The theme of the Prodigal Son ran throughout our various
Father’s Day activities in the Jinja area. The story is so easily adaptable for
people of all ages and stages of life. These tiny tots were no exception. Each
having a coloring page, they’ve become quite practiced about what to do with
those pages now, I talked to these tiny orphans about the love of their
heavenly Father and that even...
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Father's Day in Prison
The Father’s Day message delivered in Bugembe Prison was
taken from the same Prodigal Son story as delivered at Buwenge Blue. But this
time the room full of men came to understand that the selfish, greedy,
power-hungry son who thought he knew how to do life better alone than with his
dad was forgiven when he returned to his father’s house. Not only was he
forgiven but his father came running to welcome him home. I tried to help these
guys imagine what that would be like for them.
I asked them...
Monday, June 24, 2013
Father's Day at Buwenge Blue
Song and dance rang out from Buwenge Blue Primary School on
Father’s Day. The children packed the small space in eager anticipation of this
new little church gathering. I’d prepared a message about the importance of the
role men have in the lives of their children – targeted at the fathers – but a
room full of kids called for swift course adjustment. Rather than teaching
fathers to express the...
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Networking in the Slums
Networking is not surprisingly the means to ministering to
so many in the Ntinda area. Mandal and several friends began serving those with
HIV/AIDS in very practical ways usually resulting in connecting families to
local resources. I was invited to tour this community slum and meet a few of
those their organization serves.
Nalongo (the Luganda word for “mother of twins”) is HIV
positive....
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Service Delivery Philosophy
Underprivileged. Underprivileged East Africans. The
Surprised by Hope vision statement indicates that we’ll deliver
biblically-based business training and education to underprivileged East
Africans. One might wonder if the term underprivileged
describes the entire majority world (developing countries). I suppose from an
American viewpoint, being underprivileged
just might. But the discerning eye will recognize being underprivileged as
relative to the general population.
Still…the overwhelming...
Monday, June 17, 2013
Teacher's Plan
That bright orange tarp lays spread in the shade of the
unfinished room as the Life in Africa ladies continue gathering for tailoring
lessons. Each had a seam ripper in hand and I chuckled as I thought about how
the seam ripper is my best friend too. Each visit reveals a greater degree of
learning and proficiency, but the last few visits had me start wondering…would
they finish learning before the...
Friday, June 14, 2013
Award Ceremony
Bright colorful dresses cover every lady and sharp suits
with short fat ties cover every man. Being clean and well dressed is so
important the people of Uganda and ceremonies tend to bring out their very
best. Look closely, though, and you will see frayed collars and hems, tiny
holes, or missing buttons. On second thought, don’t look too closely. Somehow
my heart is a bit sad when I know these people...
Thursday, June 13, 2013
18 Girly Dresses for Nebbi from Lamont CRC
Colorful straw mats covered the dusty earth where the bare
footed women gathered with their babies. Our chore was not so much to find
women with babies, but more to keep the word from spreading like wildfire. Any
time a gift is given, people will come…en mass. Today, though, the women’s
ministry leader hand selected women whose children were close to the size of
the dresses available and she did...
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Business Disciplines Conference
Pastor Elders Blessing the Gathering
“If you build it, they will come.” This line from the movie
Field of Dreams resonated through my mind as I reflected on Pastor Amos’
comment that when he organizes a conference people really come…and they come
with high expectations. I thought it might be a bit haughty of him to say such
a thing, but instead what I found was a man who worked and worked HARD...
Monday, June 10, 2013
Vision for Rural Pastors
Eighteen leaders smooshed into the sitting room of Pastor
Amos’ guest house in Nyaravur, West Nile. These men are all members of Vision
for Rural Pastors, a ministry started by Pr Amos that focuses on equipping
rural pastors for ministry…and it doesn’t get much more rural than this. Four
days together gave us the opportunity to get beyond the formalities of our new
relationship and penetrate the...
Friday, June 7, 2013
Teaching and Ministry in Barrio, Lira
About 35 people anxiously awaited the return of Surprised by
Hope for a series of four workshops about biblically-based entrepreneurship.
Our last visit together included a much larger group but the cost of such an
event was prohibitive to the organizer and so the smaller, more manageable
group gathered inside Victory Christian Center.
I love using The Art and Science of Thinking curriculum as...
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Pastor's Coffee Plants
Tiny two-branch coffee trees line a small section of land
near the only water source in Barrio. Using the proposal writing skills learned
in our first workshop together, Pastor Patrick was able to partner with the
Ugandan government to plant and grow coffee trees. Once those trees get to a
specific size, the government will purchase them from him and renew the
contract.
Sometimes it takes a while...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Victory Nursery & Primary School
Red clay bricks made from the dirt in this very compound sit one upon the other to form this
semi-finished school building which is used to house three classes of nursery
school children. A year and a half ago I showed you a picture of this
unfinished school building (unfortunately that photo was among one single batch
somehow lost...sniffle) and told you it’d taken that long to get the construction...
Monday, June 3, 2013
Lango Bibles for Lira
The Bible Society of Uganda offers Bibles in dozens of the
50+ languages spoken here. Somehow I expected them to be fully stocked and was
disappointed when only 18 Bibles in Lango were available and when I couldn’t
find any in Alur without ordering them. Apparently I should have ordered them
about six months ago to be sure they arrived in time for traveling to Lira and
Nebbi.
Thank you to Paul...
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