Gasping @ “Jesus Loves YOU”
Today is Monday, June 1.
It was time for a special time with our staff to talk about the transition from the close of the Gospel’s after Christ had died, rose from the dead (according to the various witnesses, including the report of Dr. Luke) and the beginning of the Church in Acts. Several men were on our compound and are temporarily working with a sub contractor. I’ve enjoyned speaking with them and admiring their work the past few days. None of them believe in Jesus as God or as Savior. They were kind of skeptical, at the suggestion Jesus is God, but were very interested at the testimony of Luke talking so confidently, just reporting what happened but in so doing expressing his own belief in it all. Because they are of another faith, with so many of their friends and family of the same faith around, there’s a lot of pressure to be skeptical of a Christians’ motives. One thing I wanted them to know was what I called an American proverb. I said: ” a person’s judgement is only as good as the information he has”. I told them “we will continue with Acts tomorrow to be picked up by Alfred and Simon when I leave in a week, but remember, whether you believe what the Bible says, or even want to come to a study like this tomorrow or any time, is a matter of free will. Your job is not at risk if you don’t come”. I told them “I examined the scripture for years myself, but after that, I believe it is all true, but you should decide for yourself. The meeting to hear scripture is only the sharing of good, and I believe very accurate, information”. We will see who shows up tomorrow!
We met with three more Granny’s to sign their home construction agreements (one a mother but a terrible situation she is in and an exception was made for her). One is Granny Fatina who with her 4 daughters, one son and three grandchildren all sleeping on the dirt floor together in a 9′ x 10′ feeble hut. Her eye had a thorn in it. It has been worked on by a Physician who knew what to do, thanks to our nurse, Asaph, who took care of her needs. In the process of signing an agreement we talked of a number of points but when I told her “Jesus loves you very very much” she gasped and cried very quickly, caught herself and gained her composure, trying to conceal her emotion. She also is of another faith but something special happened just then. Fatina accepted our Granny Coordinator, Simons’ invitation to join the Granny Group meeting very close to her for the group Bible study Simon leads. Please pray for Fatima and the children in her family.
Our new guard dogs (well…”guard-puppies” so far!) are lodged in our guest house courtyard to allow them to be nurtured and grow. A very nice environment to raise them to a bigger size. The staff love them although generally Ugandans cannot really love dogs. But these dogs are here as “guards that do not take bribes”. As such they protect and cannot be corrupted according to one of our guards. Hope so. Already I’m looking forward to seeing how much Ricky and Lucy will have grown when I return again to Uganda in August, God willing.
God bless, Russ
