It’s always an adjustment when I come back from a mission trip (especially one to the Third World).  People don’t go on trips like this for their own benefit or to see change happen in their own lives (at least they shouldn’t).  But somehow, the missionaries are always impacted and never the same. I have not known anyone who has gone as a missionary to the poor and hurting people of the world and come back unchanged. A trip to Uganda, or Bangladesh, or El Salvador, Or Tijuana gives you some perspective.  I know it does for me anyway.  It leaves me thinking about what really matters in life and what is really just a distraction.  It makes me view my own situation of wealth and comfort in the States, with different eyes.  There is the temptation to feel guilty for how I have been blessed and even a nagging desire to chuck it all and go live a simpler life in another place, where a little love, a little money, a little effort can go a long way to changing a life. I have come to realize that when we Americans speak of being blessed, by comparison to the underprivileged of the world, we are usually thinking in terms of material things like money, homes, cars and toys. Or we may be thinking about less tangible things like families, political freedom, education, and the like. And of course, those things are wonderful blessings, if we see them as coming from God and intended for His wonderful purposes.  But unfortunately, for many of us, these things have blinded us to what really matters.  How many hours do I sit in front of my big screen T.V.?  How much of my attention goes to rooting for my favorite sports team or surfing the web for no apparent reason, or shopping for more stuff?  It is sobering when I think about it. And I pray that God will help me to overcome the waste in my life and truly live for Him 24/7.

But I also need to remember that God has seen fit to place me where He has placed me and to give me the life He has given me.  I am called to live for Him wherever I do it.  While so many of the people of Uganda suffer from poverty, malnutrition and disease; we wealthy Americans, with our great medical care, comfort, education and opportunity have our own challenges to overcome.  Americans are often blinded by our circumstances to the point where we find it difficult to focus on God.  After all, there are so many distractions here!  Someone in Uganda warned me about the culture shock I would experience back home.  I wasn’t sure what was meant by that.  But now I know.  When I got back here, I hit the ground running.  Everything here happens so fast and there is a non-stop conveyor belt that brings things our way, one after the other.  It is hard to find a moment of solitude; not because such moments are unavailable, but because such moments are somehow less enticing than the busyness and rush I have built into my life.  For example, as I type this, I am sitting in a Starbucks near my home.  I am waiting for a church member to arrive for a meeting we have scheduled.  Starbucks has much of what I need to get my work done: a place to plug in my laptop, free internet, and lots of coffee.  Here, there is a constant line of people coming and going (most of them in a hurry).  As I watch them come and go, I wonder where they are coming from and where they are going.  Are their worlds thin and empty or are their lives filled with significance, by the God who loves them.  Of course, I know that God created them for significance, but too often, they have bought into the lie that the things that don’t matter much, are all that really matter. I long for God’s touch in their lives as much as I long for God to transform the Ugandan church and heal Ugandan orphans.  After all, this is where God has placed me today.  These are the people He has called me to love and serve today.

Today, this is my mission field

                 I preached in this village last month

And while I pray about how to address the problems in Uganda, I need to be more focused than ever on how to address the hurt and need in the lives of the people around me today.  Here’s the bottom line: God has called us all to be missionaries and we are already in the mission field.  I want to serve Him well today in the field in which has placed me .  I pray that you will do the same.  As we walk this walk, I know that God will change our lives and change the world through us.  After all when you walk with Jesus, it is always and adventure!

Once on the road, we were headed for a 7-½ hour drive to Murchison Falls National Park, in Northern Uganda.  It is a 3,000 square mile game reserve on the Nile River.  It took about 5 hours to get to the entrance of the park and another 2-½ hours on red clay roads (if you can call them roads) to go the final 35 miles to our camp.  Along the way, we saw families of baboons and assorted other animals.  We were thrilled, thinking that this might be all of the animals we would see.  Boy, were we wrong – more about that later.  We arrived at the Red Chili Rest Camp, only to find that our accommodations had been messed up.  It took awhile and a fair amount of frustration and prayer before we finally had a place to sleep.  With that under control, we boarded a boat and traveled 2 hours up the Nile to Murchison Falls.  It was spectacular; so much water being forced through a tiny opening and then crashing to the lower river, below.  Along the way, we saw and photographed elephants, warthogs (they all look like Pumba – I kept waiting for one of them to shout, “Hakuna Matada”, but sadly, none did – even the game warden called them Pumbas), Nile crocodiles, hippos, and all sorts of gazelles and other such land animals along the shore.  It only took an hour or so to come back with the current.  After a very long drive and an afternoon on the Nile, we were all tired.  Most of us slept well, in spite of our meager accommodations.  Jim Poorboy had a Hippo grazing outside of his tent and keeping him awake all night.  Hippos seem harmless, but they are the number one killer of humans in Africa. So we are glad to still have Jim with us.  In the morning, we had a banana and a bottle of water and boarded a ferry across the Nile for a land safari.  It was amazing!  We got to see all of the animals I just mentioned and then some.  I took a picture from about 15 feet away from a full-grown male Giraffe.  We also got to see a pride of lions from only about 40 feet away.  Our guide told us that this was incredibly rare in the park.  So we were thrilled. It was the adventure of a lifetime.  A zoo will never be as good to me again. 

