This morning we packed up and left the northeast corner of Eswatini and traveled the eastern border through Big Bend toward the southern churches in the Shiselweni region. After checking into the guesthouse, we headed to Velebantfu and had bible study with church members, fellowshipping with one another and learning together.
This part of Eswatini, the highveld with its dense aloe vera and acacia trees with spikes longer than the length of the average adult finger, looks at first glance, like a dusty, barren wilderness; but in this dry desert the Lord still works and moves and breathes fresh hope and new life abundantly. God breathes new life from dust.
“Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 CSB)
As the van flew down freshly graded gravel roads to what seems “the ends of the earth.” (Matthew 28) and back again, a lingering brilliant orange Swazi sunset in the sky, dust clouds formed in the wind behind us. These dusty roads are a reminder that God makes new life in the dust. God makes new life in the dust of us, his children. We are all Adam, made from the dust, brought to life with it. This brown-red soil that paints everything it touches – feet, tires, plants – can make life. Bring life.
It may be dusty in the highveld, but there is life in this dust. The churches at Velebantfu and Maloma are the proof. These gentle souls worshipping, singing, praising the name of Jesus are proof. New believers here are proof. There is life in this dust. Are you looking for it?
