BLOG CHANGE

I finally did it. I changed my blog address. (This probably should've happened earlier, since I'm no longer in Africa...) It's hemustbecomegreater.blogspot.com. I've put a link on the right side of the screen if you want to just click on it. Hope you all have a SPLENDID day. God bless y'all and thanks for the prayers.

The Loft

Once again, sorry for taking so long to write again...I'm really getting bad at this. Sorry about that.

We have moved in to our new apartment (aka The Loft) in downtown Jackson. It's quite the stellar place...just enough room for the 3 of us (Abe Janson, Jake Sinkovitz and I) to live in. We're living with Ben and Kristen Kriesch right off the corner of Francis and Morrell. And despite all the prejudices lined up against those two streets, our neighborhood is pretty safe. So for those of you terribly worried about our safety...well, you don't need to be. We'll be okay.

As far as plans for this summer...we're still trying to work that out. But here's the shake down. In fact, I think I'll go through the entire story so you get a feel for how God's been guiding us down this road. It started when I called Abe on day and both of us were tired of calling ourselves Christians and do nothing about it. We wondered what it would be like for a couple of guys to give up a summer to God and see what He wanted to do with it. Plans started forming up for going to Colorado or anywhere really (as long as it wasn't Jackson) and we were all set to go...until meetings with Rick and honestly thinking about our summer plans started to change our minds. To go to Colorado it would be A.)more expensive. B.)Not a long term thing C.) More like a missions trip than a life change. After realizing all this...we grudgingly agreed that we had to stay in Jackson. And as that shift took place, opportunities kept coming at me. I started working in the youth group with the new church, I went to a leadership meeting for the church, Ben told me we had a place to stay with them...and I started to get excited about living in Jackson. My plans for Jackson were still to do some crazy evangelism or something, but didn't know how that would work out. As with everything else, that has changed as well. For me, I'm looking to help change the community. I want to the people of Jackson to know Jesus Christ and to know this unbelievable love that the creator of the universe has for them. But honestly, I'm not the best one to bring it to them. I'm leaving in 3 months. I can't build a relationship, overcome the barriers, bring the love of Jesus and develop a worthy foundation in that time. Instead what I'm hoping to do is make the lives of the people already here a little easier...free up the schedule of the people who live here so they can do their thing. Of course, I will still be building relationships...but I don't think that will be my focus. I want this summer to have the most lasting change possible...and if that means that I'm behind the scenes and praying all summer...I'm all for it.

And yes, I fully expect God to radically change my life as well. I have no doubt that God has some great ways planned to rip my heart apart and put it back together a little more like His. I don't see all the ways I need to change, but God does, and I hope He holds nothing back.

So there you go...a brief synopsis of what I think God's up to in my life. Of course, I probably don't even know half of it...but these are just my general inklings.

-Seydou

Moon, stars, waves....

One of my favorite things about our place at the Bahamas was our deck on the ocean. There was one night, when it a storm was just, that I just went outside and listened. Imagine...such strong winds that I was nearly knocked over, thunder, lightening. As everything was exploding around me...I stood amazed at the power of God. How peaceful and gentle He is...and yet when His fury is awakened, it's unstoppable. (Who can stop a storm?). Just like the God, the water can be the cause of great refreshment and purity and enjoyment...but it can also be a terrible and furious thing. And the crazy thing was...the sky above was perfectly clear. It felt like a private show of the Trinity. The wind (Spirit) blowing wherever it pleased, pushing me this way and that. The awesome power and grace of Jesus in the rain and the waves. And then the incomprehensible stars...too big and far to even come close to understanding. And the moon...untouchable, yet somehow a part of the action...pulling the tides in and out. All three so distinct, yet all three somehow connected. I know it's not a perfect image of what the Trinity really is...but I was excited to just see a part of it.

