Saturday 31 December 2016

Pressing On - towards the Mark

Looking back at 2016 and especially the last three months of an unforgettable Harvest School my heart is just filled with gratitude. As I reminisce about Harvest School there are things I fondly remember and miss such as the beautiful faces, the beautiful smiles and those sparkling eyes. I think of the morning gong, the ubiquitous pao, all two of them and the promise of a brand new day with high expectations. I remember the sounds, the children's laughter and their high pitched "Salama" greeting and the chirping of the sparrow family that nested right above our room door.

How could I forget the morning walk to class with the whiteboard surprise, the hop, skip and jump announcements of Papa T with those jokes as dry as a four day old pao followed by the wild appreciation of his nation of the day. I hold dear the memory of the worship - the spontaneity, the obliviousness, the hunger, the adoration, the intimacy and the sweetness. I miss the predictable unpredictability of class. hearing a seemingly familiar verse/teaching/theology like never before, going from Yes and then to No and then to does this all really matter - when it is ALL really about Him - the one and only - the whole point of our affection - Jesus. There is so much more I do appreciate - the crazy testimonies and stories, the discussions, the skits, the prayers....


The Retrospectoscope - kindly drawn by Katie Barth


I remember an intimate moment during worship where the word disappointment came up - not disappointment in God but more in myself, some of my choices and why I waited until fifty-something ... when I heard God say "that is why I saved you" and I saw this arm saving me from drowning - an event which happened when I was two and a half years old. I was under the water in the deep end of the Freddies Mine swimming pool in Odendaalsrus when my father spotted me and pulled me up from the deep. I did not hear God audibly but in one moment He erased all the issues of disappointment. Later on in Harvest School I thought of the word "retrospectoscope" - a word doctors sometimes use when a challenging patient's diagnosis becomes so glaringly obvious when one examines the situation with hindsight. The retrospectoscope I imagined was a combination of a submarine's periscope but pointing backwards with a microscope attached and the lost navigator was stuck in the past oblivious of the bright future with a rainbow of Hope.


Pressing On by Bob Dylan - vinyl version

Pressing On as sung by Bob Dylan has always been a favourite sealed with a particular moment - it was the end of 1982 and I was driving my white Golf in Kotze street above the Old Fort towards Medical school in Hillbrow, Johannesburg to write the make or break final Anatomy exam after an all nighter of spotting - despite the gravity of the situation the song took me to another place - far away. The moment was made even sweeter when I heard I passed this massive exam. Thirty Five years later this song still speaks to me - I even found my original vinyl record and listened to Bob Dylan singing the message of Philippians 3:14 with accompanying scratches. As I read the verse again the message of "Pressing On" is so profound but much more than "grin and bare it" or "hang in there".

A personal and incomplete study of a portion Philippians 3

There is so much Truth in these few verses and though I am not a biblical scholar I just stand amazed - Highlighted words - Loss, Garbage, To Know Christ, I Press On, One Thing, Forgetting, I Press On Toward. The contrasts of Loss versus Gain, forgetting the past and embracing the future and so much more. I know I will be chewing on these verses for some time - even the difficult ones of "participation in his sufferings..." It is the last day of 2016 and as incredible as it was I focus now on 2017 with my periscope fixed firmly on the Joy that is before me laying to rest the things of the past.  I have the Prize firmly in my sights - His name is Jesus and nothing compares to Him for it truly is ALL about Him.





2 comments:

  1. Wow Mark what an awesome blog. "Retrospectiscope"...I love it! This is our first morning in Hawai`i and I woke up early to view the stars through my own retrospectiscope. God is awesome!

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  2. Hey Brian thanks for the kind words and all of the best for you and Cathy in Hawaii - may your next chapter be out of this world!

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