Vision and Maturity

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We had an amazing man speak at church yesterday. He is a pastor in Zimbabwe. Whenever I have net people who live in difficult or persecuted conditions I am always amazed at the depth of maturity and love they have developed compared with most of us in the so called “free world”.

Pastor Colin has nearly 10,000 people in his churhc, they have to run 7 services on a Sunday to get everyone in the building.

They live in a country where you literally have to drive over the border to a neighbouring country to buy food. Inflation last time I heard was 2.2 MILLION percent, (300 billion Zim dollars 1 US dollar on the black market). People are killed indiscriminately and a violent dictator looks set to continue to plunge the former “food basket” of the world into abject poverty.

So if this was you or I in this environment, we would probably be focused on how we can get out of the country right??

Yet Colin and his wife Sarah are focused on looking after the ten thousand people God has given them to care for. They are believing God for funds to build a larger building so they can house everyone at once. There is a huge risk that Mugabe could confiscate the building or their funds at any time yet they pursue their God given vision with a maturity that you just don’t find in the West.
Their other passion is to share the love they have found in God with others and to assist communities all over the African continent to find hope, peace and healing where all around them is death, abuse and sadness.

This is what happens when we mature beyond ourselves. If our vision is all about us then it often dies because it lacks fuel. Selfishness ultimately is powerless in the face of extreme adversity. Think about this even in the context of people who are in life threatening situations. How many times have you read or seen people who survived impossible situations who said: “I pictured my wife/kids/lover/???”. I decided I would live FOR THEM.

I might be wrong but I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of them say “I decided I was too important to die”.

Like Colin these people develop a vision for something outside of themselves that they are passionate about. That’s the type of vision that suffers gladly, perseveres until it succeeds, and with it, nothing is impossible.

Stay Safe ~ Dean @ www.massiveaction.co.nz