Watoto

My niece who is a fabulous photograther will be going to Uganda in about three weeks to phtograph children for Watoto.  Watch the video here about what they do in Uganda.  May her heart be moved by what she sees as I was when I was there last month.

Give and it will be given you.

I have often quoted this verse but always were sceptical of those who always said that you had to give to get.  Now I still believe that you don't give to get but you give to bless.  However, God sometimes surprises us with giving back to us.  Let me explain.

While we were in Uganda I gave away my little notebook computer.  I knew I could always replace it with another one and the need was so great there.  When I got back I decided not to buy another computer right away but wait to see what my real needs were.  As I was preparing for last Sunday's lesson I realized that I needed a laptop to do my presentation.  Well it happened.  Someone who wishes to remain anonymous showed up at my door with a brand new laptop for me.  I was stunned.  What a blessing.  I never expected when I gave mine away that someone would be led by God to give me a much bigger and better computer.  Now I will not give to get in return but what a blessing when that happens.  God is good and God's people are good.  Thank you to the giver for responding to the Spirit as you did.  You blessed me and may you feel God's blessing on your life.

Uganda: Some final thoughts

Though our trip to Uganda was difficult it is one that I will never forget.  We did have some tough times.  I got something in my eye that made my eyes hurt for a few days.  Curtis had a negative reaction to malaria medicine.  Our first night in Kabale was without electricity and our first few days in Mbarara were without water.  We seemed to eat a lot of matoke and beans and the roads were very rough.  However, ...
There are some great memories.  The scenery was spectacular.

The children were beautiful.

The people were great.

We had time to relax...

and a time to worship.

We met with kids who were no longer homeless...

and we got to know some very special people.

Was it worth it?  Absolutly!
Would I do it again!  Yes, I would.  However, not tomorrow.
Here is a final picture, how I always pictured Africa.

Thank you to all who supported us with gifts, money and prayers.  Yes, we left a part of our heart in Africa.

The Danger of Presumptuousness

Christians are a blessed people.  We are forgiven, we have the promises of God.  However, it is also easy for us to be presumptuous.  We take the philosophy of the French philosopher who said that it was God's job to forgive.  We sin presumptuously because God has forgiven us.  We also fall into the sin of presumptuous by taking God's promises and turning them unto ourselves.  An example of this is prosperity theology.  God has blessed us spiritually so we presume He will bless us financially. 
We need to guard ourselves against the sin of presumptuousness.  The Bible tells us that we are not to put to tempt the Lord our God.  Hophni and Phinehas thought that they were the sons of the High Priest so they had special privileges before God.  However, God took their lives because of their sin.  Psalm 19:13 says, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be innocent from the great transgression." Presumption is a "great transgression", and if we think we stand, we better take heed lest we fall (1 Cor. 10:12).

Abide

ABIDE - Amagara Bible Institute of Discipleship & Evangelism. ABIDE is a non-denominational Christian leadership training program of Juna Amagara Ministries in Uganda designed to enable youth who have graduated from secondary school to transition into sustainable adulthood on the foundation of Jesus Christ by forming them in Christian faith, character and leadership. The program invites students each year to participate in a six month residential discipleship & leadership training at two campuses. These new high school graduates join ABIDE to seek God, develop leadership skills and engage in service projects. It includes outdoor adventures, challenge course and team building activities, guidance counseling, vocational skills, spiritual formation, classroom study and supervised ministry outreach. After graduating, students are equipped to pursue further education and/or work with a passion for building Christ's Kingdom and impacting their community. Below is a picture of the ABIDE house in Mbarara.

Here are some pictures of the students in class.

Both Steve and I had an opportunity to teach.

They also teach them life skills such as computer skills and farming.

They are also constructing a new facility in Kabale.

Listen as Matt describes what is happening.

Talk Radio again

Every now and again I listen to Christian talk radio for a few minutes. Don't ask me why because most of the time it makes me annoyed. One thing that I find annoying about talk radio is that it is always about our rights. We hear how the political left is eroding the rights of Christians. What happened to the Gospel? Our rights are not important but the Gospel is. Paul often gave up his rights for the sake of the Gospel but there were times that he insisted on his rights because in doing so it would advance the Gospel. Which is more important to you, your rights or the advancement of the Gospel?

Patrick

One of the young men that we met that impressed me was Patrick. He first met us at the airport in Entebbe and drove us to Kampala then Mbarara and Kabale. Patrick is the man on the opposite end to Curtis.

Patrick grew up in the village of Kishange which is about an hour from Kabale. Below are pictures of the village.

When he was about 14 the Rowandan rebels invaded his village and his family had to flee to the jungles to survive. When they finally return to their village his mother died and he found it impossible to live with his father. He left the village and ended up on the streets of Kabale.

Someone took an interest in him and sponsored him to go to school. While he was in his final year of school he felt deeply burdened by the invisible children in the refuge camps in the north. Joseph Koni had killed the parents and kept the children with very little food and clothing and nothing else. Patrick and his friends felt the Lord was leading them to collect supplies and take them to the refuge camp. The story of how he got the materials and how they finally got a bus and enough money for gasoline to take the trip is amazing and he has written about it in a little booklet.

