Christmas Then, and Now

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

I have lived in many towns in Zambia, but no town holds a special place in my heart the way Luanshya does. Luanshya, that once beautiful garden town, and home to the first large scale copper mine in Zambia still remains my favourite, although the town is now a pale shadow of its former glory.

What has prompted this train of thought down memory lane is not the significance of Luanshya in the history of copper mining, nor the declining fortune of the once gem of the Copperbelt. My mind, however, has been forced to race back to the 1980s for an entirely different reason – Christmas. Yes, Christmas.

I was privileged to be born and raised in a Christian home. My father was an elder in my local evangelical church in the suburb of Roan. From a young age, I understood what Christmas meant because my parents told me. Although no one knows the actual date on which Jesus was born, it is a fact of history that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:4). And the supposed day that celebrates the birth of our Saviour was one that was heralded in our home with the spiritual significance it deserved.

Weeks and months before Christmas, the sounds of Christmas would already be buzzing in the air, on our black and white television, and on the radio. We could not afford a Christmas tree, neither was our house filled with the smell of fresh cranberries and gingerbread cookies. But something that never missed every Christmas was fried chicken, biscuits (our American friends call them cookies), cake, juice (the famous Mazoe), fruits and soft drinks. These are not things we had every week, and so having them all the time was like celebrating Christmas everyday!


A night before Christmas, my parents would gather the family together. We sang Christmas carols, read the Scriptures, prayed and drunk hot tea. And somehow, I remember that it always rained on the eve of Christmas. We never touched any of the special goodies until the actual Christmas day. The temptation for me to wake up in the middle of the night and tiptoe to the kitchen to feast upon some of this food was always high, but the punishment such misconduct attracted was a strong deterrent from attempting such nocturnal escapades.

The next day, we all looked forward to going to church. The scriptures were read, and more Christmas carols sung to remind us of the meaning of the blessed birth of the Baby Jesus. And then we watched a play of the nativity story performed by some of the church members. This would be very exciting and the humour from the actors in re-enacting of the birth narrative made it come arrive in a contemporary way. Though I must confess that looking back, there was a lot that was added to the play which had no biblical warrant. But, that was Christmas the Luanshya way! After the service, we made our way back home for the special treat. My parents would invite one or two families to join us. We ate and feasted, and had fun.

Then came the time that was the best expression of Christmas for me - getting the Christmas presents. We would receive clothes or a new pair of shoes, a new set of bed sheets or a blanket. Oh the happiness and joy that our parents brought to our hearts. We had heard stories about Father Christmas (I didn’t know him as Santa Claus until many years later). We heard stories about him coming down the chimney and leaving presents for children. Well, we didn’t have a chimney in our house down which Santa would come, so the Santa thing was just what it is, a childish myth. Thank God for my parents who taught us never to believe such myths. They showed us love and affection, and through them I was able to see, though in an imperfect way, the love of God for sinful humanity. We enjoyed the moments together as a family, but greater joy, my father would reminded us, was to be found in the fact that the eternal God stepped into time and became Emmanuel, “God with us.”

How different my Christmas was to the one many people celebrate today. It is very sad to see how Christmas has become commercialised. The world seems to want to shut out the real meaning and joy of Christmas. Today, Christmas is celebrated more as a sales frenzy than as the most important birth in history. Did you read about a London law firm, which is offering Christmas gift vouchers for divorce advice? The firm’s founder said she had been amazed at the response to the vouchers. “They seem to appeal to an enormously widespread spectrum of people looking for that ‘must have’ gift for Christmas,” she said. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6833434/Law-firm-offers-divorce-gift-vouchers.html

As outrageous and ridiculous this may sound, it is just a true reflection of the commercialism that has hijacked the real meaning of Christmas. What an inappropriate or worse still, insulting gift one can receive during such a season.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, it is my prayer that this astounding truth that lies at the heart of historic Christianity might grip your heart and point you heavenward to the architect of our Salvation. It was in order to save us that the Son became man. He assumed a genuine human nature in order to: perfectly obey God’s law, suffer and die on the cross as a vicarious atonement and rise again victorious over Satan, sin and death.

