Assessing Life in Light of Death

Since arriving in Uganda, I’ve developed an onslaught of symptoms that begin to raise concerns about my health. Initial doctors in Uganda, said not to worry it is just a cultural change. But, knowing my body, I felt that I should seek a second opinion. So while here in South Africa I saw a specialist. After several tests, he acknowledged something is definitely wrong and sent me on to another specialist. I’m hardly a hypochondriac, and to be honest the possibility was pretty minute, nevertheless, when unsure of the future, once can not stop the mind from pondering over all the potential scenarios, that life might go. One lesson we get as you get older is; you begin to learn how life can change dramatically in a single moment of time. So what if my life was to dramatically change in a single moment?

What if I didn’t have as many “tomorrows” as I thought I did? Not really feeling like I was at death’s door, but nevertheless I thought, at age 27, if I wasn’t going to see a ripe old age, what changes would I make in my life right now? I rarely sit around and think about my own mortality and like your average 20-something, I’m not quite thinking about retirement plans yet. But, in light of this new perspective, I realized the answer was - nothing. And, that realization shocked me. Health permitting, I would choose to keep on with my endeavors in Uganda. I would still pay that money to fly back to the United States for my friends wedding, I would still choose that family vacation and

The only thing that I would maybe consider is not continuing on with my Masters in Business program. However, I would probably consider continuing working on my degree in Theology. One should never stop pursuing God. And gaining knowledge of God is the first step in knowing God. It is and will be an eternal pursuit, I think.

You always hear about those people who at the end of their life, wished that they had given up the pursuit wealth and “things.” They wished they had spent more time with their friends and family. And in light of my life through the lens of death, I realize that I have put relationships first….. so far. Should I pat myself on the back that, the thought of death would not force a radical change in my life? That my choices and priorities are correctly aligned in light of human frailty and mortality? And it is true that often, more than some, I have always assessed my life in each moment in light of eternity. And assessed each choice in light of James 4:14 which says our existence here is but a “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”. Plenty of writers in both the Old and New Testament refer to our lives as David did in Psalms as nothing more than “a single breath.“ In light of eternity, the difference between a person that lives 30 years and him that lives 70 years is really quite insignificant.

Now don’t going thinking that I am all noble and everything. In this rare moment of introspection; in light of thoughts of mortality, I am sad to think what future may be missed. And to be truly honestly, I think maybe I am just not old enough yet to have acquired such common distractions – like the pursuit of wealth instead of relationships. Maybe if I picked up a mortgage and a few kids, my focus would lose some of that eternal perspective and readjust a focus onto the material world. One can not guess what choices I will make a few years from now. Regardless, of what future might hold, assessment is always valuable and sometimes we need a little reminder how short our wick really is.

"Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore..."

I have left Africa without exiting the Continent. Welcome to Johannesburg, South Africa, aka. “Any Town, USA”. Now I am sure that if I stayed here long enough I would see significant cultural differences between South Africans and Americans, however at first glimpse, Joburg could be any city in California. Full of shopping malls with Louis Vutton , and as well as movie theaters. coffee shops, bookstores, and every kind of restaurant imaginable. Paved roads, phone lines, street lights, stop signs and crosswalks, are the first sign that this place is much different than Uganda. But, then you see clean streets, Audi’s (and my own personal red Mazda 3), as well as high-rise buildings with excellent construction. “Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore” ….. in fact we are in a completely different world then we have known in the last four months.

So I took an extra week in Johannesburg after 8 grueling days of training with World Vision. Bill and Joanne Scheidler, graciously opened up their house to me for a place to stay. On Sunday, I visited City Life Church, pastored by their daughter Gini and her husband James Monagham; both who my family have known for a long time. I also attended their Generation Church on Friday night (ages 12-21) and they sang many songs I recognized, including one from Donna Lasit!

