I am challenged all the time by the disparity between the rich and the poor. Just yesterday, we were driving home from Port Shepstone and on the side of the highway, I see hundreds of tin shacks ligned up right next to eachother, kids running almost naked, you know, what Americans would view as the typical African scene. But then, about literally 100 feet away (I was seeing Chatswick), over a little hill, or accross the highway, or down the valley are these huge houses almost identical to the houses I grew up in in Houston Texas. There is a vivid image of the have’s and the have not’s here in South Africa that makes me somewhat understand why theft, robbery, and assaults happen every single day in each of these communities. Yes, there is potential for this place to be an oasis of beauty, relaxation, a hotspot of tourism for the entire world. And then accross the hill, there is potential for this place to be forgotten, cast aside, ignored, despised, and perverted by satan, as much of Africa is today. When two worlds collide as harshly as they do here in South Africa, inevitably problems arise that must be dealt with, and last week we met many people who deal with these problems everday.
This past week has been a great experience for me. We are visiting Miah’s family in Durban and catching up with everyone here on the coast. The first few days of this week, we got to go to a conference for Miah’s parents’ new church. The conference was on “extension ministries”, and the main ministry that was highlighted was a ministry called the container ministry. What the Container Ministry does is deliver several tons of food in huge containers to missionaries in rural and poverty stricken areas.
Occasionally, God gives us opportunities to interact with people who are literally changing our world as we know it. This past week we got to meet hundreds of these heroes and heroins. We met people who are on the frontlines of the kingdom of God in South Africa, ministering to the unwanted, to the sick, to the infected, to the spiritually needy. These people are feeding Jesus everday, they are clothing Jesus everyday, and ultimately they are loving Jesus radically everyday. We get these small glimpses of these people at conferences like this, but the reality of their lives that are completely spent for the Lord, is that day in and day out, they NEVER stop giving.
Another hero we got to hang out with was our friend Jason Price. Now, I’ve always known Jason to be a guy who has a deep need to make a difference in this world, but when you get to see him actually doing it, you get to experience the thrill of the victory of Jesus’ life and resurrection on this side of heaven. That thrill is something that I think every single follower of Christ desperately needs. But getting back to the point, Jason is changing the world right now in a ministry to communities on the South Coast of South Africa that are over 40% stricken with HIV/AIDS. He runs a gym for these guys, and he stops and has a bible study, and prays with them before they head out for the day. He also visits an HIV/ AIDS hospice that the church runs and hangs out with them, loves them, and helps them to die with the dignity, forgiveness, and love that Jesus pours into them through Jason.
God has been challenging me constantly that I am the church. Jesus left (sent the Holy Spirit and left) with the challenge and the commission for us to show Him to the world. And I am in a stage where the most dominant characteristic of Jesus in my mind and my heart right now is His radical love. I keep seeing this image of Jesus in my mind, bleeding, sleepless, persecuted, poor, saying “ The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” When we can go around the corner, over the hill, or wherever it is He leads and radically love people, why isn’t His church doing it?
Posted by michelle at 08:40 AM. Filed under:
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