Saying Goodbye

It's tough to say goodbye...it seems like my life is all about goodbyes. The funny thing is that I need this move, I really feel like it is time to move on from Swaziland. I do not know how to explain it but I have peace in my bones about it.

I'll miss people, that is for sure. It's been harder on me to see people's reactions to my moving. I have come to realize that it will affect and impact people. That's tough...I've been through this before but some of the people my moving will affect have not. I know they will be ok but there is no way of explaining...i guess only experience and time can.

Here are some of the faces I am saying goodbye to.

Gcinile

So Karl and I had some visitors this past week. Nhlanhla and Gcinile spent the night at our home after some family problems forced them out of a relatives house for the night. Nhlanhla went to school and left Gcinile in the care of Karl and I. It was an interesting adventure. Karl and I are not schooled in the finer arts of taking care of two year olds. Anyhow, she's a cutie and they've got a bright future ahead of them...i believe that and because our God is faithful!

CLINGING

Lately I've had a lot of people around me lose people that are close to them. I've heard of many struggles and of many heartbreaks. There have been many relatives facing illness and death lately. I guess this is part of growing up and aging. Death is not fun but for those with hope in Christ it is true healing. No more pain, no more tears...

I've been encouraged by Jeremiah 13. It shows that our true purpose is to cling to God. We are meant to cling to God – Jeremiah 13:11 – Listen to God, do not be proud, we are meant to cling to him, he is central, oh that we would make him central.

We are going to face storms in life but we can find peace in Christ. We can cling to God and his loving arms will embrace us. We are but foreigners here on this earth.

40 Days of Prayer 0001

Let's pray, let's lay the groundwork for a generation changed, transformed, metamorphosis

http://fortydays.childrenscup.org - join us!

YouTube Life 09

Check out some pictures of my life and my ministry from the first 6 months of 2009

Open Spaces

What to say... I've been hearing, learning, listening to a lot of good stuff lately. Truth like the importance of accountability, the vastness of God's ability, the power in God's grace, the beauty of God, the joy that is waiting on our faith, and so much more. Good stuff, need to apply it to my life. I'm hoping to take a little trip away next month to dive deep into what God has been whispering to me. I've got to get away, not sure why but feeling a bit run down...dare I say suffocated in Swaziland the past couple months.

I've been here for three years, its weird to think. I think I've accumulated pain from seeing people come and go, come and go that inside I'm just feeling a bit done right now. It's also made me question our programs a bit. Not that what we're doing is bad but is it creating dependence, is it sustainable, if it is not all sustainable...is that bad. In this changing world, is support from the United States the way forward? What about the Asian church and the European Church? I have many questions and it feels like its all too much to just answer. So, I will head for the mountain, I will head for the open spaces where simplicity and God reign. Oh, God reigns everywhere but in the open spaces I know in such greater clarity the sovereignty of God. I understand my place, God's place and the place of our problems/opportunities. I challenge you that reads this...find your place where you see and hear God clearly. Schedule your time there, get into the deep things in your heart and let God heal, guide, encourage and inspire you...that's what I'm doing!

God's Movement

A Sacred Moment; Beautiful and Painful were the two words that came to mind as I reflected on my time with the Courageous in Christ youth this past weekend. One of our girls lost her mother. The funeral was Friday night. The youth leaders led the following Saturday's youth program.

The youth leaders had the girl, Phumzile, sit in the middle as the rest of us circled around her. They sang over Phumzile and then prayed for her. We started a second song with tears welling up in almost everyone's eyes. Ten of the girls lost it, grabbed one another and started crying. Nosmilo entered the circle and just put her arm around Phumzile. It was terribly painful and yet God was there healing hearts. So many of our youth have lost one or both parents. They shared Phumzile's pain, they sang hope over her, they felt the deep pain she was feeling and they wrapped their arms around her. It was a beautiful and it was terrible. God was there, he brought peace, he showed me that hope, love and healing will win. The youth have suffered much but now they are able to minister such deep love to one another. This is the body of Christ, this reflects God's purpose for the body...

Been Thinking...

