"The Smoke from a Thousand Fires"

Have you ever seen the smoke from a thousand fires? It’s fire season here and I have seen a number of fires lately. We have also been impacted by a couple fires here at Kibidula. Fire seems to be part of life here, as in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up; a single spark can lead to a great deal of impact.

Most recently, I was headed to town to pick up a group of volunteers when I got the call, “Fire at Primary School, growing rapidly.” I watched the updates on our group message and my heart sank at each report, I was just far enough away to not be able to help. Staff, students, and individuals from the nearby village formed a group of a couple hundred who bravely fought the fire. It burned a lot of grass and underbrush, some electrical wire, and power poles to the water well, and damaged one house before it was quenched.

I could just add the damage to the always changing list of maintenance items and repairs that need attention, and move on with my life, but somehow it is hard to do that. Fire seems to leave a deeper impact. From forest fires as a child, to our bunkhouse burning down in High-school and each fire along the way, there is something about the stark change of landscape that etches itself into ones life.

We recently read a book about David Livingston, the great African explorer and Missionary, in which is recounted his experience of the smoke from a thousand fires. In his day, it was thought that Africa was only occupied on the edges and the interior was just uninhabited land. But his correspondence with another missionary before deciding to come to Africa, told of a thousand cooking fires visible on the horizon. Each morning, a thousand villages were visible that had never been reached with the Love of Jesus. It was this testimony that inspired David to come to Africa. I’ve read the story before, but somehow it came to life more as we looked at the map and traced his explorations in the surrounding countries and even through Tanzania. I couldn’t help but wonder if the old dirt road that runs right through Kibidula on its path from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt, had ever been part of the paths that David walked.

Even as I think about His explorations decades ago, I consider the little bit of the exploring I have done here in Tanzania. There are many dirt roads that lead to many people who still need to hear of the Love of Jesus and His ability to change their lives. At the same time, I receive reports of the famine in Zambia to our south, our missionary friends send reports of the challenges and suffering there. Then little by little reports trickle out of Sudan, a couple countries to our north, where opposing military forces have been battling and millions of people are displaced. News reports are calling it "the largest food crisis that is currently being faced globally." There is also reports of Somalia and the struggles in that country, refugees tell of the almost impossibility of spreading the gospel in this 99.9 percent muslim country where proselytising is outlawed.

The smoke of a thousand cooking fires in supposedly unoccupied land has grown to the millions of people in Africa today. “Smoke” rising up and showing the great needs in the world. Sometimes the enormity of it can leave one wondering where to start. However, I’m reminded of the Word of Jesus, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his (Jesus) name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47. My Jerusalem is right where God has put me to work, and my work is to repair the damage done at Kibidula’s Primary School. The electricity had been restored, the water flows again, and new windows and doors on the damaged house are scheduled to be completed very soon. So we spend each day doing the tasks we are called to do while praying for those we can't reach yet. We cannot forget the smoke on the horizon, and think of the urgency to share the need for repentance, and the forgiveness of sins which is the great love of Jesus, offered for each one.

Above: Some of the natural beauty, I have recently been blessed to capture here at Kibidula.

A song was recently shared with us that tells story beautifully, it has impacted our lives, if you have a minute check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVWQhbnmtQ