Standing there on the side of the street in Masaka, Uganda, we began inquiring about purchasing minutes for our team phone. There was a little confusion in the air as the warm Ugandan sun shone down on the three of us that afternoon. We were new to understanding how our team phone worked and we were out of minutes. There were many questions regarding the expiration of minutes, what procedure was best when it came to purchasing minutes, and how to get the most out of our minutes. We stopped at this particular MTN booth to talk with a salesman having no idea what the Lord would reveal to me in this moment.
As one of my teammates talked directly to the MTN salesman (Let me give you a little more explanation…The MTN salesman is a man who sits behind a small, dusty, dirty, yellow, wooden booth with the letters M T N written on it and sells airtime minutes for phones. Anyways…), I noticed a man walking down the street towards us. This man could not be missed.
Noisy.
Loud.
Older.
Dirty.
Ragged.
Scarred.
Desperate.
Different.
As he walked, he noticed us standing there inquiring at the MTN booth.
He approached us.
He approached us frazzled and frantic.
He was talking so loud, so fast, so much.
He began slapping a small book in the hands of my teammate who was talking directly to the MTN salesman. The small book – a book on healing.
Another man near the booth pushed him away.
He came back.
Rambling on and on and on.
He was pushed away a few times.
He continued to come back.
He then chose to approach myself and my other teammate as we stood on the other side of the booth. He showed us his book. He grabbed at us.
What is happening Lord? I am so confused. I do not understand him at all. To be honest, I am a little scared. He is trying to touch me – To grab me. His skin, Lord. What about his skin? His face. His neck. His arms. His hands. Something is off. Is it contagious? This is really quite chaotic. And hard. I just want to understand him. Wait… You have us here in this very moment for a reason. What can we do? Oh, yeah… Pray. Duh. Okay.
I reached over and laid my hand upon the dirty scrub that rested slightly off his shoulder.
I started to pray.
Lord! You are the Great Physician. You are the only true Healer. Thank You for being able to heal us. We come before You today lifting up this man to You. You know his story. You know his pain. You know the ailments that are plaguing him physically, mentally, and spiritually. We pray that Your healing hand would touch him in this very moment. You have authority over all things. You have authority over this man – his body. Fill his body so full of You that it pushes everything that is not of You out. In Jesus Holy Name, we declare healing. May he experience peace and comfort, the peace and comfort that only comes from You. Calm his being. Calm this atmosphere. Lord, thank You for being here with us. Lord, You are Love. You are our Savior. Thank you Lord that you are pursuing your child today. May he know you desire a relationship with him. May he experience Your love like never before. You love him so much. Thank You for all You are doing in his life, his story for Your glory. We love You Lord! Amen.
My prayer ended. He was quiet for a second, but then he started talking again.
He was still very frantic.
He reached over.
He wanted to shake my hand.
I reached out my hand and shook his wrinkled, red, scarred hand.
He pulled my hand toward his body.
I let go.
He let go.
Lord! What is happening here? I don’t understand. Why is his skin like this? Oh… and then the frantic rambling. I can not understand him at all. We cannot understand him. What is he saying? Is he even speaking in Lugandan? I do not recognize any of these words. This is breaking my heart. I wish I could understand. Lord please help us understand.
My teammate attempted to converse with him. She tried to calm him down.
I did all I could think of doing. I smiled. I prayed.
Father God, CLARITY. Please bring clarity into this situation, into this conversation. CLARITY and UNDERSTANDING Lord!
The conversation continued. The man was calming down, but his words still did not make any sense.
Lord Jesus, CLARITY. Please bring clarity into this situation, into this conversation. CLARITY and UNDERSTANDING Lord! Holy Spirit give us ears to hear. Ears to hear this man’s story – this man’s heart.
As the conversation continued, we began to understand what the man was saying.
All of a sudden, the man was speaking English!
WHAT!?!
Wow God! Wow! Thank you!
With the clarity and understanding we gained through the Holy Spirit, we were able to hear this man’s story.
He had been burned in a house fire that killed his entire family.
His body was scarred.
He was alone.
He wanted to be heard.
We listened.
We prayed.
We loved.
This man – this burnt man from Masaka, Uganda – is…
LOVED.
Shortly after hearing his story with all of its beautiful craziness, we parted ways.
—–
I left this moment in awe of my Father. I mean really in awe. I left knowing the man I just met is oh so loved. God used this moment to translate for us so that a man’s heart and story could be heard – so that a man could experience love. Ultimately, the whole orchestration of this moment was all God. All glory goes to Him.
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER! Amen.” Romans 11:36
In this moment, I met God as my translator and I met God as love.
Stories, revelations, beauty, impact, and love exist in the moments of this life we are living with our God. Living in the moment is such an incredible thing!
