The details were fuzzy, but a series of bombs had exploded in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city and the largest city in the predominantly Muslim north.  A number of police stations had been attacked and an immigration office was targeted.  Multiple bombs had gone off in these locations; my brother Ian told me the following day that Al Jazeera was reporting up to 20 bombs (!).  Now we are learning that over 185 were killed and the Sunday New York Times featured a photo of corpses being hauled away in a pick up truck.

The fundamentalist group ‘Boko Haram’ (which means in Hausa ‘western education is forbidden’)  has claimed responsibility. This is at least the second time they have struck in the last month. On Christmas Day, they killed Christians emerging from services in Jos and Abuja, both cities where family members of mine live. Thanks be to God no one I know was hurt, or even close to the scene, but people – be they Muslims or Christians - are traumatized and fearful.

The Federal Government does not seem to have a handle on Boko Haram - this terror campaign has been escalating in the last several years and this latest attack came on the heels of a nation-wide strike that paralyzed the whole country.  (That story is for another blog.)

Suffice it to say, I am praying, more than ever for Nigeria.

May the Prince of Peace come quickly, I pray.

A few moments later, she began a conversation with a young man sitting across from her. In true New York fashion, I tried to look as if I wasn’t listening but my ears were tuned in.

She asked him if he was a radiologist. He wasn’t but she had correctly observed that he was carrying large radiological films in a cold-resistant pouch. She then went onto to thank him for his work and disclosed that she was a breast cancer survivor.  She now makes it her business to thank anyone involved in the health care world, specifically folks who have anything to do with radiology.  She then went on to fill in the gaps.

“I was with my mother down south, sleeping in her bed. I always do that when I’m there. She noticed a lump and told me to promise to get it check out when I got back to New York.  So when I got back, I went for a check up, and they found the lump. It was just a few millimeters in diameter, but  I am so glad they found it.”

Turns out breast cancer runs in her family; her sister died of it.

“When I was getting chemo, I had to take  ___. ” She mentioned a drug I’d never heard of.  Then she laughed; it was a deep throaty, laugh. ”It didn’t make my hair fall out.  The other patients would ask me: ‘what are you living on?’  I’m living on Jesus,” she offered, laughing again.

Then, as if she was feeling self-conscious, all of a sudden, she blurted out, “Am I boring you? Sorry, I just feel like I have to tell my story.”

Her conversationalist wasn’t bored; neither was I.  So she kept going.

“Yeah, my hair never fell out, and I am so grateful that I’m alive. So,so grateful.”

I found myself humbled. Humbled by her story, her gratitude, her laughter, her joy at being given a second chance to live life to its fullest.

Just before I got off at Herald Square, I told her I’d been eavesdropping and thanked her for sharing her story.

“Oh, OK, OK.” Her face lit up once more and she smiled one last time.

At the end of last year, I began reading Eugene Peterson’s memoir ‘The Pastor’ about his calling and journey of being a pastor, and how his vocation as pastor shaped him. It is vintage Peterson: no airs or graces, just simple, plain talking about the way God matured this man who expected to be a university professor into the humble role of pastor for a 300 person church. A must read for anyone who loves anything else Peterson has written (or anyone who loves memoirs, regardless of who wrote them).

Last night, I came across a section where he compared the role of a psychiatrist or counselor with the role of being a pastor. It was helpful for me in my role as I often contemplate how what I do in pastoral care is different from biblical counseling.

Here’s Peterson’s insight on this distinction:

“I was not primarily dealing with people as problems. I was a pastor calling them to worship God….The people who made up my congregation had plenty of problems and more than enough inadequacies, but congregation is not defined by its collective problems. Congregation is a company of people who are defined by their creation in the image of God, living souls, whether they know it or not. They are not problems to be fixed, but mysteries to be honored and revered. … My work is not to fix people. It is to lead people in the worship of God and to lead them in living a holy life.” p.136- 137.

A wonderful reminder for my heart and mind that tends to want to jump in and try to “fix” people and their problems.

As we enter into a New Year, may all of us who have the privilege of ministering to God’s people treat them as image bearers to be honored, not as problems to be solved.  And may that be the primary way in which we engage them.

Through a blog entry that Jeffrey Sachs (Head of the Earth Institute at Columbia) posted on the Huffington Post, I learned that Congress is re-thinking the pledge the US made to give $1.3 billion to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria for the next fiscal year. That sounds like a substantial number though its money well spent. It goes to fund various development programs including such basics as life saving mosquito nets, has saved 7 million lives over the last decade and improved the health of countless others.  But 1.3B doesn’t seem like much – because it isn’t - when you compare it to the $1.9 billion that the US spends on the military EVERY DAY.  Yes you read that right.  This country spends almost 2 Billion dollars a day to protect the interests of this country but you and I both know that in those efforts, it ends up maiming and killing thousands of civilians and devastating neighborhoods.

