Posted in Kenya by Nate Chaplin on 8/8/2010
While still at training camp, the 16 students were assigned to 2 separate tables for meal time (due to the fact that they were simply too big for one table). For the first day or two they sat at their two little tables in two little groups. The communal food was always in short passing distance. They had all kinds of space and personal room, but they were physically divided. They asked us why they had to sit separate from the others. They really didn't like the fact that they were divided and couldn't talk to everyone at once. So, by day two's supper, they moved the two tables together and made one big table with 16 chairs crammed around it. They were now elbow to elbow and knee to knee, but they were one. Uncomfortable, but one.
While in Kenya, we were able to visit and do ministry in Kibera, Africa's largest slum. It is just over one square mile in area, and is home to just shy of one million people. Just being there was almost more than a person could process in any short time frame. Overwhelming might be a good word for it. For a while, Traday (my co-leader) and I stood at the edge of a small bluff overlooking Kibera, and just watched. The government was building a series of large, modern apartment buildings on the outer edges of Kibera
and offering them to the residents for only 200 extra shillings (equivalent to $2.50) per month than what they were paying in the slum. But they weren't taking it. They were declining the offer to upgrade from a 1 ten-foot-square room, no plumbing, no electric, no door shack made of corrugated tin and mud bricks to a 2 bedroom apartment with the works and even a locking door for only $2.50 more a month. Why? Traday and I pondered this question for some time.
We finally asked one of our Kenyan friends and translators and they told us that they just didn't mind their poverty enough to leave their friends and neighbors they'd lived with their whole life. Wow. Just like the kids at training camp, they ultimately chose community over comfort and even security. When I am at home, I will choose YouTube over community. How ridiculous is that? We are comfortably separate and they are uncomfortably one. We trade community for comfort and they trade comfort for community. Which do you think is more beautiful in God's sight?
I've been learning lately that community is an essential element in Christianity. He wants us to be one as he and his father are one. Although not completely, locks and couches seem to hinder our desire for and participation in community. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your lock causes you to sin, tear it out. And if your couch causes you to sin, throw it out and get patio furniture. Just saying.
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Posted in Mission Trip Thoughts by Nate Chaplin on 7/3/2010
There has been a topic of philosophy that has been slowly forming in my Spiritual walk for some time now. I have posted many blogs around the topic, but none have found completion in its goal. I now feel that I have collected enough puzzle pieces (and assembled enough) that I am now ready to begin writing it. However this may take some time to get right. So this is a preview of coming attractions. I cannot promise when this will be completed, but for now I would like you to meditate on this C.S. Lewis quote for preparation. See you on the other side.
"If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if
we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and
most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who
reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out
his right eye) was precisely nothing: that the kernel of what he was
really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond
expectation, waiting for him in "the High Countries." In that sense it
will be true for those who have complete the journey (and for no others)
to say that good is everything and Heaven everywhere. But we, at this
end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision.
If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and
fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven." -The Great Divorce
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Posted in Kenya by Nate Chaplin on 6/25/2010
Some of you may remember my stories from the last time I was in Africa about the thick, tasteless, ground cornmeal blob that was called shima. Well guess what, it's not just in southern Africa; it is here in Kenya aswell! And the Kenyans have not changed the recipe. It is still just as thick (like a bowl of oatmeal left out all day), just as tasteless (I'm pretty sure rocks have more zing), and just as common. And here they call it ugali (pronounced oo golly). When the kids were first served it, they said "hey, that looks interesting" and then they tried it... and asked if they could put it back! Then I told them to suck it up and they went and got straws. Okay, okay. I made up that last line, but you get the picture. The stuff is nasty without even tasting bad. But the locals eat it all the time because they have been raised on it and they dont know it could have flavor. But you know what, ignorance is bliss.