Promoting Family Religion

The following is an edited excerpt from an article A Call to Family Worship written by Dr. Ligon Duncan and Dr. Terry Johnson and published in Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W. H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2003) 317-338. Dr. Duncan is Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church Jackson, Mississippi and Dr. Jonhson is Senior Pastor, Independent Presbyterian Church Savannah, Georgia. I was privileged to take some courses with Dr. Duncan at the Reformed Theological Seminary where he is an Adjunct Professor of Theology.

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When all is said and done though, some of the profoundest things we can repeatedly do to promote a heart for God in our children are also the simplest things.

First, sit together at church. Go to church every week (even on vacation), fifty-two weeks a year, year after year, and sit together. That is it. I guarantee it will have a profoundly beneficial spiritual impact. The family ought to be in corporate worship faithfully and in it together. Children can get with their friends after the services, but in church, the family ought to be prime. Do not underestimate the power of the ordinary means of grace in the life of the family.

Second, work to have a Lord’s Day. Live as if Sunday is the Lords, not yours. View it as the “market day of the soul.” Don’t let the day become cluttered up. Avoid unnecessary labor and travel. Anticipate it with enthusiasm rather than bemoaning it. Make going to church the high point of the week. Let yourchildren know you love it. Do special things with them on that day that you do no other (e.g., Dad: cook them breakfast, wake them in a special way, spend relational time with them in the afternoon, read them spiritual books and stories, make ice cream sundaes for them after the evening service and the like).

Third, attend evening worship. If we believe the whole day is the Lords day, then it ought to be framed with worship. Morning and evening worship in the Reformed tradition is the single most powerful and effective total congregational discipleship program in the history of Christianity. I have never known a family that was faithful in Sunday evening attendance in an evangelical church, that, when the great crises of life came, did not weather the storm and walk in faith, and persevere.

Fourth, memorize the catechisms. It is a proven method. It is simple. It is content rich. It teaches our children the language of Zion, as well as the precious doctrines of the Bible. It increases memory ability and capacity for thinking.

Fifth, worship together as a family at home. Praise, pray, and read the Bible together as a family at home. Why should we do family worship? (1) Because we are stewards to God of our children, whom he has graciously given to us. Ps 127:3 tells us how we are to view them “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD.” How will we account to him of the soul-care that we are to give these precious trusts? (2) Because God has commanded us to train our children up in the Lord in the home. As we have already seen in Deut 6:7, God says, “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” (3) Because the home is the seedbed of piety and religion for the church (1 Tim 3:4–5, 12).

Politics, Power and the Pocket

I recently read an article entitled “Political Leaders in Africa: Presidents, Patrons or Profiteers?” It was written by Jo-Ansie van Wyk, a lecturer in International Politics at the University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria. This excellent article is hosted on the website of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) www.accord.org.za/downloads/op/op_2007_1.pdf. Our own Mr. Lee Habasonda is the executive director of the southern African chapter of ACCORD.

For those interested in African politics and leadership, this article is a must-read. This is the article that has prompted the line of thought you are about to read in my recent blog post. Reflecting on the current political leadership being exhibited by our present government, one does not need to eternally scratch his head, looking for an answer to Jo-Ansie van Wyk’s question in the title of his article. The last six months of Zambian’s political landscape have burgeoned into a colossus of unbridled corruption and irresponsible public expenditure.

Reading in the media about the sittings of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the competent Hon. Charles Milupi, you feel like wanting to jump out of your skin over the numerous incidences of abuse of public funds that are addressed by this committee. Year after year, the office of the Auditor General highlights serious financial irregularities in the management of public funds. Take the example of the K6.9 billion revenue from the Ministry of Home Affairs collected in 2007, and was only banked in February 2009! Where was the money all this time? Who had custody over it? What did they use it for? No doubt someone must have used it as capital for his business, or put it in a personal account, earning interest over money that should have been used on needy areas of our national economy.

But the one saga that has flared people’s tempers is the K10 billion stolen from the Ministry of Health. And the figure, we are told by the Auditor General is actually close to K30 billion, or even more. For a country that is on life support economically, to lose such a colossal amount into individuals’ pockets is nothing short of economic banditry of the highest order.

But how has corruption become so deeply entrenched into the fabric of our society? Are we not able to rid ourselves of its putrefying stain? Of course as Christians we know that from a depraved mind emanates all kinds of sins, and corruption is just one such manifestation of human depravity. If people’s only motive to enter the public service is to feed their penchant for luxurious lifestyles, they will rape our resources to the last Kwacha given the opportunity. And if you do not have a responsible government made up of men and women with principles crafted on the anvil of selfless service in the interest of the people, the corrupt will roost and reproduce themselves in such an enabling environment.

