Afterthoughts from Idaho

Last Sunday, we had our report day for Idaho. This is a time of sharing with supporters and others interested in the organization, Create Common Good. We presented a slideshow on Bhutanese refugees and highlighted one of the men we met in Idaho, defined "refugees," then all shared special moments or afterthoughts. Lastly, we served the food that we prepared the night before -- food we had learned to make after harvesting and what we ate in Idaho.

Here is what I shared that impacted me the most during/after the trip:

One of the activities I enjoyed most was harvesting the vegetables that would go toward crop sales and preparing food for the harvest festival. 

When you stepped into the garden, there were so many types of plants with herbs and vegetables—each beautiful in its own way, each containing a different purpose or unique flavor to enhance a dish. One had to look through and choose carefully because some weren’t mature enough yet to be picked. It was fun to watch the vegetables/herbs come straight from the garden and then watch them go through the process of being cleaned, having the invaluable parts cut away, shaped, and then transformed into a masterpiece along with other ingredients. 

As I sat back and watched, I thought “this must be how God feels as he looks upon his garden of people (all types and at all stages, each with his or her own uniqueness).” We all know Matthew 9:37 where Jesus says “The harvest is plenty but the workers are few.” I looked at the “harvest” a little differently. I knew that like people, some needed a little more time to grow and just be “loved on” before being “picked or uprooted”. The gardener, like God with his careful and all-knowing eye, knows which ones are ready to be yielded, which ones need some painful clipping or pruning to clear the bad parts, which ones just needed to be in the soil a few more days with extra sunlight, and which ones may need to be uprooted and transplanted elsewhere in order to reach their full growth potential.

This made me look at my own life and spiritual growth process after seeing this tangible representation. It also reminded to give grace to others that are at a different place in their growth process. While it’s hard to go through the pruning and waiting, I was able to see how beautiful and delicious the end result is and how proud our Father, our gardener, must be as he stands aside and sees his handiwork.

A verse that came to mind as I was organizing my thoughts was this from James 1:21:

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. 

Here are a few of the dishes we prepared:


penne with homemade arugula pesto

farfalle with homemade arugula pesto and sausage

fresh tomatoes and cucumbers

Afterthoughts...

Now that I have been back 2.5 months, a few experiences and affirmations are constantly in the forefront of my mind and are continually processed on a daily basis. Some are very tangible while others are intangible or being processed or testing my ability to really take leaps of faith. It has been an interesting and exciting and frustrating return all combined into one.

One experience I won't forget is the day we ordered fish & chips for lunch and took it back to our guest house to eat. I always fear not having enough food so we ordered a little more than what we actually ate and we had no way to store the food so we reluctantly took it to dispose of it. The worker in the kitchen told us to just put it on the counter. We did so and went on about our day expecting that this was in her job description to clean up after us. A team member went back in to the kitchen to ask a question and saw the worker going through all the parcels taking out what was left to take home to her family. I don't think I have ever been leveled as much as I was on that day. I still think of that story on a daily basis. I like to think I'm a conscientious person but I can be wasteful when it comes to food. If you know me well, you know I always have tons of food left over at parties because I always fear "running out." I've definitely been better and I'm constantly trying to "reduce" and "reuse" as much as possible.

Another resounding theme was finding hope in despair. I went in to a few seemingly dark places--serving alongside the homeless, serving the prostitutes at night, going into the prison. While the circumstances were "dark," there was light in people's eyes that I didn't expect, a sign of hope--hope that their situation is temporary and will improve, a hope that someone sees them, a hope that God will redeem.

I think one of the best places I saw this faith in action was in the prison. I've always wanted to visit the prison but it was always something the guys did on the trips (if it was part of the schedule) because some prisons won't allow women in at all. Mqokeleli (pastor at Harvester, http://backtosa2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/where-did-we-attend-church.html) offered to take me to the prison with him so I jumped on the opportunity. I was scared at first as I had to lock up all my belongings and go in to such an unfamiliar environment, one that can easily invoke fear among women. This is not really "my cup of tea" so to speak even though I have wanted to go. The barrier was quickly dissolved as the men were very friendly. I was worried that the men would be silent since I was an outsider, a woman, and an American. The opposite occurred, and they opened up and shared many of their testimonies and how they wound up in prison and how they believed their lives were being transformed through Christ. I left with a better idea of how much I need to shift my perspective despite my circumstances.

As for as South Africa goes, I keep getting my annual questions "When will you go back?" or "When are you going back for good?" It has definitely brought me to a place to fully embrace God's plan for my life even if it sets me apart from others from a lifestyle or financial standpoint. I'm slowly trading the dreams I have/had for my life for His dreams as mine are surely limited. Who knows where this will take place, and I don't think I have to know right now.

One thread keeps weaving in and out of my life at opportune moments though. When I was at a Christian women's conference this summer, the one question that I took home was: I have been placed in this place, at this time, in this moment in history. Why? For what purpose? I often reflect on that. During one of my quiet times in SA, I was thinking about that and then opened a devotional book that I brought and decided to skip ahead breaking the intended order. These bullet points were in the side margin of the lesson which was titled "Submissive to the Lord's assignment:"

• My life means more than the temporary
• I live at this point in history for a reason
• My existence is no mistake
• I'm here for a purpose -- to fulfill my God-given role

I hadn't given this too much concentrated thought until this past week when it came back up during a morning conversation with my mom. We discussed this based on some personal things I'm working through. She doesn't know the history of this "thread." The next day, I received a card in the mail from her with this on the front (which had already been mailed from Mississippi and en route when we had our conversation about this topic):

• You are not here by chance, but by God's choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else-- you are one of a kind. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfull His special purpose for this generation.

The inside read:

• You are God's servant in God's place at God's perfect time.

I'm a little scattered all over the place since my return as I'm processing next steps. However, I'm comforted by that affirmed message as it has recurred in the best of the worst of times. 'Nuf said.

That's it for now, folks. Thanks for keeping up with all my posts and random thoughts before, during and after the trip. We're all in this together.

With much love and gratitude.