The End of Undone and the Middle of Broken

Each one of us has been exposed to it on some level. There is no escape. Suffering is no respecter of persons. It's part of living. Whether it's unmet dreams, loneliness, crumbled marriages, death or illness. It's always an unwanted intruder. But all is not lost. It is often in walking through deep suffering that creates an emptiness that can only be filled by God and we find fullness of joy through receiving His grace. At the end of undone and in the middle of broken is forever changed. Nothing is wasted.

So where is God and what is He doing when all hell breaks loose. When bombs go off and babies die and churches build aquariums?

He is making all things new.

He sent Jesus to live on this earth, die and rise again to conquer sin and death. One day He will return and complete what He started to reconcile the world to Himself and if you are in Christ, you will reign with Him forever. We know how this is going to end. Jesus Christ will reign forever.

"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever." Rev. 5:13

 Forever. That is longer than any pain I may experience on this earth.

Jesus showed up and walked right into the mess and met people there. He touched our wounds and shared in our suffering. "He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Isa 53:3 He is doing the same today. We don't cry alone. When we are trying to just hold on, He is holding us.

"For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." 2 Cor. 1:5

"God is good even in the bleeding."-Matt Chandler

Lean in and look up, knowing that following Christ means to follow Him into suffering.

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." Rom. 8:17

When someone is suffering, we want to walk circles around it in avoidance. There is someone you know right now. The neighbour down the street, the girl that serves you coffee, the boy in the pew across from you, the child across the globe, the girl on the corner. Closing our eyes to it because it makes us uncomfortable doesn't make it go away. And the person who is wounded cannot heal by staying numb to the pain, hiding behind walls and making pain invisible.

The heaviness of suffering wasn't meant to be carried alone.

The Body of Christ is never more beautiful than when it walks through suffering beside someone and meets people in the mess. Acknowledging the pain and encouraging them to keep moving, keep walking toward the finish line. To "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:14 The Body should be a safe place to wrestle and hurt. None of us are without broken and broken breaks us to our need to extend our arms to the world and point people to Jesus Christ, the healer of hurts and One who gives life.

The enemy tries to destroy our faith but pain, when brought to the feet of Jesus, can ignite a passion for Christ and clinging to the cross.

Many times we are searching for answers in the middle of pain when what we are really searching for is Someone. We want to know answers and God just wants us to know Him.

 I can't be anyone's savior, but I can hold someone's hand and point them to Jesus. I would rather have my hair singed from trying to  "snatch someone from the fire" and arrive in Heaven breathless than to hunker down in my own bubble wrapped world with an illusion of safety.

"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Rom 5:3-5

My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and rightousness. Though every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. Keep walking toward Jesus my friends.  Victory is ours.

"Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children." Rev. 21:7

Worlds Collide

Arriving in the states from the Agape Mission Team's trip to Uganda, every one's phone suddenly woke up and chiming sounds filled the air. Our lives came rushing back as one team member received 350 email notifications. I think of the moment the team prayed on the hill when the world faded away and Jesus rushed in.  As the phones continued to receive all the data, we got off the plane to notice how sterile the environment looked compared to what we had just left. Neatly dressed American business men and women rushed through the airport and I thought of the woman sitting on the sidewalk by the busy streets of Kampala in tattered clothing with her two babies sleeping beside her, one in a card board box and one on a piece of cloth that was laid on the cement. We hit the highway and my mind went back to the rutted out mud roads we covered through the villages of Uganda.

We pass school children getting out of school with parents lining the streets in their cars and I remember the many children roaming the streets and villages of Kampala, not able to go to school because it cost money they don't have. I think of Agape Home kids who are able to attend school because of help from sponsors. They count it a joy and privilege to put on their school uniforms to walk through a muddy path to be able to attend school where  the day begins at 7 and ends at 5. I call and make a doctor's appointment on the way home and I think of the baby who's head was covered in parasites. She lived with her siblings in a mud shack and her mom had found out that very week she had AIDS and she nor the baby had anyway to receive medical care.  

We drive past a church and I think of Sunday morning in Kampala where people rush to worship despite a waiting line because armed guards check cars, people and bags for explosives and weapons before they can enter the church campus. I think of Joseph, the director of Agape home who heard the Gospel from church planting missionaries from Singapore and was rescued and redeemed and now disciples and has rescued  children and I wonder if many in the American church understand the importance and eternal value of global missions and sharing the Good News. I hug my children and they hand me their welcome home letters and play their piano recital piece. I think of Whitney, the quiet girl who lost her family to AIDS, passionately and loudly leads worship of the living God.

My worlds collide.

The ache comes in the worlds colliding. Not that one world is preferred over the other but it is a longing for all worlds to be connected. A world where it is simply all Jesus. There is pure joy but also great ache in the day after an incredible revelation of Jesus.

What are those of us to do in the longing, the feelings of low in the space in between the there and here?  Between the that and the this.