If people’s only motive to enter the public service is to feed their penchant for luxurious lifestyles, they will rape our resources to the last Kwacha given the opportunity.

That is what happens when men and women with a serious poverty of moral and ethical restraint fuse themselves with politicians destitute of political will to fight corruption; you get the illegitimate children of systemic and chronic plunder and political and judicial indifference. What we have in Zambia is a political power debacle that can be traced to the marriage between depraved charlatans and political profiteers, resulting into a gargantuan charade of elitism which is not serving the country at all, but has brought about an internal economic haemorrhage that is gradually taking our country’s life away. And maybe that’s why our government has bought the hundred hearses from China, not only to escort the poor Zambians to their graves in “dignity,” but symbolically to announce the death of our beloved country. The Nyanja words (not very legible though) on the back of this minibus sum up the dire situation we are in: “BANE VITHU VAVUTA.” (friends, life is hard).


What must we do to get ourselves out of this mess? We need a mass revolutionary change of mindset. The kind of change that will serve as a catalyst to bring about decency on the political and economic front. I believe that Zambia is not a lost cause. We have the available human resources that can resurrect this country from the endemic scourge of corrupt governance. Let us allow intellectual rationality, reason and honesty to provoke every informed Zambian towards the ascendancy to the mountaintop of hope, progress, and long anticipated new chapter in our history.

As we approach 2011, the year of elections, let us face this issue with austere truth. Which political party must we bring to power? Is it capable to deliver on the promises and inspire hope? Is built on a strong foundation of transparency and zero tolerance to corruption? Is it humane, reasonable and accommodating to divergent views? Let us do away with leaders suffering from chronic ideological emptiness. Myopic, uncultured, visionless and directionless politicians must not be given any place in our political dispensation. All they care for is power and their pockets. Let them slither into the archive of failure. God save Zambia.

"Till He Bids I Cannot Die"

"My times are in your hand..." (Psalm 31:15, ESV).

Plagues and deaths around me fly;
Till he bids I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit.
(John Ryland, 1753-1825)

Every now and then, stunning events occur in our lives that leave a deep impression on us concerning God’s work in providence. Such opportunities do not only leave us stunned, but we marvel at our Creator’s care and sustaining grace. Such is the dramatic experience that Mr. John Mthetwa and his wife Vivian (pictured below) went through recently.


Thursday, May 7th, 2009 started off like any other day for Mr. and Mrs. Mthetwa. They left home early in the morning for work in their Toyota Lucida (Estima). If there was anything significant in that week, it was Mrs. Mthetwa’s birthday two days previously. So as the Mthetwas left home that morning, little did they suspect that something was going to happen an hour later which was to remain indelibly imprinted upon their minds.

Before proceeding to their office on Nangwenya Road, they made a stop at Saint Mary’s Secondary School to pay school fees for their daughter. That done, they joined Leopards Hill Road, driving northwest towards the Kabulonga roundabout. As they approached the junction of Leopards Hill Road with Mwatusanga Road, they noticed a Jeep Cherokee which had stopped at the stop sign on Mwatusanga Road. In a flash, the stationary Jeep made a right turn into Leopards Hill Road, heading into the opposite direction. That’s when the inevitable happened! (see picture below of the Leopards Hill and Mwatusanga Road intersection)


At about 8:40 hours that morning, the Jeep rammed into the left passenger side of their Estima, causing it to overturn three times, before it finally landed on its side. Everything happened so fast. They are sure the vehicle overturned three times because they remember seeing the trees and the road in an upside down position three times. Their vehicle was a total wreck, but to think that they came out of this terrible accident with no single injury, internal or external is an eloquent testimony of the preserving hand of the Lord. “As the vehicle was overturning,” Mr. Mthetwa recalls, “the immediate thought running through my mind was, ‘Lord, is this our last day, is this the way people die?’”

Trapped in the vehicle for a few seconds, and still strapped in their seat belts, Mr. Mthetwa, in a feeble voice, asked his wife, “Dear, are you ok?” “I am fine, what about you?” was her response. “I am also fine,” he answered. Then he kicked out the shattered front windscreen, and that opening became their exit.

