Monthly Archives: March 2012

A Birthday and My Momentary Life

“The motive is this, ‘Oh! that God could be glorified, that Jesus might see the reward of his sufferings! Oh! that sinners might be saved, so that God might have new tongues to praise him, new hearts to love him! Oh! that sin were put an end to, that the holiness, righteousness, mercy, and power of God might be magnified!’ This is the way to pray; when thy prayers seek God’s glory, it is God’s glory to answer thy prayers.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon

As I sit here, the day after my birthday, I’ve had some time to reflect on the last year. God has been and will remain incredibly good. And while I had a wonderful time on my birthday, it has caused me to think about the coming year. I can only be grateful at a time like this, I’ve been beyond blessed.

And yet, I have to pause and be a bit morose. I pause because at this time I am also thinking of the many who have passed away in the last year and of those who will pass away in the coming year without Christ. For those of us who know Christ, we can rejoice! We have anticipation for him to come again and reign and we will be with Him forever.

But at a time like this, as we come nearer to celebrating Easter, may we who know Christ be able to hear the cry of the lost. May we know the realities of those that are hurtling headlong into a Christless future.

May we be moved with more compassion as Jesus was. May we beg for repentance for those we did not preach the truth to and weep for those we failed to bring out of darkness. May we see the torture, torment and anguish that our savior suffered at Golgotha. And then be spurred onward to reaching those that He died for. 

As I start a new year and as we approach Easter, I am praying that God would give us a vision and mission for this next year. That our desires and plans would be secondary to seeking after His will, that sacrifice would be done joyfully and without hesitation. I pray that God would allow us to hate the things that we currently hold so close and so dear. I pray that we would truly understand what Christ means when he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

I am praying that I would realize my momentary life, and despise time-wasting distractions. I am praying that we would all consider the cost, and pour ourselves out, fully relying on God’s provision, and then press onward to fight against the enemy with all our energies for the name of Christ. I pray we would do this in order to make Christ known and cherished to those who currently live in darkness.

These prayers are not necessary only for what we consider the “mission field”, but in our day to day lives. I pray that we would meet the needs of those in front of us, and be faithful in the little things. I pray that the reality that Christ sacrificed himself so that humanity could know, understand, and commune with God would weigh heavily in our hearts. I pray that the reality that there are those without Christ, just simply living or working with us, would burden us so greatly that we cannot help but preach the Good News to them.

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” ~ C.T. Studd

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” ~ David Livingstone

“For God did not send his Son into the world m to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” ~John 3:17-21

Prayers appreciated

 It’s the middle of day 5 of my time here in Uganda, and things are progressing really well. I’ve already started feeling settled, and seem to have a slight routine started. No day has been the same however, and I don’t expect it to be. Evenings have usually been the same, spending dinner with the Boones and then hanging out, chatting or playing card games after the kids have gone to bed. 

It’s been great to be apart of this family, unbelievably welcoming, accommodating, flexible and all-around fun. It has felt like “home” quickly, I’m so blessed by them, and I’m loving being called “Uncle Luke” by the 3 kids. We’ve been having a great time.

I’ve been shadowing Jeremy mostly over the past few days, especially when we went for a run, but seriously though it was more like in his dust. The elevation is something I’ll need to get used to. Conversations with him seem to be unlimited and they’re always good. It’s been great to have a brother in Christ that I can relate so well with, especially after leaving North Minneapolis (where I was living with an awesome group of guys and in a great community), so God has blessed me once again with community here, and it seems that I’ve only scraped the surface. There is a decent number of 20-somethings here in Jinja working in various avenues. So I imagine once I get plugged in it will be even better. 

In terms of ministry, I’m beginning to feel like this whole thing is finally real. I got announced as the “new” missionary at Church yesterday, so I guess it’s official and somewhat surreal. It feels right, and God has been so good to make this transition seamless. 

However, today is a hard day. The Boones have opened a spare room behind our home as transitional housing for families in need – whether battered women & children, homeless families without relatives, or the very ill. There is a family currently staying in the spare room on the property, as the family was all fighting off TB and the parents and youngest are HIV+ as well. They were not getting the right care or treatment in Masese, and were recently moved in so that a better eye could be kept on there condition.  The father, Mariko, just finished fighting off TB, and then caught Malaria, which seems to be out of his system, before I got here he seemed to be finally bouncing back from it all, but in the last 3 days Mariko hasn’t been able to eat or take his meds. He is wasting away. So today we decided to transport him to a hospital. Skin and bone, and unable to walk, Mariko is still fighting and we wish we could do more, but we can’t. 


