Vanity Fair

Most of us pray, few don't. Some believe in a god, some don't. Some of us are Christians. The vast majority of us will pray in some fashion at some point in our lives. The more time I spend here, the more I'm learning about a certain kind of prayer that the bible speaks of, "For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." This encourages me because I'm finding myself more and more confused how to pray.

I've been reading a book entitled Little Pilgrim's Progress to my children. It's a kid version of Pilgrim's Progress, written in the 1600's about a man named Christian that embarks on an allegorical journey to reach the Celestial City. Along the way, he encounters a city Vanity Fair....

"The Wicked Prince filled the great city with everything that was pleasant and beautiful. It had broad streets and handsome houses, and the stalls in its market were covered with glittering wares. All day long the people were passing busily up and down. They wore fine clothes and spent their whole time in pleasing themselves, and the Wicked Prince took care to give them plenty of things to enjoy so that they might never have a moment to spare in which to think of the King whom they had forsaken."


I have fine clothes and plenty of things. I spend much of my time seeking comfort. I'm accustomed to praying for comfort, to keep everything nice and glittering in my own Vanity Fair. I pray for things to go easily for me. So many things here are broken and many people here are hurting. Today I saw my third patient this week with a cancer so big that it's literally pushing the eyes out of socket, as I'm reminded about the state of brokenness in which most of the world's population lives. I don't know exactly where modern day Vanity Fair may be, but I know that my vantage point has certainly changed.... I find myself constantly praying a simple three-word prayer, "God please help." As I struggle to live here cross-culturally and day after day see my brothers and sisters come to the hospital with dire problems, I simply ask God to somehow help.

I may not know how to pray here, but thankfully the Spirit intercedes for me. I'm changing my prayers of convenience to prayers of desperation. Instead of praying for things to go well, avoiding trials, I'm merely praying for God to be with me.

In typical fashion, I'm including some pics of what we've been up to. Thank you all for your continued support! Here's the fam visiting daddy's clinic.

Hiking around beautiful Mbingo, at the air-strip.

 The kids are loving working in the new garden and playing with daddy.