It’s one of my favorite 25-cent words: juxtaposition: what happens when you place two things side by side.  You can’t escape it in Cote d’Ivoire (CI).  Take our lodging: the Hotel Ivoire was built as a swanky Intercontinental Hotel, with a winding swimming pool (the largest in Africa at one time?), casino, bowling alley, movie theater.  But the aging hotel overlooking the Eberie Lagoon is shadow of its former self: few patrons, pool drained, casino - bowling alley - theater all closed.  Still regarded as one of the best hotels in the country, the President of Togo stayed here the week before we arrived.  But for me, the interesting thing is the expectation, the foresight that building such a place in Abidjan reveals–set alongside its current state of disrepair and emptiness.

It’s the eerie feeling of Americans in a country where they are accompanied by government guards toting automatic weapons and driving in BMWs.  It’s the sense of inexpressible joy at worshipping on a Sunday morning in a language you know 10 words in.  It’s the heartbreak of having a luxurious meal, filled with the finest fruits and vegetables available, with expensive meats & fish covered in rich sauces…in a walled-in compound, doors locked to keep out the rest of the interested, hungry, unbelivably poor villagers.

Juxtaposition isn’t just about “compare and contrast,” though; the idea is that by putting two things next to each other, a third, different thing occurs…something new emerges.  A mosquito net juxtaposed against a family creates the possibility for a vibrant life beyond childhood; nets and a village means sustainability and better health for the whole population; nets and a country?  It unleashes a torrent of possibilities!  Without malaria, more money can be spent on facing other challenges, more people are healthy and alive to lead such a charge, and more opportunities are had to live into a future with hope.  As the hymn says, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow–blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!” May the living hope of Jesus Christ, made concrete in the commitment of individuals and churches and organizations, bring a new thing out of these juxtapostions in Cote d’Ivoire!