Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Reason
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, tonight. He’s a Afrikanner, which means he’s of Dutch descent here in South Africa. He’s a pastor, husband, father and a great friend. We were watching Ronin and just shooting the bull, talking about South African politics to Huggies diapers. I’m not quite sure how this came up, but we started to talk about thoughts and the power they have.
The conflict that took place in the Garden of Eden, when stripped away, was a battle of thoughts. The thought was this, is God good? Ok, now I remember how it came up, in the movie Ronin, Robert DeNrio meets a sort of wise, hermitish French man who has a collection of die-cast samurai warriors, which have been meticulously painted by him. Ronins are samurai warriors that have no master. We then began to discuss how the traditional Japanese people were so disciplined. The code of honor and perceived righteousness superceded all their human emotion and instinct. How Samurais would commit seppuku, an act of disemboweling oneself, upholding honor and truth.
The world is run by thoughts. They can either empower or destroy. They can set someone free or imprison for eternity. Thoughts empower us to live or die. Thoughts spurred the Renaissance in Western Europe. Thoughts brought about the World Wars One and Two. Many of those thoughts brought about the Holocaust of the Jews and Gypsies. Thoughts ignited the great Industrial Revolution in the United States. When the serpent seduced Eve to eat from Tree of Knowledge, he questioned the thought that God is Good, that God has the best in store, that God is trustworthy, that God is loving, always. A thought also brought God to become a man, for this man to limit his godliness into a poor and weak frame, to endure all the temptations of this frame, to eventually become beaten, mocked, abandoned, betrayed. How a thought brought this Son of Man to die on a cross, so all could see, without a shadow of doubt, the greatest thought in the universe is love; selfless and all enduring.
We’re at the last week, here at University Village, before the YWAM South Africa Staff Conference begins. After countless days, working into the wee hours of the night, the sense that we’re living in a time that history is being made here. There will be more days of work, after the conference is over, but just the same, the roofs erected and walls painted will house and nurture thoughts of love, freedom and hope.
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” - Mother Teresa
Monday, September 15, 2008
Look up and see...
Change is in the air. As University Village is hustling and bustling everyday, roofs are built, walls torn, fences built, new faces working, land is being cleared and a whole lot of noise; saws, drills, hammering, digging, rolling, etc. Other staff members are continuing the work in the communities, engaging in the hopelessness, fighting for the orphans. There you hear laughter, crying, the chopping of vegetables, the boiling of water, loud rap music (they love blasting their stereos), swings, children dancing in the dirt, digging, the opening of a Coca Cola can…(Coke is everywhere).
Change has a lot of different noises. As I pondered these things, one sunny Saturday afternoon, I simply looked up and saw it, change. It is like the wind. You don’t know where it comes from and you don’t know where it’s going, but you know it’s there. You can feel it, you can see it, and if you stick out your tongue as a child does to taste the falling snow, you can almost taste it. It takes a heart of a
child to notice change; in the midst of all the noise, to look up and see...
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Teaching How to Fish
So we at Ten Thousand Homes have altered a bit of what we do. Our vision statement is the same, to tend to the needs of vulnerable children in response to the HVI/Aids Pandemic, which at the moment has been here in South Africa. Just a side note, I found out recently that South Africa has more children orphaned by HIV/Aids per capita than any other nation in the world. So, as we've been "on the ground" here for over a year, we've come to know many of the the orphans personally, especially the older ones. They smile, they laugh, they love the soaps (shout out to "Generations!"), they love PDiddy (I've been asked countless times if I know him personally since we're both from New York =)...), they get insecure, they are courageous, they go hungry, they love to chat about nonsense (so much fun!). We've also found out that after they turn seventeen, the government funding stops and as my friend Jeremy Price has said before, "the orphans are orphaned again." With little to no resources, many of the orphans have to resort to crime and prostitution to survive. In on of our new projects, one such case was brought to our attention. The child-headed household, which is a young-adult girl, was selling herself to put food on the table for her younger sister. With God's grace and love, they have been brought out of from that place.
We've been praying and thinking on how to respond to this re-orphaning process. So in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, we've decided to start a University. That's right, a University so that these older orphans can receive the tools to grow and succeed in a world that's gives them very little to begin with. So we're acquiring a property (pictures below) and we're calling it University Village. The plan is this, to offer a two-fold approach to this University. The first half would address the spiritual needs of the students. Since we are with Youth With a Mission, we're offering the YWAM training schools/certificates (Associates, Bachelors of Arts and Master's Degrees) through the University of the Nations (www.uofn.edu). We've started our Compassion Discipleship Training School (www.compassiondts.com) in the beginning of this year, which is a prerequisite to all other courses to the U of N. This could be a step in the right direction for those students want to pursue ministry as a vocation. The later half is the practical side. We're offering Practical Skills Schools so that each student is also equipped with some tools to help them in the job market. Our first thoughts are to launch a Construction School and possibly a Business Administration School, early next year. Salvation is all about the whole person...bringing new life to our psychological, spiritual and physical realms.
