We are
experiencing problems with our website hosting and the website is not viewable
or editable in Uganda because of security issues; it seems the host sees it
best to block access to their sites in Uganda and that this will be a permanent
situation. We are safe and there is no threat towards us. For now you can see
our communications online at: https://missionafricajk.blogspot.ug/.
Thanks for your patience and as always we need and appreciate your prayers!
Friends: Our Updates are sent to instruct, encourage, edify and act as a help in prayer. We appreciate your receiving them, your replies, comments and prayer requests.
We will share this Update format once a month as God allows.
It was one of those mornings when the sky rather than
growing lighter grew darker. We’d had a lot of rain and it looked like we would
have more. There was fresh new green everywhere I looked. Outside my office
window among new leaves hung one scarlet Hibiscus flower. It wasn’t fancy. Five
simple satiny petals curled back from the bright yellow stamen in the center.
As the darkness grew more intense and the wind and rain came, the brightness of
that one bloom grew more intense. It put me in mind of what it means to be a
Christian in this world. The apostle Paul uses the term ‘this present darkness’ to describe the
spiritual state of the world—a condition that exists, if possible, more today
than it did then. Time after time in the history of the world God has used one
person to stand against the powers of darkness—heroes, if you will. The
Scripture is full of examples, the ultimate Hero being the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are called to serve Him and be like Him. Although the Word of God calls
us to community, there are times in this walk with the Lord we are called to
stand alone as He did. I think we have each been in situations where we were
the only follower of Christ in a group of people, or at least we thought we
were. There are places in this world where a Christian isn’t allowed to speak
of Christ. There are times where speaking the name of Jesus brings violent
reactions from those around us. Those are the times when we, by God’s grace,
must let His light shine before men. And the darker it gets the brighter the
Light of Christ shines. Time is short. The next morning, that red Hibiscus bloom
was shriveled and pale, soon to fall off. May we make use of the time the Lord
has given us here on this earth to speak the Gospel and win others to Christ.
For His glory.
Prayer Requests and Thanks:
Thanks that Kate, Willie, Vern and Phil have improved
health! Please ask the Lord to continue to bless them in better health.
For the salvation of Lillian, Sharon, Clare, Francis, Joseph and Maurice who have heard the Gospel recently.
For the salvation of Lillian, Sharon, Clare, Francis, Joseph and Maurice who have heard the Gospel recently.
For God’s grace through our Pastoral Leadership Development
and Bible and Literature distributions.
For God’s grace for us and for our friends as Jim travels to
Sierre Leone, West Africa, for ministry in mid-June.
______________
THE INFINITE AND THE FINITE
“Thou Great I Am,
Fill my mind with elevation and
grandeur at the thought of a Being
with whom one day is as a thousand
years,
and a thousand years as one day,
A mighty God who, amidst the lapse
of worlds,
And the revolutions of empires,
Feels no variableness,
But is glorious in immortality.
May I rejoice that, while men die,
the Lord lives;
That, while all creatures are
broken reeds,
Empty cisterns,
fading flowers,
withering grass,
he is the rock of ages, the
fountain of living waters.
Turn my heart from vanity,
From dissatisfactions,
From uncertainties of the present
state,
To an eternal interest in Christ.
Let me remember that life is short
and unforeseen,
And is only an opportunity for
usefulness;
Give me a holy avarice to redeem
the time,
To awake at every call to charity
and piety,
So that I may feed the hungry,
Clothe the naked,
Instruct the ignorant,
Reclaim the vicious,
Forgive the offender,
diffuse the gospel,
show neighborly love to all.
Let me live a life of
self-distrust,
Dependence on thyself,
Mortification,
crucifixion,
prayer.”
From, The Valley of Vision, edited
by Arthur Bennett, (The Banner of Truth Trust; 1975); page 104.
(Photo is of a
Puritan church interior)
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