.Real.Greg.Lee.

My blogging rhythm has been messed up since the Africa trip.  First it was technology, then it was re-adjustment, now it is illness (mostly the kids, but starting to feel it myself) and odd schedules.  Busyness doesn’t keep me from blogging, but when my rhythms and routines are thrown off, blogging is what goes under.  (And training for a mini-marathon…but that is another story.)

I’ll share more on the rhythms of my life soon, but for now, a few helpful or fun tidbits about the blog…

–Subscribing…My email subscription service changed from feedburner to google a few weeks ago and I’m frustrated.  Some haven’t been getting the emails, some have been found in junk mail folders (check yours), and instead of coming daily, it often groups multiple blogs and then waits a day or two to send them. 

–Stats…In addition to all the subscribers, traffic has been spiking.  I marked the hit number 15,000 when the blog was over a year old.  5 months later (this week) it goes over 30,000.  I’ve posted 347 times since it’s inception.

–Comments…The blog can be more than a billboard, it can be a conversation.  Truthfully, I’m just catching on to this.  Cool thing…I have more comments to my posts than posts themselves.  And I just started last week carrying on the dialog in the comments section (I used to do it by email with people who commented).

–Stories…I run into non-suncrest people (ministry friends, etc) who start conversations by saying “I saw on your blog…” or people comment on my twitter/facebook status, “make sure you blog about that”.  I love the way this keeps us connected!

–Design…I think mine is stale.  Some of it is content (I don’t even have an RSS feed button up on my main page!), but it is mostly the look/feel.  And the title.  “Unique Chairs” is getting old.  I’m looking for suggestions on a new name for it…feel free to comment below…

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I just finished taking my first read through/pray through of our prayer requests that people write in the services and turn in on the connection card each Sunday.

5 pages of prayer requests…a lot of hurt, a little praise, job losses, marriage problems, health issues, and spiritual dilemmas.  In other words…real life.  I read them/pray them every week.  I do it primarily because I know God responds to our prayers and I think  it really can make a difference. 

I also do it becuase it helps me preach each Sunday.  On good Sundays, I’ve had people ask me if I had been spying on their family…suggesting that the teaching scratched where they itched or felt like personal advice for some reason.  I don’t have a camera in your living room, but these prayer requests are a great window to look through.  They keep me grounded int he every day needs of people’s lives.

If you want to join our prayer team and get the NON-CONFIDENTIAL requests each week, just email me or leave me a comment and we’ll get you signed up.

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I felt dumb.  It didn’t hit me until the other day when Denise was talking about it.  I must have 50 pictures of the Liberian children gathered around me…and they would always want me to take their picture and then ask to see their picture that I took on our digital camera right after I took it.  I just thought they were excited.

Then Denise said it…they wanted to see themselves becuase most of them had NEVER SEEN themselves before! 

Can you imagine…a life without mirrors?

The picture below shows the children swarming one of our team (Rich) with his camera and then when they saw I had a camera some started to sprint toward me.

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Liberia’s infrastructure is essentially non-existent.  It was under-developed to begin with and then was ravaged by years of civil war.  Electricity?  The only places we experienced it was because there were generators.  But electricity is a small infrastructure challenge compared to clean drinking water.

And that’s where Travis came in.  Travis was a member of the team form Harvest Fellowship who had become an expert on the water systems that they had shipped to Liberia.  So many aspects of our trip were about giving people a “hand up” not just a “hand out” — about teaching people to fish, not just giving them a fish.  Travis’  job wasn’t just to install a system, but to train the Liberians about how to install and maintain the systems.  You should have seen him training them (picture below) and then witness their reaction when we Americans were drinking the water from their dirty well after the system had cleaned it. 

Now, we can just ship more systems as funds are available they can be installed through churches in Liberia.  Then, they have a ministry Jesus talked about in Matthew 10, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

I mentioned Sunday how one of the doctors told me that just having clean drinking water would solve a host of medical issues they faced.  Amazing, isn’t it? 

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Most of you know Suncrest became “one church in 2 locations” last fall.  The site we launched in the showplace 12 theater in Hobart/Merrillville has had some neat stories come out of it.

This past Sunday, they had their first three baptisms…people embracing the power of Christ in their lives!  The video is below.  I love the way God is working through Doug and the east campus team.  We are one church with one mission — to be used by God to change lives — and this is just an image of how it is being fulfilled.

Special thanks to Ron Buche and Deep River Church of Christ for the use of their facility/baptistery.  You guys have been great partners!

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I knew I was finally getting back in my normal routine when I found myself doing email well after midnight last night!  That’s good for the productivity side of things, but I’m pretty committed to making sure I keep reflecting on Africa as I also re-engage some burning issues around here.

After this post I’ll return to some other subjects, but will keep sharing small pieces of the Africa trip interspersed for weeks…at least.  I think the best way to do that is to summarize some different components of the trip.  I’ll begin today with the VBS, in my usual bullet-point form:

Things that I’ll never forget about the Vacation Bible School we did at Monrovia United Christian Church.

