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PSALMS FROM
TANZANIA
Somehow many have come to mind these past weeks. Where
better are our deep emotions captured in Scripture?.
Our 3 daughters - Jenny, Kirsten, and Heidi - have joined
us for the summer (and now just back to the States, all 3 to college). We
have rejoiced repeatedly in their presence. How we give thanks to God for
their very being! Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, especially the whole
of Psalm 33.
Katie and Annie visited us for 6 weeks, a special
privilege for all of our family. Their father struggles with a life
limiting illness and tremendous care needs. How could precious daughters
be allowed away at such a time? We shared lots of joy. A family of
steadfast hearts, as we read in Psalm 57.
Salome and Flora, two young women at the end of their
lives, each dying (dead, now) in miserable and isolated circumstances of
AIDS. I read over and over the first 2 verses of Psalms 4, 5, and 6. How
long indeed, oh Lord? How can there be such suffering? Must we always be
so helpless in the face of such despair? Read all of Psalm 25 as if the
one speaking/writing/crying might be someone with AIDS.
Joe Shenk, a fellow missionary with the Mennonite church,
died after an accident last month. We will always remember Psalm 91 with
fondness towards Joe, and thanksgiving to God that a life dedicated to
service was faithful to the end. Though such grief at a tragic, unexpected
death. And such unwelcome change in the lives of his entire family, the
Bible school community in Musoma, and all of us who have come to know Joe.
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the
shadow of the Almighty".
My work goes so slowly it seems, knocking on all kinds of
bureaucratic and financial doors with minimal, if any, response. But it
looks as if September will bring a rush of traveling again. And positive
steps have been made all around. Nathan joins the boarding school in Kenya
where Heidi attended, and Rebecca will add teaching and learning
activities at the nearby Lutheran seminary and university (Makumira) to
her many other interests. We enter a new time in our lives, Rebecca and I,
of having a child around just intermittently. Time for a new patience in
‘distance parenting’, and a new learning of time together ‘alone’,
along with everything else.
Psalm 19 is a favorite, and ends familiarly: May the words
of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O
Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.
Kristopher and Rebecca Hartwig
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