Keith and Trish Shipman visited from the US and left this morning to return home on Tuesday.  They brought with them a desire to encourage, check; a desire to serve, check; a desire to use their knowledge and skills to move our work forward, check; and a desire to grow closer to Jesus, must ask them.  They were a delight and we have few visitors which makes every visit special.  We are grateful for their willingness to come to Cavango and share their love with us and those we serve.

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This work is tiring and demands much, but the rewards Jesus spoke of for those who do similar work are real.  “Pressed down, shaken together and running over” return to us.  Many misunderstand this and expect returns similar to what is given.  But in Jesus’ kingdom the temporal is given and the eternal received; the seen and material are sacrificed and the returns are unseen and immaterial.  It’s so worth it, especially when Kingdom math is applied – one for many.  The effort and sacrifice of one provides immeasurable returns for many…

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The predominant worldview of those in Cavango is fatalism. What will be, will be. Human intervention is irrelevant and only predetermined “forces” have power to affect outcomes. Predeterminism and predestination are the same, framed differently – one references a radically incomplete understanding of genetics and nature, the other misuses biblical terms like “sovereignty”. The American culture, both within the church (predestination) and outside (predeterminism), are embracing this philosophy and returning to the state of the Cavango culture, sacrificing the world-transforming spirit of intervention of the past several hundred years – that we make free choices/decisions, which influence/determine outcomes. We have sacrificed the understanding that we are created with purpose and care, in our Father’s likeness, and designed to be co-creators in the unfolding of the eternal and temporal destiny of this world, where every atom is created with purpose and care. A five-year-old realizes that his/her choices matter and the consequences of his/her choices are real, both pleasant and unpleasant, but our advanced, progressive “wisdom” has abandoned that which has been demonstrated over thousands of years – that our choices/decisions have consequences for which we bear responsibility.

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How/when/where we were born might affect our behavior near the starting line, but we are responsible and accountable for the choices we make during the rest of our journey… I recently heard a 60y/o man rationalize his actions by saying, “I was born this way.” And another, “I was raised this way” (!). Predeterminism and predestination excuse the responsibility of our many choices after “born” and “raised”…

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The messages of our Father’s letters to us, both before Jesus and after, are written with the clear understanding that outcomes are influenced/determined by our choices.  The world is described as both wondrous/beautiful and potentially dangerous/harmful.  The writers of our Father’s messages to us depict a parent Creator who desires His “offspring” to recognize both with childlike dependence on Him, and on the detailed instructions he remarkably preserved for us through generations. 

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The Book of Proverbs, for example, was written by a caring father who had experienced consequences and desired his son to benefit from the lessons he had learned.  He wrote that reverence for our Creator was the beginning of wisdom and understanding.  Whether we live independently or dependently of the Designer and His instructions (written with care and concern for those He cherishes), consequences will be certain.  Sowing, reaping…

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Both church-goers and non-church-goers in Cavango live as though God is impotent and disinterested/aloof as to the affairs of men. Our American culture is similar, wrapped in a materialistic package. We have substituted the fable of evolutionary origins for that of a purposeful and caring Father/Creator. Bach’s no 5, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the internet, Harry Potter, the formation of a fully functional Mother Teresa from a single cell, Saturn and its rings, mitochondria, appreciation, reason and planning… all came from nothing? The consequences are becoming evident as the purpose for life in America has devolved to one of an individual pursuit of personal pleasure and life has lost greater meaning and purpose.

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Anxiety and depression have escalated exponentially. A “sense of humor” is our most prized “virtue”. Drug use is destroying untold lives as a natural result of the pursuit of pleasure, yielding a certain destruction of the one crazy-beautiful opportunity (life) that we have each been granted by this caring Father. This caring Father has also granted us the freedom to walk dependently or independently of Him. He has also honored us by releasing control over us and remaining humbly unheralded even while we run away from Him, unwisely ignoring both Him and His caring instructions.

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Jesus calls us to appraise honestly our behavior, confess to Him our failings, and follow Him, surrendered.

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This fatalistic worldview manifests itself clearly in medical care. Optimal medical care requires forethought, foresight, planning, preparation and critical analysis with an eye for improvement. Devotion to the same is undertaken only when the effort required is seen as potentiating improved outcomes. So much of my time and energy is devoted to being optimally prepared (with knowledge, trained staff, beds, roofs, instruments, medications, water, etc) for whomever might arrive, with whatever ailment they might bring. Many of you have participated in this effort!

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We have been endeavoring to emphasize preparation and organization in Cavango for years and yesterday we had a traumatic and difficult delivery and found that we were ill-prepared. This created much running to seek out the needed instruments, resulting in delayed care. After fifteen minutes of wrestling the baby out with vacuum traction, Eduardo delivered the little boy apneic (not breathing) and blue with no spontaneous movement and an generous APGAR score of 1/10. A pulse was questionable. We clamped the cord and began compressions and the heart responded but we worked for several minutes before the baby breathed… and moved… then cried. Throughout the process we asked for tools that should have been in our OB tray (in our maternity room) and were not. After the last delivery a few days ago, the equipment wasn’t replaced because it is not perceived that the effort involved would help in the next delivery. There might be motivation only to not upset the doctor, but this was obviously lacking, as well. For years, we’ve made lists, ran checks, taught and taught… Core beliefs drive us and it is, of course, our behavior, not our words, that reveal our core beliefs. Every person on our staff would say they believed that preparation and organization improve outcomes…

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The delightful short video is of a first-time grandmother dancing (I caught the very end), the mother of a woman who delivered her first child (a son) and this new grandma witnessed all of our effort/struggle and was thrilled and grateful with the outcome.  We were grateful for the outcome, as well, and for this grandmother’s joy, but we held a staff meeting immediately after and reiterated to the team the same things we have explained countless times, what we did well and what was lacking in our preparation, organization and execution… in order to affect the next outcome…

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How much does our effort affect the outcome?  I don’t know.  But I know if we would have behaved as people completely confident in our inability to affect the outcome, or if we had stopped to worship and pray for several minutes, that family would not be rejoicing today.

