It seems that lately I’ve been focusing on my inadequacies,feelings of “less than”, feelings of inferiority…focusing on “self”. The first line of one of Rick Warren’s books addresses the fact that life is not about “me”!
It amazes me the lengths the enemy will go to weasel his way into the little nooks and crannies of our lives such that we don’t realize it’s happening until, ”BOOM!”…and then there’s no denying the aftermath he’s left behind. I’m so thankful for a God who is able to clean up the messes we create/ or allow to be created. I’m so thankful for the “ekissa” (Lugandan for "mercy") of Christ.
Things are certainly relative. As God has begun to bring into my understanding of how I’ve been trusting in the ability of another individual over His ability to provide for the ministry of ekissa, I’ve had friends who have been in the middle of a more blatant attack of the enemy.
Two American friends who originally went to Uganda in March of this year for a visit, decided to stay and invest themselves in the beginnings of an orphanage.
The very orphanage which called ekissa into creation, was used to keep two 22 year old guys in Uganda in order to demonstrate mercy to 16 orphans between ages 3-11. While in Uganda, these boys went out yesterday evening to watch the World Cup football (soccer) game on a big screen at a local hangout. As the half time whistle blew their lives were forever changed.
It appears a war of another kind was waged by a sub group of Al Qaeda. This group made the decision to ignite bombs in 2 public places and many people were killed. In the words of one of these friends…
“…..a sound we didn’t expect…
The sound that every person fears, shook the earth. Louder than a thunder crack, an eruption burst our ears. BOOM!
The window my shoulder is on imploded into the room… Billowing smoke... tables and chairs turned over… I can’t focus… why can’t I see? Where is my group? Where are the girls?… Get cover. My adrenaline kicks in as we stumble over debris. Jay and I grab Carrie and push us against the sturdiest wall furthest from the explosion. Where is my chaco? I’m walking barefoot on glass. There is blood everywhere. I can’t hear anything except the loud ringing in my ear. Where is this blood coming from? Is it mine? Not mine. Jay’s ok. My group seems fine. The green glass of the Mountain Dew bottles we had are now shattered across the floor. Two white people are on the ground right in front of us covered in blood. I can’t focus. All I can see what white mangled flesh and blood everywhere. We were slipping in it. People began pushing to the back. Bodies still lay in chairs and all over the ground. Some of the ten people that sat in the back of the room just feet from us now are not moving….Bloody people were being carried out as we began to hear sirens from a distance. Fifteen people confirmed dead. People that were literally sitting feet from us enjoying the game now are gone. A grown man wept knowing he lost his brother.
…The blood that stained our clothes we realized was not our own…
In an instant, life can become a “bloody mess”. In the blink of an eye, lives are changed as well as end…alive one minute and gone the next. I’m quite sure all the people gathered in Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kampala Uganda, watching the World Cup, had not woken up that morning asking themselves, “How should I spend my last day of life on this earth?”.
I found myself wondering about the life of those who died in these explosions. I wondered who they were, what roles they played in the lives of others, did they know Christ, had anyone taken the time to introduce Christ?
I also found myself assessing my own life. Am I living a life holy unto Him?…am I living a life that would be found pleasing to my Lord? If my energies our focused on anything other than the purpose in which my creator created me for, it is not a life that would be found “pleasing” to Him.
Lord, keep our eyes on you; keep our eyes on the eternal and not the temporal.
Help us to clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Help us to “bear with each other”. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful…sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:12-17
As I post this, Steven Curtis Chapman's song came on "Yours"...
I walk the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
They're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded
That every child in Africa is Yours
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours
Blessings!
