The place I’m staying is called Dennepark, named after giant pine trees that grow here. Pine is “denne” in Afrikaans. The trees are so big it would take two people holding arms outstretched to go all the around some of them. It’s amazing to think that it took six people in the same position to go around one of the many columns that held up Solomon’s portico on the Temple grounds in Israel. (In front of the trees are two of the little girls from Germany that live nearby.)

The dirt here in Potchefstroom is quite red, almost like Edom in Israel (the land of Esau, whose name in Hebrew means Red). Between here and Johannesburg, there are lots of gold mines. The dirt stacked several stories high beside the mines is not red, but they’re interesting to see anyway. East of here is the largest manmade crater on earth (so they say). The giant hole was dug in search of diamonds. I asked a guy in the IT department—who was watching the movie “Blood Diamonds” while I waited to have my computer loaded with University software—if he thought the movie was accurate. He said, “that’s a totally different world, I have no idea, but the movie’s good!”

This week marks 4 weeks since I’ve been here in South Africa. There hasn’t been a dull day yet. My study is truly rewarding. Last Friday night I was invited to dinner with a theological student, Tim, and two of his friends. Tim shared about his yearning to go to Burundi, Africa to start a Christian training center. His plans were quite detailed as if he got a clear blueprint from the Lord. He’d not shared it with many people when he received a phone call out of the blue from a man he didn’t know with an offer to support him financially in the effort. The man offered and later delivered 1,000 Rand for each of the one hundred and fifty-three fish that Simon Peter pulled in with his net (John 21). That’s enough to support Tim and several others for the first three years in Burundi.

The Apostle Paul had it right when he said, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” He’s everywhere, whether talking out loud, working through others, or just showing us things along the way.