The Final Countdown

Since I wrote this blog, four internet-free days have passed, meaning that I need you to read it as if it was Monday 24^th (Christmas Eve). Some of the facts have changed too, the biggest one being that I’m actually leaving Burundi on the 28^th (tomorrow) rather than the 29^th, contrary to what I go on to mention in this blog. Actually, I wouldn’t trust anything you read from here onward. Just have a laugh

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Final Update

The past two weeks saw The King’s School team’s stress levels hit the roof as everyone prepared for the Christmas Production. I learnt what it’s really like to be a teacher when I faced choir members who hadn’t learnt their words half an hour before the production, but the old cliché holds out; it’s always alright on the night - or the blazing hot afternoon. My choir performed some nicely rehearsed renditions of Christmas carols, including one in Kiswahili (NOT taught by me), and made me proud. Needless to say, I was handing out obscenely colourful sweets afterwards.  

Friday 21^st was party day, which is far less attractive than it sounds. The kids are allowed to wear home clothes (which apparently includes Beats headphones, PSPs, mobile phones and, in one case, an iPad), and can eat junk food and go mental all day. I dug out some speakers and played some music during the feast, receiving torrents of abuse because I didn’t have enough appreciation for OneDirection. However, at the end of the day I was able to say some heartfelt goodbyes, promising to come and say hi next Christmas when I’m out visiting my family.

I’m gutted to be leaving the school, but hope that I’ve left a legacy of catchy children’s worship music. I was able to go out with a bang, having spent the past two weeks filming a music video to Adam Parkes’ ‘You Make Me Sing’, to send to English churches as a thank you for their continuous and exceptional support of the school. The video will be uploaded to Facebook as soon as my internet’s strong enough next week, do check it out. Be excited!

What am I looking forward to?

Provided the Mayans don’t accurately predict the end of the world sometime next year (impossible – Matthew 24:36), 2013 promises to be an exciting year for yours truly. I get around 6 months to raise/earn money for the Message Academy up in Manchester which starts in September, a year-long course specialising in youth work, outreach, ministry and – my track – worship. I’ll be needing your support, but you’ll hear about that. Trust me.

Something I really won’t miss when I return to England will be having to wash my boxers in the sink every week. Since I’ve come to Burundi - and this surprised me - I haven’t enjoyed doing it once. You know what else will be great? Being called Andy, Andrew or even Wisdom – rather than my rather unflattering African title ‘Muzungu’. One thing, however, will top all that – a tin of baked beans and a bowl of coco pops. Probably not together.

On a serious note, (honest!), I cannot wait to see my grandparents next Sunday at 5:30am at Heathrow Airport, it’ll be great to spend a couple of days with them in Oxfordshire before I get thrown into my new life. After that, I’ll head back to Crowborough, hopefully with at least one job interview lined up, to stay with the Dillinghams – an incredible family from church who’ve welcomed me into their home. Can’t wait to catch up with my friends, and find out what adventures you’ve been having over the past four months. Obviously I have to say that, you’re the ones reading my blog...

What’s going to be hard?

Leaving my family’s continent was never going to be all fun and games. I’m not great with emotion, which any of my readers will know by now, but even the greatest actor couldn’t pretend that it won’t be hard being separated by 7,231.5 miles (give or take). When I see Caspar and Felicity in six months, they’ll look totally different. That’s what Skype will be for... just got to hope that this house’s internet begins to work at some point.

If I don’t get a job in January, it’s going to be hard to stay faithful and easy to panic. I need to start earning and fundraising as soon as possible, those who have done it before will feel my pain. Pray that God will make the way clear, and will keep me focused and trusting that if He wants me in Manchester, I’ll get there!

My friend’s fundraising for a Tearfund trip to Malawi at the moment, and her tweet the other day was really encouraging:

‘All i’m saying is that i’ve been praying that god will provide me with money for Malawi and then i’m handed a bucket with £470 in it’

Insane things happen when we step out in faith. Bring on 2013.

