Empty Hands, Full Hearts

It was one of those rare days last week when I opened Facebook, and what a delight to find a great post by a Filipino friend. She referred to an article written by an American educator, David H. Harwell, PhD, entitled LOVE LETTER TO FILIPINOS. (http://opinion.inquirer.net/47047/love-letter-to-filipinos) The sentence that really struck me was, “I have sometimes tried to explain it like this: In America, our hands are full, but our hearts are empty.” As I reviewed Dr. Harwell’s positive comments about hard working and caring Filipinos he has met across the globe, I reflected on some great memories of our many years in the Philippines and also compared his observations to some Ugandan believers that we have met and are coming to also highly esteem. 

Today we again made an early morning drive to Scripture Union and joined the staff in worship, prayer and Bible study. They know what it is to serve sacrificially. But I sensed their full hearts as they prayed for God’s intervention in their nation, interceded for children and youth camps happening this month all over the country, requested God for His direction and passion for those who are writing, editing, and printing their daily Scripture reading/devotional guides for children, youth, and adults, and pleaded for the souls of precious students.

After meeting with the National Director, then the Coordinator of Children’s Ministries for Central Uganda, then the  Publications Coordinator, we shared lunch with none other than a fashion designer from Chicago (God’s sense of humor). This young woman shared how she got “fed up” with the American rat race and concluded that there must be something more fulfilling than designing and marketing $500 dresses to people who “have everything.” So she left everything and here she is volunteering at a home for abandoned babies (52 of them) plus feeding another 50 street kids every Wednesday in a Kampala slum. Her spiritual life has been challenged and strengthened; just three weeks ago she followed the Lord in believer’s baptism here in Africa. Her hands are not nearly as full as they once were…but oh, her heart is overflowing. What a great God we have who teaches us through brothers and sisters of another language and culture that full hearts is really more important to God…and more satisfying…than having the latest and greatest things in our hands.