Lately I have had some time to think and take life in. It has been good. Slowing down has reminded me of the faithfulness of God. I've been a bit sick the past 6 weeks as has a bunch of the Children's Cup staff. Two weeks ago I got on a Mountain Bike and I headed out to Mlilwane Nature Reserve. I found an amazing spot to ride on the crest between three mountain peaks. It is far removed from the rest of the park where people, cars and even animals congregate. God spoke to me, he spoke to the deep parts of me. God reminded me that indeed He, God...Creator...Maker, loves me deeply. I've been praying for the past 10 months that God would wake up my heart. That I'd live fully alive. Something broke that day on the mountain. Yeah I've been on and off sick the last two weeks but a heaviness is gone. Life seems to contain such possibility again. I am awake to the Glory of God that truly does fill the earth.

I don't want to play Christianity, I don't want to play church...I don't want to just survive, I don't want to live fearfully (oh and without knowing it we are all living in some kind of fear that holds us back)...I want ZOE!! Yeah that's not some hot and awesome girl that I've found. ZOE in Greek stands for Life, Life as God has life...full life, joyful, on mission, you know that thing Thoreau talked about, the marrow...yeah that's what I am after.

to be continued...

A Wrap Up Video of Go Global in Africa

HPC African Mission '09 Recap from Paul Charbonnet on Vimeo.

Inside of Me

God’s been opening up my heart recently. He has shown me my need for people. I think as a young man one receives many messages both obvious and subtle telling you that you need to stand on your own two feet and that asking for help is weak. In my head I knew that this was contrary to the Word of God but I still lived in fear and pride…standing as a lone ranger.

Through sickness, reading the living word and recognizing my own limitations God has been slowly working this out of me. Truth be told, no one has it all together all of the time. I need God but the truth is that a lot of the time God works through people. To be God’s instrument of reaching is fine but to be loved by God through others has traditionally been unnerving to me. It’s to admit weakness, need, dependence…on God but more troubling on others is difficult. It’s healthy though, it’s being real about ourselves and our situation.

Kb made an interesting comment the other day. He said, “eish, you Americans do not know how to receive a gift. Immediately when or right after receiving the gift you go out or begin to plan to buy a gift for the person who gave you the gift. You treat gifts like a transaction; you need to learn to simply receive.” Yeah, so I have lots to learn, I need to learn that when God is reaching out to me I can just receive. I can admit need and let him through friends, family and strangers fill that need. Lots to learn…

Pastor’s Conference

- one of the pastors on an outreach

My thoughts…May 27th & 28th we held a Pastor’s Conference. Over 300 church leaders from over 100 churches came out to the two day conference. It was amazing to see the response and hunger of the Pastors in Southern Africa. Go Global sent over teams of people to help pull off the first ever Go Global Southern Africa Pastor’s Conference. Anyways that’s the context, here are my thoughts…

Amazing, beyond what we could think of 4 years ago. I stood with Nathie Hlatshwayo at the back of a room as over 300 church leaders admitted weakness, cried out repentance, sang out true worship to the Most High. We started in a little office with a couple CarePoints. How did this come about…it’s beyond us. I stood with Nathie half crying and half smiling. My mind was filled with thoughts of how faithful the Lord is, how he will work out things for the good of those who love him. My heart was filled with joy and sadness as I admitted that this was beyond what I really believed God for…he was faithful where I often lose faith.

Ok. Context again; Nathie and I were some of the first guys to work with Children’s Cup. Nathie and I shared a small backroom office with no windows and an overloaded desk. It felt like an old garage that need to be cleaned out for some time. Anyways…Cup entered Swaziland 5 years ago. Ben worked zealously and then Nathie, Daran and I joined him. We worked hard to get the local church involved. Then we lost hope, we stopped praying, we stopped trying to involve the local church. A lot has happened and then this year God put it on our hearts again to reach out to the local church…

Over 100 churches represented, the leaders learning about serving then heading out to actually practice it in communities, cities, homesteads and CarePoints. We had sort of given up on the church getting involved. We had sort of written off the local church. But God, But God!!!! Wow, it is true that in our own strength nothing of consequence can truly happen…but with God the impossible, the impossible is possible. Nathie and I stood in silence, tears sliding down our faces, smiles curving upwards and joy welling in our hearts as we watched our God at work.

Hey People

So...the last month and a half have been crazy. The truth is that God has been at work in a great way. Right now my Mom's visiting and the Sister In-Law (Colleen) was here...check out this pic:


Updates coming....

Bomake Camp!

