Troubleshoot Today
Africa has a lot to teach us about navigating a crisis.
Some mornings I would hop into my ’95 short-chassis Land Cruiser only to find she wouldn’t turn over. A continual victim of electrical issues, I had to always plan ahead for her, facing down the steep-but-short driveway. There, I could possibly get enough movement to gravity-start her yet brake before plunging onto my neighbor’s roof over the hill. If I miss-fired or bailed too soon, I’d stay stuck in the weeds for a good portion of my day, waiting for a mobile mechanic. Often the whole scene would play out in the pouring rain.
This was just the start of my troublesome days. If the main road wasn’t closed by order of the president, I could expect a 45-minute ride to my office, traveling the entire thirteen-mile journey in peril to myself and the abundance of pedestrian, animal, and wheeled traffic around me. An oncoming truck once passed so close we blew off our side mirrors. My window was up — thank God my face wasn’t taken off with the shrapnel.
My office hosted hours of event planning, Bible classes, boat repair, swim coaching, and mission sending. But some days I’d get a frantic call from my wife that the field outside our yard was on fire, the twenty-foot flames threatening to jump our wall. I came home to a six-foot cobra in the front yard one evening, freshly bludgeoned by our smiling night guard and his big stick.
Life in a developing African country is perpetual problem-solving. The tank is dry; do we call a truck, or fetch water from the well? Do we have fuel for the generator, or can we use candles and batteries until the power company replaces the stolen transformer? Will this bulging nest of ants growing from our kitchen wall return elsewhere if we fail to kill the queen?
But greater than the setbacks of Africa is the ingenuity of her people. Boundless and inspiring, this ability to problem-solve is fueled by an acute lack of resources and a grit unmatched the world over.
Don’t Fight It, Troubleshoot It
I’m now back in my prosperous hometown, living like you are on the front-end of a global health crisis that it seems only Bill Gates was prepared for. But if we will do more than complain about the disruption of this accused virus, we’ve got to learn from our African friends how to troubleshoot life’s challenges:
Manage Your Emotions
In Africa, my friends were amazed at how small inconveniences could throw my attitudes. Heaven knows we are not rational beings, but emotional ones. Our base reactions to personal threats are unconscious, undermining our reasoning abilities in the moment. If we are going to come up with a strategic plan for survival and success, we best acknowledge the surface-level anger, underlying fear, helplessness, sorrow, or whatever else we’re feeling before swinging blindly in a new course of action. Let your frustration simmer, but take a deep breath, clear your head, or go eat a Rolex before speaking or acting out something that will hurt and not help.
Adjust Your Expectations
Living under oppressive governments, corruption, and constant petty theft, the African expectation is quite low but makes for generally cheerful societies. Americans live to succeed — to nail our lofty goals. But when life sucker-punches us, we’ll come up hopeless if we fight to maintain our initial trajectory. You might have to bail on that discretionary purchase, change your career goal, or put everything on hold to homeschool the kids. But look back — when has your life coasted on auto-pilot for more than a couple of years? Is sameness an attainable reality? Is padding a comfortable lifestyle a worthwhile goal? Surely we knew it wouldn’t be consistently up and to the right. Just like childhood, we face a series of seasons that we grow into and mature out of.
Think Outside the Box
Many Africans survive without most modern conveniences. When technology is available, it is repaired, and often in incredible ways. Our solutions in this season aren’t forthcoming and will require creative thinking. When the job security we assumed last month vanishes into thin air, there is another way to make it that won’t include that source of income. If our egos got out of the way, what would we be willing to try to pivot in this new reality? Before the sting of this crisis even fully materializes, nearly everyone is offering discounts, relief packages, checks in the mail, and drive-through food distribution. If we are willing to walk humbly and receive assistance, we’ll all get through this together.
This is Our Moment
Stuck at home, glued to the news every waking hour, we face an uncertain future. This pandemic has swept all of humanity in one short season of time, with no corner of the globe immune to its reach. This feels unique, but only because we’ve never personally experienced anything like it.
Every generation has a defining moment to reevaluate their priority, to realize their frailty, to turn their hearts towards their Creator, and cry out for mercy. And by God’s grace, He is using a terrible crisis for good as quarantined citizens around the world sing in harmony from their balconies, lay on their faces in the streets, and participate in national days of prayer. Humility, fasting, and repentance of sin are a proper response to an otherwise helpless fight against an unseen enemy.
The greatest thing I learned in over a decade of living in Africa was this: Without representation, credit, care, or options, dependent people leaned on an omnipotent Savior. There’s a reason that great continent is experiencing supernatural miracles every day.
While governors mandate closures and medical professionals plead, don’t fight for personal freedoms and shout down people trying to help. Manage your emotions, adjust your expectations, think outside the box, and cry out to God in this new season. It will be gone before you know it, and you’ll have a new one to troubleshoot.
At least this time, all mankind is in this together.
If you enjoyed this post, take four minutes to check out my last one:
