Great Expectations for God
October 12, 2020
“Marriages these days are breaking like biscuits,” laments Sima Taparia, otherwise known as Sima Aunty to her clients in Netflix’s popular show Indian Matchmaking.
As COVID-19 began to hit the continent of Africa, many churches faced the difficulty of inaccurate reports and contradicting instructions from their governments. In some places, people simply had no idea what was happening to their country and the entire region.
Texting someone and then waiting for their response can sometimes feel like agony. I imagine that sending letters with high-stakes content was similar, but the problem with phones is that the return message could come any minute. If it doesn’t, then I have questions.
“Nicky! Nicky! Pray for me!”
We had just finished a huge crusade in Chernivtsi, western Ukraine near the Moldova and Romania borders. As the altar call ended and the crowd was being dismissed, a desperate, heavily accented voice cried out to me from the edge of the stage.
David Wilkerson wrote about a small but jarring experience he once had in a bank. He’d walked in to make a withdrawal from his account. All was moving along as per usual until the teller handed him the cash he had requested.
The Battle of Thermopylae is one of the best Western examples of ultra-macho greatness. In it, 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians held the pass against a Persian force that historians believe numbered between 100,000 and 150,000 strong.
Simiso grew up in a small village in the Shiselweni region of Eswatini. His mother raised him alone, though she told him who his father was, and he was able to get to know some of his father’s family.
Life has been hard for parents this year with the COVID-19 pandemic closing parks and schools. For those unused to having their children home all day long and for kids who suddenly found themselves stuck indoors day after day, the lockdowns proved to be a tough and, in some cases, discouraging season.