Please check out the video of our recent cooks camp. Jacci, Nellie & Karabo did a great job building into the lives of about 100 volunteer cooks. It was a huge blessing and the atmosphere at the CarePoints is greatly changed. If we touch these ladies, they in turn will help show the love of God to the precious children that come to the CarePoints. It was a really cool event, check out the video:

Bomake Camp

Servin it Up!

CarePoint Youth Serve Day

SERVOLUTION IN SWAZILAND!

Bracket Love

So I haven 't seen the last three NCAA tournaments. I decided to put together a couple of brackets on ESPN.com in order to pay attention to this tournament a bit. So having not seen any games this year I went ahead to pick my winners.

My Entries

NAME	GROUP	PTS	PCT	RNK
pconti02 1	Create or Join a Group	1770	100.0	144

That is right, number 144 out of over 4.5 million entries. Not bad if I do say so myself. Hate the game, not the playa....hahahah

Strip it off!

^{Hebrews 12:1-3 Do you see what this means-all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed-that exhilarating finish in and with God-he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!}

This is an awesome verse, its cool how the message breaks it down a bit. Man, what 'ministry', what distraction, what comfort, what relationship, what work, what hobby is keeping me from Jesus. What is keeping me from pressing in, from running the race?

Take a minute, don't settle for a little bit of God. It's not a contract, it's a relationship...do I truly hunger after God. Do I hunger after more of Jesus? Good questions, need to check myself.

Another roomate goes

We at the Pad (or my favorite - The Hacienda) had the opportunity to have Matt's father with us for three weeks. He is a really cool guy and we enjoyed his stories and cooking. He headed back to Oregon last week. Just wanted to share a picture of all the guys who live at the Pad.

School Fees

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I have been running around like a madman trying to help different CarePoint kids get into school. The Swazi educational system is a bit crazy. The students must pay school fees which is a significant portion of most Swazi's income. This is a real strain for our CarePoint kids because they come from extremely poor families.

The youth have it tough in Manzini because it is extremely hard to find a place in school. High schools are overcrowded in Manzini and often even if you come up with the money the school turns students away. This forces young people that do not have money to find a way to travel anywhere between 10km - 30km to school. The students pass their Grade 7 (high school entrance exam) exam but still cannot find decent schools to go to. It is stressful. This is repeated in Form 4 where students take a Junior Certificate Exam. Often if you do not do well on this exam your school will kick you out in favor of other students. This is frustrating because the students pass the exam but still fail to retain a spot in their school, forcing them to look again.

Finally the last observation I can make is that the timing of this process is terrible. The Grade 7 exam results come out 1 and 1/2 weeks before the first year of High School starts. This puts enormous strain on parents, school administration, students and espcially the school secretaries.

Having said all this, God has been good and most the kids that I'm aware of have found a place in school. I also realize that a school system that lacks money cannot function very well. Between school shortages, teacher shortages and other obstacles the Swazi school system has to fight a lot of negative factors in order to educate students. Hopefully it will improve as more dialogue begins.

If you'd like to help Children's Cup send kids to school please go to the Cup Website and designate the money for 2009 Project: Cup Kid to School or send a check to PO Box 400, Prairieville, LA 70769. Love y'all thanks!

Preaching in Mozi

So I was blessed with the opportunity to preach at Healing Place Church - Nkobe this past weekend. I felt pretty comfortable up there. I shared about getting Closer to God...I highlighted that our main objective in life is to seek, worship, abide in Him. The truth is that when we seek God, He takes care of the rest. It's a trust issue for most of us. I am reminded about how imperfect I am but I thank God that he uses people like me. I am but a broken vessel that somehow God uses. Check out some pics:

Investing in People

I've been realizing lately that I am kind of hands off with people. I kind of do my own thing and let other people do there own thing. I'm beginning to realize that I can function ok but often I need to get more involved with the lives, struggles, questions of people around me. Currently in a couple different scenarios I am invested in peoples lives...in their issues. It's a worthwhile place to be even if I don't exactly enjoy the messiness of it. It is actually the place I need to be if I really want to be an agent of change and vessel of transformation. That's why I am in Africa right? Well I'm learning that its in all relationships that I need to dive in. I need to dive in to the reality instead of being comfortable with the superficial. Pray for me in this...I'm returning to a place that I long to a step away from. Being invested means being hurt but it also means so much more. Pray for me to have courage in this area.

Love y'all who read...hoping to do a much better job in 2009 than I did the last half of 2008.