Rob Williams

“You’re not Superman, you know”

When you arrive in South Africa, it doesn't feel like Africa at all. You feel
you are stranded in the Mediterranean, with its parched grass and shopping complexes. Part of me felt a little cheated. Where's the starvation? Where's the disease? Where are all the flies?

It was only as I was leaving Durban, the city in which our plane had landed, that I saw the townships, dotted across the hilltops. Houses smaller than my garage, crammed together, far away from the glamour and civilisation of Durban.

And I was torn. Durban, and Johannesburg earlier in the day, had felt false. I finally felt I was seeing 'the real Africa', this mythical place that is always accompanied by an appeal phone number running along the bottom of our screens. I was hooked now, looking out of the cars with an excitement that belied my jet lag. This is what I came to see.

But then I realised. The more townships I see, the more people there are that live like this. Behind every sighting, every gasp, every jolt of excitement, there are real people, living real lives, in real Africa.

Over my time in KwaZulu Natal, I have realised that South Africa is a country suffering with a similar split personality to me. We spent one morning in the township, painting a primary school for children who had nothing but the clothes they were wearing. By the afternoon, we were shopping at the luxurious Liberty Mall.

South Africa’s contradictions are such big problems that it will never be solved by a school trip. And that is something else I have had to accept. I’m not a super hero.

That may come as a shock to some of you – I’ve got a deep voice, great abs and I look AMAZING in Lycra. Why can’t I be a superhero?

Firstly, it is important to know that God wants to use every single one of us. If we don’t understand this, our opinions of ourselves won’t match up to God’s opinion of us. It actually takes courage to admit that God has a plan for your life, in order to help you make a difference to the kingdom of heaven.

Some people can’t quite grasp this. Isn’t that a bit arrogant? Why would God use me?

It’s because He sees you as a potential hero. That is the first thing we have to understand.

But He also knows our limits. He created us without wings, without X-Ray vision, without a tingling Spidey-sense. What He did give us was a heart that longs to have relationships with other ‘potential heroes’. He gave us His Word that humans are ‘many parts, but one body’. And he gave us a man from Israel who calls us to bring God’s kingdom onto Earth.

Doesn’t this give us a clue as to how God wants us to change the world?

You see, superheroes take everything on, generally all on their own. It makes great films, but it’s not what God needs from us. It is only by finally throwing away my dreams of pulling on a cape that I will fulfill God’s plans.

God has not called one person to save Nottingham. He really hasn’t. Not even Laurence.

But He has called you to make a difference to people’s lives, showing God’s love for them through the relationships you have and the people you meet on your journey. The cape you wear is shared by every other Christian in the world.

I know I can’t save South Africa. What I can do is make small differences to people’s lives. So I have painted schools, sanded playgrounds, and played a lot of duck-duck-goose.

I haven’t stabilised any economies, I haven’t saved any lives, I haven’t cured any diseases.

But I have made real differences, to real people, in real Africa.