When the Elephant Goes on a Rampage

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Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?  When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.  Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid.  Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.  The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.  For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary.  He will place me out of reach on a high rock.  Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me.  At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.  Psalm 27:1-6

In 2007 I took a little trip with a group of Baptists, Methodists, and Assembly of God folks to Zimbabwe, Africa.  Our mission was to teach End Times theology to pastors in a seminary, build a building in 10 days for future students, and (in our spare time) hold a Vacation Bible School for 150 kids in 110^◦ heat.  I learned a lot in that 10-day adventure, particularly about dealing with adversity.  On that trip I met people whose daily tasks were dictated by whether there would be food somewhere in the coming week.  When you live in American culture, adversity is only having a 4G network.  By the end of the week I was feeling guilty about missing the comforts of my home when my new friends were grateful just to have a roof over their school building to shade them from the relentless midday sun.

We got one day being tourists; we got to ride in an open, jeep-like vehicle for a mini-safari into the bush.  Seeing wildlife in the wild is spectacular!  Our ride through the African plains to an engedi of a watering-hole was surreal. 

On that little excursion I learned something very important to the life of following Jesus as a disciple when we were threatened by a beast that could have squashed our huge jeep wagon and the dozen occupants without even breaking a sweat.

The elephant blocked our pathway through the brush as we were headed towards the oasis/watering hole…not quite a lake really, more like a mudhole.  But that elephant considered it his mudhole, and he stood firmly unmovable, ready to defend his home and herd.  We hadn’t seen him until we only 20 feet away.  Suddenly being nose to trunk with a 10-foot tall, ten-ton behemoth with an attitude, our guide stopped the vehicle and said in a low, steady voice:  be very quiet and still[2].  I had no problem with that; my legs wouldn’t have moved if you beat me with a baseball bat!

After several looks at us with eyes that resembled something I’ve seen on a tv show about zombies and devils, the mountain of grey with a tail at both ends snorted and lumbered off, leaving a dozen American sets of eyes frozen open in disbelief at how fragile our lives were…and how calmly our African host remained when borderline rage was staring us down, and fear had imprisoned his passengers.

That was the first time I’d connected the dots with King David’s Psalm, and how, if attacked (or even just threatened), he would remain confident.  Perhaps this confidence grew from years of being protected in the wilderness from bears and lions as he protected the sheep he was tending.  David understood the power of his God to keep him, no matter the circumstances. 

There is a difference between presenting a confident image for others to see, as opposed to having a non-anxious spirit because you’ve entrusted your life, past, present, and future, to the God nobody sees.  David could rest his spirit in the presence of the Lord, because that presence was always there. 

For You Today

When you’ve lived long enough and sinned big enough to know how much you are in need of God’s forgiveness, providence, and protection, like David, you’ve probably discovered God’s been doing that for you since long before you even suspected it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:   Russell Brownworth (original photograph)    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

[2] See Psalm 46:10

Lenten Walk - Part 3

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Monday, February 19, 2018

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:16-20^(NLT)

We’ve been looking at the Lent pathway via some thoughts my friend shared with me about his family’s recent hiking excursion at Hanging Rock.  You’ve got to trust the path to take you to the high places, and you need a steadying stick to help navigate the soft, shifty places. 

Today Lent is five days-in; five of forty.  Mathematically that’s only 12½^% of the journey, but let’s go to the top of the rock this morning.  My friend, Richard, shared an insight he gleaned from being at the top that is particularly helpful in pastoral ministry. 

When you climb all the way to the top at Hanging Rock, you must have courage to get the best views!  Hmmm…I thought it was courageous just to get to the top; whatever did my friend have in mind?  Well, he said:  You have to get right out to the edge of the rock if you want to look down…straight-down at the best, most breath-taking views! 

I was afraid he was going there.  I love mountains and the grand, panoramic displays of God’s handiwork…from a safe distance.  Although vertigo is not my idea of a good high, Richard’s explanation made sense; not fun, but sense

Incidentally, speaking of sense, of the common variety, a disclaimer here:  I do NOT recommend you go near the edge of Hanging Rock without someone to hold you back after you’ve visited the psychiatrist following your decision to look a mile or two straight down!  Some people’s courage is other people’s craziness!

That being said, Richard was right…the view from hanging over Hanging Rock is the most breathtaking possibility.  Instead of looking straight-out and seeing nothing but tree tops, you get to look down and see the contours of the land, and all the interesting little details a horizontal view misses.  You get scope and clarity when you’re hanging that close to the edge.  Of course, my friend is a pilot/preacher and he’s used to that kind of thing

I got that perspective on a trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe ten years ago.  Way against my better judgment I leaned out, over the edge to get this picture.  My perspective took my breath away; I was certain I was next to heaven, if not on my way TO heaven if my foot slipped.

So what does all this have to do with Lent?  I’m glad you asked.  In pastoral ministry it is important to see the pathway most people would miss.  If you are to be of help to your brother or sister in Christ you must spend time looking and listening from the point that takes courage.  You have to be close and vulnerable, like hanging over a cliff, if you’re going to see the path someone else is travelling.  It’s like dancing, you can’t look at your own feet; if you do, it’s only a mechanical movement, it’s not dancing.  You’ve got to look in your partner’s eyes and feel the music.  You’ve got to trust.

