Greetings from Lilongwe, Malawi, the capital city of the “Warm Heart of Africa.”  This marks my 14th trip to Malawi, and the time it takes to travel from the US to Malawi has not gotten any shorter. As we say in New England, “You can’t get there from here.”

Our devotional for the evening was entitled “God, the Ultimate Multi-tasker.”  We spent 45 minutes exploring the story of Good Soil Partners and how God brought each person together around the table.  For example, over twenty years ago, a young Zambian woman, Bertha, was assigned to teach in Northern Malawi,  She spoke no Chichewa but was proficient in English.  The problem she encountered was that no one in that area spoke English proficiently, except for one of her students, a young boy.  Over the next few years, she and that little boy became friends as he served as her interpreter and communicator, helping her navigate in a place where she knew no one.  Eventually, Bertha was reassigned to another area, and life moved on for both her and the young boy.

It was 13 years ago that we met Bertha at her new assignment in Kang’oma Village, and we made a note of what an excellent teacher she had become, how she loved God, and had an eye for recommending worthy scholarship candidates to Good Soil.

Four years ago, we met a young man who showed promise as a leader, and we hired him to serve as the Executive Director of Good Soil Partners in Malawi. Little did we know that Wambula was the young boy Bertha had taught.

It was only as we brought Wambula and Bertha together to discuss her role as the Assistant Principal for Good Soil Academy that the two of them realized that this was not their first meeting; that they had been brought together 20 years ago as teachers and students in Northern Malawi.  

Think about it. Twenty years ago, in a nation of twenty-eight million people, our sovereign God brought two people together as friends, mentors, and mentees. And then, in His amazing multi-tasking way, He shaped them and then recrossed their paths, knowing that the relationship He had forged so many years ago would be part of the foundation for His new venture in Malawi of forming a Girls' Christian Secondary Boarding School (high school).

What is so awesome about our God is that while He works in our lives individually, He always has a plan that weaves that individual outcome into some greater Kingdom good.  And it happens in His way, in His time, for His will and our fulfillment.  If you doubt this truth, I can give you a few verses from His word that will validate this truth.

How do we know at Good Soil Partners that God is driving this vision?  Because the story of Bertha and Wambula is just one story of story after story of how God took the lives of people on disparate journeys that intersected in miraculous ways with the intended outcome that on the evening of October 15, 2024, they would each be seated at a table, amazed, in wonder at how God had brought them together.

I look forward to seeing how God, the ultimate multi-tasker, weaves the threads of more lives into his spectacular plan.

*written by Dean Eggert