the islands.

today we went by boat on Lake Victoria to the islands.

Pastor Timothy ministers to the people there and has

planted 60 churches throughout the islands. they have

mud huts, no electricity, no medical care & aside from

a group that recently assisted in bringing clean water to

one of the islands, haven't had assistance from teams in one year. 

it was beautiful and welcoming and heartbreaking and overwhelming

all at the same time.  the thing about being face to face with these

precious people is that you see the overwhelming discrepancies

of what we simply claim as human rights.  

clean water. medical care. access to food. safety.

it is hard to reconcile those discrepancies in our abundance.

it is easy to become overwhelmed.

i look at the limited amount of medical care we were able to give today.

many things it wouldn't have even mattered if i had the right medication

or tools to help them....they would need it on an on-going basis.

they need someone among them.  serving them and teaching

someone from the village alongside of them so they could

eventually take it over.

we need to be among them.

 

toward the end of our time with the little medical care area that we had

set up under a tree, my mind was racing with the thought of how little

we are truly doing.  i just had to pray that the one wound cleaned, the

one dose of tylenol, the one prayer said with them, the one little piece

of candy handed out, the one pair of flip flops gifted

would remind them that they are loved by someone so much bigger than

all of this....by a God who says that He will not foresake them.

 

it reminded me about how He often uses us in ways that we may never 

even know.  i pray that tiny bandaid we placed on that island today

would point even just one person to His glory.

i pray that as each of the 7 of our team members go out and tell what

we've seen and learned, that a ripple effect can be seen [and unseen]

as more and more people step out in faith. 

because maybe it was just a little bandaid, but God can use it

to lead others to find out how they can use their time and resources.

how you can step out in faith.

i love them.  He loves them more.

goodbye, islands.  i'll be back.

all i know is that injustice can be overwhelming at times,

but i have to remember that He is bigger than it.

i have to remember that stepping out in faith....in action...

is the only thing that we can do.

a little step at a time.