After the safari, we headed back to the road for the long and insane drive back to Entebbe, Uganda, to a hotel near the airport.  By the time we checked in, we were all covered in red dust.  Our van windows had to be open the whole trip (the tour company decided to give us a van with broken air conditioning).  We looked like homeless wanderers when we walked into the hotel for check in.  Our faces were dusty, our clothes were dusty, even our luggage was covered in red dust.  But nobody at the hotel seemed too shocked.  I guess they see this kind of thing all the time.

Being constantly covered in dust made me think of the original disciples of Jesus.  There was a saying in those days: “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi”.  It meant, may you walk so closely behind your Rabbi that the dust from the road would stick to you as he kicks it up.  I think we all feel a bit like those 12 Disciples today.  We have been walking with Jesus, across Uganda.  I think we all feel close to Him.  We can hear His voice as He leads us from such a close distance.  I know that I, for one, will never be the same.  The dust of Uganda washes off, but I pray that you and I will know the joy of being covered in the dust of our Rabbi – Jesus Christ every day.

We get on a plane in a few hours. After we take off, we will be in the air for something like 22 of the next 25 hours. It has been a wonderful adventure. I thank God for each person who prayed for me and I ask you to keep praying for the people of Uganda.  When I get home, the adventure will continue.  After all, when you walk with Jesus, it is always an adventure.

We also made a tourist stop at the source of the Nile River.  The place, where the Nile begins flowing out of Lake Victoria and begins its 4,000-mile trek to the Mediterranean Sea.  There are natural springs bubbling up that add perfectly fresh water to the lake water and begin the flow of the river.  The Nile is such a significant river and the source of so much history, that it was really cool to be there.  It’s only a couple of miles from our hotel.  We paid to take a 30-minute private boat ride to the source of the Nile, complete with a tour guide.  It cost us about $4.00 each.  But that was still not the highlight of the day.

The best part of the day was a bumpy van drive to a small village on the other side of the Nile, where we visited “Amazima Ministries”.  We had heard of a young American woman who came to Uganda at the ripe old age of 18 and began a ministry to Ugandan children.  Her name is Katie Davis.  Katie was a high school homecoming queen from a wealthy community outside of Nashville Tennessee.  Smart, pretty, well-to-do, Katie had a promising future.  But she had been on a short-term mission trip to Uganda and heard the call of God to invest her life in needy Ugandan children.  So, upon graduating high school, she got on a plane and came to Uganda.  She began as a Kindergarten teacher.  But she soon founded a ministry called “Amazima” (Truth).  This ministry began feeding a few kids and helping their families to support and educate them.  Since then, Katie has adopted thirteen daughters and the ministry now includes over 600 children and their families.  They have bought a fairly large piece of land and developed the land for ministry to the kids and their families.  They get sponsorship for these children at $300 per year, and with this, they make sure the kids are fed, schooled, discipled, and kept in their family homes.  It is a ministry like no other I have seen, or heard of here. Today, we played with the kids and helped them feed over 500 of them.  They all got a large helping of chicken and beans.  Poor people in Uganda never eat meat.  But these kids get it from Amazima every Saturday, along with a worship service, medical aid, the care of a social worker, and a huge dose of love. In addition to all that, they get a bag of food to take home that will help their families feed them for the week.  Amazima also pays for their schooling.  It is an incredible ministry, led by a 22-year-old single woman who came here as an 18-year-old, with a heart to change the lives of Ugandan children. She and her staff are doing just that.  Her story is becoming well known as she recently wrote a best-selling book called “Kisses for Katie”.  It will be the first thing I read when I get home. I am so blessed to see that she has the courage and faith to follow God’s calling, regardless of her age.  I pray that the young people of Grace Fellowship (including my own kids) will follow her example of doing great things with God, while they are still young. After returning home, some of us went into a coffee house in Jinja that serves actual, drinkable coffee and American style food.  We have missed it!  While there, we ran into Brad, Katie Davis’ right hand man.  He joined us for an hour or so and helped us understand their ministry.  We were able to encourage him, but I think he encouraged us more.  I am so excited about what God is doing through Amazima.  I am humbled and challenged by the sacrificial lives being led by people like Katie and Brad.  Lord, help us all to be more like them.  They are living the adventure.  But then again, when you walk with Jesus, it’s always an adventure!

