Rachael Taron Designs

So yesterday my roommate Hannah moved out. She is getting married tomorrow and, well, is moving in with her husband. So I’m alone. Kind of awkward to be by myself. I’ve never been by myself and I never really thought that I would live alone in a 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment. I’m not afraid, I’m just a bit weirded out by the idea of it. There is so much space in here now. I just got my couch on Wednesday and tonight Jesse, Erin, Joey, and Parrish came over to eat dinner / hook up my new tv and dvd player and to have a wii party.

It was nice to see a few friendly faces and know that they each care enough about me to spend part of their Friday night at my house. I know that’s cheesy but knowing that I do matter to them means more than I have words to express.

Erin and I cooked dinner: Parmesan crusted pork chops, fried Okra, and green beans. It was such a southern meal and I felt very southern while cooking it. We also had homemade banana pudding, the hot version, which is by far the best and the most southern, again with the southern thing. It was good and quite a nice way to wrap up such a busy week. Work is always harried and I’ve seen these guys everyday this week and they are my Wilmington family.

Now for bed.

So as if my last post weren’t enough, I spent most of Saturday helping log tapes for CongoCast an ongoing project that started a few years back when two girls from my church moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a year. Well, this past March my boss (the director for the video project) and one of the Robin, a friend of ours Erin, and Luke (another video guy)  decided to go back for a few weeks. While there they were able to catch a few of the most beautiful moments that have ever been caught on film.

Evan doing what he does best in Congo

So after a few months of not really getting anything done, Evan decided to host a “log party.” That means 4 of us sat in our offices at PC3 with a few hundred hours of footage from Congo and our cameras and Mac’s and put the footage from the tapes to the computer. It doesn’t sound glamorous, it wasn’t really. But it was some of the most touching video I have ever seen. If you have watched CongoCast you know that the women of DRC have been and are going though some of the most devastating things any one could ever go through. I recommend watching the trailer for a brief overview.

So back to what is happening with me. Not that Congo isn’t worthy but a blog is somewhat self centered…..

After spending most of the day watching this footage. After crying for a few hours and the beauty of redemption and the story of salvation. After wanting desperately to go back to Africa to get on a plane tomorrow and go be part something bigger than credit cards and ice cream; I was thankful. I was thankful that God has given us the opportunity to make a difference in someones world. I was thankful that God put me in the richest country in the HISTORY of the WORLD with the greatest family one could ask for.

And then I was reminded that although I am here and that I am doing the work God created me to do, I still live in a deprived world where rape, and murder, and drugs, and all kinds of sexual violence, gluttony, rage, and everything else will continue to happen. It’s not right, it’s not how God desires for it to be. But it doesn’t make it any less true. And I could sit here all night and write about how awful God is for allowing all this suffering to continue to happen and I could debate with anyone to the ninth degree on weather or not a good God would allow it, but I think, I THINK, God put us here to do just that. To make it right, not because we are able to do so apart from His intervention, but because He created us and He now invites all of us to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. And yes, I do think that apathy, doing nothing, is part of the problem. So what are you going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? I’m not 100% sure yet! I know for sure that God has given me the gift of compassion towards these people and I won’t neglect that. But it takes all of us, all of the Body, working together to make anything of significance happen.

“But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
[1 Corinthians 12:24-26]

This is one of the women in the DRC who has suffered greatly. Her joy is made complete because of God’s grace and the help she received from Robin’s ministry.

Her joy made complete!

You can’t really tell from this picture but the day this was taken she graduated from a program that has provided her with the ability to support herself, her children, and her family. She was socially considered an outcast because of what happened to her. Her husband was either killed in front of her or left her. In the footage I logged, she talked about what a new marriage would be for her. She talked about the hope she now had because of her Yesu (that’s swahili for Jesus).

“And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

¹⁶Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
[Revelation 7:14-17]