Dealing with change

Change is often painful, especially when its unexpected, uncontrollable, or in a direction contrary to where you believed God had planned to take you and your ministry.

In early to mid 2000's I was working as a software developer for a small development business on the Gold Coast. I was one of 5 people involved in the business, all of us Christians, hoping to funnel money made from commercial projects into high school chaplaincy, supporting as many chappies as possible with what profits we could make. Initially, after my employment, things looked pretty good as we had a product on the market that provided a stable income stream, and had additional development work scheduled for a year or two.

Unfortunately, in the software industry, development work is long term, and resource hungry, so when work for a client finished, it can take a while to establish new long term contracts that everyone can roll onto. During this time, bills and wages still need to be paid, and twelve months or so after I was employed, we were faced with the choice of leaving the business, or taking a substantial pay cut. All of us chose to stick it out as we believed in the vision of the company, and felt that the Lord would eventually provide the work we needed to get back on our feet. For the next 6 months, we pretty much existed as best we could, with mortgages going unpaid, credit cards being maxed out, and some moving back in with parents so we could keep the dream alive and one day get through this slump and turn the business into a ministry that had wider ministry impact than just writing good software.

During this time, we prayed as a group everyday and encouraged each other to have faith that God will keep us open for business, and that God still had plans for the business. 6 months later, we finally landed some work that allowed us to return to a somewhat healthier wage, however the damage done financially over that 6 month period doggedly followed us for another 5 years. During this time, as we danced with solvency, lost staff (including one of the original owners), and reasoned with loved ones as to why we should keep going, we returned to a familiar crossroad. We could either press on in faith, that things would eventually get better, or alternatively call the liquidators and go into receivership. In the face of the sub prime melt down, when key clients cancelled their contracts with us, and with the remaining owner walking dangerously on the edge of a nervous breakdown, we finally made the decision to go into receivership.

So much hard work, blood sweat and tears had gone into the business, it was incredibly difficult to let it go. I believe all of us found tremendous purpose in working for a business that had a Kingdom outlook, but even more so through supporting each other as brothers in Christ through tough times and sacrifice. That said, when the inglorious end finally did come, it left a few of us asking the obvious question '...well what was all that about?'. For the employees it was disappointing, however for the owners who had borne the brunt of the hardship, it was devastating.

In the business we expressed a real desire to achieve something significant (in our minds anyway) for the Lord, and yet for all our efforts and standing by faith hoping for the eventual fulfilment of ministry vision, it never happened. It felt as though everything we had been taught about faith, about standing strong in the face of adversity and trial (Eph 6:10-20), and all the encouraging verses, like Jeremiah 29:11 given to us by friends watching the events unfold, had fallen short in an incredibly disheartening way.

In the early morning prayer sessions we had before work, we often talked and prayed about the situation openly, asking the Lord for understanding and reading a passage or two from scripture for encouragement. Towards the end, we often discussed just how different the Lord's desires are different to our desires and motivations. It is not beyond God to lead a person through the formation, running and eventual collapse of a business, if it means that it brings them to a more intimate understanding of our spiritual condition, and ultimately lead them to a closer, more intimate relationship with Him. Tough love is not beyond God. We fear failure, however it is through failure that sometimes we are shaped the most effectively. Just before the owners closed up shop, one of them said to me that all this time we were standing on faith that we would remain open, and the bills would eventually be paid, and we could get back to our purposes in supporting high school chaplaincy. We could have just as easily closed the business standing by faith, trusting that if the Lord wanted us to stay open for whatever reason, he would shape our path accordingly. The difference was that we were hanging on too tightly to what we wanted to happen, rather than resigning the situation to the Lord, trusting that He would fulfil His purpose for the business in remaining open, or in closure, and taking the most sensible path offered to us (receivership).

Even though we prolonged the closing of the business to the latests possible stages, once closed the Lord moved all of us into new areas of life and work. One of us actually became a chaplain, others found employment, or started their own business as contractors. Even though we folded, we continued working together on independent projects and found that it was much easier to earn a living working in loose association, than as part of a formalised business. Shortly after I left for Africa where I worked with a couple of missions and in doing so met and married my wife. It really did feel that God was free to move us into the new stages of our respective lives, now that our ties to the business had been cut.

Speaking for myself, what I had learned through this time about the difference between God's plans and motivations and ours, helped me as I moved into similar situations overseas with other missions / businesses on the brink of insolvency. What happened with the business serves as a reminder to me that God's purposes in a situation can sometimes be quite contrary to what I think, or desire them, no matter how noble my aspirations may be. Sometimes it can be easy to say to the Lord '...not my will but Yours be done...', just as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemene. The difficulty for me at least, lies in realising that I often put my faith in a particular outcome I believe God will lead me through, and then releasing that belief of what the Lord's will in a situation actually is, and simply trusting that whatever the outcome, the Lord will have His way and continue to protect and guide me down the path He has set.

