i met the future Prime Minister of Ethiopia!

just got back from ethiopia last night... i'm tired on many different levels. however in the days to come i'll be giving you a retrospective of my time there. but in the meantime here's a post from my time there. you can check out what other members of my team had to say here: www.journeyweb.net/ethiopiahopeblog

here's my post:

hi. my name is chris townley and i won! that’s right, i won… the birth lottery. and i won a game of thumb war against my new friends (and Bright Hope students) samell (6^th grade) and barnabas (8^th grade). but that’s not the point. the point is i had the privilege of being born in the U.S. and samir and barnabas were born in ethiopia with a lot less than myself. the difference between us is why i’m here. it reminds me of this haitian proverb that says something like, “God gives us everything we need, He just doesn’t share.” this may or may not be theologically correct but it is at the heart of what i’ve been experiencing in addis ababa, ethiopia. i need to share. i need to share money, time, experience, comfort, and love because sharing makes me, and those i share with, come alive.

it really is the sight of the kids that breaks apart my insides. children without homes or parents or food or water or extra clothes. how can this not shatter my heart? i have all of those things and i want to do my best to “give freely as i have received” (matthew 10:8). really, what i want to do is love these kids like Jesus loves me and today our team was privileged to love in a number of ways.

we moved huge boulders. we moved tiny rocks. we mixed cement… by hand! we moved some more rocks. we stacked rocks. we crushed big rocks into small rocks. you get the idea, right? today rocked!

we also got to explain to the students why we were there. some asked if we were charging them to build the wall, we told them it was because we loved them. some tried to do the work for us so we wouldn’t have to carry large loads of stones, they told us they loved us. it was a battle of serving one another. a beautiful thing!

i even had an 8^th grade girl ask me what my future plans were (to which my answer is irrelevant) and when i returned the question she told me that she wanted to be Prime Minister of Ethiopia. maybe i shook hands with the future of Ethiopia. what are your future plans?

the above thoughts are as jumbled as the experiences of the last 4 days. but wait! there’s more…

as we filled up sacks with avocado sized stones and hauled them some 500 yards down a skinny, hiking-trail-like path our backs started to ache, our arms began to feel weak, and our legs were shaking. but the 4 women who were carrying sacks of stones with us were as strong as the very rocks on their backs. they set the tone. they were the definition of strength and perseverance. and they did all this in plastic, slip-on shoes. i don’t think i can accurately describe the inspiration that radiated from these women. i can tell you, honestly, i’m not that strong.

you see, i want to do everything i can to emulate the joy of the Bright Hope students and the shear will of these ethiopian women. and in the process of learning, sharing, changing, and breaking i want my privileged american life to exude the love of Jesus, because if it does not show love it is utterly meaningless. today my life had meaning.

you don’t necessarily need to travel to ethiopia in order to experience love and meaning… but i’d say the trip would be well worth it!