45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.
51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
Observations
The people connected to Mary were impacted because of her connection to Jesus
God was involved with the priest plot
Jesus would die for nations
The Gospel unites
Applications
What is hindering the flow of the Gospel to those around me
My connection to God?
Or my connection to others?
Recognize God in plots
Prayer
Today God I want the people around me to witness and see You. Empower my connection with others so they can see and understand You. I also ask that You help me not complicate what You are doing because I perceive it as uncomfortable or difficult. You are working the affairs of the nations for Your glory!
7:00am Travel to Compassion Child Development Center to learn about Child Development through Sponsorship Program (CDSP)
Location: Kiringa, 30km north of Iganga, Uganda, home of approx. 4,200 residents. Common health problems in this area include malaria, HIV/AIDS and measles. Income is approx. $9 per month.
10:00am Participate in an actual Child Development Program!
12:00pm Home visits
Note: Cheryl and I will have the opportunity to meet the two kids we have decided to sponsor. A 5yr old boy named, Shariff Tenywa & a 10yr old girl named Peninah Katono. Shariff most likely lives in a Muslim home and Peninah lives in an AIDS affected area. Oh course, Cheryl has both of them a backpack crammed full ofgoodies.
1:00pm Serve lunch to the kids, followed by group lunch
2:00pm Return to Kampala
4:30pm Child visits for those meeting sponsored children in Kampala
I'm so encouraged and inspired by the Church in Uganda! Each Compassion Project has to have a local church lead the project. They have to take ownership of the policies and processes. We have now visited several and each one is unique but they have one thing in common. That one thing is the people leading are men and women of integrity that want to invest in the live of kids. These Projects and the people running them have got it together!
I literally held kids (note the finger puppets and candy she is clinging to that you donated) that would not be running and jumping if it wasn't for Compassion and their partnership with the local churches of Uganda. The $38 it takes to sponsor a child per month goes a long way. Remember that the village we visited today has an average income of $5 a month. It cost a parent $3 dollars a semester to send each kid to school and most families and extended families that have 3 or more kids. In context, $38 dollars in the US is a dinner and a movie. My group, Cheryl is in another group, made a home visit to a Compassion kid's family. Again, it was the grandmother that was the primary care giver. There is no way this video can describe how encouraged I was but...
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Compassion also does Complementary Interventions in the communities to aid holistic child development. Again, I hope this video will illustrate.
Compassion has been around for decades and the results are obvious in Uganda. We had dinner with several Compassion Child Sponsorship Program graduates. They are now in Compassions Leadership Development Program and attending Universities. I heard testimonies of young people majoring in, health care, social work, law and business administration and all casting vision of going back into their communities to work and serve as a way to give back. My mind went back to the little kids playing in open sewers in the slums of Kampala Wednesday morning. That was this group of visionary college students' just years ago! The next three videos are two celebrations where the Ugandan college students sing and dance to show their gratitude and the third is Mitch, a US college student, praying over this group. (sorry the vids are dark but turn your speakers up and enjoy)
I've know been physically shown Compassion's purpose and the process. From prenatal to college there are projects and programs giving help and hope to the children of Uganda! I so looking forward to showing you what Cheryl and I plan to do personally tomorrow. Good night, got a 4hr bus ride starting at 7am…
Please pray for me… I want to have the eyes and heart of Jesus today. I'm convicted by my cultural perspective and passions. The majority of the world does not see like I see or are passionate about what I'm passionate about. This is causing an emotional and spiritual collision in my soul. I'm being shaken to the core and I don't want to justify and rationalize my selfishness or why I'm not responsible. God continue to shake my kingdom until You Kingdom comes.
8:00am Travel to Compassion Child Development Center to learn about Child Development through Sponsorship Program (CDSP)
Location: Kitimbwa, 66km west of Mukono, Uganda home of approx. 40,000 residents. Half the adults in Kitimbwa are unemployed but some work as farmers and earn the equivalent of $5 per month. This community needs sanitation facilities and employment opportunities.
11:00am Welcome, greeting and orientation
1:00pm Lunch, can't wait to see what Cheryl eats today ;-)
2:00pm Home visits
Note: A lot of the people on our team have sponsored children from this community and will get to spend the afternoon with them. This should be an encouraging experience.
4:00pm Travel back to hotel
7:00pm Dinner with Ugandan college students from Compassion's Leadership Development Program (LDP)
3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! - Jeremiah 22:3
I think that every person with a pulse would agree that children's survival should be a priority. Between 25,000 & 30,000 die every day on this earth in which we live! Don't just read than number let it sink in… In Uganda there is a 25% infant mortality rate. Most parents don't even name their children until their 2nd birthday. Imagine if 25% of the babies in your church nursery died this year, and the next, and the next...
Cheryl and I experienced firsthand the impact that Child Survival Program is making. It is an early childhood intervention program that often starts with prenatal care for expectant mothers. Caregivers are educated on how to protect children from diseases and other health dangers. CSP children and caregivers also receive important medical attention, as needed, to help ensure that they are protected and that children are set on the right path towards healthy development.
