GOD IS NOT RECKLESS. Sorry, despite what you sing at your church, he's not.

I know some people will accuse me of playing the old lady, fuddy-duddy card here. But guess what: I’m disturbed by the popular CCM song, “Reckless Love.” This despite hearing it in many contexts where sound doctrine is preached, and the Word of God is rightly divided. I have even heard it in a Reformed church!

The lyrics for the most part are pretty good. The first verse is reminiscent of Ps. 139 and Jeremiah 1:5.

Verse 1

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so, so kind to me

As to the chorus, there is no question that God’s love is overwhelming and never-ending, but… reckless?

Chorus

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

I thought perhaps reckless had a shade of meaning with which I was not familiar, so I googled the definition in several dictionaries:

• Oxford: without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action; heedless of danger or the consequences of one's actions; rash or impetuous
• Merriam-Webster: marked by lack of proper caution; careless of consequences
• The Free Dictionary: acting or done with a lack of care or caution; careless or irresponsible

No, the definition was quite clear. It gets worse when you examine synonyms:

• Merriam-Webster: daredevil, devil-may-care, foolhardy, harum-scarum, hell-for-leather, irresponsible, kamikaze
• Dictionary.com: rash, heedless, incautious, negligent, imprudent
• Collins Thesaurus: careless, wild, rash, irresponsible, precipitate,  hasty, mindless, negligent, headlong, madcap, ill-advised, regardless, foolhardy, daredevil, thoughtless, indiscreet, imprudent, heedless, devil-may-care, inattentive, incautious, harebrained, harum-scarum

Can you find even one word in there that accurately describes God or his love? So why are we singing this in our Bible-believing, evangelical churches?

This song is a production of Bethel Music, where I found the lyrics (printed in entirety at the end of the blog post). After the lyrics, there is a statement by the songwriter which indicates that he knew reckless might not sit well with some people. He says:

"When I used the phrase, 'the reckless love of God,' when we say it, we're not saying that God Himself is reckless, He's not crazy. We are, however, saying that the way He loves, is in many regards, quite so. But what I mean is this: He's utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His own actions with regard to His own safety, comfort and well-being. He doesn't wonder what He'll gain or lose by putting Himself on the line, He simply puts Himself out there on the off-chance that you and I might look back at Him and give Him that love in return." - Cory Asbury.  https://bethelmusic.com/chords-and-lyrics/reckless-love/

Methinks he doth protest too much and knew that reckless was really not a good word choice. I don’t blame him completely because I don’t expect theological sophistication from a songwriter, but I would think one of the Biblically trained pastors at Bethel Church would be on top of an issue like this.

Having said all that, I do enjoy this song and find it very “singable” (not true of all CCM). But when I sing it, I insert a more accurate word, such as…

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, sovereign love of God  OR

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, faithful love of God  OR

Glorious OR righteous OR saving OR holy…

You get the idea. Let’s exalt our God in TRUTH.

Reckless Love

Written by Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, and Ran Jackson

 Verse 1

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so, so kind to me

 Chorus

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

 Verse 2

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

 Bridge

There’s no shadow You won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up

Coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down

Coming after me

https://bethelmusic.com/chords-and-lyrics/reckless-love/

DANCING IN BAMAKO

Dancing in Bamako

Don’t you love the scenes in period films where they dance the quadrille or some other stylized dance so beautifully? I always wish I knew the steps so I could join in.

Driving in Bamako is a little like one of those dances, and I’ve actually learned to enjoy it! For one thing, one is not limited by nuisances such as red lights. Oh, they are there, but they don’t always mean Stop, like in America. Sometimes they mean, Turn left now that oncoming traffic has to stop. Or turn right now that the motorcycles have to stop. (There’s not a blanket “Turn right on red after stop” rule like in America; do this at the wrong intersection and you risk getting a ticket)!

I most enjoy the intersections where the traffic lights are not functioning. That’s where you really learn to dance, edging forward to look for your opening and then plunging gracefully through.