Livingstone in Living Color

Expecting the story of a stalwart missionary, triumphing in the face of adversity, spreading the gospel in uncharted and hostile territory, I picked up a copy of David Livingstone's  biography`Livingstone` by Tim Jeal, and started reading. What I found by the end of the book was a story of suffering, ambition and failure of a man coming to grips with his fleshly nature.

First, a little bit of history. Livingstone was born into a poor scottish family in 1813, and like many of his time, faced a bleak life of unskilled labour in the factories of the late industrial age. Any chance of Livingstone having what we would consider a normal childhood was consumed by need as at the age of 10 he was put to work at the Blantyre Mills for 12 hours a day for the princely sum of about 4 shillings per week. From an early age, Livingstone had a strong desire to become a missionary and at the age of 23, with the encouragement of his father Neil, Livingstone defied the odds presented him by class and financial position, entered Medical College in Glascow with the intention to enter the mission field as a qualified doctor.His first posting was to London Missionary Society's most remote and cherished missions, Kuruman, in northern South Africa, and in December 1840, Livingstone made the journey to work under Kuruman's director, Robert Moffat. It was at Kuruman that Livingstone first formed his opinions around the effectiveness of traditional mission and evangelical models and how they related to the Af
rican people. Although his opinion wavered a little throughout his life, the crux of his ideology was that it would be through wide spread commercialisation and colonisation of the African inte
rior that would lead to the Christianisation of the dark continent. His motto, as recorded beneath his statue at Victoria Falls, is 'Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation'.On the basis of this, for the majority of his missionary life, Livingstone set upon the task of paving the way for future missionaries and traders, to penetrate central Africa leading to what he saw as the most important catalyst to wide spread conversion; British colonisation.
Throughout this biography, based upon Livingstone's and related individual's journals and letters, Livingstone's determination, long suffering, as well as ambitions, insecurities and insensitiv
ities are laid bare. Accounts of his ordeals through exploration, physically, socially and emotionally are nothing short of staggering, as he pushed through uncharted territories facing everything from tribal conflicts, animal attacks (being mauled by a lion), and severe physical trauma (malaria, starvation and dysentery of a most acute nature) through to enmity, mutiny, even abandonment from members of his party(s).The author's assessment of Livingstone's character is brutal at times, questioning his intentions, leadership qualities and decision making, although it must be said, based purely on the historical record of Livingstone's journeys, and his subsequent successes and failures (particularly concerning Livingstone's leadership and influence over the european exploration parties he was inv
olved in), the author's assessment could be entirely accurate.
Through the eyes of the author, Livingstone's motivations shows him to be a deeply passionate man, driven by his convictions, and an almost overwhelming sense of optimism in the face of insurmountable obstacles. In european company, he proved himself to be a poor leader, secretive, self righteous and moody, and incapable of sympathising with the sufferings of others, not tolerate their criticism. He continually saw what he wanted to see, and as a result, this often brought not only Livingstone trouble, but also his associates, at great risk to life. The complete failure of
 the mission to the Makololo lies as proof of this. On Livingstone's insistence, based upon his unbelievably optimistic assessment of traveling, and settlement conditions, the London Missionary
 Society funded a group of two missionaries, their wives and four young children to move to central, malarial Africa, to start a permanent mission ministering to the Makololo people. Due to the
 grossly optimistic reports given by Livingstone concerning land quality, traveling conditions and the severity of malaria, paired with an aggressive tribal environment that had been all but ov
erlooked in Livingstone's summations, all but one of the embarking missionaries survived the ordeal.Just as Livingstone was capable of showing the very worst of human nature, under extreme duress he shone, showing a quality of strength, perseverance and conviction in face of severe hardship. His dedication and loyalty to see his convictions through to completion was his most defining feature, and it bordered on superhuman. Despite suffering bouts of malaria that would render most c
atatonic, chronic dysentery and anal bleeding, infestation from parasites, and foot ulcers did not stop Livingstone trudging though inhospitable swamplands through to famine stricken lands to s
earch out new possibilities for settling and evangelising in an uncharted territory. In his earlier years, Livingstone expressed a desire, and prayed about the opportunity to push further afiel
d so he would not be 'building upon another's work'. Throughout his life this desire was most definitely fulfilled.

With the exception of his transcontinental journey from west to east Africa, and other geographical discoveries within the interior, the majority of Livingstone's endeavours met with failure. H
e had been a staunch campaigner against slavery, petitioning for British intervention to block the arab slave trade in central and eastern Africa. Even so, from time to time, Livingstone had de
pended upon slaver charity to rescue him from illness and starvation. Towards the end of his life, Livingstone could no longer persuade himself that he had a coherent set of aims. He saw his fi
nal endeavour; the search for the Nile's source, as a purely geographical task, as he couldn't see what impact he could possibly have on the slave trade. This was a faulty assumption as it turn
ed out, as he witnessed an arab led massacre at Nyangwe, killing hundreds of African people, which he reported to the British government, fuelling a fire that did eventually result in a British
 lead embargo against Zanzibar, the chief port of export for the majority of slaving caravans from the African interior.

