve when we were last there.

It is a good example of mis-judging reality! 

In poor light or the wrong angle you can think this is just an average blackish looking bird.  But with a change in angle, better perspective and good light, the most amazing iridescent colours appear!....actually the colours are there all the time...yet we can easily fail to see them...

But now that I have lived here long enough to recognise the bird more easily most of the time, I know what beauty is there.  If I don't see it right away, I know I just have to wait a bit and allow the angles to change or the light to change (or move myself so that the angles change), to gain that clearer perspective.  Then I can see and appreciate what is actually there.

It's not so unlike our whole honour/shame research.  

As we look at the culture around us, it is so easy to not really see what is there....to just see the darkness or frustrations of the picture.  But as we have come to understand more of the dynamics of honour/shame, the new perspectives have helped us to better appreciate the 'handles' in the culture on which to hang the biblical truth that needs to impact hearts.  And further...to realise how much an honour/shame emphasis culture person with the added light of God's word can actually appreciate aspects of the gospel in far greater ways than I can.

This Glossy Starling is not the only bird here like this.  Another that came to our garden and was busy in the tree outside our bedroom window was the Red Billed Wood Hoopoe.  At first he just appeared to be a dull black in the tree, but I have learnt to take more than a cursory glance at birds.  With just a little more time to pause and observe, we noticed it too has vivid iridescent colours if the angle of the light is just right.  (And if you want to take a further look on the internet....my favourite iridescent bird in Botswana is the little Marico Sunbird)

Just like with the Hoopoe, learning to see honour/shame in our 'field' culture, has helped me to pause long enough to look longer at another culture - my own 'home' (Western) culture - and realise there is more honour/shame there than we realise at first glance. In fact there are more honour/shame dynamics in all of us than our Western mindset has cared to identify, they are just arranged and framed slightly differently by the cultural contexts.  And interestingly, we have not only had Africans we talk to have 'aha' moments as we discuss honour/shame, but also Westerners....Westerners who begin to understand themselves better in the light of what God's Word has to say on the topic.

So often in our fast paced, instant, rushing world, we have to pause a little longer if we are going to be able to see, what is actually there all along....stuff we just don't see because either we don't take the time to linger in observation, or take the time to gain a new perspective, or take the time to wait to let the light (of truth from God's Word - Ps 119:105) increase!  Pray for us that as we desire God's truth to reach deep into hearts to transform lives, that we will not be impatient, but be willing to do all three - linger in observation, do what is needed to increase a new perspective, and wait and watch to see what the Light in such contexts will reveal!

And maybe in your corner of the world....you could pray the same for yourself too.

Nature's Bouquet

Well the first few drops of rain of the season have come, and 'drops' is the key word!  We are yet to have a good heavy downpour on our patch of earth.

The ground is still very dry and most of the trees don't have any fresh green leaves yet.

However, other bunches of flowers are beginning to appear on some of the trees in our garden even though the leaves are struggling to appear.

So I thought you would enjoy the beauty of these delightful frangipani flowers!

(photo courtesy of my dear hubby and the advantage of his height ..)

....and yes all those flowers are part of one bunch on one branch - they start dark pink and slowly fade - very pretty indeed!

The Dry Season

We are in the midst - hopefully toward the end - of the dry season.

The bush around us is almost totally a dull grey or sandy colour - hardly anything green to be seen.  And what is green doesn't look too great either.  

Even some of the succulents are shrivelling up.

In fact it feels like one of the driest seasons we have had.

Yet in the midst of a seeming almost total absence of life, there are signs that all is not lost and some plants are managing to actually produce flowers!

....including these 'softer than rabbit fur' bottle brush like ones

...and these ones coming on some aloe plants in our garden

...and the ever prolific bouganvillea that seem to somehow do best in the driest of times

What a reminder that even though the view all around might be only one of dry land it doesn't mean we have to join in....

Surrounding barrenness doesn't need to dictate our own condition, even though it may not be too encouraging when we look around us!

God can make something beautiful in and of our lives

 - something different from what surrounds us 

- something that His light can shine through, 

so that those looking may have cause to look to the Creator of that beauty!

'Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven'

Matthew 5:16