What do Restorative Justice and climbing Table Mountain have in common? At first it might seem like a silly question, but in reality we must realize that neither would exist if it weren’t for the love and grace of our creator. Two things that we have been continuously amazed by ever since we have come to South Africa have been the redemption that God does in prison and the incredible beauty that he has made in this most wonderful of countries. Indeed Table Mountain and Resorative Justice have quite a bit in common, both leaving us humble and simple men in awe of the greatness of God.
One of the reasons I am quick to mention Restorative Justice is because we have been eating, breathing and thinking about Restorative Justice for the past two weeks. Just last week we ran a Restorative Justice course at Hawequa prison, a course that was based around the idea of restoring the relationships that were broken through crime, alongside with taking the responsibility for your actions. In order to prepare our minds and focus our prayers we underwent a prison fast the week prior, eating as prisoners do, when prisoners do (which for those of you who are wondering means: 2 scoops of porridge at 6:30, 6 pieces of bread at 11:30 and some form of boiled meal at 2:30 with a little bit of protein). In all honesty it was quite difficult to stay focused on anything besides food during that week, but we praise God that He honors sacrifice, no matter how small. We broke our fast with the prisoners on the first day of the course; it was a symbolic meal that represented our equal standing with the prisoners. We had a wonderful time during the course, and saw some incredible change in the men that we were with, men leaving prison gangsterism, admiting to crimes that nobody knew about but them, and seriously hoping to restore the relationships that they had broken through their crimes. These men were challenged to make serious sacrifices for their faith, risking either more years in prison, verbal abuse, and in some cases even death, and the Lord was there the whole time. Our theme was Psalm 51 and God used that to minister to all of us and remind us of our own brokenness and how it is that brokenness that forces us to our knees to beg for a clean heart. Prison is an incredible place for the gospel because it is real and visible, and this last week we were able to sit in the presence of Jesus, whether or not it always felt like it. The week-long course came to a conclusion with the families of the men traveling great distances to be with their loved ones. Each mother, brother, father, or other relative had the chance to openly confront their loved ones and ask questions that they may never have had the opportunity to ask. It was a day to remember, with tears of sadness often countered in tears of joy.
While what God had done in Restorative Justice was enough to sing his praises for years, for some reason He saw it fit that we should see one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Indeed in our 20ish years of life, I don’t think that any of us have seen many things that rival the beauty of Table Mountain. God wrote us a love song in the asymmetrical and rough edges of the mountain and it is one of the most beautiful to be heard. To remember that God thinks that we are more beautiful and glorious than such an awe-inspiring creation is humbling and incredible, it truly is a mystery. We were able to hang our feet off the edge of the 1 km drop at the top and in doing so see the most stellar view of Cape Town.
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