The Great Commission in the Slums of Africa

We met a man named Moses. He was quiet and humble but at the same time he was compelling and intimidating. When he spoke, he spoke with authority and his words were full of God's Word. We were all eager to get to know him because we knew he had a story. We could see it in His eyes. 

He wasn't eager to share with us his life story but we were forewarned that Ugandans are not ones who like to offer much information about themselves. It's a trait I'd like to bring back with me to the United States

On the first full day in Uganda we separated from Moses and travelled with some of the other Sports Outreach staff.  We went to several places within the slums of Kampala, Uganda. We stopped at a tiny house in the slums and walked in. The first room had children sitting on their knees while writing on their paper. We could see a teacher in the next room ask a group of kids sitting on the floor to spell CAT. The response was a loud, "C-A-T." Behind her was another group of kids sitting in circle with an older child who was holding up legos of different colors. The whole circle would say the color at the same time. 

We continued to walk into another room where small desks lined the outside wall. Two children sat at each table and they were quietly writing as a teacher walked behind each of them to assist them in spelling. This is the "catch-up" room for kids who haven't yet been to school. That's when we were told the story about this school.

You see, this place, this "school", used to be Moses' home in the slums. He was working as a soccer coach when one day he saw a young boy who came to the practices. This young boy would never go home after practice. Moses asked the young boy why he didn't go home and the young boy told him he had no home. Both of his parents had died. Moses took the boy home to his house in the slums and made a bed for the him to sleep. 

Later, Moses was reading his Bible and he read James 2:14-26. He became challenged by the words "faith without works is dead." The Lord stirred in his heart to begin to take into his home more children who were abandoned on the streets of the slums.   Moses ended up taking in other kids and into his one room home. He shared what he was doing with Sports Outreach which helped him buy another room for more children.

He discipled every child he brought into his home. Many of them accepted Christ as their savior and have gone on to get an education. Today, this building is used as a school during the day and a home for several people at night. They are training up a generation of young people to love Jesus and value an education.

What amazes me about this man and all of the staff and coaches at Sports Outreach is their commitment to the Gospel. EVERYTHING they do revolves around the Great Commission. They have no intention of making a name for themselves. They move when they see an opportunity to share the Gospel. Their selfless obedience to the Word of God is genuine and inspiring.

Moses is one of many men and women we have met in Uganda who have sacrificed their own comfort for the sake of the Gospel. Nothing matters more to them than seeing Jesus name lifted high. My life will forever be changed because of Moses.

Matthew 28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

All Up in My Space

God and I have this thing between us... I get to be honest with Him about how I'm feeling even if it's not pretty, then, without me realizing it, He sneaks right into the middle of the situation with His warmth, kindness and goodness. I don't understand how He's done it but my heart begins to soften from His love.

He just loves me even in the midst of all the ugly feelings. His love gets all up in my space and I can't run from it even though I think I want to.

I want to remind Him how angry I am at Him and blast Him with questions like "why?" and "where were you when...?"

I want Him to get angry at me so then I have the right to be angry. I want Him to yell at me so that I then have the right to yell at Him. I want Him to say horrible things about me so that I have the right to say those same things back to Him.

But what does He do?

He lets me ask any question I want. He lets me be angry. He lets me try to push Him away. He lets me cry while He listens.

I was pulling weeds in my yard this past weekend doing this very thing while listening to worship music. Oh the irony.

"Through it all, through it all, my eyes are on You. It is well with me." The words vibrate through my headphones as I pull a weed. Tears fall.

"This mountain that's in front of me will be thrown into the midst of the sea. Through it all, through it all, my eyes are on You." 

His warmth wraps itself around my hard heart and begins to melt me. Another weed pulled. The tears are no longer anger but like a child being comforted by her father, my hurt leans into His strength and I cry. His strength strengthens me. His love gives me hope. There are no words that I could hear but I remember something that becomes my truth in that moment... He hasn't left me. He understands the pain. He sees a bigger picture. He allows me to be human because He created me to be and yet, He gives me a supernatural strength and peace that only comes from His great love. This is what unconditional feels like. This is what unconditional looks like. I don't have to be perfect. I can express the hurt and He just loves. He is merciful. He is gracious.

He never let's me stay in that dark place because, in all honesty, I don't want to stay there. It may feel justified for a moment but He knows I need Him to get all up in my space and invade the discouragement and disappointment with His truth.

Something is pulled out of my heart and is filled with the truth of who God is. The moment those murky and muddy feelings wanted to entangle me, Love wouldn't let them.

My words become praise to Him. I thank Him for His love. I thank Him for His goodness. I can't stop them. They just roll out of my mouth just like the tears roll down my cheeks.

I can't explain to anyone how real He is to me but I will try. His love. His words. His truth. They bring life to the parts of me that feel as though they are dying. He resurrects hope and gives me His thoughts. They aren't the answers to an easy life but they are the answers that point to an abundant Heavenly Father.

His love is abundant! His grace is abundant! His faithfulness is abundant!

He just gets all up in my space. And... it never gets old.

