When Desert Tracks Became Raging Torrents in our Village

Last Thursday we got a downpour!  45mm in 45mins in fact!

We have had a lot of rain in the past weeks (which has been wonderful) so the ground is already quite wet.

So this wild storm had an impact!

Our garden got swamped with sand, that also got washed into the plunge pool, as the water came barrelling down the hill.

But my hubby was out in it and found himself caught in the middle of flash-flooding - on a village sand-road that became a raging river!  He was dropping a guy back at his farm nearby after doing some odd jobs, when they were suddenly in the midst of swirling water and waves coming down the road!  It was certainly a time to be thankful for a 4x4 with high clearance and that they were kept safe and not washed away, but it still did some damage to the car. 

The guy he was giving a lift home to, said he hadn't seen water like this since the big floods of 2000!

Here are a few photos to tell some of the story.  The last photo is one of a 'wave' coming down the road in front of the car!  I'm told that these don't tell even half the story!….it was only what he managed to capture on his phone at a couple of points!

Who Am I? - Aussie or .....?

It's Australia Day today…..But the longer I live outside my birth country (for me almost 16 years now of my life, and for my husband nearer 30 years), the more it can become confusing as to whether I am still really feel 'Aussie'! -

So I found it fascinating to read the following list once again, via an email sent to me:

You know you are Australian when:

- you believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn

- you pronounce Melbourne as "Mel-bin".

- you believe that the letter 'l' in Australia is optional, and its pretty ok to call it 'Straya'.

- you think Wooloomooloo is a perfectly reasonable name for a place

- you're secretly proud of our killer wildlife

- you believe its perfectly reasonable for a country to have a $1 coin that is twice as big as the $2 coin

- you understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' cannot be just 'Woy'.

- beetroot with your hamburger - of course!

- you wear ugg boots outside the house

- you believe that the more you shorten someone's name, the more you like them.

- You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, but 'scuse me', is always polite'

- You know what its like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose!

- you know its not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron!

- you know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in 'o' : arvo, convo, garbo, leezo, metho, milko, mayo, servo, smoko, repo, speedo, righto etc...

- you know that there is a universal place called 'Woop woop' located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are!

- and you can understand all of this, had a giggle and tell all your aussie and international friends.  I love Australia!

What a great 16 lines!...and a warm sense of 'belonging' in reading it  - Yes, I'm an Aussie!

  - except I've never swallowed a fly via my nose, and maybe I should be concerned about my 'Aussie-ness', because I am careful to pronounce 'Australia' and 'Melbourne'!...and I don't think its exactly logical to have a $1 coin larger than the $2 coin ….

But you see, I could also do a list of items in regard to my 'adopted home' country of Botswana and Continent of Africa....

I could also say that you know if you are a Motswana African...

- when you call the capital city Gaborone, 'Gabs' and know that a bus saying its destination is "Moleps" is actually going to a place called "Molepolole"!

- when you understand that people's names are not a bunch of words in their own exclusive category - any word can be used: 'Remember', 'Prosper', 'Trust', 'Happy', or their local language equivalents

- when you greet a person and they answer 'fine' even before you have asked how they are.

- when you think 'Molepolole' and 'Diphuduhudu' are quite normal names and you can say them without thinking.

-when you are openly proud of your killer wildlife, call them the 'big 5' and put their pictures on T-shirts and souvenirs and make sure tourists are equally proud of seeing your 'big 5' up fairly close when they visit

- when you leave the toilet door open when you are in it and closed when you are not (the 'door open' part doesn't happen so much around town here but the door is kept closed when no-one is there... but I actually was in the 'ladies' of an international airport transit area once when a north african lady used the facilities while leaving the door to the 'stall' wide open for all to see!)

- when you know its hot because everything you touch even inside your house feels hot - even the clothes inside your wardrobe, and the water coming out of your cold tap that has its pipes on the outside of the house, will burn your fingers.

- when its normal to see people dancing and singing as they move along in a local street demonstration for higher wages

- when its normal for men to leave the manufacturer's tag on the sleeve of their suit so everyone will know they are wearing a prestigious 'off the rack' one and not a 'tailor made' one.

- when you understand you need to have three weddings and two receptions to be 'fully' married - the traditional one where the bride-price is handed over, the magistrates court, and the western style 'white wedding' at the church or wherever, then one reception at the bride's family home and one at the groom's family home.

- when a small child is throwing a tantrum, and they are not sent to their room, but the behaviour is still not tolerated, so they are picked up, thrown on the mother's back and strapped on tightly with a large towel - and are instantly immobilised!

- when a road sign telling you to look out for donkey carts, or one that says its an area of 'elephants crossing', is familiar

- when you use the car hazard lights almost as often as the normal lights because of broken down vehicles in the road, goats/donkeys/cows/chickens crossing, or other 'incidents' on the roads.

