Sunday in church I witnessed another of several occasions that rank right up there with the "widow's mite" found in the Scriptures.
After church, a young mother with an infant tied to her back in typical Tanzanian style came forward and shyly greeted us and gave something to Pastor George. She quietly whispered something to him and then turned and walked away.
Pastor George opened up his hand and showed us the crumpled and dirty 10,000/= (shilling) note; the equivalent to about $8.00. By the simple way she was dressed it was obvious that it was a large sum of money for her to be giving away to the church.
Pastor George explained that she wanted to help buy chairs for the church; each chair is about 20,000/=. However, she had been holding on to the money for some time and was afraid that if she did not go ahead and give it she would be tempted to spend it for something else. She will work on collecting the remainder of the money over the next few weeks/months.
My desire was to return the money to her since she was obviously poor and could well have used the money herself. However, I remember the look of joy that flashed in her eyes in the brief moment she made eye contact with me and I realized that it was not for me to take that away from her.
She may go a long time before she again experiences the joy that simple act of giving brought to her. In the days ahead when times are hard and she has a financial need she will remember the joy and she will be content. She knows what it is to be in need on a daily basis; she does not, however, experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from giving every day.
There are some things more important than money and that money cannot buy; one of them is joy.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Children
We were in the states during April for our youngest daughter, Sarah's, graduation from Evangel University. It was truly a testimony to the faithfulness of God; when she was younger and had health issues we weren't sure she would be able to accomplish a task of this magnitude.
However, she has been living on her own, working and finished school with honors; it is all because of God's love and faithfulness.
We spent time with our first daughter, Jenn, in Iowa where she lives and works. She is the internet manager for a television station. We enjoyed spending time with her in her home; Jenn is an excellent hostess and a very good cook and we had a lot of fun being with her for a few days.
It is an odd experience when you start seeing your children as young adults making their own way in the world. This visit it felt more like I related to Jenn and Sarah as adults; this is sometimes a difficult switch for parents to make. At least, for me it has been difficult although I am making progress. When I returned home I took out the picture albums and walked down memory lane for a little while as I looked at the pictures of them as children.
They may be adults and the way we relate to each other may undergo change as time goes by, but as long as there are picture albums you can go back in time once in awhile when you need it and they can be little children again as you stroll down memory lane. It's OK to go back once in awhile as long as you don't stay there too long.
Be blessed.
However, she has been living on her own, working and finished school with honors; it is all because of God's love and faithfulness.
We spent time with our first daughter, Jenn, in Iowa where she lives and works. She is the internet manager for a television station. We enjoyed spending time with her in her home; Jenn is an excellent hostess and a very good cook and we had a lot of fun being with her for a few days.
It is an odd experience when you start seeing your children as young adults making their own way in the world. This visit it felt more like I related to Jenn and Sarah as adults; this is sometimes a difficult switch for parents to make. At least, for me it has been difficult although I am making progress. When I returned home I took out the picture albums and walked down memory lane for a little while as I looked at the pictures of them as children.
They may be adults and the way we relate to each other may undergo change as time goes by, but as long as there are picture albums you can go back in time once in awhile when you need it and they can be little children again as you stroll down memory lane. It's OK to go back once in awhile as long as you don't stay there too long.
Be blessed.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Contrasts
We spent the month of April in the US; we were there for our daughter's graduation. While traveling around the eastern half of the country I was struck once again by the huge contrasts between life in the states and life in Tanzania.
Contrasts are part of our life; light and dark, hot and cold, clean and dirty, etc. There are also contrasts just as obvious in the lifestyles that are lived in different parts of the world. There was a particular scenario that brought some of these contrasts very vividly to my attention.
We were visiting family and I was taken on a tour of a new Veterinary Hospital where my niece works as Office Manager. She gave us a tour of the facilities and I was amazed at the sparkling clean surroundings which included new stainless steel equipment, digital ultrasound, separate waiting rooms for canine and feline patients, several surgical rooms and recovery areas, exercise and physical therapy equipment, and boarding rooms complete with video equipment so that the owners could view their pets from anywhere they were traveling. Everything was new, clean and state-of-the art.
As I left the animal hospital, I remembered visiting the small daughter of one of our pastor's in the large government hospital here in Mwanza. The facility is old, run down and less than sparkling clean let alone sterile and it is understaffed. The small room that Shekinah and her mother were in was not much bigger than a bathroom and the one piece of furniture was the small bed that Shekinah was confined to. There was no medical equipment visible in the room except for the pole that held the IV bag; there was no apparatus to help with Shekinah's breathing although she was obviously having difficulty breathing. There was no staff that I saw either inside or outside the room.
Contrast; the hospital's that we Americans have for our animals as compared to the hospitals that many of the Tanzanian people are forced to use.
If I had a choice, I would rather be cared for in the animal hospital I visited in America than in the huge hospital here in Mwanza.
God help us to see the contrasts that should not exist and work to make them non-existent.
Contrasts are part of our life; light and dark, hot and cold, clean and dirty, etc. There are also contrasts just as obvious in the lifestyles that are lived in different parts of the world. There was a particular scenario that brought some of these contrasts very vividly to my attention.
We were visiting family and I was taken on a tour of a new Veterinary Hospital where my niece works as Office Manager. She gave us a tour of the facilities and I was amazed at the sparkling clean surroundings which included new stainless steel equipment, digital ultrasound, separate waiting rooms for canine and feline patients, several surgical rooms and recovery areas, exercise and physical therapy equipment, and boarding rooms complete with video equipment so that the owners could view their pets from anywhere they were traveling. Everything was new, clean and state-of-the art.
As I left the animal hospital, I remembered visiting the small daughter of one of our pastor's in the large government hospital here in Mwanza. The facility is old, run down and less than sparkling clean let alone sterile and it is understaffed. The small room that Shekinah and her mother were in was not much bigger than a bathroom and the one piece of furniture was the small bed that Shekinah was confined to. There was no medical equipment visible in the room except for the pole that held the IV bag; there was no apparatus to help with Shekinah's breathing although she was obviously having difficulty breathing. There was no staff that I saw either inside or outside the room.
Contrast; the hospital's that we Americans have for our animals as compared to the hospitals that many of the Tanzanian people are forced to use.
If I had a choice, I would rather be cared for in the animal hospital I visited in America than in the huge hospital here in Mwanza.
God help us to see the contrasts that should not exist and work to make them non-existent.
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