The last two weeks I have been immersed in a culture where the first thing you see is the immense needs. People that work daily just to earn enough money to feed their children a single meal. Men and woman who do everything they can to send their children to school. I see orphaned children who are taking care of their younger siblings. There are children and adults missing limbs, or are sick, or starving, but they do nothing about these conditions because they do not have the money for treatment. Many children run the streets in old, tattered clothing, clothing that barely fits their little bodies. Or children without shoes, or with shoes that are held together by a thread, and by no means are protecting their feet in the standard we would set in America.
I have also seen the brokenness that fills each man, woman, grandmother, grandfather, child, and baby. Every where I look, I see children who walk the streets looking for anyone who is willing to simply acknowledge their glances. I see children that have seen more betrayal, war, violence, and death than I have experienced in my lifetime. Each and every person here in Lira has, in some way, been affected drastically by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). Just the other day, I met a young man, Nelson, who, at the age of 16, was abducted by the LRA and forced to kill, or be killed himself. And to this day, Nelson continues to fight the battle of guilt and remorse for the things he was forced to do. The Pastor whom my team is working with, Pastor Johnson, had to live in the bush on several occasions over the last 20 years in order to protect his young family from the LRA. These are just a few examples of the brokenness I have seen. Brokenness is every where, and each has a story to tell…
Although the needs and brokenness mentioned above are overwhelming, I have come to at least one conclusion… I must do something. I may not be able to change every person’s life or situation, but that doesn’t give me an excuse to forget the stories I have heard…Nor does it give me an excuse to sit on my tush and do nothing about the brokenness I have seen and the needs that must be met. But what can I do? What can I do when surrounded by so many people with such need and filled with so much brokenness? These are the thoughts that overwhelm my mind, the questions that plague my every thought. I don’t yet know what I will do, but I know that I will do something. I am choosing to do something. It is not because I have been asked, and definitely not because I feel guilty, it is because I have been commanded.
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)
To whom much is given, much is required. I have been given the eyes to see these incredible needs and brokenness. I have been given the heart that is filled with compassion for these people. And I have been given a divine call that MUST be acted upon. Today is the day that I say yes.
