Author Archives: Jana Lackey

The Fire, Part 2

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Life in Africa, My Journey, Trials to Triumph

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ImageI called for help and as I stepped outside I could see a huge mountain of black smoke coming from the direction of our mission base and home. Someone from the office tracked Jerry down in town and before I knew it, we were in the car. All he could think of to do, was go to the airport because it had just received its very first fire engine! It was brand new and strictly for use at the airport. (Maun airport is the 2nd busiest airport in the southern hemisphere due to tourism. Mostly small planes sport its runway.) The river next to the house was dry from drought and we had no running water on the farm. We had to haul all the water we used for the 3 years we lived there.

Jerry ran in and used his best negotiating skills, while trying to keep calm, to get them to come out and salvage what might be left of 10 years of pioneer work in Maun, Botswana. Meanwhile, I was in the car and had one of our sweet, older students, Shevaun, in the back seat holding the baby. All I could do was pray. As we sat there, I overcame the feeling of totally loosing it by starting to speak out praises to God. We have been taught that “if you put the word of God in you when you don’t need it, it will be there when you do need it!” As I started, I couldn’t think of a thing to Praise God for in that situation, so from deep down inside, I began to worship Him for Who He IS, for His faithfulness to us in all things, for his great grace, for what he did for us on the cross, and for his mercy.

Gradually, I felt a super charge of power as I focused on God and God alone in the midst of this tragedy. About that time, Jerry returned to the car with a big, yellow fire truck in tow. As they followed us out to the farm, Jerry tried his best to prepare me for what was ahead. He could see from the smoke that it was very bad. The main house was thatch and went very quickly. He said, “Jana, you need to be prepared that there is likely to be nothing left”. I continued in my heart to worship and focus on the Lord. Shevaun and the baby were crying in the back seat, Shevaun because she realized the severity of the situation and the baby, because he was hungry!

We arrived at the base, with only smoldering ashes left. Jerry and I got out of the car, took hands and started a walk around the house. That walk together was a history-maker for the both of us. As we walked around the perimeter of the house, we came to the window of the room we had slept in the night before. As we stood there, Jerry said, Honey, I am so sorry. It’s all gone. He really didn’t know what to expect me to say or fee. You see, we had everything in that house. No more was this a short term thing, we were it it for the long-haul! Jerry was trying to console me when a Holy anger came up from deep down inside me. As we held hands tight, I said, “Devil, we won’t stop! We won’t quit, we won’t give up! We are going to go further and do more than ever before!” It was a declaration and it was clear who our enemy was and where a ‘holy anger’ should be directed! Jesus said in John 10:10 “A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (The Message Translation)

It was all gone, 10 years of life in Africa- the tangible and the worldly possessions at least. Photos from our lives, musical instruments, guitars, keyboard, music, journals, bibles we’d had from the time we had given our lives to the Lord, my mother’s wedding ring and special family jewelry, $10,000. (usd) was hid in a shoe in the closet awaiting deposit for the expenses of the outreaches and teams we had that season. I didn’t even know it was there. Everything was incinerated. Later, when we began rummaging through the debris, we saw a neat little stack of the remains of the bills that Jerry had tucked in an old shoe, and with one touch of the finger it turned to dust.

There is a little song that has filled my thoughts many times and became even more dear to me than ever, “More than anything, More than anything, I love you Jesus, more than anything. More than worldly wealth, more than life itself, I love you Jesus, more than anything.”

One day I was thinking about all that was lost and remembered something precious to me. It was the Fender guitar that my daddy gave me when I was 16. I loved that guitar. It had a sound like no other. I was a serious sentimental sap all my life, but I then heard the Lord whisper to me in my heart, “Jana, we love people, not things”. Another famous quote is so true: “Only one life on earth is passed, and only what’s done for Christ Will last”.

Do you want to hear more of the story? What do you think so far?

The Fire Part 1

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Life in Africa, Trials to Triumph

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ImageIt was July 17, 1997. Jerry had just returned the day before from a trip into the Central Kalahari and left the team of 100 teens & leaders behind to continue ministry to the Bushman (Basarwa) tribes who speak in a clicking language, of that region. He felt an urgency to come home and check on the family and the mission. Mason, our 3rd born son was only 4 months old and due to all the guests and traveling immediately following the birth for the first month, I had been staying in for some time. In Botswana the culture is for a woman to retreat totally for several months following the birth of the baby. I broke all the rules with all 3 of my births, including this one, so I was trying to make up a little and stay put for a while.