It’s not all as graceful and perfect as it sounds, of course. Remember the scene in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice when Lizzie Bennett had to rebuke Mr. Collins for his missteps? The local minibuses which provide public transportation to the masses, called SOTRAMAs, are the Mr. Collinses of Bamako traffic. They go where they will and as they will. Most of the drivers have not learned the correct steps to the dance (I’m not even sure if most of them have actually learned to drive), and they don’t care to, either. They plunge willy-nilly into traffic as if they didn’t even know it was a dance!

Finally, imagine again that scene in P&P. What if a prankster had released hundreds of cockroaches onto the dance floor, and suddenly everyone had to dance La Cucaracha at the same time as the minuet or the scotch reel? That is what it’s like dealing with the myriad motorbikes of Mali, massing and merging like a swarming horde of maggots, making the dance miserable and maladroit.

If it weren’t for them, driving in Bamako would be perfect. Almost. [To be fair, Bamako traffic was evidently the worst part of my daughter's-in-law trip here last year, so not everyone sees it from the same perspective.]

WHAT IS YOUR AMERICAN NICKNAME?

When we first came to Mali nearly three decades ago, everyone wanted us to take Malian names. We ended up with Yacouba for Jim, which is the local equivalent of his real name (Jim = James = Jacob = Yacouba), and Djeneba for me (kinda sounds like Jennifer, right?).

So shortly into each semester, I challenge my English students at Go Global Mali to take English names. Turnabout is fair play, right? They have been quite good-natured about it, and I confess I have enjoyed “dubbing” them with some of my favorite names.

First, I recommend they do what Jim did – use a cognate if it exists. Equivalents often do in the case of religious names. So Moussa becomes Moses, Issiaka becomes Isaac, Daouda is David, Saran is Sara, and so on. My students don't always want to use these, however, so Adama chose to become Alexander. Can you guess the English equivalents of the following: Harouna, Nuhun, Yaya, and Issa? (Post your responses in the comments or on Facebook, and no spoilers allowed if you have ever lived in West Africa!)

Next, I suggest they try to choose a name which begins with the same letter as their real name – it helps us all remember, and it seems logical. However, there are always those who want to name themselves after a popular TV or movie character. So there is a Jack (Jack Bauer, 24), a Linc (someone from Prison Break, a show I have never watched – would someone please tell me if he's a good guy or a bad guy?!?) and Palmer (Pres. David Palmer, also from 24).

For those who opt to take names using their first initial, I supply a list of choices. And to be honest, this is the most fun part for me because I sneak in the names of family and friends and even my favorite TV characters. So this semester, Kadiatou, whose local nickname is Kady, chose Kate. I think she was thinking of Kate Middleton, which is cool so we call her Princess sometimes, but it also makes me think of my Aunt Kate.

M is a common first letter here, with all the Mohameds and Mamadous and Mahamanes, etc., so I always have to give a fairly large selection of M names for guys, and I was delighted when one chose Marshall (after my cousin of the same name), another chose Moe (our niece Rosanne's husband), and – my real coup – someone chose Malcolm, as in Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly.

One student's name is Cheick, and it was challenging to find names for him. I listed both “Sh” (because Cheick is pronounced with a sh sound) and “Ch” options. I wanted him to choose Charles, because that was my father's name, but I was also rooting for Sheldon (another cousin), Shawn (Psych), and the one he eventually chose, Chauncey (a very good friend from Wilkens Ave. Mennonite Church).

And by the way, my student, Djeneba – the same as my Malian name – picked Jenny. :-)

BLOGGING THE COUP

It’s Day Four since we’ve been in “hibernation” due to the coup d’état in Mali. This has provided a lot of time for reflection, but also for boredom, so it’s a good opportunity to add to my blog for the first time in six months!

