Humility
Blogging has been spotty at best for a couple of months…it’s been a busy time, and somehow, blogging has been ‘the next thing in the priority list…’ for awhile now.
Nothing like a good story to get one writing. Right now, I will write about Claudine Leary and the inspiration her life has been to me these past few months.
Claudine Leary, in her dorm room at Africa University near Mutare, Zimbabwe
Interesting thing is, she would specifically not take credit for inspiring me – she would give God that – because she defines the word humble. I write about her story tonight because I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the Africa University Choir tour of WV that begins at Annual Conference on June 14.
There’s this number floating around: $160,000 to raise in support Africa University. The idea is to help send people living in Africa, folks who have lived through hell on earth in some cases, to college. And, to give the folks that teach them decent housing. The tour is one way we as a conference hopes to help raise those funds.
But I digress, I want to write about Claudine.
I met her for the first time during quadrennial training in Jacksonville, Fl in late January. I was impressed by her quiet, steady strength. She rolled with the punches and never complained. She ate and slept whereever we were – gratefully. I also noticed she ate less during an average meal than all of us. Not because she was sick, but because ‘being full’ means something different to folks who have spent any amount of time as a refugee, which she has.
I didn’t see her speak during the training, but from what I have heard she connected with many folks from around the country over the four days we were in Jacksonville. She touched people (and again, I can hear her correcting me…telling me that God touched people, she just happened to be there).
Humility is a word I for one, don’t see lived out every day. and sometimes we Christians are far from it.
That’s where we could learn a thing or two from Claudine. Or as she would gently remind me, from God.