How do you answer the questions or understand the passivity of the responses to having seen Heaven peel back? How do you navigate that with grace, seasoned with salt?

The answer is in, allowing the worlds to collide. You love with all your being wherever you are. You give more generously and more willingly. You open your eyes to see what Jesus sees. Whether its the needs of your sponsored child from Agape Home living among the deepest poverty or your very own baby. You love both with all your energies and efforts. Because as you love both with all your being, somehow, the worlds collide. Because the Spirit of the Lord is among those that love and give so generously. There is no variation in giving here or giving there....you are simply giving...and in turn receiving Jesus.

The "let down" sometimes felt after such an incredible experience is natural, normal. We were warned of them. However, they should only propel us harder and faster to the things of God and a desperate dependence on Him. Release of the ache found in the day after should come as we raise our hands in thanksgiving for each breath we take.  As we take notice  every little moment that  occupies our time. We can do all things in Christ and allow space for Him to invade our world in every moment of every day, wherever we are. Each moment has the potential to be the greatest moment we have ever seen Jesus.

It is in the going- Being sent to a place such as Uganda and doing something that more than exceeds my  knowledge or ability, Jesus' Spirit is very palpable. The Jesus I was able to encounter this week was more than I can put into a blog post...but it is also in the coming back. Jesus is just as much on display in the cards from my children and in their laughter and hugs.  The worlds collide as I hear about their week and I seek after their hearts and reach into their world so they will know Jesus more just as we sought after Joel's heart of Agape Home, that he would know that he is loved by us and Jesus.

The first world is harder to navigate to find a thick and uninterrupted display of Jesus, but He is  there AND here. We just need to lean in tighter and allow what happened there to motivate how we live here.

Allow the worlds to collide.

If you have had a transformational experience with Jesus, and if you know Him, you have, don't shrink back. Let it change you forever. Share by allowing it to change the way you live. Share how to become involved in those things where your passion lies and Jesus has broke your heart for. Share by pointing to the reason we live and why we live life the way we do...JESUS. Allow God to prove faithful as you walk in the path He has laid out for you. You were created by God and for God for His purpose.

Where the Spirt of the Lord is, there is freedom. The freedom felt in His presence should be in the there and the here. Don't ever let the flame of passion you felt to reach into others and draw out Jesus disappear...be it there are here.

Allow the worlds to collide.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isa. 52:7

Believer, Be Moved

I've sponsored  a child here. I've put pictures on my refrigerator, cried a few tears and spent sleepless nights over her.

But to really be in Uganda. In her land with her people. It has left me breathless and created a consuming fire in me that could only be explained as Divine. The people are now seared in my soul.

Uganda has been touched by God with beauty. The countryside is green with rolling hills, tea fields, sugar cane and banana trees. The Nile flows peacefully and then rages violently. There are beautiful creatures that are only found In it's borders. There are many beautiful, architecturally  magnificent buildings constructed many years ago with arches and detailing but given no care since their construction and now stand crumbling.

War in the country wiped out families, jobs and resources. Corruption, murder and disease escalated. Thousands of Ugandans die from AIDS and Malaria each year . Sewage flows like streams, water shortages, dismal living conditions and lack of health care and food cripple the great country. The tales of children of their innocence lost to violence and dignity lost to despair made my blood boil and heart break.

Then...

"But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ." Eph. 2:4-5

There are bright brown eyes everywhere with laughter. Tiny little arms reaching for hugs and hands, stroking my hair and caressing my face. There is hope in the future of its children.

I look around and all I see is God's grace and mercy for Uganda. Hope is in the cross of Jesus and His work through God's servants  It's in the voice of Whitney, the 7 year old worship leader whose 

mom and dad died of AIDS. It's in the dancing of Joel who lived on the streets after his father died and acquired a fleah eating flea called a jigger. It's in the smile of Sarah who had an abusive family and lost her dad to drugs and alcohol. It's in the prayers of Ronnie who lost his parents to AIDS.

Their life is hard, but they are going to make it more beautiful.

It's in the service of Joseph of Agape Home who is a fierce advocate for Uganda, spending his life on
setting captives free and loosening chains of injustice. Hope is in the courageous people of Uganda declaring God's goodness and faithfulness.

Hope. I can't explain it but I can see it. It's literally everywhere. It's contagious.


Will you pray for us and the mission team's role in supporting Uganda? Will you pray for Uganda and the children of Agape Home? If you want a better place to invest your emotional energy than first world problems, pray with me to see God's Kingdom come. When we who recognize and receive mercy, we will show it to others and act justly for a country that has endured tremendous suffering.

 "Let His compassion make you weep. Let the remembrance of His Salvation  in your life bring you 
to your knees. Let your voice be lifted high as you sing the song of the redeemed. 
Believer, be moved." 

Grab my hand. Let's do this.