Lake Bunyonyi-Pictures

God's Way vs. Man's Way

These past few weeks I've been reading through Exodus and Leviticus....really hard books for me to get into.  As I struggled through them, I prayed that the Lord would open my mind to receive the things He was wanting to teach me through these books.  It was like something different the next time I sat down to read.  It

seemed to make since...all of these laws and sacrifices suddenly started to mean more to me than just the words on a page and disconnected, ancient religious laws.  

It may seem like the most fundamental premise of Christianity but I think I've always struggled with what exactly it means that Christ died for MY sins...Why was Christ’s death the perfect sacrifice, and why was a sacrifice required?  It then occurred to me while reading “World Aflame” by Billy Graham, the laws in the old testament requiring sacrifice for sins, were meant as a means by which man could be reconciled to God.  It’s important to understand the nature of the sacrifices as well.  Man was to sacrifice something to God that had not been produced by the hands of men, but by their Creator.  So as it was, man would always be reconciled to God through the life of another.

Let me explain further, we see this clearly in the example of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve.  Abel's sacrifice to the Lord for his sins was acceptable because it was in accordance with God’s appointed way in which man was to reconcile himself to God.  Cain's sacrifice was something his own efforts had produced and was not accepted by God and therefore continued in his disconnection from Him.  We know how the story ends, Cain enraged with anger kills his own brother out of jealousy.  Cain would become the prototype for much of modern society.  

Self Dependence

Like Cain, we try to reconcile the problems of humanity through our own efforts.   We see no need for an understanding of the fallen nature of man.   In our own minds we think  with just enough effort, education and government intervention, the problems of humanity should be able to be solved.  But it doesn’t ever seem to work does it?  We conquer one problem to turn around and have another staring us right in the face.  Why does this happen?  Ultimately it’s because we refuse God’s wisdom and provision for the reconciliation of man to God.  We continue to depend on the best ideas of broken and fallen men to solve our problems.  The symptoms are treated, but the disease still exists and it will continue to manifest itself unless it is cured.

The fact is, all of our systems, personal and societal, will fail...unless we submit to and accept God’s appointed sacrifice in His son Jesus Christ to redeem our brokenness

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God’s Provision-The Perfect Sacrifice

So what do we do?  We can’t solve our own problems.  The tips and techniques from every self-help book on the shelf haven’t solved the major problems of our lives or society.  We understand that we men and women are broken.  How are we healed?

We have to be reconciled to God.  We have to seek and be forgiven for our sins.  We have to reject our fallen nature and find our new life in Christ’s death.  We have to accept that our own efforts will never bridge the gap between man and God, and that our problems are the result of our separation from God.  

In the Old Testament we were reconciled through the blood shed of an innocent animal...that was God’s appointed provision, not our own efforts, not our own creations, but His creation.  

In order for man to know God, man must be reconciled from his fallen state to God and his Holy existence.   This seems so simple to me now....but I understand that Christ was the most perfect sacrifice in that He was God.....not just a creation, but God Himself. The truth is that men have never been able to approach God without the shedding of blood, for sin requires death...and God has given us that perfect death.

Pictures - New Hope Project Trip

New Hope-Uganda

Sorry for the delay between posts...I'll try and be more regular now that I'm back in Kampala.

It's been busy around here for the last few weeks...I've had a lot of great experiences and much to catch everyone up on.  I returned to Kampala from Jinja on the 5th of March.  I had a few days off before I headed out on an eMi project trip on the 10th and took the opportunity to travel to South Africa to see Natalie.  It was a great trip and it was unbelievable to finally see her in person!  She consistently blows me away with her energy and enthusiasm to serve Christ as well as her intellectual understanding of the word of God....needless to say it was a  rejuvenating visit for the both of us.

I got back to Kampala from South Africa and left the next day for an eMi project trip.  The bulk of how eMi works is dependent on short term volunteers mostly from the US and Canada.  When eMi decides to provide services to a ministry, a team of architects and engineers is assembled including an eMi staff member as the leader and usually one or two long term volunteers.  This trip was organized to provide design services for an established ministry here called New Hope Uganda.  I strongly urge all of you to visit their website (www.newhopeuganda.org/) to understand more thoroughly the impact they are making here in Uganda.  

