The Radical Depravity of Man

This morning I listened to a sermon called, "The Radical Depravity of Man", preached by a Pastor named Conrad Mbewe. He is a Pastor in Lusaka, Zambia, which is a cultural and religious context quite similar to that in Uganda. He is also known as "The African Spurgeon."


This sermon helped to to understand things a bit better about the religious context I am ministering in. He said that in this part of Africa you will see many pray the 'sinners prayer', or 'give their lives to Christ', especially when missions teams come in, or when there is a big outreach meeting, but you will rarely see any of those 'converts' after their initial decision. 


The reason for this is that our hearts are naturally disinclined from God. The main passage for this is found in Romans 3:9-18. Here Paul writes that “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." The reason that people don't stick around after a supposed conversion experience is that people need to be transformed supernaturally by God. They cannot do this on their own because on their own they will never seek God.


These are not necessarily new truths for me. But it was insightful to have them applied to the religious context that I currently find myself. What a gift of God that gospel truths can be applied to each culture and context we find ourselves! 


For anyone who will be doing ministry in the global south in the next little while, I would highly recommend this sermon to help your theological lenses more accurately interpret the culture. 

How to Stay Alive in the beauty of God's World

This post from Desiring God really spoke to me today. I think we often move around too fast to really appreciate the things on this important list.

In a 1976 lecture, Kilby gave ten steps on how to stay alive to the beauty of God's world:

1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: "There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega.

Quoted in John Piper, "Sky Talk" (1980).

Which one do you think would best help you appreciate the beauty of God's world?

Join us on a ride to work!

I thought it would be fun to get some video that would show how a typical day's commute to campus while living in Kampala. Here is what I got!

The first video is near our house and the roundabout you will see is at a place called Nakulabye.



This second video shows what it is like to get through a typical intersection, with no traffic lights!



This clip shows how efficient it is to use a Boda in Kampala. Take note of all the cars we pass on the left. If I were to take a taxi or drive a car, it would take a long time to get accross town. Also, towards the end of this video you will see the main gate to Makerere University (Main Campus). Since the profs are on strike there, we were traveling to Makerere Business School, which is open.



This next video is great because it shows a mom with here two young children on a Boda, as well as us going onto the "sidewalk" to get by the traffic.



This video shows one of my favourite parts of this journey. We are all stopped at a roundabout as the traffic officer allows the people entering Kampala from the north to enter. As soon as he signals them to stop, all of the about 20 or so Boda's along with some cars start at the same time. It is like the start of the Boston Marathon! And their off!



This last video shows some of the landscape of Kampala. Kampala is said to be built on seven hills. It is quite amazing to see all the houses on the hills.



And there you have it. A typical commute to work in Kampala!

Reflections on 3 weeks in Africa

As of today, we have been in Kampala for 3 weeks.

Highlights

• Riding around town on a boda boda
• Watching Manchester United on the TV in my living room
• Getting a power inverter so that when the main power goes out, we have a backup
• Having "househelp" who cleans. She makes our bed so well that it is like living in a hotel... but it is your own house
• Vanessa's amazing cooking. I had low expectations for food because of all the rice and skimpy chicken I have eaten in Africa in the past. But Vanessa has made amazing food that it has felt like we are still at home in Canada.
• The way Noah and Jude have adapted to life in Africa so well
• Praying, singing, and fellowshiping with the local Life Ministry (Campus for Christ) staff. 

Lowlights

• The loud music from the nearby Guest house every once in a while at night.
• Having people call out "Mzungu" at least once every time we go out in the town or nearby market
• Generally feeling like an outsider in the culture as people stare at you because of your skin colour
• Having to try to barter for a fair price for taxi or boda because people try to take advantage of you because you are white
• Trying to balance between wanting to get a fair price in bartering, but also keeping in mind that I have so much more than the person I am bartering with, and so getting overcharged isn't the end of the world.

General Observations on Money and Comfort

• Living in Africa is very good for my soul. It is clear to me daily that I have a lot of wealth compared to most people. I do not have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from. This has made me very grateful to God for all that He has given me. In Canada, I am often coveting other people because they have more than me, but it is plain to me here that in comparison to the average person on planet earth, I am stinkin' rich. 
• I often want to complain because things are harder for me here. I only have cold water for my shower. I don't have a car. I have to worry more about my safety. There are no proper sidewalks where I want to walk. Chairs are less comfortable. And so on. But then I remember that this is how most people in the world live. Canada's comforts are more the exception than Africa's discomforts are, as far as the majority of the world is concerned. 

I know that I will go through ups and downs emotionally as I engage with a new culture. In general I am fairly even-keeled, and I expect that to be challenged this year. But overall I would not trade my spot in life for anything else. To know that you are right where God wants you is worth any price. God is going to teach me so many things being here. 

Do we really believe what we are saying?

As many of us discuss Universalism, and what Rob Bell has been up to, this video asks a question that is of utmost importance. If we really believe in Hell, do we act like it?


Do We Really Believe What We're Saying? from The Church at Brook Hills on Vimeo.

Remind me when I get nervous about going to Africa to take 4 minutes to watch this video for perspective.