03/15/14 8:37 a.m. Nigeria Time
Yesterday saw the birthday celebration of Rev. Dr. Clement A. Amadi, longtime friend of Dusty Reynolds and The Sycamore Church and Dr. Kennedy Okere’s uncle. We arrived at First Baptist Church of Imerienwe around 11:00 for the program.
The program was titled, A Simple Life at 70, after Dr. Amadi’s new book. There were several speeches and a sermon as well as musical selections from two different choirs. I was even asked by the resident pastor and MC of the event, Rev. Lucky Okoroafor to bring up our “choir” for a special song. With Jonathan and Maia on ukulele, Teresa on guitar and Terri, Carolyn and Dixie helping us sing we did a version of When The Saints Go Marching In that would have made any new Orleans resident proud! The church’s song leader and Uncle Clement also came up and joined in as we sang, praising God and celebrating the life of a great man of God.
Later in the program I was honored to be asked to pray for the Amadi family.
It was good to see so many familiar faces from where we had done clinic at this location in years past.
After the ceremony (well after 3:00) we took the short drive to Uncle Clement’s home for lunch of, you guessed, rice and meat.
Today we have one, possibly two more functions to attend. One this afternoon/ evening with elected officials and maybe another with a local king earlier.
This trip has served to remind me of one thing. We are not in control, God is. Computers and internet connections that refuse to work when I really just want to email one more small picture, sitting in a ceremony (pick one) in an un air conditioned building for hours in Africa heat whether we like it or not, being ready to go and then waiting an hour or more till we finally hear “Let’s go!”….
I could go on about bugs in our rooms, little or no hot water, the heat, stomach issues, the heat, hassles from the police roadblocks, did I mention the heat?; all the “inconveniences” of life in Nigeria.
The Lord is with us. Always. And He’s always in control, not us. That can be a hard pill to swallow. Life is often not very accommodating to the plans we make. And there’s the rub, the plans we make.
“I know the plans I have for you….” The Lord tells us. Those plans are for us to prosper in Him.
How much more glorious to suffer any amount of discomfort, inconvenience or even pain for His name’s sake.
In the big picture, being a little uncomfortable for a few days pales in comparison to the 800 plus people we’ve helped medically this trip. Contentment in His presence, not necessarily comfort.
Yesterday saw the birthday celebration of Rev. Dr. Clement A. Amadi, longtime friend of Dusty Reynolds and The Sycamore Church and Dr. Kennedy Okere’s uncle. We arrived at First Baptist Church of Imerienwe around 11:00 for the program.
The program was titled, A Simple Life at 70, after Dr. Amadi’s new book. There were several speeches and a sermon as well as musical selections from two different choirs. I was even asked by the resident pastor and MC of the event, Rev. Lucky Okoroafor to bring up our “choir” for a special song. With Jonathan and Maia on ukulele, Teresa on guitar and Terri, Carolyn and Dixie helping us sing we did a version of When The Saints Go Marching In that would have made any new Orleans resident proud! The church’s song leader and Uncle Clement also came up and joined in as we sang, praising God and celebrating the life of a great man of God.
Later in the program I was honored to be asked to pray for the Amadi family.
It was good to see so many familiar faces from where we had done clinic at this location in years past.
After the ceremony (well after 3:00) we took the short drive to Uncle Clement’s home for lunch of, you guessed, rice and meat.
Today we have one, possibly two more functions to attend. One this afternoon/ evening with elected officials and maybe another with a local king earlier.
This trip has served to remind me of one thing. We are not in control, God is. Computers and internet connections that refuse to work when I really just want to email one more small picture, sitting in a ceremony (pick one) in an un air conditioned building for hours in Africa heat whether we like it or not, being ready to go and then waiting an hour or more till we finally hear “Let’s go!”….
I could go on about bugs in our rooms, little or no hot water, the heat, stomach issues, the heat, hassles from the police roadblocks, did I mention the heat?; all the “inconveniences” of life in Nigeria.
The Lord is with us. Always. And He’s always in control, not us. That can be a hard pill to swallow. Life is often not very accommodating to the plans we make. And there’s the rub, the plans we make.
“I know the plans I have for you….” The Lord tells us. Those plans are for us to prosper in Him.
How much more glorious to suffer any amount of discomfort, inconvenience or even pain for His name’s sake.
In the big picture, being a little uncomfortable for a few days pales in comparison to the 800 plus people we’ve helped medically this trip. Contentment in His presence, not necessarily comfort.
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