It’s now been over a week since we left Zambia. For those who have gotten a chance to sit down with me, you know that I haven’t been able to stop talking about what God did over there. Among the topics that often comes up is whether or not I should return, as that was what I felt led to when I started exploring the idea of going this summer last December that the Lord would guide this into a two year project.
In order to truly answer this question, which I still haven’t yet, I guess is to look at how God has guided me thus far.The Lord truly took my passions for Non-governmental agency work used it but then from there added on the opportunity to minister to Zambians outside of merely living/leading by example.
If you told me two years ago when I considered going to Zambia, or heck when I was boarding the plane to go to Lusaka this past April that I would have a pastor like role, giving 4 to 5 sermons a week, and making 10 to 15 house visits throughout my time in Zambia this summer, not only would I have thought you were crazy, but I probably would not have gone. Out of sheer cowardness, but because I would and still feel unprepared. I think that’s the greatest part. I have no theological training, have no religion or philosophy studies, but am in fact a Spanish Major!
But that’s how God works sometimes, and I would like to suggest from this trip, is the fact that its because of these points that have not lead to me to necessarily have a huge fire to return to Zambia next year or commit to anything for that matter without a full calling from the Lord to do so
As I work in the synthetic organic lab here at Hope, and fall into a complete different pace,
Just as I would be mobbed by those 100 Zambians again just to be given the opportunity to plant seeds in their lives, I would do anything for people like Eneless and Isaac.
In my notebooks from this summer lie these names and signatures. These names represent the individuals that the Lord had me visit and pray for. These were brothers and sisters, some that the Lord had me bring to him and others wise and strong Christians
That was the flock that the lord had me witness to. Don’t get me wrong I am by no means a pastor, I have no theological training, however these people asked me Plain and simple, the widows and orphans, the elderly, the sick, the poor, these were not only individuals that the Lord brought into my life, they became my brothers and sisters in Christ as we fellowshipped, ate together, and worked together for the same kingdom, the same body, and the same family.
People say that your life changes when you go to Africa. Some people say it’s what you see, it’s what you hear. I would like to suggest to take this idea one step further and state that it’s the stories of my new brothers and sisters that catch on fire.
The stories of Eneless the 70 year old lady battling memory, hungry, the corrupt education system and trying to care for her daughter who has a benign tumor growing on her face. Or maybe its Changala the 28 year old double orphan paying the way for his 3 sibling through school and even college and taking care of his bed ridden sick mother for the last 5 years of her life. These stories are what truly open my eyes to a different kind of Africa. Not of lions and tigers, or elephants, and not identifying these as poor and starving little children stricken with diseases that we should donate money too. These are all ideas that are sound, and most even true. However I would like to suggest, that the best way to view Africa is that these are people, individuals made in the image of God, many of which are part of our Body of Christ (1st Corinthians 14) and exemplifying the lifestyle of Luke 12.
In short, they are brothers and sisters in Christ who are on fire and won’t quit for God. We can draw success of this trip by numbers non-profit or spiritual wise(over 1500 pieces clothing donated to the poor by next year, the starving children fed, over 50 children for free VCT testing, 60 accepting Christ as their savior, Hundreds who heard the gospel preached ), we can go by the hundreds of stories that were too long for me to fit into this journal, we can tell of the miraculous healings, or spiritual battles. But at the end of the day, what’s most important is that the will of the Lord was done, and that in itself was sufficient. 
I close with two thoughts, and since I really have Two years ago I asked God for some sort sign or direction to lead me towards what path he wanted me to take. At the time I believed that the trip to Zambia was some sort of message for me to go into Medicine. When the planning for this trip fell into full swing this past January, I believed it was public health. As my plane landed in JFK last week I realized that these paths or methods aren’t truly trying to make sense of all this mumbo jumbo. The path the lord wants me to take is for his kingdom--- for the work for the cross is sufficient.This thought directly ties into the poem I would like to share that is poem that found at the back of Derrick Bingham’s book Encouragemen Oxygen for the Soul.
If my goal this summer was to become a doctor I would have stayed at Hope researching and volunteering at the hospital. If my goal was public health I would have applied for a CDC Internship. If my goal was to help people I would have continued to invest in another ministry God has blessed me with Exodus an at-risk outreach ministry in Holland. If my goal was to become a missionary, I would have gone to South America or Asia where I am actually fluent in those languages. But yet it was the Lord’s love that brought me to Zambia. It’s the same love that he used to give his life for you and me, the Zambians and everyone around the world. I would like to suggest that at the point that he’s given his life for you, me and everyone else, it’s our job to give our lives to him.
Where will his love lead you today?
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