I remember when I first truly laid down my life and plans and dreams about two and a half years ago. I had a good job, I was renting a good house, and I was going to a good church. I was serving as a Sunday School teacher and an usher at church and I had plans of getting married and having 3.5 kids and 2.3 cars. I would then go about my average, successful, American, Christian life. And then God happened. He told me to put my job and Sunday School on hold and go on the World Race. But I didn't want to. Sure it was very adventurous and was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I loved my Sunday School kids and the job market situation was getting serious. If I left for a year, they would probably not want me back. But as you can tell by the website you are now on, I did it anyway.
And so with some aprehension and a little more faith, I embarked on a one year journey that flipped my world upside down. When I got back, I had been laid off and told by God that I was to train to be a preacher. So I enrolled in Bible college in Missouri and at the end of the semester, AIM calls me up and asked me to lead a group of young college aged kids to Kenya for two months this summer. Once again, I had other plans. I was going to get a full time job to help pay for my next semester of college, start up Sunday School again, be a church camp councelor, go to a couple weddings, mentor a few youth in my church, and just live a normal, passionate, responsible, American, Christian life. Then God happened.
And this trip has continued to turn my world upsidedown. And at this point, I can't even remember with any detail what my life was supposed to be like. I was thinking the other day, that if God were to speak to me today and tell me I've done well and done his will for my life and that I was now free to live my dream life however I wanted and he would bless it, how would I respond? As sure as the Lord lives, I would lose all motivation and drive and slip into depression and possibly even ponder suicide. If I am not living for the active will of God, I would not know what to do with my life. There would be no purpose. Eat, drink, and be merry?! Is that all this world has for me?
I once was content with the ugali life. In my ignorance, I was blissful. Then I tasted what God has for me. And now, if I were go back to the ugali life, I would simply ask, "can I put it back?" Americans are raised on ugali life. Eat steak, drink Coke, watch HDTV, and be merry. It is not bad for you so much as it is simply bland. There is no zing. But we don't know that there could be better. For the most part, we don't know that the grass is really greener when you don't own it.
I am not questioning anyone's lifestyle. Only you can know what His will is for your life. But I know if you are not pursuing the active will of God for your life, your missing out. God's food costs a little more, but the reward is beyond compare. Don't settle for the ugali life. It does not truly satisfy.
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Posted in College by Nate Chaplin on 6/24/2010
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Matthew 7:21-23
Today we did some destruction work at an old abandoned church in a Masai village (suburb of Nairobi) getting ready to rebuild it. After we got done with our yard work, we went to the local market area to do some one on one evangelism with the Masai people. Through translators we were able to talk to them in groups of 2 or 3 of us to 1 to 3 of them. We were surprised that many people said they knew Jesus. But they did not seem to have any evidence of Jesus in their lives. Although there are many churches in that area, no one seemed to have any grasp on Jesus beyond the cross.
This is a common result of any area that has had a good deal of 5 minute evangelism. They tell them the basics, but there is no follow up and no charge to change. They are told something like:
Do you know Jesus? Do you know that Jesus died for your sins a long time ago and if you confess to him and put your faith in him and ask him into your heart you will be saved? Will you love Jesus?
Pardon my saying, but what a load of crap! Talk about full of holes. "Jesus?.... sin?... put my faith in him?... into my heart?... WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" In our zeal to get a yes, we hit all the important points but skip all the supporting points. Nothing of the law, the son of God, prayer, Hell, Heaven, or repentance. This is a mild exaggeration of coarse, but only mild. If we go around doing this to everyone we want to "save", there will be many who cry out "Lord, Lord, they told me I was saved."
If we are going to spread the Truth, lets spread the whole truth. Let's not make 5 minute converts, let's make 3 year disciples. Let's invest some time and effort in them. They are worth it.
The great commission says to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded them. Let us teach them of righteousness and grace, not grace and grace.
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Posted in Kenya by Nate Chaplin on 6/14/2010
Yay! Here we are in Kenya. Traday and I have all our little ducks in a row and singing "How He Loves Us". The Lord has definitely worked wonders in keeping our heads above water. Neither of us have lead before, but everything is working out well for us. We had a lot of favor in the airports with Ethiopian Air not weighing our carry on bags and no delays or anything. And we even got our Visas at half price. And when we get here, God surprises us with beds in a hostel instead of sleeping in tents! The Lord is with us. We have begun ministry in a couple of slum areas (schools, door to door, etc) and the kids are pumped. They have already had 7 converts! And it is not even Malaria season right now, so the blessings are stacked. Thankyou all for the prayers and support. I hope to have a little deeper blog next time, but for now, that's the update. Love to all. Grace and peace.
