Monday, March 27, 2006

.:true:.

Sometimes the unexpected happens... when your expectations don’t come through, there is always something that God wants you to see a little differently than you had originally planned...

So, Saturday...

The Plan: Surfing at the beach... I was with a student in the youth group who ‘wanted me to teach’ her how to surf... the problem with this is that I barely know how... okay, now that we’ve cleared that up...

Niel and Jen were going to meet us there... which we were counting on, because when you go to the beach, you have stuff... towels, cell phones, a good book, sunglasses... you get the idea... and you can’t just leave this stuff unattended on the beach in South Africa... things there have a tendancy of ‘walking away’... So the normal ‘surfing routine’, as I call it, is that Jen sunbathes on the beach (watches our stuff) while the rest of us get down to what I’ve found really matters in life (surfing)... right??

On my way there, I called Niel to see if they were ‘en route’... he said they’d be there in 20 minutes... perfect... so Candace (student) and I showed up at the beach, and I figured that by the time I got all the ‘gear’ ready and explained the ‘basics’ of surfing, that Niel and Jen would be there...

The beach was packed... like any normal weekend... the teenie-boppers, the surfer dudes, the old men in speedo’s... are we getting a glimpse? At the shoreline there was a drop-off where the tide was, but had gone back out, creating a sort of ‘cliff’ just before the water’s edge... There were a handfull of surfers and body-boarders scattered in the water about 100 yards out or so...

Now... The ‘gear’ was ready and the ‘basics’ were explained... and there was no sign of Niel and Jen... for a good half hour... for those of you who know me well, you’d think that by now my impatience must be starting to kick in to first gear... but I was patient... I called Niel again. he said he was sorry but they had run into a few ‘snags’ and they would be there as soon as they could...

Meanwhile I noticed a few little black boys playing about 25 yards to the right of us... They had the poorest clothes on and were the only one’s on the beach that weren’t a ‘shade’ of white... as we continued to wait, Candace and I were just talking about random things... I kept noticing that the smallest of the black boys kept getting closer and closer to us as he was occupying himself in the sand... he couldn’t have been any older than 6... you could tell that he kept looking at us but was trying very hard not to be noticed doing so... He finally ended up about six feet in front of us... the other boys kept looking at him funny and kept shouting at him in some African dialect... I thought he was pretty brave... I asked him if he was having fun and he just looked at me and smiled... I asked him what his name was and he looked at me and mumbled something shyly... I soon realized that he didn’t understand a word of what I was saying... I wondered, out of all the people on the beach, why was he drawn to me?

This little boy kept playing in the sand and eventually wandered off a ways... I told Candace that I was going to go down to the shore and see how the water was... as I was walking towards the ocean I sensed something coming towards me from behind.. I turned and saw the same little boy running at me... as soon as our eyes met he stopped cold in his tracks... and so did I... we both stood there in this awkward, ‘I can’t communicate with you’ sort of moment... his eyes eventually gravitated toward the ‘cliff’ at the shoreline and then back to mine, but a devilish grin was working it’s way up in the coner of his mouth... the kind of look that says ‘do you dare me?’ I immediately smiled, appreciating this young boy’s clever communication technique... I raised my eyebrows as if to say ‘yes, I DO dare you’. His devilish grin immediately turned into a look of focus... He looked at me one last time, revved his little engine and ran as fast as he possibly could in the soft sand, headed straight towards the edge of the cliff... at the edge he leaped with everything his might would allow him to leap...

I wondered again, as I was watching this unfold, this picture, this forty pounds of boy flying through the air, what he may have been drawn to...

maybe he thought my surfboard was pretty...

maybe he thought Candace was pretty...

maybe he just thought I talked funny, unlike anything he had heard...

maybe it was the fact that I smiled at him when he first saw me... hmm...

After he landed in the sand, he got up and ran back to his starting line again laughing the whole way... I thought to myself, this little boy’s joy is the joy that comes only from God... even if he doesn’t know God, God is here...

this moment was true...

this moment was reality...

this moment is what God intended...

When he got back to his starting line, he had that same ‘do you dare me?’ look in his eyes, but even more, the look that said ‘even if you don’t dare me to, you better believe I’m doing THAT again!’... he put his hands on his knees in the ‘ready’ postion and then looked at me... I then approached the starting line, adopted the ‘do you dare me?’ look in my own eyes, put my hands on my knees to let him know that I was ready... we both raised our eyebrows at each other, took off... and jumped...

there... 40 pounds of boy.

here... 170 pounds of boy (yes, boy).

flying... experiencing joy... experiencing God...

We repeated this practice about seven or eight times before I realized that there were now 4 other boys besides Mr. 40 and Mr. 170... all laughing... all enjoying... all speaking the same language... even if it was only for a brief time...

Thier language: joy

My language: Christ’s love

Joy + Christ’s love = same language

(are you seeing this?)

Eventually they grew bored with me and the jumping game... some wandered to the waters of the Ocean, some to the shade of the life-gaurd stand, some back to their spot on the beach, all-the-while still playing...

So, Saturday...

I was reminded that there is always a language that communicates to everyone...

you don’t have to know someone’s name (as much as I wanted to)...

you don’t have to have a degree in theology...

you don’t have to audibly speak in a way that is understandable...

People were drawn to Christ, People are drawn to Christ...

People followed Christ, People follow Christ...

why?

Christ showed love in a way that transcends anyone’s understanding...

I want to live like that.



Sometimes the unexpected happens... when your expectations don’t come through, there is always something that God wants you to see a little differently than you had originally planned...

