I haven’t written in a long time because I’ve been
speechless…
Okay, frustrated… FINE - I’ve
been pouting.
The Ladd Family was eager to take another faith leap outside
of our comfort zones when we moved to Cape Town with a call to plant and pastor
a new church. Although the city is more westernized than anywhere we’ve lived
in South Africa before, I have spent the past few months feeling hopelessly out
of my element.
We are surrounded by entirely different cultures and
lifestyles than we’ve experienced before, so we are always learning! To keep us
laughing and grounded, we spend dinnertime celebrating our identity and the
unique makeup of our family. Lifa says Mom and Dad add “d’s” to everything (water: wah-dder, not watt-ter).
I say South Africans make the word “prayer” one syllable, and it’s impossible
for me to reproduce that monosyllabic sound. Lifa’s friends cannot believe how he says “eggs and
bacon”, so they ask him to say it over and over again. (No, he cannot remember
how eggs and bacon ever came up in the first place. I asked.)
Multicultural, multilingual, multicolored can be fun!
Imagine heaven!
But it’s the
conversations that don’t happen at the safety of our dinner table that have
left me stormy on the inside. It’s my 9-year old son’s rip-off-the-bandaid
exposure to the world that has turned my words into personal, impassioned
prayers instead of positive Instagram posts.
I got mad at Cape
Town when Lifa started to lose himself in this big city.
I’ve been quietly
going to battle in my heart, mind and home.
We are not a family to be tossed to and fro with every gust
of the infamous Cape Town wind. We are here to plant a church in one of the
world’s most attractive and influential cities. It is a city more resistant to
the Church than any other I’ve seen, but we were made to impact Cape Town for
Jesus.
That means mama’s
gotta stop being cranky and find a way to plant some roots!
We’ve been given eyes to see a lot of what’s happening in
this city in the past few months.
We hear stories of upper-class suicides as we walk through
our neighborhood with Buddhas perched decoratively in windows. We watch the devastating effects of wealthy
secrets, drugs and sexual pandemonium in a part of the city we feel especially
called to.
My son comes home from school asking if he can be friends
with kids who love Allah because all but three kids in his class are Muslim. (Of
course you can!) I’ve Google translate Arabic words to be able to respond to
messages from the moms in Lifa’s class, and pulled fearful, confused Christian
boys out of the mosque when a school field trip took an inappropriate turn. I
had never even noticed the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan until we had to
confront Lifa for not eating his lunch at school during the fasting.
I believe God has
been giving us His eyes to see this new city He’s called us to.
And I think God has
heart-storms too.
I think God hates to watch 9-year old boys be over-exposed,
confused and fearful as much as he hates to see 39-year old fathers lead their
family in that same way. I think He also cringes and cries while he watches
marriages crumble behind sparkling veneers. I believe He’s also angry at the
idols that perch in windows, flash on social media, or fill up glass after glass.
I bet He also wants to sweep His children away into the
wilderness to say “REMEMBER ME! REMEMBER
WHO YOU ARE! REMEMBER HOW I MADE YOU,” like we recently did with Lifa on
the coldest, greatest camping trip of all times.
It’s because He loves
so much He’s willing to let it hurt.
He so loved that
He sent His only Son, unprotected from the elements, to immerse Himself in the
middle of the big, bad, broken world.
That Son looked at
Table Mountain and knew the brokenness that would surround it. He did not
shudder like I sometimes shudder when I look at Table Mountain.
He said, “Cape Town, Come.”
“Come, everyone who
thirsts, come to the waters… Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your
soul may live.”
I’m finally ready to speak and to confess I need to see this
city differently. He looks at me and says, “Yes.
Now you can go.”
“You shall go out in
joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills before you shall break into
singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
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| You should DEFINITELY follow my handsome husband on Instagram: chrisleeladd HE TAKES PHOTOS LIKE THIS! |
