Going to Uganda was amazing and eye-opening. I can remember telling God when I first became a Christian that I would surrender my life to Him as long as he doesn’t make me a missionary and doesn’t send me to Africa. God has proved His sense of humor to me by making both of those things happen. I realize now how foolish that prayer was and how much I would have missed out on if I would have not submitted to His plan for my life. So, at age 39, I went to Africa as a missionary!
Beyond the majestic beauty of the country itself, the things that stick with me the most are the people of Uganda. Here’s what I mean.
I saw tons of children and they were everywhere! And their stories are amazing! Here’s what I mean.
We met a group of kids on a brief stop during a long car trip. (picture) They stopped and we were able to talk with them and we gave them some punch-ball balloons to play with. It was amazing to see the joy on their faces when we gave them the balloons sand showed them how to play with them. In that brief encounter, we did our best to share God’s love with them. I bet they had quite a story to tell their family and friends that night.
On another occasion, some boys ran up to our van and one of them begged us for a pen so he could study. “Pen for study?” he asked. “Do you have a pen for study?” We found a plastic pen and gave it to the boy and he ran away like he had just won the lottery! Amazing stuff!
I don’t think there are many atheists in Africa. I say that because of the daily struggle to survive. Many of the kids we came across, we learned, do not have parents. Both Mother and Father have died of AIDS and left them to fend for themselves. They don’t have the distractions we have in Amerca…like how we focus so much on creature comforts and living pain-free lives. These people are desperate for help and I discovered in many of them a deep dependence on God…I dependence that is rarely seen in our country.
Going to Uganda was also like stepping back into the Bible. In the crowded street, I saw something hopping around the streets…I looked closer and saw that it was a man in a blue shirt. But this man was lame…he was walking with his hands in some flip-flop shoes. His name is Godfrey (picture). He is the father of two children and a follower of Christ. He has to beg for money and food keep his family alive…and it’s a daily struggle to survive! One of the things that amazed me about him was the deep-seated joy I saw in him. He was not suicidal or downcast. He was depending on God and doing what he needed to do that day to stay alive. I learned a lot about God from that brief encounter.
The highlight for me was becoming friends with Levi and Irene (picture). They cut their honeymoon short to attend the fundraising seminar we led. Levi used to hate Christians. He was raised a Muslim and he used to argue with Christians all the time. He met Navigators in college and began to argue with them…but God changed his life. He met a group of Christians that loved him and shared the gospel with him. His life is so radically changed that Levi and Irene want to serve God as Christian missionaries in Uganda!
So what did I learn?
My trip to Uganda brought to life some important spiritual principles that I will put in the form of questions I need to regularly ask myself.
Question # 1: I’m alive, but am I really living?
When you strip everything down, what is left? Uganda reminded me that there are only three things that last forever: God, His Word and people. We are relational beings and we were made for relationships. The most important relationship that we can have is our relationship with God.
I believe that God wants to give us life, real life. That’s why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the life that we were meant to live.
Jesus said, in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jesus is the key to experiencing a meaningful, abundant life. As we live for Him, not ourselves, we really live.
Life is so short. In the book of James it says that our lives are like a mist.
James 4:13-15
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
One thing I didn’t see when I was in Uganda was man gray-haired men. The average life span for a Ugandan is 50 years. I saw thousands of people but I can count on my one hand how many of them were probably over 50 years old. This reminds me of how short our lives really are…if we’re lucky, we’ll have 100 years here…so we only have a little time to make our lives count. This make me want to experience the full and meaningful life that Jesus promises to those who follow Him.
Question # 2: Who am I living for?
Am I living for myself or am I living for God? One of the great human tragedies are those who get to the end of their lives only to realize that they made no lasting impact because they were living for themselves.
I want my life to count, therefore I must invest my life in those things which last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
The gospel of Jesus unleashes the power for us to live for the eternal. The gospel is good news of what God has done to accomplish salvation through Jesus Christ in history; not advice about what we must do to reach God. The gospel of Jesus is not about being religious or finding religion. The gospel is “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey;” while religion is “I obey, therefore I am accepted.” Thus, the gospel differs from both religion and irreligion. The gospel is received not achieved. Believing the gospel is not only the way to meet God, but also the way to grow into Him.
“The unique self-image that the gospel brings is that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope –at the same time.” Quote by Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
Question #3: What am I trusting in?
I almost didn’t go to Uganda because of the fears of harm and disease. The more I think about that, the more I realize how much I would have missed if I hadn’t gone. Therefore, if I was not trusting in God’s plan for me but gave into my fears I would have missed out on so much. I have absolutely no regrets related to going to Uganda. I’m so glad that, through Christ, I was able to trust God and not live by fear.
I like what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7
“We live by faith, not by sight.”
That’s how I want to live my life…but faith, not giving into fear. We live with the illusion that we can control our lives. The truth is, there are few things that we can really control...think about it. You can control what you eat, but you still may get cancer. You can control how safely you drive but still end up in a bad accident. If I lived by fear, I wouldn’t get out of bed…but what kind of life is that? Is that really living?
If you have the opportunity to travel overseas, my advice to you: go! We only live once…going overseas to places like Uganda could amaze you like it did me. But more importantly, I pray that it’s an eye-opening experience that changes your life…forever!
