“I Had to Read the Rest of the Story”

My personal highlight for doing the children’s “Queen Esther” continued story at KBC (Kampala Baptist Church) this past Sunday wasn’t my puppet nor was it the children, as precious as they are...it was my assistant. Early in the week I requested the KBC Secretary to suggest a male who could sit with the children and read two verses from Esther.  On Friday I called the number given me, and talked to a certain “Moses.” I discovered he was a 2^nd year University Commerce student who had previously worked with the youth and was looking forward to assisting with the children. Esther 5:11-12 were the verses I requested him to read for me as part of the story. Sunday morning between Sunday School and Church I met Moses for the first time; he struck me as a sharp guy.  When we talked about his sitting with the children and reading those verses, a smile lit his face, “you know when I first read this, I had to read the whole story to find out about this Haman guy.”  Praise God for allowing me to introduce the astonishing story of Esther to my new friend, Moses.  His love for the Lord and children made him a wonderful assistant.  I am suspicious God has something special for this young man and pray for the rest of God’s story in Moses’ life.

Hunting for the “Lion” in the Midst of Tragedy

Several times a day this past week, we’ve been on Facebook (in contrast to our maybe once or twice a week!), reading, listening, watching for news about the Philippines as well as lifting our heavy spirits to our God on behalf of our beloved country. We, along with others, prayed that God would neutralize its power as we heard of its pending arrival…but God chose to answer “no” to that prayer…and now we pray that the next storm brewing in the same area would be nullified…and will see what God chooses to do. Yesterday I was reading of how Jesus stilled the storm that found Him sleeping in the boat and I was jolted by the words “and it was completely calm”…He still has the power to stop a super typhoon in its tracks and instantly make it “completely calm.” We’ll never to able to understand God’s purposes on this side of heaven, but we choose to believe that He is still sovereign and has good purposes for all that He allows to happen. No doubt there will be amazing stories emerge from this typhoon of how God miraculously protected some, etc.—we’ve already read one story of a small boy who clung to the floating trunk of a coconut tree for six hours in the furious ocean and was washed up on shore…still alive (now pray that he can be reunited with his family). But, when you really think of it, God chose to not stop the single event in history that was infinitely more tragic than this typhoon—the crucifixion of His Own perfect holy Son…and then realize all the “good” that came out of that tragedy, including my own salvation from eternal hell. He does know what He is doing and can be trusted!

Here in Uganda, we did see the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” this week in the testimonies of the three Ugandan men who are part of the WorldVenture Advisory Board. All three shared their testimonies during our WorldVenture annual meetings (one of them for 1 ½ hours!) and each one had tragic things happen that would cause others to walk away from God, but they chose to remain true and press on. They were very humble, but our WorldVenture Uganda director and others who know them eagerly gave testimony to how many people they have touched and brought to Christ as their Savior. Their determination to trust God in the midst of tragedy has caused their light to shine brightly and to challenge/encourage me/us to do the same. Despite what comes our way, let’s keep our eyes on the Lion of the Tribe of Judah…He is sovereign, all wise, all powerful, and faithful, no matter what.

The Golden Jubilee Celebration Highlights the Need of the Golden Rule

UGANDA: In Need of Core Values

We always felt that the Philippines had a better grasp of what it meant to celebration than our own culture…and now we have experienced an African celebration…every bit as jubilant, although also different. It was a privilege to join Scripture Union Uganda’s (SUU) two significant and climatic events this week—the Jubilee Dinner on Oct. 31 and the Grand Celebration on Nov. 02. The “dinner” was scheduled to begin at 6 PM, but really got rolling around 7 with music, greetings, prayer, and introductions. A children’s choir beamed as they sang several songs throughout the program. Among other things, the program also included an instrumental piece using a Ugandan harp (quite small compared to ours but vibrating with beautiful music), other soloists, several testimonies, a strong message from God’s Word exploring the meaning of the Theme: Freedom in Christ, several speeches from SUU past and present leadership, and a stirring closing challenge from a rather high government official who was greatly influenced by his membership in a Scripture Union Club during his high school days…with the delicious meal tucked in there about 10 PM (we left around 11:30 PM). Many wonderful things were shared, but what really struck us was the frequency of the word/topic of “values” mentioned by virtually everyone who spoke. The final speaker informed us that government officials in his department now realize that the wisest investment of government money is not in pursuing/investigating/prosecuting corrupt people, but rather in training the next generation to be people of integrity—Amen!!

The final speaker during the Jubilee Dinner,
pushing for the teaching of values to our children.

Seemingly without any human planning, that theme continued to surface during the Nov. 2 grand celebration. God provided a sunny day for several thousand students to march with their school/Scripture Union banners through Kampala to the grandstand for the more than 6 hour program. None other than the President of Uganda came and gave a 30 minute speech, quoting from Genesis 1 and asking an assistant read Ecclesiastes 3 plus another scripture. He commended Scripture Union Uganda for their work and encouraged the students in Bible reading and prayer in order to be good citizens of this great nation. An added bonus of the day was to see each student receive a “God’s Offer” Gospel tract, the cost for printing of which was provided by Star Kids in Hamilton, Ontario.

Perhaps the “capstone” for us, was reading the “The Chairman’s Word to Scripture Union at 50” in their “More Than Gold” Jubilee magazine. The SUU National Chairman said toward the end of his article “The…challenge before us is that of Secularization of the Schools where core values have been lost…..Unless an appropriate action is taken, we stand at a very high risk of losing our children and eventually the nation to secularism and Satanism. SU has such has a role to play in instilling lasting values. May the Lord help us to arise and do something as long as we still can. SU is ready and willing to receive anyone who has ideas and practical support of helping the situation around us. Please do give this careful thought!” After all that we've heard and read, we both sense a deeper sense of urgency and commitment as well the awe of perhaps being here “for such a time as this.” Please pray!