Today, I explained the doctrine of the Trinity to a group of pastors, many of whom had never understood this foundational truth of Christianity. We answered questions about the nature of God, the work of the church, and the reliability of the Bible. Every day, these pastors wrote down questions for us to address during a question and answer time. Many of the questions were the kind you would expect from a Junior High Bible class. But they sat and took notes as we explained the most basic truths of Christianity. Many were amazed to hear truly biblical preaching during the evening worship services. When I taught a session on how to interpret the Bible and prepare a sermon, many pastors told me that their lives and ministries would never be the same. Many of the pastors don’t have access to a good Bible, let alone Bible study tools.  I have included a picture of one of the pastor’s Bibles.

These dear Christians are quick to break into song and dance of celebration before the Lord. We have all been moved by the way the people here praise God. Today, when the power went out during my message, and they could no longer hear me through the sound system, I had to stop speaking and stand there awkwardly. Within 5 seconds, a lady in the crowd stood and started singing; “I’m so glad that Jesus set me free”. Before I knew it, the whole place was ringing with this song of praise to God. The people sang and danced until the power came back. Then they cheered for God, and I continued my message. It was a powerful experience. But we have also noticed that their songs are all very simple songs of celebration. They are the kind of songs you might expect in a Sunday School class for small children; “Yes, Jesus Loves Me.” These are the songs of people who love God, but know little about Him.

I am so thankful that God sent us here to help them learn more about who our God is and how to serve Him by leading His people and preaching His word. After only 5 days, these pastors are saying that their lives and ministries have been changed forever. But the work here has only begun. We have planted some seeds, but God is going to have to water these seeds to bring about growth. It was hard to leave these dear people, today. But it is comforting to know that God has been responsible for all of this ministry, and He will complete what He has begun. As for me, I am just thrilled to be on this adventure with Him. When you walk with Jesus, it is always an adventure.

…That is the way my blog started yesterday. It was a great blog too. You would have loved it. But as I tried to publish it, I lost all but those opening lines. By the time it crashed, I was way too tired to start again. So it is now Tuesday night at 8:45 local time in Uganda. And today was almost as sweaty as yesterday. The humidity here is pretty amazing. I am drinking at least 10 large bottles of water every day and still losing weight. Maybe ministry in Uganda is the perfect diet plan for my life. There are very few fat people here! Nobody has too much food and nobody has too little exercise.

We are staying in a hotel right on the banks of the Nile river. It is pathetic by American standards, but by Ugandan standards, it is the Ritz. I share a 10X12 room with my friend, Jim Poorboy. The shower hardly works. The power goes off regularly. The internet comes and goes. But just when I started feeling like it was rough, I got to go to a small village nearby, to preach on Sunday morning. It was some of the worst poverty I have ever witnessed. I was invited to the pastor’s home for lunch afterward. He lives with his wife and 8 children in a “house” that is half the size of my bedroom at home. They served me 6 platters of food (for me alone). I knew that it represented a week’s food for his family, so I nibbled a little bit and explained that I had eaten a big breakfast, and I gave the rest to his family. The kids could barely hide their excitement. That evening, we went to visit a children’s home, outside of Jinja, that is run by an old friend of mine, Eadie Miskel. They invited us for dinner and we got to meet some of the most precious children I have ever met. They performed for us and led us in worship. Then we ate and spent time with the kids. It was a wonderful experience. These kids are so terribly poor, but they have more joy and happiness than most rich people I know. Hmmm, I wonder if that means that money is not the key to contentment (Nah, couldn’t be).