And just to finish out the Bahamas trip, we visited a monastery on the top of a hill on the island. I was told it was the highest point between Florida and Africa...it was a nice place to put a monastery. As we walked around the place, I just couldn't help but wonder...what would it be like to live your life SOLELY for God? To give up all your comforts and possessions and meditate on Him constantly? And then I thought...how cool would it be to live that kind of monkish life IN TODAY'S BUSY WORLD? Is it even possible? Could I reduce my comforts so that I remind myself that this isn't my real home? Could I give my time and energy into knowing God? I have to believe that I can. What an amazing testimony that would be to God. Even though all the world says, GO GO GO...I will wait on the Lord.

And the last piece of news...I'll be heading into Jackson this week. (Probably either Tuesday or Wednesday). I'm really excited to see what God does. Once again my main goal is to make friends (this seems to be what God has me doing a lot...Africa was the same thing). I'm going to play basketball...get to know some of the guys in the town, and hopefully live such a radically different life that they ask questions. It's a huge change for me...going from Africa, to Spring Arbor, to inner-city life. But I guess God's just building up experience for me...trying to shape me into the man he wants me to be. This is going to be absolutely crazy...and I'm sure we're going to need to rely on God a lot...just don't know what that is going to be like.

Well, I gotta get going. Have a wonderfully blessed memorial day!! Lata.

-Dabumba.

Long time...no write

It's been such a long time...my bad. As I mentioned, we went to the Bahamas (Cat Island in particular) for a family vacation. It was absolutely great. Here's a picture of our house while we were there.
How can you NOT have a good time when you're in a house like that!? That deck actually we overlooking the ocean right there...and it was over a coral reef. The first day we got there, we looked over the edge and...oh, there's a shark. So we decided to go snorkeling.
Don't worry...we were all right. We survived. But it was really cool...right outside our house was a coral reef we could swim in and see all the fish. I loved it.

But the greatest part was hanging out with the family. I'm sure that no matter where we went, we would've had a great time. They're wonderful people! This one is on our deck right before a storm. The wind was so strong we were getting knocked around. The one flying through the air is my cousin Gavin. I'm not sure if it's a trick of the camera or what, but I've never seen him jump that high.
And here's my family all piled in there at the hermitage/monastery that's in Cat Island (I think I'll have to make another post including that and other things I did while I was there). I would name them all, but then again, that would take a long time and no one would really care anyways. If you're desperate to know, just ask.
Amazing place isn't it? I loved it. That's the basic overview of Cat Island. We went swimming, beaching, tanning, kayaking and all other "ing" things. Truly a great time. But now that I've returned to Michigan this is the attitude.
I want to go back...! Eh, I guess you can't have everything.

God bless ya.

_daaaaabumba

Slowing down.

For those of you who haven't heard, our family is going on a vacation to the Bahamas (tough life, I tell you). It's a pretty special place. My great grandmother was a missionary here (Cat Island to be specific) and my Mom's family went there quite a bit to see her and have a vacation. But they haven't gone in 20+ years...and are really wanting to get back there! So my family, my aunts, cousins, grandparents, uncle, and other relatives are all renting a house so we can all experience it again! I'm REALLY excited to have a day start with nothing to do. (I'll leave tomorrow and be back the 22nd).

Which kind of brings me to the exciting goodness of today's blog. It has been a long time since I just listened. Not to music, or to someone talking, or anything in particular...but just to sit outside and listen. It sounds weird, I know, but I found it's remarkably enjoyable. The birds fluttering about singing at each other. The wind rustling through the trees. The cars driving past (I guess it can't all be perfect). I've missed so much rushing about, trying to get from here to there as fast as I can. Life gets monotonous when you never stop to catch a breath. So today, instead of driving or riding a bike, I walked. And I just watched and listened. It's incredible how quickly your thoughts clear, and how peaceful my mind becomes. I loved it.