The entire events surrounding the accident are so amazing and could only have been crafted in the secret counsel of the God who “moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” The God who, with unfailing skill, “treasures up His bright designs, and works His sovereign will.”

Obviously, it might sound out of place to talk of the “perfect timing” of this accident, but believing in the providence of God, as the Mthetwas do, they see the hand of God that orchestrated everything for His own glory and for the sake of His children. First, the Jeep hit the side of their vehicle just a few centimetres short of where Mrs. Mthetwa was seated. Looking at the extent of the damage on that point of impact, it is chilling to imagine what could have happened had the Jeep rammed right on her door (see picture of Mr. Mthetwa pointing to the spot where the Jeep hit them).


Second, the first people to arrive on the accident scene were a group of Zambia Army soldiers. The most senior officer, a major, asked if he could rush them to the hospital, and in the meantime, he commandeered his men to surround the vehicle, and remove and secure from it all their valuables. There were two laptops, cell phones and a few other things. Not a single item went missing. (By the way, both laptops and cell phones survived the impact and are working perfectly).

Third, when they thought of phoning some brethren from Lusaka Baptist Church, the very first person Mr. Mthetwa called was Mr. Sylvester Hibajene, an elder, while Mrs. Mthetwa called Mrs. Annie Phiri, the Church Administrator. And the interesting thing is that Mr. Hibajene happened to be in the vicinity of the accident spot, and in no time, he drove to the scene. Blind unbelief would conclude that this was mere coincidence, but we know better, the “sovereign Ruler of the skies, ever gracious, ever wise” had all the events at His command.

Mr. Hibajene drove them to the hospital where they were examined, and everything was found to be fine. Later that day, when the vehicle was tolled back home, their maid saw it come through the gate before she saw the Mthetwas (she had not yet heard about the accident), and she started wailing. The extent of the damage on the vehicle was enough to make her fear for the worst. Not until she saw her employers, did she leap for joy, and the tears of grief turned into tears of joy.


A number of brethren visited their home that day, and everyone was thankful to the Lord that their lives were spared. Indeed the Lord has spared us from sorrow upon sorrow by preserving the life of this dear couple. Our hearts soar in gratitude to God for Mr. And Mrs. Mthetwa who have faithfully served the Lord all these years, and have been a blessing to many of us. Who doesn’t know of the selfless and humble sacrifice in their ministry to the saints? Only a few days after the accident, as I went to see them and discuss whether I could post their experience on my blog, Mr. Mthetwa got news that one of the members of their house group had lost a sister, and this member was hosting the funeral at her house. With their muscles still aching from the impact of the accident, they still got busy making arrangements about how they and their Home Fellowship Group could minister to the bereaved family. Such is a couple the Lord has seen fit to still keep among us. Always thinking and concerned about others.

As they escorted their last visitor on that day, Mr. And Mrs. Mthetwa went into their bedroom, with their hands clasped together, thanked God for His mercies in sparing them from death, and prayed: “Lord, that we have survived this accident is your reminder to us that we still have work to do for you here below. Help us to be faithful to that call.”
Through this episode, the line of the above quoted hymn continues to echo in their minds. More than ever before, the words of this hymn ring with the truth that shall live with them throughout this earthly life:

Plagues and deaths around me fly;
Till he bids I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit.

All our times are in God’s hand. There will never be as much as a millionth of a second of our lives that escapes the notice of the infinitely wise, holy and omnipotent God. Praise be to God for the comfort this thought affords.

[Thank you to Ms. Jennipher Sakala who took the pictures at the accident scene just a few minutes after it happened]

Studying Abroad

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3


The number of Zambians going for studies abroad has increased phenomenally over the last few years. Several years ago, there were very few people who went overseas for their tertiary education. These would either be the privileged few who were awarded scholarships by the bursaries committee; or were sponsored by the ruling and only political party in the country then, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), thanks to the eastern bloc socialist countries which were our close allies. Several others were sponsored by the copper mining conglomerate, the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) after they had completed their A-level studies at Mpelembe Secondary School.

But of late, we have seen a very sharp rise in the number of young Zambians enrolling in colleges and Universities outside the country. Most of these students are being sponsored by their own parents and guardians. A random search on Graduates.com, reveals that there are thousands of Grade 12 school leavers from across the country who are currently studying abroad. A good number of foreign universities have recognised this development and have been placing their adverts in our newspapers and on Television stations to woo potential Zambian students. Other universities have even opened branches in Zambia which provide bridging courses before the students end up in these foreign universities. The preferred destinations for most students have been Australia, England, the United States of America, South Africa and Namibia.

