African Muzungu

It’s been so hot here. Uncharacteristically hot. We’re in the end of an elongated dry season that has left each of us here begging Jesus for rain. Water sources around town have been drying up, and the city regularly turns off water in order to conserve it.  In Kamonkoli, city water didn’t reach the village for over a week. And even when Pastor called to get the fire engine to bring water from Mbale, they said they couldn’t pick water from dry sources. People in Kamonkoli would line up for hours at the wells waiting for their turn to fill their bright yellow jerrycans. They have really suffered.  In town, with my big water tank perched on top of my roof ready to collect water every second the city has it turned on, I really have had nothing to complain about. Yes, we’ve had days that water ran out and bathing became a luxury instead of routine, but on the whole we’ve done fine. It’s the heat that’s been the biggest challenge. After weeks and weeks of praying, today...

The room had fallen completely still, the stillness of intense attention and interest. It was one of those God moments. When you know completely that the Holy Spirit is present and impacting hearts. When you know the words coming out of your mouth aren't coming from your own mind, but the mind of Christ alive in you. Jesus' presence was palpable. It was during our weekly Bible study and most of my teachers were hearing the term 'propitiation' for the first time. Propitiation. The working out of God's wrath on someone or something other than the deserving person. For centuries, this was seen in the appeasing of God's wrath through the constant stream of sacrificed animals. However, those offerings were only a faint shadow of the true and final sacrifice: the Lamb of God. That dark and beautiful day when the enormity of God's anger for every sinful act, word, and thought of God's people throughout the centuries was poured out on the head of the Perfec...