Being There

Imagine something with me. Think of a 100 by 50 foot run-down, dirt-floored school cafeteria/assembly hall. Imagine no glass in the windows, old wooden tables and benches, you sitting at the place of “honor”—near the front, against an old wall that must have been painted ten years ago. You’re at the first school you’ve ever been to in Masaka, Uganda. Now imagine the kids, at least five hundred of them: coal black eyes, dark skin, all with the similar close-cut hair which takes away any clue as to gender. All wear school uniforms, or parts of them, or whatever clothing they could find. The school choir assembles and begins to sing a song. You hear the words and your vision becomes clouded with tears as you realize they are welcoming you to their school. They are welcoming you to their school for orphans, from 1 to 18 years old. These are children who’ve lost their parents to AIDS.

The song goes something like this: “We are happy to receive you here, welcome, welcome, welcome”. As the choir sings, a few children step forward and explain about their lives and ask you to pray for them. Then they step back into the choir and the song resumes.

For a moment you think to take a picture. How else can you truly relate this story or this event to the people at home? If you could just pack up everything—the children, the percussion players, the teachers—and bring them all back home to your church to share with everyone. If you could somehow show people what your life is really like: the smells, the sights, the sounds and the experiences. Then it would capture their hearts the way it’s captured yours. I wish you could have been there with me.

For some of us at Book of Hope, this is what we do. This is what we gave up family, jobs, careers and homes for. This is our calling. This is where we feel God has placed us for this time. This is where we bring our lives to try and figure out how we’re going to reach the millions of children in Europe, Africa, Russia, Asia, South and North America. Our responsibility is to train and teach the local churches how they can effectively reach their neighborhoods and communities with the Book of Hope.

Many times our task begins by trying to explain the importance of children’s ministries to the church. It amazes me to hear pastors and workers tell us that the children aren’t that important, that they don’t help pay tithes so they shouldn’t be regarded as part of the church. Part of our responsibility and training is to show how much value the Book of Hope has in reaching children, and how those children can in turn reach their families.

In August I will have been with Book of Hope four years. It’s amazing to look back and think of all the places I’ve been and all the people I’ve met. I can see all the changes that have taken place in my life and in the lives of the people around me. My brother Micah recently got married. He and Michelle met on a summer intern trip in 2002. As I look through pictures of that trip, I don’t feel any sense of loss or doubt about what I am doing.

I am giving my life to something that will truly make a difference in the lives of thousands of children around the world. I believe that God has called me here, and that the time I’ve spent with Book of Hope has been powerfully invested in something beyond this life. This is an investment in things that will never fade.

So back to Masaka and the school: as the song finishes, you realize the children are all looking at you. You wipe tears from your cheeks. You are expected to minister to them. This is what you are here for. This is what you traveled 8,000 miles and 10 different time zones for. Yet as you sit there contemplating what to say, you realize that these children have touched a part of your heart and soul in a way that can never be repaid. I’m so glad you could be there with me.

During the Spring semester of 2005 our intern teams were in over eight different countries, trained over 1000 local church members and distributed over 200,000 Books of Hope to students.