The stories of many children here are horrific, ranging from abuse to neglect to rape to who-knows-what. Even many of the adult staff often have stories to tell. Case in point: Roger, who is the head nurse of the clinic, is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Because he was going to be killed if he stayed ( i can't remember why, probably ethnic war ) he walked to Uganda, leaving behind his fiancee, who was also going to be killed. He ended up at New Hope, and was here for many years, thinking that for sure his fiancee had been killed and didn't make it out of the Congo. Years later, she ended up making it to New Hope, and they got married and have a little girl who is the cutest little thing. He is one of the smiliest guys I know, and is always happy. I was watching him exuburantly worship in church a few weeks ago, and I was struck by how thankful he must feel to God for his life, his wife, and his little girl. He had nothing, just managed to escape, and then God richly blessed him. I should ask him to share his story sometime to get all the details. Anyway, I was struck with how rich his thankfullness to God must be, considering his present and past circumstances. Immediately as I had that thought I was equally struck with how thankful I should be (and am not), considering what God has done for me. If it is really true that the penalty has been paid for my wrongs, and I get to know and be known and loved by the almighty and eternal universe-spanning God who is the source of all that is good and right, then I should be shrieking and jumping up and down for joy a hundred times as much as Roger, who only had his life circumstances changed. It is sort of like that post I had from before about joy. We don't really see and understand things, so our reaction is not proportional to their significance. Would that I would have the thoughts and feelings of God after Him.
It is also clearer to me why some people in the west struggle to really be thankful. Or why people don't think they need a god. For one, we have our needs met, and have plenty (food, shelter, material things; think maslow's hiearchy of needs) . We feel that we can provide for ourselves, that we don't need help, even to push my grocery cart up a hill to my car, much less rescue from a bottomless pit. We dont' believe that we need saving , or that life with God is actually that cool, because we're happy with what we have now. The truth is that we are in just as desperate a situation as Roger was he was escaping Congo, but we just dont' realize it.
---
on a lighter note, pictures for your enjoyment.
Here is a video with me making a save while playing goalie in the Institute vs. Teachers game. It was a good thing i was in goal, because I couldn't have run nearly as hard and as long as those guys did.
Video Link
This one is for you, Robin and Stu. Bring back memories?
Here is a picture of James, Abu and I with the broken truss.
btw, thank you all for praying for us. So far we are disease-free, including malaria, which has been great. Please continue to pray for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment