My roommate vacuumed our flat the other day and as she proudly told me about the work she did, I couldn't help but to laugh at how excited she was. "Look at how good these lines look! Perfectly straight, parallel to one another..aren't you impressed??!" She was referring to the lines in the carpet. You know, the lines that the vacuum makes as you push it back and forth on the floor? Her over the top enthusiasm made me laugh, but I can't blame the girl for being excited about the transformation that vacuum lines made in our living room; prior to the cleaning she did, it looked awful! And anyway, aren't we all like that? Whether big or small, don't we all love seeing old things made new? A dirty carpet given clean vacuum lines, a cluttered desk re-organized, extreme makeovers, hurtful relationships reconciled, bad habits broken into a new lifestyle...the list can go on. But I think the reason why we love it so much is because transformation is a glimpse of the Gospel. God is constantly at work, transforming this world and the broken people in it, into what He originally intended it to be. This last month, God opened my eyes to see the beauty of the Gospel through the transformation of all things made new.
At the Ukukanya Life Care Center, we started the physical labor in reconstructing this abandoned building. I have never done such strenuous, intense, manual work before. Just to give you a visual of what the labor was actually like, you need to first understand that the materials we have available to us in the township are extremely limited. So unlike the hit TV series "Extreme Makeover Home Edition," where they have power washers, power tools, and fancy equipment..we make use of whatever is in front of us. We started on the tin roof where every inch was covered in rust. With 10 people, 20 hands, and a sheet of sand paper, we climbed on the roof and started to sand the rust with our bare hands. After two full days of sanding, we were ready to wash. We filled an old bucket of flour with dishwashing soap and water, and with three deteriorating mops we scrubbed the rooftop one panel at a time. If a mop handle broke, we attached a tree brach to the end and continued working. After mopping, we hosed the dirt away, but because water is so limited in the township we had to pray for the hose to even trickle water every afternoon. After mopping the center of each panel, there was still work to be done on the sides of each panel. So again, with 10 people, 20 hands, and 20 kitchen sponges, we used dish soap and mini square sponges to scrub the side panels of the roof until it was clean enough to paint on. Once the washing was complete, we were ready for primer and paint! It took us a full week to complete the entire roof. I remember as we were working on the last roof (there were three total), I stood with the hose in my hand, waiting for the water to start working again. Since it took quite a while, I decided to take a rest and lay on one of the roof panels. As I lay there with the African sun beaming on my face, my muscles ached, my back was sore, and my body felt weak. I was tired and exhausted, but as I lay on that tin roof looking up at the Africa sky and watching the clouds move with the wind, I felt the presence of the Lord surround me. What are you doing, my child? I felt Him ask. Why does God always ask us such simple questions? I never understand, but it's always the simple questions of the Lord that bring the most conviction. Well.. I thought to myself, I'm cleaning a roof. Of course God wanted me to see a lot more than that, so I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to listen to His voice. What was I doing? What did He want me to see?
As I shut my eyes, I heard not the voice of my Father, but the voices of beautiful, innocent children playing in the field below me. I heard little boys and little girls, most of whom are orphans or soon to be orphaned by parents dying of AIDS.
I heard the laughter of Zulu women and their powerful voices as they sang. I heard the suffering of countless gogo's (grandmothers) who hide behind their own strength as they care for their dying grandchildren. I heard a community crying for hope. I heard a nation pleading for God's intercession. And my heart was broken. You see, you are not just cleaning a roof. You are doing in small what I do in large, everyday. You are bringing transformation. This building once was new. It was built beautifully and with a purpose. But after time it was abandoned. It faced many storms and began to rust. The lack of care for this building shows in its cracked walls, broken windows, and trashed rooms. The people in this world are no different. The people who you are preparing these rooms for are no different. I have created each one beautifully and with a purpose, but they too have faced storms and suffering. But I have come to smooth away the rust. I have come to clean every inch of their hearts. I have come restore what was broken, heal what's been hurt, purify what's been defiled. I have come to restore, renew and redeem.
As I sat on that tin roof in the African township of Inanda, I felt humbled by the privilege the Lord has given me to be used by Him to bring physical and spiritual transformation in this place. I stood up and looked out at the view in front of me, and saw God's power to bring renewal upon a broken and desolate land.
Also this month, we've had the opportunity to organize campus outreaches and share the gospel with crowds of students who were eager to listen at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. Within two weeks, nearly hundreds of students were reached with the gospel. Twenty-five students received Christ into their lives for the very first time and are being followed-up to grow in their spiritual walks as a new disciple. At the end of the school semester, we held a camp for all the students who were interested in joining our movement. Fifty attended. If you can remember the prayer letter I sent in early March, our Campus Crusade movement started with a faithful five. In a matter of three months, God has multiplied that number by ten through your faithful prayers, our obedience to labor, and the mighty work of His Spirit. Praise Him for using us together for the glory of His name and the expansion of His Kingdom! Though there are countless stories of the transformation He's done in the lives of these students, I want to share one that touched my heart deeply; the story of Rose.
Rose is a first year student at UKZN. She lives with her brother and sister who treat with little respect. Rejected by her family and often pressured by her parents, she entered her freshman year with little hope for herself and her future. After school, she used to walk home and think about killing herself. "I had nothing to live for..there was no purpose in my life," she explained.
Rose had heard the gospel multiple times before, and the love that Christ had for her. But whenever God's name was mentioned, she ran away with an odd sense of fear that stirred within her. Just before the camp, Rose heard the gospel one more time. However, her heart was softened to the story of God's pursuit after her, and that day, she dedicated her life to the Lord. "I've never felt so alive! It's like...this amazing feeling, I can't describe it! I just feel like a new person!" Seeing the joy of Rose in the way she smiles, in the way she speaks, and in the way she lives..you would never be able to tell that she once wanted to end her life.
One thing I love about the work of God is that He not only moves on a grand scale among the nations and upon this earth, but He is deeply concerned about the individual lives and hearts of His people. In His grace, He brings transformation throughout the world. But more than anything, He is in the process of transforming each child of His into the glorious image of Himself. As I pray for the people of Africa and this nation as a whole, I pray that God will continue to transform my life with each breath I take. I'm seeing more and more that when our minds are transformed, our priorities change and we begin to see the world as God sees it. By God's grace, we should not remain as we are. But we should be clothed with compassion, abundant love, and joy in doing what is right before God. And so I pray, God, in your grace, transform the world. But begin with me, so that I can become an instrument for the transformation for which we pray.
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