an angel

I was walking the kids in the morning to where they get picked up for school by our teammates.

As I came back to our house, there was a man on the path whom I did not recognize.  The path he came from only leads to a few other houses and to the back of campus, so we rarely see strangers on this path.

He was older, distinguished looking, wearing a cap and naval coat and using an interesting walking stick.

We had a great exchange of greetings in Rukiga--the best ever for me and at the end he said "ehhhhh"

That is a common closing---you would just have to hear it and I especially hear it amongst the older men--greeting is a very big deal here and it's almost like a satisfying closing approval without words.  I always wonder how and when that happens for me in my conversations--like when will I learn Rukiga and get in on this?  Frankly, it makes me jealous b/c it is so intimate and endearing and affectionate.

I just had a really warm feeling and that was noteworthy b/c usually I just feel confused or lonely or awkward being more of an outsider.

Then all of a sudden I just had this huge sense that he was a patrolling angel and that God is protecting us more than we can see or know.

I had this overwhelming sense of awe and praise of God--His Presence, His love.


wow--I was so encouraged and thankful and reminded of how much we can't see, but how active God is--24-7, never failing and never sleeping!!!

thank you, Lord.

Fasting in a Developing Country

Uganda celebrates independence in October.  In August, several national church leaders united to call for a national fast for the country.  Each day in one of the national newspapers there has even been prayer topics and different tribes listed to pray for specifically.

So, I was chatting with Johnson who works for us and is an elder in his church.

Johnson, how do you fast in a country where people are trying not to starve?

lots of giggling and laughing from Johnson (he is very gracious with me)

I wonder is he holding back from sucker punching me?? (this is why I constantly feel like a jerk, which I am ok with--I do not know what it is like to go hungry)

Then we chatted about Isaiah 58.  Johnson said if the church is fasting and a person already doesn't have things to eat, in his/her heart, they set aside time to pray.  They take the lunch hour or breakfast hour that they are already going hungry during and they pray.

Especially noteworthy is praying for v. 6 and 7

I am learning a lot here.  Isn't that humbling?

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

 ¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. 
   Raise your voice like a trumpet. 
Declare to my people their rebellion 
   and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 
² For day after day they seek me out; 
   they seem eager to know my ways, 
as if they were a nation that does what is right 
   and has not forsaken the commands of its God. 
They ask me for just decisions 
   and seem eager for God to come near them. 
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, 
   ‘and you have not seen it? 
Why have we humbled ourselves, 
   and you have not noticed?’

   “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
   and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
   only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the LORD?

 ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

   “If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 ¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
   and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
   and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
   and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
   and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
   and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.