So here’s the big news that most people already know but if you don’t: In a little over a month, I’ll be packing my bags on another excursion.
Those of you that know me might wonder what new business trip I’m on, with exotic destinations like Orange County and Oklahoma City under my belt.
The destination is Africa. More specifically the Musana Children’s Home in [Iganga, Uganda][2].
[2]: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Iganga, Uganda&hl=en&sll=38.997934,-105.550567&sspn=4.490448,9.711914&hnear=Iganga, Eastern Region, Uganda&t=m&z=13
The story starts about 6 months ago in a Taco Bell in Longmont. (no, really)
I had just gone to church, went to Taco Bell for dinner (to try the new doritos taco shells), and as I was leaving, a thought popped into my head: I should go to Musana.
Musana is a great children’s home in Uganda, and their story has been told many times at my church. The short version of the story is that 3 college students went to Uganda for their own mission trip on their summer vacation, visited a “Christian” orphanage and saw the deplorable conditions, mismanagement and abuse — and they decided to stay. They started Musana and have been doing some really amazing things ever since.
Well I don’t know where that idea came from, it just came up out of nowhere and I was like, “Well, ok then. Guess I’ll go to Uganda.” I talked to my mom and she told me she had been thinking I should go on a missions trip. And speaking with a few other people, I just got more and more affirmation that maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all.
So for a few months I had been telling people I was going to go to Uganda, when I realized I had to apply. Well, crap. I didn’t know they were going to be selective! And yet somehow I passed all their screenings and was selected to go. So, it’s official! I’m heading to Uganda, I have my passport in hand and am about to get all my vaccinations.
To be honest, before tonight I didn’t have a lot of expectations for what this trip should mean for me. I always knew it would somehow be powerful. But, like a lot of things God has roped me into doing, he nudged me towards it, and the more I pursued it, the more “yes”es I got, and the more it grew. I could tell story after story after story about God operating this way in my life. I sort of have a vague idea of something, start towards it, never get a no, so I just keep going.
But tonight is different. I came to the realization of why God called me to Uganda. And as so often happens, it’s for a really good reason.
Tonight I came home kinda depressed after middle school program, wishing some things went better, a few more students showed up, my influence would be greater, and other stuff like that. But as I was driving home, I realized that I’m a tiny part of a big movement of God. God is moving through me and through others in ways that we can only look back on in the future and realize the full extent.
I had the same feeling when I worked at LifeChurch.tv on YouVersion. God moved in the lives of 47 million people, and he did it in part through my hands.
There is just story after story after story I could tell of my being nearby when God moved. And, sometimes, God used me to do the moving.
That’s one thing I need to never forget. God is moving in many ways, in many places, with many people. As much as I want to be the top guy, the one God is doing the most in, I need to realize God is moving through me. I’m not doing this on my own, so why should I care if I make the biggest difference, or if somebody else is? I should just be honored to be near God’s movement.
What do I want to get out of my Uganda trip?
What would be the most powerful thing in my life is a clear message from God that my life is too small to live for myself. I want my life to be less about my life. My wins. My successes. My money. My fame. My influence. My my my my my my my my my my my!
I need a reminder that what God is doing is bigger in this world than anything any of us can ask, think or imagine! And he’s doing almost all of it without me!
I need a reminder that my life is not my life. My life is too short, too narrow, too focused on me. I need it to be focused on others.
I need a reminder that we serve a really big God that will accomplish really big things. I need a reminder to be thankful he does the accomplishing with us as opposed to without us.
I need a reminder that sacrifice is important. I’m not raising any funds. I’m burning my vacation time to the ground for a year to do this. I need to feel these sacrifices. I need to own them. I need to sacrifice my fiefdom so I can focus on building His kingdom.
But most of all, I want a reminder of just how much God loves the Whole World. That my life is incomplete if I’m living for myself and not for the other people that God loves just as much as he loves me.
If you want to support me, all I ask is for you to pray for me. To pray for powerful, big and bold reminders of what a great big God he is and a tiny little gnat I am in comparison.