As Jesus and his disciples entered into Jerusalem, the crowd
spread their garments on the road ahead of him. When he reached the place where
the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout
and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they
had seen saying “Hosanna (“praise God!�) to the Son of David! Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!� {Luke 19}
Imagine a welcome like that. You’re riding into town, and
while you’re still a ways off, people RUN to you and wave branches, sing songs,
shouting and dancing in excitement and clothe you in flowers!
It seems that in every country we come into there is always
a special welcome. Perhaps it’s a feast of food waiting for you, or a special
gift, or crowds of people awaiting your arrival, waiting to dance or sing for
you. Perhaps it’s someone offering you the only thing they can�”water (which
unfortunately we can’t even drink due to it not being purified). Regardless of
what it is, it is always heart-felt and so special that it brings me to tears
at times.
Last we traveled to northern Uganda, to a small village in
the bush of Uganda called Paila. This trek took us a total of 11 hours over the
course of two days. We were accompanied by our Pastor Naboth and his team to
hold a crusade to share the gospel and see the power of God work in these
people’s lives. At this village and
every village we have gone to since, this is the welcoming arrival they give
us: waving branches, running after our car, shouting, singing, dancing, waving,
etc.
Their goodbyes are just as great. One village we went to they
gave us one of their GOATS as a present to all of us who served in their
village. It was so wonderful, they dressed the goat with flowers and then had a
whole procession of people following it to where we were sitting, singing songs
and dancing while presenting it to our Pastor and all of us. Other places we
have left, people will hug us, cry, beg us to stay, feed us tons of food, offer
us anything they have, bring us tea or water or something. They always have a
way to leave a remarkable “goodbye� in my mind.
These people are SO
amazingly grateful for EVERYTHING they have and get, that they want to share it
with everyone they know or meet, so they TOO can be blessed.
Remarkable? I think
so too.