- when its not strange that a whole family could live in one room which serves as the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, and sitting room,  and where lack of electricity doesn't limit access to satellite TV as it is running off a 12V battery.

- when you have a real life picture of each of these firmly in your mind and experience, and smile at the fond and familiar memories

....and there are only a few on this list that 'aren't me'. (I do close the door when I go to the 'loo' and I haven't participated in any street demonstration for higher wages!)

...but the rest of the list is recalled with fondness and familiarity.

Who do I cheer for if I watch the Olympics - both Australia and Botswana!  I was so thrilled when Botswana got its first Olympic medal and its first Commonwealth Games Gold medal. I am also thrilled when Australia does well.

But maybe there is not so much of  choice as to which I should align most with and we are more similar than we think…........If Aussies often change words to end in 'o' like smoko and arvo, how interesting is it that it was here in Botswana, not in Australia, that instead of being called Mr and Mrs Freeman, we were first 'nicknamed' with affection the titles of Rra and Mma Freezo!!

So am I a juggler of two personas?  No I don't think so.  I prefer to think of myself as multiply blessed, both with a wider experience of life by having lived in two countries giving an appreciation for varied perspectives and cultures, and a greater appreciation for the fact that first and foremost I am a citizen of heaven.  

As I live more and more years within the community of believers and as part of God's culture of 'godliness', I pray that rather than only identifying with and 'Aussie' list or a 'Motswana' or 'African' list, I would more and more identify with a 'Christ-ian' list and the 'cultural' traits of my spiritual and heavenly identity are what become more and more part of me and what I am familiar with…....

I really know more and more that I am a child of God:

- when I choose to pray instead of worry

- when I am patient when the logical and expected reaction would be the opposite

- when I love my enemies rather than be bitter and revengeful

- when I am willing to forgive rather than refuse to forgive

- when I am constantly asking myself If my attitudes and actions are honouring the Lord Jesus Christ above all.

- when I look to God and His word for wisdom, direction and guidance rather than follow the current trends and worlds expectations

- when I am more interested in being on God's agenda for me than having him 'bless' my agenda, and His kingdom expanding rather than my own.

- when I am thankful rather than complaining

- when I am filled with joy when another lost sinner is born again to new life and saved from the wrath of God to come

- when I experience God's peace rather than my own anxiety

- when I focus on the good, the blessings, the joy and higher purposes that God has for me rather than the negative and discouraging circumstances

- when I realise more of my smallness but more of God's bigness....and as a result how much God honours me undeservedly by caring for me in my smallness!

- when I share His love and blessings with others

- when I love more of what He loves, and hate more of what He hates

- when rather than fear, I experience confidence - confidence in life on earth because of confidence in Christ before my Father in Heaven

- when I can more and more rejoice always

- when I am more interested in a person's heart health than their physical health, while not ignoring the physical health either.

- when I am more interested in living by faith to realise God's long term outcomes, than living by sight being pre-occupied with short term earthly outcomes

- when I am trusting God, depending on His resources for everything and not depending on myself

- when what God has been working in me by His Spirit is being worked out for the world around to see His light, as I honour, trust and obey Him

- and much much more...

The "Mary" Honour Blessing that Prosperity Churches Don’t Want

Christmas has just passed and many of us will have heard the Christmas story read in our churches from chapter 1 of Luke or Matthew

In these passages we read about how the Angel Gabriel brought news of pregnancy both to Elizabeth and her young cousin Mary. Both refer to the messages as evidence of God showing them His favour. 

Two Women, Two Miracles

The news to Elizabeth brought a removal of her shame: 

Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people

Some translations use the word 'disgrace' instead of 'reproach', but both mean shame.  The New Living Translation, instead of saying 'among people' gives cultural meaning to the words by saying 'disgrace of having no children'.  In other words the blessing was that God removed her cultural and earthly shame of infertility.

The news to Mary, however, which was almost identical in that it was an announcement that she was to have a baby, had a different immediate earthly outcome.  Both babies were unexpected miracles that seemed to be outside the realms of possibility (Elizabeth being humanly too old to conceive and Mary not having 'known' a man in a sexual way), and Mary's miracle is also described by the Angel as evidence of God's favour in Luke 1:28,30:

And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

 But the news to Mary didn't remove any public shame.  Instead it brought shame for Mary and for Joseph.  

Joseph, when he found out the news, wanted to divorce Mary quietly and 'privately' so as to avoid public shame and disgrace.  However, with God's intervention through the angel's visit to Joseph in a dream, he didn't divorce her. Instead he and Mary had to live with the rumours, stories and shame that went with a baby being concieved by Mary while they were still in the betrothal period.

So we have two women, two stories of good news of a baby, and two stories of favour from God, but one brought relief from earthly shame and one was the very means of bringing earthly shame.

Earthly Shame in Eternal Honour

This raises a significant issue that Prosperity churches, here in Africa especially, don't talk about.  

