Inspiring first day

While I am still suffering from a lack of sleep (I don't guarantee this post will be coherent), I have been reenergized in my soul and am even more anxious to get out in the field tomorrow.  At church this morning Pastor John Thomas, the amazing founder of Living Hope, preached on living selflessly and not selfishly in today's 'it's all about me' culture.  Drawing on 1 Corinthians 13: 2 - 7 he discussed  how we can live selflessly in our marriages, workplaces, and day-to-day interactions with others.  We have to choose to love - choose to be patient, choose to be kind, choose not to be envious, boastful, or rude, choose not to insist on our own way, choose not to be irratible or resentful, choose not to rejoice I wrongdoing, but choose to rejoice in truth, bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.   This is how our Savior lived and this is how we are called to live.  In some circumstances it is easy to choose love; in others it is not.  However, we need to choose love of others over a selfish love of ourselves to emulate the life of Jesus.  I am sure I'm not doing the sermon justice in this blog, but needless to say it energized me.  (Jeff and the girls, you will be immediate beneficiaries of this).

After this service we attended church in the township of Masiphumelele.  The amount of joy pouring out of the members of the congregation is inspiring considering the environment in which they live.  They do not let their environment and circumstances define them; their faith in Jesus defines them.  And the singing...oh my gosh the singing.  While the words were Xhosa, the sounds and tones left me mesmerized.  So beautiful and heartfelt.  Our teammate, Donna, led the church in a beautiful song as well.  Wow, what an amazing gift she has.  Good singing is not a gift I possess so I kept it parked in the seats and made my own joyful noise!

Finally, we visited Cape Point and  the Cape of Good Hope giving us a glimpse of God's glory.  It gives me chills even as I write about it now.  God is good.  No, God is something so great there is no word for it.

P.S.  About 20 baboons provided some fantastic entertainment roaming the beach and getting in people's (people who don't read warning signs) cars taking food items and then dancing and rolling around on cars.  God has a sense of humor!