In brief, I was headed to Bamako on Wednesday with the team from Christ for Humanity (Ronda Tyson, Vicki Ray, DeMarco Taylor), after a productive ten days in Kayes, and anticipating three days of training ESL teachers in Bamako. Arriving in Kati, about 15km/9m (one hour) from the capital, the bus offloaded us, saying there was a “little problem.” We assumed this was a mechanical issue, but soon learned that there was a strike or a demonstration on the road between us and Bamako. We hoped to get moving again in a few hours, but instead the bus turned around and headed into the bush for protection in case demonstrators resorted to property destruction. By then, we were the only passengers left on the bus, and were in contact with the US Embassy. We learned that the “demonstration” was actually a failed coup attempt. The Embassy advised us to stay in Kati and found us an American lady living here with her son who was willing to take us in.

In the morning, the mutinous soldiers successfully seized the presidential palace and announced on national television at 4.30am the success of their putsch. The reason for the coup is the dissatisfaction of certain factions of the army with the conduct of the war against the Tuareg rebellion in the north of Mali. Tuareg mercenaries returned from the conflict in Libya with state-of-the-art weapons and resumed their decades-long, on-and-off insurgency. Malian troops are undersupplied with arms and even such basics as food, and their weaponry is definitely inferior to that of the insurgents. [To familiarize yourself with the history of the Tuareg conflict, check out the second hyperlink below.]

Our hostess is a poli-sci major, and her Malian friends come and go, so we spend a lot of time discussing “the situation.” Some obvious questions present themselves:

Malian presidential elections are scheduled in one month. Why overthrow the government when the “end” of the current administration is in sight? One Malian man said, “A month is a long time when you are a soldier lacking ammunition and hungry.” Point taken, but one goal of the new ruling committee is to restore democracy. Exactly how does canceling upcoming elections restore democracy?

Where are the generals? The highest ranking officer involved in the coup is a captain, and the president of the Democratic Committee is only 39 years old. Young soldiers are literally running wild in the streets, confiscating vehicles, shooting rifles in the air, looting shops, and assaulting women. No wonder people perceive that their new leaders are not in control. Speculation is that the older soldiers are loyal to the president, or that they have been arrested.

Unintended consequences include giving an advantage to the rebels in the north, who are making a move southward to take advantage of the instability. Furthermore, the north and east are experiencing the worst famine in over a decade, and for the time being international aid has been cut off.

For these and many other reasons we are greatly concerned for the future of our adopted homeland.
Please click on the third link below, which is the blog I wish I had written!

1. My five minutes of fame (I am quoted in this article): http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/03/22/malian-military-stages-coup/

2. An explanation of the roots of the Tuareg conflict (written by a journalist we know who attended Dakar Academy): http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/03/23/the-malian-coup-decades-of-rebellion-and-one-night-of-gunfire/

3. An excellent early analysis of the situation: http://africasacountry.com/2012/03/23/malis-coup-first-thoughts/

4. A map of the Tuareg conflict region: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Tuareg-Rebels-a-Threat-in-Unstable-Mali-144089386.html

5. 10 Malian political parties condemn the coup: http://www.malijet.com/actualite-politique-au-mali/40657-declaration-commune-de-10-partis-politiques-au-mali.html

NaBloPoMa

I haven't posted to my blog since June and I just found out that this is NaBloPoMa: National Blog Posting Month, when we are supposed to post daily.

Now doesn't that sound a little like NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month (which has been around since, like, forever)? And what a coincidence, they are both being held in November. I guess there are just so many Na....Mo's out there, and so few months, that the organizers couldn't find another month to squeeze NaBloPoMa in!

So even tho I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, I've decided to boycott NaBloPoMa in protest of their lack of originality. Not that it means much since, like I said, I haven't posted for five months anyway! But I just had to get my 2 cents in here.

I call on would-be novelists and lukewarm bloggers to unite!

HOW LOCAL IS LOCAL?

I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s fascinating book on her family’s year of eating locally, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I was happy to be challenged about the food choices I make, based on how much fuel and energy are expended to get my food to market.  There is also the issue of supporting local farmers, instead of those in another region or another country.

