A Fish Tale

This past weekend I travelled to Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. My "little sister" Britchi is staying here at Eden to work in the clinic for a month. So, as we do for many interns we packed up for an African adventure. This time we ended up at the lake. It wasn't my first time to see lake Kariba, but it was my first time to have the privilege to ride on the Ervine's boat across the lake.

This fishing trip I was determined to catch a fish seeing that I have had extremely poor luck, or skill, catching fish in Zimbabwe, a part from spear fishing. I focused extremely hard all four days trying to catch a fish. Every moment we were still on the boat I was fishing. In total I caught zero fish. I could probably even count the bites I had on both my hands. Fishing in the winter in Zimbabwe is hard work and requires lots of patience.

While I stood deep in thought waiting on the fish to bite last Saturday morning my little sister said, "This kinda reminds me of Jesus asking us to be fishers of men. It takes a lot of patience putting the Gospel out there and waiting for people to take an interest." Those words sunk deep into my heart. Yeah fishing for men. Jesus said he would make us fishers of men. I HATE fishing... it takes to much patience, focus, knowledge of how it feels when the fish bite, and the ability to strike at the right time. In reality, I am terribly at it. I LOVE fishing... the expectancy of something good and exciting happening, knowing that the reward is worth the work and wait, the thrill when you catch the fish.

"I will make you fishers of men." Yep, Jesus just sentenced us to a life of patiently offering the good news about Him every moment, ready to give an answer for the hope we have to anyone who asks.

I am not gonna lie, I hardly had the endurance to fish consistently for four days with no success. In that moment, however, the great part of that promise was that Jesus said he would make me into a fisher of men. I don't have to do it alone. I have the best fishing guide ever next to me on this boat. Jesus and I get to go on this adventure together. 

Convention: Losing Your voice While Cheering For Others.

This past week I had the opportunity to take 10 students from Eden Christian Academy to participate in the Zimbabwe Student Convention. I love this week not just because of all the fun competition, meeting new friends, and cheering on my kids, but because something special happens at Convention. I glimpse the potential of orphaned kids that believe they hold no value. I watch as through a week of interaction with other students in both social and competitive settings their confidence skyrockets and they catch the vision, even if just for a short week, that God created them uniquely and with wonderful abilities. My heart soars as I watch what God can do in people's lives through events as simple as finding out you can memorize lines for a play or run faster than your average peer. I also marvel at how as humans we seem to counteract His work with our own actions and words towards each other. My fellow sponsor Debs and I always lose our voices at Convention. See we love our students and we love to cheer for them. We love to cheer on students from other schools as well. I try so hard to make sure they hear me encouraging them to run faster, smile while singing and praising them for scoring a soccer goal that it physically hurts my voice. I care enough about them and the situation to appear and sound absolutely ridiculous so they know I am standing with them and cheering them on.

I have a dream. 

What if for one week in everyday life we could encourage one another, praise one anthers gifts and cheer one another on in our race towards God's Kingdom every moment. I think, like for my students at Convention, we might be able to change the lives of numerous brothers and sisters around us. What if we yelled our praise and encouragement so loud and long that we hurt our voices?

Will you take up the challenge? Will you and I train out tongues to indeed follow Eph. 4:29?

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others upaccording to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."