It’s kinda crazy how time ‘flies by’. Our one year anniversary of living full time in Uganda! Milestones reached are often opportunities to stop, pause and reflect. Taking time of reflection is just what we recently did. As we re-examined the goals we had set and compared them with where we are now, midway through our commitment. We were encouraged.
Instead of seeing how much more there was to do, which is usually our personal default, God used our reminiscing and conversations to infuse us with vigor for what lies ahead. We have found that living in Africa, in an area with so much need, it’s easy for us to get “Mission Creep”. An avalanche of genuine need all around us can (and has at times does) feel overwhelming. Our hearts can be crushed as we carry the suffering and burdens that poverty and loss (loss of family members, of crops, or jobs) have inflicted on our friends.
That’s when we need to remember our purpose, our mission, and our passion. What was the directive God has called us to. Our mission statement we penned more than two years ago is pretty basic.
“We are a couple on mission to live lives that make Christ seen and heard wherever and to whomever God leads”.
This mission statement is something that we’ve tried to live out for years so when God directed us to Uganda we wrote it down. It’s been a great help. The clarity of that statement gives us focus. It helps us remember the WHY behind what we do. We aren’t a money giving organization nor an NGO. And we don’t ever want to create that kind of a “transactional relationship” here with our neighbors. Doling out money (even if that were a remote possibility for us) would lead to a business relationship. There is no denying that funds, when in a desperate situation, will provide relief, but that isn’t our purpose.
In our situation, handing out the small amount of money we have when the enormity of the structural need is so great, would never bring relief, a drop in the proverbial ocean of need.
We were invited to come here to live in community and to BUILD into people as God shows us the best way to do that! To Be Influencers. Living our lives, to make Christ seen and heard is when the Gospel has the opportunity to affect and change people from the inside out. That’s where the “rubber meets the road” sorta say. That is a mission worth investing in. A decade or two from now, our neighbors here may still be talking about the “two crazy Muzungu” who lived in the village and showed them Jesus!
“Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.” This quote by Philip Stanhope, an English Earl, speaks of a truth that we’ve seen pressed into both of us this last year. We don’t want to go halfway. We want to be ALL IN! The Lord hasn’t called us to “cruise” through life, or our “retirement”.
We spend hours in prayer and study to “prep” for the bible studies in the villages. The same “prep” for the men’s weekly fellowship or for preaching or even as a panelist for a young men’s gathering (that Paul was asked to co-lead), and in any number of other arenas we are asked to do in the community.
Mary invests in the Women’s Baking Club. She spends hours discovering “new recipes” from what’s available, least expensive ingredients (in season) to help the ladies earn income to supplement the families needs. They will try to sell these “new recipes” of “baked goods ” at an affordable price in their local shops.
All of these blocks of time on our calendar equate to a lot of behind-the-scenes work! Work as something good. Each hour we meet with a group, means many more hours in preparation. So living lives that make Christ seen and heard requires a real investment!
We were “tapped” to teach at a marriage conference in August. We ramped up our prayer, study and preparation time, but due to a number of factors, we only had time to share half of what we’d planned, and that to only fifty or so people in the audience. But our host told us, after the fact, that many marriages were “healed” and husbands were asking forgiveness from wives. Our host now wants to schedule a larger conference for the future.
We see these investments of work, done well, have positioned us to be “influencers”, for future generations.
We aren’t alone in this desire to pour ourselves, in some capacity, into others and into future generations. We are not more ‘saintly’ than someone else, just because we choose to live outside of the country, outside of our comfort zone. We have the assurance that God has grabbed hold of our lives, and at least for this season has given us the amazing gift to change this crazy world, or at least this small piece of it!
Others of you are making differences where you are as well. We’ve been encouraged to hear from a number of you and the ways God is using you!
*Some, of you parents, are schooling your kids and showing them (by words and actions) how to live out a trust in God. *Some, of you are teachers, and are daily loving students and demonstrating the love God has for them, pointing them to the daily realities of His hope. *Some, of you have important work positions, and you hunt for ways to share with hurting co-workers that God is REAL and HE is there for them. *Some, of you are confined to home for health reasons, but because of your caring hearts you are encouraging your caretakers! *Some, of you in the health care profession, will demonstrate genuine love and compassion to the elderly, letting them know that God sees them even when others don’t. *Some, of you take hours outside of your busy work schedules to be their for the incarcerated as you spend time listening and praying with them, who want to know God cares for the broken.
We could go on and on, but the point is that we are all MAKING A DIFFERENCE! How we respond and what investment we make as God gives us opportunities. What does yours look like?
Grateful For ALL of You!
Mary & Paul
Up With Uganda 