The specific project we are working on for New Hope is called Musana Camps.  Musana is a word from the local language that is used to say “walking in the light”.  The goal of the camp is bring young men into an understanding of what it means to be a man in the context of Christian values and more importantly a relationship with Christ.  When I think about this....I’m blown away at how profound a concept like this is.  I believe so much of the worlds problems originate from the behavior of men, and when I say that, I’m meaning primarily when we are discussing men as leaders, husbands and fathers.  

We can discuss the many nuances that affect the makeup of specific societies but at the foundation of every society is the family. Biblically, the husband and father is called to be the leader of the family.  I then realized that it is from this relationship that we first begin to develop our idea of what a father is suppose to be.  If at the core of our being we have a misinformed view of what a father is supposed to be, how are we ever to trust and follow our Father in heaven?  I guess what I’m saying is that there is more at stake for fathers and husbands and men in general than to be a provider of physical goods, for women have shown us they have the ability to provide abundantly for themselves, and many times better than we men can.  Men are called to live out the image of Christ within their families and communities so that when others approach Christ, the ultimate provider, they have a more accurate view of Him and therefore are able to more readily receive Him.

One aspect of the trip was learning about the ministry and their goals for the camp, the other part was working with the short term architect an engineer volunteers from the US and Canada.  It was amazing to see a group assembled together with the common goal to serve other ministries of the body of Christ with their individual gifts and talents.  I don’t think it’s by accident that every one of these men and one woman all seem to excel in their fields and also have a commitment to living life for the sake of the gospel.  Several of the team members run their own businesses and others work for some of most notable architecture firms in the country...we also made sure that the Yale grad received the appropriate amount of harassment (mostly due to his affinity for DKNY dress socks).  

The week with the team was great, we had a ton of laughs and were able to present a design to the ministry that will be cost effective and also help to fulfill their programmatic needs.  The breadth of the project is great...the property is 690 acres on Lake Victoria,  I’ll try and post some images of the site and the design if the internet speed is capable.  I will be working until mid-May in Kampala to finish the drawings necessary to commence construction.

This weekend a group of us from the Kampala office are taking a trip to southwestern Uganda to Lake Bunyoni on the border of Rwanda.  We’re looking forward to a good weekend....please pray for our travels to and from the lake.  Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Pictures - Mission Link, Bukaleba

The school children greeted us with Ugandan singing.

Orphanage Construction

Skinny Cow

One of the local village children that comes to watch the construction at the orphanage site.

School kids out to greet the Mission Link Team

Pictures-London Layover/Bukaleba

Settling In...

Ok, finally...some time to sit down and start in on this blog.

I'm here in Jinja, a town of about 80,000 at the source of the Nile.  The eMi team got to Uganda almost 2 weeks ago, I spent about a week in Kampala at the eMi office there getting oriented with a new culture and eMi's way of doing things.  

Kampala is pretty crazy. There are literally millions of people in the streets...I'm pretty sure there are no traffic laws either.  Everything moves at a fast past and you are definitely the only "mzungu" within a mile in every direction...Mzungu is what they call white people...apparently it's not meant to be offensive...I hope not, because people call me that all the time.  For the most part Ugandans are ridiculously nice people...they all seem to be excited to have you in their country and they are always willing to help you when you don't know where you're going.

After being in Kampala for a week, Jinja has been a nice change of pace...everything is much slower here.  Things slowed down even more when we went out to Bukaleba for 3 days last week.  Bukaleba is a piece of land (2,500 acres) that is owned by a ministry called Arise Africa that eMi has partnered with.  It sits on the North East side of Lake Victoria, the landscape is beautiful there.  Currently eMi is managing the construction of two buildings on the property and has developed a master plan for a school which will house several hundred students in the area as the local villages don't have access to schools.  Currently the Bukaleba property is without electricity or running water...but eMi is also currently working on a well system to provide the entire property with water.  

One thing to understand about Uganda is that poverty is the norm here...I'm just beginning to accept the fact that not everyone in this world has the opportunities that many of us have been afforded by living in the US.  I think I've always known that at some level, but now it is becoming real to me....I'm thankful for many things...but also I am  beginning to realize that much responsibility comes to those who have been blessed such as I have.  I can't wait to tell all of you of the experiences I'm having here...so many of you have supported me financially and prayerfully, and for that, I am thankful...