When I was studying in the USA, I knew of no less than a dozen young Zambians who were also studying in the same state where I was, and all but one were sponsored by their parents or guardians. What has brought about this sudden rise in the number of Zambians studying abroad? Well, several factors. First, some parents can afford to send their children to these foreign universities, so the question of cost is no longer an inhibiting factor. Second, depending on the country you go to, and the laws which apply to employment, students can take a part-time job and partly finance their own training. This may not be easily workable in Zambia.
Third, the constant closures of our two major government owned universities forces some who have the means to look elsewhere where they are guaranteed that they would go through training without interruptions. These closures in Zambia are almost predictable every academic year! Others prefer foreign universities because their preferred programme of study may not be available locally, or they think the standards of tertiary education in Zambia have been going down.

I have decided to write on this subject to share some thoughts with my fellow Zambians who intend to cross borders and seas for studies, and those who are already there. It’s also intended to give parents something to latch onto as they consider sending their children hundreds and thousands of kilometres away from home. Writing as a Christian and a pastor, these thoughts are mainly intended for those who are Christians. I will talk about the advantages of studying abroad, then look at some disadvantages, and conclude with some useful advice.

I. Advantages of Studying Abroad
There are several advantages in studying abroad. The following is by no means an exhaustive list.

1. If you end up in a country where they speak a language other than the one(s) you know, this can provide you with an opportunity to learn a new language. You're surrounded by people who speak that language on a daily basis and are seeing and hearing it in the proper cultural context. Language learning happens most quickly under these circumstances. Those who studied or are studying in say the Netherlands or Sweden will attest to this.

2. It provides you with great opportunities to witness for Christ. You might find yourself to be the only Christian in your class, and this puts a great challenge upon you to be “light and salt” before the lost sinners. It also puts your Christianity under considerable test, and you will be able to discover certain weaknesses in yourself that would have remained hidden while cloistered among friends, parents and church elders back home.

3. It provides you with immense opportunities for travel. Weekends and academic breaks allow you to venture out and explore your surroundings - both your immediate and more distant surroundings. You are much closer to places you might otherwise not have had the opportunity to visit.

4. It allows you the chance to get to know another culture first-hand. Cultural differences are more than just differences in language, food, appearances, and personal habits. A person's culture reflects very deep perceptions, beliefs, and values that influence his or her way of life and the way that he or she views the world. If you experience cultural differences personally away from home, you begin to truly understand and appreciate where other cultures are coming from.

5. It helps you to develop skills and give you experiences a classroom setting alone will never provide. Being immersed in an entirely new cultural setting is scary at first, but it can also be exciting and challenging. You will have the opportunity to discover new strengths and abilities, conquer new challenges, and solve new problems as they arise. You will encounter situations that are wholly unfamiliar to you and you have to make quick and immediate decisions far away from home. In this way, you learn to adapt and respond in ways that are God glorifying and personally enriching.

6. You are also afforded the opportunity to make friends from around the world. You will meet not only the natives of the culture in which you are studying, but also other international students who are as far from home as yourself.

7. It helps you to learn about yourself. Students who study abroad return home with new ideas and perspectives about themselves and their own culture. The experience abroad often challenges them to reconsider their own values and systems. The experience may perhaps strengthen those values or it may cause students to alter or abandon them and embrace new concepts and perceptions. The encounter with other cultures enables students to see their own culture through new eyes. One thing I appreciated about Americans is their servant spirit and readiness to say thank you. This is not just Christians doing so, but even non-Christians. A manager in an institution does not just spend time in the office oblivious of what is happening outside. Once in a while they deliberately venture outside and are willing to lend a hand to a customer, even if that task is beneath their status. I would love to see that in Zambian bosses. Can a Zambian bank manager wipe the wet floor when a client’s toddler spills juice or ice-cream? I saw that in the USA on many occasions. That is a humble servant spirit.

8. Studying abroad also expands your worldview and makes you have a balanced (and I should say Biblical) instead of a prejudiced perspective toward other cultures and peoples.