Adios

So in six days I’ll be packing my bags and heading back to England (because I’m guaranteed to put off packing until then), so all that remains is for me to thank the staff and kids at the King’s School for making my time out here so special, to thank Gustave the crocodile for not visiting me, and to thank you guys for reading my blog. This won’t be the last entry, I can promise that. I’ll continue to post what’s encouraging me to encourage you in the next year, God is sure to do great things. Blog might need a new name though.

I’ll leave you with some lyrics, as is probably expected of me by now. These oldies have been recycled due to their sheer power and truth. Be encouraged!

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ name.
Original – Edward Mote – Adapted by Matt Redman – My Hope/ Hillsong – Cornerstone

Big love. x

@AndyWisdom141

Immanuel: The Promise that came with Jesus

Immanuel: The promise that came with Jesus

I brought this message to my Burundian church this Sunday 16^th December, having been asked to bring something suitable for both children and adults in our Sunday school-centred Christmas service. Having been handed the graveyard slot at the end of the service, where I was sure to be time-pressured after everything else in the service plan had overrun, I did my best with a significant dose of prayer to carry me through. Please read this and be encouraged!

• A very special name

Most names have a meaning of some kind. Perhaps you know yours? Perhaps you don’t. Mine, for example, means ‘strong and manly’, which I’m sure doesn’t come as a surprise. If you don’t have an English name, perhaps your name translates into another language. When I came to Burundi, I met an ‘Ésperance’, a beautiful name meaning ‘hope’ in French. Similarly, being drenched in Kirundi when I went up country, I realised that the frequently-used words ‘Kwizera’ and ‘Mugisha’ (meaning ‘Faith’ and ‘Blessing’) make for very popular Burundian names.

Do you think you live up to your name? Jesus did, and He didn’t even just have one name. People called Him ‘Messiah’ (anointed one), others called Him ‘Rabbi’ (teacher). His God-given name, Jesus, is in fact a later version of the name ‘Joshua’, meaning ‘the one who saves.’ Isn’t it incredible that Jesus was given so many names, and managed to live up to every single one?  

In the gospel according to Matthew¹, we see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled² when the angel of God appears to Joseph, telling him that he is to call Mary’s son ‘Immanuel’, which means ‘God with us’. That wasn’t just a name, it was a promise, and what a promise.  

• The reason behind Immanuel

Hang on – in sending His only son to earth as a baby and calling Him ‘Immanuel’, God made this incredible promise, but was it a new promise? I don’t think so. It doesn’t take an in-depth Bible search to see God’s constant pre-Matthew reminders to His people that He is with them, and He loves them:

·         Isaiah 41:10 – ‘Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God’.

·         Joshua 1:9b – ‘The Lord is with you wherever you go’.

When God rescued the Israelites from Egypt in Exodus, He was with them in the form of a massive pillar of cloud, and by night a pillar of fire!³ How incredible is that? And yet, for some reason, it wasn’t enough. God’s constant reminders of His love and care for us never satisfied. Why?

Here’s one possible explanation. Imagine me standing above a huge swarm of ants – not those dirty great wood ant things, but the tiny ones which try to carry off food you leave on the floor. I could spend days, months, years, shouting down to those ants ‘I LOVE YOU! I’M WITH YOU! I’M ON YOUR SIDE!’ but they wouldn’t believe me, not even if they’d somehow learnt English. They’d just take one look at my size 12 shoe and say ‘there’s no way he can be for us, he’s too massive! He could crush us in a second!’

I don’t think the situation between us and God is all that different. However many times God shouted down to His people ‘I LOVE YOU! I’M WITH YOU! I’M ON YOUR SIDE!’ people were never able to comprehend how such a huge, powerful, creator God could love and care for ants like us. Look how much the Israelites grumbled at God in Exodus, despite the fact that He was rescuing them from slavery.⁴ 

Perhaps that’s why God sent His son to earth as Immanuel. Perhaps the only way I could convince that swarm of ants that I was on their side – that even though I was huge and powerful, I cared for them, would be to become an ant myself, understand their limitations, and show them how far I was willing to go to convince them of my love and mercy. God made the ultimate sacrifice in sending His only son to live to die on earth to convince doubting people that His love and mercy for us is genuine and constant.

