God’s Surprise

The idea of a 2-night prayer retreat had come up rather quickly. Our close colleague mentioned that she had booked a cottage at a retreat center  for the day after she returned from an almost 2-week ministry time in South Sudan. “Would you like to join?” Our schedule didn’t allow a full overlap with her, but we could go a day earlier and leave a day before she did…so with some hesitation, we decided to go ahead. We had heard some great reviews about the retreat center but had never been there. The somewhat common warning “Come apart and rest before you come apart emotionally/spiritually/physically” convinced us.

Once we got out of Kampala, we began to relax (thanks to the good driver God has given us who navigated through heavy downpours) and enjoy the beauty of the Ugandan country-side. A bit more than two hours later, with the last 10 minutes of the drive on narrow dirt roads through corn fields, we arrived and instantly were struck with the beauty. It’s situation right on the banks of the Nile River, just north of Lake Victoria. A single from the Netherlands, purchased the land and developed it especially with prayer retreats in mind. Cement benches, swings, and little walkways are strategically placed so that you can soak in the beauty. Each round cement hut/cottage has its own veranda, carefully situated with a breath-taking view. The landscaping is gorgeous with such a variety of grass, bushes, trees, and flowers which peacefully compete with the astonishing variety of birds everywhere.

Once we arrived and got settled in, the rain stopped and we soon found a bench close to the shore where you could hear the water rippling and watch the shenanigans of the wide variety of water birds, the jumping fish, and the quiet paddling of the small fishing boats. Ahhh, how nice to have time to just enjoy chatting with each other—no other agenda! And as we were chatting, suddenly we realized the significance of the date--July 3…two years ago to the day we arrived in Uganda to begin our ministry! In all the busyness of the past days, we both had totally forgotten! Only our loving God could have arranged that surprise for us! For the next hour or so, we just recalled blessing after blessing that God has poured out on us—what a wonderful time of worshiping our God together in such a beautiful place.