A mzungu a mzunguuuu!!!!!!! I hear Ugandan children scream this in my direction as I walked down the rough dirt road to Makobore high school. This was where my team and I spent everyday of the month ministering to the students of Makobore high school, all 400 of them!
It would have been a little overwhelming if I was still on a team with all girls, God however knew what I was in for so team Selah was formed while our squad was in Kenya for our 8 month de-brief. The word Selah is seen in between the Psalms and it means to pause. It is a continuation of worship, meditating on the character of Christ, to live in Gods presence and to stand in awe of who he is. The Hebrew word Selah means a fortress and a resting place.
This is what I am after, to stand in Gods presence and to bring his presence to those who I encounter along the way with this team.
I am currently on a team with two boys now who are incredible men of God! They cook for us, carry our bags and make sure that we are taken care of! Love them! (Brandon and Dan. Dan was on my first team with me in Central America) and sweet Becca is on our team as well who was also on an all girls team previously! I can guarantee that Brandon and Dan are the most appreciated men on our squad.
Dan is on the left, me, Heather, Kenra, Caitlyn, Becca and Brandon (Team Selah)
Some of the kids within the area without any hesitation would run into my arms desperately wanting to be held. It would be a rare thing if I did not have a kid’s hand in mine while I walked back and forth from my house into town! These children were more or less seen without their parents around them because the moms and dads were either working in the fields or preparing dinner for their families.
We lived within a community where barefooted children walked themselves to school everyday. Their chore at the end of the day was to carry water from the spring back to their home and for most of these kids the distance from the spring to their home was long, especially for a four year old. Most of them were between the ages of 4 to 12. My team and I saw a few kids struggling to carry their jugs of water up a hill one day so we carried the water for them. The home we walked into was a home to a Muslim family who lived next door to us.
This family of 20 became good friends of mine while I stayed in Rukungiri. They offered me mangos, tea and maze while I visited them. That’s the thing about families in Uganda, they are so generous with the little they have and they just want to spend time with you.
In this Muslim home I spent most of my time with a 13-year-old girl named Sharlini who would make tea for me and we would talk about life. Sharlini likes to sing and asked me if I could sing her a song and she would in return sing me a song. The only song that came to mind was, “Break Every Chain,” by Will Reagan. Then she sang, to my surprise, “Mighty to Save.” I was shocked! God is obviously chasing after this family.
Sharlini goes to a Muslim school and has a Muslim family and yet she attends chapel every so often and she likes to listen to worship music on the radio.
What I need and what everyone needs in this life is to see God in action. To see God show up in everyday life and to know that he cares about the little things. He cares about the kids struggling up the hill to bring water to their family. God cares for the family that cannot send every child of theirs to school. He cares for Muslims and people from every faith. There is no way that anyone can EVER earn or escape from his love.
We are just loved! So loved!
Psalm 139: 1 “O Lord you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all of my ways. Before a word is spoken on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in behind, and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are their; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
If we knew how thought of we are by God and how his love for us never ends. It never changes. Worship would be the only way to live. Selah.
To quote Johnathan David Helser, "There is no end to the effection, that you have for me."