Some prayer needs:
1.) Money. The price of the property is about two hundred thousand dollars. Now that includes the price of the property and all the work, labor and materials, to get University Village off th ground. We've acquired some donations (thank you very much) but we're still in need of over half that amount.
2.) Favor with the SA government. We have a possible lead with someone in the Mpumalanga (the province we live in) Provincal government that could possibly lead to accreditation with our practical skills schools so that each student would graduate with am official certificate, furthering their skills in the work force.
3.) Man power. As our staff has been growing for five, last year, to over fifteen (and counting) this year, we're still in need of man power to get University Village off the ground. We've had short term teams come by and help us, but we are continuing our work in the communities. This is something that we will not compromise, in whatever we do. We actually had our first South African friends help us with the property (Elizabeth and Nicholas) which was a momentous occasion. Please pray for more help, wherever the Lord brings. Also, about half of us have gotten sick, with a flu bug, so it's been a bit difficult.
If you have any questions about anything you've read in the post or just a random question, please contact me at davidsong@tenthousandhomes.org.
We've been praying and thinking on how to respond to this re-orphaning process. So in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, we've decided to start a University. That's right, a University so that these older orphans can receive the tools to grow and succeed in a world that's gives them very little to begin with. So we're acquiring a property (pictures below) and we're calling it University Village. The plan is this, to offer a two-fold approach to this University. The first half would address the spiritual needs of the students. Since we are with Youth With a Mission, we're offering the YWAM training schools/certificates (Associates, Bachelors of Arts and Master's Degrees) through the University of the Nations (www.uofn.edu). We've started our Compassion Discipleship Training School (www.compassiondts.com) in the beginning of this year, which is a prerequisite to all other courses to the U of N. This could be a step in the right direction for those students want to pursue ministry as a vocation. The later half is the practical side. We're offering Practical Skills Schools so that each student is also equipped with some tools to help them in the job market. Our first thoughts are to launch a Construction School and possibly a Business Administration School, early next year. Salvation is all about the whole person...bringing new life to our psychological, spiritual and physical realms.
Some prayer needs:
1.) Money. The price of the property is about two hundred thousand dollars. Now that includes the price of the property and all the work, labor and materials, to get University Village off th ground. We've acquired some donations (thank you very much) but we're still in need of over half that amount.
2.) Favor with the SA government. We have a possible lead with someone in the Mpumalanga (the province we live in) Provincal government that could possibly lead to accreditation with our practical skills schools so that each student would graduate with am official certificate, furthering their skills in the work force.
3.) Man power. As our staff has been growing for five, last year, to over fifteen (and counting) this year, we're still in need of man power to get University Village off the ground. We've had short term teams come by and help us, but we are continuing our work in the communities. This is something that we will not compromise, in whatever we do. We actually had our first South African friends help us with the property (Elizabeth and Nicholas) which was a momentous occasion. Please pray for more help, wherever the Lord brings. Also, about half of us have gotten sick, with a flu bug, so it's been a bit difficult.
If you have any questions about anything you've read in the post or just a random question, please contact me at davidsong@tenthousandhomes.org.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Something Old Yet New...
Journal Entry: Traveling back to South Africa (July 29th 2008)
Love: is the highest choice for you, your neighbor and God. This choice is void of emotion.
As I was traveling today, transfer here, layover there, grabbing my last cup of Starbucks, deciding which movies to watch, chicken or beef?, a thought hit me at the end of my travels. Now since I’m writing, I did get back to South Africa safely and for the most part there were no hitches, other than the landing in Dakar, Senegal. There was some heavy fog and I ‘ve had some rough landing experiences at African airports, other than South Africa. The thought was this….ending poverty and our (meaning every follower of Jesus) involvement in this cause. I first thought, this life of sacrifice and death is not for a person or people, accolades or awards. We work with orphans and vulnerable children but our work is not for them. The reason is one, which involves the process of becoming free from the expectations and value systems that rule the kingdom of the world. Our reason is found in a man, it’s solely for Jesus. We all see it in the media everywhere. We at 10KHome see it on the ground everyday, that poverty is linked to so many sins…HIV/Aids (the killing of a generation), crime, war, hatred, greed, lust, etc. Jesus has called us to end poverty by giving our extra jacket to the one that doesn’t have one. By sacrificing our time and energy to tutor kids that don’t have parents or parents that won’t or can’t help them with their school work…Charity is wrong because it’s not the most loving thing for the marginalized and poor. Actually it’s the exact opposite to the most loving thing. Charity is a cold, distant arm that says the answer is money. How can an inanimate object solve the problems of animate beings?…Love has to be the answer. The reason why we are called to end poverty is because it’s one of the greatest examples of love. Jesus said “love covers a multitude of sins.” Imagine our crime rates dropping to such a degree that the United State’s jail systems begin to close. Imagine churches beginning to find life and renewal in the process of helping to eradicate poverty, by simply reaching out to the poor and needy. In the eyes of the poor and needy, they see Jesus and there it is, revival.
