I expected to see many hard things on The World Race. I expected to see poverty and hungry people. I expected to see the sick and the broken. What I didn't expect, was to feel like I was constantly bombarded by the weight of sin in this world.
This past Thursday, we went to the town of Entebbe. It is about 25 miles from Kampala and sits along the shores of Lake Victoria. We were partnering with one of the other Cornerstone churches. As we headed out for the morning, we stopped at a house with two women sitting out front. I had noticed as we walked up a little boy across the street sitting on the steps hiccuping he was sobbing so hard. No adult was in sight, so we stopped at the house with the two women. As I was sharing with these women about Jesus, I heard a woman yelling across the street and heard the sound of a stick hitting a body.
For those of you who read my blog from Nepal, the images still haunt me and I struggled to remain in the conversation with the women at the 1st house. I was with Michelle, one of the squad leaders and heard her say that the woman had broken a stick beating her son. I didn't dare turn around.
After we had finished talking with the women at the first house and inviting them to church, we prepared to move on to another house. I asked Dennis our Ugandan friend who was going door to door with us if we could go to the house of the woman and the little boy. I quickly learned her name was Jeanice and I shared the gospel with her. She prayed to receive Christ and then asked for prayers for her children. It was amazing as she had tears in her eyes and I was able to share about God's love and discipline as opposed to punishment. I encouraged her to discipline her son (Akelim) in love. After, I was able to walk over and talk with him briefly and just love on him a bit.
I heard a sermon yesterday in which it talked about looking at what people hate the most and you will find the flip of that is their passion. I hate seeing violence against children. The weight of sin that that is visible in how common it is for children to be beaten is difficult for me to swallow. But, the reality is that Jeanice probably doesn't know another way. We have seen women beaten by spouses. Witnessed children being beaten by parents and teachers. I have seen men drunk at 10am with no hope in their lives. The weight of sin is sometimes enormous and yet I see the hope that Jesus Christ offers.
For someone like Jeanice, I pray that her understanding of the grace God has extended to her will help her extend grace to little Akilem and her little girl Shanice. I know I can only act love well as I understand how much God loves me. As I grow discouraged or weary in the face of the weight of sin in this world and in my own life, I can rest in the understanding of how amazing God's love, mercy, grace, and justice is in the world. This is what keeps me going to the next house and to talk with the next person.
On a side note, would you pray for the health of our team. Becca is battling malaria and a few of the rest of us have not been feeling great. We did blood tests which say we don't have malaria, but we certainly don't feel like a million bucks. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. T-1 week to Thailand. Where did the 3 months in Africa go?
