I was going to say that this was the beginning, but it really isn’t the beginning. It all started about a year ago. Who would have thought that in just a year life would have changed for me and my family so dramatically? God did, we just weren’t in on the plan yet – and I’m still trying to work my way through this walk in faith and service.
If you haven’t seen the blog we did from Canby Christian Church yet, you can find it here. In a couple of the later posts, I described a little about my personal journey – they can be found at “What changed?” and “Answering the call” if you haven’t seen them and are interested in the background.
Honesty requires that I say that this has been a journey that has been both a blessing beyond what I could have imagined, but also one of the most difficult things I think that Debbie and I have gone through. While it does not rank with people who have given their lives (literally), are beaten or imprisoned for their faith or anything that dramatic, but rather we have faced family and financial challenges that come with starting a new way of living for God.
The work God has called me to in serving the people and ministries in Uganda has been much different than I originally pictured. That is good, because what is emerging is much broader than I could have ever dreamed. At the same time, it is so far beyond what I am capable of doing, that only God can make it happen! That is the incredible AND scary part of the journey…
I will be leaving about midnight on March 4th for a 3-week trip to Uganda. It will not be with a full team like last year, but one other colleague, Lloyd Lowry, will be joining me. This will be much more a working trip. Looking at our schedule, we don’t have hardly a free minute – well, not counting the 20+ hours each way on the plane. We will be able to return to the village of Kacungwa and see the people there that I’ve come to love so much. We will also be spending time with Africa Renewal Ministries, Transform African Ministries (Alex & Faith), New Hope Uganda, and I will also make a trip north to Gulu to meet with Obura James Ochidi and the medical students starting Quality Health for All (see “A life of hope and challenge”, “Mission: Kacungwa” and “Quality Health for All web site”).
God has brought many new people into my life over these past few months, many from Uganda. One is a young man named John Mugowa. John has a computer consulting business in Uganda and we will be able to work together on a few projects as well as discussing ways John can use his business as a ministry and outreach. If you want to learn more about John and his life, you can see a video about him at this link: John Mugowa Video. This is about a 30 minute video that introduces you to John as well as a man named Daniel from Kenya. It is well worth your time to watch!
Let me share just a little about what God is showing me personally on this journey He has set me on. It actually was started from talking with John Mugowa – he shared with me a verse that has meant a lot to him personally: “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14 This is a great message and one that I have not considered too much other than an academic exercise. It isn’t until you NEED God to fight for you and you have nowhere else to turn that you can truly see God work in incredible and unexpected ways. Perhaps a little more background to this particular verse…
Exodus 14 records the time after the Israelites had been freed from slavery in Egypt and had come to camp by the Red Sea. As you know, this is the time that Pharaoh decided he didn’t really want to let them go, so mounted a huge army to pursue them and bring them back. When the Israelites saw the army, they said to Moses: “Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:12). After all they had seen God do to free them (remember the 10 plagues?), their first response when facing trouble was to say that it would be better if they were slaves again.
This really wasn’t a surprise to God as it turns out. In fact getting the Israelites to this very place and knowing their response was part of His plan. Exodus 13:17-18 records: “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.”
Is that why God moved us to Colorado? So we would not have an easy way out when things got tough and we would be tempted to return to what was comfortable for us?
To protect the Israelites, God provided a pillar of smoke & fire between the Egyptian army and the people. This gave them time to “cry out to God” and, I believe, a little time to evaluate their position. Given the circumstances, there was seemingly no way out. Only God could make the way for them. It is at this point that Moses tells the Israelites that God will fight for them.
We all know that what happened next – the Red Sea parts, the people (all 600,000 of them) cross on dry ground then the Egyptian army is released to pursue them only to have the sea collapse on them and drown the entire army. The result was reported in Exodus 14:31: “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”
I have often wondered how the Israelites could have ever doubted God’s ability given everything that they had seen! After being freed, then crossing the parted sea, I would think that would have been enough – but as it turns out, it wasn’t. Just a few days later, the people were complaining because they had no water, food, their feet hurt (well, I’m sure somebody was complaining about that). It has always been so easy for me to shake my head at their lack of faith.
No more…
Stay tuned for information about our upcoming trip to Uganda – we can use your prayer and support!
Mukama Awebwe Ekitibwa (To God be the glory)
Dave
PS Looking back at the sea from the other side, Moses and the children of Israel sang to God:
The Lord is my strength and song,
Exodus 15:2
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Have to start another notebook!
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