The Eads to Tanzania

Tanzania and the Kenya Crisis

It's Dan again. School has begun well. It is always intimidating getting all of the requirements for the courses at the beginning of classes, but, by God's grace it always seems to get done (and this time, it will will be done for good, with graduation on the way).

Some of you have asked me about the political state of Tanzania, in light of what all is going on in Kenya. Tanzania has been amazingly stable, in comparison to many of its neighbors. There seems no foreseeable way that Tanzania would deal with the same kind of civil strife that Kenya has now.

That said, how is the Kenyan Crisis affecting Tanzania? This article states that all of the political unrest will actually benefit Tanzania. The landlocked countries (like Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi) depend on the Kenyan sea ports to provide them their import and export venues. Because of the unrest in Kenya, these governments are looking to Tanzania for sea access. This will mean more money for the development of infrastructure and some major upgrades on seaports. Even once there is a measure of stability that is restored to Kenya's troubled political and ethnic climate, there is question how soon the business would return there.

Please pray for Christian brothers and sisters in Kenya, who are having difficulty getting even the necessities of life. Pray for the progress of the gospel in spite of the difficult situation for many there.

Worshiping with PLBC

This is Jana again. I'm feeling inspired to add one more post this morning.

Dan has been gone on a 4-day hunting trip with dad. He will arrive home today(we all miss him so much!).

What has inspired me is this--I love worshiping with our church body at Parker's Lake Baptist Church. Last night, we came together for an evening of corporate worship through singing, scripture reading, and prayer. We read together and prayed through 5 excellent passages of Scripture- the first being Ephesians 3:14-21- "that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God."(v. 17-19) My 'simple' human mind is so ugly at times in its devisive, self-centered, world-focused, and trite nature before an incomprehensible God Who deserves to hold all my thoughts and actions captive. To stand in the midst of our church body-- among 'siblings' who have wrestled through sin with me, as we strive together toward steadfast love and unity-- and offer our confessions and praises to God--- it is truly one of my greatest joys!

As we begin visiting several different churches on the weekends ahead, we will deeply miss this corporate worship with our family at PLBC. Of all the things to "savor" as we walk our final months before departure, this is at the top of the list.

Anticipating Our Departure

I got in a conversation with someone last week, and she pointed out something that got me thinking. It was a wife of a faculty member at the seminary that saw me in the breakroom at school, peeking at the shelves of used books that students and professors put out for sale. She made a comment about whether I had found anything worth buying. I said, "Nothing worth taking halfway around the world, or paying to store someplace." She laughed, and it started a conversation about our plans to go to Tanzania.

As our plans have gotten a little more concrete for our family, so have our efforts to plan for our departure...even if it is still a distance away. We usually don't think consciously about how we are having to modify our way of life because of where and when we are planning to minister. But it has just become how we think about things. For the last four years, there is hardly a day when Jana and I have not discussed "what that is going to be like when we are in Tanzania." What struck me is that it should be no different if we were planning to stay here.

In the Christian life, we have a goal, a departure date, so to speak. And our lives should be lived in light of that day. We are travelers, or pilgrims (Heb. 11:13), and where we are going constrains the way that we can live. May God constantly remind us that "this world is not our home, we're just passing through."

Building Bridges

If you had not yet heard the news (although it has been the top story of the day), there was a serious bridge collapse on Interstate I-35 this evening. We are all safe (I had at least two people call to ask), but we did try to use the event to remind us of our mortality and frailty and God's provision of safety. While nowhere near it tonight, I had driven over that bridge last week over eight times (and at about the same time as the collaspe took place). When I think about why it fell tonight and not any of the days that I was driving on it, I have to say, "Whatever God Ordains is Right." It is really something almost surreal to see pictures on the national news of wreakage of a place that seemed so commonplace to me yesterday. My prayers are with those who have more to be concerned with tonight than finding a different route home from work.