Christmas In Uganda...

Was wonderful.

While it is hard being away from my family and friends, I feel extremely blessed to have shared Christmas with my friends and family here. We started the Christmas celebration last Sunday at church. The Sunday prior Pastor John has asked everybody to write down a person in the church who they thought deserved a gift for Christmas. He encouraged us to think of the people who go above and beyond in their service to others. This past Sunday we gave out gifts to over 20 people and it was amazing. As each person was called to the front, the entire church cheered and people hugged each other. The sense of family and community in this church is so strong. It is always a blessing to be in the presence of true, heartfelt joy and gratitude.

Then Wednesday we had the opportunity to hand out food to over 60 adults and 40 children in our community. We met in the church, Pastor shared the Word, we worshipped and then handed out the gifts. We were able to give out soap, rice, sugar, corn and salt. It was wonderful to be part of such a celebration. I was again amazed at people’s genuine gratitude and joy.

Christmas day was wonderful. Like Christmas in the US, the day began with church and was then followed by a big meal. However, unlike Christmas dinner in the US, we shared our meal with over 40 people, including 20 children. It was truly amazing. We brought van loads of kids from the orphanage to the house, the women that stay with the kids at the school came, friends from the community joined us and we all indulged ourselves in a fabulous meal. We were extremely blessed with support from several friends in the US and were able to buy all the food the kids love. There was no posho and beans. We ate matooke, 2 types of rice, potatoes, beef, chicken and chiapatti. To top it all off, we also served soda with the meal. One of my favorite parts of the day was when the kids were eating their meal. They all shared their food, giving their friends the food they didn’t want, trading matooke for rice and tasting each other’s sodas. It was truly a feast and one that I am sure made God smile.

The kids went back to the school for a day of movies and the rest of us relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company.

Like I have mentioned before, the way this community lives out the Gospel by serving each other and working together as the Church is truly amazing. They operate in true community and I absolutely love that I am able to be a part of it. I see the way this community operates and my heart aches for all church families to act the same way. I see God being glorified in their joyous, generous hearts and I am know that God is teaching me His ways through this community.

Christmas Means Freedom

My favorite author is Brennan Manning. There is no question about it. Each time I read his books I feel like it was written for me. Earlier this year the pastor of my church in Chicago recommended a Brennan Manning book called, “The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus.” I read it before I came to Uganda and am so glad I brought it with me. Out of my two bags and 100 pounds that I brought, all the Brennan Manning books made the cut. The last section of this book focuses on the significance of Christmas and what the birth of Christ means to us. In one of the last chapter called, “Christmas Means Freedom, “ Manning writes:

“The wailing Infant bears witness to a God whose Word is fresh and alive, who is not the defender of the old, the already-settled, the well-established and familiar. The God we encounter in Jesus is free from preoccupation with His own glory, free to be for us, free to be gracious, free to love and let be.

This Christmas such a God might well expect us to be creatively responsive and thus truly Christlike. Indeed, He might call us to set free captives bound by loneliness and isolation, to share our hope with prisoners of gloom and despair, to invite the unlovely to our table, to celebrate our freedom in forgetfulness about our comfort and convenience, to cry the Gospel by ministering to widows and orphans, to be the church by bringing soup to the poor, to ignore conventional expectations, to call His Son out of Egypt once more.”

I get the sense that we are on the verge of a major change in our Church. I have had several discussions with friends and family over the need to ‘think-outside-the-box’ and challenge the conventional ways of doing things. I think Christmas is the perfect time to start making those changes. I know many people take time to serve the poor and buy gifts for those in need during the holidays and I think that is great. However, with that said, those things are often times secondary to everything else we do for Christmas. They are secondary to gifts, grab bags, turkeys, holiday parties and cookies. I think this year we need to switch the order and make Christmas primarily about the exact things Jesus did while He was on Earth. He spent time with lepers, widows, the lonely, the children and the hopeless.

I wonder why more people don’t spend their Christmas doing these things. Are they worried they won’t get the new shoes they’ve been waiting for or new set of tools? Are they worried it won’t ‘feel like Christmas’? What would it be like to visit a nursing home on Christmas and decorate cookies with those that have no visitors? What would it be like to bring Christmas dinner to a family without food? What would it be like to walk the streets of Chicago and hand out gloves and hats to those living on the streets? I actually know the answers to these questions – it would be absolutely amazing. I think if people did it once they would never go back.

