Greetings from Africa! 24 Nov. 2004
I am sitting at my desk, with good posture, small of
back firmly pressed into the appropriately protruding portion of the chair. My
back is reasonably straight, and my hands – obviously – in typing position. So
situated, with a new pair of 1.5X reading glasses, I see my computer screen with
stunning sharpness, contrast, and color saturation. I know that I haven’t always
had cataracts, so getting rid of them should simply return me to the sort of
vision that was normal for most of my life, so, like, what’s the big deal?
Perhaps it is that I never lived in Rustenburg during those halcyon days of
yesteryear, so it is only NOW that I am really seeing my home. Wow! This place
looks marvelous! (For those of you with the necessary age and cultural
background, you may be hearing that sentence in the voice of Billy Crystal). The
attached pictures do not show my feeble attempts to do anything for God in
Rustenburg, but rather God’s mighty achievements in doing wonderful things for
everyone in Rustenburg! The magnificent reddish-orange trees have a totally
appropriate name – FLAMBOYANT. Rev. Ruth and an elder in the church (Pat) went
to a Presbytery meeting on Saturday in a town some distance from here, and they
said that in that area
about
half the trees are of this kind, all in beautiful, flaming bloom. I would have
liked to see that! I’m also including a picture of one of my favorite trees in
Rustenburg. It has the most perfect shape, and the way the leaves – or whatever
they are – look is pretty unique in my experience (so I thought I’d share it).
Today, Wednesday, I am doing much better than I was yesterday. This surgery was much more traumatic than the first one. Monday night there was considerable pain and I had trouble sleeping, so I just prayed for people suffering MUCH worse than me, of whom there are, unfortunately, an abundance. Yesterday I didn’t feel so well, and my left eye wanted as little as possible to do with light. The most
interesting bit, though, was the last part of the operation, during which the anesthesia pretty much wore off. Ouch! The Lord had prompted me to watch ‘The Passion of the Christ’ the night before, so I had. Thus, for 5 or 10 minutes, I had the opportunity to “give thanks in all things” from a unique perspective (and I mean that literally – the view of eye surgery from the perspective of the awake and seeing eye having the surgery is pretty unique), namely, appreciating how very much less pain I was feeling than Jesus felt just before and during His crucifixion. Mine only lasted a few minutes, there was only kindness and good wishes present in the room, and my body was being healed, not destroyed. Meditating on all that made it possible to do what God wants, i.e. to give thanks. Nevertheless, I hope I
never
have to do THAT again!
Tomorrow and Friday I get to play ‘Father Christmas’ for some local schools. I’m not sure why, but my ‘Father Christmas’ anointing is very strong here. Last week I was in the checkout line at a grocery store and a woman standing behind me spoke up, pointing out that she and her son had seen me in the gym, her son exclaiming ‘Look, Mom! Father Christmas is exercising!’ Often when I meet people they say ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen you around town’. The phrase ‘No place to run to, no place to hide’ comes to mind. Maybe my most effective evangelism technique would be to just walk around town with a sandwich board that said: “KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE” on the front and “NO JESUS, NO PEACE” on the back. I shall have to pray about that. There is one distinct advantage, though, and that is that it seems I am almost always within hailing distance of someone who knows me. I walked in to town today (and took the attached pictures) for various errands, the last of which was to buy some food. I really didn’t want to walk home from there with grocery bags (some distance), but I felt I would bump into someone who would give me a lift. So, I went, got my stuff, and sure enough there came along a slightly elderly, slightly familiar looking woman greeting me by name. I smiled and said ‘Hi!’ in that clever way that tries to cover over the absence of an accompanying name. It didn’t work. She was not offended, however, but just reminded me of who she was – the mother of a young woman who nearly died of a diabetic coma that I had visited once with Rev. Ruth. And yes, she kindly offered me a lift home! Her name is Ann, and her daughter is Leigh Ann, and they both need prayers. The nightmare has gone on a LONG time for them (several years), and Ann is pretty stressed out. She was visibly agitated today and was grateful for my offer to pray for her. Anyone ‘out there’ who is so inclined is more than welcome to join in!
Love from Africa
Lary