Prom

We’re just coming out of the rainy season here. The rainy season is the Ugandan winter, so for the Ugandans this means sweatshirts,  heavy coats, snow pants, definitely some knitted and crocheted hats, and sometimes even boots during this chilly 70 degrees F weather. For the Americans, this means slipping awkwardly in public places, many dirty falls, heavy prayers on boda rides, daily changes in our schedule due to torrential downpours, hiding in random huts when the floods start coming, getting stuck in the mud while you are walking-to the point of having to abandon your sandals and try to pull your legs out of the mud, and anytime you leave the house with clean feet you don’t make it to the gate before they are dirty (unless you are Ugandan, they have this ability to walk in the mud and not get dirty, I have yet to acquire this though).

A few sundays back, we walked into the slum we work in and Katie and I were there early for the program. She started doing medical and I ended up playing football with the boys, when the sky opened up and the rain started coming. This is usual a funny moment, because every Ugandan runs for cover like high school girls on their way to prom when it starts raining (except for the 4 naked children who decided to make a muddy slip and slide on the soccer pitch). We all huddle in this classroom, 2 mzungus and a bunch of rowdy kids who are terrified of the rain. It soon becomes a game of trying to throw each other outside of the classroom into the rain coming down, which leads to everyone getting soaking wet, to dancing in the rain, to playing in the rain. The church’s gutters are gushing water and many of the boys are huddled around it washing their faces and splashing each other. By this time, I was really muddy, and I walked up to the gutter with the intentions of joining in the fun...but as soon as I got there the 4 boys there grabbed my feet and started scrubbing. I mean, SCRUBBING. These kids for being street kids and living in the dirt, are some of the most peculiar and particular kids I have ever met when they set their mind to it, and they decided that my feet were going to be clean.

I’m standing in a slum in the pouring rain having my feet washed by homeless kids. 

I don’t have some huge analogy or revelation about what this meant to me. There was actually not a lot of words that I could say to describe it. I have been feeling a lot that way lately, no words are sufficient. All that comes to my mind, is THANK YOU.

I wouldn’t be honest if I said that being here I am constantly overflowing with the Holy Spirit and everything is perfect, I would actually be blatantly lying. However, a couple of weeks back I wrote this is my journal:

“Jesus, thank you for where I am. The ultimate trust is when you are in a bad place and you can say thank you for where you are because you are trusting in the rescue.” 

Mark 6 has been coming up a lot - I’ve preached on it, constantly turned to it in my quiet time, talked about it with my friends, and then have listened to several podcasts on it. There are so many things I could touch on that speak to me, so many different aspects of feeding the 5,000. The one that truly gets me every time is this verse:

“Taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks, and broke the loaves.” 

All that Jesus did before this miracle was give thanks. 

So when I feel distant from God and I find myself asking God, “Who are you? Where are you?!” I give thanks. 

When I walk into the slums and see kids that are so sick and hurt that they can’t move or walk - I give thanks. 

When I watch a kid who is 13 and doesn’t even know all his letters trying to learn the alphabet - I give thanks. (side note - 3 weeks later, this kid is reading SENTENCES. My heart explodes with joy every time I hear “The cat sat on the mat” or The pot is hot” or “Where is the box?” or “Why are you sad?” 

When I see homeless kids putting money in the offering at church - I give thanks. 

When I see street kids too ashamed to come to church because they are filthy - I give thanks. 

When I see the boys that we are sponsoring into school in January and get frustrated because they are still on the streets and every time I walk into the slum I don’t know if they will still be there - I give thanks. 

When I am overwhelmed by how busy I am - I give thanks. 

I am often overwhelmed by NEED. The kid who needs a home. The kid who needs hope. The kid who is starving. The kid who I have never seen smile and who needs a good laugh. The needs we have for ministry. The need for sponsorship. The need for rest. The need for intimacy with the Lord. The need for my heart to be humble and wise.  The need for chains to be broken and lives to be healed. 

I look at the dying and the dead, and bow my head to pray for redemption and healing and LIFE and Joy and provision...but every time, all that comes out is thank you. 

At first, I wanted better words than that. Slowly, God is showing me that that is all I need to say in those times. 

Thank you for where I am (1 Tim 6:6) 

Thank you for the rescue that’s coming. 

At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. - Ephesians 5:20

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. Philippians 4:6

Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:7 

For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away or refused if it is received with thanksgiving. 1 Timothy 4:4