Well, not too much out of the usual. One thing that is good about having a blog is that I’ve committed to updating it once a week, which means that I need to have something to say every week. I need to think to myself, “What am I learning?” Sometimes there is so much to say that I need to just stop writing because it is too long. Other times, like this time, I’m really not sure what I can pinpoint. There are a number of deeply personal things going on which I will not put on this blog, so I am learning things, I just can’t tell you right now. Someday perhaps. So at this moment I’m not sure what I’m going to write about, and my mind is fairly blank. But my fingers may have something to say, we’ll see how it flows.

Is God teaching me things? Is He sanctifying me? Oh yes! There are so many things I can praise God for. God is really expanding my view of His Kingdom, and broadening my horizons as to how I can participate in what He is doing. This morning I read a familiar passage in 1 Timothy: “Preach the Word. Be ready in and out of season. Correct, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” This whole idea of being ready all the time is what is hard for me. When I am with my family group, chatting with the kids, or doing anything, I often am not ready to bring the Word. I’m tired, and I so often despair of God doing any work in their lives. There are so many who continually reject any kind of spiritual input into their lives. It would be easy if they perhaps got angry, and outright rejected the message of the gospel. But the reaction is something even worse. They just clam up, and get quiet. What do you do with that? What do you do when you are anxiously ready to preach the Word, and the people around you are absolutely lukewarm? I suppose the prophet Isaiah could relate. He was actually promised to have no results. Well, that’s not right- he was promised that his message wouldn’t just fall on deaf ears, but that his message would serve to harden the hearts of the people further!

This is how I feel right now in my family group, with the ministry before me. I met with my guys this week, the small group I had planned to meet with. One didn’t show, which bugged me. But I had them each tell their story. Their stories are not easy for them to tell, but I’ll give you the summary. Moses, about 15-16 years old(many of them are not sure how old they are or when their birthdays are), has been here at New Hope since he was very young, like 1 year old or so. His mother died while giving birth to him. His father gave him to some relatives for short term care while he left to earn money and get financially on his feet. He never came back, could be because he was born with club feet, and his father thought he would be an inconvinience. He goes to see his relatives on breaks, so he does have some kind of family out there. The other guy, Mugabe, has a much harder story. His mother died when he was about 2 years old, and his father died about a year later. He and his sister lived I believe with a relative. At age nine he and his sister ran away, and were abducted by rebel soldiers. Somehow they got away from that, and he was found by Jonnes, one of the founding fathers of New Hope, and was taken in only about 2 years ago. He remembers everything, all the hardship and pain.

Moses hopes one day to find his father. He believes he is in the area, and he knows his name and where he has been. Mugabe wants to be a pastor. I have best hopes for him, but both have significant issues to deal with. To lose you parents is not small thing to get over, and many of the kids have a hard time with this, as you can imagine. I’m still trying to think about what kind of approach to take with them, how to disciple them. Please pray for these guys!

I am preaching this Sunday on the Exodus story. I manuscripted it last week, and realized I have WAY too much. I have about an hour, but I must at least cut that in half because of the translator. So I’m cutting it down, but I’m very excited. My affections are uniting with my head and what I am seeing in this great story. I’m so glad to have the opportunity to do this.

Hmm. What else. Oh yea. I added a fresh crop of pictures to my picture page, which is actually another blogsite. If you didn’t already know this, click the picture page on the right, and follow the link.
To be honest guys, I’m just feeling a bit dull today. Do you ever have days like that? My heart is not in rebellion, but I feel my affections are just floating in space, not bent in any particular direction. It’s one of the days when I need to just fight for joy, pray without ceasing, and just feed my mind with God’s Word more and more. There is something very wrong and dangerous with indifference toward the things of God. I need Him so much!

