We are by nature a transactional people.  It is in our DNA.  There is a cost, therefore there must be a benefit.  If there is no discernible, tangible, and directly correlated benefit then there is a problem. 

Inescapable images on the news and the ramifications of them have given us all reason to think. The last few days I have had a thought heavy on my mind. What do you do when you can’t make sense of  a season in your life? Your sacrifices are met with empty harvests and brass heavens?  What do you do with a promise and only a 40-year hike to show for it? I think the question of “what it was worth” stems from who we are as a people.  We are by nature a transactional people.  It is in our DNA.  There is a cost, therefore there must be a benefit.  If there is no discernible, tangible, and directly correlated benefit then there is a problem.

I taught at a school in the township of Mauersnek, placed on the outskirts of Ladybrand, Free State, South Africa.  An idyllic little farm town cloaked in sandstone walls and cradled in the embrace of a semicircular plateau that opens up to slightly undulating farm fields as you make your way northeast towards Johannesburg.  It was beautiful.  It was also maddening, disheartening, frustrating, exhilarating, and fulfilling.  During the years of 2008-2014 with some breaks in between to finish a degree, I taught at the Hope Christian Academy.  Our students ranged from solid middle-class Basotho children out of Maseru, to upper-middle-class Afrikaans children from the Ladybrand area, to the extreme poverty and broken homes of Mauersnek and her sister township, Manyatseng.

I went through misunderstandings and criticisms by parents and students alike. I experienced the love and support of parents and students alike.  I endured situations of family grief and experienced tragedy in my close friendships without any of my familial support structure.  On average I would receive around $800 dollars a month on which to live and minister.  I often shared my lunch with my students because they didn’t have any.

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