When they drove north to the refuge camps they had no idea if Joseph Koni and the rebels would kill them but they felt God's leading upon their lives. Their trip was successful and they were able to give those children hope as well as food, clothing and school supplies. Upon return to Kabale he was able to complete university and then enrolled in the Abide program (I will write about that next). Upon completion he felt lead by the Lord to help street kids such as he had been. Patrick rented a place and has 16 boys staying at the Shepherd Centre. You can read about the Shepherd Centre in earlier blog entries.

Patrick was extremely generous with his time and what he had. It is my desire to support him and his ministry. He is like a modern day George Mueller running his centre by faith. We learned that before we left he ended up in the hospital with Malaria. Below are some pictures of Patrick and me.

Here is Patrick in a suit that we brought from BFM Chatham. Thank you for your support.

Here is a couple of pictures of Patrick. Please pray for this remarkable young man. He is now 29 years old and is taking care of 16 homeless boys. You can tell that they love him and they know that they are loved by him. His burden is to have more room so that he can help more boys.

Freedom to do or not!

In chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians Paul talks about his freedoms. He has the freedom to do certain things but he also has the freedom not to do those things. To him the driving force is not his rights but rather the Gospel. If he exercises his freedom as he did in Philippi it is to promote the Gospel but if he chooses not to as in Corinth again it is to promote the Gospel. Here is a modern day example to illustrate. Suppose you are a moderate social drinker (an occasional glass of wine with a meal) but never much more than that and you join a church that his ultra conservative on these issues. One long time pillar of the church learns that you occasionally take a glass of wine and comes to you and condemns you for doing that. What do you do? What would Paul have done? Paul would have recognized that he was being manipulated by a standard that was not Biblical but cultural so he would take a stand against that member because they were confusing the Gospel with cultural norms. But suppose you were a youth worker in that same church and the youth that you ministered to came from the same conservative homes. Now what should you do? Again what would Paul have done? In the first case Paul would have exercised his freedom but here I believe he would have forfeited his freedoms for the sake of the Gospel. If he told the youth in his care that it was okay to take an occasional drink then they would have difficulty understanding why it was okay in this case but not in another case such as drugs or premarital sex. Again for the sake of the Gospel Paul would have chosen not to exercise his freedom. All too often we do things for our own selfish motives and not for the sake of the Gospel. Paul was not being hypocrical but rather a "world Christian" living for the sake of the Gospel. Now I need to add that I have chosen not to be a social drinker. It does not make me more spiritual than you because you do and I don't but it is my choice in light of the Gospel.

The Shepherd Centre Part 2

I do believe that I must tell a bit more about the Shepherd Centre. Patrick is concerned that his boys have a proper attitude about getting. It just is not enough that they are given a place to live, to sleep, food to eat, schooling, church but they also need to learn to give. What can boys who have nothing give? They can give of their time so Patrick has them volunteering. Here are some pictures of their volunteer work:

Finally, here is Patrick. I have great respect and admiration for this young man who is making a difference in his world. He truly lives out the Gospel. Tomorrow I want to tell his story.

Shepherd's Centre

One of the high points of our time in Kabale was to visit the Shepherd's Centre. The Shepherd's Centre is a home for street boys run by a former street boy who has a heart to reach boys like himself. He gives them a place to live, to sleep, to eat, to go to school, to church and to learn about the Gospel. He currently has sixteen boys from about 10 to 17 years of age. Here is Patrick who runs the Shepherd's Centre with Steve.

I was able to bring soccer shirts for the boys.

They had prepared a song for us.

One thing that they get every day is a hot meal. Patrick doesn't know where the money will come from to keep feeding them but as long as he has the money he will pay the rent and buy them food. Here they are lining up for lunch before they go to school.

You wonder how any one could let a boy like this live on the streets.

Curtis brought them a guitar, I brought them shirts and a DVD player, Steve had Bibles and tooth paste.

We played games with them, I taught them chess.

Curtis had brought little Canada pins which he gave to the boys.

Some had a unique way of wearing them.

Finally it was time for school. Education is public but it is not free so many children cannot go to school because they don't have enough money for food let alone school supplies. Patrick does make it possible for them to attend school.

This is one place I think we can do something. If everyone in my class was to give up one Tim Horton's coffee a month we could feed these boys for a week. It is my desire that we make such a "sacrifice". Canada has been placed in a unique position to help spread the Gospel. Let us not just think of ourselves but by sacrifice reach out to those who have need.

Kishanje

On Wednesday morning we got up early and headed into the mountains near the Rwonda border. We were going to visit one of the orphanages run by Juna Amagara and especially to visit Steve's sponsor child. Below are a couple of pictures of the village of Kishanje.

The scenery was magnificant.

We arrived at the orphanage where Steve met his sponsor child.

We then drove across the valley to a place where we could leave our vehicle and hiked up the mountain to the sponsor child's home.

Here is his sister Grace.

Grace with Curtis.

and Steve with the family.

Then back down the mountain.

One of the things that we discovered while we were there is that it is hard to know true family connections. What they may refer to as parents may only be their guardians as was the case with this family. Other times they refer to their daughter which may or may not be the daughter. As Christians it is important to know that we are the children of God. We are not children in name only but we have been adopted into the family.