Beyond Our Boundaries

Amazingly, we are six weeks into language training – almost halfway through!  We are gaining wonderful insights into culture, as well as getting a solid base in Kiswahili.  Tanzania is people centric.  A phrase which captures this well is “Mtu ni Watu” – “A person is people”.  This concept of community even permeates the language.  It is noun centric.  English tends to be more verb (action) focused, but Kiswahili builds sentences around what/who is receiving or performing activity.  One quick example of this is the equivalent verb for ‘to have’.  It translates more like ‘to be with’.  One doesn’t possess something as much as one ‘is with’ it.  (I’ll save the implications of that for another time). 

Since we began studying over six weeks ago, all the nouns we have learned have been confined to eleven noun classes; with each class having different agreements so that the verb, adjectives, etc. all agree with the noun.  This part of Swahili grammar is particularly relevant because of what happened in class this morning.  This morning we were quite unexpectedly introduced to another noun class. Class 16.

The first thing that came to mind was fear of adding another noun class – I was quite happy with the eleven classes I already knew.  I felt safe inside the boundaries of eleven noun classes.  This introduction of another class shouldn’t have been unexpected, since the board at the front of the room has had spaces for fifteen classes from the beginning. But unknowingly, I had created a safety zone for myself inside this new language. 

The very next thing that came to mind was the request of Jabez in I Chronicles 4:10, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border…”.  Until this morning my perception was that Jabez wanted more stuff.  More land, more wealth, etc.  And maybe that is what he wanted.  But this morning I considered for the first time the bravery of Jabez’ request.    Jabez trusted God enough to make his request without qualifiers (like – expand these borders, but not those), and to know that if God remained with him, he would not come to harm.  I don’t know if Jabez fully knew all that he was asking for, or what the answer would bring his way.  But he was courageous enough to ask. 

In the past two months our boundaries have been expanding – geographically and in most other ways too – and yet I’m stunned at my skill for creating new boundaries to make myself feel secure.  As we continue being exposed to new things, please pray with us that we will follow God courageously.