9. Universities in the developed countries have better facilities and their libraries are well stocked with latest volumes of academic textbooks. Your knowledge of current trends in your profession will be broader and deeper.

10. It enhances employment opportunities if you feel called to work in another country. Apart from the current economic crunch and its attendant effects on levels of employment, the opportunities for skilled labour in other countries are far higher than in Zambia.

11. At a human level, it enhances the value of your degree. Not that our own local qualifications are less in value, but ask any academician, he will tell you that there are gradations in learning intuitions. The Oxford University or Harvard is not in the same league as the University of Sesheke! Do you catch the irony? Anyway, as Christians, our worth is not derived from these external marks of prestige.

Disadvantages
In spite of all the advantages we have looked at, we must not assume that there is no downside to studying abroad. Here are some for you to mull over:

1. It takes some time to adjust to the new surroundings and culture while living in a foreign country. And this can have a significant toll on your emotions, and even physical wellbeing.

2. You will say goodbye to everything so dear to you at home – your family, friends and the style of life you have led for so many years. You may probably feel sad about this and it may take a while for you to come to terms with the fact.

3. Depending on the number of foreign/international students in your university, being in the minority you are going to be watched and pointed out constantly. Your accent will betray you much of the time, and if you are a sensitive type person, this can prove unnerving.

4. If you are in a country much more developed than your own, the locals may taunt you or ask you questions about your country which may be very irritating and frustrating. Others may assume you are less knowledgeable because you are coming from the “third world.” As a Christian, you just have to marshal your spiritual energy and control your emotions. Sometimes, these questions may be sincere because of ignorance or because of the media’s distorted image about Africa in general.

5. Falling sick can be a very emotionally draining and depressing thing, not to mention that it can cost you an arm and a leg if you are in the USA. The usual social networks that are a source of encouragement and support back home may not be readily available. If you are so sick that you can’t even attend class, don’t be surprised if hardly anyone notices your absence from class.

6. Feelings of loneliness are not uncommon. You also feel sad that you cannot be there to physically share in the joys and sorrows of significant events in the family and among your friends, e.g. birthdays, weddings, illnesses, bereavements.

7. You are exposed to greater temptations, and the absence of parents, strong accountable friendships and a home church deprives you of the usual normal restraints back home. Many Christians have made a shipwreck of their faith while abroad and not a few marriages have been irreparably damaged. I always point young people to the testimony of the three Jewish young men forcibly taken from Jerusalem and enrolled in the University of Babylon. They had before them all the trappings of success, but were also under constant pressure to forget their God. They refused to compromise and maintained their integrity at great personal cost (Read Daniel 1).

Some Useful Advice
Let me end by leaving you some piece of advice. Let me warn you not to underestimate the emotional power of cultural shock. You may experience mood swings alternating between emotion of exhilaration or elation and mild depression. In the early weeks, you will probably feel excited about your new experiences and environment. Soon, you may find the excitement of new surroundings and sensations increasingly replaced by frustration with how different things are from home. This is called Culture Shock. This is considered a natural (and perhaps even essential) part of adjusting to a foreign culture. Symptoms can include depression, sleeping difficulties, homesickness, trouble concentrating, an urge to isolate yourself, and irritation with your host culture.

As you begin to settle down, a number of things might be helpful to miminise the culture shock:
• Learn as much as you can from local residents about their culture.
• Keep in touch with other Zambian students. It can sometimes be helpful to meet with them and share experiences.
• When you feel low, keep yourself busy doing legitimate and God honouring things you enjoy.
• Keep in touch with your family and friends back home. Letters, phone calls, Text Messages, or e-mails will make you feel less isolated. There are several cheap ways of communicating, like Skype, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), to mention a few.
• Don’t forget to take pictures and contact information of the people dear to you.
• Try to keep your long-range goals in mind. Experiencing a new culture will inevitably involve some frustration and feelings of loneliness as you leave the familiar and incorporate the new, but they don't last forever.
• Since there is almost no way to avoid culture shock completely, you should try to accept it as something everyone goes through. Keep in mind that students returning from study abroad often describe working their way through culture shock as a necessary maturing experience; something that provided insight into their own cultural assumptions. You can ease your transition by recognizing the factors that cause culture shock and taking steps to minimize them.
On the spiritual front, I would encourage you to find a sound biblical church where your soul will be constantly nourished. Using the Internet, you can actually begin to search for a good church near your university long before you leave. Consult your pastor in case there are some churches he may recommend.

