NOT a grasshopper

Today I'm reminding myself of Doug's teaching from Joshua: that we're not grasshoppers. As I look ahead at the work for these next several weeks, it's easy to be overwhelmed. ...

The tasks and primary responsibilities are clear

• lead faculty development
• develop vision and plans for integration of technology, including testing out Kindle and iPad
• facilitate communications between CI-Congo/UCBC and CI-USA
• collaborate to understand and propose how to best support international staff who come to UCBC

But it's the real work that frightens me: patience, prayer, and relationships. That is the work that can overwhelm me and tempt me to hide in the grass.

Patience: There is much to do. The vision of UCBC is audacious. There are so many programs,  projects, processes, procedures that need attention. It is too easy for me to fall into frustration at what needs to be done and what can be done.

For example, technology is one of the vehicles that will launch UCBC as a leader in teaching and learning here in Congo and in Africa. Paul has brought a Kindle and iPad for us to "play" with. UCBC has access to JSTOR (online repository of scholarly articles). There are digital libraries of all sorts available to use. The list is endless. Yet, right now, we are limited by bandwidth (well, funds to support the kind of bandwidth we need to realize the vision) and sufficient computers for our faculty, staff, and students (no, Congolese students do NOT come to university with their own laptops). Oh...and then there are computer skills. The first time most UCBC students see a computer is when they begin their studies here at UCBC. Consequence/challenge/opportunity? Teach the basics of computers, including keyboarding (when did you last hear about a keyboarding class?), how to open and save documents, how to file... Get the picture?

I'm not complaining, just acknowledging that there is so much to do. And this example is only around the technology.

Prayer: It's easy when the days are full to forget about prayer, forget to pray, neglect to carve out that quiet time that is so easy for me to protect at home. After all, life at home is fairly easy. On a daily basis, I only have to attend to the chickens, the bees, and me. And let's face it, the bees don't need much help; and the chickens are happy as long as they have food and water. But in Congo, people, developing relationships, the daily needs of taking care of a household, preparation for meetings or classes flow together wildly into one rushing river of activity. Somehow it all works. But it's easy to be swept off by the current and forget to paddle into a quiet, sheltered eddy, and make time for prayer.

Community Center under construction

Thankfully, this is a place of prayer. A goal of our 2-day faculty and staff retreat (just concluded) was to help to nurture relationships among the faculty and staff. One of the things we did was to ask the participants to form groups of 3 or 4 that would commit to meeting together and praying together for the next two weeks. At tea time today, the groups were given time to meet and talk, share hopes and challenges and pray together. And they did. I, too, must remain vigilant in prayer. These sisters and brothers will continue to be my teachers and examples.

Relationships: I don't need to be convinced that relationships are important. But I need to be encouraged to remain patient and full in those relationships. When the tasks are many, my inclination is to attend to task before relationships. God and this place will continue to be my teachers. Congo, and Africa, in general (I'm told) is a place of relationships. There is much to say about this. But I will delay for now.