I can’t believe it’s almost over our time here in Lira, Uganda. It’s been a very busy three weeks with a lot of overnight trips to several districts visiting villages, hospitals, people with HIV/AIDS, helping build a church, visiting numerous children in schools, and praying for many families and the sick. This coming Thursday our team will be visiting two prisons, Friday we’ll have a full day trip to another district before heading back to the capital of Kampala on Saturday.
Reverend Milton
Reverened Milton has been our main contact for us and I cannot underestimate the influence he has been in these past three weeks. His life is a testimony of choosing Christ and loving people. He is the nephew of the current president of Uganda, and on Uganda’s National Soccer team back in 1984 and 1986. After playing he coached and started his own team that traveled around the country. He arose up to become Vice President of all of soccer here in Uganda with FIFA; and soccer is a huge thing in any Africa country. He’s well known and respected among all people of Uganda from his campaigning and notoriety while doing ministry to people in Northern Uganda at the same time and they were competing in time for each other.
But back in the mid 1990’s he had to make a choice; either ministry for these people during times of war and poverty or the high ranks of soccer and a lot of success. He said it was an easy choice for him, he chose ministry and it was always going to be more important to him. So here he is today changing lives for the kingdom. He’s pretty much American in thinking, always on time or early and punctual (and in Africa that doesn’t exists). But He has such a heart for people and the gospel. Reverend Milton and I have grown close as friends, almost like a ministry mentor like a friend at home, except across the seas in such a short time; one I will hope to stay in touch with and remember. We’ve done a lot of speaking, ministry, and laughing together. What if you had his fame and God told you to drop it all for the needs of those around you, would you do it?
Last Second Awakening
When our team was in Apollo for a couple of days two memorable things happened to me. First, I got to sleep in my first ever grass hut in Africa. I’ve seen many and always wondered what it would be like. I still had a mosquito net but for that one night I got to sleep on the dirt floor in the small one room mudded wall and grass hut. It was a great experience for what they stay in all of their lives. There’s a small wooden stool, a mat on the dirt floor, and a candle to keep light.
On our way to visit about 1,800 students at a school we were quickly taken a detour into the church to see a group of about fifty people there waiting in anticipation to see us. All of a sudden the pastor told us, “All of these people are HIV/AIDS positive and we want you all to encourage and pray for them.” Talk about a last second surprise! I mean, what can you say? Do you just brush off some random stuff to make them feel better but knowing that there’s nothing really you can do at the moment to change their situation. But in the next half and hour God gave Rachael and I words to them. I remember God telling me to be honest with them, and whether it’s twenty years of life or eighty that you can still make an impact. But at the end of it all, we decided to do a song for them, “You Never Let Go” by Matt Redman, a perfect song and one that tells that God never lets go of us in times of suffering, and we can have hope. As we sung those words of comfort just sunk in to us. And even though they may not know English at all hardly, I believe God was working on their hearts deeply. No words can express the feeling of singing hope of God in front of fifty people who will suffer and die from poverty, trauma/tragedies of war, and a disease with no cure.
Joy of the Gospel
This past Sunday was one of the longest but greatest days of the World Race so far. In Apac, a district that is busy with village people, I preached at a church that had three long services at 6am, 8am, and 10am and I would be preaching all three times. All three were packed with a total of over a thousand members there; I just couldn’t believe a service would start at six o’clock in the morning! I was barely awake, and even one early morning service for Easter is hard enough for me, but 6am every Sunday and packed out!! I found out the second service was an English service which meant that I didn’t need to use a translator for the first time in months and I could just preach!
Just the day before I read in a devotional book I have called “Morning by Morning” by Charles Spurgeon (a major recommendation) about the fact if we realized we’re saved from our sin then no trials in life should ever take our joy from us. That we should have a zeal and passion to proclaim the mercy of God to a lost world. I wrote on that page, “thank you Charles, I needed that reminder.” And that morning as I spoke on the Jairus’ daughter and woman bleeding of twelve years there was just this fire inside of the Gospel! And as the issue of things we’ve been struggling with for years or days was talked and that some of us are just dead without Jesus, the grace of God is great. Jesus has overcome the world! Reverend Milton followed up in all three services have seven come to Christ in the first service, seven in the second service, and six in the third service and an altar full of believers giving struggles to Jesus. God’s love is so irresistable, and the freedom of laying at the feet of Jesus and never picking it up again is incredible. Do we have that joy and passion for the mercy of God to those around us?
Just a big pig laying in the middle of the road on the way to a school
