“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Lusaka International Airport. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened until we have come to a complete stop and the seatbelt lights have been switched off…” That was the news on the plane’s intercom that announced our arrival back home as the plane touched down around 21.15 hours last Saturday evening. After being away for two weeks in the USA, Felistas and I found that announcement to be music to our ears! As the saying goes, “There is no place like home.” Though tired from the journey, the Lord was pleased to give me strength to preach at Kabwata Baptist Church the following day at both our morning and evening services. It was truly good to be back! With the Lord’s Day ministrations behind me, I am now able to reflect upon the visit to the USA and share some of my thoughts on this blog.
I stated in my last blog entry that the theme of the True Church Conference held at Grace Life Church of the Shoals, in Alabama, was “The Wonderful Grace of Repentance” (photo above shows the church's senior pastor, Jeff Noblit, with his wife, Pam, and their three daughters). I have given the theme of this conference much thought and realized with a renewed freshness how important it is. It is but one of two responses required of every human being in order to escape eternal destruction. The two are “repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Even the Lord Jesus Christ issues a warning whose echo runs right across the corridors of time, “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Can anything be clearer than that? Surely, then, it is important for all of us to ensure that this wonderful grace of repentance is thoroughly wrought in our hearts. Our eternal felicity hangs on it!
In case you think that the quotation at the top of this blog entry is being applied to Felistas and I as we left "house...and children" to visit to the USA, you are wrong. Rather, next to the theme of the conference at Muscle Shoals, I was struck by the number of young adults attending the conference who wanted to go out as missionaries. They remind me of Christ's rich promise! Here were young men and women, most of them just recently married and raising young families, talking with deep emotion about their longing and prayer that soon—very soon—the Lord would open a door for them to go out as missionaries. Most of them were talking about places that were certainly less economically privileged than the USA. They knew they were going to pay an economic price if they took the plunge. Yet it was clear that, having heard the clarion call of the gospel, they cared very little if they lived on the barest minimum. All they wanted was the gospel to be heard through their lips in other parts of the world. The Grace Life Church of the Shoals and the HeartCry Missionary Society and must be privileged to have such young couples around them. (The photos above and below show two families that are not so young but who have sold everything they have and are just waiting for work permits to come to Zambia and plant a church in a village in Western Province). I think that it is “not many days hence” before we start seeing the same hunger and zeal among our own young adults. If God can do it to Americans, he can do it to Zambians too. I can hardly wait!
My previous visit to the USA was in July last year. There were two major differences I noted and they are both a reminder that this world and its glory are passing away. The first major difference was that on my previous visit George Bush Jnr was the main man in the news on television and in the newspapers and magazines. He was on centre stage. On this last visit, he was conspicuous by his almost total absence from the media. It was all about Barack Obama now. Imagine, in less than one year you can go from the centre stage of human history to the backstage. That is sobering! Closely connected with this was the fact that on my last visit the economic meltdown was just beginning to be felt in the USA but now it was in full flood. The nation with the strongest economy in the world was in a state of panic, with millions of its citizens finding themselves out on the streets—jobless. Surely, the world with its glory soon passes away. No wonder one saint wrote in times past, “Only one life, it will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” Oh, to live only for the gospel! It is said that when John Wesley died he only left a coat and a silver spoon, yet because he lived and died for the gospel, his life was certainly worth living. The fruit of his gospel ministry still marches on!One of the fringe benefits or bonuses of a long trip away from home is the sighting of Zambians in the diaspora. On this trip, Felistas and I rejoiced greatly to meet Rhoda (see photo below), a member of Kabwata Baptist Church who has been in the USA for about five years. Although she has kept in touch via e-mail, this was our first time to meet her since she left Zambia. What a joy!
Then when I was speaking at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, a stone’s throw away from the White House in Washington DC, it was good to see a few Zambians in the congregation. There was my uncle, Mr Patrick Chisanga, who was visiting his son, Changala, who now lives in the USA. Both of them attended the meeting. Then there was also Mr Ben Kangwa and his wife. Most of you will remember that he was only recently appointed as the First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Zambian Embassy in Washington DC. Having him in the meeting made me feel as if the Zambian government had finally recognized the banner I was carrying for the nation in my ministry in the USA. Ha!On a more sobering note, our time just north of Washington DC was spent in a home where a boy, Howard
, suffering from cerebral palsy, was also visiting his grandmother, Henrietta (actually he specifically came to meet this preacher from Africa). It was while I was in that home that I heard of the death of Ivan, the son of David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party in the UK. He also had cerebral palsy, a disease that causes extreme physical disability and seizures. I had never met Ivan, but I was very impressed with the intelligence and spirituality of Howard (see photo of him holding the Zambian flag in front of the church while his aunt--not in picture--sang the Zambian national anthem to welcome us to their church) . Howard is definitely a Christian. With the help of those who could decipher his speech, we engaged in the most intellectually satisfying and spiritually uplifting conversations. Being with Howard and hearing about Ivan, caused me to be truly grateful to God for my good health. It is divine sovereignty alone that caused me to be born whole. Oh, how we take our health for granted!
