The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

So, I (Miah) thought I’d get in one more blog before we head to the States. The next two weeks are going to be busy, so its now or never. We fly out on October 20th. We will spend most of our time in Texas and a bit in Indiana/Michigan. Here are a few recent events and thoughts from my side.

Michelle and I have been mentoring a dating couple friends of ours for the past couple of months. The guy, Johannes, was on J-Life last year and started a youth organization in his township (ghetto/shanty town) on his return home. He started dating Donna, who works with him in the organization, and Michelle has been meeting with her as well. This past Sunday we went to visit them and I was chatting to Johannes about how we as men find our purpose in God’s kingdom. We were talking about how we all have to find those things we see in the world that fill us with a sense of holy rage and that compel us to respond with the ways of Jesus. So I asked Johannes what that was in his life and he responded with 2 things that were not only profound, but are things that Joe is already living out.

He talked about his frustration when people abandon some of the simple truths of the gospel and try to add extra bits or to make things which Scripture is clear about more obscure. Johannes has a passion to live out the gospel through the great commandment (love God, love your neighbor) and the great commission (make disciples). He has been able to direct a lot of people towards God by boldly speaking out, even when it could get him in trouble.

The second thing that Joe talked about was his frustration with people in authority who abuse their positions at the expense of the innocent, especially the poor. One of the things Joe’s organization does is help with legal cases of the young people who would otherwise have little chance of receiving just treatment from the police or the courts. He is intent on sending the message in the community that people who sexually abuse young girls will be punished. He has even befriended the police chief who told him that if any of the cops are not doing their jobs in one of the cases that he is working on, Joe can let him know so that he can discipline them appropriately. So Johannes is out there making sure these girls get fair trials, and that edivence is properly collected and documented. He also tries to make sure they stay in school, and that they hear the gospel as well (it’s a whole nice package).

Anyway, its cool for us to be involved with people like Johannes and Donna. They are the whole reason we are here, and J-Life has impacted Joe hugely, giving him confidence and and steering towards fulfilling his dreams. Oh, Joe is also studying theology. In a couple years he will be an ordained Anglican Priest, and I’ll have to call him Father Joe

I recently participated in the Harrismith Mountain Race, the most difficult 15km race in the world (self-acclaimed). I’m still in pain 5 days later. I put a couple of pics in the photo section of the day. It was really fun because we had a big group of friends there running together. I was feeling really good at about the 10km mark and then I got really sick, threw up everything in me, and then finished really slowly. So I was a bit bummed, but there’s always next year.

We are getting very excited about coming to the States. Our calendar has been filling up with a lot of great friends and family. The other good thing is that we are really busy right on either side of our trip which I think makes it better, especially for Michelle, since she will have to do the whole leaving the family thing again. I’m also excited about having uncapped Internet bandwidth and I’m looking forward to perhaps splurging on a few books and maybe even some music. I’ll probably get Ed Dobson’s book “A Year of Living Like Jesus” which was inspired by the agnostic Jew who wrote “A Year of Living Biblically” where he followed strict Jewish law for a year. I’ll also check out Don Miller’s “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” On the music side I’m keen to hear Avett Brothers’ latest album, and we’ll just have to see what else is good. We’ll also be running a half marathon in Houston on October 26th I think it is. That should be fun.
Well, we’re off to Durban now. We are attending Willow Creek’s “Global Leadership Conference.” Looking forward to hearing from Bono and the speaker from Uganda. There’s always a few surprises as well.

By the way, we don’t think we’re more interesting than y’all just because we’re missionaries. We’d love to hear what’s been going on in your lives as well.

Grace and Peace
Miah