I witnessed ladies, some widowed, some with HIV, all living in poverty & all with multiple reasons to mourn sing and dance with joy coming from the inside out. Babies on their hips that would not be alive if it wasn't for this program, period.
11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, - Psalms 30:11
I, stood on a dirt floor, mud brick, tin roof church and listened in wonder to their Jesus centered testimonies. Several ladies shared and openly weeped tears of gratitude that God saved theirbabies from treatable diseases because of the medicine and care supplied by Compassion through the local church. One word of gratitude came from a single dad whose baby girl was born premature. He lost his wife during the birthing process. He shared about the grace of God and how his family would be reunited one day. He spoke of his responsibility to his daughter and how the church was supporting and equipping him to be a good caregiver.
We then had the opportunity to walk through the village of Lugazi and entered the home of one of the sponsored Compassion kids. His grandmother, a widow named Gah-gah, and 6 other siblings greeted us like we were kings. On her wall was her life verse. She spoke through tears about her whole family denouncing her existence when she started attending the church after accepting Christ. She spoke with a heart of gratitude of how the Compassion project supplies her family's basic needs. She praised God that after years of farming and raising two families the grace of God still sustains her. After that statement she just stopped and asked her 10 yr old granddaughter Sophia to lead us in a song of thanks.
Gah-gah told us that earlier in the week a witchdoctor put a "fetish" on her step and that she was very discouraged. But, after and extended time with God in pray early that morning God spoke to hear and told her that visitors were coming today. She bowed on her knees and spoke of our visit confirming God's love for her and that her faith had been renewed.
We left her a gift, a month worth of food, and then walked back to the Church. The walk was twice as fast as going because Gah-gah showed us a literal short cut she had worn walking to and from church. Back at the CSP we had an opportunity to equip the staff with the hundreds of baby items you graciously donated.
Going back to that verse out of Jeremiah, please read it again.
3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! - Jeremiah 22:3
Through Compassion's Children's Survival Program we can live out this verse. We can be…
- Fair-minded and just
- Do what is right!
- Help those who have been robbed
- Rescue them (young ladies and babies) from their oppressors
What would you do if 25% the babies were dying in your church's nursery? We would act with compassion! Our perspective should be that THE, not OUR, church's nursery is losing kids. I'm I emotional, yes! I'm I being irrational, no! Will you help me pray through a strategic partnership with Compassion and a potentially new Children's Survival Program in Uganda? For what most of us would spend on a good used car we can collectively sponsor and staff an entire village for a year. Let's be the Church!
3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! - Jeremiah 22:3
I think that every person with a pulse would agree that children's survival should be a priority. Between 25,000 & 30,000 die every day on this earth in which we live! Don't just read than number let it sink in… In Uganda there is a 25% infant mortality rate. Most parents don't even name their children until their 2nd birthday. Imagine if 25% of the babies in your church nursery died this year, and the next, and the next...
Cheryl and I experienced firsthand the impact that Child Survival Program is making. It is an early childhood intervention program that often starts with prenatal care for expectant mothers. Caregivers are educated on how to protect children from diseases and other health dangers. CSP children and caregivers also receive important medical attention, as needed, to help ensure that they are protected and that children are set on the right path towards healthy development.
I witnessed ladies, some widowed, some with HIV, all living in poverty & all with multiple reasons to mourn sing and dance with joy coming from the inside out. Babies on their hips that would not be alive if it wasn't for this program, period.
11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, - Psalms 30:11
I, stood on a dirt floor, mud brick, tin roof church and listened in wonder to their Jesus centered testimonies. Several ladies shared and openly weeped tears of gratitude that God saved theirbabies from treatable diseases because of the medicine and care supplied by Compassion through the local church. One word of gratitude came from a single dad whose baby girl was born premature. He lost his wife during the birthing process. He shared about the grace of God and how his family would be reunited one day. He spoke of his responsibility to his daughter and how the church was supporting and equipping him to be a good caregiver.
We then had the opportunity to walk through the village of Lugazi and entered the home of one of the sponsored Compassion kids. His grandmother, a widow named Gah-gah, and 6 other siblings greeted us like we were kings. On her wall was her life verse. She spoke through tears about her whole family denouncing her existence when she started attending the church after accepting Christ. She spoke with a heart of gratitude of how the Compassion project supplies her family's basic needs. She praised God that after years of farming and raising two families the grace of God still sustains her. After that statement she just stopped and asked her 10 yr old granddaughter Sophia to lead us in a song of thanks.
Gah-gah told us that earlier in the week a witchdoctor put a "fetish" on her step and that she was very discouraged. But, after and extended time with God in pray early that morning God spoke to hear and told her that visitors were coming today. She bowed on her knees and spoke of our visit confirming God's love for her and that her faith had been renewed.
We left her a gift, a month worth of food, and then walked back to the Church. The walk was twice as fast as going because Gah-gah showed us a literal short cut she had worn walking to and from church. Back at the CSP we had an opportunity to equip the staff with the hundreds of baby items you graciously donated.
Going back to that verse out of Jeremiah, please read it again.
