Or What man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:9-11
This newsletter is a bit longer than I usually like them to be, but hopefully it’s worth the read!
Two weeks ago I came back to Lohutok to start working on our house. The goal is to get the work on our house finished before Amy and the kids come back, so when we are here together as a family we can be focused on language and culture learning, etc. As is par for the course when managing a building project in South Sudan, nothing goes according to plan!
Before we even left to come back, I had been meditating on what it means to be sons/daughters of a good, benevolent father. I talked a bit about justification in the last newsletter, but another side of that truth is this example from Matthew 7. I was talking once with a group of recruits for our organization, and some of them were anxious about the appointment process, the length of time it will take and some of the difficult requirements they were given. I was encouraging them that after 8 years as a missionary, I can look back at all of those times when things didn’t happen as fast as I wanted them to happen, and I can say “Okay, I see what you were doing there!” I reminded them that God is not going to give a snake, He’s not going to give a stone, so we can trust that our Good Father in Heaven really is making things happen in the best possible way for us, even if it seems painful or hard.
So now I’m in Lohutok. Before I left Uganda I was able to arrange all of the materials I need to do this work and have them shipped up to South Sudan. The truck bringing my things was delayed for a few days because of rain, and was late reaching Torit (the town 50 miles from here). The second truck, who had agreed to bring my things the rest of the way, then had mechanical problems, so by the time he got that fixed he couldn’t ship my materials anymore because he had a pressing job with UNICEF. We were supposed to have building materials a week ago and now I’m still waiting.
We have a few friends here from South Africa who know how to do things like pour cement and build buildings, things that I’m not particularly good at. Scott is one of them, and he was planning on being around until July 10th. My goal was to finish a few of the things that I really need his help/advice on before he leaves, but on Sunday Scott received tragic news about his father and left the next day for South Africa.
I went to Torit the day after I heard that the truck was going on a different job so that I could intercept him on the road and talk to him, and also to bring cement back from town for the work on our place to continue. I found the driver and talked to him, and then on my way home that night I got hopelessly stuck in the mud, spent the night on the road (after digging for 6 hours or so trying to get out) and ruining 4 bags of cement because the water from the puddle flooded the back of the pickup.
In addition to all of that, there have been other irritations with getting the internet working, extra trips to other villages, donors (large ones) who have come upon financial hardship and have had to stop giving or stop giving as much, being separated from my family, not ever getting a chance to Sabbath, etc.
internet (and 2 others connections) sprained
his ankle while he was working. A frozen water
bottle was the only way we could get ice on
the swelling!
The funny thing about all of this is, I feel pretty good about the whole situation. Normally I’m the task-oriented, impatient guy who needs everything to go quickly and according to plan, but this time around it just…feels different. I keep meditating on the fact that God is not in the business of giving snakes and stones, and so I can trust that even though the materials aren’t here, our cash is getting low, I’m tired from driving and digging myself out of the mud, and the things/people I was putting my trust in for help aren’t around now, God is still actively controlling and providing for my circumstances. He is good, He knows what the end looks like while I can only guess. In the same way that I long to be back with my children and love on them and bring them gifts, God is passionately looking out for and providing for my needs, but in an even greater way!
Philippians 1:3-4,
Justin (for all of us!)
I fixed the broken tank, had no leaks in it at all, pumped it full of water, used it all day, and the next morning it had sprung a new leak!
No comments:
Post a Comment