It took me almost four hours flying over 300 mph just to get across one corner of the country—Democratic Republic of Congo. Talk about vast!
The long flight from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi was possible at this speed thanks to MAF’s Pilatus PC12. Normally it would take all day to make the journey in a Cessna airplane, let alone by other modes of transportation. For example, a couple of years ago friends of ours made the same trip by Land Cruiser and it took two weeks (and just imagine how much that would cost?)!
Congo never ceases to amaze, and many don’t even know where to find it on a map! I wonder if when God said “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it,” He remembered Congo was on the map as well? When we first moved into our house in the city of Kinshasa it took me a few weeks just to “subdue” our small, long-neglected yard! It truly is a whole new world here.
Often, while flying over the second largest rainforest in the world, I reflect on the phrase “If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?” Or I ponder the birds of the air and how “your heavenly Father feeds them.” Can God really know about all those trees and all those birds down there? Did He really clothe all the lilies and blades of grass in that never ending green soup of immense vegetation and life?
The Bible assures He can. And if anyone is a man of his word, then the Word of the God of the universe must be even more trustworthy.
Yes, Congo is mind-blowing and beautiful and scary, but it’s the unseen things that are the best part about this “new world.” When Christ “shows up” in my daily interactions—with a passenger, an airport worker, a street vendor, or my neighbor—the landscape pales in comparison. Having a part in what God is doing in Congo? Absolutely breathtaking.