When he died, throughout his entire life as a missionary, Livingstone had won only a single faint hearted convert. He was not alive to see the eventual colonisation of central Africa, and their
 subsequent liberation into independence. His life, after death, spawned a flurry of missionary interest from not only Britain, but America as well. This was in no small part due to his encount
er with Stanley, and Stanley's subsequent writings, which immortalised Livingstone as the noble missionary, living a self sacrificing life to further the gospel and preach the word, which was u
nquestionably what Livingstone had spent the greater part of his life doing.Teams of missionaries flooded into the interior and the gospel was spread to people who had never heard it.

In Livingstone's case, John 12:24 certainly rings true:
        "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
In life, he was a determined, yet complicated man, brusque, opinionated and almost devoid of charm and social graces, and yet he had a passion to spend his life in service to Jesus at tremendou
s personal cost, for little real tangible benefit in this life at least. Despite his nature, and woeful leadership abilities, Jesus used him to build a foundation for the eventual cessation of
widespread slaving throughout central Africa, and paved the way for future missionaries to share the Good News to those who would not have heard it otherwise. His legacy still remains, and is b
eing built upon today.

REFERENCES:
Jeal, Tim (1973). Livingstone. London: Heinemann. pp. 427p. ISBN 0-434-37208-0.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone

Biggest Looser, bit of a snoozer

Biggest Loser Singles debuted this month on channel Ten drawing fairly indifferent ratings. This seasons twist combines weight loss with dating service as all contestants are not only looking to lose weight, but hook up with a significant other. Apart from the irony of channel Ten following up a season of Biggest Loser with Master Chef, there are some other savage ironies concerning beauty and how it is interpreted cross cultures.

As with previous series of Biggest Loser, the introductory episodes spend time introducing the audience with the contestants, familiarising us with the history of each and how they came to be on the show. My wife, who is a Zambian and relatively new to life in Australia, was amazed at how these people had suffered socially because of their size. In particular, she found it strange how obese people in Australia can have a rough time growing up, and even face difficulties in finding a partner as in Zambia, beauty is measured on larger scales. 

In Zambia, big is beautiful. Generally speaking, the larger a person is, the more attractive that person becomes. This was great news to me as when I first met my wife, I was pretty big. In fact, after we started seeing each other, I had to return home to Australia for a few months for work, and with fresh motivation I thought it'd be a great time to lose a few kilos, so I did. Over a few months I worked hard and lost about 20kg, then returned to Zambia. Expecting to get a smile and an encouragement on how I had changed,  I was surprised to find that both Sylvia and her family's initial reaction was worry, wondering if I was sick, or work was too stressful. Size is  sign of health, meaning that you are eating well, and looking good, whereas a lean figure or gaunt appearance often means quite the opposite.

Not only do our cultures differ concerning how size affects beauty, but our opinions on skin tone also contradict. In Australia, we spend time, money and even put health at risk bronzing up and darkening our skin. Generally speaking, in Australia tans are sexy, and every year millions spend their annual holidays down the beach sunning their bodies like a chicken on a rotisserie in the hope that we can return to work looking trim tanned and terrific. For sure, the immediate effect might be a healthy glow, but long term exposure would even turn Snow White into something more akin to a leather bag. We suffer to look good. In Zambia, lighter skin is beautiful. Just as we put our health at risk, spending hours in the sun inviting sunburn and increasing our likelihood of skin cancer, throughout Africa, many skin lotions contain skin bleach, which lighten but also damage skin. Most bleaching solutions are high dose steroids and after long term bleaching, skin suffers tissue damage, significant thinning, redness and intense irritation, leading even to psoriasis, eczema and increased chances of skin cancer.

So really what is beauty? Listening to stories from the Biggest Loser, its apparent that the consequences for not measuring up to societies expectations can be devastating on self esteem and our expectations on future happiness, so I figure its a question worth asking. 

There's a lot of written material and research out there, concerning the philosophy of beauty and how we assess attractiveness, however based on my wife's reactions and a simplistic contrast between cultures, it could be said that similarities exist between what we find beautiful, and minorities within our social environments. Many of our expectations surrounding beauty are formed based upon qualities that are rare, or difficult to achieve, rather than a flat, unchanging criteria. Taking a simplistic approach, in Australia, we have a varied and abundant supply of food. We have a culture that sees food as an entertainment as much as a necessity, and so many of our social engagements involve, or revolve around food. We have easy access to transport and tools which take much of the hard work out of daily chores and living, and as a result, its harder to keep weight off as it requires a concerted effort (i.e. going to the gym) to do so. In Zambia, there are less transport and tooling options, and so life incorporates much more of a physical approach. This combined with a more pragmatic than entertaining outlook on food, and a less varied diet, makes it harder to gain weight than to lose it, and so opinion is swayed to a more heavy set ideal of beauty.

So I figure next time you feel a little low about how your looking and wondering if you can be bothered doing anything about it, its all good… its probably just time to move!

Keeping God, God

I was reminded recently about the importance of keeping God, God. It might sound like an odd statement, but I think that sometimes, I for one, can forget that my relationship with the Lord, is a relationship with a being who has the ability to create and control the universe , and all the elements within it. He is the Lord of the big and the small, forging stars, creating galaxies and flinging them into the deep recesses of space, and yet despite this amazing display of power, still answers my prayer for a parking space when I’m visiting the shops.

