in less than 2 weeks, i’ll be in uganda. a generally peaceful country (considering some other areas of africa). i will be posting many more thoughts on our trip soon, but for now, i want you to see something.
this is a boy? a man? a life…that has been taken.
i am not a big shock value person. i don’t like sensationalism. but can i take a moment and be honest with you?
the violence in kenya right now is breaking my heart.
we do have a stop over in nairobi on the way to kampala, and some people have been asking me if the recent violence (800 deaths in a couple months) has me worried. after all, many kenyans are fleeing to uganda. people are going around with machetes and arrows and guns and fire and anger and hate.
am i afraid?
my answer, is surprisingly no.
i am not afraid.
it makes me so…so unbelievably sad.
there is no more room in my heart to be afraid.
as i sit on my fluffy carpet, wrapped in my fluffy blanket, typing on my amazing computer, not worrying if my apartment door is locked or not, tens of thousands of miles away, a spirit of evil and murder and destruction is destroying and taking lives.
beautiful lives.
beautiful minds.
beautiful souls.
i wish i could go now.
i don’t even know what i could do, but i wish i could go now.
WE ARE RICH.
whether you like it or not, we are rich.
WE HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS IN THESE COUNTRIES TODAY…AND HOPEFULLY AND PRAYERFULLY CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE HISTORY OF AFRICA.
we could sacrifice so little and make such a huge impact.
it seems like it’s a world away…
but it’s not.
when you’re at work today, i want you to think about the people who are being brutally tortured all over the world.
when you’re eating lunch, i want you to pray for the fear they experience that we will never, EVER know.
WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS…
will you??
I have spent time in Nairobi airport… on the way to Rwanda. When you get there you will find beautiful people whom God loves and need the love of God. And you will remember that God is worthy of the worship of all people, and He is worthy of all of you.
Is it bad that I am completely not shocked by that at all?
In fact my only reaction is sadness. And anger. Anger that I have caused that in so many ways. The world just destroys my heart and only Christ is able to rebuild it.
Go and make a difference Anne! Be a history maker.
Mike
Tell us, Anne! Tell us what we can do! Go on this trip and see what it is we can do, then tell us! I think we just don’t know how or what.
It will never cease to amaze me that it takes unimaginable death and violence to wake us up from our comfort. I pray that your trip will inspire many more to step up and out…I know it’s already inspired me.
Several of fellow Christians that I know spent most of today sending messages back to one another on a social networking site arguing, in a very hateful way, about a doctrine that they have separate beliefs about. They spent an entire day sending about 40 messages calling each other out and being vile towards one another. I wonder if they prayed for each other as they argued, I wonder if they felt any kind of love for each other,
And I wonder how many people in Nairobi and other parts of the world died while they sat in front of their computers and spouted hate at their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
not sure what to say other than, i am so looking forward to you seeing africa and bringing home with you a changed spirit, heart and mind. what is so fantastic about you is that you will be able to write the feelings that most people who have seen it will never be able to say with such eloquence and that is why i am so thankful that you’re going.
as sad as you are right now and as heart broken as you are right now, you will be changed even more from your experience of seeing it in front of your face. touching it. smelling it. breathing it.
i am praying for you as God is preparing your heart. be ready for your life to be rocked, shaken and stirred.
because it will.
this will be the fastest 10 days of your life. study up on re-entry. because it will hit you smack across the face. but instead of alienated americans (which you will want to do) … encourage, restore and impact the hearts of those here to encourage, restore and impact the LIVES of those there.
its possible.
Anne, I have been reading your blog for a while now. I have lived and worked in Kenya during 2006 when there were droughts & fighting amongst tribes for scarce resources. I admire your desire to help and to bring God’s love to those who are suffering but I just want to say that prayer is one of the more effective ways in which we as Christians can intercede. The problems and issue that are being faced by people are too complex for us to try and understand completely.
My experiences changed me forever as I am sure yours will. Practical aid is great whilst it lasts – a sense of sustainable, long-term, empowerment is much harder to achieve and takes a long, long time.
God bless.
yes i will. my prayer this morning was that God i will do anything and go anywhere at anytime. Today i’m in Oklahoma, tomorrow probably the same…but i’m living one day at a time. Thanks for helping me get my perspective right again!
