My All in All
The month of June has passed quickly for me. Although I didn't have many classes this month due to my teacher's personal circumstances, time still managed to fly by. I took this time to revise Twi lessons and work through some online modules for the language on my own. Because of these changes, I will continue formal language training in both July and August.
Some COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted across the country, allowing some final year secondary and university students back to write exams. Many children in the community still visit my compound everyday to learn English and sing songs with Mrs. Jeung, while the youth have continued their bible studies with Mr. Jeung (International Workers from Korea).
Everyday, I hear children singing profound statements such as, "Taking my sin, my cross, my shame, rising again I bless your name. You are my all in all. Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name!" (You are My All in All by Dennis Jernigan). This has been such an encouragement to my heart, being personally reminded of my own salvation at the cost of Jesus, who loves us all. While the children may be singing these words verbatim, I pray there will be a time in their lives in which the Spirit will use these truths to speak to them in a personal way as well.
I'm grateful to be in this community oriented environment in Nyankpala, vastly different from typical condo life in Calgary. I am filled with joy from the relationships built with my neighbors, though we face language barriers, cultural differences and faith backgrounds and beliefs. In light of the important conversations highlighting racial injustices around the world, I am all the more mindful of how we at CIM Canada work in partnership with ECG (local church), thinking critically about my own biases, perceptions and assumptions on how systems work or how people are. I am learning to navigate the tension of cultivating greater awareness of systemic brokenness and its implications when making ministry decisions, while also not allowing apathy or fear of doing the "wrong thing" get in the way of being an obedient disciple and bold ambassador for Jesus.
Let's pray together for the Lord to change our hearts, to give us fresh eyes and divine wisdom. Let us, as Christ followers, be the first to seek to understand and not to be understood and in all things, living with the confidence and hope God has revealed to us through Jesus Christ.
