It took seven years. But if you ask me, it was worth the wait.  And judging from all the joyful comments, the crowd was thinking the same: “God has really blessed us!” “This is history in the making!” “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

On September 13, 2009, members from five area congregations gathered at Mtendere Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA) in Lilongwe, Malawi for the installation and ordination of Pastor Stanley Daile.  It is a day that will long be remembered.

Behind Stanley are three years at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi, three years at the Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia and one year of congregational work as a Vicar back in Malawi.  The years spanned from 2002 to 2009. Seven long years culminated into a day that exploded with blessing and emotion.

Can you boil a pot brimming with water without it bubbling over?  In the same way, can one toil and labor in classroom and congregation for a total of seven long years and not boil over with excitement on ordination day?   It wasn’t just Stanley who was ecstatic. The crowd was a throbbing mass of singers and dancers.  The Malawians seem to be born with a song and gifted with a voice to sing it.  And sing they did.

The only thing more powerful than the projection of their voices was the pounding of their feet.   Happy feet stamped and stomped to the music. Dust kicked up under the tent and hung in the air as it does when herds of Wildebeest stampede through dry African plains.  One pastor actually had to leave the dust-clouded area to find clean air to breathe!

The day was Daile’s. He was swarmed with attention.  Bombarded with gifts.  He and his wife were hugged, kissed and congratulated.  The day was Daile’s.  Or was it?

From one perspective, it would have appeared so.  To the casual onlooker, he seemed to be the center of attention and the reason for the commotion.  But if one listened carefully to the words sung and the Word spoken, the day was not so much Daile’s as it was the Lord’s.

The sermon highlighted Christ.  The songs lime-lighted Jesus.  The prayers spotlighted God Almighty.  The One who deserved the praise received it.  The day was God-given and God-centered.  And by God’s amazing grace, so is Pastor Daile.

It was a day long in coming, but it was worth the wait.  Fresh sermons will be preached. Bible classes will be taught.   The sacraments will be administered.   Lambs will be fed and sheep shepherded.

What God ordains is always good.  Good things come, even if it takes seven years. In His time.

Missionary John Holtz