3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! - Jeremiah 22:3
Through Compassion's Children's Survival Program we can live out this verse. We can be…
- Fair-minded and just
- Do what is right!
- Help those who have been robbed
- Rescue them (young ladies and babies) from their oppressors
What would you do if 25% the babies were dying in your church's nursery? We would act with compassion! Our perspective should be that THE, not OUR, church's nursery is losing kids. I'm I emotional, yes! I'm I being irrational, no! Will you help me pray through a strategic partnership with Compassion and a potentially new Children's Survival Program in Uganda? For what most of us would spend on a good used car we can collectively sponsor and staff an entire village for a year. Let's be the Church!
We are traveling and being led by the worldwide ministry of Compassion International. Compassion is a proven partner for local churches to make an earthly and eternal impact. I challenge you to explore the pages of their web site concerning Compassion's philosophy, mission, programs and operations.
In response to the Great Commission, Compassion International exists as an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults. – Compassion's Mission
Our itinerary for today…
8:00am Breakfast
9:00am Travel to Compassion Child Development Center to learn more about the Child Survival Program (CSP)
Location: Lugazi Community 40km east of Kampala. This is a hillside community of approx. 52,000. The people of this community work as market traders or laborers and earn the equivalent of $30 a month or $1 a day. We will give out the majority of Baby items that you donated today.
11:00am Welcome, greeting & orientation
The Compassion team in this community will describe the work that is going on there. We will then have the opportunity to do hands on ministry.
1:00pm Lunch (Lugazi is known for its tasty guinea pig)
2:00pm Home visits
Team members will visit with kids they have been sponsoring.
5:00pm Travel back to hotel
6:30pm Dinner with pastors from our implementing Church Partners
We can feel you prayers and I can't wait to share what God is going to do today!
20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 "Yes," Martha said, "he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day."
25 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." 28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, "The Teacher is here and wants to see you." 29 So Mary immediately went to him.
30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Observations
Martha = active faith / Mary = passive faith
Martha went to meet Jesus!
Martha, But You are still the solution Jesus
Mary, if you would have been here = no problem
Applications
Trust doesn't mean being passive
It also doesn't mean aggressive
Trust Jesus as "the" solution at all times
Actively pursue any indication of Jesus' presence in a situation
Live a "but" faith instead of an "if" faith
Prayer
I ask that You help me live in trust. I don't want to play out situations in my mind then if You don't do "it" still passively trust You. I want to trust You no matter what my feelings or friends say. I love You Jesus and thank You that I'm not in charge. You have given me Your promise and You have the power to fulfill!
- Compassion trip leader, Kevin Meyers, briefing us on what we are going to experience
Note: This group of people make up an amazing team from all over the US. I'm constantly amazed at the caliber and quality of people God allows us to meet. I've been blown away by their hearts and attitudes.
- These offices are the administrative headquarters for the 275 projects (church partnering with communities)and 75,000 children.
- They receive 100's of pieces of mail daily from sponsors all around the world for these kids. This caring correspondence is sorted and translated then placed in a project box for delivery.
- The Ugandan Compassion office team was one of the most organized and effective teams I've ever been around. Very competent Christians using their gifts to do ministry.
Note: People are the heart of any organization. Every one of the employees at this Ugandan office is from Uganda. Some even came up through the Compassion process and are now giving back. I Could have stayed all day to talk systems and structure with them.
- This is Makerere-Kivulu and the first of several Child Survival Programs (aka: Projects) we will visit.
- The second picture is Vincent and his young brother and a neighborhood friend.
- Third, some jewelry that Vincent's mom makes to support her family.
Note: Vincent's dad died of AIDS 3 yrs ago. His mom and little brother are currently HIV positive.I stood stunned at this remarkable family. They were so thankful to God and appreciative of the ministry of Compassion. This family receives meds, job training, and school scholarships through Vincent's $38 dollar a month sponsorship.
Look and listen to more of their story through these two short video clips.
Good morning! It is 6:49am Uganda time and 11:49pm NC time. I'm interested to hear how you parents explain its Wed here and Tuesday there to your kids. Just tell them that Mark & Cheryl can time travel ;-). No pictures from yesterday because it was dark from airport to hotel. Security is tight! Drove by the Rugby Club where terrorist bombers attached 3 weeks ago. Sobering, the whole bus got quite. We had a near accident with a motorcycle. The bus driver slammed on the brakes and my head slammed into the windshield. I was in front seat digging through my backpack and smack. I got a good view of the whole thing…
Our itinerary for today…
8:00am Attend devotion and Compassion Uganda country office.
Compassion employs about 80 native Ugandans. The majority of them including a young lady we meet last meet where sponsored children.
10:00am Orientation
We will have an opportunity to investigate the Compassion systems etc…
11:00am Travel to Compassion Child Development Center to see Compassion's Complementary Intervention (CIV) Program.
Location: Makerere-Kivulu, 1.3 miles north of Kampala (map), Uganda. The sponsored & unsponsored children live on this plain. It has a resident population of 30,000.
12:00pm Home visits in community
Some of the people with us are actually going to meet their sponsored kid! This interaction is going to be special.
