Why Would I Believe Such a Crazy Story?

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On December 17, 2015

In Other

An angel appears to a young, poor, virgin Jewish girl and tells her that she will miraculously become pregnant with the Son of God.  I know.  Crazy.

Although, is that story so much harder to believe than the notion of a non-intelligent, but self-creating universe?  Both beliefs take faith.  It’s just a matter of following the path of greater evidence.

But I digress.

It’s a crazy story, but it’s everything.

I see evidence of God everywhere.  It’s a no-brainer to me.  In the creativity of leaf-cutter ants, in the way my skin heals itself, in the astonishment of a baby–an entirely new person–emerging from his mother’s womb.  In the way that Beethoven affects me, in the sunset over the Serengeti, in homemade strawberry ice cream, in the fierceness of my love for children I did not birth–and in the sublime understanding that I can be moved to my core by these things.  Purpose and beauty and goodness and love simply cannot exist if there is no God.

I have no doubt that God exists.  

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have questions about who he is.  Because then I think of Ebola and ISIS and slavery and orphans and divorce and paralysis.  So I must ask:

Is God good?

Does he love us?

Does he see us?

If he sees, does he care?

Because a lot of the time, it sure doesn’t feel like it.

But that’s why we celebrate Christmas.  Because in Christmas, we remember that God, the designer of leaf-cutter ants, chose to become human, and not just human, but a newborn–totally helpless, totally dependent.  He chose to enter our world, our time and space, our dirt and pain and heartbreak, to walk with us and feel with us and cry with us.  He got our dirt between his toes and he got sick and threw up and he felt the desire of temptations that could ruin his life–just like we do.

Because he is good.

Because he loves us.

Because he sees us.

Because he does care.

I know, I know.  It doesn’t answer the question of why AIDS or why rape or why toddlers fall out of windows and die.  Or why he’s waiting so blasted long to fix it all.

We just can know, definitively, that he sees us; he knows us; he loves us.  Which is why hope and joy and love are not just positive words that look nice on Christmas cards.  Jesus came, and thus came the existence of hope, joy, and love.  Without him, they would just be pretty words that make us feel good until the reality of life sinks in again.

God with us.  It doesn’t make any sense at all; that is, until we realize that it’s the only story that makes sense of our lives.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. 

This Is What Hope Looks Like

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On December 14, 2015

In Other

What do you think would happen, if on the next 4th of July, the U.S. president cancelled all official Independence Day celebrations and instead told everyone to pick up a trash bag and start cleaning their cities?

That’s exactly what happened last week.  When we went out our gate on Independence Day, the smoke from a thousand trash fires filled the air.  (Okay, so not exactly great for the lungs, but great for the city!)

Just six weeks into his presidency, Magufuli got out on the streets and picked up trash.

photo source here

But that’s not all.

Dr. John Pombe Magufuli was declared Tanzania’s fifth president on October 30th.  Just a few days later, he made a surprise visit to the National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.  Finding patients lying in the hallways, he sacked the hospital chief and broke up the board of governors, on the spot.

He then proceeded to cut the $100,000 budget set aside for his inauguration day down to $7000, and sent the remainder of the money to the hospital.  Within a few days, scores of new beds had been purchased, and the broken MRI machine had been repaired.

And with that, Magufuli began his run as one of the most hard-working, honest, and forthright presidents this continent has ever seen.  

He immediately, boldly took on the business tycoons who have bribed their way out of millions of dollars of import taxes.

When traveling to the capital for parliament meetings, he refused to fly and drove instead.

No longer are parliament ministers allowed expensive foreign trips abroad.  Instead, they are encouraged to visit rural areas of Tanzania.  No longer are government meetings allowed to be held in expensive hotels.

Traffic has gotten worse, because government officials are actually showing up for work.   When he cancelled the Independence Day celebrations for a clean-up day instead, he re-routed the party money into road construction.

Hope is surging throughout his country.  Everywhere, everyone is talking about it.  For a continent that has been plagued by corruption, civil war, and horrendous tyrants in leadership, Magufuli’s Tanzania is soaring.

It’s a great time to live in Tanzania!  Even America’s president could learn a few lessons.  Pray with us that this is only the beginning of real, lasting change.

My Favorite Kids, August ’till December

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On December 13, 2015

In Other

The emphasis around here lately has been on Johnny….but here’s a look into my other sweethearts’ lives.  

First Day of School
My first grader is lucky enough to have her brother’s teacher from last year
Josiah’s 2nd grade teacher
Grace’s 4th Grade Teacher (and soccer coach!)
Pamoja Week (like Spirit Week)  Photo credit:  Rebecca Laarman
Math Detectives for Math Week.  We actually bought the hats from someone who was selling them on the side of the road.  Because, apparently, these are the kind of hats Math Detectives wear.  Now you know.