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There is a personal upside to a worldview based on predeterminism/predestination and why America, a country bent on self-fulfillment and the “American Dream, is embracing Cavango’s worldview. We can understand and explain it in a sound bite and peace and contentment reign in the people of Cavango. They carry little burden and sense no responsibility for the world in which they live. They are mostly “happy” and uninvolved and without care. Being “nice” and avoiding conflict are far more important than any task, even if the task might save lives. They watch much of Angola burn every year and have no sense of loss or responsibility. I have offended leaders in the Angolan church and government because sparks fly when I see people dying needlessly and they don’t care enough to intervene. Fellow missionaries say I go too far in provoking conflict and change – in a culture that hasn’t changed spiritually or physically since Jesus wept over Jerusalem. To what length would you go if one you loved was building their dream house over a sink hole? I’ve recently been told to rest more and take care of myself first and not to worry so much about the surrounding darkness or “you will ‘burn out’”…

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Love (not the feeling) cares for, and prioritizes, the beloved and will do everything possible, even giving one’s life (or living with “burnout”)… to benefit those loved… “no greater love”…

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The “African Parable” of the previous post attempts to highlight some errant views, as I see them, in the church today that claims Jesus’ name. Each encounter experienced by Pezinho (“little foot”) is meant to illustrate the same. In the palace, our worldviews are very much like those outside the palace, in Cavango. Based on our lives (not our intentions), do we really believe that we are called to partner with our Father in going next door and to “all the world” to positively affect another’s temporal and/or eternal outcome?

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Jesus came to reconcile us to Himself so that we could partner with Him, as initially designed, as His body, to care for, and improve this world by bringing it in line with its Designer. It has happened before, when those of His body forsook their own fulfillment, security and interests…

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Instead, we “trust God” to miraculously affect outcomes (“I am sending you”). Instead, we seek “His presence” (“I am with you always”). Instead, we “worship”, seeking a “touch from God” that will transform us (“I have chosen you”). Instead, we attend meetings, seeking knowledge and experiences (“The Son of Man came to serve”). Instead, we pray and ask God to bring change (“You feed them”). Instead, we spout trite, “biblical” advice, without understanding and compassion, like Job’s “friends”. Instead, we seek heaven and “peace on earth” (“A servant is not greater than his Master”). Instead, we seek more time off and rest (“I have food of which you don’t know”). Instead, we seek better lives (“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head”). Instead, we carry on in our own endeavors when “interrupted” with an opportunity to affect another’s outcome (two passed by the wounded man cared for by the Samaritan). Instead, we seek “revival” (“Go into all the world and make disciples”)…

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We are critical of the purported benefits of a horse-pulled cart, as we exhaustedly push the horse with the cart, and mock the whole idea without consulting the designer of the same even as we acknowledge that “something isn’t right” and we wonder what we are missing. 

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The “spiritual disciplines” are not “ends”, but “means” to bring us to greater surrender to our Head in order to serve those hurting whom He cherishes and desires to serve with His body (you)…

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We are like the man/woman who buys land with the best of intentions at improving his/her health, hopes, prays, worships, “trusts God for the results”, and devotedly studies prayer, worship and God without sweating, planting and fertilizing.  He then watches his field year after year yield a thick carpet of weeds and little fruit and he wonders why he is hungry and unhealthy, eventually buying the lie that farming is useless. 

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There is a loving, planned purpose and meaning behind all that is… obvious to those with humility and eyes to see… We wonder at the tainted state of the world, the state of the “church” (and its message of self-fulfillment), the state of our own ill health (evident in our confusion, frustration and exhaustion) as we buy “scientific”, godless fables while we honor those who value an independent pursuit of “never enough” and teach our children that their happiness is life’s “purpose”, while we relegate our purposeful and caring Father to one of many possible “truths”. 

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“Where is the evidence for God?”  In Jesus and all around you…  If this question concerns you, I challenge you to study Jesus again, apart from any religious influence… Share your doubts, concerns, joys and struggles with Him… and sit before a mature oak tree holding an acorn, humming a melody and thoughtlessly moving your finger while looking up at the stars… Or forget the question and pour yourself into a few hurting, lonely and smelly people living outside the palace…  Either way, you will likely be “born anew”…

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“When you did it for the least of these, you did it unto Me…” 

“Seek first  the Kingdom of God…” 

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We, each, are created and called to make a tangible difference… for a few… in little and large ways, every day, in every place, with every interaction…

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Where is your Father calling you to intervene today, to bring His purpose to those searching in the darkness with closed eyes?

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