I will be exalted

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

-Psalm 46:10

Jesus will be exalted.  Not in Heaven.  Not at some future point.  Now.  Here, on the earth.  He deserves every praise that wings his way.   He demands our exaltation and our devotion.  Not just a “morning devotion” of scripture reading, but true and absolute devotion of our hearts and spirits towards him all of the time.  As they say here in Uganda: “God is good!  All the Time!  And all the time! God is good- it is his nature which will never change. Wow!” 

Continually I watch children lift up the name of the Lord.  Today we did a feeding program with a primary school.  We cooked the millet seed porridge over a wood and paraffin fire.   We buy all of our supplies from street vendors in the area to promote their economy.  Today I was handed money and told “mofota.”  I wandered over to the shop, handed the lady the money, and asked for mofota.  This is the system.  Standing in the street waiting you just hope that you pronounced the word right and don’t get something completely bizarre.  By the way mofota means paraffin, and it started a lovely fire. 

While waiting to depart, a new MST took some pictures of a man and bicycle cloaked in pineapples.  He yelled, “Jacocoaba!”  Believe it or not this was the first thing I learned how to say in Ugandan (crazy first van ride).  It means, “I will beat you!”  Needless to say we hustled into the van before the man could extract himself from his pineapples.

Lunch hour we spent in fellowship with some high school students who give up their lunch period to spend time with us.  (This wasn’t the same one as last week.) I couldn’t believe how packed the building was!  Students hung through the windows just to participate.  Many marvelous voices hide away in these little African schools.  Nobody on America’s Got Talent can compete with these songbirds and their passion for their God. 

When you travel people tell you about the monuments you’ll see.  In my mind, most people leave out the important things like in Uganda:

·         Teddy grams wear ties and dresses.

·         A live, full sized hog lashed to some poles and tied to the back of a boda-boda is not unusual.

·         Raising your eyebrows means yes.

·         On your birthday you get doused with water, a la super bowl.

·         Random men propose to white women. 

·         Fat is a complement and smart doesn’t mean intelligent.

·         Plastic sacks substitute for dish scrubbers.

·         One doesn’t steal pineapples because witchdoctors put curses on them.  If one attempts this feat, he’ll/ she’ll be frozen until the owner comes and slaps the thief.

I hope you enjoy these pictures! 

Campsite at sunrise; Girls walking to Sunday school; Boy in the village; A girl wearing a necklace made by the VBS children in Davenport, NE