Walk The Path

If you've never seen peanut butter made, you've got to check it out. And I'm not talking about Peter Pan on the TV show "How It's Made". No, I'm talking about Burkina Faso real natural peanut butter. I'm talking about harvesting the peanuts, shelling the peanuts, and watching the transformation from a nut in the ground to a creamy peanut butter that adds energy, protein, and fat to help nourish the infants in our Infants In Distress Program. 

Juliette is completely in charge of making the peanut butter that we distribute to the babies in the program each month, and she was totally in agreement when I told her that I wanted to help her and learn from the process this month. 

On this particular day, we were taking the peanuts to be de-shelled. Placing the raw peanuts in two 40-liter basins, Juliette solicited the help of her oldest daughter to put one of the basins on her head. She asked me if I wanted to carry the other one, and then quickly laughed at my hesitation and said that her daughter would do it. I was slightly embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as I would have been if I had spilled all the peanuts on the ground because I foolishly tried to carry them on my head. I can carry some things on my head...but not a 40-liter basin of peanuts. Not yet anyway. 

So I walked beside them, slightly behind, taking in the sights and the smells and the feel of the breeze on my skin. It became one of those moments when I became keenly aware of what a unique experience this is. Walking the dirt paths of west Africa with women that I have come to love as they carry peanuts on their heads that we are going to make peanut butter out of to give to malnourished children and orphans. That's just not something you get to do everyday. 

As I walked the path, I also received clarity from some events that happened earlier in the day. I had organized a meeting with the three employees of the Infants In Distress Program in order to implement some necessary changes to correct some errors and prevent them from happening in the future. To put it simply, it didn't go very well. In fact, it turned heated pretty quick and I ended up calling the meeting to a close without accomplishing what I had wanted to accomplish.

This, too, is walking the path. 

Because within the next year, we will be constructing an Infant Rescue Center, which will further the scope and reach of the Infants In Distress Program. But before we arrive there, we have to make changes here today in order to show good stewardship of what God has already given us. It's all preparation; it's part of the process. 

That's what walking the path is. It is being a part of the process. 

It's funny how I had a moment this year when I really wanted to leave Burkina, but the Lord encouraged me to persevere, wait it out, and see my dream and desire - the Infant Rescue Center - come to realization. And so I'm here, experiencing the frustration, developing deeper relationships with my teammates, and being a part of the change. 

This will make the opening day of the Infant Rescue Center ten times sweeter than if I had come to Burkina Faso just in time for the grand opening. Because I have been a part of the process. I have first lived life without the center. I have seen the needs, I have experienced the lack of resources, I have cried real tears of frustration and sorrow at the injustice of the world, I have heard the complaints, I have brainstormed the solutions, I have organized meetings to implement change...even meetings that flop. 

So I look at the women walking just in front of me with heavy burdens on their heads, and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to walk this path with them. 

This path is spending my afternoons with Juliette making peanut butter. This path is taking the flop of a meeting, covering it with prayer, learning some cultural clues, seeking counsel, understanding the perspective of each team member, and then giving it a second try - one that went much better this time. Walking this path is choosing to stay even when discouragement makes me feel like leaving. Walking the path is living life with people, deepening relationships, and learning to share burdens. It's being a part of the process. 

We aren't the first to walk these paths. We have a "great cloud of witnesses", of saints and prophets and apostles who have walked before us and are cheering us on. So let's "throw off" discouragement and sin, and "let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect or of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3) 

Weary? Discouraged of heart? Wanting to quit? Fix your eyes on Jesus, who wrote our faith into existence and is using this very hardship to write the next chapter, and run the race with perseverance. Walk the path with perseverance. For the kingdom is coming and salvation is surging and heaven is waiting and Jesus is coming soon! Be a part of the process.