Rock Chunking

Twice today as I answered the question “When are you going back to Akobo”? When I answered, I was told the same thing in different words.  Once from a friend, once from a pastor who is passing through Addis with a group on their way to the countryside.  I answered the question, “In a couple of weeks.  We are waiting to see what the security situation is there”.  One said “maybe your mission was to till the ground and now he is making other plans for you”.  The other said, “Maybe you are just the seed planter and there to till the ground”… A third standing around says “My friend worked in the middle east and they call those rock chunkers”.

I like that term “rock chunker”.  You have to get all the big rocks out of the way before you can till the ground, according to my new friend.  So, once again, I sit in Addis, a year later, waiting to return to Akobo and the work God has called us to there.  My prayer is that God is busy “chunking rocks” to pave the way for my return.  If not, I am comfortable knowing that the words of Jeremiah 29:11, “for I know the plans I have for you” are very true and that God is preparing the way.

I read this quote tonight    

I love this quote!  I was thinking this afternoon, that unlike last year, I am ok with waiting.  I know that God has plans and whatever they may be, I am happy with those plans.  My prayer, my hopes and my dreams are to return to Akobo.  I now know that the second part of that verse ““plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” are the plans that make wonderful horizons open out.

The pastor left later this evening after another visit, he said, “remember sometimes your job is only to till” and  my friend later said, “and maybe you are the one to plant the seeds”.  As I reflect on those words and the frequency I have been told them today from two different people a world apart, I have to wonder.  I wonder what God’s plans for my rock chunking, ground tilling, seed planting future are. 

What I don’t have to worry about are that they will be plans that will prosper me, not harm me and give me hope and a future.  They are plans that will allow time for me to learn and grow and experience new opportunities to learn new things that will improve our ministry while we wait for God’s wonderful horizons to open out before us.

Thanks be to God for each and every one of you who join me on this journey.

May God be with you until we meet again, my friends,   Sharon