Category: Other Page 86 of 181

The Best Job Ever

By

On February 12, 2013

In Other

Are you a Christian Educator?

Do you have a sense of adventure? 

 

At Haven of Peace Academy, not only can you teach kids from over 30 different countries, but you can have a significant impact on the next generation of Tanzanian leaders. 

 

HOPAC is recruiting educators for the following positions for the 2013-2014 school year:

  • Librarian/Media Specialist

  • Art Teacher

  • P.E. Teacher/Sports Coordinator

  • Music Teacher

  • ICT/Computer Teacher

  • Academic Counselor

  • Economics/History Teacher

  • Swim Coordinator/Coach

  • ESL Teacher

  • Elementary School Principal

Anyone interested can contact me or go to www.hopac.net.

 

And now, I’ll just let these precious faces do the rest of the recruiting.

 

 

(All pictures taken by Gil during HOPAC Photo Week)

Catching Fire

By

On February 11, 2013

In Other

Three more, just this week!

 

 

 

Eclipsed by Glory

By

On February 3, 2013

In Other

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking. 

Before you read farther, take seven minutes and watch this.  Because it defines everything that I will say next.  I dare you to watch it and not allow it to change your perspective on this very moment.

For years and years, we have begged God to show HOPAC students His indescribable, matchless, unstoppable love through Jesus.  We have prayed that they would taste and see that the Lord is good.  That they would get it….for themselves, for eternity.   

That Jesus is worth more than anything this world has to offer. 

That He is the Treasure worth any cost. 

That their faith would not just be a product of their upbringing, but a reality driven deeply into their hearts through the knowledge of the Cross.

And over the years, it has happened in students, here and there.

 

But this year, our last year, the fire is catching.  We’ve had nine students baptized this school year.  And we just returned today from HOPAC’s first-ever Extreme Faith Retreat. 

We had told them:  This weekend is for any student who wants to know Jesus in a deeper way.  All our other camps have been evangelistic.  This was the very first time we tried something like this. 

We told ourselves we would be happy if 20 kids signed up.

We got 39.

And they got it. 

Our speaker challenged them from I John: Know your identity in Christ. Know what it means to be loved by God, so deeply, so radically, that He died for you. Seek purity in an impure world. And then love others. Love. Love. Love.

In all our years with these kids, I have never heard them sing louder.  Standing on their chairs, arms in the air, smiles on their faces, tears in their eyes, praising the Jesus who saved them.  When we prayed together, we couldn’t get them to stop.   

Their voices, at the top of their lungs, are still echoing in my ears….

For You so loved the world
That You gave Your only Son
Love amazing, so divine
We will love You in return
For this life that You give
For this death that You have died
Love amazing, so divine
We will love You in reply, Lord

The energy level was electrifying.  Their joy was contagious.  They prayed for each other, wrapped their arms around each other, wept with each other. 

And before we left this afternoon, we stood in a circle, and these precious students prayed: God, let us be your lights at HOPAC. Help us to love our classmates. Let us be Jesus to them.  Guide our futures. Let us live in your love and may it spill out to others.  Use us.  Change us.  Take us. 

 

Tonight, I feel like the most blessed person in the world.

That I am a child of God.  That His love has transformed my life.  That I serve a God who has heard our prayers and who is transforming the lives of these young people whom I love with my heart and soul.

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

Perler Bead Mania

By

On January 26, 2013

In Other

This was Grandma’s birthday present to Grace.

 

If you could be a fly on our wall, on many hot afternoons when Daddy comes home, you will find us all holed up in our bedroom, the only room with an air conditioner.  Mom reads from the Narnia books, and the rest of the family engages in what has become somewhat of a Family Obsession.

Daddy is the Master Designer.  And Grace has always been one who would do crafts all day, every day, if we let her. 

But this little guy has given us the biggest surprise.  This is the five-year-old who just developed the small motor skills to write his name a couple of months ago.  The one who hates coloring and drawing, and school work only comes along with a great deal of bribery encouragement.  The one with energy coming out of every pore of his body.  Focus and concentration have never been his strengths.   

 

But somehow these silly little beads have captured his imagination.  And so he sits, every day, for hours at a time, creating. 

And as every parent knows, you’re happy with whatever you can get.  Right? 

 

 

This is really only a small fraction of what has been created in the past month.  The rest have been given to poor, unsuspecting friends who have to pretend that they are just so excited to receive one of these plastic creations.  Good thing we have nice friends.

Comfort vs. Contentment

By

On January 24, 2013

In Other

I lay in bed last night, trying to sleep in a sauna.  Praying for breeze to come through the windows, and fretting over the meat in my freezer which was slowly defrosting.  I actually think the chicken kept me awake more than the heat. 

The transformer in our neighborhood had exploded, leaving us without power for about 40 hours.  Our back-up battery system only lasts about 8 hours before needing to be re-charged, and our generator was letting out an awful lot of smoke, so we were left with the sauna.

Thankfully, it was only 40 hours, and not six days like the last time a transformer exploded.  And we did eat the chicken and nobody threw up. 

We’re going back to California in July.  I’m tracking plane ticket prices online.  We’re staying for a year this time, which means that I’m buying one-way tickets.  For the first time in 8 years, we will rent an apartment in the States.  So I’ve been thinking a lot a lot a lot about America these days. 

During those times when I lay in bed sweating, I especially think about America, The Land of Eternal Electricity.  I admit it; I like comfort.  Oh yes, do I like comfort.  I don’t like being overly hot and I definitely don’t like being sweaty.  I like drive-throughs and superstores and I like entertainment.  I like good health care and roads where people follow the rules. 

I’m looking forward to speaking English wherever I go.  I’m excited about Trader Joe’s and clothes dryers and real customer service.  I will be relieved to blend in with the crowd instead of being the sore thumb all the time. 

Why do I choose this life in Tanzania?  Why don’t I just get on that plane in July and never come back? 

Because God has taught me that comfort does not equal contentment.  In fact, it’s often the uncomfortable that teaches me to be content with the comfortable.  Like a mom who never learned to appreciate a good night’s sleep or time to herself until she had a baby.  Like a cancer patient who never learned to appreciate health until she went through hell and back.  Electricity, water, infrastructure of all kinds, medical care, and purposeful work have all gained new meaning by living in Tanzania.

It’s kind of funny, actually, because after 10 years, this has, in many ways, become my comfortable life.  Moving back to Southern California with its social expectations and pressure to look perfect and consumerism…..that’s scary to me now.  I will be lost.

But the more I am lost, the more I will find.  The more I lose, the more I will gain.  The less I am comfortable, the more I will find real contentment. 

If life were stable, I’d never need God’s help.  Since it’s not, I reach out for Him regularly.  I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don’t have control, because it makes me run for God.  (Francis Chan)

 

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