This is Africa (TIA)

I wake up to a stunning view every morning and each time I look out from the veranda at the school I work at I see something even better, but hey, TIA.  There are three languages spoken in my presence every day and, I was told, there are 72 tribal languages in Zambia, but hey, TIA.  The teachers’ bathroom simply means a hole in the ground with mashasha walls that’s far enough away so the kids don’t walk in on you, but hey, TIA.  The temperatures are often in the high nineties or low hundreds, but hey, TIA.  The people are praying for rain because here drought means hunger, but hey, TIA.  The power goes out randomly and almost every day for a couple hours at a time, but hey, TIA.  It isn’t uncommon for children to play in the streets or sadly for them to be hit by cars, but hey, TIA.  In the villages young boys go through terrible circumcision ceremonies and young girls go through horrendous coming-of-age ceremonies, but hey, TIA.  Malnutrition and sickness is rampant, but hey, TIA.  Amazing miracles happen, like a boy that should have died was discharged from the hospital with the doctors saying there was almost nothing wrong, but hey, TIA.  Whole villages are sometimes saved in just a few days, but hey, TIA. 

I didn’t write this to sound depressing or anything like that.  But this is what Africa looks like on the outside.  When you look closer you see God’s people feeding children who would otherwise go hungry or become malnourished.  You will see God drawing people away from sin into the glorious wonder of His grace.  You will see a generation of laying down lovers who have given up everything to follow Christ because there is no other way to follow here.  It isn’t easy in Africa.  The spiritual warfare is as strong as anything you’ll see.  But God is good and He has a plan, even in Africa.   And He will cause all things to work out for good because this may be Africa but HE IS GOD!