Looking for Jesus in the Difficulties of Life

I read a great devotional the other day that reminded me that Jesus Christ is always present in a believer’s life but Satan uses three tactics to keep us for looking for Him in the difficulties we face. Those three “D’s” were distraction, deception and discouragement. I have found this so true over the years. You know that that is true when you are facing what seems like a major crisis/disaster of life, but more often than not it is the little things that tend to get to you the most. They kind of slip under your radar as something that you “need” to take to the cross—
You know the kind of things that I am talking about:
The waist band you are about to slip into goes “crackle, crunch, snap” (in protest of living too long in the desert heat) just as you are about to pull it on
The dog jumps on you with muddy paws just as you are rushing to an important meeting
You catch you favourite shirt (and it rips) on the corner of the chair that you keep meaning to fix and never seem to get around to
Or worse you keep hearing those voices inside your head that tell you “you aren’t good enough”, “you can’t do it”, ”you really messed up and will never be able to fix it”, “your fat, ugly and your mother/wife dresses you funny”... that sort of thing
I started writing this a week ago and at the time I really thought that I was getting a handle on the concept of keeping my focus on Jesus and letting him handle the little things and then I got really busy. I had one of those weeks when everything seems to be booked into the same week and you are running from event to event because there is just enough time to make it and they all seem like opportunities that you can’t miss. This was also coincided with Dave started preaching on 2^nd Timothy –renewing your calling, “pass on what you have learned to faithful men” (that you might have a legacy), oh and let me not forget “share in the sufferings of Christ”. I also went to the English worship service that night and heard a great sermon on how Satan tries to deceive us by misdirecting us. (Anyone else notice a theme here...)

Needless to say, I wasn’t too surprised when our power cut out at 3 am and didn’t come back on. What was surprising was that Dave and I had the same response at 5:30 am when we were trying to get ready for school in the dark –“check the breaker”. But it was the source of the issue that really got our attention. As I flipped the breaker on the house and the power came on Ben called me to see what he found in the pantry. The electrical outlet on the freezer had exploded out of the wall. I don’t know if you can see from the picture but the heat of the fire melted the outlet and fused it to the cord of the regulator. The regulator was fried but thankfully the freezer was fine. Nothing else (other than maybe the wiring in the wall and a second outlet) was damaged. We are so grateful for God’s hand of protection on our lives and for people like you who pray for us regularly.
I guess what I am trying to get at, but maybe not communicating all that well because of my hot season fatigue, is that trials and difficulties come to all of us in this world. But you don’t have to face them alone and that can make all the difference

Sahel Academy

Which one is mine?

Library murale

There is a part of all of us that wants to know that our life has meaning an a purpose and that maybe we have made a difference in the lives of those around us (or maybe it’s just me). One of the things that I appreciate the most about teaching is being able to see progress and development in my students. It really helps me to feel like maybe I am making a difference with my life. What is hardest about teaching is that you rarely get to see the long term affect. For the most part you lose touch with those that you have taught and rarely do you get to know that your class had any lasting value to those you have worked with. So, if you are reading this and you have had a teacher or pastor that has really made a difference in your life, my challenge for you is to take the time to let them know that you appreciated them.

Aside from my philosophical ponderings about lasting impact, school has been on my mind for other reasons this week. It seems like every semester posses a new challenge to Sahel Academy (the boys school) and even though we are only into the third day of this last quarter we have already been faced with a number of issues:

Man power is always an issue because Niger is not the easiest country to live in so recruiting has its challenges and as we start the quarter we have additional challenges. We are losing one teacher  that has to go home due to illness, we are waiting on another teacher/principal who is delayed in returning because of health issues and in addition to that our IT person (a former student) was hit by a car while crossing a street on Monday and is recovering from severe blood loss and soft tissue damage (his sister, another teacher at the school, was with him at the time and while she wasn’t hit she has had to deal with the shock of the accident). Please pray for these various people and their families and those that are trying to fill in for them.

As well as the manpower problems we have also had to face some technical issues. Our school server crashed and the IT person was not aware that the back up drive hadn’t been working for the last few months, so a significant amount of data was lost. One of the most painful pieces being that most of the layouts and pictures for the yearbook was lost. This hits particularly close to home as this is Cole’s senior year and he was very involved in producing the yearbook. Please pray that when the IT guy recovers from the accident that he will also be able to recover what has been lost or that the students will find another way to have a lasting memory of their final year at Sahel.

On a personal level we have been having issues with our phone line and have not had internet at our house for awhile, so have patience with us as we try to respond to messages that have come our way (It can be a challenge to find internet in town during hot season when the power is sketchy).

We are quickly moving into the home stretch of our term here in Niger and have already begun the task of sorting and packing in order to move out and head home. This home stretch is always the hardest because it comes at the hottest and most tiring part of the year. Please pray that we can keep it up and make it home in once piece.

PS If you want to find out more about teaching at Sahel check out their website: www.sahelacademy.com
& some pictures from the building:

Supports & bricks for the ceiling



Pouring cross beams