{"id":483,"date":"2010-09-07T17:07:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T17:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2010-09-07T17:07:04","modified_gmt":"2010-09-07T17:07:04","slug":"south_africa_journal_9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2010\/09\/07\/south_africa_journal_9\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Journal 9: How God Used Africa to Stretch My Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve just experienced a truly incredible morning.<\/p>\n<p>Here at the Bakubung Bush Lodge in South   Africa we woke early to catch the sunrise. Under a brilliant orange sky we saw and heard <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-485\" title=\"South Africa Day 9\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/scott9-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"South Africa Day 9\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" \/>the wilds of Africa come to life, with exotic birds bursting into song and a herd of wildebeests wandering by.<\/p>\n<p>In this remarkable setting I took the time to reflect on this two-week South African odyssey I\u2019ve been privileged to experience. With our <a title=\"World Vision Canada\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldvision.ca\/Pages\/Home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">World Vision<\/a> hosts and a group of Canadian pastors, I spent time in some of this country\u2019s most beautiful and affluent areas, as well as her most desperately needy regions.<\/p>\n<p>I thought back to the days leading up to this journey, and specifically to the ways in which I believe God was preparing my heart. I had sensed a very real challenge from God\u2019s Spirit to not simply come and <em>look<\/em> at what\u2019s happening around me, but to really <em>see <\/em>things in and through God\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n<p>So, what did I see?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I saw people who\u2019s annual earnings most of us will spend on a month of Starbucks coffee, but who are rich in their love for God. To have had the privilege to worship with these people was to experience a freedom in worship I\u2019ve rarely seen before.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I saw people whose generosity was not contingent upon their level of income. Among communities of people with very little of what the world would call \u201cwealth\u201d there was a consistent spirit of looking out for those with even less.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I saw in the hearts of the Canadian pastors on the trip a spirit of compassion and mercy that should inspire all Canadian Christ-followers. Their genuine love for the people we met should come as no surprise, but it was nonetheless affirming to see such care demonstrated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I saw God do a work in my own heart. I was challenged to examine my own life and my own priorities. I found God changing my definitions of words like \u201cnecessities\u201d, \u201csecurity\u201d, \u201cpossessions\u201d and \u201cneeds\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My final reflection would be that, as a result of this life-changing trip, I find that my resolve to see the Church in Canada become stronger, healthier and more vibrant to be more intensified than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Because I believe to the core of my being that God has a truly global role for the Canadian Church to play. And the more we can see our churches prevail, the more we will see God work through us to truly make a global difference.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t wait to see what the future holds. For all of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve just experienced a truly incredible morning. Here at the Bakubung Bush Lodge in South Africa we woke early to catch the sunrise. Under a brilliant orange sky we saw and heard the wilds of Africa come to life, with exotic birds bursting into song and a herd of wildebeests wandering by. In this remarkable&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,4,6,7],"tags":[304,139,363,362,361,359,364,360,127,358,294],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canadian","category-community","category-joy","category-leadership","tag-canadian-pastors","tag-challenged","tag-compassion","tag-freedom-in-worship","tag-gods-perspective","tag-journey","tag-mercy","tag-odyssey","tag-reflection","tag-south-african","tag-world-vision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}