Arrived in Gulu......

The rest of our team arrived from the United States on Friday night with only a few bags missing. Nancy & I along with the awesome coaches did a short orientation and our tired teammates could not get themselves fast enough. We boarded our buses and twenty of us had the ride of our life traveling to Gulu, 6hours north of Kampala. We saw the mouth of the River Nile and were able to stop and get some pictures of the rushing river along with the baboons in the middle of the highway there. Everyone had their cameras out and we were able to get some great photos. We finally arrived in Gulu and refueled on a few snacks and water before beginning our team orientation. Our team leaders Jill and Richard led us in a wonderful information session and we enjoyed a great dinner and time of fellowship with our team. Tomorrow is a big day of worship with our team visiting three different church services before we head to the farm to begin organizing our wheelchair effort for opening ceremonies on Monday. we head to bed early as we have a long day of work ahead of us tomorrow. Thank you for your continued prayers.

WE'RE HERE............

Nancy & I arrived on Tuesday night and were greeted by the coaches from the Sports Outreach Ministry.  Although having some serious jet lag, we visited the Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped on Wednesday morning to plan a day of activity here on July9th when we return from distribution of the wheelchairs in Gulu.  The staff here at the school greeted us warmly and we quickly reestablished the relationships we built two summers ago when we were here.  Many smiles and hugs were exchanged.  We sat in on the coaches devotion time on Wednesday morning and were able to not only hear the Word shared, but we sang songs with our Christian brothers and sisters here.  Nancy's good friend Nicolas picked us up at the school and we returned to his house where we spent Wednesday and Thursday night. We were able to have some sweet fellowship with their family and spent Thursday visiting a village and seeing a very different side of African lifestyle.  We had a wonderful visit with a  pastor at the Deliverance Church  and Nancy did an awesome job articulating the disability ministry of Joni and Friends, with the hope that Sylvia's and Nicolas' church can partner with them in the future.  This morning we are back at the KSPH doing some more organizational preparation and we are looking forward to picking up the rest of the team tonight at the Entebbe airport.  We hope to keep you updated and encourage you to check out the team blog as well.  Thank you for your prayers and we'd ask that you continue them on our behalf. 

offer hospitality to one another

Have you ever had the situation in your life where someone has shared their home, their personal space and resources, their life without communicating an expectation of anything in return?  This may be the obvious definition of one who is hospitable, but another quality of one who is gifted in this way is that they demonstrate a deep value for community.  To communicate to one another that it is your great privilege to share their company, to have them there with you, to hear their story, and you theirs, is a rare gift that some go an entire lifetime and never experience.  Why is it in the Body of Christ that some have a much keener desire for community? There are many reasons why true hospitality is not practiced as it is commanded in the Bible.  In a culture where self-sufficiency is nearly worshiped, we do not get much encouragement to freely admit that we really do need one another.  As a result, many suffer needlessly from an acute sense of loneliness. I really am looking forward to returning to Uganda, because it was there, two summers ago, that my hope for the feasibility for community was strengthened.  As I watched the coaches in Africa and the way they loved one another, I returned to the United States with a much greater expectancy that indeed, we really can extend hospitality to one another and help lessen the overwhelming sense of loneliness so many of us experience.  Nancy and I leave tomorrow for Uganda, and the excitement is growing with each minute that we get closer to takeoff.  I'd ask that you continue to pray for the requests that are listed on this blog, and watch for team updates on the link http://wftwuganda2012.blogspot.com/. 

Teaching and admonishing one another......

If you are anything like me, you have developed a preference for a messenger who "always builds you up."  But as we grow in our walk with Christ, in order to be spiritually fit, we must be as willing to receive words of admonition as words of education.  What does it mean to admonish one another?  Sometimes the word only has a negative connotation, but to be admonished is a real gift we can give one another. The Greek word for admonish is "nouthetic" which is the proper term for biblical counseling.  When I think of all my shortcomings, I am humbled that I am even considered worthy of this privilege. I desire to have an instructed tongue that not only has the ability to forewarn others of potential problems, but is filled with the lovingkindness of the Lord, and can discern when a word of encouragement is needed by a hurting brother or sister.  As we travel to Uganda, I am not sure what to expect, but I pray that the lovingkindness of the Lord will be on display, and that through our words and actions, we will communicate the love of Jesus Christ.   

Lay down your life for one another......

Have you ever met someone that in their own journey to maturity in Christ, has learned the secret of setting aside their own need for control, approval, security and power?  Jesus was this kind of man.  He was the most principled person that ever walked the earth.  He knew the law and revered it, but He also knew that there are limitations to all the boundaries and rules we cling to, and so He healed on the Sabbath and ate with sinners and tax collectors.  In the life of Jesus, we see that one of the real tasks of our lives is knowing when to go beyond "normal" boundaries, for the sake of another.  There is a cost to doing this and Jesus seemed to be willing to pay it.....He did not count His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped (Phil. 2:6) but was willing to set aside the protective walls of His "self."  He was the most vulnerable and open person I know, and I think that enabled Him to live more sacrificially for others.  Every once in a while, we are presented in matters both big and small, with opportunities to lay down our lives for one another where we really live and where it really counts. As we travel to Africa on the Wheels for the World trip, I do not know what challenges we will face, but I do know that we will be presented with opportunities where it will be wrong for us to cling to "normal" boundaries.  I hope that like Christ, I will be willing to relinquish my ego and serve in a sacrificial way.  Unlike Christ, "laying down my life for another" will not require me to hang on a cross, but it will demand of me a willingness to loosen my grip on what I treasure most.  Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

.....Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

Singing and making melody to the Lord is the Christian's way of saying that God is so awesome that thinking and talking will not be enough. There needs to be deep feeling and hence, there needs to be singing.  I can still hear a song we used to sing on Sunday nights at the church my Dad pastored: "There's within my heart a melody, Jesus whispers sweet and low, fear not I am with thee, peace be still, in all of life's ebb and flow...Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go."  When I raised my kids, the kitchen was always our place of merriment not just because we liked to eat, but because that is where we had music playing and bodies moving to the beat of the songs.  Let's face it, music brings out in us something very natural. But in Ephesians 5: 18-19, Paul is referring to something supernatural.  He makes the point that when we are together and under the influence of the Spirit, we are to "speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord." Our family's dance parties in the kitchen are nothing compared to the hilarity of being filled with the Spirit and making a joyful noise unto the Lord.  Though we do not get our theology from a song, when we as believers speak to one another in psalms and hymns, we are prophetically revealing God's heart to one another. I am not going to lie here; there is something about worshiping in song with my African brothers and sisters that is not like anything I have experienced stateside!!!  I hope to sing with my team members and our co-laborers in Christ at the Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go."  I'M GOING TO AFRICA AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Spur one another on to faith and good deeds......

As a college coach, it was my job "to arouse, to excite, to call into action" my athletes for the competition they were to participate in on the basketball court.  It never ceased to amaze me the energy that could be generated in the lockeroom before a huge ball game.  As important as enthusiasm is, sometimes athletes can be overstimulated before a contest, and it can have an adverse effect upon performance.  But as a Christian, can you ever be excited to love each other too much, or to perform too many good works?  When is the last time someone attentively considered your trials, difficulties and weaknesses?  When is the last time I felt for another and encouraged my brother or sister in Christ to an increase of love to God or to one another? The proof of spurring one another on is seen in being fruitful in good works.  I pray that as we distribute the wheelchairs in Uganda,  our lives will stimulate and encourage the agape love we have for our African brothers and sisters.