Priceless Gift

[1]

 2 Corinthians 9:15

Good News Translation

¹⁵ Let us thank God for His priceless gift!

 

When we lived in Tanzania, our boss’s boss made friends with those in high places in the national park administration. He let me know that we could go into the world-famous Serengeti National Park without paying. I had no paperwork proving this and never tried to use it when we entered the park at one of the standard entry points. But it was a priceless bit of knowledge.

There was no entry point near us, but the Ikizu villagers used to drive south across country and ford the Grumeti River and poach in the park. They were careful not to leave any tracks so that vengeful rangers could follow them and bring them to justice. The Grumeti sported hippos and crocodiles in many spots. It also had shallow spots where one could simply drive across in less than a hand’s breadth of water. These fords were not marked.

We had no car, but we could often talk some of our fellow missionaries into taking us on a spin out into the park on a Sabbath afternoon. I developed a sense of the veldt so that I could always guide us much the way I imagined the poachers used and find one of these fords easily. There were always many animals all over these vast Serengeti plains. We saw wildebeest, zebra, topi, and Thompson’s gazelle (tommy) every time we went. We often found ostrich and giraffe. Occasionally we would be favored with a small herd of elephant or one of the great African cats.

It was a cathartic to the stress that built up in our very confined missionary work. Some of our daughter’s first words were “g’af” and “tommy”. Once or twice, we encountered a ranger also out on the great plains. We would stop and exchange greetings. Since I had some knowledge of Swahili, I usually did most off the talking, and we always parted as friends.

On one occasion the ranger must have reported our presence in the park. One day two Land Rovers stopped in front of our house. I was out in the yard, and 8 or 10 uniformed men jumped out of the vehicles and surrounded me, their rifles pointing directly at my chest. I was totally astonished and wondered if this would be my last day on earth. The leading officer stepped up to me and demanded that I pay the entry fee for the previous time I had been in the park without paying.

The entry fee was only about ten shillings (about $1.50), and I was of a mind to pay up and call it quits. But I was very young and adventurous and started talking with the officer, using my best but somewhat broken Swahili. I mentioned my upper boss’s arrangement with national park’s headquarters in the capital, Dar es Salaam. I had no documentation, so my arguments were really worthless, and I was aware of that. We must have stood there in my front yard for well over a quarter of an hour; in those days in Africa people expected to talk about a proposal at length and to become friends in the process. The whole time we were talking those rifles were still aimed at my chest. Those holding them could follow the whole conversation because they all spoke Swahili much better than I.

In the end we came to a truce, and they all climbed back into their Land Rovers and left me. I was still in possession of my ten shillings, but much more importantly, I had the priceless right to go and come through the back entry of Serengeti with a free conscience.

In our part in the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the devil is always attempting to rob us of the priceless gift of God’s grace and eternal life. We have Christ’s eternal promise that no one can ever take it away from us by any force.

Thank You, Lord, for your priceless gift!

[1]  https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/soldiers-surrounded-soldier.html

Reap Without Burn Out

 

[1]

Galatians 6:9 

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

 

After five years teaching high school in Africa and giving higher mathematics no mind, I gained permission to work on a doctorate in mathematics—something I had made as a personal goal. I got told in no uncertain terms that I didn’t need a doctorate in mathematics to work as a missionary. The university accepted me and told me they would give me a financial assistantship if I passed two of the three required qualifying examinations in September. That was at the end of May after only one semester back in graduate school. Night and day, I set myself to master the material that I could expect on these comprehensive examinations. It seemed like an impossible task. Yet I took copies of the previous qualifying exams over the last 10 years and methodically started doing each one. I worked backward from the most recent.

Sylvia insisted we needed to spend several weeks with her parents in Michigan. Her dad provided me a room in one of his churches where I could study uninterrupted. I knew I was making progress, but I grew exceedingly weary from the intense effort. I did not let the weary feeling slow me down or turn me from my purpose. I passed the two qualifiers I attempted.

The relief was short lived as I started teaching half time, taking graduate classes full time, being a father of a three-year-old daughter, being husband of a wife who was expecting a second child in October, and preparing for the third qualifier, which was coming up the next May.

Sylvia gave birth to a bonnie lass after a really scary complication and the resulting Caesarian-section. I felt the least prepared for the third qualifier and consequently gave it even more preparation, which paid off by the active help of the Lord. We had a marvelous second summer as we all reaped the results of a successful year.

Thank you, Lord, for seeing to it that in due time we do reap what we have toiled so diligently for.

  

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[1] https://bitesizebio.com/3437/10-tips-for-mastering-your-qualifying-exam/

Unless the Lord Watches Over Us

[1]

Psalm 127:1 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

¹ Unless … the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.