Here’s something. Let me tell you some very surfacy, vain things I like or dislike here. I like when there’s electricity in the morning, because it means I can make good coffee and have my eyes open as I do my devotions. That’s hit or miss. The generator turns on at 7:00 every evening, so I often have a late cup of coffee which keeps me up until midnight or so, and I just study and read, or take a late night walk and pray, or update my blog(which I am doing right now), all of which I enjoy. I dislike doing laundry. Actually, I dislike it even when I have a washer and dryer at home, but it’s tougher here when I do it by hand. Some of my more fragile, stretchy cotton clothes are taking a real beating. I still like the food. It’s a good thing I like carbs, because I get a LOT of it. I miss good veggies. Sometimes I miss a warm shower, and sometimes I miss actually sitting on a toilet to do my business, mostly because of how many mammoth sized cockroaches live in that hole. These are all very small things, but some of you might have liked to hear. None of this, to me, sways me the slightest bit in wanting to come and live in a place like this or not. I’ve found that the things I thought might be important to me have become less and less meaningful to me.

Sorry if you feel you just wasted five minutes of your life! I’m sure I’ll have something more substantial next week. I’m starting to really get into “The End for which God Created the World” by Jonathan Edwards, and I know he will spark my mind and heart, as he often has before.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” -The Holy Spirit via the Apostle Paul

I am officially just past the halfway point of my time in Uganda. Me and a couple of other people from the Institute took a little trip south to Jinja, where the source of the Nile River is. I’ll tell you more about that in a second. First, here is how I’m feeling, having been here for almost 3 months now.

I’m definatly feeling more comfortable here. I’ve thought at many times what it would be like to live here long term. What would I be sacrificing? The first things that come to mind are things like running water, consistent electricity, convenience, foods, cultural understanding, etc. Yet how important are these things to me? Would I be willing to go without them for the sake of the Kingdom? I really think that my answer would be yes, and whether you are in the bush or in the American suburb, you must come to the place where you say yes as well. I’m getting more and more familial with those around me, and am coming to a place where I can more accurately evaluate and confront some of the situations. Right now, as I write this, I think I could totally live here someday. Why not? I think more and more of us should seriously think about spending the rest of our lives building the kingdom in a different country. I’m thinking about it.

I used to think of missions as a thing that is for some, but not me. I’m groomed for American pastoral ministry. At Moody there were a lot of students who were totally sold out for foreign missions, some of them feeling a deep call from an early age. Having lived here, I’m seeing that this is something I could do. My perception is changing. I’m not ready to jump in just yet, as I am still commited to going to seminary when I get back home. If I do end up in Uganda, I’ve wondered what I would actually DO. A few things come to mind, which do excite me. I think I would learn the local language here, Luganda, and become fluent enough in it to preach. Then I would probably partner with New Hope and plant churches. So often the smaller churches lack good leadership and learned Biblical men to teach and shepherd. Many of the bush/village people are illiterate, and I think I would seek to make them literate, so they could read the Bible for themselves. In the meantime I would work with the oral tradition and music to teach. I think I would try to write some good, Biblically substantial songs for them, in order to “teach and exhort with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…” as Col. 3 says. I don’t know if this would ever happen, but it’s good to dream.

And what is at the root of this? It is a desire that is not just in pastors or missionaries, but in all Christians, in all humans for that matter. It is a desire to live for a purpose. Those outside of Christ seek it in money, sex, power, pride, and influence. Those who are Christians know that our purpose is to glorify God and make his name known across the globe. We do this by delighting supremely in Christ, and by becoming consumed and surrendered to God’s great and glorious kingdom purposes. In our hearts we have a deep desire to make our lives count for eternity. I believe this desire is there. I long to be in a situation where I can really surrender everything for the gospel. Yet so much of my life I am never forced to do so, and never pushed to really trust God. Yet if a situation comes along, a calling perhaps, where I can expend my whole being in this life for what I know will last forever, I need and want to jump at it. I need to live out my purpose. None of us will be truly fulfilled unless we do what God made us to do, that is, to be satisfied in Christ and spread a passion for His supremecy(Piper). To the degree that don’t do this we are wasting our lives, and to the degree that we do this we are fulfilling our purpose.

I am preaching at the big church a week from Sunday, so please pray. I will preach on the Exodus, which is exciting to me because of my Jewish heritage, it’s a communion Sunday, and the Exodus is probably the most significant event in Israel’s history.