In the service, I pulled out a colourful puppet who asked me the following questions. Unfortunately there was no easy way to re-enact that in a blog!

• Who is this promise for?

Anyone and everyone. It’s a simple answer. Whether you’re English, Russian, Vietnamese or Burundian, this promise can apply to you. God is not just with preachers, ministers and worship leaders. Jesus is not just on the same side as white people, or rich people. God promises to be with anyone who calls his or herself a child of God, and He promises even more than that – In John 3:16, God promises eternal life to ANYONE who believes in Him⁵. What incredible love! 

• Isn’t it too hard for God to be with us all the time?

Nothing is too hard for God. Even when the devil appears at his strongest, and our Christian lives become long, dangerous roads, God remains with us wherever we go⁶. The Bible says that we will face persecution⁷, and never claims that life on earth as a Christian will be in the walk in the park, but states clearly that if God is for us, NOTHING can stand against us.⁸

• If Jesus is no longer walking with us as a man on the earth⁹, how can the promise of Immanuel still apply?

If I had left the message at ‘God sent Jesus as a man to be with us’, there would be a gaping hole. It would be perfectly justifiable to question how God is still with us, as Jesus does not currently walk the earth as a man. But the Son of man himself promised to send someone, or something in His place.¹⁰ The Holy Spirit is living proof of the Immanuel promise. What’s more, if we choose it, the Spirit will actually inhabit us!¹¹ You don’t get closer to ‘God with us’ than that. The Spirit of God offers help and strength in weakness.¹²

• How should we react this promise?

Be excited! No one else can offer you a promise like this; a never-ending, never-failing, trustworthy promise of the constant watching presence of God. Don’t keep this promise to yourself! This Christmas, let’s remember to tell people ‘God is with you.’ How do we know that? Because He sent His son, Immanuel, ‘God with us’. Amen. 

• Bible References

¹Matthew 1:22 ‘All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet.’
²Matthew 1:23/Isaiah 7:14 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)’.
³Exodus 13:21 ‘By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.’ 
⁴Exodus 14:12 (To Moses) ‘Didn’t we say to you in Egypt “leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’
⁵John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die, but have eternal life’
⁶Joshua 1:9b ‘The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go’.
⁷2 Timothy 3:12 ‘In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’
⁸Romans 8:31b ‘If God is for us, who can stand against us?’
⁹Acts 1:9 ‘[Jesus] was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.’ / Luke 24:51 ‘While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven’.
¹⁰John 14: 16 ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.’
¹¹1 Corinthians 3:16 ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives among you?’
¹²Romans 8:26 ‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.’

Hopes and Fears

Three months have gone by, six cars have been driven, four guitar strings have been replaced, and an unholy amount of pineapples have been eaten. Burundi life so far has been an adventure.

Having said that, where on earth has it all gone? It seems like yesterday that I was apprehensively boarding a plane, spending the flight grumpy because this time I didn’t get any complimentary peanuts. Time has quite literally flown by, and now I get the chance to worry about returning to England.

For those who haven’t twigged yet, when I go back on the 29^th December, I’m going back by my lonesome, which is an adventure in itself, but a bit of a challenge considering I have 8 months to raise £4,000+. To fill in, I’m doing the worship track of The Message Trust’s ‘Genetik Course’ up in sunny Manchester, starting in September 2013. Your prayers and support would be hugely appreciated as I get going!

How are things going?

It’s been a fairly chilled out couple of weeks, but I’ve still got stuff to blog about. My guitar students, for example, have been making huge progress, and all are now managing to play a couple of songs each. Not bad going for about 10 lessons right? I’m still gutted to be leaving them at such a critical stage though, and will be praying and trusting them to carry on learning on their own, like I did!

