I'm not going to help Pastor Anton Phiri harvest his rice this year. That had been my plan all along, but the plan changed.
There is no rice.
Pastor Phiri in his rice field in 2006! Though rice needs water, it can't stand up to a flood of it. And that's exactly what happened: a flood. Not enough to build an ark but enough to destroy a crop.
The young rice plants? Swept away.
The fertilizer? Washed away.
The hours and hours of preparing the field and planting the nursery? All for nothing.
This year, the rains in the Mfuwe area came like an angry Old Testament Babylonian army: bent on destroying anything in its way.
One visit to that area confirms the reports.
Roof-level water does cruel things to houses, lodges, roads and fields. Everything was wiped out. At least, that is what the word was.
But then I visited Pastor Phiri. We walked as we talked. We reached his land. Where there should have been plants exploding with rice there was a routed field thick with grass. The few sprigs of rice that managed to survive were being ravaged by flocks of birds. What the flood didn't take away, our feathered "friends" did.
That moment was ripe for complaints. Can't you just hear the grumblings about to emerge? A prime time to shake an angry fist at God.
But that's not what Pastor Phiri did. In fact, he did just the opposite. If I didn't know it was Pastor Phiri, I would have thought that the prophet Habakkuk had come back to life and spoken the words he wrote in his 3rd chapter. Pastor Phiri's attitude recalled to my mind verses 17 and 18:
Pastor Phiri in his rice field in 2007. Pastor Phiri indicates with his
right hand the level of water at
flood stage. After the water receded
and the land dried out, the only thing that grew was the grass!
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior..."
Pastor Phiri spoke of the blessing and providence of God. He challenged his own human emotions with the Word of power. Even though there was no rice in the fields, Christ's promises stood strong and firm!
When I left Pastor Phiri that day, I thought about my own "fields." When I scan over the landscape of my life and try to count my blessings -- I can't! Not only is there enough, but there is more than enough! Many of my blessings come through you, my mission partners.
I left the field with a confession and a prayer: Forgive me Lord, when I've complained about my "losses" instead of witnessing about your love; when I chose to grumble rather than praise; when I've shook a fist when I could have opened a Bible; when I questioned your faithfulness and totally disregarded mine.
The ironic thing is this: the very same month (April) of the floods, all of us missionaries and families gathered together after Easter for Bible Study and fellowship. Guess what book we looked at in depth? If you guessed Habakkuk, you're exactly right. Along with all the other passages in that book, we also pondered verses 17 & 18 in chapter three.
It's easy to read about being joyful. It's another to be joyful.
Last month I studied it.
This month Pastor Phiri is living it.
He rejoices in the Lord. He is joyful in God His Savior! The message of Christ and his love that he takes to the pulpit on Sundays is the same message that he take with him to his fields.
Though the Zambia news is saying that everything in Mfuwe is wiped out, Pastor Phiri says differently.
The crop was gone but hope wasn't. Faith in Christ not only survived, but it grew! Though the water covered Pastor Phiri's land, the promises of God covers Pastor Phiri's life. Though I won't be able to help him harvest rice this year, I was blessed by the fruits of his faith!
What a harvest!
In Christ,
Missionary John Holtz,
Chipata, Zambia
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