Still Learning....

 

Today is market day in Lawra. So, in Kalsagri, we have our worship service at 7:00 am so people will have plenty of time to buy and sell. Several times, even many times over the last two weeks, we have announced this fact. I even told the congregation on Wednesday, Sunday, when it gets light outside, get up, bath, get dressed, eat fast and come to church. I had hopes that people would do so...it happened in the past.

 

I left my house around 6:35 am. The air was crisp. I almost expected to see frost on the ground. My arms were cold as I zipped (did I really "zip"?) along the road to Kalsagri. The sun was low and beautiful. What a lovely drive! Yet, when I arrived in Kalsagri, "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." No one was at church. It was locked. No benches were set out. The drum was still locked inside. No one was around. 7:00 came and went. No one. 7:10 came and went. No one. 7:20 came and went. Still, nada. 7:30 came and went...should I go home? The first person arrived at 7:33. Then, another person, a cripples man, walking on his hands, arrived. By 8:00, there were seven (7) of us. So, we started the service.

 

Little by little people did come. It was cold outside. The sun does not come up as early this time of year. Some people were out late last night. Whatever the reason, they did not come at 7:00 am, but they did come. By 9:00, there were 80 people there. And, by the time the service was over, there were over one hundred in attendance.

 

During the testimony time, I stood up to speak. I asked for forgiveness for thinking like an American. I am living in a country, in an area, where people do not have clocks. They do not have watches. They do not have cell phones on which the time is displayed. What they do have is the sun. When a person wakes up, they look at the position of the sun. And, that is how time is marked...by the sun. So, when the sun rises late during this time of year, I need to be sensitive to that fact. People did come to church. But, they came according to the clock in the sky, not the one on my wrist. I hope I learned this lesson today. The lesson? It would be that I am not living in America. The lesson that telling time by the sun is not wrong only different. And, the lesson that God calls people to His house, not me!