Oh yea. Almost forgot! My trip. We had a couple of days off from class this week, so me and two other girls from the Institute went down to Jinja, about a seven hour journey. This was my first time traveling the country without someone who knew exactly what they were doing. We took taxis the whole way. Not like a little yellow one, but a white van that was packed. It wasn’t too bad. The problem with traveling in Uganda that way is that it is a bit dangerous at parts, and the roads are mostly awful. Huge potholes lace the road. We took a taxi first to Kampala. There we found a larger bus that zipped us down to Jinja, which is on Lake Victoria.

We stayed at a little resort called King Fisher. I had a small room to myself. I really felt like a tourist for the first time. This was a Thursday when we arrived. On Friday we had a great day of whitewater rafting on the Nile River. I had a blast, and couldn’t believe that I was floating in the Nile! The rapids were bigger and far more exciting than other rafting I have done before. It was quite beautiful as well. In our rafting group there were eight of us on two rafts. All of us were white Westerners, yet we represented five different countries, which made for interesting conversation, especially when the instructor was telling us what to do on the rapids, and the couple across from us said, “We did not understand half of what you just said.” Good times. My greatest memory is when our raft flipped on the final run, and I floated a good distance down some heavy rapids, hardly being able to catch a breath between the rapids and waves of water.

We had to travel back the next day, Saturday. I felt much more confident traveling around Uganda, riding on vans, busses, and on the backs of motorcycle taxis. We spent some time in Kampala to pick up a few supplies and things, and found a little coffee shop which felt VERY Western. It was also filled with Western people, which I suppose was a good business strategy for whoever thought of doing that. I also ran into Matthew, my roomate, who had spent the weekend in Kampala doing some personal business. We arrived back at New Hope just in time for pouring rain.

There were a few other experiences as well, which I won’t talk about here on the blog, but God continued to speak to me regarding my life and future. And no, they had nothing to do with any kind of special relationship in case you were wondering.

In other news, I will begin to meet with the three guys this Saturday to talk about some life and faith issues. I’m really soaking that in prayer.

While in Kampala, I finally bought a cheap phone. Their phone system makes it easy and cheap to have a phone, no plans or contracts. They work like calling cards, sort of. Anyway, I’m saying this so that if you would like to call, you are welcome. Shoot me an email and I’ll tell you more on how that can happen.

I have a host of great pics to put on the picture page. I hope to connect to a place that has a faster connection than this one, because it takes a lot of patience to upload pics from here. They should be on in a couple days. Peace!

If you read my blog entry last week, you’ll recall that I let you in on my process of self-examination and evaluation of my time and progress so far. A few things have happened to improve things, at least in a few areas. We get a lot of church teams coming to visit New Hope. One big team ran a VBS, one team let some of the younger ones on a little education excursion, and one is here now who is just doing some painting and things around the area. I know they are hoping to make an impact on the kids, and I hope they do, for good. I really do. But one thing I have seen is that you cannot know these kids and their lives until you’ve been here for awhile. I feel I am just beginning to catch a glimpse into their way of thinking and I’m beginning to get a feel for the spiritual temperature of a lot of the kids.

One team member, who visited a few weeks ago from Arizona, was talking to the kids in my family group during our devotion time, expressing how blessed they (the kids) were in Uganda, how American’s weren’t blessed, and how we(the team members) are not rich, so don’t think of us that way. They talked about how God blesses and values simplicity, which is how the kids live, and that their worship is very exciting and invigorating, not like the worship in American. Now, I know he had good intentions, and was kind of put on the spot by the family father here to say something, but all I could think was the fact that compared to them, we in American are filthy rich, poverty or riches are no sign of blessing, and emotional/cultural expression in worship is no sign of true affections. Having been here for over two months I see very few children who really seem to really “get it” when it comes to real Christian faith. I expressed some of this last week, so I won’t belabor it here. The point is, these kids need long-term discipleship. I can’t provide this either, but my hope is to just make a deposit into their lives, and let God do what he will. But it does take time to understand a cultural worldview.

