Mr Ngambi

Speaking yesterday of being blessed with a job, I am reminded of Mr. Ngambi in Zambia. We hired him to help take care of our garden and yard as a way to help him out. Never have I seen a better employee. He was on time or else early EVERY day. He never left early, but instead, often left late. His goal was not to make money, but to be the very best groundskeeper he could be — and he was. And mind you, it's not that he didn't need the money! He lives in a crouded compound in a very small house. I'm actually not even sure how many children he had, but at least 3. I'm thinking 6, but I need to confirm that with my brother.

I'll never forget one day when he was late. He got there slightly later than his usual (don't remember how late, but it wasn't much), and was so apologetic. Turns out he was in incredible pain with a toothache, and was late because he had been to the dentist. Even with the toothache, he intended to work, but we gave him some pain killer and let him go home. And you know, for something as little as that — some painkiller and a day off, he was forever grateful to us and thankful to God for a 'good employer'.

He is an elder in one of the churches in Kafue, and on some day of the week he had to be at a meeting there. It was totally fine with us for him to take off for that, but rather than just taking the time off, he insisted on working during lunch break on those days to make up for the hour or two that he was in the meeting.

Anyway, I wrote all that mostly just to say, he was a VERY good employee and is a very hard worker. We moved far away though, and could not continue hiring him. Well, some months ago, my family got to visit him and his family, and found that he is was security guard for a teacher training college. That's a low paying, quite demanding job in Zambia. I don't know about him, but many of them work 12 hour shifts. Well, when they visited him, he had been working for the teacher training college for 6 months. They paid him the first month, but for the past 5 months he hadn't been paid! Can you imagine? Working at your only job for 5 months without getting paid! Now, here, that would be foolish. If someone doesn't pay you, you quit the job. Otherwise it just encourages them to take advantage of you. That may be the case in Zambia also, but what else can he do? There are no other jobs available for him, so to leave would just be to leave his hope for them to eventually pay him.

But was he depressed by that? No. Instead, he was thankful to God for getting to see us. He was praising God aloud to hear that one of our students was accepted into Liberty University. He was thankful to Pa for being a faithful employee back when he was working for us.

How was he even surviving? I don't know. But what he knows is that GOD is the one who provides for us, and that all that is required of us is "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with [our] God." (Micah 6:8). God takes care of the rest.

So, I'm very blessed to have my current job.

March 6th

Today was a day full of blessings. I woke up earlier than usual, feeling very refreshed and ready for the day.

In my devotions, I was reading about the old testament sacrifices. That's not usually the most exciting topic, but what is exciting is that Jesus fulfilled ALL of that through His ultimate sacrifice. He made us clean, innocent, and beautiful to the Father. How amazing is that? That we, filthy rags as we are, can be something beautiful, something pleasing to the Lord and King of the whole universe!

I actually ate breakfast today — blueberry bagels and cream cheese. They were delicious.

Work went very well. Because I actually got up at a reasonable time, I was able to get in more than my usual number of hours and still have some free time during daylight hours. I am so blessed to have a good job. It's a dream job really — I choose my own hours, don't have to leave home, get paid for my time spent learning new things, and have two great friends, one of whom is my brother, as my co-worker and boss.

This afternoon, between projects in work, I got a short text message from Ma informing me that she now has a phone! Her very first cellphone. :) It's always great to hear from home, and it's great that she now has a phone so I can send text messages to her directly and possibly even call her sometime. I've been very blessed with the best mom I can imagine.

I also got to chat for some time with a very dear friend. God has blessed me abundantly with friends. Even now, when I hardly ever see anyone in real life besides my brother and co-worker, God has given me friends to communicate and share with over the Internet, and uses them to encourage me, to give me courage, to remind me of the things in life which are truly important.

I was also blessed with lovely weather today. The temperature was so comfortable, and the sky cloudy, so that it felt almost like rain — with that freshness and cleanness in the air. I went for a bike ride and took a few pictures on the way back. Many people are not healthy enough to ride bikes. Many have never had the privilege to learn to ride bikes. Many, including my own brothers living in Zambia do not have bikes to ride. I've been blessed with a good bike, good health, and a camera.

This evening I re-heated the food I made last night — chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion baked together. I've been so blessed with plenty of healthy food, a clean, indoor kitchen, and a brother who can enjoy the meal also.

Those are just a few of the countless blessings God is constantly pouring out on me. The challenge to me now is to appreciate His blessings, and to use them to bless others.

The Journey

I know. It's been so long since I posted anything, and even longer since I actually wrote something original, I can't really expect to have many (any?) followers. But even if I only write a fraction of what I'm thinking, just sitting here to write and thinking can be very beneficial I think.

Just a couple days ago, a friend of mine pointed me to this blog: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

I can't even explain how much of a blessing reading this blog has been. It is written by a girl in Uganda who is working with the people there to provide a home, education, and love for the children there. It's been so encouraging and inspiring to read, because so much of it reminds me of times and experiences in Zambia. My children and siblings at the orphanage, my life-long friends at church and at our school. It all seems real again when reading Katie's blog, and it inspires me to work even harder to support the work my family and others are doing in Africa, as well as working to go back myself one day.

I almost wrote something like, "I think I'll be posting here a bit more often now." or something like that, but unfortunately, I've had that thought when writing just about every single post on here, so I don't trust it.