It’s frightening to contemplate.  And it makes me wonder what God thinks as he watches us begrudge funds to help the least of these while doling out funds that end up taking lives and destroying communities. Have  we lost sight of the fact that we are ALL created in His image, in His likeness?

Sobering stuff indeed.

Lord have mercy.

Here’s the link to Sach’s piece if you want all the gory details: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/washington-leaves-million_b_1112746.html .  And once you read it, PRAY. Pray for God’s kingdom to come, here on earth as it is in heaven.

This past Thursday I hosted an event at the home of  Duncan and Jen, Redeemer friends, to share the news about what God is doing at Faith Alive, in Jos Nigeria.  On Sunday, I hosted a similar  event with the Health Care Fellowship Group. Russ McCahan, the Executive Director was visiting from Colorado and he shared the incredible story of how from a gift of $300 to Dr. Chris 12 years ago and a calling on his life to serve the poor,  a free HIV/AIDS clinic was started.  Now Faith Alive has a staff of 15o, including 10 full-time physicians, 6 accountants, and 4 pastors who care for 15,000 patients a month in a three-story building constructed as a gift from Covenant Baptist Church in California and in 4 satellite sites in outlying villages.

But it’s not just the volume of patients served which is remarkable, but the scope of services that Faith Alive serves as an anchor for.  There is counseling and testing, antiretroviral medicines, support groups, surgery, labor and delivery, prevention of HIV from mothers to babies, home-based care, transitional housing, directly observed therapy, nutrition, skills training,and  a school for orphans.

And there is a 5 year vision: to create a teaching hospital to train doctors and other health care workers to care for patients in a holistic way. The land has already been purchased and a task force of Nigerian doctors across the world who will help to shape the curriculum is being established.

What a joy and a gift it is for me to be able to be involved in the promotion of an HIV/AIDS clinic in my hometown which serves the poor and the disenfranchised, all in the name of Jesus.

To find out more about Faith Alive, to consider visiting Faith Alive (they welcome visitors!) or to contribute to its long-term vision, contact russellmccahan@gmail.com.

Last night at Catalyst, I had the privilege of seeing God at work in the midst of my sinful heart. It was the dinner hour and with a slice of pizza on my plate, I looked around for someone to talk to. I immediately noticed a young man sitting and eating alone. I’d noticed him in previous weeks but hadn’t felt compelled to get to know him.  I still didn’t feel particularly compelled last night either but as I scanned the room a second time, everyone else seemed engaged in conversation already.  Convicted, I  sat down beside him and introduced myself. He was fairly new to Redeemer (came in the last 6 months) and is a recent graduate of Colgate. As we talked I learned that his parents were from Jamaica – two of my close friend are from there – and his mother and I attended the same college. We sat there for at least 15 minutes trading stories, enjoying a sweet conversation, and finding many points of connection. My slice of pizza gone, I shook his hand and thanked him for chatting, and I really meant it.

I had approached him – not as a Christian first, as a brother – but because I was a staff person feeling obligated to do the welcoming thing. And instead God gave me a gift and compelled me to open it – through our shared conversation.

It was a reminder of how limited my eyesight is here  on earth. So often I fail to see that which is eternal and instead focus myopically on that which is transient and fading.

Because of my near -sightedness, I almost missed out on what God was giving me.  I wonder how ofen that happens and I don’t ever realize it…?

Several weeks ago, I awoke in the wee hours of the morning and learned from the BBC about the death of Dr.  Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace prize, at the age of 71. Apparently she had been battling ovarian cancer and died following a week in a Nairobi hospital. She received the prize in 2004 – amid some controversy with some claiming that her life’s efforts were not worthy of this prestigious award.  As the first woman to be granted a PhD in East Africa (!), she is best known for founding The Green Belt Movement (www.greenbeltmovement.org) and starting a tree planting effort that began in her native Kenya and now encompasses millions of trees (literally) that have been planted in nations across the globe. She was honored for making the connections between women’s  livelihoods, development, world peace and the sustainability of communities, and for advocating for tree planting, a simple but lasting solution – re-forestation - to begin to address these critical issues.  She also served as a Minister in a previous Kenyan administration. I never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Maathai, but I grieve her loss.

So on Friday when the Nobel Committee announced that the Peace Prize this year would be shared by three women, two of whom are from Liberia, my heart sang.  The spirit of Dr. Maathi lives on.  The first democratically elected female president of an African nation, 72 year old Harvard educated Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and lesser known, Leymah Gbowee, but a powerful peace activist in her own right are the two African women carrying the baton.  Their efforts and the global recognition that is conferred by this award raises awareness of the importance of women’s rights giving visibility to the perseverance of countless women in the world’s poorest continent.