Once you find a local church, get involved in its life. Inform your elders back home of the church you are attending, and put them in touch with the elders of your new church. Build strong accountable relationships with Christian friends both at school and at church. Do not allow the common excuse of academic pressure to starve your soul of spiritual food, without which you can easily backslide. Maintain contact with your elders in your home church. Unless you choose to resign from membership, you are still accountable to your home church. Don’t keep your parents in the dark about any significant developments in your life.

REMEMBER, you are never a breath away from the vigilant and ever watchful eye of our omniscient and omnipresent God. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” This great truth of God’s omnipresence is of great use to enforce the precepts of morality.

Extending Your Pulpit Beyond Your Church

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14, NIV)

Over the last one hundred years, we have seen the growth of various new forms of technology that have transformed the world into a fast paced one big global village. Inventions such as the radio, television, the computer and the internet have revolutionarised the world. But these inventions which have so much potential for good have also been used as tools to merchandise all kinds of evil and desensitise people from the fear of the transcendent God.

However, technology’s potential to harm society should not force us to shun it as essentially evil and retreat to the ancient caves in order to avoid its corrupting influence. Technology, like any other gift from God can be harnessed for our spiritual good and to the glory of God. As our world becomes more and more saturated with technology, the potential to reach great numbers of people with the Gospel also increases. We should not leave the ungodly to set the pace and dictate to us the value of technology, albeit only its functional and utilitarian value. As Reformed Christians living in a culture that is increasingly revolving around technology, we need to explore ways of using technology so as to bring glory to God. We need to consider it as a blessing and part of what it means to fulfil the dominion mandate. We must be thinking of ways in which technology can point us heaven-ward and recapture the sense of wonder at God’s ways and His world.

The internet is one form of new technology that has broadened our capacity to bring the Gospel to a lost and dying world. Imagine a pastor standing before his congregation of barely a hundred people, in a nondescript part of the world, faithfully exegeting and applying Scripture in his sermons, through what Paul calls the “foolishness of preaching.” And imagine these same sermons being able to influence countless others throughout the world via the internet! Now, this is precisely what is happening through the ministry of SermonAudio.com. That is using the internet to the glory of God!

According to the description on the SermonAudio website, theirs is currently the largest and most convenient library of audio sermons on the web with over 232,000+ free audio sermons in the highly popular MP3 format.



The mission and purpose of SermonAudio.com is “the preservation and propagation of great Bible teaching and preaching in its audio form for this generation and the next. It’s also a great personal evangelism tool as people may be more open to listen to sermons in their homes even if they never walk through a church door.” The motto for the website is taken from Romans 10:17 where it reads, “faith cometh by hearing.”

The sermons on the website can be streamed online for immediate listening or optionally downloaded to your computer or portable MP3 player for listening at a later time. It hosts sermons that are easily searchable by broadcaster, Bible reference, topic, speaker, date preached, and keyword. I have seen the number of broadcasters and sermons hosted on the site grow phenomenally over the years. There is a large, active, listening audience on SermonAudio.com demonstrated by the over one million sermon downloads each month!

It is this easy potential and opportunity to tap into this large worldwide audience that compelled us to sign up as members of SermonAudio.com and broadcast numerous sermons to the world, something which would be impossible for us to do since we presently do not have a church website to host our sermons. We thank God for this gospel opportunity to serve the world through the faithful preaching of the unchanging truth of the Bible. We join the only two other broadcasters from Africa, Kabwata Baptist Church, and Grace Unlimited from South Africa. We hope to upload two sermons every week from our morning and evening services. Those of you with access to the internet, can visit our homepage on http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=ebcl

Our prayer is that the Lord will use this worldwide media ministry of our church through SermonAudio.com in a powerful way to save those who are lost, provide spiritual answers to those who are seeking Christ, and encourage and edify the people of God around the world. We also hope that this will also further the awareness and ministry of Emmasdale Baptist Church.

One cannot not help, but think of the prophecy of Habakkuk quoted at the head of this blog post. To Know God is to know His glory. Seen in the light of the New Testament, this points us to the full revelation of the glory that God has given “in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and reflect that the worldwide spread of the gospel is His chosen means of giving effect to the promises of Habakkuk. Indeed, this extends your pulpit beyond the four walls of your church.