This last week my team and I made our way to Kigali, Rwanda and upon our arrival, were greeted by the joyful and kind hearted Pastor Robert. We will be staying with him and his other 12 family members this month in their beautiful home located in Remera; it’s kind of like a sub district of Kigali, like North Kansas City is to Downtown Kansas City. It’s incredibly beautiful here and the city is incredibly westernized. For instance, they drive on the right side of the road, there are stop lights and round a bouts which make sense, they have super markets and coffee shops, and probably the most western thing I’ve seen yet… an all you can eat buffet. I’ll admit, I utterly enjoy all these things about this place but like I said it’s also incredibly beautiful here, and that is aside from the city. Out here in Remera I like to think we have the perfect location; we are a 20ish minute bus ride (once you actually catch a bus.. unfortunately they still run on African time) from down town, and then we're about a 10 minute matatu ride (picture the scooby doo van with 4 rows of seats and 4 people crammed in each row) and an hour long hike into the hills/mountains to our church, which is located in one of the villages up there. We get to make that trek out to our church every day, other than Friday and Saturday, and although I’m sure it will be tiring at times, I am looking forward to it. It is the most beautiful walk I’ve had yet on the race. We get to hike down through a valley and back up the mountainous hill on the other side, with all kinds of plants to captivate our attention along the way and a view just over our shoulder, which with every glance will cause a delay to our steps for at least a few seconds.
Upon our first arrival at the church, I couldn’t help but think… “now this is an African church”. As we approached the building we could hear the drum beat loud and the worship even louder, and as we took our seats the children’s choir stood up and began their part of the praise and worship with a song and dance. I love that dancing is such a part of worship here. It’s such a difference from the states in that, if you don’t dance here you feel like the weirdo. I completely believe that everyone should come into a time of worshipping the Lord and be however He calls you to be before Him, be that dancing your butt off, standing still, sitting or lying on the ground or whatever, but I also have been so inspired by these people who find it such a joy to present themselves before the Lord with praise songs that they can’t help but move. That to them it no longer is just a presentation of their vocal chords but their whole beings. I find that, that joy which makes them dance around like they do, no matter what kind of mood I woke up in or how tired I am from hiking an hour to get to church, it seeps out of them and into me and I in turn am filled with a desire to worship with more of myself. And after the singing has ceased they sit, eager to hear the word of the Lord and ready to respond to the truths they hear with, not silent stares but a resounding “amen”.
I know that these things could be written off as cultural differences, because they are, but I also think that if we look at them as just that, cultural differences, we’ll miss learning something. It’s really humbling to me when I walk into a church here to preach and everyone in the crowd, including men and women older than me whom I could more than learn a thing or two from, are so ready to hear and learn from what is about to come out of my mouth. I know that it is because they believe that the Lord has sent me; they believe that despite my age, my sex, my different language, and all the different cultural differences, that the Lord has sent me here to teach them and that they have something to learn. And I believe the same, yet opposite… that the Lord has sent me here in order to teach me because I have so much to learn.
One of the things the Lord spoke so strongly to me about this trip was that He was going to use it to open my eyes to just how big the body of Christ is, not just in number but in diversity. Being cooped up in America and not really interacting much with anyone international, I’ve lived my life with a very limited perspective. A limited perspective about people in general and more so about who God's children are, how He loves them and how in turn they love Him. I've seen all those things previously only through the lens that America gave me, but I am so thankful that the Lord in His grace has allowed me to travel this year and has promised to show me more of who He is through all the different people and places of this world, which He created. He's constantly reminding through this experience that He's much bigger than I usually give Him credit for. In so many ways I've been pulled out of the comfort zone I lived in for so long. That's looked like a lot of different things, the obvious being that of different bathroom accommodations, food, and living space, but more importantly than that I've been pulled out of the comfort zone of my beliefs about our God.
He began that right from the get go of this trip when back in Busia He had me praying over a sick child in a language known only to Him, and He's continuing to do it as He broadens my view on what it can be like to pray, worship, and hear from Him. It's not as clean and sterile as we sometimes want it to be so that we can remain comfortable in our understanding of who God is. Here's the thing that I'm learning more and more, I know very little about who He is, which means there is a lot that I have to discover about Him which will seem new to me and, very possibly, strange to me. I heard it said one time that if God is the size of an ocean, why would you ever expect to be able to contain Him in the pop-can sized brain that you have. In other words, just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that it's not from God or pleasing to Him. And just because it doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean that it's not very real. A part of walking into newness with the Lord, is being slightly frightened, freaked out, and uncomfortable at times due to all the stuff He has to show me. But I have been truly encouraged and challenged by James 1: 2-8. It talks about lacking wisdom and asking for it from the Lord who will give it generously to all, but the challenging part comes in the latter verses as it says that when you ask, be ready to receive and to act in accordance to that wisdom.
I think as I learn and see new things about the Lord it's easy for me to doubt them or second guess them because of a fear of the unknown. But lately in those times I've been reminded that if I've reduced our God to something that I feel like I wholly know, then I've reduced Him to something He is not. I am excited to continue to see more of who He is through this experience and to worship in new ways with new brothers and sisters in Christ. But I want to encourage all of you back in that states, that though the Lord has chosen to teach me these things through the World Race, that the ability to marvel at how big God is, is not isolated to world travel or crazy experiences. All this newness that I am learning about the Lord is completely accessible to you right now, exactly where you are at because He is completely accessible to you right now, exactly where you are at. You do not need the world to show you, because it is not the Lord's creation which will open your eyes and allow you to see but rather the creator of it all. I want you to know that no matter where you are at right now, you are exactly where you are supposed to be; the Lord has placed you there for a reason and He desires to reveal more of Himself to you so that you may reveal more of Him to all those around you. Ask for more of Him and it will be given to you, be ready to receive.