 

Sixty years ago, Solusi was in the veldt some six mile from the nearest neighbor. Wild animals used to wander onto campus frequently. Russell lived across the concourse from me. The soil was light and sandy and with a little irrigation grew magnificent vegetables. He had a wonderful garden, and the wild critters soon discovered it. So, he fenced it in. This kept the smaller animals out, but the kudus had no trouble jumping the fence and eating his cabbages and corn.

Not to be outdone, Russell put up a 14-foot-high fence with a high tensile steel wire at the top to discourage the kudu. When the produce had grown to a delicious size, Russell came out one morning to pick food for the table. Much of it was eaten, and the spoor was clearly that of kudu. The kudu is a magnificent antelope, one of the world’s greatest. The male sports beautiful spiral horns often six feet long. With all of its mass and horns, the kudu had easily jumped his high fence, feed unmolested, and jumped out again, all in the dark of night.

Russell now declared war. He got a good-sized gun, opened his window, and sat in the darkened room watching the garden. Well into the middle of the night he watched—in vain. Finally, he decided the kudus weren’t coming that night, so he packed up and went to bed. The next morning more crops were gone, and fresh kudu spoor told the tale.

 “So, they like to come in the early morning! I’ll get them tonight,” he decided. He went to bed early and got up around midnight. Lo and behold, the kudus had already come and gone before he got up. He never did outwit these massive raiders. Even so we wrestle daily against our enemy, who hates us.

Thank You, Lord, for being willing to watch over us and protect us—because no matter how vigilant we are, the enemy is far cleverer than we can ever be.

 

[1] https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOUXFrh_1zMzMMleXPbpwh2OKYXANtR8Ek1oa2Y

 

Older but not Discouraged

 

[i]

2 Corinthians 4:16 

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹⁶ For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.

 

When I was in my thirties and forties, I would look in the mirror and say to myself, “You don’t look like you’ve aged at all.” Being a teacher, my students wouldn’t let me get away with that for even a second. One look at me told them I was way out of their league, and they had subtle and not so subtle ways of letting me know it, too. Now, at twice that age, I look in the mirror and wonder who that old guy with sparse white hair is who is looking back at me.

A couple years ago I bumped into a fellow math teacher from another university. I asked him how he was. He smiled and said, “Great! I’m retired and loving it.”

“Why did you retire?” I quizzed.

“When I saw that it was literally taking me twice as long to take care of the paperwork on my desk than it used to, I decided it was time to retire.” He said this in all seriousness.

“I understand all too well,” I empathized.

As I look back at my teaching methods early on, I sometimes shudder. I treated my students the same way my teachers had treated me. I’m aware that I sometimes was too harsh on them. I like to think that I became a more caring person as I matured. Indeed my spiritual being was being renewed on a gradual day after day basis.

Thank You, Almighty Father, that you haven’t given up on me, or anyone else, but still work with us daily.

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[i] https://www.aging.com/the-way-of-living-being-happy-and-healthy-at-an-old-age/

Attempt to Discouragement

 

[1]

Colossians 3:2-3

Revised English Bible

Think about the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God,

 

In 2016 I survived West Nile Virus. It is generally fatal in people over 60, apparently more so than Coronavirus-19. It caused brain fever in me, and there are five weeks of which I remember nothing, except for a few very vivid hallucinations. I had friends whom it killed in fairly short order. There were many people around the world who were praying for my survival. To this day I don’t know why the Lord chose to let me live.

My urologist visited me twice while I was in hospital with WNV. I don’t remember the first visit. On the second visit I was very lucid. He told me, “When you are well, and up and about, you need to stop in and see me. We need to start treating you for recurrent prostate cancer.”

After he left me, I looked up and prayed, “Why Lord? Why didn’t you let me die while I was so sick with WNV? Why preserve me for chemo and other nasty treatments?” This is one prayer, “Why?” that the Lord has never stooped to answer, at least not for me! His answer to Paul, when he prayed for relief from his “thorn in the flesh,” was “My grace is sufficient for you.”[2] That has to suffice for me, too.

Sometimes I mention my experience to people who express interest. They almost invariably respond with something like, “Well, He must have something more He wants you to do!” Since He hasn’t spelled it out clearly enough for me to read it yet, it’s up to me to follow the preacher: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, or planning, or knowledge, or wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.”[3]

In October during a Deep Calling project at my church, I decided to return to this blog series and published my blog of October 26. In November I started really working on my memoirs of our time at Ikizu in Tanzania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. About the same time I came down with very painful eye problems so bad I couldn’t even read the big “E” on the eye chart. It just might be that the enemy of all mankind was trying to discourage me. My eye sight is returning to normal, so I’ll pursue both the memoirs and this blog until I learn differently.

Thank You, Lord, for sparing me, and thank You for encouraging me to continue with my might until You do lay me in Sheol.

 

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[1] https://earnestwords.com/2011/03/01/glasses/

[2] 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 REB

[3] Ecclesiastes 9:10 REB

Thunderstorm in Tornado Alley

 [1]

Job 37:6

Common English Bible

⁶ He says to the snow, “Fall to earth,”
    and to the downpour of rain, “Be a mighty shower.”

