There ought to be a statute of limitations

The other day Dan asked if I knew Bill DeLaughter....he had met him at the embassy.

Well yes, yes I know Bill. Bill was the class below me. There were a few jobs available to students at RVA and we worked 2 of them together. I'm not sure why he did, I did it for the money. All told, Bill and I worked 4 of my 5 terms at RVA together. We also occasionally hung out together after work and my senior year he was my accountability partner for Bible study.  I don't keep up with people well. Since I graduated we have not kept in touch.  As this blog title may suggest, I hope I am not the same person I was 21 years ago.  Bill certainly has grown.


So, 21 years...lots can happen in 21 years. We met and decided to have breakfast. One of the first things Bill talked about in the car was how he had fallen off the deep end once he got back to the states. He fell pretty far. Some drugs, cults, passing bad checks and one loving sister short of homelessness. Seems far from where I stand but, that is not really a good measure. Fortunately we don't get to start with me. We start with God. From God to me is eternity, beyond me to Bill, a distance too small to be measurable. They do still have some debt (you knew I would ask) and are using Dave Ramsey's budgeting tools to work through it. They hope to be done with the consumer debt in months.

After breakfast I tagged along with Bill as he went to work. They had some work permit issues in Tanzania where they have been working so this year Bill is filling in for the missionary who started this work in Kenya. They actually have  work permits now but are waiting for them to get put into their passports.....it's an Africa thing. Bill's duties filling in are part time in the office. The rest of his time is spent on discipleship. 

There seems to be a growing feeling in Africa that this generation needs to hand over work as much as possible to the local church. Two generations ago Africans

Bill, Richard, Daniel

did not have much in the way of resources or education. When Zambia obtained it's independence there was only 1 Zambian with a university degree. Western missionaries built institutions like hospitals and schools to be able to meet both the spiritual as well as physical needs of the people around them. As a practical matter it would be nearly impossible to ask those initial builders to give up what they had poured so much of their life into. Our generation has much less ownership in those institutions and the Africa we see today has matured. Bill expressed a view that instead of pouring in endless western resources, that can lead to a culture of dependence, we need to be stewards of what is here and trust God for the work. Still it is hard to delegate. It was interesting to watch Bill walk that fine line of caring but also being willing for others to possibly mess up. One might wonder what a missionary does. For the day I was there it included things as simple as how to format a printout and what web tools could be employed to network people better. The guys in the office were in charge of getting printed materials to disciple makers. Tracking who was doing what and making sure people didn't become discouraged and fall by the wayside. 


Dan had something to do in town but was invited over for supper after we left work. Bill's wife Leah home schools their school age daughters, Katrina(9) and Heather(6). Next year's books had come in to the office so we took those home with us. I think you're doing something right with home schooling when your children open their books like it's Christmas.  The girls were big Lincoln fans and somehow a discussion got started about "facts" about Lincoln. I think the last was the "fact" that his hat was named Fred.... peals of laughter with each new "fact".  And yes, even though at first he was not sure what to make of me, by the end of the night I'd won over Jonathan(2).(I'll take my small victories where I can)