On Monday, we began the conference. I preached twice and taught for three additional hours. I was spent! Today, I didn’t preach at all, and only taught for three hours. It was only slightly less exhausting. But the ministry is bearing fruit. The pastors are learning so much! And they are so grateful for our ministry! It seems like there are about 300 pastors there, attending the conference. 120 of them have come from out of town (many on foot) and they are sleeping on foam rubber mattresses, on the dirt floor, each night. They are thrilled for the privilege. That is a nice little shot of perspective! God is doing a great work here and I can’t stop thinking that this may be an historic week for God’s kingdom in Africa. I am humbled to be a part of it. Each day, I take a class of 30 senior leaders into a small room for 3 hours and teach them advanced leadership. The room is the size of my office and we are squeezing all of those people in there. It is stuffy and the smell is (how can I put this?) unique. But they are all learning and growing so much. They have promised to teach what they are learning, to the other pastors, after I leave. I am praying that they will understand the principles well enough to convey them to others. One of my students is a Bishop in the Methodist church, overseeing some 40 churches in the area. He is also the President of the Ugandan Baptist Seminary, here in town. This is a Southern Baptist school supported by our church, through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program. We are planning to leave some resources for the seminary library, before we leave. These pastors have influence. Please join me in praying that they will grow and maximize their potential for changing the world.

So, yes, I am getting sweaty. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. When you walk with Jesus, it is always an adventure.

Pastor Paul was our driver.  I am glad he was the driver, because if I had been the driver, we would never have arrived alive. Like every third world country I have visited, Uganda is a terrifying place to drive.  There are busy roads, especially in the capital city of Kampala, packed with people on foot, in cars, on buses, on motorcycles, on bicycles and just about any other form of transportation you can imagine.  It was a three hour drive and let’s just say, it was a time of deep prayer for the team.  We flinched, gasped, held our faces in our hands, and looked away, as Pastor Paul swerved in and out and around the traffic.  On several occasions, we came within inches of head on collisions.  I kept thinking, “If Kristy were here, she would have a heart attack.”  But actually, I think she might come to appreciate my comparatively conservative approach behind the wheel.  Seriously, there are few things that are as frightening as a ride in a third world country.

It was a three hour ride and we saw a good portion of the area, before the sun went down and the driving got really interesting.  The poverty is severe.  We saw shanty towns and many lost and lonely people wandering the streets.  But we also saw nice, new communities where the houses are similar to what I am used to seeing in California.  We saw tiny roadside churches and large beautiful mosques.  Christianity is much larger than Islam here.  But the Muslims are spending lots of money down here, building mosques, schools, hospitals and businesses, in an effort to win influence over the people.  By contrast, the Christian churches are often poor and small.  There are some large, flourishing churches, but often, they preach a watered-down gospel of prosperity on earth – a long way from the true gospel of the Bible.

We met, Saturday morning with some key Christian leaders in Jinja, who told us that they desperately need to be trained in doctrine and practice.  They are seeing God change lives, but most of them have little understanding of the Bible and even less understanding of how to minister to people and lead them.  It’s not unlike the driving situation – a dangerous adventure, that requires us to pray!  Truly, the church in Uganda is fighting an uphill battle.  That is why we have come!  We are here to equip and encourage and train them.  These pastors need your prayer.  So please pray for all of us as we begin to meet together on Monday morning (Sunday night in California).  Ask God to show us what they need to hear and to help us to communicate the truth in a life-changing way.

We will all spread out and preach in 5 different churches on Sunday.  Please pray for us to preach the word of God with boldness and power, so that God might use His word to change the world.  There is something exciting for the Ugandan Christians about having white Americans in their churches.  But we don’t want to be the attraction.  We want Jesus to be the attraction.  So pray that we will not get in the way, but instead point people to the One who truly is their Hope – Jesus Christ!  The conference starts in less than 48 hours! We are here in Africa, walking the walk. It’s quite an adventure. I am praying for you as you walk the walk where you are.  You are no less dependent upon God in your homes, offices, or schools than we are, here in Uganda, so far out of our comfort zones. The danger is to not notice how much you need Him, in the humdrum details of your everyday life. A walk with Jesus is always a great adventure!

I awoke this morning at 4:45, took a quick shower, kissed my family and got on the road at 5:30 a.m. My son, Garret was kind enough to get up early and drive to the airport before school. My dear friend, Jim Poorboy flew in from Kentucky on Tuesday and spent the day with me in preparation for our trip, and then spent the night in our guest bedroom. So, Jim, Garret, and I sat in traffic on our way to LAX. We arrived around 7 a.m., stood in line to check in, and met up with the rest of our team. There are 5 of us, in all. Three Jim’s, a Jeff, and a Doug (I’m the Doug … Just in case you were confused). It was good to see the guys again. Jim Poorboy is an old friend and ministry partner. We have been very close for the past 15 years or so. But the other three guys were new acquaintances for me when we had our first mission team meeting, several months ago. I am starting to get to know them and I trust we will be close after 2 weeks in the trenches together.

