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Loving Mercy

In a matter of days we'll be back in Uganda! Except this time with a much clearer purpose! Last time we went there for Julius and Grace's wedding, for a bit of a holiday... really expecting nothing more than to experience Africa, go on a safari and meet Julius's family... I'll never forget the first time I met his kids, the 11 he'd found lying underneath a bus in 2003. When we arrived at the house, they all came running out to the car to greet "Uncle Julius" and his white friends! My heart skipped a beat at how beautiful and innocent they all were, I remember fighting back tears at the thought of what they had been through when the LRA rebels tore through Northern Uganda and meaninglessly killed their parents, how scared they would have been, most of them under 12 years old at the time. The thought of how different our childhoods have been.... thinking back at what I would have been doing at the time all this horrible war was going on. And then the image of them hiding underneath that bus and of Julius seeing them, caring enough to stop and ask questions. Julius had mercy on these kids. I'm pretty sure he didn't know exactly how it was all going to work out when he walked them home that day, I'm pretty sure he was as scared as they were... but God knew. God also knew that we'd be heading back there this Sunday, with a team of friends who have been impacted by this story, friends who share the same passion as Julius does for helping the poor in his village and in his country.  I often think about that day Julius found those kids, I consider what would have happened had he turned his back and walked away?.. no one would have known, his life to this point would've been much easier financially... but much less rich. The constant reflection on this question has had a profound impact on my life...
Anyway, I've got my keen on to see these kids' smiling faces again, meet the now 33 kids in total that we have sponsored by generous Australian families, maybe teach em' "The Nutbush", check out the land we have bought for the medical clinic and witness the women harvesting their crops from our Cents for Seeds project! Got my keen on is a gross understatement!

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