More of me in Uganda….

* for facebook friends….if you look at the posted date of that ‘Uganda is Imminent’ you’ll see that it was posted originally in January of 08. Sorry for the confusion!! *

So, today is March 11th and it has been almost a full month since i’ve been back from Uganda. So much has happened in these few short weeks. My band had a few out of town dates and we had our first ever ‘Small Church Conference‘ which went incredibly well. Even as I’m typing this I’m amazed at how much has happened in such a short time because it seems like just yesterday I got off of the plane from Uganda. I find my mind, and in turn my heart, drifting to Uganda more and more. I know that I’m called to serve here, in OKC, locally, but I know I’m called to Africa as well. I feel like I have left a piece of me there and actually I feel like having gone a second time that I’ve left a bigger piece than before.

The night before we left one of our great African friends Martin said that he had hoped that we would come back to the states with everything but our hearts. Because if we left our heart then surely we would swim the ocean to come back to find it. I feel like that is true. I just got done uploading a ton of Uganda pics and will be uploading some video soon but as I was doing it Gulu came rushing through my head again…..literally…..the smells….the sounds…..the faces……the light and the dark. It’s funny how the brain works. We are such tactile people. Have you ever had an experience that has melded a certain taste, smell or sound to a particular memory? It’s pretty amazing and maybe in some cases it’s God’s way of helping that memory to stay alive……today in my office….by myself…. I was in Gulu ……and I miss it.

Some of the highlights of this years trip was being able to lead worship for 3 days at a conference. Last time I got the flu before I left so I sang maybe twice the whole time. This time I got to lead quite a bit. Which was awesome and terrifying all at the same time. Usually before I would lead there would be a time of incredible African lead worship with drums and dancing  and then me……the hairy american guy with just an acoustic guitar. The amazing thing….God showed up. As a worship leader that has a band that gets to travel around a little, I’ve seen and been able to do some pretty cool things. Hearing a room full of Ugandans sing from the depths of them a song that you’ve written is on a whole other level! Glory to God!

Other days we saw over a thousand men, women and children sitting under shade trees receiving healing and hope through the Trauma Counceling ministry that Favor of God does. We were able to go in to the prisons and preach to prisoners that are truly guilty until proven innocent and watch them accept the love of Christ by the dozens. We were apart of crusades that saw hundreds accept Christ and then travel to a military hospital to hand out bibles. We saw hundreds of men and women crammed in to tiny buildings to be taught the bible in portable bible schools to then go and teach others. We ate in homes of wonderful people that we are so honored to call family. 

So, I have left Africa with my heart, or at least part of it, there. I can’t wait until it’s time for me in a year or so to once again travel back to serve and simply be a small part of the incredible move of God there.

View my pics from the trip here 

I found Jesus in Uganda, Africa

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I’m home…..I’m tired….I’m sick…..and I miss Africa already.

Here are some brief thoughts about my travels. For a more complete read about what God did in Uganda click on the link to the right.

We left Oklahoma City Monday Nov 5th @ 2:45 pm and arrived at the mission house in Uganda around 10pm Wednesday Nov 8th. The trip was grueling. I had never been out of the country with the exception of a Mexico border town. The idea of traveling thousands of miles to a distant land was both terrifying and exciting. I knew God had some huge things for me to see. I just didn’t know what I was in for.

Everyday was different in everyway except for one constant. Worship. They do nothing each day until they worship. They don’t eat or work until they worship God. Worship lasted each day from 8am till around 9:30 or 10:00am. If we worshipped that long in America we would make a b-line to the nearest comment box and write a stern note to the church administration. In Africa I was was swept away by God during these times. Jesus was alive and well in a way that I had never experienced in the states. That’s a huge comment for me considering I’m a worship leader.

After worship we had tea and biscuts, they are very british there……weird. When we were done eating it was time to work. Everyday was different. Most days to the IDP camps for crusades, evangelism, preaching in churches or trauma counceling. Other days to hospital, the jail or to the children’s home.

It’s hard to find words to describe what I experienced in Uganda. Israel said a very profound thing the night before we left as we were all sharing through laughter and tears. He said he didn’t want to say too much for fear of losing what’s inside of him. He found words for what I’m feeling. I feel like if I talk to much about it in short little blurbs that it will loose it’s power and be compartmentalized in to some insignificant summer camp experience. My hope is in journaling it out that I can remember the sheer power of God through these memories.

Before I left people would ask me what I think I’ll experience or find in Africa. I would tell them 2 things. I would find the scariest place imaginable……and that I would find Jesus. I was wrong on the first count. It was the most loving and intense place I’ve ever been. I did, however, find Jesus alive and well and moving in spirit and power there. In Shane Claiborne’s book, go to must reads, he wrote that he found Jesus in Calcuta. He had grown up Christian but didn’t really see God move or see the love of Jesus evident until he went to India. I feel much the same way. I have never felt Christ move or wash over me as alive as he did in Uganda. In the states we don’t have to believe God for that much. If we’re hungry we go to the store, if we’re sick we go to the doctor. If we can’t provide for ourselves the government fills the gap. I know it’s a not a perfect system but you’ll agree that for the most part it’s true. Where we were, if God didn’t provide…you didn’t eat. You weren’t healed, you didn’t have what you needed. Faith and the spirit of God work in Uganda because it has too or you don’t survive. Here we think it’s tough if we can’t afford to eat out as much as we’d like.

It made me celebrate the move of Christ in me. I feel like there is a sleeping giant in me that is Jesus’s move and I’m just beginning to wake it up. I was put in situations there spiritually that stretched me beyond my own strength and where I stopped Jesus kept going. I have never felt like Jesus used my ridiculous life as much as he did there. I’m grateful for that.

We made life long friends there with the Favor of God ministry people. I’ve never met so many people that were so immediately different yet so willing to connect. I have prayed for them everyday I’ve been back and will continue to do so. I’m grateful for their friendship….they are family.

That’s the short version! ha! …….and it only scratches the surface. This week I will add my journal of each day as they unfolded and hopefully show you what really happened and how God was glorified beyond measure.

peace