Grace is emerging as a fantastic soccer player….thanks her to hard work and her Daddy’s instruction.

First grade assembly…Lily was the “prop girl” holding the water…she took the job very seriously.
Post-assembly love.
4th Grade Assembly

This Was My Life the Past Eight Days

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On December 10, 2015

In Other

Facebook sends me helpful reminders when I haven’t posted anything recently.  I sincerely apologize to the 548 people who have had nothing better to do than anxiously await my next post.  

Just so you know I’m not a slacker, this post is all about what I’ve been doing the last 8 days that I have not been blogging.  I’ve also not been cooking, reading, sleeping, or controlling my stress levels very well either.  Instead, my entire life has been consumed by Haven of Peace Academy’s Christmas Family Fun Day.

It’s kind of ironic, actually, that I’m even writing about this event since I was insistent, for months, that I was not going to lead it.  But then I volunteered to lead the Parent Association for the elementary school, along with Heidi, who volunteered to lead it for the secondary school.  By the time October rolled around, we realized that it was either going to be us or no one taking on the Christmas Family Fun Day.  

Reluctantly, we decided it would be us.  

Thus, for the past two months, this event has occupied a great deal of my brain space.  And in the last week or so, it occupied pretty much everything in all my spaces. 

But finally December 9th came and went, and now I can breathe again.  And clear out my brain.  

Thankfully, it was smashing success.  We had the biggest attendance ever, we raised over $10,000 for HOPAC’s new library, and no one actually melted (even though that was a strong possibility in the sweltering tropical sun).  

So, whether or not you care about all of this, I figured I would post pictures anyway, just in case you really have been sitting around, wondering what I have been up to.

photo credit:  Rebecca Laarman

Josiah spent all of his game tickets on human foosball.  No surprise there. 

photo credit:  Rebecca Laarman

Of course, we couldn’t have done any of it without Shelley, Beth, Doris, Rebecca and her seniors, Adrian and Student Council, Melissa (on the left) and especially Nisha (in the middle)….who single-handedly solicited thousands of dollars of raffle prizes.  
….and Heidi, my co-leader, partner in crime, and raffle announcer extraordinaire.

(And Amy Ellis, you better get yourself back to Tanzania, because I am not doing this again next year!  No comments about how I said that last year too.)

Giving Tuesday: Here’s a Great Way to Support Orphans!

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On December 1, 2015

In Other

The best part about Forever Angels Baby Home is not the tidy lines of toothbrushes, even though that  part is pretty cool.

It’s not the brightly painted walls, the nourishing food, or the gazillions of diapers which are hand-washed every day.

It’s not even the caregivers who whole-heartedly love the children, or even the scads of volunteers who make the orphanage a happy place for kids who have lost almost everything.

No.

The best part about Forever Angels is that they don’t just love children, they love families.  

It seems like a no-brainer, but this is something that many, many orphanages get wrong.  Often, orphanages are only focused on the children.  Honestly, it is a lot easier that way.  Orphans are cute.  They are, in many ways, pathetically cute.  Their pathetic-ness just makes them cuter.  Am I right or am I right?

But often orphanage workers, and ourselves, forget that children in orphanages often come from families who are broken, but still very much alive.  It’s much messier, and not so cute, to engage with families that are poor and hurting.  It would be much easier to just take care of their cute kids.

This is where Forever Angels shines.  First and foremost, FA desires to get kids back with families.  When a baby shows up whose mother died in childbirth, they keep the child only until she is strong enough to go home.  When a starving toddler arrives, they get the little one healthy again, but also supply his mother with capital so that she can start a small business.  When an albino child needed protection during the election season, FA admitted the child, but also gave his mom a job at the orphanage so she could see him daily.

Forever Angels helps HIV patients (parents and children) get on ARV medication.  They provide temporary housing to families who need to get on their feet, and sometimes permanent housing when it’s really needed.  They train orphaned (often homeless) teenagers in job and life skills.  They seek out pregnant girls living on the street, in hopes of preemptively helping them to keep and care for their babies.

And then, of course, there’s adoption.  Two of our kids came from Forever Angels, which is how we became acquainted with it.  Not very many children are adopted in Tanzania each year, but most of them that are come from Forever Angels, because it’s easy to recognize what a great place it is.  Forever Angels loves adoption, but only as a last resort.  Which is exactly how it should be.  

This Giving Tuesday, if you have a heart for African orphans, remember that the best place to start is by helping their families.  Supporting Forever Angels is a outstanding way to do that.

Click hereto support their December fundraising campaign.

Click hereto read their wonderful stories of re-building families.  (Some pages will need the password of “Tanzania.”)

Click hereto read about their volunteer program.

I could write about a lot of great causes you could support today, but this is one I especially love.  We happily support Forever Angels.  I hope you will too.

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