Traditionally, the mother of the woman who gives birth comes and takes care of her, seeing to all her needs. All she has to do is feed and love the baby! When the second child is born, the mother-in-law comes and takes care of them! The husband is not allowed to sleep in the same room with the wife for this period of time. There are many customs and traditions during this “bosetsi” as it is called, that are purely for the benefit of the mother and the baby. It is a wonderful tradition that would do well to be followed in other countries! By the time bosetsi is over, mother and baby are rested, healed, and the baby is ready to be exposed t the outside world. I have been blessed to have my mother-in-law with us since the time we opened our school in 1992. She has lived near us all this time and has been a tremendous help and blessing to all 4 of our children.

This particular day, I decided, since Jerry was back from weeks of being away, that I would go into town with him and the baby. I hadn’t been out for a while. We got the 2 boys ready for school, packed the baby a diaper bag, grabbed my computer so we could check email and headed for town. We left the base in the care of the workers and headed off down the deep, sandy, bumpy road to town. Jerry dropped me at the school and headed off to town to run some errands while I visited with staff and students and showed off baby Mason to the staff and students.

Mogomotsi was a tall, strong, young man from the Humbukushu tribe, known as the “River Bushmen” of the Okavango Delta. He had given his life to the Lord on one of our outreaches and we asked him to come and work for us. He was growing in the Lord and his whole family came to Jesus through his salvation. He was such a hard worker. The school was housed in one of the oldest buildings in Maun. It was originally built by the London Mission Society and Jerry’s office was situated in the very room where, according to Maun Historian, Pat Dance; Robert Moffit did the first translation of the Setswana Bible, which is the first bible in Africa translated into a local language. There was a closed-in porch that separated the office from the outside. Around 10 a.m. I heard a noise outside the office door. It was Mogomotsi. He fell down, out of breath. He said, “Mma Moruti, (they called me for lady teacher/preacher) the house, the house is burning”. We later realized he had sprinted 15 kilometers from the farm, 5 k’s of that in deep sand to tell us the house was on fire! (look for Part 2 soon!)

Desert Rain

13 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in Inspirational Thoughts, Life in Africa, The Early Days, Trials to Triumph

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Photo by Heather Walker

1996-97 was a terrible season of drought in Northern Botswana. We lived on the Boteti River and the very last pool of water from the Okavango Delta was in front of our house. In that pool lived 32 Hippos who were hanging on to their last days of life. They were literally starving to death. Their home-the Boteti River was dwindling in the Kalahari sun by the day. The smell of death was all around and nothing could be done about it.

Water was hauled in the back of a hilux Toyota pickup. Water rations were just a part of life. By this time I was pregnant with our 3rd son and we had 2 very active boys who loved to play in the dirt! “a dirty kid is a happy kid” one mama of kids raised in the Botswana bush taught me. So true. There was an old generator that we turned on in the evening for some lights and Video taped shows.

Bath time was especially eventful. We would fill the tub with about 6 inches of water that the whole family had to share. The cleanest person got to go first, which given the family dynamics, that person was usually me! By the time we got to the last bath, that water was black! We then dumped the water down the toilet. We used the “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down” method, to stretch the water we did have. Any other water was used to water what little green there was around the house.Image

The grand finale of this season was a mysterious fire that destroyed the house and all its contents, leaving us with a new baby boy and 2 sons-homeless. We wrapped up business and traveled to the USA to my mama’s place in Texas. We arrived exhausted from the journey. When I went in to take a shower I just stood under the water and cried. It had been a tough couple of years. It didn’t feel right to let the water flow like that. I felt guilty. But wonderful at the same time.

Eventually the rains came to our village and gave moisture and life to the dry land. Sometimes our lives are like that. We get dry-dirty-thirsty. We need the rain to come. God desires to pour out his love on us like that shower in my mama’s Texas home. So glorious, so, almost sacred, is that water. Refreshing and restoring my soul from a very difficult season.

Image Revelation 22:17 (ESV)  “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

We have all heard the phrase “water is life”. I can tell you I know it is true. But there is a river of water that never will run dry. This is God’s love to his kids. Jump in, enjoy, let it wash you clean and be refreshed!

TIME OUT!

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Inspirational Thoughts, Life in Africa, Trials to Triumph

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ImageHere I sit on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2011. The year has been long and yet fast as a blur! Under the mosquito net at the Royal Tree Lodge Villa, in Maun, Botswana, I have come to have some time alone. The first exercise was reflection over the year, and that is another piece altogether. While listening to worship by Michael W. Smith, I heard Cleo, my fearless Jack Russel, in some kind of fight. Looks like it was a Genet or a Mongoose. Do Mongoose’s climb trees? Either way, she has 2 chunks of flesh missing now against her beautiful white and accents of brown coat. I managed to clean her up good though and now she is looking so solemn. I only brought her because she looked so sad as I was leaving and she recently lost her real mom, Linda, who has just retired from the field. I also felt like I could brave the Villa alone, far from the main lodge and close to the river, if she was with me “to protect me”.

