Four years in the making...

A little over 4 years ago I saw Invisible Children for the first time. I could never have known that night that God would use that documentary to change my life forever.
Today, I bought a plane ticket to northern Uganda. I am going. Finally. I am going to see what I have only seen in pictures and films. I am going to meet the people whose children have been taken and whose lives have been forever altered by this terrible war. I am going to see the IDP camps they were forced to live in. I am going to see the situation that God has called me to be passionately committed to for the last 4 years. More importantly, I am going to see what God has done. I am going to see the New Life Center where girls who were once sex slaves in the LRA are now experiencing the healing power of the Gospel and hope through education, training and the opportunity for a new life. I am going to see, but I do not wish to simply see. I wish to be changed. I wish to wrestle through seeing the evil that man is capable of, and yet knowing that our God is still sovereign. I wish to be even the smallest spark of hope and love to these people who have suffered so much. I wish for them to know that though I have yet to meet them, I love them, and even more, God loves them.

I will be leaving early next Thursday morning on a 10 hour bus ride from Kigali to Kampala. I will spend Thursday night at the FH compound in Kampala and then early Friday morning I will fly from Kampala up north to Kitgum. I will be meeting Kate, another FH staff member, in Kitgum and we will be visiting the office there and also in Pader. Both Pader and Kitgum were home to large IDP camps during the war. We will be in the north through Sunday and then Monday morning I will fly back to Kampala and spend a few days there before heading back to Kigali.

Please pray for health and safety for me as I travel, as well as God's grace as I see and take in all that I will experience in northern Uganda. I anticipate it being a very emotionally draining experience. Please pray also that I would be able to be an encouragement to the FH staff working in northern Uganda, as well as the people there that I come into contact with.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite verses:

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God."