Old friends reunited

Today we were visited by Christophe, his wife and oldest daughter. They made the journey all the way from Kayenzi to Romera (the part of Kigali I live in) on two different buses and a motorbike. They started the journey at seven this morning and arrived to the house at ten am. It really struck me how different that might have been in the US. Not only would the journey have been shorter if they had simply jumped in their car and headed down well paved roads to our house, but also that they probably wouldn't make the trek simply to visit. To sit and fellowship with old friends. And not only did they just come to see us, but they also came bearing gifts. If you have been to Rwanda you understand that the culture here is a very generous one. (Something I greatly admire and hope to emulate). They came in with two bags, one full of bananas, both large and small, and avocado, and the other filled with pineapple. And oh, it tasted so sweet! The fruit they brought was freshly picked, rather than that of what we get here in Kigali, which has been harvested slightly unripe in order to last longer in the market. Rosa cut the fruit up for us and we sat in the sitting room and shared this incredibly sweet and delicious produce.

We sat in the sitting room of Adrienne and Berchimas's home, shared about how life was, reminisced about last year and simply enjoyed one another. Adrienne has a cd of the 'Rwanda Service' at Jubilee last year (after our team came back from Rwanda) and so we watched the worship service, presentation and greeting afterwards together. Christophe had learned 'Open the Eyes of My Heart' with all of our other Kayenzi friends last year, and we had sung that song in the service, so as it played we all sang along. It was a veritable worship service in the sitting room. And as I sat back and watched, I was almost overwhelmed. What a sweet thing?! Just like the pineapple I had just consumed, so now was this time of praising God with friends who made such a deep impact on me, but also worshipping in true Jubilee fashion. (Katie, Shy and Aaron were leading on stage). It was so beautiful. 

I think that days like today are those that we are to cherish. On Sunday the pastor who spoke at Rwanda for Jesus, where I went to church, was speaking about tasting and seeing that God is good. Not testing Him, as if He has to be proven, but instead tasting of His goodness. (To taste is to discern). Pastor Robert was a guest pastor from Uganda who was ministering here in Kigali, and his words hit me deeply. They were 'on point' as we would say at JWO. He said that when we allow ourselves to think of God as someone to be tested, we are not acting in obedience to what His word tells us. We magnify our problems as we complain and talk about them so much. Instead, we are supposed to be magnifying God, specifically through worship, and then the problems will be minimized. Magnifying God, praising Him through worship and song, puts the focus back on Him and allows Him to move on our behalf. The blessings of God are already there, but we do not see them manifested because we maybe have not blessed Him. We pray against things instead of praying praises to our Father. In God there is no bad. God is good, in His entirety. There is not even a smidge of bad in Him. And so as we glorify and magnify Him, we see His goodness. We TASTE His goodness, just as I tasted the extremely sweet pineapple today. We discern that He is omnipotent, loving, kind, gracious, merciful, provisionary and so much more. All we have to do is taste and see. To see His goodness in the smile of an old friend, the laughter of children, the beauty of His creation, the harvest of the land. Come, taste and see...