All over Sudan and South Sudan bombs are now falling, people are dying, hope is failing, and there is no future. Some days I run for cover, other days I stand and fight. Some days I just pray and hope. Let me be clear, the bombs I am fleeing and fighting are not those that are falling up north (google "Sudan news"). The bombs falling here in Wadupe will not kill my physical body. Eph 6:12. But the bombs of despair, confusion, division, and darkness are falling on us; they are devastating and they are killing this nation.
Gaga, a young boy I am discipling and teaching to manage the base, walked with me to the main road to catch a ride to Yei. "You cannot walk this road at night," he said. "Wizards move here. The man who used to live here," he points to his left, "took his family away because they were disturbed by demons and bad dreams."....BOOM..victory for fear.
"Let the foreigners come and develop us,"...BOOM..victory for the sloth.
"We are poor and unable to develop ourselves," BOOM...victory for the liar.
"#(*#@#, where is the engineer!! I work and work to get the materials out here and the community doesn't want to come and work, then they come and the engineer doesn't show up! and who keeps standing on the toilet!"...BOOM...victory for anger.
After just under two months of being here: 2 violent suicides, 1 death from the war, 1 death from disease...BOOM..victory for the worst of them all.
We are doomed...I want to give up...honestly, I don't see how this is possible...
...but in the chaos there is a whisper of Truth and it says to us:
You can't kill the One greater than death. His Love cannot lose. Darkness will not overtake the Light. But the Truth will set us free. Bomb and bomb all you want, victory is already ours and we are just waiting for our Father the Champion. And you know He's coming. We may scatter for a moment like ants in the bush. We may fail and hide and some may be lost for a while. But we will reform the line, we will take up the cause again and again, and we will build this Kingdom until these silly bombs are nothing to us and we are one. Hold on to the Truth. Hold on to the Way. Hold on to Righteousness. Hold on to the Living God....He is and was and will be...
BOOM
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Go engineer Go!!!
Racing against the rainy season, the engineer is now casting the ring beam (beam of cement on top of the walls). A few more courses of bricks after that and then the roof. Let's get these kids out of the rain!! We gained a few more skilled volunteers for the mason work and the community should be coming in large numbers this week and next to speed up the job. Meanwhile, the WDC and I are planning projects for 2012. They are going to do some worm medicine distribution soon, thanks to some funding from Abby Moore( abbyelisemoore.blogspot.com )and other donors. After that the WDC is hosting a leadership seminar...
I was sitting in a coffee shop in Yei sipping on some ethiopian goodness. Juma came in with a pastor friend of his named Henry. Henry calls me "pineapple man" because of our lush pineapple garden in Wadupe. Henry and I start talking about Wadupe and some of the problems there. We talked about the lack of good leadership and good national examples for the people to follow. We talked about how the people of South Sudan have lived so long under the care of foreign aid and government handouts that they have no concept or desire for self development. Granted, when bombs are falling and you are forced to flee, handouts are necessary to survive. Praise the Lord for the massive list of organizations that provide relief for refugees. Unfortunately bombs fell for over twenty years, leaving a whole generation of adults and young people weakened. They remained motionless in refugee camps and foreign lands for so long they lost the muscle necessary for self development. I have used the illustration with the WDC, "if you are carried like a baby forever you will never learn to walk."
It was refreshing to hear Henry, a Sudani, talk about the need for his people to learn the ways of development. These ways include sacrifice, taxation, and donations for the sake of community and state. Just getting the chiefs to understand that nothing is free and you have to work to succeed has been a mountain. One chief's comment to me: "let the Ugandans, the Kenyans, and the white people come and develop us."....and that was a chief!!! So...Leadership seminar coming to a mango tree near you, led by Henry the pastor, hosted by Pineapple Man and the WDC.
You can't blame the chief for saying that or thinking that...yet. We have to change that mentality. A capable person who sits and complains, who doesn't feed himself, who welcomes foreigners to come and "develop" his own land is simply unwise or unschooled. I shudder when I think of these people welcoming outsiders into their farm land and their precious resources. I think a world history lesson is in order.
pray for us...pray for Sudan...pray for leadership.
GOD is Greater
billy
I was sitting in a coffee shop in Yei sipping on some ethiopian goodness. Juma came in with a pastor friend of his named Henry. Henry calls me "pineapple man" because of our lush pineapple garden in Wadupe. Henry and I start talking about Wadupe and some of the problems there. We talked about the lack of good leadership and good national examples for the people to follow. We talked about how the people of South Sudan have lived so long under the care of foreign aid and government handouts that they have no concept or desire for self development. Granted, when bombs are falling and you are forced to flee, handouts are necessary to survive. Praise the Lord for the massive list of organizations that provide relief for refugees. Unfortunately bombs fell for over twenty years, leaving a whole generation of adults and young people weakened. They remained motionless in refugee camps and foreign lands for so long they lost the muscle necessary for self development. I have used the illustration with the WDC, "if you are carried like a baby forever you will never learn to walk."
It was refreshing to hear Henry, a Sudani, talk about the need for his people to learn the ways of development. These ways include sacrifice, taxation, and donations for the sake of community and state. Just getting the chiefs to understand that nothing is free and you have to work to succeed has been a mountain. One chief's comment to me: "let the Ugandans, the Kenyans, and the white people come and develop us."....and that was a chief!!! So...Leadership seminar coming to a mango tree near you, led by Henry the pastor, hosted by Pineapple Man and the WDC.
You can't blame the chief for saying that or thinking that...yet. We have to change that mentality. A capable person who sits and complains, who doesn't feed himself, who welcomes foreigners to come and "develop" his own land is simply unwise or unschooled. I shudder when I think of these people welcoming outsiders into their farm land and their precious resources. I think a world history lesson is in order.
pray for us...pray for Sudan...pray for leadership.
GOD is Greater
billy
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