Our return trip was uneventful. We left Fort Wayne on the morning of July 25 and arrived home on the afternoon of July 27. We may not be as lively as we once were, but we are still good travellers. We were unpacked and getting back into a routine within a couple of days.
Surgery
Of course, we will not have much chance to stay in our routine. August 7 we will travel to Johannesburg. Thayer has a pre-op checkup with a doctor on the 8thand surgery is scheduled for the 10th. For those of you interested, the surgeon calls this a “Gastroscopy and insertion NGT and laparoscopic reduction of giant hernia and Hernia repair and Nissen fundoplication.” Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? We must remain in Johannesburg until after the post-op appointment on August 24.
Elections
During our prayer request time on Sunday, the MC reminded the congregation to pray about the upcoming parliamentary election – and to keep a close eye on their children in the run-up to the election. Do you see the connection?
Children frequently disappear just before elections in Africa. It is important to keep your children close to home. In walking to school, they must be warned to stick together. A young child walking alone may end up the victim of a candidate hoping to win the election. Many Africans (including some in high office) still believe that the spiritual forces may be manipulated by means of child sacrifice. The blood and internal organs of children are used in charms sold to assure victory in the election.
This is horrible, of course. But I wonder if, in the sight of God, it is any worse than the situation in the post-Christian nations – where sexual perversion, mutilation, and the killing of children is openly advocated by so many.
We were met with many a welcoming smile on our first Sunday back. The most precious smile for me was that of a seven-year-old boy rescued about a year ago. He had been forced to beg so that his grandmother did not have to work. He had also been trafficked to homosexuals. It takes time to overcome abuse like that. For nearly a year after being rescued, he never really smiled. But he is smiling now.
There is so much wickedness in our world today, and that wickedness is so often promoted by the very people who ought to be punishing it (Rom 13). But there are those who do what they can. The family who rescued this little boy is poor. They do not have clout with the government. But they saw a boy they could help, and they helped. Yes, we should cast our votes for the moral candidate (if there is a moral candidate), but more importantly we should do what we can to help someone near us. The solution to the world’s ills is not in the hands of governments. The living Christ, working through his earthly body, is the solution to the world’s problems. Politics is, to a large extent, a distraction from the work that really needs to be done.
Prayer items
Remember us in your prayers
Pray for our ability to work through distractions.
Pray for our health and safety.
Pray that more schools will use the books. Pray for
political & economic stability in the region.