Responding to Beauty

Last weekend I had the privilege of traveling with 9 ABU students as part of a weekend outreach to Ntungamo District in South Western Uganda. 

On the drive from Kampala to Ntungamo we were all struck with the beauty of the mountains of South Western Uganda…

...one of the students kept saying, “There’s a place for a wedding reception!” He was responding to beauty, …I think.

The students ministered in 4 secondary schools while I taught a group of Church of Uganda pastors and ministry leaders on the subject of “The Supremacy of Scripture in Church Ministry.” It was a wonderful weekend of ministry. Many lives, both students and church leaders, were touched deeply by the truth of God’s Word – it was wonderful to see God at work. And our team was touched by the love of Jesus that was demonstrated to us by the hospitality of our delightful hosts.

The first morning I woke up early, having had nowhere near enough sleep. I was groggily stumbling around my room trying to wake up when I pulled back the curtains and looked out the window to see this…

…and suddenly I was wide awake, struck by the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. I grabbed my camera, ran outside, took some pictures, and just stared at it in wonder – worshipful, prayerful wonder at the glory of God on display in this sunrise. Breathtaking beauty like this demands a response, doesn’t it? It demands a worship response to the Creator of such beauty.

Later that day the Ugandan people taught me another lesson about what it means to respond appropriately to beauty. It was probably the most striking experience I have ever had while preaching. I was speaking on leadership, sharing about the servant leadership of Jesus as our model of leadership as pastors. We were looking at the example of Jesus’ washing the disciple’s feet and then turned our attention to the ultimate expression of servant leadership – the Cross. As I preached the Cross and came to a climactic moment in my description of what Jesus did for us there, something happened the likes of which I have never before experienced. Suddenly, as I was in mid-sentence, one male voice from the congregation began singing, then more voices joined in until every person in the room was singing… Tukutendereza Yesu. Yesu mwana gw’endiga. Omusaayi gwo gunaziza. Nkwebaza Omulokozi.

We praise you Jesus,
 Jesus Lamb of God. 
Your Blood cleanses me,
 I praise you, Saviour. We thank you, praise you, Lord Jesus. Jesus, the Lamb of God. Your precious blood has now cleansed me. I praise you my Savior.

Responding to beauty is what they were doing – not my preaching, mind you, but the beauty of the Gospel.

I admit I did not know what was happening at first. I wondered if they had decided for me that my sermon was over. But what I learned later from one of my students is that this is one of the ways Ugandan Christians will sometimes respond when they are deeply touched or moved, particularly in a corporate gathering of God's people. The song is Tukutendereza Yesu, the theme song of the East African Revival of the early-mid 20^th century, and it is a beautiful expression of love and devotion to Jesus.

So as amazing as a beautiful sunset is, what Jesus has done for us is much more breathtaking. Do we respond not only in corporate worship but in all of life? How are we responding to the beauty of the Gospel, to the breathtaking wonder of the love of God for us? Does it lift our eyes and hearts and voices in worship? Does it move our hearts and hands and feet in service and in love? There is so much need around us in Africa and in America and everywhere in between. Let’s respond to beauty…with beauty, the beauty of voices lifted in praise to God, the beauty of lives laid down in loving service of brother, sister, neighbor, friend, orphan, widow, prisoner.

For the beauty of the Gospel,

Tim

We continue to need your prayers for this African Adventure; here are a few specific requests that we need focused prayer for right now:

1)   Eight days and counting until Andrea and the girls depart on their journey to Uganda and there are a lot of details to pull together in this final week of preparations, and Andrea is having to carry load without my help.

2)   Hannah has been sick a lot lately, particularly the last week or so. No clear diagnosis yet but she feels sick and has very little energy. Please pray that she would get well before the trip and/or that we could find out what it is so she can receive the medication or treatment she needs before they leave.

3)   Please pray for the health of Andrea and the girls before and during the trip over here.

The Difference a Pronoun Makes

When talking about the work that God has called the Kay family to do in Uganda, I have tried my best to use the pronouns “we,” “us,” and “our” as much as possible. This is OUR Adventure in Africa, not MINE. It is Andrea’s, Hannah’s, Rachel’s, and Maggie’s African Adventure as much as it is Tim’s.

But Tim - you might say - you have been in Uganda for almost two months now and Andrea and the girls have been in Atlanta. They are only coming for a month, and you will be there for five months. You are doing all the work for this “Kingdom venture” in Africa, right? WRONG!!!

