I have been back in Sudan one week. The week has been full of visiting, cleaning, unpacking, and renewing relationships. It feels good to be back home.
I see more and more the importance of mentoring and discipleship. I’ve long held that one-on-one discipleship, or mentoring, is crucial to individual formation and one’s faith journey. It was through the discipleship of a man with Athletes In Action that I came to know Christ as my personal savior when I was 21 years old.
The excitement of friends seeing me again after a three-month absence has been overwhelming and very confirming. My own excitement at seeing them has livened my heart. The joy of friendship, relationship with another, is truly a gift from the Lord.
On Sunday I attended the English service at the local Episcopal Church cathedral, run entirely by Sudanese. I’ve come to enjoy this service more and more throughout my time in Sudan. Many young men and students come in an effort to improve their English skills. There are also many Ugandans, Kenyans, and other African foreigners that attend. Though it is not a ‘lively’ service full of dancing and raucous music, there is much routine and congregational prayers and chants that is comforting somehow in its monotony and unison voices.
After the service I invited two young men to come to my nearby house, on the premise that I had photos that I wanted to give them. One young man, Mine, was eager to come, talk, and drink sodas together as we ate chapattis and looked at photos. The other boy, Rezig, was a bit more hesitant. Both guys are in their late teens or early twenties and have been to my house many times before. I’ve intentionally tried to spend time with these guys in the past and encourage them in school and life.
We talked, and laughed, and enjoyed life together. Mine had to leave after an hour or two, but Rezig stayed for SEVEN hours! Much of that time we were silent as I was trying to clean and unpack my things. We would occasionally talk about life, school, dreams, and faith. But for the most part we were together, silent much of the time, but together all the time.
Rezig is a young man that the Lord has led me to pray for often. He sometimes vacillates between high, talkative enthusiasm and deep silence. I used to want to ‘figure him out’, but the Lord graciously helped me to see that I just need to try to love him and not try to figure him out. He is already well known to the Lord.
Towards the end of my time with Rezig, I asked him about his faith. Why did he choose to follow God instead of some other deity? Why Christian and not Muslim? Did he think he would go to Heaven someday? He was open and honest in his beliefs, and doubts. As he spoke I began to see him more and more as a child of God – a sinner, yet loved beyond all measure and compare by the Lord. I wish I could always have such conversations with people, and even more so, I wish I could always love people just as they are and not seek to change them or figure them out.
The importance of mentoring and discipleship cannot be over estimated in my opinion. There is something, almost tangible in the moment that is the production of time spent with others, challenging and encouraging. We all need mentors, counselors, and guidance in our life. Unfortunately, I have struggled to find such guidance at times. When not firmly grounded by others, I find myself floundering about. I seek to counsel and love others, and I also seek to be counseled and loved by others. Fortunately, we all have the Mighty Counselor whom is eager to spend time with us, and love us, just as we are.
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