Java with Jennifer Journal

May 2011 Taste This!

What I Am In To Lately

The reason I was in South Africa this month was to speak at the Beauty for Ashes Women's Conference.  It has been a ministry for women in that area for 16 years, and I was truly impressed by the women in charge of the event and inspired by the women who attended.  South Africa really is a rainbow of God's finest creativity-multi-cultures and multi-colors.  In the words of Steven Tyler, "Beautiful, man!" (That last comment was for my fellow American Idol fans! You know who you are!)  Besides the sheer beauty of the conference, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the nation.  Birds serenaded me from morning until night, the weather was breezy and arid, and the food was fascinating.  And, I actually rode an elephant named "Timba" and pet 6 month old lion cubs while trying to avoid a very cheeky tiger cub who wanted to play! I will never forget my time there.  By the way, what a great trip it could be for you, too.  Beauty for Ashes is held annually in Johannesburg. It features speakers you are familiar with from the U.S., and you could enjoy their beautiful country while you're there.  Check them out at their Facebook page or website to see who they are and what they do.

 

The book that traveled with me everywhere this month was The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  It's an epistolary novel written by a niece and her aunt.  It tells the enchanting story of an unlikely group of people who are connected, inspired, sustained and united by literature.  If you are a book lover or admire the art and effect of literature on culture and individuals, you will adore this book! The authors are side-splittingly funny at times, disturbingly poignant at other times.  I love books that make me laugh out loud and then when I finish, I realize it made me feel very deeply, too.  I can't recommend this book enough--you must give it a taste test.

 

I bought a special fragrance to wear in Africa, so each time I wear it, I am reminded of my time there.  Did you know there is a strong association between scent and memory?  Sarah Dowdey, in her article How Smell Works writes, "When you first smell a new scent, you link it to an event, a person, a thing or even a moment. Your brain forges a link between the smell and a memory. When you encounter the smell again, the link is already there, ready to elicit a memory or a mood."  

 

Anyway, the fragrance I bought and wore every day while in Africa is Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf. It has notes of tea, sambac jasmine, orange tree, catleya orchid, freesia, rose, musk and patchouli.  It is really lovely, and each time I spray it, it evokes images of elephants and the sensation of breezy African afternoons with exotic birds chirping. 

My heart was filled and my senses were awakened this month. Let me know what moved, inspired or interested you this month, too.  I'd like to give it a "Taste Test!"

 

So, give these things a taste test:

 

1.  Beauty for Ashes Women's Conference in South Africa

 

2.  The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 

3.  Flowerbomb fragrance by Victor and Rolf 

May 2011 Fresh Grounded Thoughts

What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately 

Where is His Monument?    

 

Mbuyisa Makhubo was an 18-year-old South African schoolboy in 1976.  He lived in the Soweto Township.  Long seething tension rose to the surface and broke loose in the streets of Soweto on that fateful June day as students rebelled against the imposition of another language upon their education.  It was another evidence of the nation's discontent with Apartheid.   Rocks were thrown, guns were shot and students were injured and killed. 

 

One such student was Hector Pieterson. After being shot, Mbuyisa Makhubo scooped the wounded Hector into his arms and ran to the nearest clinic.  Hector's weeping sister ran alongside him.  A photographer caught the tragic depiction on film and it became a famous photograph. The famous picture of him carrying a dying Hector sparked worldwide attention to the injustice in Soweto.

 

Hector did not survive.  But, after the photograph was released, many believe Mbuyisa Makhubo was harassed by the security services and was forced to flee South Africa. His mother, Nombulelo Makhubo, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that she received a letter from him from Nigeria in 1978, but she had not heard from him since.

 

No one has heard from him since. 

 

There is now a museum in the Soweto Township named after the boy who died.  The Hector Pieterson Museum depicts the courage and tragedy of that day and the freedom and reconciliation that followed.  It is right that Hector has come to represent victims and activists who struggled in South Africa during Apartheid.  But, why doesn't the hero who sought to carry him to safety have a museum? 

 

Hector was an ordinary boy who was wronged.  Mbuyisa was an ordinary boy who did something right.  Hector lost his life as a result of the horrors of that day in June.  Mbuyisa has been lost ever since. Hector has a museum named after him; Mbuyisa is a missing person. 

 

He would be 53 years old today.  Where is he?  Why can't he be found so I, a woman from Missouri, can thank him and weep at his monument as I did at the Hector Pieterson Museum?  Where is his home?  Where is his grave?  Is there no place to commemorate his life and courage and compassion?

 

I guess his bravery is his monument.  It is a tribute to a man whose name is seldom remembered.  But, without his act, Hector's name would not be remembered either.

 

I want to be like Mbuyisa Makhubo. I want to act out of the impulse of compassion and courage, no matter the cost and no matter the reward.  None of us really need monuments, we just need bravery.  And, our personal courage becomes the monument of a life well lived...even if it is lost.

Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately.  

 

May 2011 Spill the Beans

You Ask It, I'll Answer It  

Question:

My son is a doctor and he said, "God gets too much credit."  Reasoning, if God gets the credit for healing cancer, who gave the patient cancer in the first place?  What is your opinion of his reasoning?

 

Answer:

Wow!  Do you want an answer or a book?  My answer will not do justice to the depth of this question, but I will offer a consideration to think about. 

 

Your son is a bright man with a reasonable consideration!  This is a hard question because it represents a hard reality we all live with.  We want a God who heals and delivers, but we don't want a God who sends or allows disease or hardship.  So, how do we reconcile the mystery of God's activity?   To me, I find comfort in His sovereignty.  In Isaiah 45:7, God says, "I am the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these."

 

In Exodus 4:11, God said to Moses, "...Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight or makes him blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?"

 

In those verses, I don't hear God denying responsibility and simply demanding credit.  He seems to acknowledge His role in allowing or sending, as well as removing or delivering. 

 

I believe sovereignty is a place to deposit our questions.  We may not find satisfying answers, but we will find something more satisfying...an intimate, more secure relationship with God Himself.  When I rest in His mysterious sovereignty, I realize that just because God allows or sends doesn't mean He is acting thoughtlessly toward us.

 

The Psalmist acknowledged, "You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance."  (Psalm 66:11, 12)

 

Maybe another question we could ask is....what if those hard things are the very things He uses to bring us to a place of deliverance?  If so, does He not deserve credit for all?

 

Job said it best when he uttered, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

 

I don't really have good answers...I just try to have faith in God.  I am learning that faith isn't intellectual compromise, it's human concession.   Someone much wiser than I once penned, "God is too wise to be mistaken. God is too wise to be unkind. When you can't trace His hand, that's when you must learn to trust His heart." Charles Haddon Spurgeon

 

May all our pondering end in praise, just like Job.
 
And now the beans are officially spilled.