It suddenly feels like I’ve slowed down. A report is turned in, a manual is in draft form, and finally I’m working on two chapters, that have awaited me and time. I recognized this phenomenon when I was thinking about what I would be doing in two weeks, rather than two days. Maybe it was laughing at a fine performance of Taming of the Shrew, or it was taking the afternoon to walk slowly to the 50 meter pool and seeing how few laps I could do, but committing to doubling my output in three weeks. Maybe it was sending in a letter with a request for an absentee ballot, now that the PA primary has taken on some importance. I’ll let you know if the mails cooperate.
After all my talk about the sun, we’ve had rain, but this afternoon there is a true Thunder shower with lightening putting white lines in a grey sky. I’ll be fine as long as the lights stay on. They’ve flickered, but that haven’t gone out like my first week when the country was experiencing ‘load shedding’, planned outages which have seriously affected the mining industry. Sixty percent decline in output has the effect of reducing over 50 percent of labor needed for the mining. The President of France made an appearance or two making deals to build more ‘coal’ generators to produce more power. Don’t worry soccer fans, they have promised that the lights will stay on for the World Cup.
Tuesday night a television arrived. Un-requested, it now sits on a corner of my table in my little room wondering why I don’t turn to it for entertainment and news. I think its looking for the remote control for the radio to turn it off, so it might be the center of attention. Wednesday brought a request to preach on Easter Sunday. Suddenly the pressure is on to be clear in one language so that the translator doesn’t have to clean up my theology in another language. I pray that I can handle “Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed.”
Thursday is a heavy worship day. Besides the normal 7:20 am and 7pm, today is the SORAT worship at 12:30, but with a significant number of Zimbabweans on campus and in the graduate program, 5 pm brought a prayer service for the coming election on March 29. The prayers were for ‘Free and Fair elections’; a Peaceful pre-election, election, and post-election process; and restoration of economy and Human dignity. Ten dollars US will make you a Zimbabwean millionaire. Steve DeGruchy spoke eloquently from Psalm 9, that “the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” He asked that we pray not for party, but to pray for rulers and rulees, for whether we recognize it or not we are all children of God, even when we make misguided decisions. It was a powerfully reflective moment.
Prayers are lifted for all those people and countries who are struggling with elective processes that will govern God’s children.
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