It's the issue that honour from God may equal shame on earth.

It's an issue I've spoken about before on this blog and an issue that needs to be re-calibrated for many Africans.

Culturally for Africans, earthly shame is the only shame to factor into life.  When a person becomes a Christian, they think that the type of honour God gives, is honour according to how they understand honour.  And so if Scripture says believers 'will not be put to shame' (eg Romans 9:33), it is understood Christians will never experience shame on earth if they are truly living in God's favour, blessing and honour.  It is believed that blessing from God always equals earthly shame removed.

But here, in Scripture, are two women, who God tells us in His word, were godly, blessed and favoured, but the outcome for one of them was only earthly shame compounded and heaped on.

Yet, did Mary seek God to remove her shame and seek a prophet for deliverance from such a curse, deciding it could not be of God because it brought shame to her and her husband? No. 

Mary recognised that God's honour can result in earthly shame, but God's honour always, always is supreme over any earthly shame.  

As we look at her praise song, often called the 'magnificat' (in Luke 1:46-55), she knew that God looks on the humble, and exalts the humble.  He feeds the poor and hungry and sends the rich away empty. God humbles the proud and brings them down.  God's accounting system of what is of high value honour status and what is of low value was the opposite of her culture's accounting system of honour and shame.

She knew that in God's system of things, honour and shame were not just about today and what people around might say today.  She didn't just live for today.  She was a woman who lived for God's eternal purposes.  She knew that a day would come when future generations would call her 'blessed' even if they didn't just now.  What God thought of her, and that God chose her, was of far, far greater value to her than what others around might say. 

In the events which spelt 'Earthly shame' for Mary, she described as her 'mighty' and 'holy' God doing 'great things' for her.

This is the message we have to preach, preach, preach, counsel, counsel, counsel, teach, teach, teach, live, live, live……especially here in Africa.  Because it is a message that is mis-understood - in endemic proportions!

Sadly its a message of truth that is not only opposite to cultural honour and shame values, but it is opposite to the teaching of a huge number of churches and TV preachers across this continent.

It's passages like the first chapter of Luke and Matthew that have to be looked at with non-Western eyes and seen for the rich truth they have to speak powerfully into honour/shame dominated hearts.

Be Willing for a "Mary" Plan 

Yes, we can be thankful when God's plan and favour include a removal of earthly shame, like for Elizabeth. 

But we need to help folk understand that instead of an 'Elizabeth plan', God might have a 'Mary plan'. ….a plan that from our temporary, 'now', earthly perspective looks shameful, but from an eternal, future and heavenly perspective is of great blessing. 

If God brought His greatest gift to the world through a 'Mary plan' of earthly shame (of which Jesus' conception was only the beginning of much earthly shame for him and his family), then why should we even begin to doubt that He can bring great blessing to us and the world through what seems to us as shameful means in the eyes of those around us?

Let us lift our eyes to heaven just as Mary did and praise and thank the Lord for whatever situations He chooses for us - whether honourable or shameful in the eyes of the culture around us - trusting that God sees more than we do, knows more than we do, has much bigger plans than we do and loves us more than we can imagine.  

The honour God wants us to enjoy is on a 'Mary' scale - He wants us to know the type of joy Mary had as she praised her Lord and Saviour for the great favour and honour He bestowed upon her even though it meant her life was about to be clouded in earthly shame.

Let's not choose joy and honour limited by worldly and cultural terms.  Let's choose joy and honour that supercedes earthly definitions!  Let's not just seek God for 'Elizabeth plans', but be eagerly willing and rejoice in 'Mary plans' too!

The Christmas Eve Visitor reminder of a New Year's Promise

Life in general is full of surprises, but life in the African bush seems to abound in surprises.

Sometimes those surprises are just simply beautiful - like the blooming of an indigenous magnolia with delicately scented custard coloured flowers, for the first time in the years we have lived here.

Although sometimes the surprises are a little less positive.

photo credit

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!"….so the little poem goes.

But our story was more like,

'Twas the day before Christmas, when all of a sudden, slithered a long grey snake of the species 'black mamba'

Now for those of you who don't know, the black mamba is about the deadliest snake in the world.  Only a few people are known to have been bitten and survived.  While we know someone in that category, they are not the kind of snake to mess with.

As we watched (from a distance) as it slithered across our driveway just meters from our back door and across some garden beds and off into the bush beside our house, we were reminded of the importance of keeping screen doors closed!

At the time, I thought if I was superstitious I'm sure I would consider it some bad omen for Christmas Day, the next day.

But as I watched it, the thought that came to my mind was that Christmas Day is all about the One who came and crushed the great serpant's head - Satan himself.  There was a serpent greater than the black mamba and he was defeated forever because Jesus was born…to die…and rise…victorious. 

As we push on into a new year, we don't do it with a bad omen but with a great promise of sin forgiven and Satan defeated.