I want to tell you about peace. Not just any peace, but the peace of God. The peace of God that surpasses all understanding, that peace. I can only explain this peace by telling the story of my first week in Uganda.
Once upon a time there was a man named Brooks Driver, he wasn’t prince charming but he wasn’t far off. (kidding) He went on the world race and was so pumped to serve God and serve God’s people. The first trip across the pond was long and jet lag was all too real. He arrived at the hotel in Uganda and immediately felt sick. Brooks would spend all night next to the toilet with everything that was in him exiting both ends. He was weak and could not eat for the next couple days because everything that went in would come back out. Brooks was sick and dehydrated but he drank plenty of fluids and gained back his strength, remember hydrate or die. (that’s what Cabe says) The first ministry host was very rural and very African. By this, I mean there was no wifi, electricity, or running water. Brooks pushed through and tried his best at playing the role of the team leader. The team had some challenges with their ministry. [the vagueness here is to protect the host] Let’s just say that it was possibly the most emotional, stressful, and challenging weeks of Brooks’ life.
Brooks prayed every morning, day, and night. His prayer was that God would give him the peace that only God can give, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Brooks wasn’t praying to leave Uganda, he wasn’t even praying for things to change, he was praying for the peace that surpasses all understanding.
One day the team piled up into a taxi and headed to Kampala to go to the bank and go to the Internet café. Going to the city was exhausting. Brooks and the team had already had a long week. Brooks had been sick, he also was weighed down by jet lag, and it didn’t help having the struggles that he was having with his ministry. The team finished up in Kampala and hailed a taxi back to the village. This taxi was packed with 21 people. Brooks sat in the front seat with 3 other people, one of these people was a rather large woman who decided to sit right on Brooks’ lap. Brooks’ whole right leg began to fall asleep and before long there was no feeling in his right side from his hip down to his toes. Brooks was not happy and so he did the only think that he thought he could do, he prayed. He asked God to give him the peace that surpasses all understanding, he said, “God if there was ever a time that I needed peace, it would be now”.
Just when Brooks thought that things couldn’t get any worse, the taxi broke down. When this happened, the driver and his helper got out of the taxi and began to push it up the hill. Brooks was more than mad and his stress level was through the roof. With his right leg fully asleep, Brooks opens the door of the taxi and jumps out. Brooks could barely walk, much less push the taxi because of his dead leg but he began to push the taxi from beside the passenger door. He yelled for his teammates to get out and help him push when he moved to the back of the taxi to push from there. One of Brooks’ teammates (Derek) joined him in pushing and at that point Brooks was overcome by only a Godly amount of peace.
After having the hardest week of his life, and a terrible day, Brooks is pushing a broken down taxi filled with 21 people up a hill in 90 plus degree heat in the middle of Africa and Brooks is filled with peace that surpasses all understanding because no one can understand why someone would be filled with peace at a time like that. That peace had to come from God. That day Brooks learned that God’s peace can be received at any time, even when you can’t understand it.
Brooks was relieved to get that peace but he still needs your prayers. Please pray for him and that he keeps learning lessons from God. He might be struggling but he has a God that goes before him that is bigger than all his problems.