God is good!
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Posted in Mission Trip Thoughts by Nate Chaplin on 6/1/2010
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." Robert Frost
Here I sit in the Adventures In Missions headquarters in Gainseville, GA getting ready for Real Life training camp for my Kenya trip. Over the last few days, I have observed that the most common question people ask before a big trip is "Are you ready?" Does anyone ever have an answer for that? Better yet, why does it matter? Even if I wasn't, I would still leave at the same time. My godly friend, Scott Johnson, noted the other day that no matter your gifting or handicap, wealth or poverty, importance or insignificance, time ticks by at the exact same speed. No one can bribe it. No one can appeal to it. No one can intimidate it. It is constantly and totally unbiased. We have no control over it.
In my observations of going-away-conversing, I have also noticed that the most common statement is "Have a safe trip." Not like anyone plans to have a trip full of danger and injury. Actually, some people may. Regardless, even if you do all you can, how much control do you really have over your safety? Just like time, life and death comes at everyone without bias or mercy. Once again, no control. And what would happen if I were to be greatly injured or even die? What happens when the unexpected happens? In three words: It goes on.
I was recently asked by a friend how I was able to spend 11 months away from home and comfort engulfed in surrender. I responded, "How does anyone cope with life?" Life happens and it always goes on. Neither the world nor time stop for anyone. How does a widow cope with the loss of a soul mate? They just do. It would certainly be nice if time would pause to give them time to process and heal, but it doesn't. It just goes on. It would be nice if life waited for me to be "ready" to lead a group to Kenya, but it won't. Ready or not, here I go. Ready or not, here it comes, full speed, unrelenting, and unstoppable. Ready or not, it always comes. And Christ is always there to bear the unbearable, live the unlivable, and control all that we cannot.
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Posted in College by Nate Chaplin on 3/24/2010
When I was a kid, I never could understand going to the doctor. You are supposed to go to the doctor so he will make you feel better, yet almost everytime mom would take me to the doctor, he would end up poking me with a needle right in the tush! Now, maybe it was just me, but getting poked by a needle in the tush did not exactly make me feel dandy. In fact it hurt. I hated getting shots. It even left some emotional scar tissue. To this day, I tense up when I smell rubbing alcohol, illogically affraid that I was about to get poked by a needle. I did not get how that was supposed to make me feel better, so I despised going to the doctor. However, what I did not realize is that those little pokes kept me healthy, and would leave me worse off, should I reject the injection.
Have you ever done that with the Bible. You dive right in, having heard that it was a good book filled with love and butterflies and cute furry animals, but when you read it, you get a shot in the tush! And then you say one of two things: either you say "I don't like reading the Bible, it hurts my feelings," or you say "I don't think that is what God really meant, because the Bible is a feel good book, so I'm going to skip right over shots." Both are highly dangerous and damaging to our growth in Christ.
The first is how so many people become atheists. In general, they have this thought going in that God is a big teddy bear that just wants to hug us and want us to always be happy. And as soon as they read something offensive in the word, or have some "bad" thing happen in their life, they conclude that God is not some fluffy teddy bear, but really some big kid burning ants like us with a magnifying glass. And they, obviously, decide not to get on his good side :) Why would they want to? They don't want another shot in the tush. That hurts (mainly our pride, but that's a whole other blog). What they don't realize is that if they refuse to get these shots from the word, they will ultimately end up in a much worse pain. When the Bible says God will always protect us from harm, it sometimes includes shots, because it protects from a much bigger harm.
