Though we've been to Uganda many times, we are still experiencing many firsts. For example we recently experienced our first stop at a real working traffic light. The traffic lights are there but they're not usually in use. Today was the first time I ever paid to use a public restroom. We saw for the first time the ice cream truck. We'd only heard it before, but we found out it's acutally an ice cream boda boda (motorbike). I saw someone smoking for the first time in Kampala. It's not very common to see people smoking in Uganda, and now I've seen two. We saw an albino Ugandan child walking to school.
Unfortunately we also encounter many of the same things year after year. A man offered both my dad and me his child to take back to America for a small donation. We saw toddlers wandering busy city streets, kids sitting around at home because their parents can't afford school fees, and kids walking around barefoot in tattered clothing, noses running, and bellies bloated.
These are not things that we've become numb to. It's still heartbreaking and I pray it will continue to break my heart to see such things. I think the worst thing we can do as Christians is to become numb to the needs of others. We see the pictures of kids just like this on tv and it's easy to become numb to the images. It's easy to think that because we don't know their names and they live in far away places that it's ok to neglect them.
So I'll say it again. The worst thing we can do is become numb, to seem as if we don't care, to think they should be able to help themselves, or that it's ok for us to hold onto the blessings God has given us because we've worked hard for them.
So my prayer today is that God would break our hearts for these people, and that we won't just see them as someone who lives far away and has no name. But that we would see them as people. Living, breathing, hurting people.
No comments:
Post a Comment