Inspiring Obedience

To be honest, I don't even know where to start with this post. And I know it won't do the topic justice.

As I was thinking through my time in Chad and my time with the Vanderkoois, I was struck by the enormous amount of patience, obedience, and faith they demonstrated. To go to undergraduate and graduate school (along with a number of years of other such training that I never quite got an exact count on) to learn to translate the Bible, travel to a different country (not to mention learning French before getting to that country), and devote 25 years (so far) of your life to translating the Bible into a language that about 75,000 people in the world (less than the population of Peoria) speak in one remote part of the remotest continent of the world, pray constantly and fervently, serve tirelessly, work diligently, love abundantly, all in a land that isn't your home, to see a few individuals transformed by the message of the gospel, a social structure beginning to see positive changes, and a few seeds planted for the future of the church in Chageen that will go on to impact thousands and thousands more in generations to come that you will never see... gah.

In an age of instant gratification where everything is accessible at the click of a button, I find Mark and Diane's example one of the most encouraging models of perseverance and faith in God's provision that I have seen firsthand in my life. This small blog post doesn't do nearly enough justice to all the steps of obedience, big and small, that the Vanderkoois took each day I was in Chad. They are living proof of the power of the gospel in the lives of ordinary humans that choose faith in God that produces obedience beyond human capability. I am forever grateful for their perseverance in the faith that spurs me on as I reflect on God's work in their lives and in mine.

All the Small Things

As I was laying in bed tonight, my thoughts turned to my trip to Chad. A year ago today, I would have been playing with the kids, visiting the clinic, doing language tutoring lessons with Luke. One of my fondest memories of my time in Chad was when Luke was helping me write my testimony of how God has worked in my life and why he brought me to Chad. I was trying to explain in French (more like telling Diane, who would translate into French for Luke, who would then translate to Kwong) the joy I felt when I first realized God's grace and His love for me. I still distinctly remember Luke searching for the right phrase, and after a minute of thought his face lit up and he said "bom bom bom! n doon si oyte bom bom bom!" I had no idea what that meant, so he gave me an analogy. He said, "It means your body did you joy, bom bom bom. For example, you aren't just an everyday sort of happy, this sort of joy is like if you came home and realized your dad had bought you a brand new car! You would leap up and down, and your body would give you joy BOM BOM BOM!" So that's what I said. And that's what I meant. When Christ gave me new life, it gave my body joy, bom bom bom.
How easily I get caught up in the small things in my life in the US. Not being able to find my phone charger. The Keurig not working. A bird pooping on my car (that, ironically, my dad did buy for me...). Those things are fleeting, and a year from now or even a month from now I won't even remember them,  or I will have fixed them easily in my own strength.

And then I think back to the small things about my time in Chad that I will always cherish and that impacted my life forever. The joy that Luke had, bom bom bom, despite never owning a car his whole life. The joy Andire had as he sang me songs, having lost his eyesight at a young age. The joy of the women after communion Sunday singing praise songs on the dirt ground of the pastor's compound. I often let that joy get squelched in the troubles and worries of this life, but I learned a deep and valuable lesson from my brothers and sisters in Christ in Chad: Christ gives deep and enduring joy, in any and every circumstance.