I also got to meet up with a couple other friends that live here. We actually met one year ago on my tour through Egypt! We never imagined that we would be able to see each other again so soon. (It’s a small world) They took me on quite another adventure actually. We went about 90 minutes outside of the city to the bush and sped along on 14 different zip-lines that zig-zag back and forth across a canyon. They progressively increase in speed and you wear padded gloves that you use on the zip-line to slow your incoming speed into the next platform. I did do one day tour. I spent several hours in the Apartheid Museum. It depicts the incredible fall of the political policy of racial separation and therefore discrimination between blacks and whites in South Africa. We visited areas around town where you could see a few signs left behind as reminders of this separation; shops for those with Black skin and others for those with White skin, and separation in public transport as well as drinking fountains. Different tribes regulated to certain suburbs (or better described slums) around the city; in which to leave, you must have a pass to travel. I have already had a real “Safari Adventure,” but one thing I did the day before leaving South Africa was visit a Lion Park. This is the first time in my life I have ever seen a White Lion. Such beautiful creatures! Then you got to go play with the lion cubs that had been abandoned by their mothers. You felt like you could adopt one and take one home as a pet! They also had a couple Giraffes at the park that you could buy food to feed! So I filled my hand full of “giraffe food” which looks like nothing more than pieces of round cardboard to the human eye, but it sure looked attractive to that giraffe, as he wrapped is gooey, gristly, warm, (and moist) tongue around my hand to make sure not to lose a single bite!

Aids Education with World Vision

I am a strong proponent of not “reinventing the wheel” and not wanting to waste my time trying to figure out what would work and what wouldn’t. Therefore, I initiated a search for a good and impactful Aids Education program that had be tried and tested in Africa already. World Vision has a program call Channels of Hope that puts on workshops for Pastors about the AIDS pandemic and helps them strategize on how their church can personally be involved; whether it is counseling people with HIV in their churches, caring for the sick in their communities, or educating youth and church members about transmission and prevention. After being in Africa for just a short time you begin to quickly recognize how influential pastors are as a whole on the continent. They wield immense amounts of influence over the people that are in their congregations, even when it comes to their families health decisions. If a Pastor says to go to the doctor, they go, if he says just pray about it, they do. By educating Pastors, you are able to multiply the impact of that education, since each Pastor can represent anywhere from 200 to 1000 people. It is even further multiplied if you can mobilize an entire congregation to make strategies to reach their surrounding community. You can see the rippling affect such a strategy can have by simply targeting community leaders; which in this case is most of the Pastors anyway.

I was there representing Uganda, but as the first American to be trained in the program, my true nationality was often mentioned. I also was only one of two people who did NOT work directly for World Vision. It was a divine opportunity (God-ordained) to take part of such an eye-opening experience and gain access to such a great program and toolkit that is often reserved for those employed by World Vision. Present in the 8 day training were people from the African countries of Mozambique, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Lesotho. And from the Eastern Europe countries of Georgia and Albania as well as the Latin American country of El Salvador. El Salvador, interestingly enough, I learned uses the US Dollar for their currency, in other words, they have no national currency! Through the years I have begun collecting a currency bill from each country I attend, but if I ever go to El Salvador, I’ll just have to keep one of our very own greenbacks! And, just as diverse as the countries, were the languages spoken. The workshop was in English, but two translators were present, one translated into Spanish and the other into Lesotho. Let me give a more vivid picture of how diverse of cultures were present in this eight day training. The trainer wanted to use riding a bike as an analogy for a particular session, however when she asked the group how many knew how to ride a bike, ONLY HALF raised their hands. How many people in the United States have never learned how to ride a bike? Maybe I assume to much, that such a practice is a staple for all children living in the United States, and I would be shocked to find out how many truly miss that lesson growing up in the US, nevertheless, I am quite certain that it would NOT be 50%!!

Again, World Vision’s Channels of Hope will be a great tool for incorporating AIDS Education into the Hope Village outreach programs. It is a strategy that I never anticipated before arriving to Uganda, but I believe will be even more impacting then any other idea. On my return to Kampala, we will be able to incorporate these three-day training sessions into the Bible College on Hope Village Property and another Bible College on Bussi Island, and we hope to also host a workshop for at least 50 Pastors in June on this topic of AIDS Education and how churches can be mobilized to reach this community.

4 Life Bibles - Soroti Youth Camp

We have purchased 1,000 New Testament Youth Bible’s!! After quite a bit of work and prayer getting them to Uganda, we have been able to give out our first 75 to youth camp in a small town in Soroti, Uganda about a six hour bus ride outside of the city. Help from Portland Bible College, Origin Young Adults and City Christian Highschool made the purchase possible at $3 a Bible. As you can see in the picture these Bible’s are trendy and catchy. They include cool quotes, analogies, and stories scattered throughout the Bible that increase the relevancy of the words to young people. Actually, they are so popular and attractive that if anything, we have had difficulty making sure that these young people can actually, really read English! But, many of the young people do not own their own Bible and this Bible includes studies, on salvation, abstinence, self-worth and peer pressure. We continue to look for, pray for and strategize for opportunities where these Bible’s will have a live-changing impact.