Une Proverbe

"Tu ne peux pas faire d'omelette sans casser les oeuves"

You can't make an omelet without breaking the eggs.

Perhaps I just want eggs, but this stuck with me today after church. Something went off in my head. You can't get better if you're not first broken. It was so simple, but so profound.

You'd never think twice about breaking an egg in order to make a delicious omelet. It's just part of the process. You have to do it if you want to eat the tasty item. But when we're broken in order to become better, stronger, more interesting, we question why. We don't want to see our own cracks, we don't want them to be filled in a better way - we just want to be whole. We don't even mind being the same, we just don't want to be broken.

But if we never cracked an egg, we'd never have omelets. And omelets are yummy.

Par Ta Grace (By Your Grace)

I've been trying to find this song online with no luck, but I thought I'd talk about it a little anyway. Today at church, we were singing this song and I remember parts of it, "By Your grace, I come before You and receive Your pardon and favor...I'm not worthy of Your love...by Your grace I'm here"

For some reason, this morning, this song had such a grand effect on me. I was swept away. I love worshiping here in Dakar, because you know people are really there to worship. They're not there because it'll make them look like good people, or that society will think any better of them. They are there, in the minority, because they love Jesus. And that makes the experience better for everyone in the room. My friend Josh, also working with Partners, speaks only minimal French so he doesn't understand most of what's going on, but he can tell that hearts are being poured out.

On a very personal level, I think emotion was drawn out from me because I was thinking about everything that's led me to being in this space at this time. And in a nutshell, it all boils down to God's grace.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

La Sainte Bible (The Holy Bible)

Having read through the Bible numerous times in English, in a number of translations, I was led to begin doing the same in French. I've really been enjoying this, and right now I'm in Genesis, the early Psalms, and 2 Corinthians.

I was reading today about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, and how God provided an animal for them while listening to the Jesus Culture song "Fill Me Up". These two things got me thinking about sacrifice, and the way I've always thought about this story from Genesis.

In "Fill Me Up", it says, "You provide the fire/I'll provide the sacrifice". This is how I've traditionally thought of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham had a willingness to serve the Lord, and so he brought forth his beloved son in order to put obedience before his own desires. This is commendable, and is an example to all of us of how to put ourselves last.

But then I was thinking about it some more, and I think the angle of God providing the sacrifice is really interesting. The Lord showed Abraham exactly what the offering should be. And that got me thinking: sometimes we have an idea of what we could live without, and we offer that to the Lord instead of what He's really calling us to give. What if, in "Fill Me Up", the "you" referred to us, and the "I" were God? What if He's saying, right now, "Be passionate about Me, be willing to serve Me, and I'll show you how to do that"?

I don't have answers or a neat summary or how this relates to Senegal or anything like that, but I found it to be an interesting thought.

Jendal (Go Buy)

This week, my older sister (upper twenties, maybe 30) and I have been bonding. For several nights we drank Coke together (I've been polite, though I quit drinking Coke years ago), and two nights ago we had pizza and ice cream after dinner (second dinner. maybe she's a hobbit. I have my suspicions). Tonight, she asked me to go buy fruit: 1 kilo of melon, 1 of bananas, and 1 of clementines, and gave me 3,000CFA (approx $6). My family uses one fruit stand regularly, and I've accompanied other family members there. Unfortunately, the same man was not as his stand; someone else was. However, the plus was that he was more my age and very impressed that I knew Wolof. We talked as he weighed my fruit, and then he said it was 3500. I said I only had 3000, and he said that it was no problem at all and told me to have a good evening.

I came home and we enjoyed our fruit as a family. We had two melons, 7 bananas, and 7 or 8 clementines. They told me I did a good job with the melons (thanks mom for teaching me how to smell for the ripe ones!), which was nice to hear. Also, they asked me why I didn't buy more food and eat it at home. I reassured them that I often get fruit or a snack on our breaks from class, or on the way to or from school. But they're still convinced I'm losing weight...my sister also gave me more bread tonight so I could "grossir" (gain weight).

Baax Na

Similar to the French expression, "d'accord", meaning "good" or "got it", this is a useful phrase, especially in classes, or brief informal exchanges.

In this case, I'm using it to make up for the fact that I don't have a real title for this post...

I wish we could have history of Islam/Islam in Senegal all day. It's fascinating, and our dynamic professor loves comparing things with Christianity and having discussions about beliefs. Val and I are really hoping Babaccar has some kind of office hours or something so we can just hang out with him and have chats.

I really really really love my internship. (Suma travail, neex na looooool). I am so thankful for and so humbled by all the work that God has already been doing in these countries in West Africa. When churches reach out to touch their communities by enabling people to provide for themselves (through microcredit, rice plantation, restaurants, animal husbandry, vocational training, language classes), they open the door to the gospel, because they're living it out. They are meeting people where they are and bringing forth the compassion of Christ. Alxamdoolilaay!!

Shei Shei Jerijef Merci Thank You

Ever been to a quad-lingual Bible study? Today was my first one, and it was quite the experience.

Before we began reading, we discussed greetings in our country of origin. We represented the US, China, Mauritius, Kenya, Canada, Senegal (various ethnic groups), and somewhere in Central Africa that wasn't specified. There was a lot of laughter as we expressed and tried out some greetings from each other's homelands. I shared the head bob and "what's up?" from the US, but also mentioned hugging (even though that's not personally my thing). My favorite was from Central Africa - it's this handshake where, when you pull apart, you snap your fingers off the other person's hand. It's pretty tricky if you ask me.

We then read from Colossians 4:7-18 round-robin, and did so in our most comfortable language. More than one person got a little bit confused as to what verse they were actually supposed to be reading. I surprised a few people by reading in French; I've been using just my French Bible since I've been here in Senegal. We discussed how to greet one another in the love and peace of Christ, and how it can be edifying and encouraging to receive a note or letter from a brother or sister in Christ.

After we'd prayed together for our coworkers, family and friends and churches back home, and for peace in Senegal, we said our goodbyes. Since the woman who had led was from China, I decided to use my one Chinese expression and said "shei-shei". She said, "What?! You know English, French, Wolof and Chinese?!" I told her that was it for my Chinese, and that she had heard a rare solid Wolof exchange.

It was absolutely incredible to sit around the table with this group of God's people and know that though we all come from different places, we share the Lord as our eternal dwelling place.

Psaume 8:2

Eternel, notre Seigneur! Que ton nom est magnifique sure toute la terre!

In most English translations, this is verse 1: Lord, our Lord, magnificent is Your name throughout all the earth!