Thursday, May 6, 2010

Passion


My first trip into Africa was stunning, breathtaking. It was as if I had just stepped into a dream. As the plane came near landing, I could see wild camels in the distance and almost choked myself with excitement, grasping my chest and gasping so loudly that the other passengers began laughing! That moment convinced me that this would be an adventure to change my life as well as the lives of many others.


The landscapes of Ethiopia are breathtaking and radically diverse. If you were to squeeze into a sweaty 15 passenger mini bus with 20 other Somalis, Oromo’s and Harare’s for a road trip cross-country, you would see flat, red, sandy desserts speckled with deep green bushes and tall trees with flat tops swaying ever so slightly in the breeze, mind-boggling rock formations housing baboons, volcanoes nestled in black lava from centuries of random spit fires, blue crystal lakes with hippos, crocodiles and other unmentionable ferocious beasts and mountains so vast that they take your breath away.

More than any spectacular view, the people especially capture your heart. It only takes an instant and suddenly you realize that the very core of your bosom is no longer beating in the safety of your ribs but out on the infested sidewalks, wrapped around the faces of the young and old.

Ethiopia is a place of many kisses. Women in long, vibrant dresses and headscarves greet you with “Selamnoand then kiss you on both cheeks three or four or even five times before repeating it again. The eyes of the children open with enormous anticipation at the simple sight of your white face as they shout out all the English words they know, all at once, in hopes of gaining some sort of attention from their own personal celebrities. The men can be quite diverse from people group to people group. Many are dressed in their specific religious attire, long white robes and knitted caps for the Muslims or western clothes and white scarves for the Orthodox. One of my favorites fashion trends comes from the Oromo men… they wear striped red and grey t-shirts with a variety of different rainbow colored skirts wrapped and rolled perfectly at the waist. Their accessory is always a sharp plowing sheer thrown over the shoulder. I’ve never actually figured out why they’re carrying them. Skirts are natural for men in Ethiopia. The missionary guys even wear them to breakfast.

Every person you pass holds a special key that spins continuously within the lockets of your mind until all you can do Is open doors of wonder deep within, doors that never close and make you forever abandoned to an eternal fascination of the people that are held within the very caverns and crevasses of the world.


The SOS mission base here is truly pioneer, beginning at the end of 2008. Before long though, a few adventurists were training up disciples in church meetings on Saturday and Sunday nights, leading dozens of newly saved people to baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit. The church in Ethiopia is called Church of Joy and lives up to its name. When we begin singing “Hallelujah” and clapping, you cannot find one person without a smile. The joy of the Lord is our strength and that’s why so many are able to be children of God here in Africa.


Samuel Strandberg is the extraordinary base leader from the West coast Sweden with a captivating vision for the people groups on the Horn of Africa, a heart full of evangelism and powerful passion for prayer. His heart is to seek the face of God continuously and build a Christian culture. He once told me his six foolproof, guarantee keys of being a pioneer and reaching the unreached. “Number one, pray. Number two, preach. Number three, pray. Number four, preach. Number five, pray, and number six, preach!”


There is also a team of Ethiopian pastors working together with Samuel. Pastor Mohammed was once training in mosques across the Horn of Africa, studying Islam and planning to be a terrorist. His plans failed though when Jesus radically saved him instead! Now he is the evangelism and outreach pastor. Pastor Ashagre joined the SOS team four years ago and has completely taken the vision for the unreached as his own. He is the follow-up and discipleship pastor.


Life on the Horn of Africa is simple and completely centered around Jesus. When people want to meet God, we pray for salvation. When they want to be baptized, we build a tarp tub and then sing praises in the sunshine. When they’re sick we lay our hands on them and expect an immediate healing. Living spontaneously is the best way to find adventures. Daniel, the principle of the Bible school in Sweden told me, “If we know everything, there’s no space for faith or trust.”


Many Muslims consider the city of Harar the fourth holiest city. A heavy spirit of religion hangs in the air. In certain areas you can even feel demons starring you down. It’s exciting to be such a pioneer in new places that have never seen this light before.


As soon as you walk out of the compound, you’re bound to see women carrying enormous bundles on their heads. There are homeless people everywhere, unlike anything I have ever seen. It’s hard to hide my tears in the streets. Orphans run around and sleep in the middle of the sidewalks. Naked cripples lie everywhere and others with deformed faces just sit all day begging. Many mothers bring their children up to me asking that I take them home and give them a better life. I just kiss them, smile and try to be strong while every fiber of my being desires to grab them and run.

An enormous stronghold in Harar is kat. It’s a drug in the form of simple green leaves and can be found everywhere. Around three in the afternoon you’ll find nine out of ten people on the street chewing these tiny twigs with green saliva oozing between their teeth and staining the edges of their mouths. Ne one is excluded in this addiction. Mothers give it to their infants and toddlers to calm them down, the homeless carry it around in bundles, construction workers and storeowners chew of for hours every day rather than working and people sitting in restaurants gnaw on these leaves while sipping coke. Even the passing goats and donkeys carry this green stain on their furry lips. The Ethiopians need freedom in Jesus. They need to overcome this spirit of addiction with Holy Spirit’s power.


One night, while setting up for a movie, Mathias came running in shouting. There was a woman in the street manifesting a demon directly in front of our gate. She was rolling around in the dirt and rocks rather helplessly, a spectacle to the crowds like some sort of entertainment under the glittering stars. We came to quickly find that it was one of our disciples, Addis. We barely brought her in from the audience before she collapsed in the doorway and while holding her quivering body we began to pray in the Spirit. She didn’t want to be freed, so after a while with hair in a static fro, eyes red and empty, we helped her home.


She came back the next day and still continued to join our meetings. Something that must be learned as you begin to train disciples is that righteousness and faith are not obtained in the pay per view aisle of heaven. It takes work and time to bear fruit. The team is truly devoted to the long-term transformation of each one of their disciples.


Demonic possession and oppression is huge in Ethiopia. There is a young man who sits in a garbage-filled ditch just one minute from our home, half-naked and covered in dust. He says nothing and hides his face when we pass. He just sits. In fact, he has been just sitting for six years. It’s heart breaking but we believe that one day He’ll be saved.


When the events of your day write pages that look like the book of Acts, you’re finally living.


One year after seeing this man for the first time, I returned to find him in the same garbage pile, just a few weeks later though, we saw that he had disappeared. A Spirit filled man from a local church had together with Holy Ghost, delivered him from his demons and helped him to begin a new life! Hallelujah! Now his hair is cut, he wears clothes and is learning the day-to-day aspects of life again. God is so good!


Luke 9:23 promises, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Deny yourself. The world’s pin needle view and God’s enormously magnanimous vision somehow seem to be in opposite realms. So in all actuality when we deny by man’s standards, we are essentially leaping up on a higher road that runs in closer proximity to the throne of God. Denying ourselves does not mean placing a flesh-imposed period in our personal novels called life but rather, it opens up fresh pages for future chapters to be written by the true author, none other than Jesus. Writing books with the pen of our lives as His co-author will bring about the greatest action/adventure novel you could ever record!


If you are beginning to feel stirred in your spirit for missions, if the pictures drawn with these words are awakening dreams and longing deep within, pray. Even when you think you know, pray. You will find God’s plan for your life in the carpet. Bury your face there. God will take care of the rest.


Land that I love...






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