40 days to Africa

I woke up this morning to the realization that we will be boarding our plane in just 40 days.  I'm sure there is some significance to this day.  I feel like I should "do" something for the next 40 days - exercise, fast, pray...something spiritual or good.  I thought about "40 days to lose my blubber", but I hear African people think it's good to be fat.  It might not be true but it sounds good to me.  I want Drew to get the most respect he can for his "healthy" wife so I will forgo the diet.  We could use 40 days of prayer, so feel free to pray for us.   We have so much going on during the next 40 days, I could just call it "40 days of Freaking Out".  Again, prayer would be good.

All kidding aside, 40 is a significant number in many ways.  I googled "40 days" and there were 159,000,000,000 sites to choose from, many of these were spiritual in nature.  For some reason, God used 40 days in many of the events that happened throughout the Bible.   Many of those events were tied to times of trial and testing.  Think of Noah, after obeying God and building the ark, it rained for 40 days.  I would guess that 40 days was not a time of rejoicing (even though his family was saved), but rather a time of adjusting and grieving the loss of the life they knew.  The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. This happened after their spies checked out Canaan (the land flowing with milk and honey) for 40 days and were too fearful to trust God.  Jesus was tested in the wilderness for 40 days at the beginning of his ministry.  Jesus appeared to people for 40 days after his resurrection, a time of great confusion to the early Christians.   There are many more examples but I think you get the idea.  40 days was a good amount of time to get people's attention...and 40 years would definitely get a point across.

Many people today celebrate the Advent season, which was originally 40 days.  Advent is the weeks leading up to Christmas that is a time of reflecting on the events leading up to the first Christmas.  It's a time of getting our eyes off of our selfish desires and focusing on others.   As a family we have followed different Advent reading plans over the years.  The time leading up to Christmas takes on a deeper meaning and gives us a greater appreciation for the significance of the birth of Jesus.  It wasn't just a random event but was foretold throughout the Old Testament.   We anticipate Christmas morning with excitement, not just on getting present, but the realization that WHO we live for was born on this day.  If it were not for the personal relationship I have with Jesus, I would have no desire to even go to Africa.

The season of Lent is the 40 days leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ.  Some use this time to  give up something or let go.  I like the idea of that as we are leading up to our trip.  I want to use these next 40 days to prepare my heart for all that God has in store for our family.  I also want to begin the process of "letting go".  Letting go of my rights, my possessions and my expectations.  This last week has been a time of struggle for me and I feel like I am in a battle.  I want to use this time to prepare for a continued battle, one where I am not in my familiar surroundings.

 Even though I know the battle will be happening, I am excited because I am not in this battle alone.  I also know that you can have joy in the middle of the hardest times.  I am looking forward with JOY to our time in Africa.  Starting today, I am choosing to have "40 days of Joy".

  

Wilson

At the bridge

Who is Wilson??

Wilson's Home and Family

In 2005 Marie and I (Drew) went to Kenya on a 2 week short term mission trip to Kenya with Wycliffe Associates.  We went to a property they owned and were turning into a retreat/conference center.  Imagine your church or work is having a weekend retreat and renting the facilities of a YMCA camp or a church camp a little ways out of the city, that kind of place just a short distance outside of Nairobi. Then the facility could be used to generate income instead of just being an expense.  About a 1/4 mile down the road from the compound entrance was a little stream. most of the year cars could drive through it to go to the conference center. During the rainy season however, the stream was too deep, and too wide.  That turned a 1/2 hour trip to and from the city into a much longer trip.  In the African countryside, when the main road is shut down, finding another route is a little more involved than just going the other way around the block.  Not good for a retreat center business.

Having a background in concrete,  I was assigned to work on the little bridge.  They had hired a number of local men from a small nearby village to accomplish a lot of the construction that had been going on and the guys were mostly working on the bridge at this point because it was the most labor intensive thing happening. These guys had done an amazing job of hand hewing rock faced block out of small boulders(with hammers and chisels) and building some beautiful dorm buildings. Apparently however, no one had formed concrete up in the air. (Except the regional construction manger who had an engineering degree - but not the time to stay on one project.)  It's one thing to stake some 2" X 4"s into the ground and pour a sidewalk.  The wall that is behind Wilson and I in the "At the Bridge" picture however, would weigh about as much as 8 or 9 Chevy Suburbans.  To hold this much weight up in the air, you need to know what you're doing. Especially when the materials you're working with are what we would have used in America about 100 yrs ago.  The trip planners were happy "a concrete guy"  was on the trip that could form the first vertical wall and hopefully teach some one else to continue after the team left.

Last Day

Now we get to Wilson. Wilson(first name) was one of local guys working at the compound.  We met the the first day I worked on the bridge and hit it off from the start.  Wilson is also a believer and frequently would say "It is written . . . ."  and quote scripture, simply as a part of his normal everyday self.  He was filled with a joyful outlook on life, was encouraging to be around, and was a diligent hard worker.  Wilson was married and had 3 kids.  He invited Marie and I and a few others to his home to see his house that he was so proud of and meet his family.  When we got there we were warmly welcomed and noticed a few things as soon as we approached  and entered. First, Wilson's house, which was very nice by the standards of the average persons dwelling, is most easily described as a concrete block single car garage.  Second, when we entered the house we immediately could not miss the scripture verses written in chalk near the top of the walls all around the house.  Have you ever met someone who says "Jesus is my everything" or  "His word sustains me"??  I've often wondered how many times that's just Sunday morning Christian talk. Do they really mean it??  What does that really look like??  Travel with me to Kenya and I can introduce you to the real thing.  His name is Wilson.  Wilson was incredibly thankful for God's provision for his family.  Wilson made about $3 or $4 a day at his full time job with which to provide for that family.

Back to the bridge.  Seeing that Wilson and I hit it off so well and knowing his hard working diligence, Wilson basically got assigned to work with me on forming the wall.  Wilson, like many people (even 10 yr olds) in Africa can converse in 3 languages Swahili, English, and the  local tribal language.  And we can think we are so smart if we know 20 words of Spanish.  He hadn't, however, been to college or had any real form of what we would call "higher education".  But Wilson was a "sponge" for learning.  Forming Concrete "up in the air"  is basically a real life lesson in the physics of  masses and forces.  If a 20,000 lb section of your wall (and the lumber holding it) blows out or falls over it can get really expensive fast and can really injure someone.  Wilson and I were side by side for several days, and I did all I could to teach him about the foundation principles of containing that much mass and that much force.  To try and get him to follow the domino effect of "This is exerting force there, and it's traveling through this to that, so we must also brace here . . .    When you pour  the concrete,  watch here, if there is a weakness, it will be the first place to move . . ." and so on.  So much information, so little time.  Such a deep friendship, so little time

There were other things to be accomplished before Wilson and I formed the wall and I had to leave just a few work days before the pour.  I was actually really bummed to not be there for it.  I was told by e-mail that all went well and the forms held.  I was also told that Wilson, who learned in a week what it would usually take me a whole season to teach someone,  got what to him was a pretty big raise and was made the main forming guy for the rest of the project.  That was 6 years ago and in our fast pace american life that we live, I haven't inquired about Wilson for a few years.  Last I heard he was still a trusted foreman type employee who was joyfully thankful for a full time job that paid him for a days work what we could spend for a "lunch on the go".  He was still a living example of "Jesus is my everything" and "His word sustains me".  So little time, so much impact.  I still haven't figured out who's life was impacted more. Wilson and his family's, or mine?  Probably mine.