-400 kids.  I didn’t believe when it was predicted before our trip.  Let me never doubt Matt Lee or Danny Buegar ever again!

-The line-up outside the gate every afternoon (pic below)…and the dismissal through the gate at the end of every afternoon.  I’m not sure it could be called orderly, but it was amazingly smooth once we figured out how Liberian children line up!  (Say “get in a line”…nothing.  Say “on the line” and you’d think it was bootcamp).

-The setting…sitting on the ground (after we figured out chairs were a bad idea), packed (and I mean packed!) under a canopy, within steps of a fully-funcitoning construction site.

-They got the message.  To hear the kids shout out Proverbs 3:5-6 and sing/dance saying “Yes I love my Jesus” meant it was all worthwhile.

-We handed out balloons the first day.  I don’t think they had ever seen balloons before.  The played with them endlessly.  They brought them back the next day.  Days later, you’d see a child in the neighborhood playing with the remains of a balloon. 

-The kids loved learning Rock, Paper Scissors (that’s what I’m teaching them in the picture above!)

-So impressed with Matt and Terah and Randy and Judy and Michelle and Jenny and Denise…and many others who served with us.  Best part was trying to invest in our Liberian helpers with hopes they could lead something like this on their own sometime in the future. 

More pics below…

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I was at our spring outreach event tonight (kudos to our children’s team!).  We ran out of everything by the end of the night (nearly 1000 hot dogs was just one part of the food) and seemed we had a huge surge of guests.  Of course, it was also the first time I had seen most suncrest people since getting back from Liberia Wednesday evening.  So, you can imagine the most popular question of the night…How was Africa?

If you ask me that and you sense I’m struggling to answer…it’s because I am.  The trip was great.  And powerful.  And discouraging.  And Sad.  And enlightening.  And full of potential.  And life-saving.  And life-changing.  And complicated.  And clarifying.  And hard.  And long.  And too short.  And..if you are reading this you’ve already likely read a lot of my ramblings about all that.

I’m also struggling to answer because I’m wondering how long you really want to listen.  Are you just making conversation?  Do you want the 5 minute version? (I don’t have one.)  Do you want the 30 minute version?  Do you want me to get out my pictures and video?  I could talk for a while.  If you really want to listen, I can pretty much promise you it won’t just be informational.  You’ll get a helping of my opinons and a smattering of emotion and before I let you walk away I’ll ask you to go there yourself when we put our next trip together (even though I have no idea when that will be).

The worst for part for me in answering this question is a conclusion I came to today.  I’m not naive…I knew even while we were there that it would be an impossible task to communicate to people what our experiences were really like.  But then this hit me:  I’ve been back in the USA for 3 days and…frankly…I’ve already forgotten.  I’ve eaten great meals, slept in a great bed, expected electricity to be there when I flipped the switch, just walked out of our multi-million dollar church building where we just stuffed people with hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, nachos, and more and no one had malaria.  How was Africa?  Not only can I not communicate it fully, I can’t even remember it fully. 

But because I fell in love with the people and do sense (I don’t think this word is too strong) a calling to help this country, I will answer the question as best I can as often as people ask it.  Their story needs to be told and I hope you will genuinely listen (and think about going yourself).

———-

I know people are loving the pics, so here are some more…

bullet holes form civil war in light poles on street (lights don’t work anymore)

this is the BB court where some of us walked down and played with/against Liberians.  I got smoked.

Danny Buegar (the missionary we support) at the end of Sunday’s service.  3 people came forward…2 to join the church and 1 to make her first commitment to trust Christ.

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For all the cool stuff on our trip, I don’t know how anyone could walk away from our experience in Liberia without some level of frustration.  It mostly comes because for some reason I (we?) kind of like to be the hero…and we were made to feel like heroes for one week of our lives.  Still, reality sets in and I realize I’m…

-Frustrated because there are too many problems for me to fix.

-Frustrated becuase I don’t have enough resources or contacts or influence to solve their problems.

-Frustrated because sometimes I know how they could do something better (and sometimes I just think I do).

-Frustrated becuase the line between “a hand out” and “a hand up” is really blurry.

-Frustrated because I’ll never be able to fully communicate what we experienced to others who could help.

-Frustrated becuase I’m pretty sure something else will capture my heart and my attentiveness to their needs will wane with time.

During one of our reflection times at night, Karla (from Muncie) read something from a journal she had been given for the trip.  I’m going to post it here.  It’s worth a read especially if you are like me at all:  Someone who needs to find contentment in being PART of bringing heaven to earth without needing to be the SAVIOR.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we’re about:

We plant seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter   

                and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the    

              worker.

We are the workers, not the master builders, ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

–          Oscar Romera

Here are a few more pictures:

Denise pouring some love into children outside the clinic

Part of the church construction…this is actually whee the baptistery will go in the church building.

A newly painted sign for the church.  It went up a few days before we left.

