The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

I’ve recognized that I have been strictly using this blog to share what’s going on in our lives and ministry and not delving into what’s actually going on in my head. I have really left that side of things to Michelle. Since this is a blog and not a newsletter, let’s try something a little bit different.
Lent began last Wednesday. Lent is about 7 weeks of fasting which helps us to reflect on the life and suffering of Jesus. It is a time of moderation and reflection. In the past I have fasted from meat over this period, but this year Michelle and decided to switch it up and fast from everybody’s favorite mind-numbing activity (no, not Facebook): the television. Needless to say there are more books being read, more Boggle being played, and more visitors over for tea at the Collins residence since the tv was unplugged.
I don’t think my spiritual heritage knows a whole lot about fasting. It’s always been a strange discipline with no apparent benefit, except to remind you to pray whenever you feel hungry. It also seems to be very rarely practiced. Or maybe I’m wrong about that and people just don’t talk about it much. Here’s a few things I’m learning from my “high church” brothers and sisters.
Fasting is rebelling against the idea that I can have whatever I want. I understand materialism to be way of understanding the world rather than simply a vice that should be avoided. We are able to avoid pain, truth, and presence through a quick fix (movies, sports, health, buying something). That’s why Jesus said it would be hard for a rich man to understand what his kingdom is all about. The rich are able to bypass any interaction with reality by satisfying their (our) material cravings.
Fasting puts that whole worldview into question. It reminds us that we are lacking; that we have huge need. These needs drive us back to the cross, to look for answers in a place where we know, by experience, answers can be found.
Obviously, Lent does not feature as highly on the Evangelical calendar. I imagine this has to do with abuses in the past, where fasting was seen as a way to earn God’s favor. Nevertheless, I’ve found it to be my favorite spiritual discipline! Easter Sunday is kind of like my spiritual New Year, centered on the resurrection of Jesus, which is the hope of the world.
There are some great Lent reading schedules online including Bible passages, reflection and prayers.  Perhaps you will want to try it out yourself. Commit to living simply and generously, spend more time in prayer, spend more time with people.

Moving on from that, I also have a few things to say about Haiti. Well, not so much Haiti as such, but the kind of questions that come up from a tragedy like that. Everybody, believer or non-believer, needs an explanation for what happened that day. Here’s my take.
When things in the world go really bad, it’s there to remind us that things really do go bad. There is nothing good about hundreds of thousands of people being crushed under buildings. I believe that to write it off as “all in God’s perfect will” is to sidestep the issue. Some take it further and call it divine retribution which is very interesting. I wonder if those people then are against humanitarian response at all, because wouldn’t that then be working against God?
Jesus may give us a hint here as to how we are to react towards tragedy. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. When John the Baptist died, all Jesus wanted to do was get away from the crowds and be alone. Jesus never said “It doesn’t matter, he went to heaven anyway.” Buddhists believe (if I have this right) that pain and suffering is an illusion. We can escape pain by denying its existence. I can’t imagine anyone continuing to believe that while watching the pictures coming out of Haiti. Jesus recognized pain, he believed that bad things really are bad.
But, the other thing we learn from Jesus is that death and suffering do not have the final word. In the resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that God has the final word. Jesus came to teach this to the world through his words and his actions. As Christians, we must also point the world to these truths. If there is anything we know as Christians, it is these two things: Pain is real; God will have the final word. This can be summed up in the word HOPE. As we respond in love to crises around the world, and as we respond to crises on our street, we are stepping into the world’s pain and pointing them to God’s kingdom. We are reminding our materialistic world that what they see is not all there is and things really are going to change.
By responding in love and compassion rather than judgment and fear, we show the world that we really do believe what Jesus taught: “the kingdom of Heaven is near.”
When life is really swell, there is no need for hope. I have heard people tell me, “I’d love to follow Jesus but life is just too fun right now.” We have to avoid this trap at all costs. Every time we encounter the pain of others, let it remind us where our hope lies.
And I guess that’s it for now.

We have just completed what was probably the busiest solid month of the year for us. Our new trainees joined us on the farm on January 10th. I’ll (Miah) introduce some of the guys in the pictures section if you want to take a look there.

Over the past week we had our “J-Life Africa Summit” with our country leaders and other guests joining us on the farm as well. We took all the delegates to a local golf course and played a round of mashie (3 par) golf. For most of the guys it was their first experience with golf. I was shocked, not only that they seemed to enjoy it so much, but that they played pretty well. I was beaten by a Swazi playing for the first time! It was kinda fun to watch a bunch of African missionaries enjoy the game of the rich and famous.

Tarisayi shared about the changes which have happened in Zimbabwe over the past year. It hasn’t taken a whole lot of political reform to improve their situation in Zim quite radically and to make Tarisayi much more optimistic about the future. Government control has really eased up and allowed significant ministry to start happening there.

Zambia’s training center is now 90% complete which should really open up some great opportunities in Central Africa.  Florence, the Cameroon country leader who Michelle and I visited in 2008, has been passionate about providing quality J-Life training for French-speaking African countries. The organization she started called “I Care” has been offered land just 15 kilometers from Yaounde for a very reasonable price.  J-Life may redirect funds earmarked for a building project in South Africa to make that happen in Cameroon. Florence is doing such great work there in Cameroon.

Another exciting development is that Christian, a trainee from Nairobi, Kenya, is heading home to work with J-Life after spending more than a year here in South Africa with us. He’s one of the coolest guys ever, but he will need prayer support as he is filling the shoes of Yallo, who passed away in a bus accident last year.

J-Life will also be starting to do some work in Liberia (a country coming out of civil war) and Zanzibar (our first predominately Muslim country) this year.
So, with all the excitement of what’s happening around the continent (and that’s just the start of it), its time to refocus on what’s happening here in South Africa. Michelle has been working on her counseling studies. It’s amazing to see how focused and dedicated she is with it. I don’t know what happened to the scattered, high pressure University of Texas student that I met 6 years ago! She also ran her first half marathon a couple weekends ago. “It was easy,” was her response to me afterwards. I’m also keeping up with my running. The Comrades Marathon (55 miler!) is a mere 3 months away now.

South Africa in general is pretty focused on the World Cup. It’s kind of a big deal here. A common joke is that if anyone talks about plans for 2011 or 2012 someone will say “What? I thought the world was ending in 2010.” So yeah, South Africa is definitely the place to be in 2010. We’re dying to introduce some of you all to this beautiful continent. So why not come see us? Pray about it.

Miah