I had a conversation this week with the family father I work with, about what to do about our evening devotions. Right now, almost all of the kids seem dead, ready to fall asleep, and can’t wait until the devotions are over. So I asked him what I can do to help in discipling the kids. I also asked him how many of his kids he thinks are truly saved. Out of 24 kids, he thinks there are about three. I think I found my mission field. I was glad he perceived that, and saw the need. In the coming weeks I will brainstorm with him and others involved with the family about what to do about this problem of evening devotions. But what came out of the conversation was exciting to me. As it stand now, I will meet with just the guys in my family group every other Wednesday, and I can talk with them about whatever I want to. That’s a good start. Also, I will start meeting weekly with the three oldest guys, to talk about Christianity, guy things, and where they’re at in their faith. I have serious doubts as to whether any faith exists in any of them, so if anything happens there will have to be a work of the Spirit. Of course, why should this be any different?

I have realized that the situation here can seem hopeless, and I can lack faith in the power of God to work. I must not despair of this. I read a verse this week, a familiar one, Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of unto salvation for everyone who believes…” So I will try to be faithful in bringing the gospel into their lives in a fresh, culturally relevant, Biblically authentic way, that will confront them in this Christianized culture where they live.

I’m also meeting with the boss, the founder of New Hope, to get his thoughts on this matter, which I’m sure he has given a great amount of thought to. I trust that will be an enlightening conversation for me.

On a more personal note, the Lord has given me a great amount of joy in Him this week, in general. I’m so glad that He is not only the God who justifies sinners, but sanctifies them in holiness more and more through their lives, so they become more like Jesus and experience a great level of freedom and joy in this life as they serve Him. It’s great to look back at what God has done in my life, and to look forward to what he will do.

I’m in the process of preparing a sermon on the Exodus from Egypt, which I will preach in a few weeks at the main church here at New Hope. Compared to the other churches I have preached at, this is like the mega church. There are a several hundred people, including most of the staff here at new hope. Should be interesting.

I found out today that we have Thursday and Friday off from class. This is kind of the midway break. I’m planning on taking a couple of the days to go whitewater rafting in the Nile River! I may spend some time in Campala as well.

I spoke with my parents this past week for the first time since I’ve been here. That may shock some of you that it took so long. Maybe you think I’m a bad son, and maybe I could do better. But my folks and I are tight, and it was good to hear from them. It’s amazing that I can talk to them on a cell phone in Uganda, all the way to their house in Geneva.

I know I have not had many pictures recently. I plan on taking some more time this week and taking pictures of the area, and I’ll try to capture more of what I see and do. They should come up at random times in the next couple of weeks, not all at once. So if you’re the type of person who sits at their computer all day at my picture page and hits the refresh button every five minutes, you are truly wasting your time, in more ways than one. But I do hope to have them on soon, so you can check occasionally if you can’t wait.

Grace and peace!

I have asked myself a question regarding my ministry so far. That makes it an introspective question. Yet by putting it on this blog, I am taking it out of the realm of introspective. Here is a look at what I am thinking regarding my ministry  in Uganda so far. The question is this: Am I being as productive as I can be? Am I maximizing my moments and opportunities for study and ministry? As Edwards would put it, am I living with all my might, while I do live? The reason I ask this question is one, because I feel I have too many unfilled parts of my day(which could possibly be because I’m still not used to the slower pace here in Africa), two, because I see a great need for discipleship in the lives of the kids in my family group and I feel I can do more, and three, I want to be a good steward of my time here and of the money from my loving supporters.

I want to take a step back, as I approach the halfway point in the next week or so, and see how I can “excel still more”, as the good apostle says. At this phase in class we are going through how to study the Bible in its different genres, and how to teach, particularly to children. I can honestly say, without trying to sound prideful, that I am pretty familiar with the material. Many of you would agree that it’s quite basic. Many (not all) of the Ugandans here I’m convinced have never opened their Bibles for the purpose of rigorous Bible study. This is evident in the classroom. I have struggled at times with impatience in this matter, but my outlook on it now is to try to challenge my traditional thinking on certain issues and passages, and try to face them afresh. I am also hoping to assist whoever is teaching, and try to add helpful comments and explanations. I am also observing how Keith is teaching these things(on days when he teaches- there are other teachers as well), so I can more learn how to teach them in my future church or mission field, wherever I end up.

