The other day a link to
this blog post (via
Passion) popped up on my newsfeed on Facebook, and it really made me think. The author is a volunteer at Our Own Home orphanage in Uganda. This is the part that really stuck out to me:
Caring for orphans and children left abandoned is not...done so people can have really “cute” Facebook pictures. It’s the
character of God. (Dt. 10:18, Ps. 10:18, Is. 1:17, Ps. 68:5, James
1:27) It’s not simply hugging and laughing with children all day. It’s
working with parents and local authorities. It’s giving local men and
women a chance for employment and an opportunity to feed their
families...We place our hope in
the hands of a Defender, and a Rescuer, and a Father...there is hope! Oh there is hope! Jesus died and rose and because of
that, there are thousands around the world who respond by giving their
life to the defending of the fatherless, the pleading for widows, and
the justice of the oppressed.
It stuck out to me because not only can we place our hope in God's hands to care for orphans, but this is why I'm going, and this is why I can trust God with my present and my future. In a time when I'm a college student, a graduate, a camp counselor, and then all of a sudden I'm going to East Africa with no clue
what comes after that
(or really much of an idea of what exactly I'll be doing while I'm there), God's character is still constant.
It blows my mind to think about who God is, because the way we understand the words we use to describe him is
so limited. God
is good, He
is love, He
is just. The way we use those words though is just a
tiny, finite, imperfect reflection of an
eternal, perfect, constant God.
My team and I are all coming from different backgrounds, and I'm sure we could all give several reasons why we're headed for East Africa this fall. But this is ultimately why we're going. Not because we're going to be perfect at loving orphans or prison inmates or hospital patients. Not because of our skill at sharing the gospel. We go because this is who God is. Ultimately it's not about us at all.
I'm sad
(sadder than I really thought I would be) to leave my family, friends, and home for so long, and don't even get me started about how sad I am that I'm missing fall, but I am
so pumped to meet my team in 2 days (after I meet my co-leader today!) and to experience everything that God has in store for us. It will be fun, it will be exciting, and sometimes it will be sad and difficult.
And we can trust that it is good, because that is who He is.
Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
[Psalm 25:4-5]