I pray that this Christmas we would look to Jesus first, focus on the freedom that comes with the naked, humble, vulnerable baby in the manger. Jesus wasn’t known for doing things the traditional way, so why should we?

Broken Hearted

It has been a long time since I last wrote. There are many things I want to share but I have failed to take the time to sit down and share them.

Before I moved to Uganda I read Richard Stearns book, “The Hole in Our Gospel” and absolutely loved it. Richard Stearns is the President of World Vision and in his book he shares countless stories of his encounters with the widows, orphans and poor from around the world. I could write several blog entries on this book as it is filled with great insight and amazing stories.

In the very beginning of his book, Stearns quotes a prayer from Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision. It says, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” As I have taken time over the past few weeks to think about this quote, I have realized the true weight and implication of it. While it absolutely terrifies me to think about having my heart broken, I think it is far worse not have my heart broken. I think one of the worse things that can happen to us is to become immune or desensitized by the atrocities in this world. I pray that I would never become desensitized to seeing children go several days without food. I pray that I would never become desensitized to seeing a 3-year old girl scream as her mom drops her off at the orphanage because she can no longer care for her. I pray that I would never become desensitized to child-led households. I pray that I would never become desensitized to hearing about polygamist fathers and their 5 wives and several children that they do not care for. I pray that I would never become desensitized to taking children to the clinic for malaria, typhoid and other diseases. I pray that I would never become desensitized to seeing kids have nowhere to go over the holidays because they have no parents or relatives. These things are the very things that break the heart of God and I think it is absolutely detrimental that we never get use to them. For when we get to use to them, we will stop acting and that cannot happen.

I am terrified to have my heart broken but I choose that over the alternative. I trust that when my heart is broken by what I see here, that God will mend it and will carry me. This is what needs to happen. God’s heart is broken over the 26,000 people that die every day of hunger or its related causes. God’s heart is broken over the 1 of 4 children in developing countries that are underweight. God’s heart is broken over the 854 million people that do not have enough food to sustain them. God’s heart is broken by the 2.6 billion people (40% of the world’s population) that live on less than $2 a day. God’s heart is broken over the 33 million people that are infected with HIV, 70% of them living in Africa. God’s heart is broken over the fact that in Africa, only 59 percent of children attend school and only one in three will complete primary school.

All of these people are children of God. They are all precious treasures in His eyes and I pray that I would see each person as He does. I pray that people all over the world would have their hearts broken over the things that break God’s heart. I pray that those people would trust God with their broken heart and take this Christmas season to reflect about what they can do to love and serve the widows, orphans, fatherless and poor.

Needing God's Wisdom

I’m sorry it has been awhile since I last wrote. This week was great and flew by just like the rest. I will say however, that the week started out on a difficult note and left me with a lot to think about.

Last Monday, Julius (my co-worker) and I took one of our kids to the clinic for a check-up. Derrick is 13 years old and is HIV positive. Upon arriving at the clinic we were met by his counselor who informed us that they would not be giving Derrick any more medication because he had refused to take the medication they had given him before. She went on to tell us that he has wasted hundreds of dollars in medication and that his grandmother refuses to allow him to take the medication they give him. After going to his grandmother’s house to ask about the medication, we learned that she does in fact refuse to let him take his medicine because she is scared of the side affects and thinks that medicine with side affects cannot be good for Derrick. We went back to the clinic and after a few more hours, discovered that the situation is extremely complicated and frustrating. Derrick has told several counselors at the clinic stories about not being fed, not having money for school fees and other nonsense. Derrick is sponsored by the school and has plenty to eat. In fact he gets a special diet and takes food home with him. At the end of the day the details of the lies don’t matter, it only matters that a 13-year-old boy who is sick with HIV is so messed up that he is lying to the only people trying to help him. Julius and I left extremely frustrated with the situation. It makes me sad and angry. I am sad that we live in such a broken world, and I am angry that I don’t know what to do. We can’t ignore Derrick, we can’t leave him to be on his own, but at the same time how do you help somebody who leads you in circles with lies and inaccurate information?

This is just one story but there are many more. The kids here are broken. It is really hard not to get mad at Derrick and say that we won’t spend out time on such kids, but the truth of the matter is that Derrick is one of God’s children and grace says that while he doesn’t deserve our help and love, we will provide it to him regardless. Derrick needs love and I pray and trust that God would give me wisdom on how to love Derrick.