On the flip side, what if that person just decides to just skip those and read only the warm and fuzzy, teddy bear parts? This happens far more often than you may think. Have you ever gone hunting in scripture to find that one verse that proves that baptism means this or that? Once you find that verse, do you leave well enough alone and say that's enough proof for anyone? Funny, we scream out "BIAS!" when scientists do that to "prove" evolution. Do you do the same thing? The Bible seldom only speaks on a topic once. Find ALL the verses on that topic and lay em out. Look up context. Look up Hebrew or Greek meaning. Look up something, but don't just stop with one cliche verse and say you've solved it. What about when you accidentally find a verse that challenges that little belief you have? Do you just say "Well, God didn't really mean that, because, see, my pastor says that its this other way." WHO DO YOU SERVE?! Do you really serve God and bow to his absolute authority, or do you serve your own agenda of comfort or "wisdom"? As proclaimers of Christ, we should NEVER discard ANYTHING the Bible says. If it seems to collide with something else you've read or been taught, study it. Like I said before, look some stuff up. Make sure you read the context of scripture and study context of the culture. But don't just pass it by. That is hypocrisy. Purposely denying a piece of text because you don't agree with it after proclaiming Christ's lordship in your life.
Are you ready to be offended by scripture? Because it probably will. Are you ready to take the shot and soak up the medicine?
Thank you mom for putting me in the path of a little pain to keep me healthy. And thank you daddy for loving me enough to send me through trials, tribulations, and tough, offensive passages that don't quit. I am healthier for it. Blessed be your name! Amen.
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Posted in Mission Trip Thoughts by Nate Chaplin on 2/4/2010
This blog is the sequel or follow up blog to another blog I posted while in Ukraine by the name of Overload. If you have not read that blog, I would suggest you go back and read it real quick to get the context.
In Ukraine I felt overloaded in a very extreme sense. I could not recall almost anything. I could only remember distant memories in my past, but no current events. In escence, I was running on Autopilot. Obviously, I have sinse gotten my head back together. At the time, I did not know why God was sending me through this trial and what I needed to learn from it. All I knew was God was still good. Sinse I've been home, I realized further why I was so overloaded.
As I went along the World Race, I saw amazing and terrible and beautiful and aweful things. And my heart cried out for each of them, saying "when the World Race is over, I will go back to that place and continue my relationship with the friends I met there and finish the ministry I started and solve the problems in that area, once and for all." Every month, it was different place with different people and different ministries and different problems. But the PROBLEM was that there was enough places and people and ministries and problems to last me 11 lifetimes.
I tried to say which one I would go to first or focus on the most, but I felt a unique longing for each individual one. And the more I thought about them, the more I realized I did not know where to start and the there was no way for me to finish. So there I was, stuck in the middle of all these causes (I hate facebook causes!) and then I learned about the beggar pimping that goes on. In Ukraine (and many other countries, including the US), human trafficking goes beyond sweat shops and the sex industry. In Ukraine, you can sell your grandmother to a beggar pimp. Think about it: you can't support her, he says he can if she goes out on the streets and beg for change all day long and gives him the money. On top of that I also learned that people will often rent out their infants and children to these very pimps, drug them up on God knows what so they look more docile, cute, and poor.
And people give even more money because there was a little one there, too.
I think that is when my head started shutting down. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. (kindof a big straw) I could not think about the problems and the people and the.... anymore. It was just too much. I saw no hope for humanity, no light at the end of this blackest of tunnels, and no way I would ever be able to make a difference...... alone. That was it. I was trying to rely on my strength and my goodness and my whatever to solve the problems I had seen and reach the lost that I had to leave at the end of the month. I was not giving these things to God. I was stroring them all up in my heart and trying to take personal responsibility for the ending of these injustices. With the intention of doing Kingdom work, I was playing God. And he saw that. So he started to erode my memories and feelings so he could get my attention.
(This next part is a little confusing in thought, so bear with me as I try to put it into words.) He had to remind me that He has not called me to solve all the problems or even any of the problems of the world or even my family. He has called me to be obedient to my place in the body. And although we often do work toward the freedom of the captives, it is neither our responsibility nor our authority to do so. We may want to do something for the kingdom, but if we do it without God's blessing, we are wasting time and hurting the name of Christ.
