Pig Lice and Boils

There’s a big four-way intersection that I pass through on the way to work every day. Often there’s someone handing out promotional fliers here. It’s mostly ordinary stuff – gym memberships, storm shutters, restaurant openings, that sort of thing.

But the one I was handed this morning was way out of the ordinary. It advertises the Fish Hoek Herbal Medicine Centre, which promises to fix the “things that hold you and your progress back” and to help you “explore why you and your family are always in tears. Now you have the solutions to all your problems.”

The flier then goes on to list the various problems the clinic will fix: Everything from sore throats, coughing and skin problems to more serious matters, including, and I quote, “incurable diseases, broken relationships, bad luck, pig lice, witchcraft, looking for the right partner, people hate you, sentimental problems, owing cash loans, children with bad friends,” and last but not least, “boils.”

It’s tempting to laugh all this off as nonsense, but there’s an element of danger at work here. Many native Africans worship their ancestors and depend on ancient healing practices, even in an urban area like Cape Town. From a Biblical perspective, these practices stem from “the powers of this dark world” and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” that Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6:12. Such things lead people away from God and into spiritual darkness. There’s good reason Africa is known as the Dark Continent.

Sole Searching

As I type this, I can look across the room and count five pairs of shoes. And that’s just here in my temporary South African home. I have several more back in the U.S. A 2009 survey revealed that the average American owns 11 pairs of shoes. “Need” is such a relative term, isn’t it?

Natural High

I never tire of exploring the mountains around Cape Town’s south peninsula. The images above were taken on a hike to the top of Constantiaberg Peak. At 3,045 feet, it’s the highest point on the peninsula south of the more well-known Table Mountain.

Million-Dollar Smiles

Some days are better than others. But if I’m feeling a bit down when I arrive at Red Hill in the afternoon, invariably some kid smiles at me and calls my name, and my spirits are lifted. The joy these young people have always puts life in perspective.

Delicate Matters

As part of its after-school prevention programming, Living Hope recently launched Teen Club, aimed at educating youth on issues specific to the adolescents and teenagers. In Red Hill, that takes place each Monday and Wednesday, led by me and a fellow American volunteer, Kendra Crabtree.

We just finished a lesson series on Godly character (e.g., courage, humility, wisdom, and so on). On Monday, we begin a new subject, one that I anticipate will challenge both student and teacher alike: puberty. Fortunately the Bible-based curriculum has different versions for boys and girls, so we’ll meet separately to make it easier for discussion.

But it covers some intensely personal and delicate matters – e.g., physical maturation, hormones, proper hygiene, masturbation, pornography – and no doubt will include some uncomfortable moments. And as a single guy who’s never had occasion to have “the talk” with a young man, I’m somewhat flying blind here. (There’s even a lesson titled “Understanding Girls” – is that possible?)

I’m looking to the example of Jeremiah, who initially resisted God’s call for him to be a prophet. God’s response: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” (Jeremiah 1:7-8).

God then touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said, “Now I have put my words in your mouth” (v. 9). I may not be calling a group of hostile Israelites to repentance, but I can identify with the hesitant prophet. I will be trusting God to put the right words in my mouth, and I would certainly appreciate your prayers for this effort in the coming weeks.

Minister of the Gospel

Mzo, my good friend and colleague at Living Hope, is quiet by nature, much like me. (Sometimes it amazes me how much we have in common – temperament, hopes, worries, among other things. Only God could have orchestrated such a relationship between two people from vastly different cultures.)

But when it comes time to stand up and teach the Gospel of Jesus to the children of Red Hill, it’s like a switch is flipped and Mzo suddenly takes on a different personality. He has so much passion for these kids and for them to know God’s love, and he has an infectious way of sharing that and getting them excited about it.

This afternoon, I again witnessed Mzo’s love for kids, and it came in an unexpected circumstance. We were driving to Red Hill, as we typically do around 3:00 or 3:30 each afternoon, when we passed a group of four high school girls on the side of the road, thumbing for a ride. They had missed the bus to Red Hill. It was their own fault for playing around after school with no regard to time, but God was also at work here.

I stopped and the four piled in the back seat of my tiny car. As I pulled away, Mzo pulled his Bible from his backpack and said, “Girls, we’re just going to have a quick lesson now. This is an opportunity God has made for us.” And with that, he proceeded to spend the rest of the trip sharing the good news of God’s love as detailed in the third chapter of John.

I drove along in silence, just marveling at God’s hand on this situation and at how Mzo was so obediently serving as His mouthpiece to these girls (none of whom even attend our after-school programs). When we arrived at Red Hill, Mzo prayed for the girls, encouraged them to come see him if they wanted to know more about Christ, then sent them on their way – no pressure, no scolding, just true love from a heart that has been transformed by this Jesus that he so loves to share.

Heart of a Champion

I’ve been thinking a lot about appearance lately – the outward kind that the world so loves to base judgments and opinions on, and the inward kind that God says is so much more important.

When David was still a boy, he was anointed by Samuel to be the future king of Israel. But not before Jesse’s other seven sons had first passed before the priest. In fact, Samuel thought the first young man he saw, Eliab, was the one God had chosen.

But God told Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

God saw something in David, and David proved him right, going on to become a mighty king and one of the great heroes of the Bible. (As well as one of the most fallible ones – see Affairs, Bathsheba.) I love that David was still young and probably not considered anything special by those around him – he was merely a shepherd boy – but he was used by God to kill Goliath, the Philistine giant.

This youngster, whose heart God had looked on and was pleased by, boldly stood up to the giant because he knew who was on his side. “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,” David told Goliath, “but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty” (1 Samuel 17:45). Then he took out a stone, slung it and killed the guy, graveyard dead, with just one shot to the forehead.

Appearances, indeed, can be deceiving.