Not Your Typical School Musical

I am tired but feel like I have to share how I feel. I feel so blessed. It would be easy to say that tonight was good or tonight was fun but when I really think about it, it was so much more than that. Tonight was a blessing and truly the work of God.

Tonight was the school musical at the international school where a few of my friends teach. On the surface it was a typical school musical, kids singing, parents with cameras and lots of jazz hands. But it wasn’t typical. It was wonderful. Children from all around the Kampala area put on the musical, not just kids from the school. Some kids came from the school, some from a local church, others from an orphanage and a few from the national rehabilitation center (government orphanage). Some kids came from wealthy parents, others from missionary parents, some had no parents while others had been abandoned by their parents. But tonight you couldn’t tell, all you could see were a group of kids singing about three heroes from the Bible; Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego and they were awesome.

The other special part of tonight was the audience. Of course there were plenty of parents, relatives and friends in attendance but that was not all. A friend of mine works with an orphanage and as a special treat all the children were able to come tonight. In my experience with kids that live at orphanages is that anytime they get to leave is a treat. So occasions like this; a trip to Kampala (they are from a village) to see a special performance, is a big deal!

Also, I had intended to bring a few of my friends that work with the street kids to the performance. We typically meet on Saturday nights to hang out and I thought attending the musical would be fun. However, what started out as a group of 8 soon turned into a group of 18. The 8 leaders as planned and an additional blessing of 10 of our kids joined in. The kids loved it and while I’m not sure they understood all the words, they were clearly entertained. Anytime we get to take a few of them out of their environment and give them special attention is always a good time. The kids were dressed in their best, far better behaved than the leaders and were a pure joy.

Maybe it doesn’t seem like such a special night but in my eyes I saw parents, orphans, kids that call the streets their home, friends and other people, all enjoying, supporting and cheering as a group of kids from all different backgrounds told the wonderful story of 3 young men and their rock solid faith in God. Not your everyday school musical at all.