Faith in the Jungle

"Why do you have to say 'man's grave'? Why not just 'grave'?" I ask.

"There's other kinds of 'graves'," they explain. "Food grave…"

"Food grave? Oh like you put food in the ground so it will grow. Yes, I see. That's different. The food still has life and will grow. The man is dead."

They laugh.

"No, the food is dead, but new life will come up."

The head translator smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye.

"Man, too. We put a body in the ground, but he will come up again with new life."

I've heard it said that things are different here. That even a man who's been a Christian a long time is still what we would consider a baby Christian. That PNG is lacking in mature Christians. I don't know who told me that. But I haven't seen that.

Yes, there's some wacky theology here. I recently heard a sermon that spoke of the assembly Satan attended before God in the book of Job. It said that man wasn't at the assembly because of the sin of Adam so angels had to attend in the place of man. In conclusion, angels are watching everything you do so you better be good or an angel will snitch on you.

Maybe they meant baby Christian as in faith of a child.

My village mama is a woman of prayer and moves and breathes with an expectation that God will hear her.

And He does.

She prays for rains to come because the ground is too firm to plant her garden.

They come.

Then she tells God, thank you but that's enough rain, I need to burn a new garden now.

The rains stop.

She prays for us to come and live in Aringina vs the myriad of other villages we could live in.

And we do.

Though I told her straight up that having her as my village mama is an answer to my prayer, so maybe we shouldn't count that one.

The fruit of the Spirit is evident in every one of her actions.

I don't know if her book smarts leave her thinking that angels are reporting back all of her behavior, but I know she has the sort of faith that can move mountains.

When I think of baby Christians, I think of so many people I know back home. People who the book of James refers to, those who look in the mirror and forget what they see, those who go to church Sunday morning and live the rest of the week adhering to a policy of American morals, as if Jesus called us to being good people instead of picking up our cross. People who just don't get that there's something more.

There is power in our God.

There is power in His followers.

There is power in us.

Jesus promised that we would do greater things that He did.

My mama doesn't forget that. She takes for granted that the Lord hears her prayers.

She doesn't question the command, ask, and you shall receive.

And in all she does, she glorifies God.

And after all is said and done, she'll get her reward.

"Man, too. We put a body in the ground, but he will come up again with new life."