It’s hard to blend this dichotomy of concerns into the right perspective; God the all knowing, all powerful creator, and God my friend. For me, many of the issues I have had to work through regarding my life with Jesus are relational, such as communication, intention, and spending time together. By nature, these issues are largely internal, focusing on the quality of my relationship with Christ, my core beliefs and motivations. A large part of Christ’s communication with me is also internal. Part of Him giving me His Spirit means that He leads and encourages me in a deeply personal way with that quiet voice speaking softly though the noise of my own anxieties and inner thought life. It’s so easy to forget, confuse or misplace the absolute authority of that Voice, and treat it with the same frivolity as I would my conscience, as often my own emotions and desires compete with His for audience.

For my part, reading the story of Job in the bible has been a great encouragement in addressing the lack of authority I have given the Spirit in this regard. Job, was known as a blameless man, who avoided evil and feared the Lord, however in the face of extreme adversity and hardship, even though Job didn’t sin by charging God with wrongdoing, he called the Lord to account for the problems he was going through. On more than one occasion, Job expressed his desire to challenge God, and ask Him to account for painful trials he was experiencing as he believed he had done nothing wrong to deserve his present troubles (e.g. Job 31:35).

As far as he was concerned, Job’s conscience was clear, and that made him righteous before God. Our righteousness as Christians comes through Christ, not conscience, but even if Job had Christ’s righteousness, he was ignoring God’s authority. In Romans 9:10 – 23, Paul effectively summarizes God’s authority as creator, as well as saviour as absolute. God in every sense is God; free to make any decision He wants, without question, without equal. Paul writes that even God’s mercy does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s sovereign choice (v14-16). He has mercy on some, and hardens others all according to what He wants to do.

The obvious question then is how can we be blamed for what we do? For if it’s God’s will to harden me, how can I do otherwise? Paul’s response in Romans 9:20-21 :


‘But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? ‘

This obviously can sometimes be hard to hear, especially to those who feel they are beyond Christ’s mercy. It’s so important to remember verses like Acts 2:21, which reminds us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Again, it is not our emotions, or conscience (guilty or otherwise) which has authority, but God and His infallible Word. In encouragement to Timothy, Paul also writes that he will not be shamed, for he has known who (Jesus) he has believed in (2 Tim 1:12). Remembering who, is just as, if not more important than remembering what we believe in, especially when our hearts condemn us. We believe in a God who at every turn demonstrates His love, kindness , grace and patience.

Of his four advisors, only one gave good advice (Elihu), who was upset that Job, despite his trials, was justifying himself, and not God (Job 32:1). Eventually God himself spoke to Job out of a storm and reminded him of His authority, before Job repented and the Lord graciously restored him to twice his former fortune (Job 42:10).

All authority submits to God, this is a fact that most Christians would agree with, yet moving that knowledge in the head from the ‘interesting factoid’ box, to the ‘deep convictions’ box proves to be difficult, especially in situations where obedience could cause discomfort, or conflicts with our human sense of fairness, or justice. In the end, whatever issues we may have with God’s decisions about our lives, we have to place them at His feet in submission, for whether we agree with Him or not, it’s irrelevant. If God has decided something, it is done.

Australia Refugee and Asylum Seeker Resettlement – Helping Hands International Australia

Relinquishing control of your future to the Lord can result at times, in feelings of uncertainty, doubt, and pointlessness as quite often you are the last to know what’s going on as you wait for God to show himself faithful with what you have entrusted to Him. Sometimes we form a picture of our future according to what we believe God has promised us, and place our faith in that interpretation, rather than Jesus’ faithfulness. When His faithfulness, in the fullness of time, comes to fruition however, we will always find a vision fulfilled in a unique and pleasantly surprising way.

Over the past few years, Helping Hands International Australia (HHIA) has found new life supporting refugees integrating into Australian society. Originally formed in 2001 by husband and wife team Ros and Ken Myers, HHIA’s primary focus was to provide humanitarian aid and disaster relief within Australia and the Pacific Islands (i.e. Solomons).

As a Christian organisation, HHIA was birthed by the Myers from a strong sense of God’s leading and purpose in helping those in crisis and the under privileged. Furthermore, both Ros and Ken had a firm conviction that the establishment, growth and fortification (longevity) of this ministry was something they were to entrust with the Lord, and leave as His responsibility. However, as longstanding arrangements both with a Queensland hospital for donating medical equipment, and the landlord of their primary warehouse were cancelled, HHIA’s future in late 2004 was looking uncertain. And so it was that with no small amount of confusion and uncertainty, Ros and Ken finally decided to wrap up operations in 2005 sending the last of their medical equipment to the Solomon Islands.

For the next few years, HHIA sat pretty much in a state of limbo. Despite Ros and Ken’s best efforts to resurrect the aid work at various times, it felt as though the Lord had firmly closed that chapter of HHIA’s life as nothing significant eventuated. Both Ros and Ken, could see the Lord’s hand in the closing of HHIA, however in light of their previous convictions, they couldn’t understand why the Lord was seemingly drawing the curtain on the ministry they had such a passion for.

