Another Prayer Priority

"No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10: 29-30)


I hope so!


I hang on to the promise of eternal life, although I worry that it can become an opiate...


Yes I have experienced persecutions.  In the past year these include deprivation by an abusive boss who has held back over 50% of my annual income, isolation like Elijah in the cave, hate-speech, and invasion of my privacy.  Was it "for me and the gospel"?  I say so - because I stood up for justice, I blew the whistle on corruption, I hated evil (Romans 12:9) and I contested xenophobia.  Even the deprivation of my salary was justified in one deposition on the grounds that I am a missionary and therefore should contribute my time to community service.  (Even though this same guy had signed an employment contract with me 2 months earlier!)


You have heard this all before, in one prayer letter or another!  So I will move on to the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.


Tomorrow is the fourth major meeting in as many weeks.  It started on Monday Feb 4th when I met a Director General in Pretoria and 6 of his advisors, accompanied by a fellow C4L Board member.

That meeting had a domino effect... on Tuesday Feb 12th a Round Table of 15 role-playes was convened to hear C4L's case.  The consequence of that meeting was an invitation by our counterpart organization to meet again in Pretoria on Tuesday Feb 19th.  By this time they realized that we had "blown their cover" and that they were in check.
Tomorrow I hope we can put them in check-mate at the fourth meeting, here in White River, in the offices of C4L's attorney.


I was surpressing tears this morning in church as we sang these words from an old hymn: "That Christ has regarded my helpless estate".  I can tell you, Elijah in a cave is truly a "helpless estate".  That is where I was only weeks ago.  But He can turn weakness into strength.  The same One who created a universe out of nothing promises me "much in this present age".

Please remind Him for me of His promise, and that tomorrow's meeting could seal the deal that will put C4L back into its righful place in an equitable and just Joint Venture.


Nevertheless, we are still insisting on Partition.  Once bitten, twice shy.  We want our counterpart organization to work on the highveld and let C4L run the CWP programming where we are located, here in the Lowveld.  We are citing irreconcilable differences and just asking that a space be carved out for C4L in its own natural habitat.


My counterpart is facing several counts of fraud and his NGO is shaken by the prospect of his possible departure - to jail.  DV.  So they are back-peddling.


So please pray for me as we enter this final phase of negotiations.  Failing which C4L is in a legal position now to effect dissolution.  And speaking morally, to do so without it seeming like we are suicide bombers!  For the consequences of dissolution are chaotic.  But all the role players are now forewarned and forearmed and there is growing recognition that C4L has been abused, sidelined, maligned and deprived... so no one will be too surprised if it comes to that.


Thanks for your prayers.