Imagine that you are a judge, seated high up on your platform, gavel in your hand, ruling over your courtroom. You hold the power of decision, determining whether a person is guilty or innocent and what punishment they deserve according to the severity of their crime.
Slowly the door cracks open and in walks the first defendant. You look up to find someone who has horribly wronged you. Then behind them a whole line of people come streaming in, each one having injured, offended, or defrauded you. And one by one you get to decide what kind of punishment each person deserves. Now’s your chance to get them back for what they did to you! They’ve hurt you and now it’s your job to make sure they get what they deserve.
In this scenario, would you be a fair judge? Probably not. As the memory of pain and anger rises to the surface, you’d probably deal out quite a harsh punishment.
That’s revenge. Revenge means getting someone back for what they’ve done to you.
Now imagine that you’re the one on trial. You slowly crack open the door and walk down the aisle toward the defendant’s chair. Looking up, the person sitting in the judge’s seat is someone you have wronged. Would you want them as your judge? Don’t you think they would be as unfair to you as you would have been to the people who wronged you? Wouldn’t you say, “Wait, I want a different judge! This person won’t give me justice. They’ll punish me worse than I deserve!” Wouldn’t you try to appeal to someone who is impartial, unbiased and fair?
The truth is the only person who can be an impartial, unbiased and completely fair judge, the only one who knows all our motivations and everybody’s back story, is God. He knows the truth, and He will judge justly.
Forgiveness, then, is giving up your “right” to revenge, releasing all your hurt and all your pain into the hands of the only just Judge, and allowing Him to do what is best.
That’s forgiveness.
But let’s not stop there. You may still be counting on God to deal out the proper punishment you feel this person deserves. Only then will justice be done.
But would you be ok with God taking all that punishment, all that hurt and vengeful payback they deserve, and pouring it out entirely upon Christ on the cross?
If you can say yes to that question, then you truly understand forgiveness.
Playing Tourist
During December the average high temperatures inland have been up in the 90s. Meanwhile the coast offers much cooler temperatures and a lovely ocean breeze. The pleasant weather coupled with the holidays leads everyone in Windhoek on a mass exodus either to the coast or back home to their farms and villages. Over New Years weekend I joined the masses of vacationers and tourists in the coastal town of Swakopmund.
Like any tourist town, Swakop offers endless activities like sand boarding, quad biking, skydiving, helicopter rides, or simply lounging at the beach. I, instead, turned north to drive up the coast exploring new areas of Namibia I'd never been to.
The northwest shores of Namibia have been labeled the "Skeleton Coast" because of all the ships that have been stranded along the shallow coastline leaving only their decaying skeletons for tourists to photograph. Just south of Henties Bay is the Zeila shipwreck, an old fishing vessel that came free from its towing cable on it's way to Bombay, India in August 2008. Now it's simply a popular tourist site and a nesting home for cormorants.
Continuing north, about 30km past Henties Bay you come across a sign for the Strathmore South "Dead Sea." Turning right you follow a corrugated dirt road 17.4km into the desert. It's passable in a 2x4 if you drive extremely slow, though you may have to replace your shocks afterward (like I had to do!). Following small white signs pointing to the dead sea, you eventually come to a small water hole filled by an underground spring, all that's left of an abandoned tin mine. The water is so dense with salt and minerals that it makes you float, just like at the famous Dead Sea in Israel! (I highly recommend bringing a jug of fresh water to rinse off after swimming.)
Continuing north on the C34 another 20km you pass through the salt flats and famous lichen fields before finally reaching the Cape Cross Seal Reserve. Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão was the first European to reach the area in 1486. He erected a stone pillar with a cross on top, after which Cape Cross was named. The original was removed by the German colonials and later replaced by two replicas.
Cape Cross is also home to the largest colony of Cape fur seals in the world, with sometimes tens of thousands of seals present. November-December is birthing season, so there were tons of baby seals while we were there! There was a nice gated walkway where tourists could view the seals from, but keep in mind the smell and sound can at times be quite severe.
Like any tourist town, Swakop offers endless activities like sand boarding, quad biking, skydiving, helicopter rides, or simply lounging at the beach. I, instead, turned north to drive up the coast exploring new areas of Namibia I'd never been to.
The northwest shores of Namibia have been labeled the "Skeleton Coast" because of all the ships that have been stranded along the shallow coastline leaving only their decaying skeletons for tourists to photograph. Just south of Henties Bay is the Zeila shipwreck, an old fishing vessel that came free from its towing cable on it's way to Bombay, India in August 2008. Now it's simply a popular tourist site and a nesting home for cormorants.
Cape Cross is also home to the largest colony of Cape fur seals in the world, with sometimes tens of thousands of seals present. November-December is birthing season, so there were tons of baby seals while we were there! There was a nice gated walkway where tourists could view the seals from, but keep in mind the smell and sound can at times be quite severe.
Namibian Christmas
In my culture there are 3 big F's for holidays around this time of year, food, family and football. Sometimes when you're living overseas, you have to forego your own traditions and accept those of your new culture. Other times you can keep a taste of home, but may have to fudge a little bit on the details.
