6/14/2015
Today marks the halfway point of the race. It’s hard to describe how that feels. It seems like the Race has gone by so fast, and yet I feel like it has been forever since I hugged my parents, or tickled my nephews. I’m very grateful to be on this race, very grateful to be doing what we are doing, and meeting new brothers and sisters around the world. But that doesn’t mean that when I get a note from a friend or glance over a picture of my family that my eyes don’t get a little misty. 🙂 However, this race is also instilling in me more and more that that my home is not in Michigan, Florida, or Saipan. It is wherever He is. Because the Holy spirit resides in me, I can carry a piece of home, until the day I truly go to where He is.
Lesotho is a wonderful and unique place in Africa! It is up in the mountains, and people around here walk around in blankets and ride horses. The people who serve us are wonderful and kind. It is really cold here and looks like it could snow any moment.
Our main ministry here is working construction, building a children’s home. After teaching for the first five months in some way or another, this has been such a blessing to do! I enjoy teaching, but I also love working with my hands. We also get to teach Bible to High School and Primary school students, preach at churches and at women’s Bible studies. It has been wonderful to be able to share my testimony and teach the Bible!
We also had the opportunity to preach and share our testimonies at a prison here. When we arrived at the prison, we were led through a chained gate to the courtyard. In the courtyard, we saw the inmates, all wrapped in the same red blankets and wearing the same boots that they give out for warmth, dancing–they were dancing and singing and crying “Jesu!”
I was filled wish such joy and excitement to be able to talk to these men. The night before, one of my teammates, Mercy, shared with me her sermon that was about one of David’s mighty men, Beniah. After she told me about him (I must have glanced over him in the Bible), I got so excited! Sadly, she was sick the day we went to the prison, but I asked her if I could talk about Beniah and she said it was fine.
So three of us shared our testimonies/sermons there. We all had Pastor Tsepo–on of the two main pastors here and an awesome, jolly man– to translate for us. My sermon was this:
I began with talking about my time teaching in Saipan for two years, and how there is a huge struggle against suicide there. I felt it even among my students. It was so powerful that I too felt hope start to leave, and fear seep into my bones. My identity was shaken and my worth as a person was called into question. “What if life doesn’t get better?” was the horrible helpless question that would constantly attack my thoughts. Though I was not defeated, the struggle to hang onto hope in a place that hopelessness tried to dominate, made me feel like I was just getting by, just surviving.
However, a verse that kept coming to me during that time was Romans 8:37. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” God doesn’t call us to merely survive, but to be MORE than conquerors. He calls us to be strong and courageous.
A good example of this is Beniah. 2 Samuel 23:20 says, “On a snowy day, Beniah chased a lion into a pit and killed it.” Now this is such a short sentence, but if we look closer it says a lot aout Beniah. Recently, a woman was killed by a lion in the Animal park that we just had a safari in. Lions are still thought of as one of the ultimate predators for a reason. So back in the time of Beniah, they were absolutely terrifying! They didn’t have the weapons we do now, so they would have to hunt in large parties. Even then that was still dangerous.
Beniah hunted the lion alone. (While I was preaching, both Pastor Tsepo and I were getting excited, our hands theatrical and our tones expressive. The inmates sat quietly with Bibles, with an occasional “Amen,” or an appreciative grunt.)
The conditions were not good for hunting. On a good day, it is hard to hunt a lion.
But Beniah didn’t wait for good conditions. It was a snowy day.
Lions chase and corner their pray. Beniah CHASED the lion away. What was it about this man that a lion would turn tail and run away from him? What confidence did he exude, what fierce passion burned in his eyes that a lion’s instinct would cry “danger, danger, DANGER!”
Beniah could have also killed the lion from outside the pit. It certainly would have been easier and safer. But no. Beniah decided to jump into the pit, a small enclosed space where the lion would have the advantage– and killed it there! This man didn’t seem to register his odds or how much stronger His opponent was. He didn’t have to. He knew How big His God was.
How can we have this crazy courage? How can we be more than conquerors? The answer is in the next verse. Romans 8:37-38:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am CONVINCED (I paused here and emphasized this word. When we are SURE of His love is when we chase lions and hope explodes!)
that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth! (As I grew louder and more excited with each phrase, Pastor Tsepo matched my passion, and many of the prisoners were nodding and shouting amen.)
Nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
This ended in a shout and one of my teammates, Aly, lifted up her arms in victory. I went on to say how this reminded me of a story in Greek Mythology. I told them about the Sirens who lured men to their deaths by singing such beautiful, irresistible music. Odysseus from the famed Odyssey, knew that he and his ship full of men would have to pass by the island of Sirens in order to get home. So he had his men pour wax in their ears so that they couldn’t hear their songs. He himself was tied up, because he still wanted to hear the music without endangering his men. Once he heard the song, he fought and struggled against his bonds, but in the end his men and he passed by the island unharmed. They barely made it.
However, later on there was another man, Jason of the Argonauts, who also had to go by the Sirens.
Jason chose another strategy.
When the island was in sight, he gathered all of his men and had them sit on the deck. He then brought out the King’s musician who was famed to play the most beautiful music in the world. The men were so entranced with the musicians music that they couldn’t hear the Sirens call. The Sirens themselves stopped their singing to listen to the music, and the music was so much more beautiful and so different from their own that they died instantly. So Jason not only escaped death, but conqured the Sirens completely.
And it wasn’t through His might, expertise, or power. But by listening to a song more beautiful than the Sirens. We are not more than conquerors because we are confident of our own strength or abilities, but because we know that we are loved by the God of the universe and that love already won. In this knowledge of that perfect love, fear must flee and we can have hope in all circumstances. That is how we can be strong like Beniah. That is how we are more than conquerors.
After we all shared, we got to pray with some of the inmates. We prayed over them that God has plans for them, that He loves them without reserve, and that they would know His peace.
It was a powerful morning and I loved getting the opportunity to meet, preach, and pray with brothers in prison. Jesus is there too. What if there were Pauls and Peters in that courtyard? What if there were Mandelas?
Thank you again, everyone who has accompanied me on this race with your support, prayers, and encouragement. You were with me in that prison courtyard too.
God Bless!
Tori
