Mary’s and Martha’s

The camps that come always wait in anticipation to get here and this weekend was no exception. We received a call early Friday morning, “is it raining there? We are here in Durban." Well yes it was, not a heavy rain, but a constant mist that wet everything. I felt so bad for them, but we do not control the weather. We have a minimum requirement of 60 campers and they couldn’t meet the minimum either yet they came. The pastor told me they discussed not coming. It had been a difficult few weeks they have had 10 deaths in their church in the past 6 weeks, but there was a feeling of God has a plan. They arrived about 4:00 Friday afternoon to a dismal afternoon at least as far as the weather. Amazingly, spirits were high.

The church, Emmanuel, is an unusual church. An Africans pastor, an Indian associate pastor, and a very mixed congregation. These groups usually stay separate, but just let me say they were “the unified body of Christ in every sense of the word.” They unpacked, met with us, and began their set up. I believe we had 48 in all. The evening consists of supper and through it all, a Praise Service.

Saturday awoke to this 😀 clear and beautiful.  

I really can’t tell you the feeling of unity I got from this group.  As I spoke with one of the cooks they brought, I made the comment that I believe that there is purpose in everything and that we were not here this weekend by accident. She told me that they had one lady that was new to the church and had decided to see what this God of theirs was all about.  She is a Muslim woman who came because of her daughter who had been abused and was counseling with one of the ladies from this church. WOW... now there is a reason to press on with camp.  I believe she accepted Christ this weekend.

I was feeling bad for the cooks because the cooks always miss out on the meetings. But not with this group they had a 3:00 am meeting to praise God for his goodness and to worship, they were all in attendance they said they were both Mary’s and Martha’s. Sitting at the feet of Jesus and serving. Again WOW.    

I was able to go to their Sunday morning service two hours and it seemed like a just moment in time. I can say God was in this place this weekend and praise Him I was able to be there too. Rain to sun, sadness to joy, Christ glorified. What a blessed weekend it was.