Knysna: Where your Bible doubles as a drum

Our second trip to Knysna this morning was neither by train or for site-seeing, rather, we drove up the coast for a Church service and a wedding. The one-room building was probably 40 X 20 and decorated from ceiling to floor with balloons, flowers, table settings for the wedding party and some old Christmas lights that started blinking and playing music during morning announcements. It never fails, does it? Pete was the only one tall enough (6'7) to reach the switch. Problem solved. There was some impromtu singing right out of the gate, something we've grown accustomed to over the last week and a half. Since this Church has no means of acquiring instruments for worship, the Bible doubles as the drum! People were signing and banging the "good book" against their hands, benches, and whatever else they could find. Mine was the cheapy, pleather kind, contibuting very little to the overall cadence of the room. I switched to clapping, which never works. Scott evenutally led a Bible study from John 12:1-50, teaching us about Jesus' encounters with the people God loves, encouraging a life of Christ-like reflection. It's really amazing how people from all over the world can quickly take something an American is says about Jesus and immediately "amen" it and assimilate it to their own community in which they live. It's almost like you can feel the room lean in and, not only agree but, want to put it into practice.

Part Two: The Wedding
In some ways, the wedding was very familiar and at-home. In other ways, it was from another planet. There were the usual vows and exchanges, there was even the "you may kiss the bride" part of it all. But the dancing! And the singing, too. Following the kiss and the introduction of the newly formed family, the audience broke into 20 minutes of singing and dancing, both in the Church building and outside in the yard. Oh, and I sang two songs before the ceremony. I was asked on the fly to do so and couldn't remember the words to "The Rose" quick enough so, they got a couple of worship songs instead. I was introduced as the American who plays guitar and has a really bad voice. The place laughed. I grew self-conscience. Quickly. Couldn't remember a D-Chord to save my life. Everyone lived and Joseph and Elsie are now married.

There's Something We Didn't Tell You
A couple of days ago, Scott, Lindy, Joy, Brittni, Terri, Pete and I went to this Bungy Jumping place about hour up the road. I wasn't interested on account of too many "caught on tape" specials I had seen. But Joy, Brittni, Scott and Terri threw some Rand on the counter, signed the wavers and we all walked down to the bridge for good-byes and such. Scott went first, paving the way for the others. Lindy, Pete and I sat on a ledge off to the side, holding our breath as Scott's body flew towards the earth. He came off the platform in perfect swan-dive form, looking like a pro X-Games participant. Joy went next, jumping off the platform without much fear, doing a perfect routine. Brittni screamed "NO!" as they guided her to the edge of the platform. It turns out that she went. It was awesome to watch. Terri was the last to go, rounding out the morning in style, screaming the whole way down. Totally worth the trip and everyone has mad-respect from me now.

In Closing
As the sun was setting, we drove to the beach to finally touch the waters of the Indian Ocean. It was a good ending to our trip. It brought to mind the passage from Ecclessiastes 1:7-8 that reads:

"The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content." (NLT)

On the front end of an all-out search for meaning, the writer brings forward a true observation about us: We are never satisfied. As soon as we get what we want, we're already looking ahead for something else. Voids in our lives develop out of many reasons but, the ultimate issue is not feeling empty & being on the search; the issue lies in how we fill our hearts. Missions exists to take a permanent message into temporal and transient places. In our short stay here on the Cape our team has tasted the hearts of the people here and has taken part in the lives of the Laughrens, as they journey to take the message of Jesus to a lost and hurting culture. Thanks for all your reading and for your prayers - we have enjoyed our stay so much and our prayers will continue to be lifted up for this place.

"Sisters, fill this room with singing so that we may feel the blood of Jesus in our veins."
-George Sigo, Elder at Knysna Church of Christ (Sunday, July 2, 2006)


Scott does the swan dive.








Joy on the plank.








Brittni all-in.









Terri ready to go!









Derek & Lindy from the cheap seats.