We finally made it to Africa! I love this place. I really do. There is something about it that just grips my heart to the core. Ironically, my first trip to Africa was November 2010… I returned to Africa this summer for 2 weeks in July, and now I find myself sitting on the continent once again. 3 times in one year is pretty crazy! A few years back I would have never imagined even coming here the first time. Irony? No I don’t think so actually. Its all God.
As I write this blog, I am 16 hours into a 18-20 hour bus ride from Joburg, South Africa to Cape Town, South Africa. Its been a crazy few days of travel. We left Beijing over 48 hours ago and we are still traveling. I have learned to love and embrace the travel days. Even if they seem to never end. When we got on this bus, it was packed full! 6 of our 7 teams are heading to the Cape Town area, plus there were a hand full of African people all loaded on this bus. When I picked my seat, there was an African man sitting there in the seat next to it. I kindly asked if the seat was taken and he said no. So I set down and we began to talk. I had no idea how much God would minister to me thru this man.
I set in awe as I listened to his story. Born and raised in Ghana, he has a wife and 4 children back home. He is here studying in Cape Town to be an engineer. He has a degree in Bible from Northern California. His main purpose for being here is he goes around preaching the Gospel. When he came to Cape Town, he moved here on less than 40 South African Rand (which is less than 6 US dollars). Thats crazy! You cannot even buy a meal at McDonalds for that much! He spoke of how the Lord had provided for him every time! God provided the funds for his schooling. God provided a place to live and food to eat. Soon him and I were studying the Bible. He gave me some great verses and encouraged me to really focus on why God brought us half way around the world. To open up and allow God to speak to us like never before. He gave me prophetic words that I know for a fact, only God could have told him to tell me. He called me up into things that only I had been praying about. This man was in tune with the Spirit.
God has been dealing with me a lot this month about boldness, steadfastness, and confidence, as I have mentioned before. I think that I used the term “throw in the towel” 4 times when I was in China. It was tough somedays and I just wanted to quit. Quit all of this World Race stuff. Because somedays quitting seems like the easier answer than facing tough issues and “problems” I was facing. As George is speaking life and sharing with me, he said something that I was never expecting. He stuck his finger into my chest and said, “You cannot throw in the towel every time things get tough!” It made me sick when he said it. I set there in silence and was shocked at what I just heard. God absolutely ordained this moment. I have no doubt. George beat every obstical that was ever thrown his way and here I am wanting to give up so easy. I learned something from him in that moment.
I have had a lot of time to sit and think about all of this. Month 3 is going to be a turning point in my race. I fully believe that God has big things in store… Its so funny the way God works sometimes. I never could have though that God would use George to minister to me. I set down fully expecting to reach out to him with the Gospel… God had different things in store. Ironically, this is a journey to 11 countries in 11 months, which is where the World Race slogan 11n11 comes from… Today is November 11th, 2011. 11n11n11. Irony…? I don’t believe in irony.
P.S. Sorry I have not posted any pictures on my blog lately. The internet here in Africa is really slow and really bad, so please check out my facebook profile to see my pictures 🙂