A side note: all the weeds got pulled out of the jungle that had grown on the side of my house.

You are loved by an abundant God who is relentless in His pursuit of you!

Let me encourage you today to go to God and vent. Let Him get all up in your space.

Verses to dwell on:

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deut. 31:6

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Eph. 6:10

I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. Psalm 71:16

It's Tough, Ya'll

I walked into my house after working out last night and the movie Annie was on the television. My husband and I were laughing with the kids about how the main character started dancing and singing and then everyone who was around them all knew the dance moves. We laughed for a moment and started telling the kids how funny it would be if life was really like that with people jumping in knowing the same dance moves and singing the same songs. Then my mind went to a thought, "I wish Elisha could get up and dance with me." It was like cold water was thrown in my face. Why can't my little boy, created in the image of God, a precious miracle, stand up and dance and sing with me? Yep, I went there quickly. What in the world? We were just laughing and having a grand old time. The suddenness of the moment was painful. I cried. The feelings of disappointment, fear, and doubt filled my mind. I had no strength to pull myself out so I settled in and allowed the tears. My husband walked over and put his arms around me. He asked what was wrong. I told him, unashamedly, I was broken. Aren't I supposed to be beyond this kind of pain, it's been 2 and a half years? He squeezed me a little tighter and said, "I know this is hard." We were hugging while I was on the floor. Then he sat back and looked at me with confidence, a slight smile was on his face, he looked in the direction of Elisha and said, "We are going to be dancing together, right Elisha?" And Nate, in all of his rhythm as a drummer, began to do some crazy,awkward, nonrhythmic dance moves. He literally looked like he was convulsing. Elisha began to laugh and laugh so hard that he could barely breathe. I smiled even with tears rolling down my cheeks. I could see the goodness of God in this moment of brokenness. My precious little miracle who was hit by a car, bleeding to death in the road, unresponsive and in a coma for month, who lived in a hospital for over four months, and came home on 15 medications, is now sitting there laughing hysterically at my husband's inability to dance.

The pain I was feeling was still there but it now wasn't conquering me. I had the right to cry. It was okay to feel. Too often I want to shut down the pain but that's not how it works. Pain deserves a voice. It needs a voice.

"This hurts!"

My pain had to get out.

"It's not fair."

"This wasn't supposed to be the plan God. This wasn't what my life was supposed to look like."

Then the joy of my home, the laughter of my little miracle man, the warmth and confidence of my husband, the smile of my oldest and the purity of my youngest all covered the pain with a louder truth... God is good! He is just good. He is doing something powerful and I get to watch Him do it. Yes, He demonstrated His love by dying on the cross and conquering death, but He continues to demonstrate His love by turning this tragedy into something amazing!

It's tough, ya'll. There is no lie in saying that but in Christ there's hope. He always turns the bad stuff to something good. It's just His nature. He's good. I heard someone say the other day, "If it's not good then it's not done." We have to get to a place, even in the disappointment of life, where we believe in the unfailing character of God. He always wins! It's never too difficult with Him. His grace is sufficient! His power is unstoppable! His love is unchanging and everlasting! He is faithful! He is good!

One Night In Bangkok - A Journal Entry

December 12, 2014

Our flight landed in Bangkok after 19 hours of flying. We grabbed a cab and told the cab driver our address. He spoke in broken English about the part of town we were going to have to drive through to get to our hotel. Our fearless leader Jo said, "Yes. We know."

We had our first experience as a team driving through downtown Bangkok. There were girls up and down the streets dressed in short, tight skirts. They were trying to reveal as much of their skin as possible without showing everything. The roads we drove down were narrow and every turn we made looked the same with women standing close to the curb or leaning up against a building trying to entice.

It was midnight in Bangkok and it was wide awake. People were dancing in bars, the street vendors were still out, and men, many of them white men, were walking the streets with bloodshot eyes. You could feel the lust. It was dark. It was heavy. We passed a vendor selling stuffed animals. I remember distinctly seeing a large pink teddy bear. Oh, the irony. Our cab driver slowed to allow a beautiful girl to walk across the street. He pointed and said, "Ladyboy." Then he laughed. I couldn't speak. 

Every girl we saw had a smile on her face. It was a forced smile. There was a tall white man leaning against a telephone pole looking down at a young Asian girl with a jeer as he looked her up and down. 

I didn't feel like I could cry. I wasn't angry. I was taking it all in and asking the Lord, what am I supposed to do on this trip? What am I supposed to see? I was quiet and prayerful in the cab all the way to the hotel. 

We finally got to our hotel, the place I hoped would be "safe" from all we had seen. Three white men who spoke a different language were standing to the side as we entered through the doors.  We approached the front desk to check in and the sound of the elevator caught my attention. A tiny, beautifully dressed Asian girl stepped out of the elevator. Her hair was curled perfectly. One of the three men, the one that looked the oldest, put his arm around her waist when she walked over to him. He had just paid her for her services.

This was only one night, my first night, in Bangkok and I have several more to go.

The strongholds in this place are intense, yet... Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.