Thursday, March 23, 2006

new friends I can relate to...

Here are some furry creatures that I spent some time with last sauturday...



Ah, Mr. Goat... yes, I can relate to you my friend... sometimes I feel like I am the goat.








Hello Mr. Swine... you are awfully dirty! You think it's paradise though don't you... sometimes I think that my mud is paradise.






The Noble Steed... proud and true... always faithful, always brilliant... sometimes it seems like there is not enough creatures like you.



Chicken... you seem much braver than what your stereotype makes you out to be... I'm the stereotype.



Poor Mr. Donkey... you look like you need a friend... you always seem to be making a fool of yourself... most days I'm definately the Donkey...

Friday, March 17, 2006

HELP!!!

Friends,
I just found out some crazy news today and I may need your help... I got an email from my financial advisor at my missions organization and she said I'm still about 800 dollars short for my expenses while I'm in Africa... so basically if I can't raise the remainder of that money, I won't be able to pay for my room and board, food, ministry expenses, etc... I'm so grateful for those of you who have helped out financially and for those of you who have been praying for me... my request is for your continued prayers for this situation and also if there's anyway you can give anything, please consider doing so... every little bit helps!!! You can either go to abwe.org and click on "give" and make a secure, online payment thru paypal, or you can make a check out to ABWE with my account number on the subject line (Account # 078528), and a short note with my name on it and send it to:
Mr. Glenn Priddy
C/O ABWE
PO Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105

I hate to do this because I know that a lot of you have already given so much... I almost feel like the kids I see here on the street with their hands out begging for anything you can give...
With all my love and gratitude,

Eric Wagenmaker

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

1/2



Today marks the half-way point of this journey of mine to South Africa... I don’t really have much new news to speak of other than that I’m really busy... I have a young adults event on Thursday, a youth event on Friday and I’m preaching for the first time in my life on Sunday morning... yikes! So this week has been filled with a lot of preparation for all of that... I haven’t even been able to surf in like 2 weeks now! I have the itch... as my buddy Dan Willis says...
six and a half more weeks and I’ll be back!!! Don’t forget about me America...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

thank you God, for a moment...

Last night I was doing my nightly ritual of logging my expenses for the day and filing my receipts... it was about 10:45pm and the entire town seemed to be sleeping except for me... suddenly all of my lights went out... my first thought was 'the breaker switch probably fell again' (which happens about once a week), but about as quickly as I had that thought I looked out my windows and noticed the entire neighborhood was pitch black... I walked out on my patio and realized the power was out as far as I could look in every direction... except up... the night glowed with an amazing display of starry fireworks without the pullution of the bright city lights that are normally there... as quickly as I could, I pulled out two of my round, comfy chairs out onto the deck, grabbed a bed sheet and a pillow and curled up underneath the glowing stars amidst the black night... the only sound was the ocean waves crashing against the rocks and the shore about 200 yards in front of me... I couldn't see it, but I knew it was there... not only could I hear the mighty power of the ocean, but I could feel it... the waves are constantly pounding the shoreline, but the timing is usually off... a wave on the near shore will crash, then a wave further north will crash, which creates this swirling, echoing sound all around you... but then, all at once the waves will crash in unison, like a symphony that builds to it's crescendo... and it was then that I could feel the earth tremble... my deck would shake ever so slightly... it was so majestic... I thought to myself 'it would be nice to have someone here to share this with', but I realized that this was a gift given by God especially for me... I fell asleep like a little baby dozing off to his mother's sweet lullaby... like my childhood bed times I will never get these moments back, but it's cool to think that was just a small piece of the amazing, beautiful masterpiece God has given us to drink in... I like it when God shows Himself in these ways... If you look for Him, you will surely find Him... especially in moments like these...

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

tick-tock...

for nine weeks I’ve been incomplete...
for nine weeks I’ve been longing...
for nine weeks I’ve been lacking...
for nine weeks I’ve been missing...
for nine weeks I’ve been lost...
for nine weeks I’ve been misunderstood...
for nine weeks I’ve only been half...


five more weeks of anticipation...
five more weeks of seperation...
five more weeks of loneliness...
five more weeks of this ache...
five more weeks of wishful thinking...
five more weeks of hoping...
five more weeks of only distant memories...


In five weeks I’ll be liberated...
In five weeks I’ll be intoxicated...
In five weeks I’ll be undone...
In five weeks I’ll be unstoppable...
In five weeks I’ll be undivided...
In five weeks I’ll be undignified...
In five weeks I’ll be completed...


my darling, please come quickly...


Thursday, March 02, 2006

5:08 am

this morning's sunrise over the Indian Ocean...


Wednesday, March 01, 2006

my week

There might be some of you out there who are thinking that I may just be on an extended vacation out here because all's I post about is my evenings and weekends.... and yes, that is when I do my 'fun' stuff, but during the week I work and keep very busy at doing ministry...

-I am leading Junior High and Senior High youth and planning events and Bible studies for both
-I am in charge of developing other youth leaders for when I leave
-I plan the worship service for Sunday and run rehearsals as well as individual music lessons for the musicians
-I am in charge of developing other worship leaders for when I leave
-I have a sermon that I have to preach in a few weeks that I have been trying to get together
-2 to 3 days a week I am in the studio editing the church's latest youth camp video
-Tuesday's are staff meetings
-Wednesday nights are Bible Studies
-and I try to meet with people within the church to cultivate relationships and also invest into them

Anyway, I will surely have more to blog about later! you know it's coming....
Meanwhile, here's a picture of my lunch today...