Monday in Gaborone, Botswana
I am seated in the Livingstone Restaurant of the Grand Palmer Hotel. I haven't eaten since breakfast. Here's why.
I had breakfast in my hotel (the Metcourt Inn). If it weren't for the providential meetings, I would think I shouldn't have had that meal! But I believe the Lord got me down to the breakfast area to meet Dr. Emmanuel, a Nigerian doctor who is in town for a conference at the Grand Palm on HIV/AIDS and to meet Tendai, a 30-year old married businessman from Zimbabwe.
Something was wrong with that breakfast. I had fruit (papaya or cantaloupe -- they both look the same to me, honeydew and some sweet fresh sliced pineapple), 2 pieces of toast and rooibos tea with cream. With cream! It could have been that orange juice, which I understand was freshly squeezed, or that cream. That breakfast changed my day.
I thought I was going to be late preparing to meet Dibde (the conference treasurer). He was taking me to try to get my phone to work here in South Africa. I was actually an hour earlier than I thought. Walked outside, then realized he wasn't coming until later, came back into the lobby and sat on a couch in the lobby. That's when my brother from Zimbabwe, Tendai, who runs a transport company and an origination (graphic arts) business with his wife came over to talk with me. We shared for a good while on American politics, about the fear of some people that Hispanics will become the majority in America and African-Americans will grow to 15 percent of the population, about Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe. This brotha gave me a different perspective than the one we get in America!
When we finished chatting and exchanging information, I went to the room and had a powerful urge to use the restroom. Have mercy! That experience was the first of many that altered the course of my day.
I was supposed to go see the cattle, but I knew at that point that that wasn't going to happen today! I was staying close to the hotel when I could readily access the bathroom facilities. I wrote Skoog for advice. Before I got to check his emails the treasurer came and took me to a pharmacy to buy some medicine. The pharmacist recommended Imodium. I began with that. Let me ust say it was a rough day. By about 4 o'clock I started to feel like myself again.
I called and spoke with Evelyn for a little while. She and the boys made it safely to Nashville. It was good to chat wit her for a little over ten minutes (at almost $0.50 a minute).
I got myself together and took a shower. Pastor Strike Ben picked me up at 6 p.m. and we headed over to the fairgrounds.
As is custom, I was with the prayer warriors before going up to speak. This time the prayer warriors were on their knees and my translator and I were instructed to go into the center as they knelt and encircled us for prayer. The prayer was powerful. The lady almost couldn't stop praying! I knew then that this was a spiritual matter. She prayed (technically) too long. But I knew it was a needed prayer.
When I went onto the stage the man operating my PowerPoint was having difficulty getting it to come up on the screen. I went down and we got it running. But the person who prayed before I preached prayed intensely and long as well.
I had not told anyone my topic for the evening. It was entitled: "Know Your Enemy." The topic of the sermon is to expose Satan for who he is, how he works and to teach people how to avoid getting deceived by him.
The Lord blessed in a powerful way tonight. I know why my day went as it did. But I serve a God who is much greater than the enemy. He brought us through.
This is a journey. I am grateful for it. I am convinced this meeting is as much about what God is going to do FOR me as it is about what He's going to do THROUGH me.
I had breakfast in my hotel (the Metcourt Inn). If it weren't for the providential meetings, I would think I shouldn't have had that meal! But I believe the Lord got me down to the breakfast area to meet Dr. Emmanuel, a Nigerian doctor who is in town for a conference at the Grand Palm on HIV/AIDS and to meet Tendai, a 30-year old married businessman from Zimbabwe.
Something was wrong with that breakfast. I had fruit (papaya or cantaloupe -- they both look the same to me, honeydew and some sweet fresh sliced pineapple), 2 pieces of toast and rooibos tea with cream. With cream! It could have been that orange juice, which I understand was freshly squeezed, or that cream. That breakfast changed my day.
I thought I was going to be late preparing to meet Dibde (the conference treasurer). He was taking me to try to get my phone to work here in South Africa. I was actually an hour earlier than I thought. Walked outside, then realized he wasn't coming until later, came back into the lobby and sat on a couch in the lobby. That's when my brother from Zimbabwe, Tendai, who runs a transport company and an origination (graphic arts) business with his wife came over to talk with me. We shared for a good while on American politics, about the fear of some people that Hispanics will become the majority in America and African-Americans will grow to 15 percent of the population, about Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe. This brotha gave me a different perspective than the one we get in America!
When we finished chatting and exchanging information, I went to the room and had a powerful urge to use the restroom. Have mercy! That experience was the first of many that altered the course of my day.
I was supposed to go see the cattle, but I knew at that point that that wasn't going to happen today! I was staying close to the hotel when I could readily access the bathroom facilities. I wrote Skoog for advice. Before I got to check his emails the treasurer came and took me to a pharmacy to buy some medicine. The pharmacist recommended Imodium. I began with that. Let me ust say it was a rough day. By about 4 o'clock I started to feel like myself again.
I called and spoke with Evelyn for a little while. She and the boys made it safely to Nashville. It was good to chat wit her for a little over ten minutes (at almost $0.50 a minute).
I got myself together and took a shower. Pastor Strike Ben picked me up at 6 p.m. and we headed over to the fairgrounds.
As is custom, I was with the prayer warriors before going up to speak. This time the prayer warriors were on their knees and my translator and I were instructed to go into the center as they knelt and encircled us for prayer. The prayer was powerful. The lady almost couldn't stop praying! I knew then that this was a spiritual matter. She prayed (technically) too long. But I knew it was a needed prayer.
When I went onto the stage the man operating my PowerPoint was having difficulty getting it to come up on the screen. I went down and we got it running. But the person who prayed before I preached prayed intensely and long as well.
I had not told anyone my topic for the evening. It was entitled: "Know Your Enemy." The topic of the sermon is to expose Satan for who he is, how he works and to teach people how to avoid getting deceived by him.
The Lord blessed in a powerful way tonight. I know why my day went as it did. But I serve a God who is much greater than the enemy. He brought us through.
This is a journey. I am grateful for it. I am convinced this meeting is as much about what God is going to do FOR me as it is about what He's going to do THROUGH me.
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