Friday, August 23, 2013

The Countdown Begins...


It’s amazing what happens when you tell God “yes.”

In just nineteen days (NINETEEN—I can count that on my fingers and toes!) I will board a plane to Uganda. For those of you who are geographically challenged, that is in AFRICA. And I get to go there! Praise the Lord!

Like most people, your brain is probably teeming with questions already. Where in Uganda? What will you be doing? With whom are you going? From where did all this spring up? Do you like bananas? I won’t be able to answer all of them in this post. I will, however, share with you a poem I wrote in college that will give you a small picture of what God has been doing in my heart for quite some time:


Barren Beauty

Sand stretches farther than God’s reach.
The Ethiopian sun shoots spikes of sunlight
Through a dusty road. Three years and no rain,
not a drop. The landscape thirsts.
Hundreds of homeless stomachs thunder
in unison. Bellies expand, empty as the barren
wasteland. Feet wade through dust and sand,
sidestepping the occasional scorpion
on a trek from empty rice bowls to sustenance.
Starvation everywhere, death is everywhere.
A woman’s sandy deathbed buries her half-eaten
stomach, yet still breathing. And her son.
Her son. His moon-sized head nearly crushes
a wiry body. Skin and bones? Bones would not
fit in those arms. And his eyes—hollow.
Two sunken sockets, bruises left from the bully
life had been to him. Hundreds of people pass
by, their own hungry eyes unseeing. How
could people be so human?

The TV screen flickers and blackens and I am left
with drowning eyes, cowering beneath the weight
of the world and counting my blessings
with disdain.

My fleece blanket caresses the goosebumps
on my arms. Wet eyes wander over DVDs
in the fridge because the bookshelves are full.
Computer light grows and fades, the respiration
of technology. Two beds. Two desks. Two mirrors
to reflect the face that used to smile back.
Beige carpet protects my feet from cold linoleum.
Photographs of Rome, missions to Missouri,
people I had thought I helped. We have no
idea what courage is. The more I look, the less
I see. What I once thought was beauty
now churns my stomach and I fear my possessions
will suffocate me. God, what can I do? What
can I do? The room is constricting and empty
of meaning. Maybe we got beauty wrong. Maybe
hope can only fill the space emptied by tears
and hunger, a beautiful possibility
most visible when barren.


This poem describes my reaction to a movie called Beyond Borders. I saw it for the first time in high school, and ever since then, God has been stirring in my heart a passion for children in poverty, particularly in third world countries in Africa. And in nineteen days, I get to become a part of His work there.

Here are the basics: I will be volunteering in an orphanage and children’s ministry center called Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry Uganda (NACMU). It is located about ten kilometers outside Kampala, the capitol city. There are about 150 children who live at the orphanage, ranging from infants to teenagers. Beyond that, the center brings in an additional 350 children from the surrounding villages for school, medical services, and ministry. Those involved are committed to a holistic development for everyone in the area, rooted in and fueled by Christ’s love… and I can’t wait to become a part of their team for three months!

I have said “yes” to God. I know it will be hard. I know it will be scary. I know it will pose more challenges than I have had a chance to consider. But with Him as my guide, I am jumping, running, dancing at the chance to finally serve the least of these. Check in here every week or so to hear stories about the places I go and the people I meet… and of course, the God who makes all things possible.

2 comments:

  1. Katie, This sounds so amazing and I'm so excited for this opportunity you have!! How long will you be going for? Is it short term or will you be there for a while?
    I looked at the Noah's Ark web site and it sounds like a special ministry and I'm sure you'll bring joy to the kids you will be working with!

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    1. Hi Amy! I'll be there for three months--I'll be back mid-December. I'm hoping while I'm there God will give me some direction as to whether He wants me there more long-term in the future, but for this time around I signed up for a 12-week program.

      You should check out the Noah's Ark Facebook page too. They have a bunch of pictures and stories of the kids there... and, oh man, those kids are precious!

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