I also wanted to comment briefly on the origins of the title of our blog. It's of course connected to the dustiness of the desert, which is part of the Sahel's landscape. But it's also connected to the song from the band Gungor, called Beautiful Things.
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| Photo: Christian Science Monitor/Getty |
Could all that is lost ever be found.
Could a garden come up from this ground at all.
You make beautiful things;
You make beautiful things out of the dust.
You make beautiful things;
You make beautiful things out of us.
Hope is springing up from this old ground.
Out of chaos life is being found in You.
You may notice that this is a reflection on the creation story from Genesis 2:7, and God's prerogative of continuing to grow, recreate, and redeem all around us, whether dust or old ground, lost or in chaos. As we go further on this journey of living and working with the people of the Sahel, we hope to have eyes to see the beautiful things God is making out of the dust and out of us.
This is a great song from which to derive the name of your blog. It became one of my favorites when I was in Senegal last spring. It expresses such a marvelous hope for an arid land to bloom as a land that worships Jesus. Only God can turn dust into a beautiful creation. I join you in praying for that. You described that hope so well in your Advent post from Isaiah 35. The picture of the planted field and the one above remind me so much of the villages we visited in Senegal.
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