Ubuntu!

There is a saying in isiXhosa the language of the Xhosa people of South Africa. Translated loosely it says, “People are people because of other people.” We are inter-connected. This isn’t new age thought. We have a responsibility to the rest of the human race. What we do affects others as they affect others. It’s pay it forward thinking, but as a believer in Jesus, I think it’s His thinking. Jesus understood something that we so often fail to grasp. What he did, no matter how seemingly small had an effect. Why? The reason being, with God, there are no mere coincidences but rather co incidences. Everything. Every step .. every person we meet. He knows… he wove into his plan. If you are meeting somebody… God wanted you to meet them in order that you could have some kind of impact in their lives. Wow! What power. What a release. What responsibility. We are called as believers to live Ubuntu. To live as though we have an affect on other people.

I just watched a movie called, “In my country.” The most powerful scene in the movie, the scene that had me in tears was all about Ubuntu. The movie is about the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa just after the end of apartheid. This little boy stood and watched as a white Police officer slaughtered both his parents before his eyes. The white cop realizing his evil breaks down in the session in front of the little boy.. He gets down on his knees before him and says, “I’ll do anything… I’ll put him through school, I’ll look after him. I’m so sorry.” He breaks down in tears before the child. This 7 year old little boy who hasn’t spoken since the murder of his parents says nothing. He just stands up before the knelt white man and throws his arms around his neck. Whoa, that scene cut me up. This child understood so well the power that people have in influencing others lives. Even to the point of exercising forgiveness for the most atrocious of crimes against his family. Look around you… see how connected you actually are to everyone. How can you make an impact in somebody’s life… no matter how small? There are no limits… we have so much power to make a difference we just have to have the spiritual balls to do it. That means getting off of our comfortable rear ends. Turning off the TV and making a choice.

The call.

Wow… another flight across the world. These moments really are starting to “merge” into one. This last good bye was a hard one. I mean not hard like it was saying good bye to my Fiancé but definitely right up there… well… really difficult in a different way. This last goodbye was with my spiritual brother. I am a follower of Jesus. I firmly believe in 2 things. I believe that every follower of Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) has a call on their lives. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes to rob kill and destroy, but I have come so you may have life more abundantly.” I like the translation that says “Life to the extreme.” I don’t believe God gives us calling because we need to do stuff for him… He’s God… he doesn’t need us to do sweet squat….. and the type of thinking in believers that says that we are required to do works… well that’s religion.. I believe the reason God gives us calling is for that exact reason in John 10:10…. Because every human being needs calling. It’s that element that makes us thrive. It makes us have a full, abundant, EXTREME LIFE.

I was speaking of 2 things I firmly believe. The second is this. I believe that in our life… every so often God will bring a person so imperative to our ministry and calling that you fit them and they fit you like a puzzle. Now hopefully if you are married or getting married your spouse is that person. In my case I believe my fiancé is defiantly a person who share passion vision and calling with me. But I also believe that there are very significant people outside of marriage that ministry wouldn’t be the same without. A yolk fellow. One who you share the wait with. David was married, but he had Jonathon. This man who understood his heart. Helped him fight his battles as a man. They protected each other… shared a common passion...pushed each other on through the tough times.

That person for me is the person I lived with a shared vision and God given passion with for the past 3 years. David Torr is a man with so much deep over flowing passion. His heart breaks for South Africa. A nation that isn’t even the place of his birth. But he is more African than some Africans. He would die for South Africa, to share the love of Jesus with it’s people. I am proud to think of him as a brother. I can’t wait to be in South Africa with him just doing what God has told us to do. To give it all and not count the cost.

It’s awesome to share life with people who understand your passion. And they understand what passion is. It’s that thing that you would suffer for. That you would do for. For Dave and I it’s First Jesus and tied into that the people of South Africa… and the rest of Africa… or in fact any place that God calls us to.