Initially, I was patting myself on the back, because most of the produce we buy is local. We can even eat bananas till they come out the whazoo (a food Ms. Kingsolver’s family must pass on since it comes from the tropics). But then I remembered those Moroccan apples in my fridge. Morocco is on the African continent, but it’s two countries away from here. Oops.

There’s also a section of our market here which sells produce trucked in from the Malian Region of Sikasso.  Is that local? It’s in Mali, but it’s about as far from where we live as you can go without entering Côte d’Ivoire.  It’s about 1000km from here – that’s 600 miles. Now Ms. Kingsolver suggests a standard of 100 miles for those living in fertile areas, such as southern California, or in her case, Virginia. But she used to live in Tuscon – a very Mali-like climate – and in that case she suggests 250 miles.  So even by that standard, I should avoid the Sikasso section of the market.  Hm.  On the other hand, a lot of the vendors in the local section buy their goods in bulk in the Sikasso Market, so I may end up buying them anyway, but paying more.  (I also just calculated the distance my apples had to travel: almost ten times the generous limit for Mali or Arizona!).

But, really, fresh produce is not the issue here. We are strangers in a strange land, and as such we like to splurge on imported goods so we can eat like back home. It’s not even much of a splurge (except for cheese). Cans of veggies, jars of jam, containers of applesauce can all be found in my pantry, most from the European Union, and fairly reasonably priced.  How about coffee: at least our instant coffee comes from the neighboring coffee-producing country of Côte d’Ivoire, but our “real” coffee is shipped from there to be processed in France, and then back here.  Double jeopardy on hydrocarbons!  (To be fair, you can buy ground Ivoirian coffee here, but as my daughter, Danielle, says, it tastes like ground peanuts. The Ivoirian instant actually tastes better than the Ivoirian ground coffee).

Still, I have not even touched on the biggest food import problem in West Africa.  What if the local people wanted to eat locally? They are pretty much good to go as far as produce is concerned, and few are rich enough to buy imported canned goods and cheese anyway, so they don't miss them.  Even the sheep and cattle butchered here are all local (we see the cows being led to the slaughterhouse every night on foot). But the center of the Malian diet is RICE. Where does that come from? Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the USA…   Definitely NOT local.

How did people become so dependent on a food they do not produce?  First of all, some rice is produced in Mali (Sikasso again, where it is more tropical than savannah, and has a greater rainfall), but it costs more than imported rice, and there is not enough of it for everyone if the whole population decided to start eating it. 

Are there alternatives? There are several, the primary being millet.  The problem is that all of the alternatives are more labor intensive than rice. Rice is Fast Food! All you gotta do is pick over it a bit, wash it and cook it.  Millet needs to have the husk pounded off, then winnowed, and then it needs to be milled. It’s a lot of work. Malian women already work much harder than Western women in food preparation. Who can blame them for wanting to simplify their lives a bit with the convenience of rice? Furthermore, although rice is more expensive than millet, it goes farther. Say you can get 2 cups of cooked rice from a pound (pulling numbers out of the air here). A pound of millet only yields 1½ cups cooked. So not only do you have to work harder, you have to prepare more of it. At certain times of year, the price becomes almost equivalent. And finally, most people like the taste of rice better.

I don’t know what the solution is for my Malian friends.  They are all addicted to green tea from China, and there’s no way they are going to give that up.  I don’t even have a good solution for myself! I am going to ask for Malian rice at the market from now on, because I can afford to pay the higher price.  There are also some Malian produced jams, which although expensive, I will try to buy to support the local industry.  I could also make more jams myself.  But what about my applesauce and cheese and coffee and canned corn and Moroccan apples and powdered milk? That’s a hard one!  I guess the important thing is to be as conscientious as possible, making every effort to buy locally, even if it’s not practical to do so 100%.  Wish me luck! (And read the book – I highly recommend it!)

Quote of the Week

As much or more than any theological concern, biblical teaching on end times should be approached with humility.
Matthew Dickerson
Christianity Today online
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/whogetsleftbehind.html