As time passed, they even began to question whether these convictions were God given in the first place.

As this was taking place, the school in Brisbane where Ken was working (and still works today) experienced an influx of student refugee s and welcomed the assistance of voluntary staff to help with their ESL (English as a Second Language) program. Ros volunteered and was soon helping kids displaced from completely foreign cultures come to terms with western life, English and the horrors of high school arithmetic.

She quickly befriended many of the students and was shocked to discover the savage nature of their former lives. Stories of sexual abuse and violence faced by fleeing refugees beggar belief when reading about them, but to hear firsthand accounts of the horrible mistreatment and social conditions fuelling the need to leave one’s home country is quite confronting. Both Ros and Ken gained considerable insight into the mountain these kids have to climb emotionally let alone academically and socially. This paired with an unstable, inconsistent history of education and long periods of displacement, it is little wonder that these kids need all the help they can get just to get their heads around our language, let alone hope to pass an Australian standard high school maths exam and grapple with issues of social inclusion.

Others became aware of Ros and Ken’s involvement with the children, and in November 2007, they received a call from a local church seeking their assistance in helping a refugee Sri Lankan family’s social integration. For the next 18 months, Ros and Ken helped the best way they could, befriending the family, and helping them face day to day life in Australia. With the help they offered to the first family, other refugees became aware of Ros and Ken and contacted them for help as well.

As the number of families and children needing help increased, under the name of HHIA, Ros and Ken started to form a number of mentoring and support programs. By simply making themselves available, Ros and Ken coach families through a variety of day to day issues from knowing how to book a doctor’s appointment, through to finding work without recognised qualifications. For most the latter is quite a challenge, and at times ethically confronting, as the only work one poor refugee; a Hindu man, could find was in an abattoir!

Concerning Australia’s current attitudes toward immigration and policy governing asylum seekers, after listening to how asylum seekers lived in their countries of origin, and the nature of their oppressions, Ros believes policy makers cannot afford to be dogmatic about how refugees come to Australia as application processes followed are less than ideal. In some instances, alerting authorities of your family’s intent to leave their native country invites persecution and further hardship. Ken and Ros have heard many stories of false imprisonment and physical recriminations under such situations, and so to expect all asylum seekers to follow official process is completely unreasonable.

To date, some of the support programs HHIA offer include In Home Support, Homework Club, and Birthing Support. Part of the vision for HHIA includes the construction of a friendship centre for refugees between Brisbane and Logan, however apart from the occasional government grant, most of this work is funded by Ken and Ros.

Thanks to a handful of helpful volunteers, the number of refugees benefitting from this program has increased, however, more are desperately needed. If you have a heart for refugees and would love to play a vital part in a family’s flee from tyranny and establishment in Australia, please contact Ros or Ken Myers:

Email: ros@helpinghands.org.au or ken@helpinghands.org.au
Ph: 0421 076 303

Raising Church Support for Children in Africa

Recently, I had the good fortune to chat with a visiting Pastor from Zambia; Ps Philip Kazhingu, who is visiting Australia promoting the work of the Acts Initiative, a ministry of Eagles Wings (Zambia). To date, Acts Initiative is working with churches in countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to grow awareness of social justice issues surrounding orphaned and vulnerable children, and ultimately foster the development of church based social justice ministries within local communities. I spoke to him to get an idea of the challenges he has faced as coordinator of the Acts Initiative, and the approach he has taken to assist local churches grow their social justice programs.

For the last few years, as coordinator, Philip has had to travel extensively throughout central and southern Africa, visiting different church groups, and forming relationships with congregations from varying cultural backgrounds. Initial trips are to form relationships with church leaders and grow awareness of social issues specifically concerning vulnerable children, however these quickly develop into more pragmatic education, as workshops begin once needs in a church’s local community are identified. With no additional funding to start ministry, churches are encouraged to use the resources they have at hand to support their respective outreaches which can be as diverse as community education and feeding programs, to foster care and mobile clinics to remote areas. Encouraging churches to act using whatever resources they have at their disposal is a key element of the Acts Initiative, as it is an encouragement to act now and rely on God’s provision, rather than waiting for donation.

The depths of Philip’s convictions are evident, not only when he speaks about child welfare, but are also reflected in his family life. Philips is not a rich man, in fact, quite the opposite, and yet, in addition to supporting 3 children of his own, he and his wife Esnart over the last few years, have adopted another seven (yes seven) children, providing for them a loving home and a much brighter future. Even though Philip loves travelling and has a strong passion for this ministry, he often misses home as his work often requires that he spend large amounts of time on the road.

Pastor Philip has been in Australia for the last three weeks informing Australian supporters of the progress made with churches in Africa, and to explore ways that Australian churches can partner with the plethora of ministries blossoming from this initiative. He describes Australia as paradise, however, after meeting and talking with other Christians, he has found it surprising the amount of loneliness, and unhappiness here even though we have significantly better living conditions and compared to the majority of Africa, much more wealth. For him it has highlighted the fact that happiness has nothing to do with externals, or what a person has, but rather happiness is more to do with what is going on inside a person.