What’s a mission trip without a major glitch? Well, I had my first one, just before boarding the plane this morning. That is when I realized that I left my vaccination card in my office. You have to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever to travel in and out of Uganda. I got my shot in plenty of time and then proceeded to leave the record of the vaccine in my office. By the time I realized my error, it was too late to do anything about it. So I spoke with someone at the airline, who called her supervisor, who told her that they don’t actually ask to see your vaccine card when you enter Uganda. I sure hope she is right. Just in case, I had Steve email me pictures of the shot card, which I can show them on my phone or iPad. Please be praying that this will not cause delays or other problems, when we arrive in Uganda.

As I said, it is a long flight from Los Angeles to Dubai. So far, I have had lots of time for Bible reading and prayer. I have also watched 4 movies and listened to a couple of hours of Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach, and eaten two full meals (did I mention there are still 4 hours to go?). When we arrive in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), we will have a 17 hour layover, followed by a 7 hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda, followed by a 3 hour ride in a van to get to our destination at the mouth of the Nile, in Jinja, Uganda. That is a lot of sitting! In spite of all the extra padding, my rear end is already numb. So every couple of hours, I get up and walk around. They say you have to do that, or you may develop circulation problems and blood clots. When you travel for this long, you have to walk to stay healthy. I guess the same is true in life. As we journey with Christ, we have to walk with Him. We need to exercise our spiritual muscles, or else we will get weaker by the day. Ironically, that is why I am doing all of this sitting. This trip to Uganda is part of my walk with Jesus. And being this far out of my comfort zone is all part of my spiritual exercise. So as you pray for me today, please know that I am praying for you too. I pray that God will walk you out of your comfort zone today so that you can exercise your spiritual muscles and grow to be more pleasing to Him. There is no greater adventure than a walk with Jesus!

So why am I starting this blog? I am glad you asked. Basically, it is because I love to think; and I do my best thinking “out loud”. I love conversations. I love to be able to throw thoughts out there and bat them around with others, to see what we can learn. I am constantly dropping into the office of my friend and colleague, Steve Baehr, to share a thought I had or comment on something I read, and get his opinion in return. Usually, those conversations include Steve uttering the words, “You should blog about that.” Well, here I am, blogging about that. I hope this blog will have a slightly different flavor and that you will find it worth your attention from time to time. I am not looking for a fight and I don’t want to argue for the sake of arguing. But I do believe that God can use ideas to change the world. And since I am convinced that changing the world is high on God’s list of priorities, I want to be involved with that.

This is a blog about life: about the journey. I am utterly fascinated with the fact that God seems to love to compare the human life to a journey – a walk with Him. Since the beginning of time, God has been inviting people to relate to Him, to spend time with Him, to trust Him, to go where He goes and get involved with what He does. Go back and read the old stories of scripture. Adam walked with God in the garden. Noah was intimately acquainted with God and responded faithfully to His voice. Abram (later known as Abraham) was called out of a pagan land and told to follow God to a place that God would show him along the way. Moses and the children of Israel walked with God as He led them as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. David hung out with God under the stars and talked with Him through songs of prayer. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that the great people of faith in the Old Testament walked with God. In the New testament, Jesus called some fishermen to, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” They dropped their nets, started walking with Jesus, and He changed their lives and then used those lives to change the world. Paul’s favorite metaphor for the Christian life seems to be the walk. He tells us to “walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4), to walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7), to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:1, 25), to walk in good works (Ephesians 2:10), to walk in a manner worthy of our high calling (Ephesians 4:1), to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2), to walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), to walk wisely (Ephesians 5:15), etc. I could go on, but I’m hoping to keep new readers, not bore them to death. You can do your own word search on the subject at biblegateway.com. My point here is simple: We are invited to walk with God. When we walk with Him, we learn to recognize His voice, to understand His priorities and to love what he loves and hate what He hates.

This blog is about our walk with Him and the things we can learn from each other along the way. I hope you will join me on the journey. I would love to read your comments and field any questions my comments might inspire. Every journey begins with a first step. This is my first step into the blogging world. I look forward to the journey.