“I’m hungry. Do you have any food?” Neil’s friend Mamadou was in luck that Sunday morning, as I was busy making breakfast.
Mamadou, a young man in his early twenties, is a frequent visitor to our house. His family’s cluster of huts is only about half a mile away. We are always happy to see him. Clayton loves tussling with him, and Neil enjoys talking with him. Their conversations often take a spiritual turn.
But this morning, Mamadou’s mind was on his stomach. His mother, a gregarious woman whom I know fairly well, hadn’t cooked breakfast that morning. In fact, she was afraid to come out of her hut. “She is afraid of the sun!” Mamadou told us, and I knew why. There had been announcements on radio and TV news warning parents to keep their children inside all morning because of a solar eclipse that would take place just before noon. I guess the reason for the warnings was that children might try to see the eclipse without eye protection and injure their eyes. However, judging by the large group of children playing in our yard with Hadassah and Clayton, it seemed that few parents were concerned. But apparently Mamadou’s mother was! She is very superstitious and apparently had decided she wanted nothing to do with the sun until the afternoon.
I fried some eggs and made some hot cereal. Mamadou ate with enthusiasm. As he ate, he talked with Neil about how cold it had become in the mornings. Rainy season had finally ended, and the cold, dry season was beginning. Morning temperatures were often in the low to mid-60s and rose into the nineties during the day. For our family, it is great sleeping weather. But most Malians find it uncomfortably cold. “You’re cold during this season, but I’m not,” Neil told Mamadou. “In fact, it feels good to me!”
“What? You’re joking! This weather is very cold!” Mamadou responded incredulously.
“Not to me it isn’t,” Neil said, and he went on to try to explain snow to Mamadou, how it floats down from the sky and covers the ground, and how you have to wear a hat, coat, gloves and boots to stay warm.
Listening to the conversation from the kitchen, I thought about winter. During our evacuation from Mali last January, our children got to experience North American winter for the first time. We flew into Texas in mid-January. The weather was chilly, but it wasn’t too much of a shock to our systems. But then in mid-February we headed north to Michigan to visit Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Karen and to touch base with the AFM home office. As we drove north, we saw the water in the ditches along the road turn to ice. The snow began falling and deepened until we finally arrived in Berrien Springs. Hadassah and Clay were so excited! They couldn’t wait to put their hands on some snow! They thought they would be able to hold it comfortably with their bare hands, but they quickly learned that snow is COLD! As soon as they learned to bundle up, playing in the snow became quite enjoyable.
Remembering some pictures Karen took of our kids in the snow, I found them on our computer and showed them to Mamadou. There was Hadassah in her penguin hat holding a carrot for a snowman’s nose. There was Clayton throwing snowballs at Uncle Jonathan. There was a car in the AFM training center parking lot completely covered with snow. Mamadou enjoyed looking at the pictures and commented about how cold it must be. But we knew he wouldn’t really understand until he had a chance to feel snow on his bare hands and experience real cold.
After Mamadou left for home, I reflected a bit on the differences between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. How little I understand of God’s incredible love for me—for everyone. How little I understand of the glories of heaven. From verses in the Bible I can see a little, but there is so much more to know—to experience! How can we help the people here to see, to understand as much as possible the incredible richness and wonder of the Father’s love for them? Please pray that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the people of this area and on us that we will be able to share the awesome love of God and that people will be drawn to know Him practically and not only theoretically.