One of my best purchases when I first arrived was buying a Christmas tree at a sweet deal from a missionary family who was just leaving. My family always prided itself on finding a fresh tree each year that could touch the ceiling. Mine's not quite that height, but it certainly helps bring the sense of Christmas. Obviously a fake tree doesn't bring the "scent" of Christmas, so I tried to help with one of those Pine scented air fresheners that you put in your car. Good idea, bad execution - doesn't even smell like pine at all! And of course setting up the Christmas tree always goes best with hot chocolate and rusks!
Another Christmas tradition is our Christmas Eve service at my church. We always turn off all the lights and sing Silent Night while everyone passes the flame along their little white candles. This Christmas I headed out to a nearby lodge that hosts a Christmas Eve service for surrounding farmers. The service was in the afternoon out under the shade of the palm trees. It was led in 3 different languages, German, Afrikaans, and English...and interestingly enough, our closing song was also Silent Night.
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| I somehow ended up as the braai master. |
On Christmas Day I enjoyed a nice big breakfast with my fellow SIM missionaries who live next door. Most people leave town for the holidays, so those of us who are left have to stick together. After breakfast I watched the Patriots game that happened in the middle of the night. Then in the afternoon we hosted a braai (a.k.a. "cookout") for anyone who had no place to go for Christmas. We had people from four different continents, so it was nice to meet some new people and exchange stories of Christmas traditions from around the globe.
So, as I said, sometimes you have to fudge a bit on the details, but I still managed to fit in lots of my Christmas traditions!
Summer Camp 2017
The months of December and January mark our summer break here in Namibia. So the first week of December, right after schools let out, Youth For Christ (YFC) runs their annual youth summer camp. This year we had about 480 youth and leaders from every corner of Namibia, from Oshakati to Oranjemund!
This is the third year I've been involved. I was busy hosting the Bible Quiz (almost like a Bible trivia game show), playing guitar for the worship team, and making daily videos to play before our evening sessions. This year was also special for me because we had 3 former NETS students as speakers at the camp, and another one came as a leader with her youth group. Check out the video above to get a little taste of the experience!
How to host American Thanksgiving
Sometimes, when living in another culture, you have to give up certain cultural traditions and festivities from your home culture. But fortunately, others you can bring with you. And often many of your new friends will even be interested in sharing in those experiences from your home culture. Such was the case with American Thanksgiving.
Many of my friends here have seen Thanksgiving on TV or in movies, but have never actually tasted a turkey or experienced it for themselves. So I decided to host American Thanksgiving and let them all be part of my traditional holiday experience. So here are my steps on how to host American Thanksgiving while living abroad:
Many of my friends here have seen Thanksgiving on TV or in movies, but have never actually tasted a turkey or experienced it for themselves. So I decided to host American Thanksgiving and let them all be part of my traditional holiday experience. So here are my steps on how to host American Thanksgiving while living abroad:
Step 1: Make up a menu list including but not limited to turkey, homemade stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mac & cheese, cornbread, corn-on-the-cob, pumpkin pie, apple pie, ice cream, etc.
Step 2: Hand out good American recipes to all your friends who are brave enough to try. Assign others to bring store bought items like drinks, sweet corn, ice cream, or plastic utensils.
Step 3: Warn your friends that this is not a Namibian braai so there will be more vegetables than meat.
Step 4: Purchase two small, over-priced turkeys and allow them to thaw a few days in advance.
Step 5: If you like cold apple cider, make it from scratch a day before and put it in the fridge. If you like it hot, 3 hours before will do the trick. Ensure you make a little extra because it won't all make it to the event because someone needs to taste test and it's delicious.
Step 6: Mix up your homemade stuffing.
Step 7: Stuff the pre-brined birds just before you stick them in the oven.
Step 8: Welcome guests to the lovely aromas coming from your kitchen and the familiar sound of football on the TV.
Step 9: Remove the lovely smelling birds from the oven when the little button thing pops out.
Step 10: Announce that now is the time to take selfies with the birds.
Step 11: Carve the birds.
Step 12: Organize the spread and take recipe-book worthy photos.
Step 13: Load up the plates (ladies first, of course!)
Step 14: Find a spot in the shade and enjoy!
Step 15: Play games to allow time for the food to settle.
Step 16: Pull out the tasty treats!
Step 17: While enjoying dessert, everyone shares something they are thankful for.
Step 18: After everyone heads home, lay down and drift off into a tryptophan-induced coma.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Early Rains
Namibia is often called the 'Land of Contrasts' and for good reason. You can drive east from the lush, cool ocean town of Swakopmund and within 15 minutes you're surrounded by the most arid, dry, hot desert you've ever seen.
Similarly in our dry season it seems to be about 0% humidity and you don't see a cloud in the sky for months. But then sometime around October the clouds start to reappear. Some late-afternoon it will get dark and cool, and then the sky opens the floodgates. Yesterday afternoon's showers were even accompanied by lightening and hail! In many places of the world rain storms signify troubles and force us to cancel plans and stay inside. But here we pray for rain and see it as God's blessing on the land and go outside to enjoy the wet drops on our faces.
Soon these early rains will stop and for the next two months it will get hot hot! Then from January to March we'll get our real rainy season. And such are the cycles of life in the desert.
Soon these early rains will stop and for the next two months it will get hot hot! Then from January to March we'll get our real rainy season. And such are the cycles of life in the desert.
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| This is about as close as I'll get here in Namibia to making a "snowball." |
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