Saturday dawned bright and glorious, and David set off at 07:00 with Wit to play football with the lads on the green. Unfortunately the storm during the night had left the field more sodden than a Chinese paddy field, but this did not even cause a moment’s hesitation; a simple rearrangement of the scattered rocks to make some goalposts and the game started. As only twelve people turned up for the football they played 6-a-side, and it only took 20 seconds before the first person slipped over like a giraffe on ice. Within 5 minutes the only way to recognise that David was not African was his white face.
Throughout the morning various distractions attempted to interrupt the game; firstly the glorious weather turned cloudy and then started raining, then the herd of cows who normally occupy this piece of land decided that they wanted their field back and started wandering across the pitch. But none of these succeeded in stopping the game for one minute, as it continued unabated until 12:00 (5 hours). David and Wit returned with all the other players for an impromptu African shower – a hosing down outside the front gate using the garden hosepipe. Even this did not completely clean off all the mud, so David was dispatched to have a shower.
After lunch David joined the other young boys for a game of street football for a further 2 hours – I don’t know where he gets all his energy from !!
On Sunday Wit drove us to Dukem (about 25 miles south), where we had been invited to take part in the morning Church service and I (Andy) had been invited to preach. The journey was certainly one to remember, as within 2 minutes of leaving the house the heavens opened and the daily downpour began. The main rule of the road seems to be “whoever is biggest , wins!” as no-one seems to yield to anyone else. Cars overtake lorries on blind corners, whatever white lane markings still exist on the roads were hidden under the 2-3 inches of water that covered the road. Horses, cows, goats donkeys and people seem to wander at will across the road as cars, busses, lorries and buses drive at speeds up to 70 miles an hour, honking loudly at anything that seems to stray across their path. I think Vanessa may have prayed more in this 45 minutes than ever before! She said that the ride was a cross between being in a formula 1 race and a ride at “Alton Towers!!” I was just enjoying the ride!
After 45 minutes we arrived safely and entered the building..... well actually it seemed to be a barn with corrugated iron sheets for a roof and the sides filled in with large windbreaks. The people were very friendly and the worship was led by a man with an Ethiopian instrument similar to a guiter. We instantly felt welcome and at home
Even though we didn’t understand any of the words of the songs, we were able to join in the worship by singing along with them using our own words.
As I stood up to preach, the thunder started to rumble and the heavens opened once again...I didn’t know whether to take this as an encouragement or a warning!
I preached on Luke 15 (the story of the Prodigal Son) and expanded how all of us are like one of the sons at various parts of this story
- The son who wants nothing to do with God
- The Son who has messed his life up but is too proud to return to God
- The Son who wants to return to God, but on his own terms (as a hired servant)
- The Son who repents and in the face of the overwhelming love of God is willing to yield everything, and is freely accepted by God because of what Jesus has done
- The Older Son who is trying to please God through his own efforts
o Living like a slave, when he is the Son
o Trying to make God love him more
o Trying to abide by rules when he is the freeborn son
I summed this up with Gal 3 v 26 – 4 v 6, that when we return to God through repentance we become Sons of God, and “because we are Sons God sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” who confirms that we are his Sons and helps us relate to God as our father.
After Church the children swarmed around us, all wanting to touch our hands, seemingly puzzled at these strangely coloured people.
The journey home was far less eventful as the rain had stopped
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