Yesterday I was supposed to check another item off my bucket list: being in two places at once. We are currently in Uganda and the Equator line is not too far away. So a simple day trip there would be quite fun and memorable.
The day was pretty planned out, at least for World Race days. Beka, Angela, and myself were going to take a taxi bus to Kampala, enjoy a delicious lunch, then be on our way to the Equator line where we would take some fun photos and do a little shopping. Sounds easy enough, right?
The first part of the day went rather smoothly. We easily caught a taxi to Kampala, and found our way to the mall where they have a delicious food court (seriously not joking, the food court food is great!), and then stopped and drank some real coffee and yummy desserts.
Next on the agenda, GET TO THE EQUATOR! I had done some research the day before and saw online that the Equator line goes very close to Entebbe, a bigger-ish city in Uganda. So we asked a lot of locals which taxi to take to get us to Entebbe to see the Equator. After an hour we arrived, but much to our dismay, the Equator does not go through Entebbe.
On a map, it looks as if the line goes right through Entebbe but, where they have a huge sign and shops at the Equator is in fact a 4-hour trip away. We would have to drive the whole way back to Kampala and take a different taxi in almost the same direction we originally went. See, in Africa, there are only a couple main roads, and those main roads only connect to each other through major cities. So what looks like an easy straight shot to a town, really is a whole day process.
Beka, Angela, and I could have gotten really mad and discouraged, especially me since I was the main person that planned out the day. But we didn't let the enemy take away our off-day. We instead chose joy. We walked around Entebbe for a bit, bought a couple souvenirs, then decided to head back up the hour drive to Kampala.
Once in Kampala, we decided to head back to the mall, and just look around and waste some time before heading back to our town another hour away. As we were walking to the grocery store, I noticed a white man (not many of them in Africa) sitting at a table at a coffee shop. I glanced down at his arm where I noticed a tattoo that read: Machine Gun Preacher, and took a couple steps til it dawned on me who that was. If you've never watched the movie “Machine Gun Preacher.” I recommend that you do.
His name is Sam, and he's from Pennsylvania. He's done a lot of work in Northern Uganda, protecting children from being taken into the LRA, which is known to use children as soldiers. They made a movie about his life (with Gerard Butler portraying his character) and all the work that he's done. And we got to meet him and talk to him for a few minutes!
If we would have let the mishap of the day discourage us, we probably would have just taken a taxi right back to our town and called it a day. But we decided instead to make the best of the situation, and Jesus blessed us with this unexpected encounter. So if your day doesn't turn out the exact way you planned, it's okay! Always look for joy in unexpected situations, because it's the best way to defeat the enemy in that instant.
