Muli mutya! Hello everyone. My name is Kevin and I am getting more excited about this trip each day. I must be honest and say my first feelings about this trip were ones of fear and anxiety. I know the things I am going to see and experience in Uganda are going to be like no other experiences I've ever had. I have seen and been in the midst of many extreme, horrific and scary situations in my line of work. But what awaits us in Uganda I know will break my heart. And my heart needs to be broken. My prayer is and has been for a while now that God will crush me - the selfish me, the greedy me, the apathetic me, the intrinsically lazy me, the spoiled American me, the foolish me, the wasteful me, the impatient me, the uncaring me. The me who has a totally screwed up worldview and a totally screwed up Kingdomview. I know I need to be brought to a place where where God can reach me and show me where He wants me to be and the part I am to play in furthering His kingdom in my short time here on earth.
I am so weak. But God is so good, faithful and strong.
My other prayer is that God, through our team, will meet a specific need that is being prayed for by Christian brothers and sisters in Uganda right now. I don't know what it is, but God laid it on my heart tonight as I drove to church that a specific need is being prayed for in Uganda. I asked God to please allow our team to meet and fulfill that need (however big or small) for the sole reason that He would be glorified and faith would be strengthened on both sides of the globe. I prayed that we would refuse to accept any responsibility or praise for what is done but that it would be directed only to Him. Oh to be His hands and feet!
Isaiah 52:7 "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
My God reigns! I can serve Him! I can be His ambassador! Me! Wow that's crazy but so simple. God wants to use us. Why has that been so hard to get through my thick skull? He wants to use us right here where we are - right now. We don't need to trek the globe to serve Him. Use me today Lord!
Like I said, my excitement increases as the time draws closer and as I listen for His voice.
Tomorrow, on April Fools' Day, I am gonna try to be a "fool for Christ" and pay good money to get poked full of holes so I don't catch the bubonic plague in Africa! It will be the sweetest pain I've ever experienced!
My Hope is in the Lord.
Kevin
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Wow, Kevin, I've had tears in my eyes since the beginning of the post! I think the greatest thing that God does in mission trips in the hearts of those who go. And I love your prayer that your team would be an answer to a specific prayer of the people of Uganda. When you are here, I would love to tell you about that very thing. I am so looking forward to what God will do while your team is here. I know we will all be blessed - God's
ReplyDeletelike that! Blessings!
And Kevin, I love it that you're learning Lugandan already. Here's the greeting betweeen born-agains in Uganda: Mukama yebazibwe! (Moo-kah'-muh Yay-buh-zeeb-way' - but second "b" is almost silent.) It means "Praise God!" A good one for the whole team to learn!
ReplyDeleteKevin, it's great that you can articulate what's going on in your heart and mind as God reveals His heart to you. I appreciate your honesty. In my mind, I'm checking your list and saying, "Yep, that one...uh, that one, too." You're right that our view of the world and the Kingdom has gotten really messed up.
ReplyDeleteI'm asking God to help me know what to do with that, so I will remember to ask on your behalf, too. Ex. Phil. 3:7,8 "But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a LOSS compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." This is not a popular view in Christian culture that our joy would really be found in giving ourselves over to Jesus...that as we glorify Him, we will be truly satisfied. And Paul adds, that suffering is part of the package to really experience great joy! And people think we're a little nuts when we say things like, "Don't you think we should take a look at how we've set up our lives?" i.e. consider our passions, the things we treasure, set aside some of our pleasures, give up some material blessings that we hold onto, take a trip to Uganda, feed and pay bills for those in our church? "Isn't that getting a little carried away?" So I'm realizing that I just need to do those things, even if I'm only one of few that wants to emulate Paul's exhortation. God isn't going to let us off with, "Well, no one else really wanted to go there with me down that path."
I just read a short biography on the life of William Wilberforce, who was instrumental in the abolition of the slave trade/slavery in England. He persevered for over 40 years before God opened the door to accomplishing his goal, and spent much time and money as a benefactor of the poor. He also helped with legislation in Parliament that allowed William Carey, a great British missionary to India, to evangelize the British colonies.
At the time, William was part of very small group of evangelical Christians, yet God used him to change his culture and abolish one of the great evils of the day, slavery. Being evangelical in Catholic England was frowned upon and he endured a measure of hostility from others. However, he acted on what God showed Him and eventually wrote a book called "The Practical View of Christianity" to encourage change in "nominal" Christians -those who believed in self-effort to please God and enjoyed the pleasures of the world vs. finding satisfaction in Jesus. The thing that powered his perseverance was that first, one needed to be justified by faith, and second, in view of that, find great joy and satisfaction in Jesus. These two things allowed him to not look to the approval of man or material well-being as his source of satisfaction. He was a wealthy man (inherited wealth). He was a man devoted to spending time with God in the Word and in prayer. This brought him great satisfaction and he was known as a man with a very joyful spirit.
I'm excited for you and happy that you will shed many tears of godly sorrow and joy at the revelation of His Son, Jesus, as you share the love of Christ out of a great sense of joy for what He has done, Kevin. As T. Lawson would say, "Press on to the goal. Keep you eye on the prize." May God continue to stir up the flame and keep it alive on the inside. Holy Spirit, fall on Kevin.