So I don’t normally post anything because as you know I don’t blog that much and I don’t have a lot of time and well I’m not that great of a writer, so here goes…This picture doesn’t surprise me at all! I admire what you are going to do and all that you have done, but I wonder if that person in the picture had grass under him and a shirt that covered his body and no stick laying beside him could we say this picture was of a foreign country or our own backyard? (Other then you telling us) Not to down play the importance of what is being done in foreign countries through organizations like Compassion and churches that send out missionaries etc…, but I’m always amazed to know that there is probably this same amount of violence and killing in the USA, the same amount of poverty and neglect of children and abuse of women, but somehow it is overlooked or not found to need that much attention, or it is just seen as part of life or the neighborhood that you live in. I guess I have become numb to a point when it comes to violence and “shock value” pictures because of the people that I work with…it’s hard to care when you see the same people come in and out of jail and drug rehab always with the same statement of “I’m going to change this time”, only to find out that they are back in jail or dead, or that they have abandoned their children and gone back to their abusive relationship. What am I doing outside of my job to make a difference…nothing….and with that I have my own issues to face and say thank you for making me think this morning…I will be praying for your safety and the challege that you face. You have amazing things in store for you and I’m grateful that you have been willing to answer God’s call to travel to a foreign country where many of us wouldn’t want to go so that you can spread God’s love and compassion and Word.
i have seen brokenness such as this…in india last year.
i saw poverty that i suspect almost no one in the u.s. can conceive of without witnessing.
and…i had a moment of holy discontent in the middle of all of it.
craig’s messages in this series really are convicting. we ARE rich (in many ways), yet we often whine about such insignificant things.
thanks, anne.
We all have been blessed with so much. It’s hard not to feel guilty about daily “necessities” like Coffee or Internet Access when so many have so little.
We worry about the latest tax cuts and what kind of economic incentives our country will get when in parts of Africa a $300 micro-loan is an economic incentive that will change someone’s life!
I will continue to pray with you for these people whose lives are just as precious in the sight of God as our own.
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
It stinkin’ makes me crazy inside to know that is someone’s son, maybe someone’s daddy. I can say that just this past year my eyes have been opened…no wait, that’s not it–I have decided to open my eyes to what is going on outside my cozy corner of the world. I have been praying the past few months intensely for God to help me focus my passion for what he wants me to do and how he wants me to do it. My life prayer is whatever, however, whenever, Lord…my answer is ‘yes’.
I have been praying for you and the rest of the team, Anne, and will live vicariously through you guys making the trip. Kay Warren’s book, “Dangerous Surrender” spoke of seriously disturbed and gloriously ruined people…ones who can no longer be content to be comfortable, but instead whose eyes have been opened to new realities by seeing real suffering and can no longer ignore it or pretend that it doesn’t exist, but are compelled to do something about it. I pray that through your trip, eyes will be opened, hearts will be moldable, ordinary people will decide to do extraordinary things, and ultimately lives will be changed with the hope and love of Jesus.
Our family is endeavoring to do something by supporting the Orphans Overseas/Salvation Army (Kenya) project.
http://www.orphansoverseas.org/about.htm
http://www.orphansoverseas.org/Annual%20Report%202006-2007.pdf
yes
This picture actually made me physically sick.
I work for Compassion so you’d think I would be “used to” seeing this kind of thing. I pray, though, that I never get used to seeing something like that.
Thanks for not letting us get complacent.
I’m at school so I can’t view the pic (love those firewalls), but since I was sitting down to lunch I’ll just guess it’s a good thing I can’t see it.
And I’m with whoever up there said it, what do we do? We live in such a bubble here. I see outside of it, but don’t know how to reach outside of it.
yes.
dang. that’s brutal, real… wow.
i’m so glad that you guys are going to face this head on and shed light on these issues and what we can do to step in, as Jesus’ hands and feet.
I wish I were going to Uganda…my heart aches for the people all over the continent of Africa.
My prayers are with the people over there as well as those who are travelling to get the unfiltered word out.
I am working with a missionary right now that just arrived in Kenya in and around the area of Kitale. Due to news reports I receive daily, the Rift Valley is full of violence and the slums are in constant turmoil in Nairobi, some of them being sealed off. One baby she is caring for was nursing when the mother was shot and killed and the father cut down by machetes nearby. She is currently working with a Kenyan ministry and they have around one hundred orphaned toddlers right now. It is a devastating experience for her to be there, but she is extremely committed to serving the people for God. May your trip be safe and productive and may you return home safely. Yes, we are rich and we have been blessed beyond all belief. Most of the world doesn’t have a fraction of what one individual has here in the U.S.
you are so blessed to have this opportunity to go and do something. look to god and see what he wants you to do. then you’ll accomplish the most amazing things.
may god bless your feet in this journey and everywhere you will go, god bless your hands and everything you do with them, your mind and every good thing you will accomplish in this trip, and protect your body.
You’ve touched the young, passionately naive part of me that wants to save the world… and you’ve broken my heart. Well, not you really, but the everyday truth that you reminded me of. Go there, give me all the right answers and right acts. We can save the world, at least for someone.
thanks for posting that. im jealous, and not in a naive way, that you get to go there.
I will, I can and I am!
Anne,
I completely understand your statement about fear. I went to Nigeria last year, and there were days I look back on, now, and wonder “how was I not terrified?”. I’ve come to the conclusion that the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.