Arm Hair and Africa

One of my favorite things when I was in Africa was attending the nightly devotional time at the orphanage. It was an incredible time of African culture and a wonderful time with the kids and teens. It was exactly like you would think an AIDS orphanage African devotional time would be: all of us crammed into a small room lit by only one light, loud African worship songs filled with movement and singing and clapping, close community feeling, and everything else. Those nightly devotional times were some of my most memorable moments – and they were the highlight of my time in Africa.

Inside of those times, the children did something that I will never forget. As I noted before, we did not have a ton of room for our devotionals. We would basically be sitting on top of each other. Since I was the only white person there (obviously), the little children especially loved sitting next to me. And when they sat next to me, they all did the funniest thing.
None of these kids had ever seen arm hair before, and they all went crazy for it. The whole time during these devotional meetings the kids would sit next to me and play with my arm hair. They would pick at it and stroke it and pull it and feel it – they just couldn’t believe it! The first few times I was really surprised and didn’t quite know what to do. But after that, I just went with it. It actually became pretty endearing. I just got used to having the kids play with my arm hair. I actually kind of miss it, to tell the truth.

Anyways, I was just thinking about that the other day. Just thought I would share a story about Africa.

There are a lot of them.

Jesuscrat. Dumb.

Recently I read about a situation that has really gotten under my skin. The situation deals with something that happened in Caldwell, Idaho about three weeks ago. There was a small Christian conference called “Shake the Nation” that was held in a Baptist church. The speaker for the conference was a controversial preacher who spoke out for school prayer, the Ten Commandments in public places, and other high profile Christian political issues. This man and this conference instigated some contention in the area and were met with protests.

This man said something that is reminiscent of an out-of-touch, arrogant preacher during his time there. A reporter asked him “Are you a Republican or a Democrat?”. He responded with a smile, “I am a Jesuscrat!”. This is an example of an old, unwise strategy that does exactly the opposite of what it intends. Here are a couple of reasons why the last thing Christianity needs is “Jesuscrats”.

1) What’s the point?? It’s not funny. I don’t know if this guy meant it as a joke or a clever play on words, but it is not funny. So he couldn’t have meant it as a joke. Plus, who would the joke even have been directed to? Maybe – on an off chance – some terribly narrow Christians would think this is a funny play on words. But I don’t think so. So what is the point of saying this? Is this a very small attempt at humor for about 100 people that consequently ticks off about 30,000 people?
2) It doesn’t make sense. There is no such thing as a Jesuscrat. There are democrats. There are republicans. There is no such thing as a Jesuscrat. Again, I don’t know why he would say this. There is no such thing. It is simply incorrect. And still not funny or clever.
3) It’s disrespectful. This is such a disrespectful comment. It disrespects the American political process. It disrespects the true Christians who are Democrats and the true Christians who are republicans. It disrespects the entire political everything. Since you can’t really be a Jesuscrat, that would mean that you can’t vote. It’s not a political party. It’s not a viable option. It is just a big disrespect for everything dealing with the running of the American society.
4) It’s arrogant. He makes it seem like Jesus would not be either one or the other. He makes it seem like he knows more about what Jesus would want than anyone else. He makes it seem like Jesus is the only thing that should matter in any and all political dealings. It is a comment that does not bring anyone together. It is a comment that is entirely negative without any positive on the other side. It is an arrogant message that just screams out, “I am a going to totally disrespect everything you are all about to try to make a joke that only my friends will laugh at and portray that only I am living a true Christian life!!!!!”. Dumb.


The last thing Christianity needs is an arrogant, out-of-touch and incorrect representative like this man. And the last thing Christianity needs is a “Jesuscrat”.

A Coke from an African tribe...

When I was in Kenya, I went on a microfinance trip out to the rural parts of the country near a city called Kisumu. I was going to speak to a group of people from a very small village. These people had never seen a white person (musungu) before. They did not have electricity, running water, telephones, or any modern luxuries. But what they lacked materially, they made up for in charity – and they taught me the true meaning of generosity.

I stayed with the people when I was there. It was interesting to sleep in a grass hut and share life with these people for a few days. We worked together to set up a milk business. Once they received the money to buy a cow, they were going to use its milk to sell in the local market. This should bring in enough of a steady stream of money for them to be able to send their children to school. As it was now, they did not have enough money to send their kids to school. In fact, they barely had enough money for the necessities – food, clothes, medicine, etc.

But the second nite that I was there, they were unnaturally excited about something. They were just acting all excited and happy – like they had a surprise or something. So they had me come outside where they were all (like 20 people) standing. They led me to the middle of the group, and then the leader started saying something in the local language. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was now really excited to see what was going on.

My excitement turned to humility when the leader presented me with a Coke. Their simple innocence of excitement for this Coke about broke my heart. I can’t imagine what they had to sacrifice to pay for this gift for me. I was so blown away by their generosity that I didn’t know what to say or do (although they explained that I was supposed to drink it right there in front of them while they watched!). It was just such an amazing experience. I couldn’t believe that they – living in the most extreme poverty on the earth – would be so generous as to buy me a Coke. They taught me the true meaning of generosity that day.

And they cemented it in my mind by doing it two more times after that.

Commonalities

There are basic elements of every single person on earth by which we can know the true measure of every man and woman. Even though every person on earth is different and people live in such different environments – there are things that are common to every man and woman. These things are commonalities that every man and woman on earth possesses and the measurement of us all.

The world is separated by education, technology, money, and opportunity. We cannot judge everyone on how smart they are – because not everyone has the same chance for education. We cannot measure people’s successes – because success is different for each and every person depending on where they live. We cannot measure a person based on family or children or marriage or things like that – because it is simply going to be different for each person. Who is to say if a child that is dying of AIDS in Africa is any different than a real estate agent in California? How can we measure people against each other when one person has every opportunity that North America provides and other people are offered no chance of any opportunities at all? We can only measure and judge ourselves upon all of the commonalities of man.

The first thing is attitude. Everyone in the entire world can control their own attitude. No matter if you live in America and have tons of money or if you live in Africa and have very little money or anything. Anyone can choose their own attitude. No one else can choose it for you. A bad attitude is a person’s own fault – regardless of situation. And a good attitude is a testament to the measure of that man or woman.

The second is effort. Everyone in the entire world can give all that they have for a cause or mission. Everyone in the entire world can work as hard as they can at something. Even if someone cannot work very hard due to handicap, injury, or sickness – they can still give all that they can. No matter if someone is rich or poor or wherever they are or in whatever situation they are in – everyone on the earth can give their best effort for things. No one can hold back your effort. It is entirely yours.

The final thing is love. Everyone has the ability to love. No matter what situation your life is currently in. No matter what environment you grew up in. No matter what, no matter what, no matter what – everyone in the world has the ability to love. No one can ever force you not to love. Who you love and how you love is totally up to you.

These three things are the commonalities of man. No one can force a person to do these things or not do these things. These are three things that are independent of any life situation. They are the three things that we all have in common. They are the three things that we all can control. And they are the only three things with which to universally measure a man: attitude, effort, and love.

So if these are the only three things that we all hold in common and that we all share –
how are you doing with these things?