Brooks, asking the hard questions, comments on the blog:

“How are the promises in the Bible being fulfilled in the lives of sick and dying Africans? Is death a gift from the Lord, a release from the burden of this world? How can I worry about how many more blessings God will give me and being particular about wording of scripture when people are dying from a lack of love, food, and other things I consider basic necessities? How do people with burdens I cannot comprehend have such deep faith?”

First of all, let me say, I have no good, comprehensive and wholly true answers. I CAN give you a bit more of a glimpse of what I am privileged to see here.

We support a boy in school. He is 15. He has just completed P7, which is seventh grade and is waiting for his PLE results to apply to a secondary school with our support – Christ School!! This boy has a beautiful countenance and a beautiful heart. He is a sinner, just like all the rest of us, but there is something transformed about him. He stands in sharp contrast to many young men here.

By the time he was seven he had lost both parents to AIDS. A distant relative ( her mother and his mother shared the same father) went to the burial and found M.C. as I’ll call him, living with someone there. He had no surviving relatives anywhere in his home town of Fort Portal. At seven he was a TRUE orphan in every sense of the word.

Can you imagine being this boys mother, watching his father die, than waiting to die yourself. Never having been well enough to take good care of your child. Watching him suffer from lack of food and nutrition, knowing there was no way to educate him. Knowing there is no one there to care for him, thanking God that he himself is HIV-.

This distant relative, a brave “aunt”, took M.C. in, despite having six children and a very minimal income of her own. This is how he came to live in this place. For the last eight years he has lived with this family of eight; relatives, yet not close, sharing communal meals and sleeping mats.

When I visited this family, despite my deep thankfulness for the ways they have cared for and provided for M.C., I have no doubt that who he is was shaped by the parents he had. His countenance reflects something so much deeper and more beautiful than his current home life.

Where did this deep wisdom and beauty come from? How can we make sense of suffering? How can we hold beside each other the two parallel rivers of God’s goodness and man’s suffering, knowing that somewhere they intersect?

Our friend Muhamooza has experienced a lot of suffering in his life, like so many here. Recently as I was reading through the book of James, I felt God wanted me to give him a verse I found there. I wrote it out carefully and gave him the paper.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2,3

Without a shadow of a doubt, the intensity of suffering here produces an intensity of faith, not mature in the ways that we theologically rich Americans expect, but mature in the ways that Jesus refers to, simple, childlike. My faith is constantly increased by watching those around me who really don’t know where their next day’s food will come from. Those who maybe have a pregnant wife and two children in the hospital with severe malaria, and only they and their firstborn remain well. As someone told me recently, “you must always be ready for the visitor. Malaria is a visitor that comes without knocking, without speaking “cody,cody” (I’m here!), you
must be a champion in Jesus, because this world has much trouble.” Amen, brother.

As I have experienced a lot of sickness over the last few months, one of our workers has asked me why God allows all of us to suffer like this. And I can respond; from watching you, I know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance, maturity. And maturity, deep faith. We know that we suffer here in many ways, but all over the world people suffer deeply. It is an important part of my ministry here to share the suffering of well-off Americans. We too have deep heart sorrows. No one, anywhere has happiness because of their circumstances. Perhaps we don’t struggle for our lives daily, because of food. But maybe because of depression, an eating disorder, or anxiety, we do.

Jesus came, as the Great Doctor, not to treat those who are well, but those who are sick. Praise God, that He comes for us, because we are the sick ones, with no answers, with no circumstantial joy. Our joy comes from Jesus, where we find true life. Walk in the championship of Jesus, you will still suffer, but in the suffering there will be comfort, peace, and endurance.