Our team, after our African meal with our new friendsI have been back from Africa for a few days and during this brief period of time I have noticed that some people, as they welcome you back and ask about your trip, have that look on their face that betrays a sense of awe at the fact that we were in Africa. Well, at the risk of disappointing some folks, I decided to post this entry here to remind us that we are all too human, especially the seven of us who went on this trip.
a rare moment of relaxation, with Andre, our chef extraordinaire
To begin with, let me remind you that this team was originally going to go to Pama, in the interior of the C.A.R. That's the village we are partnering with and that's where our four-14 team went last summer. Well, all of that changed when the village was attacked by bandits and two villagers were killed about two weeks before our scheduled departure. As a resulted of that, we ended up spending all of our time in the Capital city of Bangui. Why is that important? Let me list a few reasons here: 1. We had electricity most of the time; 2. We were staying in an actual guest house and not in tents; 3. We had privacy once we were inside the guest house; 4. We had someone who cooked almost all of our meals, using a lot of the foods and ingredients we had brought. For example, he made pizza and bread from scratch. He also did laundry every day; 5. Though it took some creative prodding and persistent attitude (leaving modesty aside), we did have Internet access and that is the reason you got to read this blog almost every day. Hey, the list could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Andre, our outstanding and gracious chef
Sure, the work was brutal, the conditions less than ideal, and the heat was suffocating at times (though in general it was not that bad). One day, when we did take measurements, we fond out that we were enjoying a balmy 123 degree F day, and we never slowed down the work on that day. Who knows what the temperature may have been on some other days? Not knowing the language and the culture is also a huge handicap. After a while it starts corroding your mood a little. I observed Beth at the Minneapolis airport, soon after we arrived, saying out loud: "We are back home again. And all the signs are in English. I can understand everything." Only one who has been deprived of that which is familiar can truly appreciate the significance of that statement.
But aside from all that and missing our loved ones back home, there was nothing out of the ordinary that we had to endure. Sure we had our share of sickness. We are only too human. Rick got sick and for a whole day was not able to work, though he tried, as you can see in the picture. Beth arrived with a cough in Bangui, struggled for a few days, got better, then worse, then better, then was greeted by the same cough again on the plane trip back to Paris. I had my own bout with a stomach thing which made me feel like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and for about 24 hours I walked around as though a whole civilization of little creatures was settling down inside my belly. 
Humans also are silly sometimes, as you can see from these pictures. I don't know what Pastor Tom intends to do with this picture, but I am sure that Sue will not allow him to put it on the wall of their home. 
Rick seemed to have found his long lost African brother. They are truly a "brand" of brothers. Too bad Rob never found his brother in Africa but he was picked on enough after the owner of the Moroccan restaurant in Paris asked to have his picture taken "with lightbulb here," as he put it, pointing to Rob.My IT man reporting for duty
All joking aside, Rob is one of the reasons you could enjoy so many pictures on this blog. Almost every night he would grab my computer and upload the pictures of the day from the different team members. I nicknamed him "my IT man" and he learned quite a few of the corks of my old Dell, which to him seemed like a dinosaur since he was sporting a shiny new HP that pretty much sat on a desk the whole time we were there. Rob missed the Internet a lot, but refused to try the slow connections in Bangui. He kept saying "let's Google it" whenever a question came up, knowing that we couldn't do it where we were. Rob says that when it comes to the Internet, he can never "regress," meaning, he can't go back to a slow connection. He was willing to regress in a lot of other areas, though, like showering under the light of a lamp, using water out of a bottle to brush your teeth with, riding in a mini-bus that smelled of horse manure, etc., etc. We may never get Rob back to civilization again but he is back on the 5th generation Internet connectivity hub, I am sure.
Humans also have this thing called vanity. I got my hair done on Wednesday before we left. It took two hours and two ladies to do it. Beth and Jeana got theirs done on the day we were leaving. They started at 2:00 p.m. and the two ladies were still 
working on them at 7:30 when we were supposed to leave for the airport. They ate their last supper (fresh pizza) while seated under artificial light, because electricity had gone out by then. But as you can see, it was all worth the effort and they were ready to board the bus on time. 
I came home and my son commented on my hair. He said: "I wonder if Dad is going to be this way when he is 75 years old." I said: "Joshua, as far as I know, there is no statute of limitation on vanity." He just laughed. 
Vanity can be dangerous sometimes, though. As we arrived at the airport to catch our plane back to Paris, our friends, Paul & Susan Yalipendi, were there to say good-bye to us. This is the second time they go to the airport to see us off. We were caught by the euphoria of the moment and agreed to have our picture taken right there. Susan had been sporting a different hair style too just a few days earlier and she wanted a picture of the "hair club." We snapped a quick one without thinking, only to be reminded right away that it is generally not a good idea to take a picture at the airport. Thankfully, we all escaped unharmed. Hey, we are only human. 
My human side showed itself with a vengeance when I collapsed on the carpet at the airport in Paris. After the ride from Bangui, it was nice just to lie on a horizontal position. It was just a precursor of better things to come, as I dreamed of my own comfortable waterbed, which I had sorely missed (pun intended) since I left home. I came home and my wife had some wonderful fish waiting for me. Even though it was past midnight, I feasted myself with the "food of the gods," and had no trouble sleeping through on my first night back to my normal human self.
I am so glad that God uses ordinary humans just like me to make a significant difference in the lives of people who live so far away from me. They are humans too.
And being all too human is not such a bad thing after all. Asaph, speaking of the arrogant and prideful in Psalm 73, describes them as people who "have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills." (verses 4-5).
For a moment the Psalmist envies the wicked and admires their super human qualities. It's almost as if he despises the mere humanness of humans. But then, he had a wake up call as he "entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies." (verses 17-20).
The Psalmist had nothing short of a revelation. He discovered that only mere humans can cry out to God and say: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you." (verse 25).
Mere humans can mess up badly sometimes. That's why we can say with the Psalmist: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (verse 26).
God forbid us if we try to be any less than too human. I am so glad to be perfectly positioned in that humble place reserved to the creature, for it is there that my Creator will take pleasure in taking care of me.
Mere humans invited to Africa. Takers, anyone?
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
No comments:
Post a Comment