Philip is returning to Zambia this week to continue his work with Eagle’s Wings. To find out more about the Acts Initiative visit http://www.ewafrica.org/ and click on ‘Our Programs’.

From Little Things, Big Things Grow

It is amazing to me, to see and sometimes be part of ministry through which God’s blessing obviously lies. It’s an absolute delight to see 1 Corinthians 1 ‘...God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong’ in operation, as it reinforces the realisation that God is in control of His kingdom, and our successes depend entirely on His blessing. No matter how big, small, well connected, wise or foolish we are and sometimes feel, the reality is that in ministry, despite our efforts we are simply children of God, doing a finger painting for our Father. It is Jesus who chooses if and when to use our best efforts, with all our inadequacies, hang ups and short fallings, and transform them into something of value for the sake of His kingdom.

Of all the ministries I have seen that should have worked, that had the right people, facilities, finance and determination, the humblest of all of them is the one that continues today with the most profound of impacts. Christian Tract Outreach is a small website in the recesses of cyberspace through which many are receiving strength, encouragement and the gospel. It is run by an elderly husband and wife, Danny and Terri Maher, and is funded almost entirely by the small senior’s pension both of them receive. Although we may have heard the slogan ‘from little things, big things grow’ related to superannuation, the same can definitely be said of Christian Tract Outreach.

The ministry itself started in the 70’shortly after Danny gave his life to the Lord. It began with two tracts; The Right of Choice and Jesus Christ the Word of God, and was borne out of an insatiable hunger for God’s Word. Initially the tracts were distributed via letter box drops throughout Danny and Terri’s home suburb, Wynnum in Brisbane. With the help of a retired missionary who owned a small printing press, for the next 20 years other tracts were written printed and distributed. From the outset, tracts focused upon salvation through Jesus and the Gospel message, sanctification (what it means to be set apart by the Lord and shaped in His image) and fruit bearing. This focus is still interwoven through tracts written today. As time passed, the tract ministry gradually slowed down and all but petered out, as both Danny and Terri’s focus were increasingly drawn to pastoral matters and small groups.

In 2004, Danny was led back to the tract ministry with a renewed sense of vigour. Through prayer, and spending time with the Lord, he felt the great commission’s call to ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel..’ (Mk :16:15) had particular relevance to the tract ministry, he just wasn’t sure how to do it.

A couple of days later, I met Danny and Terri for the first time through a mutual friend. We met at a bible study at Danny and Terri’s house, and after, they shared a little bit about his tract ministry in the 70’s, and how in the past he and Terri did a letter box drop in the area. As I was a computer programmer, I offered to knock up a quick website for him so he could try and reach people he normally wouldn’t have contact with. I’d love to be able to say that at that time, the clouds parted and I heard the Lord’s deeply resonating voice proclaiming ‘Thou shalt build a website, and it will be good....’, but the reality was I figured I was giving an old fella a leg up and some encouragement.

Over the next couple of months, I visited Danny and Terri once a week for dinner, and worked on the site at their place until we had something simple up for people to read, and download tracts. For the next couple of years Danny reworked many of the 200 – 300 tracts, and even wrote new ones adapting them to bible studies so that they could be downloaded and used. After some time had passed, Danny received an email from a young Indian man studying in Bangalore. He had found the site, and wanted to be able to use them for evangelism at the college where he was studying. He and Danny built up a bit of a relationship over email, which eventuated in Danny couriering out a couple of hundred copies of the first two tracts he ever wrote, to be used in a campus crusade.
Slowly, emails started to trickle in from other countries too. Pastors, evangelists and readers from Tanzania, Nigeria and other parts of India began to regularly contact Danny for support in the form of tracts to be posted out and used by churches for evangelism and encouragement. Through the enthusiasm and diligence of 3 pastors in particular, Christian Tract Outreach tracts were helping evangelists reach more and more people throughout central and eastern Africa as well as India.
As the demand for printed tracts grew, it quickly became apparent that simply printing and couriering tracts from Australia was a slow, and ridiculously expensive task, especially as all this was being funded by two pensioners in Brisbane. A printer was found in Tanzania who offered their services at a reduced rate, and tracts were able to be printed and distributed within Africa at a fraction of the original costs.

Since this time, in the face of lack of finances, persecution (of evangelists in non Christian countries), and ill health, more and more people have been requesting and receiving tracts for evangelistic purposes throughout predominantly Muslim, Hindu and Christian countries. To date, over 4 million tracts have been printed throughout India and Africa in over 15 countries and in 10 different languages. Over 200 pastors and 12 evangelists use the tracts for evangelism and outreach. The website has undergone a couple of revisions and facelifts; the latest one allowing Danny to maintain and update it himself. The future for Christian Tract Outreach is looking bright as it recently has unofficially partnered with online bible college Trailblazers, and this coming year, Trailblazers will be visiting key people in Ghana, Tanzania and India who are distributing and using the tracts, with the intent to train new pastors with an emphasis on caring for new believers. Christian Tract Outreach does receive some additional financial support, however to the greater extent, Danny and Terri still fund its work personally.

