Saah Joseph was at Jefferson Baptist Church tonight and will be there tomorrow as well. He is a Senator in the West African country of Liberia. I first met Saah in 2002 in Sierra Leone right after the end of the awful 20-year civil war between Sierra Leone and Liberia over control of diamonds, often called the “Blood Diamond” war. Saah was a young refugee of the war. Four of us flew over to Sierra Leone to investigate the possibility of starting a mission work there. The four of us along with Saah and the driver of our rented car drove across Sierra Leone. It was the craziest experience of my life. The country was totally destroyed because of the war, people were living in mud huts with banana leaf roofs in terrible poverty. The roads were so bad that we had 7 flat tires and with no service stations getting them fixed was a challenge. We were there for several weeks and while we were there we started two churches. Since that time many more churches have been started along with dozens of schools and a Seminary. Saah and I became very good friends on that first trip over to Sierra Leone and it was so good to see him tonight. I have been back to Sierra Leone and Liberia about 20 times since 2002, and I am looking forward to going back again this April. Tonight Saah said that he would drive down to where I will be when I go, and we could drive around the country for old times sake. The roads are much better now so it won’t be quite like that first trip. A very funny thing happened on that first trip. The car we were in was overheating so the driver stopped by a small creek to get some water to put in. We didn’t realize it but there was an old man in the creek taking a bath. When Saah and the driver started towards where he was he dipped down under the water holding his breath. They took a while to get the containers filled with water and the old man couldn’t hold his breath any more so he burst out of the water making this weird noise as he gasped for air. It terribly scared Saah and the driver and they came scrambling back to the car yelling that they saw a demon! As we looked back and saw this naked old man standing in the creek looking more scared than we were we all got a great laugh out of it, but I am sure that the old guy in the creek had no idea what was so funny.

There are 26 different character traits that I focus on as I pursue Christ-like maturity for myself. I was strong in some of them early because of my parents’ training, such as diligence. I am still weak in some of them, but I am working on them diligently. I think that my weakest character trait is gentleness, and most people who know me well would agree. I know my wife does. Several character traits are mentioned in the Bible that have a lot of blessings from God attached to them, and gentleness is right at the top. God loves gentleness and uses and rewards those strong in this character trait.  Gentleness is one of the two character traits mentioned that Jesus had. Many men are probably weak in this character trait because it seems feminine or weak. The King James word for gentleness is meekness, which sounds like weakness.

A significant requirement by God for those He would use as leaders is gentleness. Not many of our leaders in today’s world would rate very high in gentleness, however you would define it. Gentleness is influencing and persuading people with no irritation or anger. It is motivating people by honoring them. It is recognizing that we all are easily hurt or offended and working hard not to do that. As Jesus defined it, gentleness is treating people as you would like to be treated. Treating people with gentleness takes great strength, self-control, confidence, and godly self-worth. I have several people in my life who are very strong in this character trait, so I have good models to follow, and I am growing slowly but steadily to be more and more gentle.

I am four weeks from my left hip replacement surgery. I had my last physical therapy session yesterday, and I have my final doctor’s appointment next week, when they will X-ray my hip and declare me healed and good as new. I leave for Alaska on July 14th and expect to slay the salmon more than usual with my new mobility. The orthopedic surgeon had said when they looked at my X-rays before my surgery that my right hip seemed as bad as my left, but right now it doesn’t hurt at all, so I think I will leave it alone until it does get to hurting, if it ever does. My left hip had gotten so bad that it was hard for me to stand up straight. It is nice to be taller than my wife again. I often wonder what they did for various health issues, even a few hundred years ago. There are so many health issues in the weekly prayer letter; most of them would have been untreatable back then. I guess they prayed a lot, suffered, and died sooner than we do. I try very hard not to take any blessings from God for granted, and to thank Him constantly for them. A major blessing that would be easy to take for granted is that I was born in 1948, in the United States, to the parents I had, and with the history I have had. None of that was I responsible for; God decided it all. Did he have a plan for my life, or was it just a matter of chance?

Psalms 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were all the days that were ordained for me, when there was not one of them.

I have a responsibility to be a good steward of the life God has sovereignly given me, to never take it for granted, and to thank Him constantly.