Too often I’ve heard that when a church leaves a community, the community isn’t devastated by this loss of Christ’s love in the everyday, but it’s a relief that the noisy, selfish group has left. Can we imagine healing taking place within relationships across races, across gender, siblings, sons and fathers, daughters and mothers, across your own family wounds. I’ve seen, year after year, wounds of ministry, wounds of confusion, cultural differences, age differences, all thing unintentional, hurtful actions and words that were intentional being wiped away to an eventual spotless, clean…and then we dance the night away. Lets imagine a movement, where the church can’t accommodate Sunday service because the actual building cannot fit everyone that want to be a part of a body of people given the power that defies all evil and reverses the destruction of selfishness and sin. Imagine the promises of the bible coming true in your life at home, at work, at school…salvation, the redemption of a life, to witness these daily occurrences happening before your eyes…where the yoke we carry becomes lighter…it actually becomes a joy to carry.
Love at first is not easy, but it is simple and very direct.
Love: is the highest choice for you, your neighbor and God. This choice is void of emotion.
As I was traveling today, transfer here, layover there, grabbing my last cup of Starbucks, deciding which movies to watch, chicken or beef?, a thought hit me at the end of my travels. Now since I’m writing, I did get back to South Africa safely and for the most part there were no hitches, other than the landing in Dakar, Senegal. There was some heavy fog and I ‘ve had some rough landing experiences at African airports, other than South Africa. The thought was this….ending poverty and our (meaning every follower of Jesus) involvement in this cause. I first thought, this life of sacrifice and death is not for a person or people, accolades or awards. We work with orphans and vulnerable children but our work is not for them. The reason is one, which involves the process of becoming free from the expectations and value systems that rule the kingdom of the world. Our reason is found in a man, it’s solely for Jesus. We all see it in the media everywhere. We at 10KHome see it on the ground everyday, that poverty is linked to so many sins…HIV/Aids (the killing of a generation), crime, war, hatred, greed, lust, etc. Jesus has called us to end poverty by giving our extra jacket to the one that doesn’t have one. By sacrificing our time and energy to tutor kids that don’t have parents or parents that won’t or can’t help them with their school work…Charity is wrong because it’s not the most loving thing for the marginalized and poor. Actually it’s the exact opposite to the most loving thing. Charity is a cold, distant arm that says the answer is money. How can an inanimate object solve the problems of animate beings?…Love has to be the answer. The reason why we are called to end poverty is because it’s one of the greatest examples of love. Jesus said “love covers a multitude of sins.” Imagine our crime rates dropping to such a degree that the United State’s jail systems begin to close. Imagine churches beginning to find life and renewal in the process of helping to eradicate poverty, by simply reaching out to the poor and needy. In the eyes of the poor and needy, they see Jesus and there it is, revival.
Too often I’ve heard that when a church leaves a community, the community isn’t devastated by this loss of Christ’s love in the everyday, but it’s a relief that the noisy, selfish group has left. Can we imagine healing taking place within relationships across races, across gender, siblings, sons and fathers, daughters and mothers, across your own family wounds. I’ve seen, year after year, wounds of ministry, wounds of confusion, cultural differences, age differences, all thing unintentional, hurtful actions and words that were intentional being wiped away to an eventual spotless, clean…and then we dance the night away. Lets imagine a movement, where the church can’t accommodate Sunday service because the actual building cannot fit everyone that want to be a part of a body of people given the power that defies all evil and reverses the destruction of selfishness and sin. Imagine the promises of the bible coming true in your life at home, at work, at school…salvation, the redemption of a life, to witness these daily occurrences happening before your eyes…where the yoke we carry becomes lighter…it actually becomes a joy to carry.
Love at first is not easy, but it is simple and very direct.
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