The greatest blessing from all of this according to Danny, is that he has been able to witness Jesus take control and be part of everything in this ministry. From the greatest of issues to the smallest of details, Danny insists that he has been like a spectator in the whole thing. All that has been necessary for Danny to do is to trust and obey. To follow the path that the Lord presents, and to trust in Him during times when that path isn’t clear.

For myself, to watch this ministry bloom has been an opportunity to watch my God in action, choosing the humblest of vessels to do His work. Two people in the later years of their life, still full of life and love, pure heartedly offering their service to bless their Father, without the formal support of church, and outside the boundaries of a conventional ministry, funding the majority of their work from the contents of their own pockets and at a time in life when they have the least. Many can learn from their love and willingness to serve and bless their Jesus!

How I Met my Father-in-law

I should probably feel bad about the amount of pain the Lord put my Father in law through in order to give me his daughter, but the reality is that his pain has become one of my happiest testimonies! A few years ago I met my wife, Sylvia, on a short term mission trip to Zambia. She was the 2nd grade teacher at a community school in a compound (suburb) called Twapia. Shortly before leaving and meeting her for the first time, I had in my time with the Lord, read a verse which I felt had particular importance to what lay ahead. It was Joshua 1:9 –
‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.’

I also had two people independently approach me to encourage me with this verse before leaving, saying they felt it had some particular relevance to the trip I was taking. I have never in my life had that happen, and so I was a little worried as I was sure something nasty was going to occur that would stretch my faith in some sort of ‘trial by fire’ way.
Thankfully, nothing nasty did happen, in fact quite the contrary. When I met Sylvia, we were both leaders on a camping trip, taking 40 underprivileged children to see Victoria Falls. Being Australian, and she Zambian, we were paired together to overcome any communication and cultural boundaries with the children. This pairing worked well as we are still paired together today, even though we live now in Australia.

Neither of us up until that time had ever considered the possibility of being with someone outside of our nationalities, let alone marrying someone with so different a culture or upbringing from ourselves. This being the case, when we had to separate and I returned to Australia, leaving her in Zambia, we really had no idea what to expect. We had, however, committed our relationship which was just beginning to the Lord, and trusted that if this was what He wanted for us, all issues such as distance and cultural differences would be solved in time.

As time passed, and phone bills increased, we found that instead of dwindling under the pressures of distance and faulty phone lines, our relationship strengthened. It became obvious to us that our relationship was not going to fizzle out, and as we made plans for our future, we also had to make plans to meet and be introduced to the wider family circle.

Sylvia was a little uncertain how her parents would take the news that she fell in love with a Muzungu (white man). In all honesty, these sort of relationships in Zambia are met with a degree of scepticism, and in my time there I had heard stories of ‘marriages of convenience’ where travelling foreigners working in Zambia married Zambian women even though they were already married back home.
In fact, I remember the last week I was in Zambia, holding Sylvia’s hand and walking down the street. Albeit we do look an odd couple, even so, the looks of surprise and suspicion we got were, for me, a little unexpected, and when a fellow in a passing bus took it upon himself to lean out the window and shout in Bemba ‘hey... you’re making a new breed...’, I realised that this relationship would be little different. So it was with a fair bit of encouragement from me, and much trepidation, that Sylvia one night sat her parents down in the living room and told them both that she was in love with a white guy, and that I would be coming soon to meet them.

To their credit they handled the news as well as could be expected. Sylvia’s mum handled the news well, but Sylvia’s father, a strong Christian, had many concerns and questions, most of which were about my character and faith. Who is this white guy? Why can’t he find someone in his own country? What does he believe in, and is he genuine? Who are is parents? What is his family like? Tell him to go away, he will just waste your time..... Obviously this made me, back in Australia, very nervous.

Three months before I returned to Zambia, Sylvia’s father, who was a truck driver, was in a nasty truck accident. His leg was shattered just below the knee, and the family were very worried. He spent some time in hospital where his leg was set in a cast before returning home to recover. To me, God is absolutely amazing, as during this time, my sister who was also in Zambia on mission at the time, is a nurse, and was able to give my soon to be father in law some simple care and advice. The Lord was introducing my family to Sylvia’s family.

Over that three months, despite receiving medical treatment, his leg worsened instead of healing, and so it came to be that when I landed in Zambia, and I was taken to meet him, I met him on a bed where he had remained for the previous few weeks. The leg was in a very nasty way. The cast had been taken off by the doctors, for reasons which will remain a mystery, and I could see that he was in tremendous pain. Whenever he lifted his knee, the shin would bend in the middle like carrot that had spent way too long in the fridge, and he was at risk of amputation.

