Yesterday I was given the opportunity to take a day off from work in Pretoria and head to Jo'burg to do a little sight seeing. We headed for Soweto, which stands for South West Township, for the day to check out a couple of key events in the history of South Africa and the history of the World. We walked the streets where youth in 1976 decided to protest discrimination and inequality. While the requirement of Afrikaans in the school system ignited the protest, that was by no means the full reason. And as what was meant to be a peaceful march through Soweto turned violent and ugly, it became so much more.
We saw the street and house where two of the most influential people in south Africa, at one time lived, in Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. To think that both of those individuals had walked those same streets before me so many years ago was very humbling.
And I tried to take in as much information as I could as I walked through room after room in the Apartheid Museum in Jo'burg, which at times was hard to fathom the evils of men and women, but a much needed reminder that we as a people have a long way to go if we are truly trying to love others the same way God does.
After a day of spending so much time in areas where such despair and at the same time such hope lies, it takes a lot out of you. It forces you to reflect on the person you are and the person you want to be. It forces you to question if you were in the shoes of those individuals would you be able to lead they way they did with their lives. I sat in a cell for a couple of minutes in the museum and tried to see if I was strong enough to go through the things that people have, all for what they believe. I tried to figure out if I would be willing to give my life for a cause like that. And as I sit here now its still a thought that keeps running through my head. I wish that if it were me I would have acted the same way. And I hope that when the time comes, when what I believe in full hearted, is attacked and persecuted that I too will be willing to give everything I have.
God Bless.
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Sounds much like the same experience we had as a team of PFC volunteers in Rwanda when we went to the Genocide museum in Kigali. How could mankind be so cruel to his fellow man? To see what women and children went through was chilling. But I take hope because there are young men such as yourself. You are serving the Lord in a mighty way and in more ways than you can see at the present time. Keep up the great work and let Jesus shine brightly always in your life. Blessings, Brent Hoiosen
ReplyDeleteWow Stephen, it sounds like you had a day quite different from the rest of your trip! What an opportunity to get such a tangible and visual reality check on walking what we believe, literally for them! As Americans we are so blessed not to have to put up with adversity for what we believe, but this also might lead to us unknowingly taking for granted the seriousness of being so devoted that we would give our lives for Christ. It is exciting when God speaks to us in moments like that moment you were sitting in the cell and says, “Would you do it?” We get to get all revamped to move forward and press closer and closer to Him, preparing for the day that our own faith is challenged. The world is changing and I know it is possible! Thanks for the encouragement to step it up and get ready for the end! My family has started reading the book of Revelation together and so my thinking is leaning into applying your situation to the end times and how we need to be ready!! :) Praying you get many opportunities to shine for Christ and that He holds you safe as He guides you each day!
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