Intro to Missions

I put together this little video for a friend who's doing a missions emphasis with his youth group

this month. It's a brief introduction to mission strategy but also to my ministry in Namibia.

Blossoming Deserts

This is exactly why I call my blog "Blossoming Deserts." All it takes is a little bit of rain and the desert bursts into bloom. What was once dry, brown dirt becomes a fertile field of different shades of pink, yellow, purple and green.

That’s exactly how God’s Word works in the lives of dry souls. Jesus calls Himself the living water that becomes within us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Just like the driest desert before the rain, Jesus can transform even the driest soul.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth;
    it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

                                                       ~ Isaiah 55:10-11

Spring Break 2015

This past week we had our "spring break" at NETS so I escaped from town for a few days for a little R&R. I joined 7 friends (some old, some new) staying at a little apartment right across from the beach in Cape Town, a city I'd heard so much about but never yet visited. I filled up a whole memory card worth of photos which will eventually make their way onto Flickr, but I'll give you the highlights here.

This was our beach in the small, homey suburb of Muizenberg. It's a popular surfer destination as the slow sloping beach offers many waves. The white sand, blue waters, and slightly warmer Indian Ocean current made it a great place to take a morning walk, toss a frisbee, or go for a swim.

   

The V&A Waterfront is a popular touristy shopping place. They have lots of shops, vendors, street performers, nice views of Table Mountain, and a little sense of pop culture humor. The food market here is an fantastic place to stop for lunch with a variety of authentic ethnic foods from all over the world!

   

Next, it was on to the World Heritage Site of Robben Island, the home for political prisoners during the apartheid era in South Africa's history. It was a sobering reminder of how power, fear, and hatred can bring out the worst in humanity. Nelson Mandela, a leader of the anti-apartheid movement, spent 18 years living in this small cell and doing hard labor at the lime quarries on the island. Namibian freedom-fighter Toivo ya Toivo was also imprisoned here.

Waiting in line for over an hour and a half to catch the cable car up Table Mountain was totally worth it. The views from the top over the Atlantic Ocean and the city are outstanding! The top is fairly flat, hence the name, so there are paved walking paths that lead you to viewpoints on both the north and south sides. We went up on an amazingly clear and warm day so we could see to the horizon in almost every direction.

   

If you plan your timing right, you can make it down from Table Mountain in time to drive over to Signal Hill to catch the sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean. As the one light disappears into the sea on west side of the hill, all the lights of the city start coming out on the other side of the hill.

   

The hills of Kirstenbosch are home to South Africa's National Botanical Gardens. There are thousands of varieties of flowers, herbs, trees, cacti and medicinal plants, even some species that are almost extinct. The many walking trails and vast lawns made it a relaxing setting for a nice picnic lunch and afternoon walk. They even had a raised walking bridge to take you through the upper canopy of the "Enchanted" Forest!

   

Boulder Beach is home to a colony of penguins. This is their breeding ground so you'll find them all up and down the coast sitting on their nests of eggs. They're quite used to humans lingering around so you can wander up right next to them and even swim alongside them. But don't get too close because they do have sharp beaks and claws.

   

The Cape of Good Hope is the most south-western point in Africa. Bartholomew Diaz was the first European to round the cape looking for a shipping route to India. Now tourists flock there to have their picture taken with this sign. But if you're a bit brave (some call it crazy) like me, then you can climb out on the rocks all the way to the edge of Africa. It's pretty cool looking out over the ocean knowing that the next land in that direction is Antartica. But before you start climbing out, make sure to give your car keys to your friends so they can still get home in case you fall off and die.

Then finally, we drove up the coastal road looking for a nice beach to relax on. Our criteria were simple, no seaweed covering the shore, no sand flies, and ideally no people. We came across the beach at Misty Cliffs (aptly named) with white sand, blue water, amazing waves and most importantly, no seaweed, flies, or people. :)

All in all it was a nice time to get away, enjoy friends, not think about work, and all that in a setting surrounded by God's beautiful creation. At 6am on Saturday morning I loaded up the car for the long 16 hour drive back to Windhoek. With all my friends going their separate ways I would be making this drive alone. But it was like the long slow sigh after a deep breath. Now, with a bit of renewed energy, it's back to work for the second half of our semester...and editing through a thousand photos to tell the tale!