Despite this, he made me feel welcome, and even asked me a few questions about who I was, why I wanted his daughter, and most importantly what I believed in. It was obvious though that he was in a lot of pain and I could only visit for a short time. We prayed together briefly before I left.
I left with a sense of wanting to help any way I could, but I had no clear direction on what to do. I also wanted to demonstrate that I had nothing but honourable intentions for his daughter, and to put his mind at rest that I was a trustworthy guy. At the time I was staying with a missionary couple relatively new to Zambia as my sister and her husband at the time, were back in Australia having a well deserved break. Being new in the country myself, neither the couple I was staying with, or I had any idea how the healthcare system worked, or even who to contact for assistance.
Both Sylvia’s, and other people’s experience of Zambian health care essentially boiled down to consulting whichever doctor was available. There was no specialist referral system to speak of, the only real chance of getting specialist help was to medivac to South Africa, which was way too expensive, and so I shot out a general SOS to a couple of family members..... none of which had any real experience or knowledge of Zambia, or medicine in developing countries. Sylvia and I started praying.

A day later I received an email from a good friend of the family, who had heard of some doctor who had left England a little while ago to help out in central Africa somewhere, and that he might be in Zambia. She sent his email address which I used to make the first contact, briefly explaining the situation and giving him my phone number.

To my delight, the very next day I received a text message from a man called Alan Norrish, a travelling paediatric surgeon who specialised in reconstructive surgery! He explained that he was in the country for two more days, and that if I had recent x-rays, and if I could get my father in law to a hospital in Lusaka by lunch tomorrow, he would operate. Praise God, we had recent x-rays from the last check-up, He had given us a way forward!

We immediately made plans to pick up Sylvia’s father that afternoon so we could make the 5 hour journey to Lusaka the following morning. As my sister and brother in law were back in Australia, I was able to use their car to make the journey (thank you Lord!). Unfortunately due to a run down set of solenoids the car was not turning over, and unable to start. We could potentially jump start the car, however Sylvia had never driven before, and I doubt her father would get in and travel in the condition he was if the car wasn’t reliable, and required his wife’s help to push start!
Finding parts at such late notice was an issue, and using a bus would have been an impossibility as we would not have been able to make it there on time. A 5 hour trip on a cramped bumpy bus ride would have been unbearable for such a badly broken leg.... but it was the only other alternative we had as we had so little preparation time. So again we prayed.

Early the next morning I got up and tried to start the car, which had been rendered unstartable for the last three days. It turned over first time! I was able to take it to the fuel station without incident, so we decided to risk it. We picked up Sylvia’s parents and headed off to Lusaka.

We arrived at midday, and met Alan Norrish, the surgeon for the first time. Taking a look at the x-rays we brought, and after examining the shattered leg, to our delight he announced that rather than having to undergo amputation, Sylvia’s father would be up and walking again within 3 days. His leg would be pinned in several places and bone would be grafted in from his hip. I had just enough money in the bank to pay for the surgery and get home (2 trips to Africa within 6 months is not cheap – so this was a miracle in itself)! Even so, after explaining the situation to my folks, they were also happy to chip in.

And so it was with a deep sense of relief and gratitude towards the Lord, and the surgeon that Sylvia I climbed aboard the car, leaving her parents at the hospital to undergo the hastily organised procedure that would allow my father in law to use his leg again. Turning the key, the car failed to respond... but by this stage I didn’t really mind. The Lord had allowed the car to run without issue for just enough time to get the job done. Sylvia and I were able to eventually jump start it and limp it back to Ndola. Upon returning home, Sylvia’s family had a lovely surprise waiting. Even though we didn’t arrive back until around 11pm that night, her family had stayed up to say thank you as I was due to fly home to Australia the next morning. They had even baked a cake with a special ‘Thank you Ben and God bless you’ message on top.

For me this really was ‘the icing on the cake’! It was such a relief and a blessing to me to be put in such a position where God would use me to bless my soon to be extended family. I had come to Africa nervous about how I would be received by Sylvia’s family and keen to make a good impression. I had wanted to be able to demonstrate that I was a nice guy with good intentions who only wanted to bless and be part of their family.

Over a small period of time, Jesus had done all these things and more. The verse in Joshua He had given me rang true, the Lord did go before me and made my path straight. All I had to do was be strong in not letting my anxieties or fears dictate my actions, and to keep walking forward in trust. I didn’t have to push, muscle, force or fight anything to make it happen, all I did was to keep walking down the path as it took shape before me. As in most things, the battle started within, challenging the doubts that such a cross cultural relationship would go anywhere, let alone the doubt in trusting that I would ever get married to start with! Once dealing with my own doubts and fears, funnily enough the challenge moved to fending off other people’s misgivings, yet the Lord continued to faithfully work out his plan for us.

As time passed and I moved to Africa, that verse had a broader, more far reaching application, but I can happily say that it was one of the most special times of answered prayer I have experienced thus far. For me it has been a real encouragement to ‘take my hands off’ life’s steering wheel and simply trust that God is in control. Whether its through challenge or blessing, its a great comfort to know that the Lord will always be with me. All He requires is that we be bold enough to resist our own misgivings, and the misgivings of others, and to simply stand and wait patiently as He continues to reveal His magnificent love and faithfulness to us.