Archive for August, 2008
The Shack
August 27th, 2008. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. No Comments.
I just finished reading The Shack (www.theshackbook.com). I may have read it too fast to fully digest it all, I couldn’t put it down. But I loved it. I’m not going to give away anything about the book, but I wholly recommend this book to everyone, from every race, tribe and religion. If you have read it, I’d love to dialogue with you over email or something. And if you haven’t read it, read it!! I’m hearing this book is one of the most popular in the states right now… with this book’s message it has the power for a whole new revolution of love and a redefining of what we consider a relationship with Christ and with each other.
Read it!
Restore Academy’s first born
August 15th, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda. 3 Comments.
Today I was able to hold a newborn… only 6 days old! One of our students, only 17, became pregnant earlier this year and just gave birth on Sunday. She was one of our brightest and best students and once we heard the news, we’ve done our best to stay in touch with her and ensure she was doing alright. A few weeks ago I saw her on the road and she said the doctors told her her fallopian tubes were too small and she would lose the baby any day. We were all extremely sad… But God had a different plan for that baby and we were incredibly joyous to hear just yesterday that she had given birth on Sunday, a full month and a half early. Today several of us went to see the new mom and her beautiful baby girl. The girl comes from a very poor family and had nothing for the baby but one set of clothes. Peter, our head teacher, had her make a wish list of things she needed or wanted for the baby and we took one of our female staff members on a shopping spree, then presented the girl with them later this afternoon. We can only praise God that the baby was born safely (I’ve heard horror stories about pregnant women going to the hospital here) and we pray that she stays healthy.
What’s so special about this though? What we’re trying to create as a school is revolutionary for northern Uganda and different than the status quo here. Virtually every other school would kick a pregnant girl out and pretty much never think of it again. We’ve done about opposite of what people would expect and have extended as much grace and help to this girl as we can. Her dream, and ours, is to get her back into school as soon as she can. We’ve tried our best to get her notes from all the classes and sort of do a “homeschool” on her own this last term and plan to continue to do so for the beginning of the next term. She made a mistake and has to live with the consequences… but our hope is to not add anything to that. Our aim is to just love her and assist in any way we can. My prayer is that God will be glorified through this, that all our students will see the love we have for them through this situation and that this beautiful baby girl will grow up in a community of love.
My first meeting with “Restore Academy’s firstborn child” as Peter calls her.
Last night
August 7th, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda. 3 Comments.
Last night the girls’ fellowship came to our house. I had a really bad migraine yesterday and hadn’t really gotten out of bed all day. Around 7pm or so I heard some of the kids voices and ventured out of bed to find all of the girls and one of the boys walking in and sitting in the living room. It made my day. I felt like complete crap though so I sat down and closed my eyes. They made a circle, we held hands and sang a few songs then they prayed for me. It was one of the coolest things, I was really touched. I don’t know if it was adrenaline or the Holy Spirit or what, but while they were there the pain in my head was completely gone. Unfortunately it quickly came back once they left, but I popped a few “tabs” as they call pills, and feel a little better this morning.
But something about being sick makes me want to go home, question why I am here or curse this disease-ridden area (I’m a grumpy sick person). Last night that all went away. I know why I’m here and why I love it. If I do nothing else in Uganda, these kids know I love them and I know they love me back. Coming to this realization somewhat made everything ok in my mind. I’m not saying I want malaria or another migraine again, but suffering a few days here and there for the opportunity to live here is worth it.