True Faith

In the few days I've been in Lesotho many of the stereotypes a lot of us Westerners have about what Africa is like have been broken. Beautiful Gate is located in Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho, near the South African border. In many ways it's fairly industrialized. I have indoor plumbing and the baby houses have heaters/air conditioners. We have paved roads and most of the same vehicles as in the U.S. And we do most of our shopping in one of the two local malls that rival, if not surpass, many of the malls I've been to back home. Yesterday I went to Bloemfontein, a city in South Africa, that's pretty comparable to Grand Rapids, MI. Several of the volunteer staff and I went and spent the morning at a large mall before going to a rugby game in the afternoon. I had french toast for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch. In the grand scheme of things it didn't feel that different from home.

This isn't the reality for everyone, though. As with most stereotypes, the ones many Westerners have about life in a third world country stem from some truth. Even amidst the comfortable amenities, cars, and shopping centers I don't have to go too far to see what poverty in Lesotho looks like. It's not uncommon to see a block of really nice houses directly next to one full of small concrete boxes and tin shacks. While I can throw my laundry into the washing machine in my kitchen, across the street people are "washing" their clothes in dirty ponds and rivers. It's overwhelming when I think too long about the disparity between those who are well off and those who are impoverished.

Lesotho is a country that's seriously affected by HIV. Many of our kids here at Beautiful Gate are HIV positive. We are incredibly blessed to have access to medication and a relationship with a local hospital that allows us to take care of our kids well. Yesterday, on the drive to Bloem, I witnessed a visual representation of what it's like for those without those blessings. There are many mountains in Lesotho and the surrounding areas of South Africa. At the base of one of the mountains along our drive there is a cemetery with thousands of headstones, most of which have only been put there in the last 7 years, all of them representing a death due to HIV. Seeing the devastating effects of such poverty makes me sad. It forces you to wonder where the hope is. I was reminded this morning.

Today I went to church at Maseru United Church. It's an interdenomenational and international church and do they know how to worship! We sang, we danced, we prayed, we worshipped with all that we have. It was during the service that I got a clear understanding of what it means to have deep, true, unfailing faith. It looks like trusting that God will provide for you even when all you have is a tin shack to come home to. It looks like relying on God to heal a sick child that has no other way of getting well. It looks like asking God to do things no one else can do and actually believing He will do it. It looks like singing and dancing on a Sunday morning with people of every tribe and tongue in a city suffering from political unrest. It looks like the people of Lesotho on a daily basis. I'm beginning to realize just how much God brought me here for my own benefit in addition to allowing me to benefit others.

God,
To you alone be all the honor, praise, and glory! Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your plan. Even when it seems like there's nothing good left in the world I am reminded just how present you are with us. Continue to open my eyes and my heart to your Spirit's working in this place.
In the powerful and precious name of Jesus,
Amen