And isn’t that the whole idea of this Lenten season?  You have got to prepare your heart to lean fully out over the edge – to trust the One holding your backpack.  And as you learn to fully place all your weight on He who died for you, you become an incredible value of Christ’s presence to everyone you meet.

For You Today

What will it be…breath-taking leaps in following the Savior…or a safe distance?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Picking Up the Trowel

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Friday, July 22, 2016

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions?  Can that kind of faith save anyone?  Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing.  What good does that do?  So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough.  Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.   James 2:14-17^(NLT)

Zimbabwe Journal, Wednesday afternoon, October 10, 2007

Our mission team met many interesting and gracious people in Zimbabwe.  We taught aspiring Bible students, conducted Vacation Bible School that saw nearly 150 children make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, laid a foundation and built part of the wall for new classrooms for Ezekiel Pentecostal Bible College in Harare.

In the space of a week I saw Africa’s beauty, barrenness and beckoning:

Beauty

I was privileged to see Victoria Falls, such incredible pristine beauty of God’s creation.  I got to lean against a 700 year old Baobab tree, and look into the beautiful faces of children and adult Bible students eager to hear about Jesus.

Barren

I met a man on our last afternoon at the school, and never did find out his name.  He was painstakingly using an old cylinder-head from a truck engine as a “hammer” against a piece of angle-iron to break the hulls off grains of maze – not corn, but an African grain that hardly has any nutritional value.  The steady clink, clink, clink of metal on metal was what drew me to his hut.  He had been at it several hours to produce a small handful of maze.  He would form it into a cake half the size of my hand; that would be his meal – his only meal of the day.

Beckoning

We built a foundation for a building, and began the walls before time ran out.  And on the final day we did what has become custom for short-term mission teams; we left what money we had left and everything else besides the clothes on our backs.

“Red” was a member of our team, a brick mason by trade.  He was about the only one who knew anything about construction.  He had brought his own trowel, and somehow the airport security had let it through, metal point and all.  (Amazing considering they’d confiscated my peanut butter!)

Red left his trowel with Abion, our interpreter, who promised to put it to good use in the days ahead. 

And this is how we left the beginnings of some future pastor’s education:

For You Today

There are a lot of bricks left to be put in place.  There are life-changing moments awaiting anyone who might be willing to pick up Red’s trowel.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Images: Russell Brownworth (own work)

Of Harmony and Upward Mobility

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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words:  Be joyful.  Grow to maturity.  Encourage each other.  Live in harmony and peace.  Then the God of love and peace will be with you.  2 Corinthians 13:11^(NLT)

Continuing with our journal from a short-term mission trip to South Africa:

Zimbabwe Journal, 

Sunday afternoon, October 7, 2007

Game Drive – Hwange National Park/Preserve

“Wild animals cannot be scheduled – however, our guide, Livingston, is a native Zimbabwean who grew up walking daily in this African bush.  Over the years reading and observing the wildlife have made him a storehouse of information and wisdom concerning life in the bush.

He knows, for instance, that the red-billed weavers that build their nests like plumes at the end of tree branches do so to avoid having the heavier eagles land near their nests, endangering their young.  The mother will nearly close off the entrance to prevent snakes from entering, and the male will bring food to feed the group through the tiny opening.  They also build an exit as well as entry hole to vary their comings and goings; these are wise and faithful parents, protecting their young against the dangers.

During the dry season (which is every month except Oct/Nov) water determines almost every aspect of life here.  The elephants move in herds to find water. 

Today the watering hole was spectacular – as many as 30-35 elephants, a half-dozen giraffes, dozens of baboons, kudu (antelope) and at least one sullen and cranky croc.  When one giraffe was startled by a huge catfish jumping out of the water, probably scared by the croc, the whole group of antelope and giraffes dashed back from the water.  The kudu were barking and the elephants playing nervous trumpet!

This land is spectacular and ugly.  The brutality of beasts hunting and being hunted is echoed by the Spartan lifestyle of African people scratching-out an existence. 

This bull elephant decided to challenge our presence near the water hole.  We drove off, and his pride was protected.  (Not that we were much of a threat; He was less than 30 feet away, and I distinctly remember when he looked at us with that menacing stare that I wanted my mother!)

For all the violence of African bush life, there is beauty and order.  When considered against my Western worldview, there is a sense of futility in this lack of abundance and opportunity; “upward mobility” would be a strange phrase in Africa!  Yet things have stayed the same here for millennia.

Opportunity is also a word that can be applied to our Western culture’s lifestyles of self-destruction.  When you compare the human isolation of Western (so-called) civilization to the simplicity of Zimbabwean survival by cooperation and perseverance, it makes one wonder who, indeed, is the savage.

For You Today

Have you done some thinking lately about what’s really important?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Title Images: Russell Brownworth (own work)