So from the "ashes" of the demolition project...
In March, we had to rich up half of our wood-planked floor because the part near the sink had rotted out from water damage. Mike borrowed some lethal tools from Tom, and set to work pulling up the floor, while Marianne moved around sweeping up the sawdust after him. (Picture that little cleaning robot, "M-O" in Wall-E...). This little demolition project was shortly before Easter. Marianne is currently serving as the Chaplain of Pader Girls Academy, and wanted to do a prayer walk around the school with a large cross to be held as a symbolic reminder of Jesus' death. So from the "ashes" of the demolition project... A new thing was made! (Can you spot Mike in this photo?) The prayer walk was really nice. Some invited guests came and also shared with the girls. Here below, Pastor JJ and Rev. Canon Robinson are encouraging the girls. At the end, Marianne stood up with the cross and shared a brief message about how when a person accepts Christ, the "old self" (i.e. our selfish nature) is put to death on the cross, and we become a new creation. She invited any of the girls who identified themselves as a follower of Jesus to write their names on a paper and come and put it on the cross. So that is how some old wood scraps from our kitchen floor were transformed into a symbol of God's amazing love for us. An allegory of God's transformational touch, perhaps?
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...Waking up at 4:40 AM nearly did, though! Okay, that's a little over-dramatic. But let's back up a bit first... Months ago, a local radio host asked Marianne if she'd come and preach on his radio show, which runs from 4-6 AM. Marianne responded that she'd call him if she had a message. Time passed, and each time Marianne saw Emmanuel, he asked her again and she said the same thing. Finally, he said, "You're just afraid of getting up so early in the morning!" True... Yes indeed, the thought of waking up at 4:40 AM was a significant barrier. But Marianne still didn't have a message. But then one day she did. Marianne was struck by the lessons of faith we can learn from the story of Peter walking on the water. Emmanuel was beyond thinking Marianne would ever say yes to coming, so she called him up and said, "I'll come, when you have a spot!" And so, we went to the radio on May 20th with our friend Irene, who translated. At the end of the show, Emmanuel asked Marianne is she wanted to come back every Thursday. He'd given Irene the Wednesday and Thursday morning slots. He suggested she could speak on Wednesdays, and Marianne could speak on Thursdays, with Irene translating. Irene also liked the idea. Waking up every Thursday at 4:40?? And producing a radio message every week? Amazing opportunity! But was it God's will? More prayer...more seeking... ...and meanwhile, God gave Mike a message! So the next Thursday, it was Mike instead of Marianne, this time preaching about salvation by grace, through faith, for good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). (Incidentally, Marianne is not sleeping in the photo below...) We were amazed at the feedback to Mike's message. As it turns out, 5-6 AM is prime radio time here, since people wake up between 4:30-5 AM and then lay in bed listening to the radio. After Mike finished, there were people calling up the radio from all over Acholiland. Even one of the Reverends we know from the CHE ministry called! Even more encouraging, one man phoned in and said that the message helped him understand for the first time what it means to be saved by grace. Hallelujah! The positive feedback then also motivated Tom to give it a try. Mike's message sparked an idea in Tom's mind - to preach about salvation through grace by telling the story of the crucifixion from the perspective of the thief who died on the cross beside Jesus. You may notice that Tom is illuminated by flashlight above. That is because on the day that Tom was supposed to preach, there was a huge rainstorm, and the power went out. This is usually not a problem, because Luo FM has a very good back-up generator. Unfortunately, that day the generator was on the fritz...so Mike and Tom went off in the rain and came back without having delivered Tom's message. Tom did deliver his message the next Thursday, and the story of the thief was compellingly and creatively woven together. We've posted it here, if you'd like to listen to it, and also hear what the Acholi language sounds like. That week it was our friend Samuel translating, since Irene was away. So what did Marianne decide?
Well, she's now felt peace about devoting her time to the radio, for now. But she's glad she took the time to really pray about it...because she's had some more ideas for different things to share, other than direct "preaching". And the best part is that her delay in saying yes also gave Mike and Tom a chance to get actively involved. As Ecclesiastes says, "Two are better off than one...A rope of three cords is hard to break." (And waking up at 4:40 AM isn't actually that bad...you might need to close your eyes at lunch for a few minutes, but it's not as bad as it sounds. So if God calls you to do something that involves leaving your bed super-early, take courage and give it a try! Now, you can ask us again how it is in a couple months...) |
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October 2021
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