Now, I believe that God will put a specific cause on your heart that he wants you to work on, but if we take singular responsibility for its "failure" or "completion", we will not only be ineffective, but also overloaded. It is simply too much weight for our shoulders. We have to do what we can (or what God allows us) and leave the rest up to him.
I still realize the problems of the places I've been, and I know there are millions more I may never know about. But I know that my allegience does not lie with any cause, but with Jesus. I know that I would love to see even one problem find solution in Christ, but I do not require it. I know he deal with each one in its own time. My job is to do what I can with where He has put me. I am now reloaded and ready for war on..... whatever He comands.
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Posted in College by Nate Chaplin on 1/21/2010
Classes at Central Christian College of the Bible started yesterday. And I must say, this very much reminds me of the World Race gone USA. Only 2 months off the Race and here I go again, moving and adjusting to yet another environment. Yet another culture (albeit a sub-culture). And yet another ordinary adventure. I do not know what college has in store for me just as I did not know what the Race had in store for me. But I do know one thing for sure: Christ will be here with me the whole way. And I don't mean that in a cliche, Sunday School way. I really got it at a new level the other day. Christ does not want a 15 min or 1 hr or 5 hr chunk of our day devoted to him, he wants our whole day! He doesn't want me to save a spot in my schedule for him, he wants to go through my schedule WITH ME! In escence, he is not sitting on the sidelines or cheering us on from the bleachers. He is out on the field, in the game, calling plays, making blocks, passing opportunities, and pulling us along when it's just all too much.
These classes mean more than just getting grades or a degree. I am seeking to understand more the glory and pesonality of God, the means by which I can bring the gospel, and skills to become a better spokes person for the kingdom of God. I am truly blessed to be in a country where education is available and funds are receivable. The United States Government gave me $2,675 to go to school to become a preacher. What an amazing blessing from God. I received $2,000 in various gifts from the people in my church and relative family. Do his blessings know any bounds? I have professors that are extremely educated in the bible and are eager to pass along that knowlege to me, as well as mentor and pray for me personally. What more glory can I give?
I came into this journey terrified of the work and afraid that God was not behind me. I spent hours fretting and worrying about how I was going to adjust to being a student again. I spent many a night nervous as a chihuahua about whether or not my financial aid would come in. Then God sent me a man by the name of Scott Johnson, a dear friend and man of faith (yes, you are), to encourage and lift me up; to remind me of the blessing and provision of God; ultimately, to pour into this man's broken pot of a life. My friends, the Lord's blessings are endless. And waiting for you to receive them.
As I said before, if I know just one thing, it is that Christ is with us always. Calling us to new things, blocking the schemes of the Devil, preparing opportunities to gain ground for the Kingdom (that's for you BLING), and pulling us along when the sky starts falling down. It is going to be a long, hard game. Are you up for the challenge? I am. All to the glory of the King.
As a closing remark, now that I am in college, I just may start getting a little better in my spelling, grammar, and paragraph structuring. But then again, I don't take English Comp until fall semester =). But I'm a patient man. Love to all. -Nate Chaplin
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Posted in General Posts by Nate Chaplin on 1/19/2010
Well I guess this is not news in the fact that I have known this for some time now, but news in the sense I have not revealed this information with my beloved blog readers (you). The news is that the blog will not end now that I am back from the Race. In fact, it will only be terminated if I deliberately ask AIM to close it, and I don't plan on doing so for a while now. I will continue posting blogs on my spiritual growth, revalations in the word, reflections on the World Race, and various other dietic happenings in my life. As a quick reminder I would like to say that you can subscribe to my blog on this very page, giving you instant notifications of blog posts via email. As always, comments are quite welcomed and quite enjoyed. If you are no longer going to be keeping up with my blogs now that I'm done with the Race, I would like to thank you for taking this journey with me and I hope you were touched by the words God inspired on these blogs. If you are continuing this journey with me, I am excited to see the amazing things God will show us in our on-going venture of spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Peace. Either way, I love you and pray for you. May God bless you even more than he has blessed me.
For His glory
Nate Chaplin
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