Another sweet day in the kingdom, praise God.
Today we fellowshipped with Edamu church all day! In the morning we taught women, youth and many, many children (schools were out today). After lunch, half the group headed out for homestead visits, food parcels in hand. After dinner, we headed back out to the church where Adan delivered a fiery message on Joshua 1 during an evening revival.
We are tired, but we are so so grateful. It is a gift to share these moments with our Swaxi friends. The Lord is so good to us.
I know it sounds crazy, but the back of a Hyundai Staria might be my favorite place to do ministry on these trips. You might wonder why. It involves a whole lot of messy, crumbly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There’s a rhythmic joy for me to bread, peanut butter, jelly, squish, bag. Repeat.
It’s hot. Sticky. Messy. And all together sweet, mixed fruit jam included.
But what I love most about the back of the van, quietly building a hundred PBJs, is that I get to listen. I get to hear the sounds of everything going on around me. The sounds of the Kingdom, right in earshot. Allow me just a moment to describe it for you:
The laughter of a child seeing a play parachute for the first time.
The ruckus of boys competing for a soccer ball.
The occasional honk of a rogue group of cattle.
The intensity of a pastor speaking the life of the Gospel into his flock.
The sound of my sweet husband creating full character voices retelling the story of Creation for the umpteenth time.
The twinkling giggle of a make getting her nails painted by a teenager.
The tweeting of birds layering their voices into this sky.
The gasp as dress after dress gets pulled from a garbage bag, held up to a young girl and fitted for her, just for her.
The voice that says “Today I accept Jesus” after a homestead visit and prayer.
The crickets and frogs singing their sweet evening song to the starry night.
The tremble of a voice bravely sharing her story to God’s people.
The sound of Swazi voices singing “we lay our crowns and worship you.”
From the back of a van, littered with crumbs, globs of jelly smeared into the carpet, bags of supplies scattered to every corner, we hear the sound of Life itself.
It is THAT name: the only name. The name of Jesus. The name of our Lord. The name of our salvation. The name of our hope. The name above all other names. The sweetest name we know.
And in the sounds of this day, we heard the name of Jesus, floating on the wind, whispered in the prayers of His people, shouted by the believers of our King.
Praise God for the sweet sounds of this Kingdom. Thank you for the sound of the Name.