So I am not really learning with the intensity that I would like to, at least not in the classroom. But a lesson for me, and for all Christians, is that in the end, YOU must take responsibility for your own spiritual learning and growth. This of course is not to exclude the sanctifying role of the Holy Spirit. But you may find yourself in a place where you are ministering to others, and no one is taking charge of ministering to you. This is true of many pastors, missionaries, and children’s ministry workers who don’t get to hear the pastor preach because of their own ministry to others. For me, I do have at least one person here, Keith, who is making an investment in my life. But I need to push myself to a pattern of life-long learning through my reading, studying, journaling, prayer, etc. This is what I must do in moments here in Uganda. I do read often, but I have not pursued studying and critical thinking with the intensity that I should. There are a number of issues in my mind that I would very much like to unravel and work back into my life.

That was more of the INWARD question, of how I am personally developing, and how I can improve. The other question is pointed OUTWARD. Am I being productive in my outward ministry, the Great Commission, which is the very purpose of my inward sanctification? Here are my obvious ministry venues(there are other more creative venues I have not touched yet): (1)the kids in my family group, (2)my roomate Matthew, (2)my fellow students, and (4)those I preach to. I have at least a familiar relationship with the kids. They know me, and are comfortable being around me, and chatting with me. I am closer with a few of them. Yet I don’t see any real, confrontational discipleship happening in their lives. I would like to take about five of them and start meeting with them weekly, and seek to challenge them more. With Matthew, I want to draw him out more, and try to challenge him with certain weaknesses I am seeing in his life. He is also struggling to find direction right now because after November he has to start a career, from scratch. I like how things are going with my fellow students. I am succesful at engaging them in good conversation outside of class, and they are usually open to going deeper, which is very encouraging.

As for my preaching, I relish each chance I have. If you couldn’t tell by the picture, I did preach this past Sunday on Psalm 1. I thought it went quite well, in both preparation and delivery. I am starting to find a method of preparation and study that seems to work for me. I used this method for this week, and I felt very familiar with my text, I felt I had internalized it well, and was able to make a bridge between the text and my audience. I find that I love to preach when I am well prepared, and have deep affections for what I am preaching on. The church mostly sat on the floor. The walls were thatched, with a tin roof shelter. There were a lot of little kids, and lot of women. Some of the women are single moms, but a lot of the men don’t come because they think church is just for women and children. They stay at home, get drunk, and play cards. This is something the pastor is trying to work on. Speaking of children, while I was preaching, a little girl, probably three years old, wandered behind where I was standing. I took a step backward at one point and nearly stepped on her. I knocked her over and she started crying. It took me a few seconds to regain my composure and train of thought, but I kept on. The people didn’t seem to bat an eye. Welcome to the African village church!

Anyway, to end this introspective glance, I see areas where I am doing well, and other areas where I can do better, and work harder at. I find I have a growing burden to have meaningful relationships with non-believers. I think we as Christians are supposed to. The place I am working in, with the exception of the children, is a largely Christian enviroment. I am pondering and praying about some creative ways to reach out to others who don’t know Christ. They may seem unorthodox and unusual, but I will be in good company with many who have come before. Please pray for me, that I would be immersed in the Word of God, and would dig hard for it like treasure. Pray that I would maximize the moments God has given me, and that I would live with all my might. Pray also for creativity and purpose as I minister to those God has placed around me.

Speaking of reaching non-believers, I had mentioned last week that we are traveling to Gulu in Northern Uganda this week for ten days to minister to the war-torn area. That trip has been postponed, because one of the primary places in which we were going to minister was a school, and they realized that the kids are on break for this month, and won’t be around. I’m glad they figured that out now, before we left. I think the trip will happen, at least I hope it will. In Africa things don’t always go as planned, and a lot slips through the cracks.

I am thinking about many of you, wondering what is happening in your life. Feel free to shoot me an email, if you have the address. Thanks to all of you who pray. You are truly partners with me in ministry, and I know I am not alone in anything that I do.