Africa Update

It is hard to keep up two blogs at once. So my Africa adventures will be shared at The Colonial Global Orphan Project. I hope you will join us.

IN TO AFRICA

My last post was more than five months ago in January. Life has been busy, noisy and filled with many crossroads of endings and beginnings.

Libby returned from a semester abroad in England to begin a summer internship with VML in account management. Nate successefully transitioned back to Kansas City Christian to finish his junior year and now finds himself a senior in high school deciding between colleges and majors. Debi finished her Masters program in Organization Development and now looks toward a future career in consulting. I completed a rollercoaster initial year at Insight School of Kansas and am now preparing to have more than 1000 online students in the fall.

And in the area of orphan care, the planning is over. The time for caring has begun.

On June 30, Debi and I will be departing with three other individuals to spend two weeks in Kenya and Malawi. We are part of the advance team for the Colonial Global Orphan Project that will build two orphan villages in Africa. These villages will care for 250 kids in Kenya and 320 more in Malawi. We will be meeting with our international partners to further those relationships and initiate next steps in development.

Initial funding is in place. Construction will begin in months. Debi and I hope to lead a larger group back to Africa in October to continue expanding the engagement of Colonial in this life changing project. By that time, we expect orphans will be in homes in both countries. At the Pothawira village in Malawi, there should also be a school/church and medical clinic under construction.

I will be blogging during this trip. Internet connection, especially in the rural areas of Malawi, can be spotty so it may not be on a daily basis but we will do our best.

Here is a prologue of the trip:

• Jim West, our lead pastor at Colonial, will be preaching to thousands at the Bahati Martyrs Church in Nairobi on July 5. We will broadcast this sermon back to the US and simulcast it at our two campuses in the KC area. You will be able to see this sermon on the church website at http://www.colonialkc.org/ starting July 6.


• The Colonial Global Orphan Project is part of the new C3 initiative to radically transform the care of orphans around the world. Check out http://www.theglobalorphanproject.org/ for more details. Be sure to watch the promotional video and tell your friends.


• To understand why Colonial and our family have sold out for the care of orphans, watch Joe Knittig tell a compelling story about Aslan and the "deeper magic" behind this movement. You can find the video here.

It has been almost 30 years since Out of Africa hit the big screen with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. This film won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Music, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. It was a great movie by all standards.

But it was still a movie. And even though it was based on the memoir of Karen Von Blixen, Out of Africa was still a fictionalized dramatization of reality that is now reduced to memories captured on a DVD.

In to Africa, The Colonial Global Orphan Project, will be the dramatic realization of a dream that will be remembered forever through the changed lives of orphans.

Until next week,

Blessings.

The Economics of Orphans

Bailouts. Stimulus Packages. Inaguration price tags. Investment Scams. Executive bonuses. Free agency contracts. Movie stars.

Have you paid attention to the economic numbers lately?

$770 billion to Wall Street with a paperless accountability trail. A $300 billion proposed economic plan which might balloon to $1 trillion. $160 million for a three day party in DC. $50 billion in Bernie Madoff's mattress (or offshore bank accounts). $1.6 billion to bail-out bank executives in year end pay. Mark Teixeira gets $180 million for 8 years. That is $22.5 million per season. But is only slightly higher than what Julia Roberts gets paid per film at $20 million. (By the way, you get bonus points if you can name her last box office smash).

Here are some other numbers that are equally staggering.

143 million - the number of orphans in the world
$5,000 - the cost to build a house for 10 orphans
$400 - the monthly cost to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education and love for these same 10 orphans.

So what would it take mathematically to put these orphans in a home with the essentials of life for one year? Approximatley $150 billion. Think Congress or corporations or athletes or actors (we will ignore the embezzelers and thieves) would be willing to siphon some of their funds to create a Orphan Survival package? Probably not.

So the task is left to you and me. And it begins with one orphan at a time.

My family has decided to start in Malawi. This is an African country of 14 million people with more than 1 million orphans. The life expectancy is approximately 40 years. AIDS and famine have touched if not ravaged most families. It is one of the 5 poorest countries in the world. No natural resources of value. Landlocked and desolate. Desperate for real hope and permanent change.

Working with C3 Missions International, we are engaged in a project to build an orphan village outside Salima called Pothawira. This beautiful word means "Safe Haven" in Chichewa and the village will eventually care for 600 orphans. There are several couples spearheading the efforts to raise $300,000 for 60 homes. Our daughter Libby and some friends have started Mizzou for Malawi to raise $25,000 for a school. Integral Life Foundation and some doctors at St. Luke's hospital are constructing a 22,000 sq. ft. medical facility and birthing center. There will be businesses that eventually help the village become self-sustaining.

What a vision and hope for the future! Can you image an orphan village providing health care, education, spiritual direction and hope to the surrounding communities?

600 may seem like an insignificant number compared to the total. But the journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step. And the care for 143 million starts somewhere. For us, the crossroads brought us to Salima.

Where will you begin?

In Search of Simple

I am not sure what awoke me from my blogging coma. Perhaps it was the new year and all those resolutions written in pencil. Maybe it was watching my friend Dan fire up the computer again at Astonished or knowing my daughter Libby has posted more messages on her blog in one week than I did in all of 2008. Or quite possibly it was the restless stirring of thoughts deep in the heart longing for expression.

