So what did you take away from your time in Africa?

This is a question I have been asked over and over since returning. Some people want to know what God did in my time there. Others are curious about what I learned from the culture in Rwanda. Still others are merely keeping up with common courtesy in asking about my experience. And most are probably a combination of the above.

Since returning I’ve contemplated how to best answer this question. A proper response is especially tricky in that I am still trying to answer that for myself. The truth is I don’t know that I can boil this down to a clean answer, an answer that can be given by rephrasing the above question: In my time in Africa I walked away with _______.

Instead I am coming to acknowledge that times like I experienced the the past few months are merely periods in our life which shape us. They add a new layer to the lenses we see life through. It is in these periods that our understanding of the world is expanded, that we better comprehend the state of the human condition. By being exposed to a new culture, to a new people, a new set of problems and new sources of joy, I can now more clearly understand both God and the people around me (given this is still an infinitely inadequate and minuscule understanding).

While it is difficult to walk away from this experience and boil it down to a few key speaking points, what I can do is explain how I feel it has reshaped my eternal existence and understanding. Because as much as I appreciate the other areas of my life that are and were impacted, it is in the eternal changes that I find the most encouragement and hope. And whether or not my experience in these changes was one in which God would have worked out whether in Africa or in the states, the fact of the matter is he used my time there, his word, many conversations with people, several books, and the guidance of his Spirit to dig deep in my soul, churning the soil, and reworking the roots of my faith. In doing so he pruned away at the unhealthy or perverted parts of the roots, ripped out those that have been rotted, and provided the foundation for future growth.

You see, it has been my experience as a Christian that I engage Christianity as a culture; the language, the habits, the rituals, much quicker than I actually understand the depth of what I am talking about. I suspect that this process is similar to what most Christians go through. In fact, it is probably in the midst of this that Christians are often criticized as being hypocritical. If we talk without living out the truth of those words we raise flags to the world around us. And sadly, it is in the lives of those Christians that begin the journey, only to stop digging, stop allowing God to purge through the worldliness in them, that Christianity is given a poor reputation. To paraphrase what Rob Bell so appropriately stated, many people confuse Christianity with Christ and end up walking away from both.

If only we as Christians could better portray the underlying mantra of our faith, that we are NOT perfect. That we are broken, that we are full of sin, and that we desperately need the intervention of something, someone greater than our selves! Perhaps if that was how the world saw Christians then there would be a more accurate and true understanding of who Christ is, and the importance of our savior upon the cross and his resurrection. If only we were the light to the world we were called to be, if only I was that light.

You may think I am getting off topic, how does the hypocrisy of Christians (myself included), or the underlying message of Christianity relate to my time in Africa? Back to my previous statement; God has and is reshaping the core of my eternal understandings. I mentioned in one of my first posts while in Africa that God was reworking my understanding of the cross. He did. In the last 4 months God has reconstructed my understanding of Grace, of the cross, and of the fullness and truth that comes from the Good News, the Gospel.

What is the Good News?

The gospel has been demonstrated to me in one of two ways. For evangelical Christians the gospel is lived out through evangelism, in other words, sharing the good news (of Christ upon the cross and then his resurrection three days later) with those who have not yet understood or recognized the beauty that came from this event. How beautiful it is when someone has this shared, when someone for the first time realizes the true grace of God; that his love was demonstrated in that while we were still sinners- broken beings driven by our own selfish motives, he sent his son Jesus to pay the debt of our sins.

The other way I have seen the gospel explained is through those who believe that it is in serving others, in bringing justice to the world that the gospel is best demonstrated. It is here that people say Christ’s love is best understood, in the physical love of others in this world. And so social justice becomes the most important this. Fighting for the poor, the oppressed. Becoming a voice and advocate for the widows and orphans, those who Christ so clearly has a heart for.

I walk away from my time in Rwanda asking the question; when did these become separate? Since when is the gospel something that is compartmentalized into a portion of our life. Since when did the greatest act of love in the history of man become a set of rules, or a mission statement pertinent to only Sundays or mission trips. Since when did the gospel mean keeping track of how many people are attending church in the same way bookies account for their winnings?

It is becoming more and more apparent that the transformative power of Christ is found in the truth of the gospel. The gospel isn’t simply a religious sales pitch with the underlying message, “embrace Christ so that you go to Heaven and not hell.” Further, it isn’t a security blanket that covers over the pains and hurts of the current world. The gospel, in my current understanding is this:

I am imperfect. I sin. By that I mean that I put myself before others including God. I am created in the image of God, I can sense that, I can see parts of me that long for eternity. Yet, I also sense that I am not fully what I was created to be. I subscribe to the biblical definition and explanation of sin. That we were created with a high intention, but through the fall of man away from God, we departed from God’s purpose for our lives. This can be seen all over the world. Murder, rape, hunger, poverty, AIDS/HIV, abuse, unfaithfulness, slander, gossip…this isn’t how it was supposed to be.

Having this understanding that I am lacking, that we are lacking, I see the grace that God has for us. Christ lived perfectly, he lived a life that brought forth life, and then he served as a sacrifice for all of us, a perfect and spotless sacrifice. So it is when we acknowledge our imperfection, and then the perfection of the resurrected Christ that we are made free. We owed a debt to God that we could not pay, no matter how hard we tried, but through love God sent his Son to cover that debt on our behalf. If we will simply acknowledge that truth we can begin the journey towards restoration.
And so that decision, that acknowledgment is the beginning of the power of the gospel, it is in that moment that we start our eternal journey, but that isn’t where we stop, waiting for death and then heaven.