It’s points like this that prayer is all we can do, and when working in Community Development and Relief efforts it can sometimes be overlooked. We have no intention of letting that happen and we want so badly for Mariko to heal, he truly cares for his family but can’t. His wife, although slightly healthier, does not seem to desire to really provide or care for her children or husband, or even care what happens. 

Please join us in prayer, please intercede with us! We’re pleading for God to transform this family and the community they are from.

We care deeply for their salvation and restoration back to life. Mariko is barely surviving, and we just ask that you would lift him and his family up in your prayers. That is all we can simply do, and it is a mighty thing to do, to fight in prayer on behalf of others. So we remain faithful and steadfast in our commitments here and I ask that you will do the same where you are and lift this situation up to the Lord.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, NIV)

“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30, NIV)

“I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.” (Ezekiel 34:15-16, NIV)

 “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” ( Jude 1:25, NIV)


Jet-lagged realities, the beauty of being up early.

I’ve arrived. I’m up early this morning, sitting in my bed, enjoying jet-lag.

First, I’ve never really struggled with jet-lag before, even with all my travels I haven’t had a major problem. But this morning, I’m up at 4am. And I’m sitting here knowing full well that I’ll be out running a few miles with Jeremy soon to start off my day.

How can I be enjoying jet-lag? Well it’s been a wonderful 2 hours of sitting in thought and enjoying my Savior.

Enjoying the undeserved gift of salvation, and the undeserved blessing of sitting here in Uganda knowing that God is good and faithful to act. Excited to see how He continues to work and I pray that I can be a conduit of His love and glory here.

Knowing full well that I deserve judgment, and that without the cross there is only condemnation. But I’m celebrating in the fact that with Jesus’ sacrifice these are no more. So in the times that are good (like now) and the times that are bad, I will boast in the cross. I will boast in His wonderful name, I will boast in the Son and that He reigns. Who am I that you would choose me? And what is my life if I’m not praising You. So Father, please keep me faithful to your call, continue to work in me, allow me to count my life as loss for the sake of Christ, that I may know You more.

Philippians 3:8-10

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

At long last, a post and some news – To Uganda For God’s Glory!

Some of you may be expecting this, and to some this may come as a surprise. I am excited to be sharing this news with you, I have been accepted into  Equip International and will be serving in Uganda.

Since April 2011, I have felt a strong call towards overseas missions. As I have shared with many of you, I have been feeling God leading me toward East Africa. After much prayer and seeking God’s leading, Uganda quickly became the place I felt drawn to.

God has proved to be faithful as always and has answered many prayers. The most exciting news is that I’ll be leaving very soon. I have tickets purchased for Tuesday, March 13! I plan to return to the USA on May 29th to receive some further training and orientation with the mission, continue support raising, and also have some time with family and friends (including my parents who return to the USA in July), before I return again to Uganda for a 2-year long term.

Why this preliminary 2+ month trip?

There were many factors that have played into this decision. One of them is that I can use these intervening months until the Equip course and orientation in June to get started in Uganda and get acquainted with my role in ministry as well as begin developing the necessary relationships needed to continue working in the area.

I will be working just outside of Jinja, Uganda in the slum community called Masese. I will be working alongside a wonderful family, the Boones (http://www.boonesinafrica.com/), and by going to their website you can see more about Masese and the work that I’ll be taking part in. Another big reason for going for this preliminary two month time is to have some overlap time with Jeremy Boone, working alongside him and learning from him before he and his family head to the USA for a 6 month-furlough (probably) in July.

When I had the opportunity to visit Masese this last October, it struck me with the worst conditions I have ever experienced in my life. It is an urban slum filled with hopelessness. Masese Slum holds the worst of village and city life and the combination is deadly. Unthinkable povert, hunger, tropical disease, inadequate health care, and lack of infrastructure combine with population density, unemployment, no land ownership, every kind of communicable diseases (AIDS, TB, etc) as well as rampant alcohol addiction and prostitution. These are only some of the many physical concerns that plague Masese. There is also a clear need for Christ. Many within Masese do not know or want to know about God and have openly rejected the local church that is within the community.

The desire and expectation moving forward with working in Masese is two-fold. My desire is to help with Relief & Development initiatives within the community as well as Discipleship & Evangelism.

There is a lot of work that can be done, but I’m praying for guidance and wisdom over the next few months as I become more plugged into the community and work, that I’ll find the opportunities that are best suited for me and where, with God’s help, I can make a lasting impact for the Kingdom. Please be praying that I will be able to raise the support to return to Uganda in July, that Christ will be exalted and His name made known, and that the people in Masese will be transformed physically and spiritually.

 

 

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