“Very truly I tell you, no servant is
greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent
him. Now that you know these things, you
will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:16-17
March 26, 2013
Wobulenzi at about 6 pm. We were greeted
by dozens of children dancing and four women dressed the same dancing and
worshipping on a wood plank stage. The weather
was gloomy because it had been raining on and off all day. Children were dressed in clothes with holes
in them, some didn’t have shoes, but they all had smiles on, dancing. It started with a light rain and as the
evening progressed the rain got harder. Luke started out preaching the word tonight.
we first got there, we didn’t know quite what to do. We all weren’t quite sure what this African
crusade was all about. But the Holy
Spirit showed up and He led me to where I needed to go. I looked at Drea and I told her we should
form a circle with the kids. As soon as
some of the older ones caught on, Drea and I were in the middle of a large
circle of African kids dancing. It was
glorious! In the midst of my joy, my
hamstring started to bother me, but I ignored it because I was enjoying dancing
with the kids so much. We danced for
about an hour and throughout that entire time, I had at least one child on each
hand. I even danced with the four women
that were dancing within a line….I was kind of a spectacle being the only “mzungu”
dancing with the Africans, but oh well, I was having fun and that’s all that
matters.
Luke came up and started speaking, I stayed in the back with my girls. I noticed I had about 9 kids around me the
whole time, boys and girls of ages 3-12. I picked them up, danced with them, twirled the girls like princesses,
hugged them and just showed them love. They
tried to speak to me in Lugandan but I smiled down at them and kindly told them
that I only spoke English. About halfway
into Luke’s message, one of my little girls who wore a heavy sweater, wanted to
sit over by the wall. She led me by the
hand to sit down and the rest of the group followed. I was squatting down, trying to get
comfortable, and the girls just surrounded me. One rested her upper body on my lap and the other laid her head on my
leg. Four other girls just wanted to be
close enough to me that they could hold one of my fingers. My spirit glowed. I felt warm. Within the darkness and rain, I felt love. I felt the love I was giving those girls for
just a moment. It may not have been
much, but to them, it meant a lot. These
girls may not have a lot of stuff on this earth, but they had a lot of love in
their hearts and they are not afraid to give it away.
One
specific experience that brought me to a place of humility was one moment
during the worship, it was raining and we were all standing there enjoying the
worship. The little girl that was
holding my hand, bent down, and started cleaning my feet with her hand and
shirt. This little girl humbled herself
to take probably one of her only shirts and clean my dirty feet. It reminded me of the time in the Bible where
Jesus humbled himself and washed each of His disciples’ feet, even if they
didn’t think they deserved it. (John 13:1-17)
and the people here have taught me a lot about humility, love and service. In a country where the physical need is
evident, they are sure quick to humble one another and honor that person in
need. From the first moment I walked
into the door to our home to the last time I walked out of it, I have felt love
and I know that love will be leaving with me. My family here in Uganda has taught me some valuable lessons that I will
take with me when I leave this country. I thought I came to serve them, but in the end, I was the one that was
being served.
“For all those who exalt themselves will be
humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exhalted.” Luke 18:14