In any event, I am back at the Crossroads. The journey remains the same. But the focus is slightly different.

I am now in search of simple.

In fact, that is the central theme of my Goal Poster for 2009. I use capital letters with the Goal Poster because its creation is a hallowed event in the Wolfe household. At least for my wife Debi. She has been making these for years and I finally had the good sense to listen to her good sense. She keeps telling me life is more fun when that happens.

So here's the concept. Instead of writting out resolutions in invisible ink and shoving them in a drawer or the back cover of a Bill O'Reilly book, you attempt to capture your goals for the year through a visual presentation of pictures and words.

We started the process on vacation in Mexico during December. We spent a couple of weeks thinking and praying about our goals and dreams for the next year. Then we spent an entire afternoon pouring through magazines to clip out pictures, words, headlines ... anything that might bear relevance to our goals. We bought poster board and I got to use an exacto knife to slice the board in half. It was a quasi-man project until we got to the ruffled trim but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Last Sunday was GP day. We sat down with all our materials and started to bring our goals to life. Debi quickly settled on a concept, sorted her cut outs and began the assembly process. She had 3/4 of a Goal Poster before the end of the first quarter of the Steelers-Chargers game. Maybe I was distracted by the TV but halftime arrived and I had yet to find the end zone. Not even a picture on the board.

Good news though. It must have been nerves because I found my groove in the second half. I focused on a central theme of simplicity. 2009 will be lived through that filter to produce a balanced life.

In my faith, I seek the simple love and grace of God to know and experience His glory. My health and fitness goals address the basic concepts of eating healthy, exercising more, and getting proper rest. My relationships will involve more listening and the joy of fellowship. Teamwork at work. Embracing the cause of orphans ... living simply so others might simply live. A trip to Malawi to see the vision of Pothawira, an orphan village of 600, rise from dust through the prayers, efforts and generous giving of so many who want to change lives. Dreaming of a tomorrow that begins today.

So here is my GP. It is straight forwarded with few frills. Debi managed to incorporate ruffles and pastels. Not my style. But I do embrace the concept of visualizing our dreams and goals, placing them in the care of a loving God who directs our paths each day and waiting with anticipation for what is to come.

2009 ... looking for the simple path at the crossroads of complexity. I hope you will join me.

Crossroads at the Summit

It was a slightly more than one month ago that I set out for a mountain climbing adventure with my son and 27 other men from my church. Our objective was Uncompahgre, the 6th highest mountain in Colorado. Nestled in the middle of the San Juan range, this 14er did not present significant climbing challenges. It was more a matter of endurance in the midst of the ever changing weather patterns.

Fortunately for us, the sun was bright and the sky blue as we ascended the peak from the Nellie Creek trailhead. I made the summit in good time for my first attempt at a 14er. I was winded and tired but thrilled by the experience. My son Nate hardly broke a sweat, the by-product of endless conditioning through soccer and football, and he showed great patience with me along the way.

Here we are at the summit:

Here is another shot of the panaromic view:

After Nate decided to run down the mountain with another "goat", I made my way back to the trailhead with a steady pace and plenty of time for refection. Here is what I observed through the creation that surrounded me that day:

• Originality is more beautiful than imitation. I saw hues of yellow and purple flowers that will never appear on a color swatch or computer screen. The blue in the sky was not to be copied, only savored.
• Purpose is found in context. The vast valley of meadows has greater impact set against the backdrop of a soaring mountain range. In isolation both are splendid and create nice photographs. In combination they reflect a glory reserved for that moment to create memories in the heart.
• Creation is beyond my understanding but the glimpse at 14,300 feet is simply awesome.

If you get a chance to climb a mountain, don't hesitate. You might just find yourself at a crossroads where you find some answers.

Summer Slumber

I have taken a hiatus from blogging for over a month due to many factors. I plan on returning to The Screwtape Letters and other topics after I climb Uncompahgre this weekend!

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

TSL #5 - The Mercy of War

In TSL #5, we find Wormwood delighting in the development of World War II. He believes this event, the type which leads to the "anquish and bewilderment of the human soul," will draw his subject further away from the faith as evidence by his sleepless nights. But Screwtape reminds him that his real purpose is not temporal discomfort but rather, "the business of underminig faith and preventing the formation of virtues."

And war is often a deterrent, not a catalyst, to that end. In fact, God's mercy can often be found in the battlefield - not because he sanctions violence, but rather, because our hearts are most vulnerable in those moments when we accept our mortality.

As Lewis states, "[i]n wartime, not even a human can believe he is going to live forever."

There are some who suggest that 4,000 deaths in a current conflict are unacceptable. In some respects I agree - even one is too many for the family and friends of that one. But in the midst of crisis and conflict, God prompts us to seek causes and virtures higher than self.

What was the resulft of 9/11? Anger, fear, uncertainty no doubt. But it also brought many individuals to their knees, not just in anquish and despair, but in prayer. Because it is at those moments that God helps us understand these basic truths:

• We are not going to live forever
• Life can be cruel and unjust and painful
• We need a savior and redeemer

So when those sleepless nights come, let us turn to the one whose mercies are new every morning.

Great is Thy Faithfulness, oh Lord our God.