Day 7: Not here by coincidence

After our day of ministry at Amazima, we left Jinja and drove back to Kampala so that we could catch our flight to Kenya later Sunday afternoon. We packed up that evening, and then were able to enjoy dinner with Pastor Samuel of Return Ministries, the church where we were to go the next morning. Before our dinner came, Pastor Samuel gave us a"mini-sermon." I kid you not the first words out of his mouth were, "You are not on this trip by coincidence; God has brought you here for a reason." Prophetic, much? It's truly amazing how God uses everything around us; our circumstances, people we meet, things we see, things we hear, and conversations we have, to reach down and assure our easily distracted minds and easily discouraged hearts that He is still there, working out all the details.

Lately, I have been feeling so overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems the fatherless and impoverished face, overwhelmed with the different avenues I could take to try to help, and overwhelmed with uncertainty about when and where to take drastic action. However, reading back over my journal, and remembering once more Pastor Samuel's words, I am reminded that God is a good God, who is concerned with details; He will never leave me hanging. What's more, God never called me to "save the world" all by myself. Quite the opposite, in fact. He himself, through Jesus, saved the world. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid it all. Every. single. last. thing. Your slate and my slate, wiped completely clean. That's what matters…that Jesus already saved the day, not that I have to figure out how to save a fallen world. This realization has led me to run faster towards God, to lean on Him for strength when I feel overwhelmed, and to understand that if I am running after Him, He'll use me in His plan to help the fatherless.

Oh, and Pastor Samuel's sweet kiddos, Israel and Pall, joined us for dinner! Israel had abundant energy, and Pall is probably the cutest chubbster in all of Africa!

Israel

Pall

So, anyways, back to Sunday at church, day 7 of our Africa journey. We woke up on Sunday morning, loaded up the bus, and headed to church. We showed up to a house with two large tents set up in the backyard; welcome to Ugandan church. No flashy buildings, comfy pews, fancy music, just God and His children worshipping Him. Not to say that having nice buildings or a band for church are bad in and of themselves, it's just that there are so many less distractions without them.

The congregation at Return sang praises to God like you wouldn't believe! I felt so convicted about my own worship at church in America; how could I be so lackadaisical about worshipping the God of the universe? Why did I so often feel embarrassed to raise up my hands in the middle of a song? Why was I always making sure my "not so trained" voice wasn't too loud in case it hurt other people's ears? When the people in Africa worship, it's just them and their Creator God. No one and nothing else matters. I have tried to put a little bit of this mindset into my worship since I've been back in the states, and I've loved it! What a liberating feeling to just pour out praise to God as if no one is listening or watching!

After Pastor Samuel's sermon, we fellowshipped with the people for a while and then Pastor Samuel's wife Sara made us a delicious snack, before we had to leave for the airport. We were also able to shop at the Return "market," because of which I was able to fulfill my dream of owning an "African-style" bag.

Ok, so before we went on the trip, I had been praying that God would stretch me and take me out of my comfort zone. On the bus, on the way to the airport from church, God definitely came through on that prayer! I am not exactly the most patient person in the world, in fact, that might just be the understatement of the year…I HATE to wait and I HATE to be late. Well, on the way, we got stuck in a MASSIVE traffic jam. We were sitting in traffic for what felt like 6 hours! We almost missed our flight to Addis Ababa, our connecting point for the flight to Kenya. However, God totally took care of us. There was a sweet, angel of a man at the airline desk who let us basically cut everyone in line and waived quite a few charges on over-weight luggage so that we could make the flight. Remember my point earlier about God being in the details? He definitely showed me yet another time on day 7 that He is in control. Oh, and in addition to fulfilling my dream of owning an African bag, I got to fulfill my dream of running through the airport like they do in the movies. (It's a weird dream I know, but, hey).

After Day 7, Phase 1 of the trip was complete…to Kenya we went!