Another quote from our devotional...

"The mind of Jesus led Him not to glory first, but to death."

Every time I strive to obtain recognition as a good Christ-follower through my works or deeds on Earth, I essentially think I can achieve more than Christ did in His life.

This is laughable.

I catch myself doing this a lot; trying to impress people with all my 'accomplishments'. What accomplishments? What have I done to deserve any glory?

Nothing.

I must strive to become obedient to God. To struggle against my own desires of Earthly recognition and become a humble servant - not caring who on Earth knows about anything I've done. To paraphrase what an awesome girl just told me about this: "Don't strive for recognition. Strive to be a Christ-follower and recognition will follow." Earthly recognition may never happen and doesn't even matter. I've got to get over that. I must strive to devote my entire life to become my Father's good and faithful servant. This can't even be gained by my own doing, but through the Spirit's work in me. Through the Spirit I hope to gain the Father's recognition as one of His children. A recognition worth living and dying for.

This is going to be hard.

Heavy stuff

Julia and I are doing the same daily devotional (Walk with God by Chris Tiegreen), this is what was in there for March 17, I thought I'd share it since I've been thinking about it a lot. This is probably against some copyright law...

"We're often not conscious of the statements we make, but they are more numerous than we think. We aren't aware of them because most are not verbal. They are revelations of the heart, spoken by our choices. As it is often said, actions speak louder than words.
Consider, for example, what we are saying when we have no money for God's ministry but enough to pay the cable bill. Or when we see the starving and wish we could help - and then waste money on soft drinks with no nutritional value. Why does thirty dollars a month to save a child seem like such a bargain? What do our choices say of God? Not much. They say more about our values. They reveal what's in our heart.
God's no enemy of entertainment and taste buds. But He is an enemy of idols, and our choices reveal what they are. We deceive ourselves often - our enormous capacity for doing so came with the Fall. It's amazing how much we can't afford to do for God's Kingdom - the budget is always tight, right? Meanwhile, the vacations we really want to take are usually taken. The meals we want to eat are usually eaten. The make and model we want to drive is usually in our driveway. We more comfortably delay God's gratification than our own.

We need to snap out of our unconsciousness. Many of our idols have become automatic to us. We don't see them as intentional choices that reveal the treasures of our heart. But deep down we know: If we loved God with all our being, if we treasured His Kingdom above all else, He would see more of our treasure given for His use.
Why is this so important? Does God have insufficient funds? Probably not. The Owner of all isn't short of cash when He really wants to accomplish something. He wants more than cash. He wants us to value faith, the currency of this world. More than that, He wants us. He wants our choices to reflect an intense unbridled love. He wants us to honour Him."


Our modern definition of an idol is often a sports star or some famous person. So if we don't value any of these people too much, than we're not committing idolatry. But any time we put anything above God we're committing idolatry. And what we put above God the most is ourselves. Sometimes with the reasoning that "God would want me to be happy", "why else would God have given me money, talents..., other than to enjoy them myself?" We don't voice these thoughts all that much, but we're thinking them. Well, I do anyway.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm to use EVERYthing God has given me to the benefit of God and others. How to glorify God with my talents. To treat every penny, every possession with the reality that it's not 'mine', it's God's.

I own nothing, I can claim nothing.

What you've been waiting for...

Zebra pictures!!

Check out the album on Facebook here!

Not a whole lot else to say. Today marks my 2 weeks from home, yet it seems both like I've been here longer and that I left a quite a while longer ago...

Should be starting to take over the duties from Alice this week. Looking forward to it!

In Nigeria!

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in the update, but here she be!

I arrived in Jos on Saturday around 6 or 7pm after a very stressfull and rushed day of travelling from Kenya. I woke up at 5 in the morning that day to be ready for the taxi driver who was to come at 5:30. She didn't show up until about quarter to and we didn't leave until 10 to. The flight was at 7:30 and took the better part of half an hour to get to the airport. By the time we got TO the airport, we were told the check-in had closed, and the boarding had already started. Alice, a Nigerian who also works for Beacon of Hope and was at the training as well, managed to get us checked-in, and we rushed to the plane. We hurridly went through security, I threw my stuff on the belt, grabbed it on the other side, then ran on the tarmak (shoes in hand...) to make the flight with minutes to spare.

From Kenya, we flew to Lagos, the old capital of Nigeria (population of almost 8 million) and tried to make the flight to Jos. We didn't. We were stuck going to Abuja, then take the 3 and a half hour taxi drive to Jos. So it was a long day... Saturday I stayed at David's house, a Nigerian who works for the CRWRC. He's a very generous man and kept me fed all of Saturday and Sunday. Sunday afternoon I moved back into the 'old house' (same place as last year) who's current inhabitants are the Biblically named Micah and Emmanuel (from Ireland and England, respectively). I didn't get the chance to meet either of them until Tuesday night since they were down south visiting some of their Mission Africa friends. It also happened to be Micah's birthday, so we went to the local resturant 'downtown' and celebrated. It was great to meet all the new faces and the few who are still here that I DO know... Somehow I became the 'new guy'...

Coming back has been great though. The welcome has been incredible. So many smiling, familiar faces ready to invite me over for dinner (at least 4 invites in the first day!) They all truely make me feel welcomed back. It's weird, a lot of them have been asking me what it's like to be back. I think they assume I'll say something like 'weird', 'different' or something. But with the friendliness and how inviting everyone is, the transition has been smooth. I really don't feel like I've left. I'm back in the same house, driving the same car (for better or worse), and neighbours with the same people.

I'm beginning to really remember why I loved it so much here.

As much as Nigeria feels like home, there are elements that don't quite make it such. There's no duplicating or replacing what I have in Canada.

Safari tease

Just a small preview of my first full day in Nairobi.
:)

Underlining

So I'm below the equator right now. Neat eh? I'll be here in Kenya until Saturday morning when I take the 5 hour flight to Nigeria. I'm staying at the Methodist Guest House (oddly, their Bibles are Gideon) in Nairobi. This doesn't really feel like Africa though. I'm sitting on a third floor balcony in low 20 degree temperatures, overlooking two large pools. You'd think I was at a resort with the cleaning ladies, meal rooms and the TV in my room.

*Sidenote - couches belong on balconies. I'm pretty sure that's what they were made for, we've just forgotten.*

The trip here was long, but I managed to doze for most of the second flight (save for my neighbour's bladder acting up every hour). I also dozed off in the Amsterdam airport, which has super cozy seats. This is where I found out I cannot trust iPod alarms. Getting my Kenyan visa was a LOT easier than my Nigerian one. All it took was $50 US and a hour wait. To those that don't know, my Nigerian visa took $120 US, an online application, several letters, passport photos, a police check, several letters, documents, phonecalls, and finally a last-minute drive to Ottawa.

I was picked up at the airport by someone holding a sign with my name on it. So that life-goal is now crossed off my list. I mentioned to my taxi driver how I regretted being in Kenya but not being able to see the wild animals. She told me there is a park 30 minutes from where I'd be staying, so I'm debating checking that out later today. It'd be pretty sweet. My workshops/training begin tomorrow, so until then I'm just going to be hanging out, relaxing and getting caught up on jetlag (8 hour difference here).