That isn’t the gospel.

The beauty of the gospel is that God includes us in His redemptive story. When Christ walked the earth, he didn’t just come to be a nice guy for thirty or so years prior to the crucifixion. His birth marked the beginning of God redeeming creation. What did Christ do while here? He physically healed people, he raised people from the dead, he forgave sin! He wasn’t just a good teacher, he was restoring creation. He was taking what was broken, and redeeming it to its original purpose and design. He was showing us what the gospel was, and then what did he do prior to being crucified? He invited us into the story. Read the Gospel of John. Jesus tells us that as he leaves we who put our trust in him will be filled with the Spirit of God. He then says we will go on to do works even greater than what we saw from him. This is unbelievable! Christ began the process of transforming a broken lost world, in the midst of it he not only redeems our very lives but then calls us into this redeeming story. A story that we know ends with his return at which point he will finally finish the process. Doing away with sin, with evil and with death.

So what is the gospel? Is it evangelism or is it serving others? Its both! It’s all of it and more. The gospel is the transforming power in our lives that should affect every moment of our existence.

It should change how we interact with those who serve us.

It should change how we respond when we are angry.

It should change how we manage our money.

It should bring about a heart of repentance and forgiveness.

It should be a catalyst for love being sent forth into the world.

It should bring hope and encouragement to others.

When we make the gospel one part of our lives we limit God’s impact on our lives. We stop God from having a voice in our lives and try to contain where and how he will affect us. And even worse, we pervert his image to the world around us.

So what did I take away from my time in Africa?

I hope that I have returned to the states with a better understanding of my purpose in life. That I have gained just a little bit of insight on the transformative power of God, and the capacity I have to be used by Him if I will both listen and obey. I return having a better understanding of my own sin, and his willingness to not only embrace me in that brokenness, but to redeem me, lifting me up to be something more than I could ever do on my own.

I suspect I will continue to learn more and more what God did while I was in Rwanda. I suspect that this time will have a lasting impact on many areas of my life. Ultimately, I hope that if nothing else, it will raise some questions in your life, that perhaps, you will see where God is pushing on your own heart. I humbly suggest that as a possibility and wouldn’t presume that it has anything to do with me. But that is my hope.

After flights to Kenya, then Amsterdam and then finally back to Seattle I arrived on U.S. soil last Tuesday. The Malouf family graciously allowed me to ease my way back into the day to day living of the west by staying with them in Seattle for the week. I have known the family for about ten years now, originally getting connected to them when David was my youth pastor at Highlands. Since then I’ve grown to know not only David, but Tara, Luc and Mikaela. They are an amazing family and have been a huge blessing to me, used by God at many points in my life. Kathi, another good friend who connects back to the old youth group days, also flew into town from Phoenix for a few days. It was great having here there as well. I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to be in beginning to process my time in Rwanda.

Since returning from Seattle to Arizona on Sunday night I have been pretty busy. I am in a point in my life where there are a great deal of transitions. I am moving this week, while also looking to see where God is leading me next. I hope to continue to use this blog in not only processing my time from Rwanda, but in staying engaged and connected with the community as I venture into what is next.

All of that said please enjoy a few pictures from my time in Seattle. It was my first time there, what an amazing city. I loved it! I was also excited to shoot the below photos with Tara’s brand new camera. She upgraded as she continues to grow her photo business (check out her blog here, she has some beautiful photos posted)!

We spent almost an entire day in Seattle (about an hour away from Casa de Malouf). We started by driving through the downtown, looking at the public library, and then going to their famous market.

The fish market was crowded as eager spectators looked on to see the flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market, but business was slow and the only fish I saw were on ice.

After walking through the market we emerged into Post Alley, the home of an enormous gum wall.

above: Welcome to Starbucks, store #1. They kept their old colors and old logo here and still manage to have customers lined up out the door. Under the logo a 4 man acapella group performed some great songs.
below: All guys should have a favorite hardware store, electronic store, and outdoors store. While there is no shortage of options my absolute favorite of the latter category is REI. I absolutely love this place from the staff to the products, from the return policy to the annual garage sales…they just do it right. The pictures of clocks below surround the outside of this REI, which like Starbucks, started in Seattle. Another store #1.

David showing his agility as he runs through the streets of Seattle, dodging his daughters reach.

Seattle from across the bay.

Malouf family thanks again for a great time of rest, conversation and fun!

On the last day in the east the team visited Akagera National Park and went on a 5 hour safari with our two vans, barely making it at a few points. At one time  the park was comprised of nearly double the area, but, in more recent years the government shrunk down the area of the park and used the land to resettle people who had been displaced from the genocide (or even earlier genocides). Many who resettled in this area left Rwanda in 1959 with family, friends and neighbors.

Today the park still covers a large distance of land on the Rwandan/Tanzanian border. The government recently prepared a north entrance to the park which just opened this year. You have the option of going from the North entrance all the way through the park and exiting the south entrance, this takes about 6 hours and required a solid 4 wheel drive vehicle. What we did was spend about four hours in the northern area of the park looping through and around both dense bush and open fields.

We had a great time and saw a variety of animals including hippopotamus, giraffe, gazelle, snake, water buffalo, zebras and many more! Check out some of the pictures below, and, to see more pictures click on the slideshow image at the end of this post.

Click below to see more pictures from the Safari!