We periodically pullback from Gulu to other parts of this phenomenal country in order to find some rest and relaxation after a few months of ministry. This month we went to Kampala and Jinja for some western-style relaxation complete with good food, shopping and bookstores. A group of us also ventured up to Jinja in order to face the vicious rapids of the Nile River. Here’s a peak at some of the good times had by all!
This is an excerpt from a morning with Jesus:
Good morning,
Hope is the thing that makes our life glisten. But if our hope is in the future we will never stay where we presently are and we will never find ourselves walking in the best God has for us. But when we have hope for the future it teaches us to abide and trust in the goodness of God in every present minute.
Jesus, help me to trust you. Help me to put my hope in You alone. When my soul is cast down and at turmoil within me, I again will choose to put my hope in you. Your word says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). As long as I put my hope in the future my hope will always be deferred and disappointed therefore I will choose to put my hope in You.
The blood of Jesus (His grace) is the only thing that leads us into hope: “through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2-5).
“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24b-25). Patience accompanies hope. Why? Patience is built through suffering and endurance.
My future glistens with hope because my hope is in His goodness.
The Bible never talks about arriving but it always shows us how to live presently abandoned to Jesus. If our hope is in the future, we will always be looking to arrive and hope will always be deferred.
Father I place my hope in your goodness today. Thank you that when I place my hope in you, you breathe your breath of life over me and I can then believe in hope for your promises. Thank you that in this place I cannot be put to shame or disappointed. Thank You that you say, blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Why? Because you never fail, you are good. For your goodness is great and so is your beauty. You never change. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. You are consistent. Your glory is your nature. You are unfailingly good. Your heart never changes towards me. You are a covenant maker and a faithful covenant keeper.
“The most wonderful thing that we will ever do with our life is to trust it to the nature of God. To put it into the hands of the God who totally loves us and is deeply committed to us, and delights in helping us. It is the most happiest feeling to trust the best, the most honorable, the most powerful, the most integreous, the most committed and faithful covenant maker who is also the most decent person who ever lived: Jesus. Being completely reliant on his character and integrity is the source of our great happiness” (Graham Cooke).
The only way we will walk in our destiny is if we are secure in the nature of God.
-Emily Stallard
Last week, after rafting the Nile, I was taken aback by the beauty of my surroundings in Jinja. Upon our return, we found ourselves gazing over the tamed river as the sun kissed its surface. Every color and creature painted a congruent stroke amongst the canvas of which we were a part. Everything felt in its right place, and I felt rather small. It was breathtaking.
As I’ve gone from glory to glory in nature, I’ve come up confused and frustrated trying to ponder these incapacitating feelings that everything around me seems infinitely too vast to take in. Then, some revelation hit me as we were making our way back to Kampala.
When you witness the beauty, majesty, and glory in nature that surpasses your understanding, you witness a small imprint and expression of the holiness of God. It attests to He who sits enthroned in Heaven, a simple, yet profound reality. Scientists can go on describing it but cannot explain it. Perhaps these are some of their frustrations with God that for something so elegant, complex, and magnificent to be explained away as being the imperfect reflection of a holy Creator seems far too simple. The majestic beauty that we see on earth is but a small reflection and production of He whom there is only one word to describe as holy.
The more I dwelled on this and realized His holiness, it struck a deeper fear of God in me, and I resounded with joy at the majesty and glory of my Creator. The one who fashioned the mountains and all of creation by himself without any aid from a man desires to partner with us in the spread of his kingdom, of which there is no end, to the edges of the world. He is self-sufficient in all things yet loves us to partner with him.
Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
–Exodus 15:11
- Nathan Zlomke
Our team recently spent a week intentionally ministering in specific areas of our home city. We approached the week like an outreach and delved into some uncharted territories of Gulu with fresh eyes. Check out highlights from my experience below.
