After seven months on the Race and three in Africa, things start to blend together. It gets easier and easier to walk right past all of the beautiful gifts that God puts right in front of us and easier and easier to see all of the tiresome parts of living in the underdeveloped world — it’s hot, people are constantly crowding you, church is a bajillion hours long and it’s mostly yelling. Too many children are deformed and malnourished, too many church services end up sounding dangerously close to the prosperity Gospel and you’re never actually clean… just less dirty than pre-bucket shower.
But Jesus is all about perspective shifts and it’s pretty incredible what you start to see when you ask Him to open your eyes. Suddenly you cannot get over how absolutely precious these special needs students are at school visits. The bucket shower’s debatable efficacy is not a big deal in light of how fantastic outdoor showers are. Church dance rehearsals on the front porch turn into legitimate afternoon entertainment and soccer games are the best place to make friends.
Really, God is all about making things beautiful — especially people. That’s what we saw in Uganda. Despite it being the third month on the Continent, we saw brand new beautiful things in our surroundings, in the community, and on our team.
And that is what I take away from Uganda… I just want to be a portrait of God’s beauty, I want to see God’s beauty and I want to help create it. Good thing that I serve a God who loves to show off.
Enjoy this month’s video!
PS: Check out the TOMS that we found at one of the special needs school around 1:57… to all my hipster friends, look at how productive your trendy “alternative” style is 😉
