One in Twelve Million

Some of the ECM Kinshasa staff.

I felt different.  Of course, I might be expected to feel different, being one of only a handful of Caucasians in a vast sea of Africans.  But today I felt different for a reason other than my skin color.  Sitting in a traffic jam, which is how I have spent much of my first few days in Kinshasa, a city of twelve million people, and, seemingly, twelve million cars, I could literally reach out and touch the van full of children that was “parked” next to us.  Since we could not converse, we just looked at each other.  I smiled, and the kids smiled back.  Then one of them took his thumb and forefinger and placed them on his nose, and proceeded to pull his fingers away from his nose, as if to say to me, “My, what a long nose you have.”  I’ve never given much thought to the length of my nose, but after his little charade, I couldn’t help but think how my nose was different from his.  In a sea of twelve million short and sometimes pudgy noses, mine certainly did seem out of place.

When you live in a different culture, you can’t help being different. You think differently, you act differently, you look different; you just are different.  But in Christ, our physical and cultural differences ultimately mean nothing.  We are all one in him, becoming children of God through faith, having been baptized into Christ.  To paraphrase Paul, there is neither American nor African, black or white, short nosed or long nosed, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26-28).  As I spend time with my new Congolese brothers, I am grateful for this truth. I am grateful that though I may be one in twelve million, I am a part of the family of God, united with those of every race and tongue.  What a blessing it is to have been adopted into his family, and to be a full heir with Jesus! Like the old song says, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God!"

This is my first trip to Kinshasa, and my first chance to meet the ECM staff who

faithfully serve here.  It is so good to finally meet them!