Viva the Women of Africa!

* Photo is courtesy of the NY Times website.

I’ve discovered a website that helps to give information about companies that are the “best” in terms of human rights, the environment, animal protection, community involvement and social justice.  There are also top “worst” lists as well.  Check out www.betterworldshopper.org  .

And if you’re really ready to embrace this and make it a lifestyle change, order ‘The Better World Shopping Guide’.  There is a pocket-sized version that easily fits into a small purse and you can take it shopping and before you pull that detergent off the shelf – you can check to see what grade the company that produces it has got and decide if that is where you want your $$ to go.

Just as a teaser, the best company” on the planet” with an A+ grade is ‘Seventh Generation’ (www.seventhgeneration.com ) who supply recycled toilet paper and environmentally friendly cleaning products.  According to this source, they are winners of the sustainability award and the socially responsible business award.  Companies given an ‘A’ grade are those that were often specifically created” to provide socially and environmentally responsible options for consumers”.

Why wouldn’t you want your money to support those efforts?  We may live in an overtly consumeristic society, obsessed with consumption, but in ways that matter, you can determine where your hard-earned dollars go, and you can use them with intention for the flourishing of  people and God’s creation.

The 3 companies at the top of the  ‘F’ list are Exxon-Mobil, Kraft Foods, and Wal-Mart.  Other well-known firms are there too: GM, General Electric, AIG,  Citibank, Pfizer, Microsoft, Verizon, and Bank of America – yikes.  Yes, its sobering stuff.

So from banks, to cars, to airlines, to electronics, to food, to shampoo to supermarkets, find out where your money is going – and then make a committment to be better informed and spend in ways that really count. For your good and for God’s glory.

In the afternoon, I attended a workshop on the HIV pandemic held at Trinity Grace.  The program featured stories primarily about the work of World Vision partnering with churches which have come to embrace the widows and orphans of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa as their own. WV’s primary mode of getting churches involved is through vision trips to East Africa to allow leaders to see the epidemic unfolding first hand and then through child sponsorship. For $35/month, not just a child, but a whole family and community  – up to 60 people – is impacted.  Sadly, for me, WV is not in Nigeria (yet); their primary areas of focus for HIV are East and southern Africa.

At one point, John Volinsky of WV shared how his former church, Bayside in Sacramento got involved in this work. When he mentioned Bayside, my ears perked up. A month ago, that wouldn’t have meant anything to me, but when I was in Jos at Faith Alive, I had learned that a church in California called Bayside had built that facility in just 6 months.

Surely this must be the same church? Well, it was! When I approached John afterwards to introduce myself, he confirmed that his former church had infact built Faith Alive. And the best part was that the funds for that came from a capital campaign they did, where, in advance, they committed to give away HALF of the funds they raised. They needed to raise $10 million and they ended up raising $19M - gulp.  So they had $9.5 million to give away to 40 different projects, of which Faith Alive was just one.

How Great is our God!  I praise our God, who is a God of generous justice, for Bayside Church, for their generous hearts, and generous giving, and for the blessing they are to Faith Alive in Jos, Nigeria, which  is an on-going gift to that community.

One of the brightest spots during my time in Jos was a visit to Faith Alive Hospital, a 3 story facility that identifies and cares for women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS – free of charge.  Truthfully, I didn’t know much about Faith Alive before going there, but  since I had recently started making a modest contribution to this work through a  US-based Mennonite organization and because I have a personal and professional interest in the AIDS epidemic, I decided it made sense for me to stop by the next time I was in Jos.

My visit to Faith Alive far exceeded my expectations.  Started in the mid-1990s as a counseling center by Dr. Christian (Chris) Isichei (above) with $300 of his own personal funds, Faith Alive now serves 500 patients a day, supported by multiple streams of funding. It is a holistic ministry, which cares not just for the treatment needs of AIDS patients, but focuses on primary prevention through HIV counseling and testing, offers family care and follow-up, and combats opportunistic infections like TB therapy. On site, there is an operating theatre, a labor and delivery center, support groups, motorcycles for home visits and follow-up, as well as micro-credit and skills training programs.

Each of the staff adopts a patient to follow and support, and some have taken children living with HIV into their homes and are raising them as their own.  On additional property, there is a school for AIDS orphans, and land has been purchased to expand the current site into a teaching hospital, by 2016, God willing.

In city rife with religious and economic tension, at Faith Alive, Christians and Muslims work side by side and are treated equally as patients without discrimination. Thus, Faith Alive stands as a beacon not just of a radical example of showing God’s love to the least of these, but as a symbol of reconciliation.

To read more about the remarkable work of Faith Alive, visit www.faithalivenigeria.org .