And So We Wait

I like to think of myself as a patient person. I can sit for long periods of time waiting in traffic or waiting for someone to arrive; usually I find myself saying, “just five minutes more”, and that turns into and hour …or two. Lately, however, I have begun to question just how patient I am and am finding that I might not be as patient as I thought. On the flip side, and to be fair to myself, I have also had more than my fair share of opportunities to be patient in the last few weeks.
There has been a lot of waiting taking place in the last month for me. First, we were waiting for the funding for our project to come through so that we could get started. Then, we had to finish ordering relief material and pay for them. After that we wanted to load the trucks but realized that all of the paperwork wasn’t ready for them to take the items to the border so I came to Congo to sort that out and then, just when we thought we had a plan, it fell apart and I have found myself at the Congo/Uganda border for two days waiting for trucks to be cleared through customs.
Waiting for anything can be a pain, but waiting for relief supplies that are intended to help the individuals of a country that has seen a lot of suffering to be cleared through customs can be downright exasperating. But, there isn’t much one can do when the decisions to be made are out of your hands – that is of course, except to pray. And I have prayed quite a lot – mostly for the miracle that my trucks would be released but also that I will have patience and see the King moving in all of this. His timing is perfect.
One thing that has helped me as I’ve dealt with the frustrations of waiting is to put my situations into perspective. For example, when we got to Uganda we hired a friend of mine named Kato who is from Congo and is familiar with this area to help us with the work of purchasing supplies and delivering them to the displaced. One of Kato’s children was abducted by the LRA on Christmas day and he hasn’t heard any news regarding her since then. I am not a parent, although I am sure I will be the possessive type, and I cannot imagine the daily worry that he must face wondering how his child is doing and whether he will see her again. He waits every day for word of his child’s well being and in the meantime perseveres with the work that is in front of him, helping to straighten out the bumbling mess of work that I create. He is waiting just like me for trucks to get across the border and maintains a cheerful attitude despite the fact that, as many people would put it, “life has dealt him a bad hand”. He, however, isn’t occupied with the hand that has been dealt him, but rather is occupied with the promises that have been given to him by the King. I hope that I can be more like Kato in my approach to the difficulties that life brings my way, that I will have an unswerving hope in the promises that are mine in Jesus.

will YOU pray???

As I sit to write this I am in a garden near the source of the Nile River. The grass is green and finely cut, orange dragon-like flowers poke out above the other colorful pinks and purples and blues, and birds zip this way and that fluttering around the flowers and honeysuckle. This is a world at peace - with the exception of the wild children running this way and that, but I suppose that they are really at peace in a way each of us wishes we could return to - that peace of childhood before the world knocked too much seriousness into us.
But to put it quite bluntly - the world is not at peace and I suspect neither are we. We see too much sorrow, too much brokenness to think otherwise. And yet, we are called to speak peace into the madness that is around us. We are called to speak peace and that peace has a name - Jesus.
I have been in Uganda for around three weeks now taking a break before the work begins again. I will be returning to the DR Congo again soon and the task before me is a big one. We (myself, Kate and Kato) will be taking relief supplies to people who have been attacked or displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA). This is not a big task because of the logistics of it, or even because we have a lot to manage, but it is a big task because of the spiritual battle we are entering. If you don't know much about the LRA I would encourage you to look them up...and then PRAY. We are taking in physical help to these people but more than that we want to take in hope in Jesus name. John talked about Jesus light shining in the darkness and it is our hope that we would carry that light with us.
So, what am I asking from you?? PRAY, PRAY, PRAY...and then pray some more. Pray not only for the work we do but also for the daily heartache of facing suffering head-on. Pray that we will have courage to speak Jesus peace into the world we live in...and pray that you will do the same in the world you are in too.