 

We often drive across the U.S. along small highways rather than on the Interstates. We can experience much more of the charm of the country that way. At night we often pull up in a Walmart parking lot or a park with a restroom and climb into the back, under the cap that houses our bed, and sleep till morning. Traveling west across eastern Nebraska one evening, we could see massive thunderstorms in various directions. We checked our smart phone and saw that if we carried on into the night, we couldn’t miss a storm. Of course, if we travel at night, we also miss the charm. So, we pulled into a handy Walmart parking lot, watched a beautiful sunset, and climbed into bed.

Shortly after dark it started raining. Lightning and thunder struck all around us. The rain became a mighty shower. The wind shook our Ford F-150 as if it were a toy. Peeking out of the window, I saw that the whole parking lot was under six inches of water as the rain came in sheets almost horizontally across us in the furious wind. I prayed for the all-powerful hand of God to shield us.

This part of the country is often referred to as Tornado Alley. I had visions of a tornado snatching us up and hurling us into the air and then smashing us back onto the earth when it was done. The cap over our heads is only held onto the back of the pickup by four three-sixteenth inch bolts. Although it is normally water tight, a spray was being forced in around the edges. Every few seconds the lightning illuminated the ankle-deep water all around us. Almost instantaneously a might clap of thunder would threaten to split our ear drums.

As suddenly as it hit us, the storm blew away. Through it all Sylvia slept like a baby. She missed the whole mighty display. When she woke up in the morning, she wondered why our blankets were soaked all around the edges. We got up and arranged our wet things so that they would dry, we hoped, as we continued on the highway.

For breakfast we stopped in a little café. The people all around us were talking about the tornado that had ripped through and totally destroyed a little town just 8 miles to our west. Now was our time to praise the Lord for keeping us safe.

Thank You, Lord, that we can rest in the knowledge that You always watch over us.

 

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[1] Our Ford F-150—This picture was not taken in Nebraska!

Africa by Starlight

 

[1]

John 1:5

Good News Translation

⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

 In 1967 in the heart of Africa, my bus pulled into the tiny hamlet of Nyamuswa. I grabbed my weighty suitcase and a heavy box of books and stepped off onto the dirt road. It was two o’clock a.m. The bus roared off into the night

I stood there. No one was awake at night, and no electricity existed within 25 miles at that hour. No vehicles of any kind were on the road. Nyamuswa was pitch black. There were no phones, not even at home. Cell phones had not been invented. No one knew when I was coming. There was no way I could lug my heavy luggage the three miles to my home at Ikizu on foot. I knew no one in the hamlet. There was no gas station, no café.

Puzzled, I stood there in the night. I hadn’t planned what I would do at this point. Stars were bright in the moonless sky. They made the white-washed walls of the buildings visible, ghostly visible. About four or five low thatched roof buildings down on the right was the maternity clinic that always had several women with complications awaiting their babies. There would be a caretaker there in case an emergency happened at night.

My mind clutched at a faint hope. Maybe I could awaken her and leave my bags there. Of course, men were not welcome there, day or night. Every idiot knew that! I was a foreigner, mzungu. Maybe, just maybe, I could persuade her to let me store my bags there.

I trudged up to the dark, heavy wooden door. “Hodi!” I called loudly. I knocked on the door—no one knocks on a door; they always call “Hodi!”

After repeated calling, a highly suspicious voice replied “Ni nani?” (“Who’s there?”)

“Ni Wilton Clarke kutoka Ikizu!” (“I’m Wilton Clarke from Ikizu.”) With that I had practically exhausted my Swahili. Fortunately, she spoke more English than I did Swahili. After some protracted talking, she understood that I just wanted to leave my bags in her clinic until the next morning. She showed me where to put them, and I left her with a heartfelt “Asante sana!” I would be lying if I said there was not a hint of a worry as to whether I would see them the next morning.

Elsewhere I tell about how the military had been called to Nyamuswa, and they had shot 9 elephants in the Nyamuswa gardens, so wild animals did come into this area every so often. I hadn’t heard any actual reports about animals recently, but I did know that leopards would roam where ever they pleased and that they often killed just for the thrill of killing. Of course, you’ve heard about poisonous snakes and other undesirables. All of these things were in my mind as I started to walk, by starlight, the three miles home.

It was bright enough so I could see where the road surface was. The stars were brilliant. Orion was high in the sky along with its accompanying constellations. The Milky Way was spectacular. So, I really did enjoy the walk. I let myself into the house shortly after three o’clock. Sylvia expressed surprise and joy at seeing me. Later that morning I went back and picked up my bags. They had been moved but were totally unmolested.

Thank You, Lord, for the beauty of a still, dark night with a bit of tension yet filled with Your care.

 

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[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/light-pollution-star-night-sky-england-rural-census-orion-campaign-a8873096.html