The first week of February we had something called “Gulu-push”. This was a focused week of ministry in our hometown. Our team split up into four separate smaller groups and spent the week in different areas such as Gulu University, Limo, Kobedo Pong, and Cereleno (said Chair-lino). I spent the week in Cereleno. Cereleno is the poorest part of Gulu; trash and coal are everywhere and little children and goats wander about. Despite the way this place looked, it was very ripe for the Gospel.
The night before our first day of the Gulu-push I was under some spiritual attack and had a very unsettling dream (I am not often prone to dreaming at all). I awoke startled and asked a teammate to pray. She then prayed for me, I felt peace and after some time, fell back asleep. I awoke in the morning, immediately found my Bible and journal and made my way inside to the main building to be filled with the hope and peace that the Father had for me that morning.
After a team meeting that morning, my team and I headed out. My teammate, Elizabeth and I found ourselves standing in a pool of mud huts. Elizabeth asked, “who do you think we should talk to?” Seeing a woman sitting outside a hut, I replied, “how about we go and talk to that girl in the pink shirt.” We walked up to her and introduced ourselves. Very quickly I learned two things: her name was Tracy and she had lost her brother three days before. Her brother liked to take the alcohol and one day Tracy walked into their home and found him lying there, dying. We told Tracy why we were here and when she heard a slight piece of hope her heart was desperate for, she invited us to her home.
When we arrived in her home we sat down on the grass mats next to her mattress on the floor. And for me, this wasn’t just another illustration of the bridge diagram to simply tell her how to get to the other side to be with God. Yes, that is exciting and very powerful but there was more, I was feeling the heart of Jesus. My heart was moved. Her heart seemed as dark and helpless as the dream I had the night before. I shared the love of Jesus with her out of a place of deep compassion within me, and explained how He didn’t just come to take our sins away but that He came to take our pain and our sorrows and to really give us life and a new hope. Tracy accepted Jesus into her life.
There was something new in her heart, she could feel it, and she knew hope was rising.
After Tracy received Jesus into her heart she told us something else that happened three days earlier. Tracy made a vow the same day her brother died to follow Satan or Jesus, whichever one came to her first. All I can say is that the Father is faithful and His pursuit is stronger than death. We serve a God that is mighty to save and He is worth every second of it no matter where we are in life.
Tracy then led us to her best friend’s house, explaining that she was the same as her and that she also needed this hope. Tracy shared what had happened to her, how she had met Hope. Her best friend, Irene, also accepted Jesus that day. Irene’s brother then joined us and he also accepted Jesus. Hope was rising.
The next week my teammates and I headed out on the dusty roads again for our outreach to Lira. Halfway through my time there I received a phone call:
“Hello?”
“Hi this is Tracy. I just wanted to call you and tell you that I lost another brother. We were taking him to the hospital and he died along the way.”
“Tracy I am so sorry.”
“It’s ok, please pray for me.”
I proceeded to pray with her on the phone and promised to see her when I returned. I hung up the phone and thought to myself, “there was something about this conversation.” I couldn’t put my finger on for a while, but then I realized there was hope in her voice. In the midst of the pain she knew Jesus was there, crying with her and that He would never leave her, ever. Hope will always be rising.
Prayers are definitely one of the best things you can do for someone. It’s especially cool when you look back and see all the close calls and then remember that one time that person prayed for you and that certain thing that just happened. One of the prayers I hear people pray over me the most is protection. Not only teammates, but also supporters back at home and Ugandans as well. For example, just the other day in Kitgum I saw an angry man who wasn’t all there in the head start shouting at me and some teammates. He was cursing and saying unpleasant things to us but we just ignored him and kept walking. Later that day we talked to a Ugandan about that man and he said that man usually gets violent and starts fights. We saw that crazy man twice that week and he never got violent with us. It’s just not running into crazy people but also wild boda rides as well. I have almost gotten into bad wrecks while being in Uganda, but no matter how close it gets to wrecking, it never happens. Thank you for the protection prayers, they are working and I feel so much safer when I know that I have a group of angels around me, protecting me from danger. Thank you again!!
-Derek Callaway
