The Tactical Management Team on board is reading When Helping Hurts together. Since I sit in on their meeting to take the minutes, I get to read along with them, and be there for the discussions at the end of each chapter.
This is a book that I can't recommend highly enough. It is my third time reading it, and it is still transforming my definition of poverty.
The video on this page gives a concise summary of the main thesis in the book. Poverty is not just a lack of materials--it goes far beyond that. Poverty is the result of broken relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. Their point being, by this definition, we are all living in poverty in one way or another.
Not that material poverty does not deserve our special attention, but it's important to understand that when it comes to needing help, we are all standing on the same side of the counter, and it's Jesus who stands on the other side, offering the one thing we all really need.
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| Screening in the city of Kankan. Yes, life in West Africa is always this colorful! Photo: Shawn Thompson |
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. --Colossians 1:19-20
Here's what's been on my mind as we work our way through the book. We often hear people who have just completed a service experience, and who are riding a fantastic spiritual high, saying, "I thought I was going to (insert country here) to serve, but I feel like I received so much more!"
This is not an inherently bad thing to say, and what I'm about to share is by no means the case for everyone, but I hesitate to say this because, after hearing it said in so many contexts, in my own mouth it tastes kind of like a generic platitude.
Words, words, words.
If I do say this, I want to make sure the underlying message is not, "I feel great because I served." Because by default that's what "serving" does: it confirms my belief that I am a good person, and believing that you're a good person feels, well, great!
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| What does "serving" look like for me? This week I laughed with another crew member over a shared struggle--we have so many photos of what goes on when we're NOT working that go with tantalizingly fun stories, and conversely so few photos that illustrate what we actually do for a job! Is it surprising to hear that the photo above is a pretty accurate representation of my day-to-day work on board? |
How do I prefer to describe this experience? Take Kate out of the subject line.
As the nation of Guinea works towards a future where healthcare is safe, timely, and affordable for everyone, Mercy Ships is just a piece (although a pretty complicated piece) of the puzzle. If my role as Executive Assistant is just one of the many, many, jobs it takes to make this piece work a little bit more smoothly, praise God!
As an organization, in addition to performing surgery, we have the ability to provide training and mentoring programs to support Guinean healthcare professionals who choose to stay in Guinea and are eagerly striving towards a better health system for their people--often despite the major difficulties of accessing training and resources compared to their peers from "western" nations.
Dr. Rafiou Diallo, one of the the participants in Mercy Ships' surgical mentoring program, is one example of this. From 2013-2018 (between visits from Mercy Ships) he made a dramatic dent in the number of Guineans living with cleft lip.
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| Dr. Rafiou Diallo, performing surgery on the Africa Mercy next to Dr. Gary Parker on March 27, 2019. (Photo: Caleb Brumley) |
The days when I feel closest to God are the ones where I realize how how small I am compared to how big He is.
I recently hung on the wall next to my bed a printout of a poem that gives me a deep sense of peace. It's called "Prophets of a Future Not Our Own", or simply "Archboshop Romero's Prayer".
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Be at peace this week, dear friends. :)
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." --Ephesians 3:20
Keep reading for some February/March highlights!
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| I got a deluxe tour of the engine room on my birthday! |
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| ...and someone (I have my suspicions) decorated my office :) |
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| Captain Milan spoiled us one evening by opening up the bow, which usually only happens when we sail! |
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| Goodnight, AFM |
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| In many places, seeing this many zeros on a dinner bill (that's 255,000 GNF) would be eye-popping! In reality, this is dinner for 2 for ~$27. I still get confused moving that many decimal places! |
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| The nearby "Iles de Los" are a very popular among the crew as a weekend getaway. If you're ever in Conakry, I can recommend a boat driver! |
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