I have been reflecting a bit on this flight back to the States – mostly sleeping, but some reflecting. One of the things that struck me about being in Zambia was how at-home I felt almost every moment. It didn’t matter that I only knew a few words in Bemba and our co-workers weren’t the best English-speakers….I was comfortable. Some would say that I felt this way because that was clearly where God wanted me, but I think that puts too much credit to my account. Rather, I am coming to believe that I felt this way because I was living in the open door of ministry that God had provided.

Contentment in ministry will never be found in a paycheck, in relationships, or even in the quantitative success of your work…it can only come from entering and living in the open door God provides. For Paul, those doors were sometimes behind bars (Philippians)…and sometimes it was years in a city (Acts 28 in Rome). But in the pursuit of Christ, the training of His Lord forced him to embrace these doors. I hope, as much as anything else God has taught me on this trip, that He will allow me to see the doors He provides.

PS: Not much conversation on the flight back…didn’t get seats by English-speakers until we were flying from D.C. to Pittsburgh. Really made me wish I knew Bemba or Swahili!

Note: This concludes the Zambia journal for E-Team 2009. Hope you were blessed by it! -DK

These last few days have been interesting at the least…utterly captivating at the most. Sunday was incredibly restful – two fantastic worship services serving as bookends to a shopping trip in Kitwe and the provocation to a soul-sifting discussion that night, both with the team and my roommate.

Monday brought us the challenge of our goal: ten courses of cement block or each of the four classrooms. This was followed by another fine dinner (and a lot of head calculations for bill-paying) at Michaelangelo’s and yet another soul-sifter of a conversation.

Today, we met out goal – mostly. Due to an apparent shortness of mortar availability and a delay in sand for cement arriving on Monday morning, we were unable to get all ten courses for the storage rooms and offices by the classrooms…but the classroom walls are finished! God was so faithful in that building process.

That is the “okay” stuff. Us site works had an opportunity yesterday and today to meet and be blessed by the kids at Lighthouse Christian School. Phenomenal, energetic, needy children who sing praises to Jesus (Yesu Krist) with joy. Not only that, but God has answered our prayers and each of the men from the site heard and indicated a desire to respond to the Gospel!!!! I pray God will bear glorious fruit in their lives!

Now for the title…Sunday and Tuesday evenings, I went to the hotel bar with three other guys from the team. Sebastian, a wonderful Christian man, was bartending Sunday evening and prevailed upon me to try a Mosi, which is a lager produced right here in Ndola. The Mosi was not the point, but the conversations and fellowship with my teammate and our bartenders – Sebastian and Chris – that came because of sitting there having a Mosi were beneficial to my soul.

It reminded me of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus Jesus taught them so much as they conversed, but it was in the table fellowship that they saw their Master. Jesus is certainly in these kinds of situations…

I got a new name today. Vincent, one of the crew members told me “I know what I call you in Bemba – Umuntu.” I asked him what it meant. Gesturing towards himself with both hands, as if gathering air to his chest, he said, “It means you’re like me. Like me!” It is amazing that just working with these guys, even when I’ve not been the best conversationalist, has given us a bond that is friendly and open – a world where we see each other as men, with mutual respect and honor.

So many connections…new faces and names and friendly bonds forming. My heart is tied to Zambia and I will serve this people in whatever ways God allows as I pursue my calling. God help me if it drives away any who would otherwise support me.

A number of people are feeling ill to one degree or another. One of us has chills, a running fever of 104 F and is sweating a great deal. Others are wrestling with ill feeling in their stomachs – probably a our bodies attempt to adjust to the food and other things. But we do what we can – we pray, take medicine as necessary, and have faith in the God Who called us here.

That same faith is producing marvelous results. Even as the school building progresses, relationships and seeds of faith are forming in the lives of the people we are working with. They see, I think, many people who care for them, will work hard beside them, and have fun with them. We may not have the privilege of seeing the fruit of all this, but it is a privilege to be part of the work. This is ministry and no matter the challenges and conflicts, I am utterly in love with it.

I don’t make it my practice to use sites that I link to as [Re]Con, but this post from Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center is well-worth your time to read. As disciples of Christ, we have an obligation to submit to our Master and humbly ask Him to teach us how we should find contentment in our circumstances.

For more great material on contentment, please check out this sermon entitled “The Quest for Contentment” preached by Dave Harvey at Providence Church in Pittsburgh.

I have had the blessing and privilege of my soul being cared for, challenged, and encouraged by the ministry of Mike Pierson. At Providence Church, I have grown tremendously due to his ministry and that of Pastor Jeremy Hetrick. Recently, C.J. Mahaney, leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries, interviewed Mike in his “ordinary pastors” series. Mike talks a lot about his practice of the spiritual disciplines and God’s goodness to him and I think it provides us a great deal of insight into how we can pursue discipleship with our Master. The series is called Meet Mike Pierson and it can be found in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.