Andrea, Hannah, Rachel and Maggie are coming, and they are coming to participate in the work here, particularly the work of 60 Feet. But that’s not all – and this is the really important point I want to make here – Andrea and the girls are participating in the ministry of ABU and Sixty Feet and Gateway Bible Church in Bwerenga right now in Atlanta. They have been participating in it for the past two months; they will be for the next two and a half weeks before they come over, and they will continue to participate in it when they go back home until I join them there in June.

Here is what I mean: I would not and could not be in Kampala, Uganda, doing what I am doing, if my amazing wife and three wonderful daughters were not willing to endure the hardship of my being gone, supporting and encouraging me through prayers, emails, notes, text messages, Facetime sessions and phone calls. But there is more, much more. They are there at home continuing to do ALLLLL the mundane necessities of life, without me to participate and help. Three birthdays will happen back home in Atlanta while I am here in Uganda, school continues (homeschooling three girls without Dad around), the “not un-complicated” social lives of one preteen and two teenagers continue, bills have to paid, taxes had to be prepared, passports had to be applied for, plane tickets had to be ordered, the apartment we moved into right before I left had to be settled into, cars have broken down and had to be repaired, preparations for a trip for four to Uganda have to happen, and on and on it goes. So much is going on, and it is going on without me around. My admiration and appreciation for those four women in my life is HUGE, though they do not hear me say so enough. And the work that I am doing “on the ground” in Uganda would never happen without them! Not one bit of it. So any usefulness God in his grace is giving me in his work here in Uganda is owing to the hard work of Andrea, Hannah, Rachel, and Maggie.

But there is still more. This whole Adventure in Africa would never have happened if not for Andrea (hold the comments about the sovereignty of God, all you reformed theologians out there; I am talking about the human instrument God used, okay). Sure I have known about the ministry of African Bible College pretty much all my life. I have appreciated and respected and prayed for this ministry for many years. But I never said to Andrea, “Hey let’s go serve God in Africa.” It was Andrea who about two years ago – completely unbeknownst to me – began quietly, consistently praying that our family would have an opportunity to go serve Jesus in Africa. Initially, she was not even really sure why she was praying it, except that the Holy Spirit had laid it on her heart to do so. And she definitely did not know what it would look like, and I…I was oblivious to it all. Then along comes Shelly Owens (co-founder of Sixty Feet). She and Andrea met at a homeschool moms once-a-month sanity-preserving evening of wine, salad, chocolate, and each other. They hit it off, and as they talked Shelly began to share about their work in Uganda. Andrea was intrigued. Then…Andrea received a call one day from Shelly inviting her to come over to Uganda with a group of women to see and participate in the ministry of Sixty Feet. We were amazed and recognized this as a partial answer to Andrea’s prayer that we would have a chance to serve Jesus in Africa. And away Andrea went last June.

So while Andrea was in Uganda, there was a conversation about a pastor’s training conference that Sixty Feet was helping to sponsor in September. Again it was Shelly who said, “Hey, Tim’s a pastor; he should come.” The next thing I knew I was contacted by Shelly’s husband Dan inviting me to come. I will be the first to admit, that as excited as I was for Andrea about her trip and her experience, and as willing as I was to come over myself for a week or so, I saw nothing more. I had no particular passion or vision for Africa or Uganda. All of that changed in September when – just like Andrea experienced in June – my world was turned upside down by what I saw and experienced. The result is that WE, Andrea and I, are certain that Uganda will always be a part of our lives and our ministry as a couple and as a family. We do not know what the details look like beyond June 2013, but this much is clear: a part of OUR hearts is here in Uganda. And it all started with Andrea’s quiet, persistent prayers. It continued with the way God shook her up while she was in Uganda and returned to share with us. It continued still more as God did a number on me in September. But the clincher was this: as we prayed about it last Fall, Andrea was the chief encourager of this Adventure in Africa.  And so WE decided to accept the invitations from ABU, Sixty Feet, and Pastor Ernest to “come over and help.”

So WE would not be in Africa were it not for the spiritual sensitivity and boldness and vision of my incredible, godly wife, Andrea of whom I am so very proud. Thank you, Andrea!

WE also could not be here if not for the willingness of my three beautiful girls, Hannah, Rachel, and Maggie, who have endured having their lives turned upside down with two moves in less than two years, as their parents sought God’s direction for our future. Thank you H, R, and M! I am so very proud of you and thrilled to be your Dad.

So…pronouns do make a difference. This is OUR Adventure in Africa. WE are serving Jesus together here in Uganda. And WE need YOUR prayers. Do you remember that long list of all the things going on in my absence? Please pray for Andrea, Hannah, Rachel, and Maggie as they do all those things without my help and involvement.

