Paul's Parables

Last week I shared the brief history of the circulation and use of a currency created by a missionary Bible school teacher at Bafuka.  I called it the Z-bill because Bob Zimmerman designed and printed the purple paper money to use in that remote part of Zaire while awaiting the distribution of the new currency as ordered by Mobutu. It wasn’t really counterfeit money because the creator did not cop...

What is your priority during Christmas break?  I doubt the local schools call the winter holiday “Christmas” any more, but the administrators probably remember when it was.  Thanksgiving is becoming “Turkey Day” and holiday shopping begins as soon the marketing experts can motivate the consumer to buy, now shortly after the consumption of the turkey.  Black Friday starts Thursday. What has happene...

Why do we work so hard for something that does not bring satisfaction, something that does not last? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? So what is money?  Where does it get value?  Did not the Z-bills have value because they were printed by a man the Zandes knew and trusted, one who had a store offering items in exchange for the Z-bills?  The value was not lost because the value of the...

Retirement in Zaire isn’t even remotely like what is planned by the typical worker here in America. We retired Ebeli, following all the laws of the land, but he came back to work... I was too busy doing my own work to really notice or ask about Ebeli. 

In part 2 of the story of Ebeli's retirement, we learn a valuable lesson of taking care of those who have faithfully served for years. Does life end at retirement?

Sometimes we just want to run away, and we may not even know why.  Maybe the idea starts out as an adventure or a sign of rebellion, wanting to prove our independence.  Why would a bunch of five year old boys want to run away from boarding school?

When I was little, I wanted to go to boarding school for missionary kids in the Belgian Congo. The school was at Rethy, the same place we lived when my mom and dad first went to Africa to be missionaries. My mom and dad worked at the hospital to learn more about the weird diseases that exist in Africa. Since the school was a long ways away, on top of the next hill more than a mile away, I had to s...