What do you expect to do?

When we think about going on short term international mission trips we typically think, how can I go and make a big difference? How can I change an entire country in two weeks? When you really think about it, these are not realistic expectations. However, this was the perspective I boarded the plane with in December to go back to Uganda for a visit. I had felt God leading me back to the country and people group that I spent a year working with, but I wasn’t really sure why He was giving me this urge to go. So, I began to ask myself, what is the purpose of this trip? I began to draw up in my mind what would make this trip a success. I made a list of some tangible things I could accomplish in Uganda. I set these goals in my mind and began praying about them.

I arrived in Uganda on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Day service in a local church. It was a true celebration of the gift of Jesus. It didn’t get lost in Santa, lights, or tacky sweaters. It was solely focused on Emmanuel, God with us! The savior has come that cleanses us from sin! This was a Christmas day I’ll never forget.

The rest of the trip, I intended on working with teenage orphans whom I had gotten close with during my initial stay there. It is a law in Uganda that when an orphan reaches the age of 18 they must go out on their own. This can be an extremely challenging time in a kid’s life. They have no family, but are forced to go out and create a life for themselves in a culture that is centered around family heritage and village community. While in Uganda in 2009 it was my focus to equip teenagers for this transition. I tought them skills that would help them fit in to society, and be successful in earning a living. Also, and more importantly it was my focus to teach them what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. There were 10 students who had turned 18 and gone out of the orphanage since 2009. It was my goal to hunt them down and make sure they were doing okay. So I got them all together and we spent 5 days catching up with one another. During these 5 days we did many things. We worked around the orphanage compound, we studied the Word, we had a ping-pong tournament, and really just enjoyed spending time together. Through this time I found out how all of the guys were doing. Most of them were doing very well. One was training to become an electrician, another leading worship at a local church, but a couple of them were still searching for a purpose in life. The last two days we decided to go into local villages and do evangelism. We had been studying 1 John, and the fact that how we come to understand love and how to love others is by knowing Jesus. During one of our Bible studies one of the guys spoke up and said, “well if we really love our people, the people of our villages, we have to take this Word to them.” The two days in the village were amazing. The guys did an incredible job sharing the Gospel with people, and it was evident that the Spirit was working in their lives. We met with and gave Bibles to many families, and several people came to know the Lord. All of those things were great to see, but the thing I was most blessed by occurred on the last day of my trip. One of the guys who seemed to still be searching for a purpose in life looked over to me and said, “Uncle Ben, through this week I’ve seen great need, and I feel that God has called me to be a pastor, and take this Word to the people of Uganda.”

God answered all the prayers I had for Uganda and exceeded all my goals for the trip, but I don’t think that was his reasoning for calling me to go. I think he was seeking to increase my faith in Him. In the beginning I wanted to have a plan for the trip. I wanted to have everything laid out in black and white. I wanted to bless the people of Uganda. I wanted to know what God was going to do, but God just wanted me to go. He wanted me take a step in faith. Oswald Chambers says it like this in My Upmost for His Highest, “one of the difficulties in Christian work is the question, what do you expect to do? You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. We continue to ask God, what are you going to do? God does not tell us what He is going to do, He reveals to us who He is.” Through this short trip God revealed to me that He is provider of all things. He increased my faith in great measures. He assured me that if I take a step in the dark, He will be the light, and he will guide my steps through all circumstances.