Ministry Blog
Hope for the Children of Sudan
Elephant Land - Blog 6
February 9, 2010
I hope and pray each of you had wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations. We had a quiet time, watching/listening to Mannheim Steamroller on the internet and other musical treats. We Skyped with our children and grandchildren, and had two very excited worship services. We also had lunch with Elias and Sandra, and broke out the real American ketchup! And we ate the chocolate sent by our daughter, Bethany.
Today I want to share with you about dust and rain, heat and cold. As I write this we are aware of the Big Chill and snow most of you are having. But I want to share with you about this season here in Yei. In Liberia they call this time Harmatan—amazingly, it is almost the same here. The frequent rains slow down and mostly stop, and there is a fine, white, powdery dust that blows, and looks a lot like fog in the distance. The air is noticeably drier, in the shorter amount of time it takes our clothes to dry on the line, to my skin needing more and more lotion. And a welcome change, the evenings and mornings range between pleasantly cool, to cold enough (remember this is relative) to need a blanket at night!
The week after Christmas, we hadn’t had any rain for at least 3 weeks. Driving on the roads had become more dangerous, because of the billowing dust. If any vehicle passes us, it makes it very hard to see ahead—sort of like sandy fog. We have been so thankful for ac in our vehicle, not only for the cooler air, but it keeps us from breathing the dust. Even in our worship services, amid all the jumping and dancing, the dirt floor swirled and puffed. On Christmas and again on New Year’s during the services, with the larger than usual crowds, the dust was flying everywhere. I thought to myself, “Wow, it’s amazing we haven’t gotten sick breathing this stuff!” We had been told there were dust storms here, but the only time I saw it was before the rains had stopped. One day here at UMCOR, the sky grew dark and it thundered. Then a really strong, gusty wind began blowing sand and dirt all around for about ten minutes. All of my exposed skin was covered with grit. After it rained, though, it was back to normal.
Anyway, that week after Christmas, one evening it came a good, soaking rain. Here, we love the rain. Rain is so welcome because it brings down the temperatures, and it tamps down the dust. The days still manage to be hot, but our wonderful fans make it very comfy. Before now, we used to have a fan blowing on us at night, in order to be able to sleep. Now, we don’t need it.
All of this has made me think about the climates in our spiritual lives: soaking in the heat of God’s Spirit; and then again, enduring the cold times, when any warmth is in moving the muscle of faith. Sometimes we describe those as dry times, and so they can be. But then, we have one of God’s serendipities—and refreshing rain of His Presence, perhaps in a Scripture or song that reminds us of His faithfulness in our lives. We also are gifted with rare times when we feel like we are in the windstorm of the Holy Spirit—“a rushing, mighty wind!” Those times seem as if we are suspended in a hurricane of the Spirit, with His Being rushing in, around and through us. One of our favorite TV programs in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s was “Quantum Leap.” The opening showed Sam Beckett standing in a fierce wind that rippled and buffeted his clothing and hair. That image comes to me when I think about those “rushing, mighty wind” experiences with the Lord. Well, that’s all for now. See you next time.