After I'd written my previous blog, I went to cell group and had a good conversation with my friends about it. It's so easy to draw a line in the sand and say, "This is what my church believes in, this is what your church believes in...and they're different so we're different." Now, I don't care if there are denominations. I don't care if people group together based on beliefs...the problem comes when, "The Free Methodists aren't real Christians" or when "The Baptists don't have any clue about the real world" (no offense those denominations). We are all claiming to follow the same Christ and human barriers should be easy crossed over when compared to the magnitude of service to Him. And the church isn't limited to a building...it's in the people. And there are people out there who will never step inside of the building, and I applaud those people who step out and reach out to them. My point was this...just don't cut off the branch your standing on. We're all connected and we're all in this Christian journey together. We all do some things poorly, we all do some things well...can't we just forget what the world says about needing our own special divisions and compartments and be united?

-Seydou

"Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall."

-Jesus

Marriage

(Sorry, not getting married yet. Might not get married at all...)

I just read Ephesians chapter 5...and something finally connected in my brain. Paul is writing about wives submitting to their husbands, and husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church. (To throw my opinion out there, wives have it easy. How hard can it be to submit to a guy who is loving you like Christ? The men have the challenging part...but also exciting part as well.) One verse at the end caught my attention... "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother to be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." (Okay so thats logical, guys leave their families to be with their special someone). "This is a profound mystery--I am talking about Christ and the church." HOLD UP! Wow. So this passage isn't about a man and woman, it's about Christ invading the world to be united with his bride, the church. Does that strike anyone else as amazing? Jesus tore himself away from the presence of God the Father, from his heavenly throne, from thousands of angels singing his praise...for what? The church? He did. He gave up everything he had so that he could be one with the church. Jesus=church. Church=Jesus. And so to take that a step further...what happens when I say something negative about the church? When I stereotype the church? I'm speaking against Jesus. And to be honest (just going to throw it out there) I'm getting tired of hearing about how bad the church is. It seems like every "post-modern" hippie website I go to, they're talking about how judgmental the church is, how we're (yes, we...not they.) doing everything wrong and how it's basically useless at reaching out. I don't think they understand who they're speaking against. We have problems, yes. We have fallen from the beauty and grace that Jesus once clothed us in, and desperately need reformation to become the bride Jesus made us to be. But instead of complaining about it, could we work to build it? Instead of calling for its destruction, could we give our lives to saving it? If the effort Christians put into criticizing the church was put into trying to find ways to make it better...we might be seeing some difference.

I apologize for the rant...but I feel it's needed. People everywhere need to be reached. There are some groups that the church is missing, yes. But I don't think that justifies criticizing the body of Christ...does it?

-Seydou

(Here's a thought. Could it be that God created woman and man...and the relationship of marriage so that we would understand why Jesus came to die? It's another one of those "stepping out of time" deals."

Prayer

I just got off the phone with John and Nancy DeValve...and there are a lot of things that they need some prayer for! Here's a quick list:
*There was a new school that was started down the road, which is led by people who don't exactly have the same views and John and Nancy, and the kids are being sent there. The Sunday School numbers have gone down a LOT.

*The water situation. They're managing right now, but each day is a struggle. (They have about 15 gallons of water to live off of each day...including showers, washing dishes and clothes, drinking, cooking...everything).

*PRAISE THE LORD IT RAINED!!! So the water should be coming back soon...but they need another good one soon.

*They have almost gotten enough money for Daniel's schooling, but still need to finish it up.

*They're coming home for the summer, and are heading through areas that have been rather....volatile...lately.

*Speaking of volatile...Niamey has been a mess. There are a lot of riots by the students (one a day) and they're not happy. Apparently they want everyone in the country to pay taxes (including embassy and missionary people) and so they attack any car with a green license plate. A few embassy vehicles and missionary cars have been stoned. The people were injured, but thanks to God they're all still okay. (This is strange writing this, some of the missionaries were people that I KNEW AND REALLY LIKED. They are great people...and I can't imagine why someone would do such a thing). Pray for safety for the missionaries and Sahel Academy students...and pray that they would have a godly attitude and response to the violence.

I think that pretty much covers it. Life is difficult out there. I know it's hard to imagine it, but this really is happening. I only had a taste. I know just a piece of what it's like. So please pray!! They need the help.

-Jeremy