History of Saaka Land--Conclusion....For Now...
Its been a long time since that communion on the dirt road…when we were only two.
Now over 200 Christians commune before God’s throne each year. On land that was once used for unholy purposes...now claimed in the name of our Christ.
I remember our dreams. Our concerns.
The labor. The ants. The snakes.
The thieves. The struggle.
The waiting. The lack of funds.
And I see what God has done anyway. Despite us. Despite “them”.
He has redeemed our offerings and brought Glory. Release. And Freedom.
On a gorgeous piece of land….through one man’s fearless dreams.
I moved to Africa with very idealistic goals. I wanted to change the world.
Much like our experience with this land…the dream was huge…the path full of pitfalls and pain.
But in the end…I see the world is changing.
One step at a time. Beginning right here, with me.
We ask the youth at Faith Quest each year, to do remarkable things.
We ask them to go counter culture in purity, honesty, integrity.
We ask them to speak the secrets…that often accompany lies.
We ask them to lay down their burdens and trust that what God says is true.
To turn away from the idols of their lives.
The very process of the land required many of those things from us. To step out in faith, even when the logistics were overwhelming and we didn’t have all the answers.
We had to find the Godly balance between “counting the cost” wisely and yet not trusting in our own selves and abilities. Giving up our own control…which can be an idol in any culture.
Is changing the world too much to ask?
I don’t think so.
As long as we realize, it may very well take place outside our (perceived) realm of control.
What absurd dream does God whisper to you today?
Are you the speaker of the dream? Or the one who hears?
In the presence of the inevitable list of all the reasons it could never work…do we boldly step forward anyway? Or spend more time analyzing the impending results.
I urge you to pay attention. Whatever your response or inclination.
He IS changing the world. Despite us. ☺
And, He, never fails.
4 comments:
I share Glenn's sadness in the last post when I remember Robert taking us by boat to the land and share the prayer that Robert will come back to the Lord. I remember the ants and how they made Mom dance a jig and (well you know):-) I thank God for your vision and for all the "overcoming" that has taken place on that land. One of these days I would like to experience Faith Quest Uganda and praise God with over 200 Ugandan young people. And I thank God for your amazing talent of writing in a way that "takes us there." I sure do love you girl!
Dad
What a blessing it has been to read these last posts full of testimony of the faithfulness of our God. Thank you for reminding me... just starting out on the journey, that there is another side, looking back and seeing the movement of the hand of God.
I too love your writing - you have a gift. At some point in time you may want to use your gift of writing to write articles, books, etc.
As for as the land goes - you paint an amazing word picture - but I'd like to see some real pictures!
And if you can get some GPS coordinates we can use Google Earth to look at satelite photo's of God's little penisula with the big, big, vision.
For example - here's a link to a satelite photo of Kampala - you can zoom in and see individual houses.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sa=N&resnum=0&q=kampala%20uganda&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wl
I'm not sure how well this will work on dialup so please forgive me in advance if this comment just makes you frustrated.
Sometimes I am frustrated that people seem to resist change. Then I meet others who are open to change. I guess we find those who are open, work with them, and together find others open to change, and so on. Maybe down the road those resistant will come around.
Sometimes I get stuck trying to force change. After leaving my past ministry position I have seen how much time I wasted trying to force change--now so many open people here in Portland and we see such fruit. They are there we just have to look for them--and God provides them when we ask.
God is truly good.
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