Thanks for reading, praying, and sharing!

Tim

Worlds Collide

One of the things that was so compelling for Andrea and me in our decision to embrace our so called “African Adventure” was the fact that there were really three different aspects to the work that God was putting in front of us to do here: 1) teaching at African Bible University - “Christian leaders, transforming Africa”; 2) assisting the ministry of Sixty Feet – “…bringing hope and restoration to the imprisoned children of Africa in Jesus' name”; 3) trying to be a helpful resource to Pastor Ernest at Gateway Bible Church in Bwerenga, both in their ministry in Bwerenga and in Pastor Ernest’s passion for training and equipping pastors and church planters. We received enthusiastic invitations from ABU, Sixty Feet, and Pastor Ernest to “come over and help.” While there is, inherent in this, a danger of spreading ourselves too thin, we were convinced that these three “separate” opportunities had similar or related elements and could work together beautifully. And we have prayed for that to happen.

Today I had a rich experience of these seemingly different “worlds” of ours here in Uganda colliding in a very exciting and gratifying way. A few weeks ago I was describing the ministry of Sixty Feet to one of my senior students at ABU, and he was very interested, so I told him I would bring him along with me sometime. One day this past week he asked me when were we going. So today when I went to a nearby secondary school to visit with some of the students from the Sixty Feet Sponsorship Program, my student and friend Amos joined me. Sixty Feet team members Pastor Boaz and Mama Catherine were also there meeting with students, as well as Sixty Feet staff couple Missy and Austin. It was great to observe all of them helping, encouraging and ministering to the students.

Then one of the boys I had met a few weeks earlier approached me wanting to talk about some intense spiritual struggles he was having, and I asked Amos to join us. The struggles this high school age boy is having are on the one hand, the very same sort of heart-level struggles we all have whether in Uganda or in the US, but on the other hand they are very specifically related to the some of the unique kinds of spiritual darkness that are prevalent in this culture, including the practices of witch-doctors. I was able to share Scripture and gospel principles with this boy, but Amos was able to speak to him out of his own thorough understanding and personal experience of the context and very specific circumstances in which this boy is struggling. He was able to show the boy from Scripture how the power of the finished work of Jesus at the cross and his glorious resurrection to life is greater than any power or bondage or oppression of this “present evil age,” including the very sort of oppression this boy has been experiencing. What Amos was doing is what we back home would call “contextualization of the gospel.” Whatever you call it, it was powerfully used by the Holy Spirit in the life of this boy today. It was thrilling (and also a lot of fun) to minister with Amos and to see the training he has received at ABU coupled with the spiritual growth God has worked in his life brought to powerful expression in the life of a hurting boy. Praise God! The boy is clear about his own commitment to Christ, and shared with us how he has tried to be a spiritual encouragement to his peers, and so it was again so great to watch Amos pick up on this and both encourage and challenge him regarding the opportunity he has to be used by God now and in the future in the lives of others struggling in the same ways he is and has struggled.

So there they are – my three worlds – beautifully colliding for the glory of God: a young leader who is being trained so that he can be used by God to transform Africa, bringing the hope and restoration of the gospel to one of our formerly imprisoned children and even planting seeds toward a possible future as a faithful servant of the church or – who knows? – possibly as a pastor or church planter.

As hard as it is to be apart from my family for so long (and it is harder than we ever thought it would be, but they arrive in three weeks!!!) – it is days like this that continue to confirm that this is indeed the very way in which God wants us to serve his Kingdom right now. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers!

Please pray for…

1)   This young man and his ongoing struggle, that the truths of the Gospel we shared with him today would go down deep, stay with him, transform him, and see him through these struggles he is having and prepare him for the ministry God has for him in the future.

2)   For Amos and others like him graduating from ABU in a few months, that God would indeed use them powerfully to transform Africa for His Glory.

3)   For Andrea and the girls in Atlanta preparing to come over – March 23! – and for the continued challenge for us all of being apart.

4)   For the Sixty Feet staff here in Uganda as they are in a season of transition with a few new staff settling in and a few veteran staff heading home.

5)   For me to be effective in my ministry to the Sixty Feet staff as a pastor to them as they continue to be engaged in so much wonderful ministry in the lives of the imprisoned children of Uganda.

6)   For continued effectiveness in my work at ABU teaching and discipling students and leading a discipleship training effort among students and faculty.

For Jesus’ sake,

Tim