Surprising Joy

Seeing a billboard advertizing a lodge in Zambia is not surprising.
Seeing my family pictured on one is!

As you can imagine, as soon as we heard the news that Mindy, Rachel, and Heather were featured on a roadside advert, we couldn't wait to see it!

Our latest trip through Zambia confirmed the report:  it was true!

We stopped, stood and stared at the towering "Takulandilani."  (1)

Sure enough, there they were, portaited in full color!  The picture was...

    unmistakeable (who else in Zambia would it be?)
      undeniable (who else in Zambia could it be?) 
        unbelievable (who in the world would have thought?)

Yes, who would have thought?  Who would have guessed that my family would ever be chosen to be put on a sign along a major road in Zambia?

Certainly not us!

The third of the three smaller pictures on the billboard.
Mindy, Rachel and Heather eating lunch at Chimwemwe Lodge.

In 2007 we were on a seven hour journey to our capital city, Lusaka.  Enroute, I had scheduled a church elder's meeting.  Instead of sitting through the meeting, Mindy and the girls dropped off at the newly built roadside lodge.  As they ate lunch there, they remember a man taking their picture.  However, the photographer never said anything about that picture ending up on a billboard!  They finished their meal and waited for me to pick them up and continue on our journey. 

When I returned to the lodge, they told me about the guy with the

camera.  We soon forgot all about that picture ever being taken.

Until one day when I got a phone call.

"Mindy, Rachel, and Heather are on a billboard!"
    "What?"
"Your family is on the sign for Chimwemwe Lodge!"
    "Huh?"
"Their picture, it's along the Great East Road!"
    "It's a joke, right?"

No, it wasn't.  It was as true as it was surprising.

The anticipation made us antsy.  The girls were almost giddy!  Seeing the billboard for the first time, I had the most fun just watching their expressions!  Their faces revealed their joy!

By the way, that's the name of the lodge!  In Chinyanja, Chimwemwe. In English, Pleasure. Delight. Jubilance. 

JOY.

    What the hungry feel when given a feast.
    What the weary experience when given a bed.
    What the thirsty have when given a drink.

Give a tired traveler a room and a key and see what happens.

JOY.

It's what fills your heart when you discover that you've been given something wonderful you never expected!

Could it happen to you?  Actually, it's happened already!  Though you may never find your picture on a billboard, what would you think if you found your name in a book?  Not just any book, but God's book of Life!? 

Guess what?  It's already there!  God assures every child of His, "I will never blot out his name from the book of life..." (2).

It's already written!  He has no eraser strong enough to rub it out nor a bottle of indelible ink to blot it out!  

Though we've moved to Malawi, we are still "in Zambia!"
(Till the rains and wind blow us out!)

The hundred people who pass by you today probably won't recognize your face, perhaps won't even know your name -- but God does!  He delights in you!  He joys in you! (3). Why, if He erected billboards along the great street of the celestial city, which John tells us are pure gold, like transparent glass (4), I have to believe your picture would be on it!  But we aren't told of any billboards.  But we are told of His Book.  So may I make a suggestion?  (I got this thought from my last trip down the Great East Road in Zambia).

Stop.  Pull over today, even if it's just for ten minutes. (Your list is long and time is short, right?) 
Stand. Take a place beneath the towering truths of His Word.  (They are as straight as they are strong). 
Stare.  Fix your eyes on Jesus.  See Him like wide-eyed Mary at the tomb (5) and Peter on the boat (6).       

The Savior is also the Scribe.  He's the One who wrote in His Book a very important name...

Yours.

That's surprising JOY.

I'd love to be there to watch the expression on your face!

In Christ,

Your Mission Partner, Missionary John Holtz

Missionary John Holtz, Mission Partner		Click image - Take a satellite tour from St. Paul's to Chipata, Zambia
April 2008 Communiqué
For St. Paul's Members: You can support Mission Partner John Holtz by including a special gift in the monthly offering envelop with the "Mission Partner" box or mail a gift to St. Paul's, labeling it "Mission Partner.