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Some of these are big deals and some are not, but they all tweaked me with amazement as I reflect on the Africa Trip.

1.  That within a few steps in the Monrovia Marketplace, we could have pictures with a full Alligator skin, a guy in a St. Louis Cardinals shirt, drinking from “old-fashioned” coke bottles, and have the chance to buy snails from a wheelbarrow (see pictures)

2.  Not a single person in our group of 26 americans got sick on the trip.

3.  People I had not met 2 weeks ago, I now seriously consider “friends” as we served Jesus together and shared our lives.

4.  We want relationships with missionaries/church planters at Suncrest, but I/we had not ever sent a single person from Suncrest to visit the Buegar’s in their country.

5.  Not only did we install a water-treatment system for the Liberians for their wells, but all the Americans drank from that water also after it was installed (and remember #2??).

6.  Out of 100 children born in Liberia today, 15 will die in infancy.  25 will die before age 5.  Malnutrition, unclean drinking water, and malaria account for the vast majority of this.  Children who would have died soon are having the chance at life because of our medical clinic.

7.  A decent Liberian wage is $4/day. Danny told me the average offering at their church of 200-250 people was $20/week.  Our partnership with them is essential.

8.  The huge vision and leadership that comes from Harvest Christian Fellowship in Muncie.

9.  How big my wife’s heart is.  I knew it was big, but I was continually impressed with Jenny on this trip.  She is wise, discerning, and fun.  To be challenged together by the conditions and needs (physically and spiritually) of Liberia made the whole trip amazing.

10.  That this scripture from Matthew 25 had never before brought tears to my eyes:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

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We landed yesterday at O’Hare and it did feel good to be back in the USA.  I have more reflections/thoughts than time to type and some of them relate to my different perspective on the USA now that we are back.  I’ll nibble on a few of those here…

1.  The USA is a great country.  Some would argue that it is the greatest nation that has ever existed.  I personally think  — even with some troubling flaws — that might be an accurate assessment.

2.  Monrovia is the capital of Liberia and an article appeared in the newspaper there shortly after we arrived about a 26-person USA delegation that was in town.  I had a double take to realize the article was about OUR TEAM.  Such American groups don’t travel to Liberia so it was pretty major news.  Some of our team was on a main radio station live early in the week.  The radio station also came to the church Sunday to do a story where they interviewed me and a few others from our team.  

3.  It was common when we were stuck in traffic for the van drivers to turn on their flashers and then just pull out into another lane and go around everyone.  It seems this was regarded as acceptable since it was the “American Delegation”.  It felt weird (and even wrong at some level), but it does say something about the view of Americans in Liberia.  There were some exceptions, but most everyone wanted to make our time there very positive.

4.  Some of this, no doubt, is that Americans are seen as a people with great resources to help their country.  This is true on a national scale…George W. Bush left office in the USA with low approval ratings, but is a hero in Liberia because he stood up to their rebel dictator and made a path back to democracy after years of civil war.  It is also true on a personal level…as each of us had multiple Liberians ask us for personal help…or even for us to take them home with us.

5.  There was always a possibility someone would steal your stuff (thieves are everywhere and more pronounced in desperate conditions), but I never felt personally in danger because most Liberians were watching out for us Americans.  One of our vans had made a stop and the driver got out, leaving a few things on the dashboard including his cell phone.  A minute later,  one man distracted the Americans in the van while another reached in to grab the stuff.  However, a group of Liberians nearby saw what was happening and ran off the potential thief.  They came over to the group in the van and said ” You are Americans.  Be Wise.  Roll up your windows and be cautious.”

6.  I’ve tried to be a voice in our church to remind us how wealthy ALL of us in America are.  When you experience it, it generates A LOT of feelings inside.  In one of our nightly reflections, a team member from Muncie framed it in this way, which I thought was powerful.  “I see the conditions they live in and I know the conditions I live in.  I don’t want to feel GUILTY, but I want to make sure I am GRATEFUL.”

Even sitting here in my corner office early Thursday morning typing this, I know life will creep back to “normal” here very quickly.  I have a sermon outline due at 2:00 today for the bulletin.    I have 2 weeks of mail to go through and next week’s appointment calendar is over-booked.  I’m speaking at the Crown Point rotary club next week.  I’m craving time with my kids.  There are thank you letters to write to our supporters. 

So, I’m trying to decide the FEW things I will RESOLVE not to forget about this trip…to carry with me to our church and through my life and toward putting together more trips to help these beautiful people.  I’m going to pray about that today…

I’ll be writing about Liberia for a while and I’ll just include a few new pictures each time.  The one at the top and …these are from the Sunday Church service:

Top picture: Me teaching (with a tie!) with Bea Buegar in the foreground.

Pictures below: 

The youth choir…they were incredible!

Children’s overflow seating…The church usually has an attendence of 200-250.  Sunday they had over 600.

The main seating area of the church (empty seats were for our american team arriving)

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