He held my hand, every now and then pressing on my veins, fascinated by the way they showed blue through my seemingly translucent skin. As I squeezed through walkways, decided which pile of trash was the least dirty to step on and tried to avoid slipping into the ditch filled with rotting garbage and human feces, he was one of my friends. His name was Promise. He wore green basketball shorts and plastic flip flops. He wore no shirt and there is a good possibility that he had no shirt. His entire torso, both arms and even his head were covered in bites. I was walking through a slum in Kampala. He was walking through his neighborhood.
We are part of a covenant established by the Ancient of Days. We are the offspring that outnumber the stars. We are grafted in or maybe part of the original vine. We are the ones who were redeemed in that breathtaking moment where Jesus crushed the head of the snake. We get to be part of the fulfillment of the Promise, but it doesn’t stop there. We have a rich inheritance, but what are we going to do with it? We have not been called to sit back and kick our feet up while we wait for the King of Kings to come back for His own. We are not called to take that inheritance from our beloved and kind Father and spend it as we please in a land far away from Him and His purposes. There is more to come! It’s not over yet!
Poverty, starvation, rape, slavery, abuse, poor education systems, failing political systems, war, terrorism, hopelessness, fear, abandonment, cynicism, hatred, racism, pride, gluttony, orphan hood, sickness, homelessness, mental illness, I have seen them all this year. I could roll out infographics and power points as to the reason that these things are happening. I could point fingers and name names and cast blame, but then I would have to turn that loaded gun right back on myself. I can’t solve the world’s problems. If I tried to do that, I would make things worse.
“Will you love me?” Will I? Will we?
When I think of my friend Promise, I believe His name is representative of the final Promise, the Promise that means no more tears, no more pain and eternity with Jesus. This is the answer. If we are followers of Jesus, then we carry the answer and the call to share that answer. We are called to answer the question of, “Will you love me?” with “I will. We will.” This may seem daunting, but we carry the Spirit of the Lord in us and He has promised to “guide us along the right paths”. Are we allowing the Lord to truly transform our lives in a way that brings Him to the forefront? Are we letting Him take the precious time that we think is our own, our schedules, our interests and passions, to use for His glory? Have we asked Him to give us eyes to see the one? These are questions I am asking myself, that I am constantly challenged with. Maybe it is money, maybe time, maybe words of encouragement or the call to adoption, all of these things are avenues to share the Answer with the world. None of us have been called to sit back and wait this lifetime out. God loves us to much to relegate us to a life of apathy.
I took hold of Promise’s hand, telling Him quite truthfully that I was carrying no money. As we walked on, I held his hand tighter, filled with an ache that won’t fully go away until Jesus comes back. In those two hours, I talked with Promise, hugged him, held his hand and made lots of eye contact with him. I prayed over him as we walked and invited him to join us as we prayed over other families. I gave him all that I could in that short amount of time, knowing that only Jesus could give him the more that he and every other human being was searching for.
What has Jesus called you to do with your inheritance and who are you going to share it with?
Life Updates:
I am looking forward to…playing soccer with the kids in my class (they are around ten or eleven years old)
I have been reading…Psalm 23 over and over and over again. What a promise!
I have been learning…about marketing, human rights advocacy, research and strategic partnerships. It has been a blast to realize how passionate I am about these things:)
Today marks the beginning of…my final week of ministry on the World Race
I will be home in…14 days