I’ve suddenly realised that I have at least 5 great children’s songs that I haven’t yet taught to the TKS junior school, so have begun to rectify that at pace. The song that went down the best the other day was previously one of my least favourites – ‘Touch a finger, touch a thumb... every bit of you is special.’ But they loved it! The only slight issue is that I’m not sure how the tune goes, but it sounds alright my way. Good thing the children are fast learners, because there’s no mercy now, they are going to learn the rest of these songs!

Finally managed to take a trip to the central market the other day with a friendly Burundian who didn’t speak any English or French, so when I tried my very best to explain that I wanted to go and look at a particular T-Shirt again, we ended up leaving. Oh well, I ended up with a pair of very fake Barcelona shorts for the gym, which I managed to haggle down from 30,000fb (about £15) to 7,000 (about £3.50). They really do think we muzungus are chumps.

I was gutted when, on the same day, we visited the local music shop and I grabbed some Mexican Fender strings, which I’m still convinced are genuine. However, genuine though they may be, there were only five in the packet when I got home. Perhaps I AM a muzungu chump.

What’s not going so well?

There are so many things we can thank God for, because every minute here is proving a valuable experience. However, there are always things to struggle with. After one particular challenge I faced a couple of weeks ago, where the Dad of a new friend I’d made suddenly died of Malaria, causing the family to move back to America and destroying a potential friendship, I messaged someone in England expressing my anger and confusion. He reminded me that when you go to do great things for Jesus in places like Africa, or anywhere for that matter, the devil makes it really, really hard for you. That reminded me that we as missionaries and as Christians really are on the front line. That’s why we have the armour of God. Just going to share the verses I was given, because they were extremely encouraging for anyone who’s going through one of those situations where we feel completely abandoned:

If I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. – Job 23: 8-10

I know an incredible song which says a similar thing, too:

Even if the healing doesn’t come,
Life falls apart, and dreams are still undone,
You are God, You are good, forever faithful One.
Even if the healing doesn’t come. – Kutless – Even If

On a less critical note, I’ve got a dodgy back, probably caused by a gym trip, which wasn’t clever. Please do pray for it, because leaning over kids to work their computers is a big part of my job! The gym’s been pretty good otherwise, and I’m really feeling the effects. I can no longer fit my thumb and forefinger round my bicep, for example.

I’m hoping I can say this without accidentally bigging myself up, but please pray for the family as they get ready for me leaving. The younger two don’t really know what’s going on, but Mum in particular is struggling with the fact that she won’t see me in 8 months. I keep reminding her that it’d be similar if I was just heading off to uni, but I suppose in that case I’d still be in the same country. The number of people telling me to stay is really racking up, as my guitar students’ parents start to face the reality that I’m leaving and the school starts to wonder who will teach ICT and sing!

Summing Up

I’m honestly very excited about my return to the UK, if a little worried about one thing: Today I e-mailed the manager of Crowborough’s Waitrose – the one employer who seemed interesting in my advanced application. When he told me to contact him in December, I knew I’d be e-mailing him on the first of the month! Please pray into the situation, I guarantee that I’ll start to worry if this opportunity falls through. But God has a better plan than me. Must remember that.

There are so many things I still need to do in my final 28 days here. I need to check out the dodgy shop in town which sold Dad some fake, but apparently decent quality Beats headphones for about £12. I missed an opportunity yesterday to visit the waterfalls of Burundi, which I’m now desperate to do before I leave, and I need to complete Farm Frenzy 2 on one of the ICT computers, or my classes might lose all respect for me.

Let me leave you with another set of song lyrics which have encouraged me recently, the second set in this blog. Aren’t you lucky!

How many times have You found me wandering
In the rubble of yesterday’s hope?
Weighed down with burdens, barely standing, but
I am desperate to see You again,
To see You again.

I’m running into Your arms of grace,
With no reason to hide away,
It’s not the first time I’ve been in this place,
I’m coming home again.
I’m welcomed home again. – Beth Croft – Arms of Grace

God will always welcome us home when we turn to Him, realising that we’re sinners desperate for His love. Bless you.

Twitter - @andywisdom141