Today I got completely overwhelmed with life. As a woman, I am what I consider to be-at least most of the time-privileged- to be a wife, a mom, a minister, and a myriad of other titles that have been bestowed upon me. Heck, this year I even received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity! Well, titles aside, it is a day of serious self evaluation before God. Sometimes life is just too hard! Wonderful are the days when everything works and my children are perfect and my husband heaps loads of niceties upon me. But this day wasn’t one of them.

So I lost my cool with dishes, laundry, no water on our property for days and lazy children who wouldn’t go fetch water out of the pool. So I got in the car and drove to a nearby graveyard. Yep, that will put life in perspective! I walked for what seemed hours looking for the grave of a young lady we dearly loved and who was in an accident a few years ago. Turns out I was at the wrong graveyard, but the exercise did have the desired impact.

All the months of going “full speed ahead” caught up with me. The 38 activities planned for the 31 days in December have now passed, well, almost. 3 ½ hours to go. Who ever had the idea of putting Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve on a Saturday night? I remember 7 years ago like it was yesterday. And here we are again. I have dreaded it all month. Look, I love church, don’t get me wrong. Its just that its nice when we can celebrate our holidays with our families at home. Chill, bake, watch movies, play games. So tonight, on the eve of the biggest day of the year, I am in a room, in a house, on a game lodge, alone, just me and my dog, while the rest of the family, including my dear mother-in-law, are going to be spiritual and at 10 pm to midnight be in church to welcome the new year in. Then they will get up tomorrow morning and go to church again. I still haven’t made up my mind if I will throw on some makeup and rush over there through the bush in my Jeep. Probably not, but at least the thought is there.

I didn’t get into this state of mind overnight and I guess I won’t get out of it so quick either. But the point is, sometimes we just have to take a “time out”. I am having my “time out” with God. I will let you know how it goes.

Happy New Year!

The Wedding Album

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Inspirational Thoughts, Life in Africa, Marriage, Trials to Triumph

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ImageIn June 17, 1997 a fire destroyed our house and all of our personal effects gathered over 10 years of working in Botswana. There are many amazing things to share about what all came out of that but for now, one special story I would like to relate is about our wedding photos. I started looking for the man who took the photos when I was in Houston but was told that he and his wife had moved to the Texas Hill country upon retirement. Donna was one of my spiritual mom’s during the early days of my Christian walk and I attended all the Women’s Aglow meeting I could get to in between school. Fred McCreary was active in ministry in addition to his job at NASA. I attended faithfully as a teen getting all I could from the wave of the move of God in the 70’s.

It was 1997 and I was attending an International Aglow conference in New Orleans. While I was going up a 2 story escalator, with my 2 year old, Mason, I heard the Lord in my heart say to me, “turn around”. So when I reached the top, I did, and I saw the back of a lady’s head in the middle of the huge crowd of thousands of women who had come from all over the world. , Then I heard, “That’s Donna McCreary!” I bolted down the escalator with baby in tow and made my way through the crowd until I reached her. I tapped her on the shoulder and sure enough, it was her! I spent many hours in her home as a teen with her kids and she recognized me right away. We hugged, had a time of reunion and then I told her about the fire and all we had been through. I told her I had tried to reach them to see if perhaps they had kept the negatives of our wedding because we had lost all in the fire. She informed me that they had gotten rid of all of that when they moved and was so sorry. 

She invited our family to visit them in their new home on the river in the Texas hill country. Our trip got really full and when she phoned me to see if we were coming, she told me,” We really want you all to come. I really think it will be worth your while.” So we made the drive out on our way through the vast state of Texas. People ask me what country I am from sometimes in Africa and I till them- From Texas! Botswana is roughly the same size as Texas.

We all disembarked from the packed out mini-van we were driving and managed to get to the front door with the all 3 boys. We were warmly greeted and asked to sit down and have a cup of coffee before unpacking the car for the night. As we sipped our coffee, Fred sat down and said how sorry he was that they had not kept the negatives for our wedding. They just did not have space in the move for all those things. He worked for NASA for years and did photography on the side. He was very good at it. That was just another thing the Lord did for us on our wedding- was to use Fred and Donna to bless us with quality photos. He said, “But though we didn’t have space for the negatives, I did keep one thing”…and he pulled out an album and placed it before us on the glass table. It was worn and looked just like the one we lost. I was confused for a moment, and when I opened the page, I was even more confused. Jerry sat beside me in utter amazement and surprise. He said, “Jana, these are our wedding pictures!” Fred went on to tell us that because our wedding was so unique and the pictures turned out so well, he made a copy for himself as a demo to show his work! He said, It’s yours if you want it!! Of course we said, “yes”! His album had even MORE pictures in it than our own album had.

That album is tucked away in my oak hope chest in Houston, Texas for safe keeping! What a wonderful God we have to remember even the smallest detail of our lives. That was a very special reminder from the Father on that day! To view it you can friend me on facebook to see it.