As I continue to have my eyes opened more and more to the dark
realities of this world, I am overwhelmed with my own inadequacy and feel
hopeless about making a difference. So I keep rereading this prayer from
Archbishop Oscar Romero:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold
future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along
the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the
rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not
messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
I am not the Master Builder. God is not asking me to fix everything
or to save the world. He’s asking me to hope- to confidently trust in His
character and His goodness and to expect that what I hope for will be
fulfilled. He’s asking me to trust that He’s got the big picture whether I see
it or not and to walk forward in my role of doing not great things, but small
things with great love.
I’ve found that even fighting for this hope is not a task I can
complete on my own strength. I’ve tried for the last two weeks, and I’ve found
myself exhausted and hopeless.
Exodus 14:4 says “The LORD will fight for you, and you have
only to be still.�
The Lord is fighting for Kenya. I HAVE HOPE.
We leave tomorrow for Uganda. We’ll spend the first few days with our whole squad rafting the Nile (yes!), and then my team will head to Lira. This month we will be working with victims of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and most likely being doing more preaching, etc. Please keep praying for me- for health and safety, and most of all for God to continue revealing more and more of himself to me so that I can continue pouring His love on others.
I love you all and appreciate each of you so much!
