World Views part 2

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. – Colossians 3:11

“My wife’s people have no word for stranger. We are simply relatives that are meeting for the first time.”

Pastor Kapai began his story with these words. His story was about a trip he made among his wife’s people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was on his way to meet a woman regarding a development project started several years earlier. He was told someone would meet him at the train station to bring him into the bush where the woman lived & worked. No one was there to greet him, so after some time he asked those at the train station how he might find her. One man asked Kapai what his name was. Kapai told him his name and the name of his father.

“Oh, we are relatives.  You are my cousin. Come with me.” That night he stayed with his new cousin and was fed and given a bed. The man helped him on his way to the next village and introduced him to another cousin. Kapai asked about the woman he wanted to meet. “She has moved to another village 14 kilometers away. No problem, we will help you find her.”

Kapai continued to meet ‘cousins’ and to be well taken care of on his journey into the bush. Finally he did meet with the woman to discuss the growing development projects in the interior of DRC.

I have much to learn from my cousins here in DRC. We are all relatives that we simply haven’t met yet. God’s world is so much richer when we consider each other as family.

I’m looking forward to meeting some new cousins today, how about you?