“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature.’ ”
Mark 16:15 NKJV.
Friends: May the Lord grace you and yours in the new year
of 2019 that He has blessed us with! In our verse above the Lord sends the
apostles into all the world with the instruction to preach the gospel to every
creature (person) then tells them that those who believe in Him through their
preaching will be saved and these will evidence salvation by their true
repentance and obedience to the teaching of the faith while those who do not
believe in Him will be condemned. The Good News is to come to all. We thank God
today that He has appointed that we serve Him in Uganda and that because we are
here we can preach the Good News to many. By God’s grace we are enabled to
reach people here that we could never have reached so directly had He not
brought us here. We thank you too, dear friend, for your part in enabling us to
bring the Gospel to the people. Please pray for many conversions and for God to
work through the mercy He led us to receive and show the people.
Seeking to obey God’s Word we were blessed to serve in our
Christmas Evangelistic Outreaches to the Karamojong and Street Boys (top left
photo), to Prisoners in Luzira and Bombo (bottom right photo), in a village in
Lira (top right photo; notice the grass thatched church building), in villages
in Soroti and Mbale, in churches in Kampala and Matugga, and in a village in
Kayunga (lower two photos at left). God led us to minister to over 4200
children, youth and adults in these meetings and professions of faith in Christ
were made. This year we were also able to encourage pastors and distribute
Scriptures and Literature in Lira, Soroti and Mbale as we met with the pastors
separately and then served the children in these locales.
There was tangible happiness at times as the people enjoyed
a good meal, gifts, the Scriptures and Literature Distribution, and the
ministry and fun! Young and old heard God’s Good News! The 81-year-old
mother of a friend that we have served over the years has professed faith in
Christ! In Kayunga we were told that
many children who came to the church that day for our service do not usually go
to church. In fact our meeting became a village-wide event as the villagers
came at various times to take part in some fashion in the meeting. It’s
culturally appropriate that you can’t turn someone away who wants food, so we
fed many more who came (than planned) and they therein had contact with the
Gospel. In Matugga a Muslim woman professed faith in Christ; while in Soroti
about 400 children and adults carefully heard God’s Word of salvation. Love
& thanks to you in the Gospel!
KAPPY’S CORNER—Little Things
One abnormally quiet morning, on a day that promised to be
a hot one, the gentle, sweet twittering of a sunbird caught my ear. I crept to
my open window expecting to see our regular visitor, the male sunbird with his
jewel-like feathers, drinking nectar from the pink and white cane blossoms, but
he wasn’t there. Then I noticed a flitting deep inside the shadows of the cane
leaves. It was his delicate brown mate. She was taking a bath, as only a bird
can, in the droplets of water that had gathered on the leaves. She may have
known I was there, but she gave me the rare delight of watching until she’d
joyfully scattered every drop of water and her bath was finished.
Philip Keller, in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, describes what I want to say better than I: “There is for
the true child of God that intimate, subtle, yet magnificent experience of
sensing the Comforter at his side. This is not imagination—it is the genuine,
bonafide reality of everyday life. There is a calm, quiet repose in the
knowledge that He is there to direct even in the most minute details of daily
living. He can be relied on to assist us in every decision, and in this lies
tremendous comfort for the Christian.”
There are countless little prayers I send up each
day—sometimes without knowing I’m praying—that are answered in delightful,
quiet ways. I mean, the Lord brought the little sunbird outside my window at
just the time I needed a touch of tranquility. How many other little blessings
does the Lord bring into our lives on a daily basis that in our busy-ness we
hardly notice? When we see the little things God does for us, it deepens our
confidence in Him to take care of all things regarding our lives. If He
lovingly cares for the needs of the most fragile bird, how much more does He
lovingly care for us?
Thank You, Lord, for answering our prayers—even when we didn’t recognize
the little sigh that escaped was a prayer. Thank You for a new year and for the
many blessings and victories You brought about in the past year. Open our
hearts to sense Your presence in the little things this year. May we draw
closer, love You more, trust You more, and love each other more in the days to
come. Amen.
Glad and thankful to serve the Lord, Jim and Kappy
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