“Love is patient love is kind.” You hear this at almost every wedding you attend, but today God kept tapping me on the shoulder and reminding me of this verse. “Love is patient, love is kind”…… but as a person am I these things?
It is ironic that God was using I Cor 13:4 today on my heart because this was the verse we introduced to the kids last month for their “Keys to the Kingdom.” He reminded me that while I am teaching the kids, He is still teaching me and that after all He is the ultimate teacher. Boy does He have a lot of teaching to do in me still. The last couple of days I have been struggling with my patience. I know none of you have this issue, but at least hear me out.
One part of the culture I do not think I will ever get used to is timeliness or lack there of. You can schedule a meeting with someone but that is just a general suggestion, not something anyone seems to take seriously. On Tuesday we scheduled to go out to the Kagoma Gate Village at 9:00amwith the village team from Welcome Home. However, when we arrived at 9:00 only one person was ready to go, the rest were still milling around inside. When I asked if they were ready to go the overwhelming answer was “no, why would we be ready, are we going now?” I was then asked if I would be providing juice and bread since they would miss tea at 10:00. By this time it was already 9:30, so I agreed to come back at 10:00 to pick up everyone after they had taken tea. I ran a couple of errands in town and may or may not have had an incident with a Boda boda driver, but that is a story for another time. I did however end my “conversation” with the boda driver and his not so friendly passenger by spreading the word. I sent them away with a simple reminder “Jesus loves you”….see love is patient, love is kind. When we arrived back at10:00 to pick up the village team it still took about 10 minutes to get everyone rounded up and on the road. Love it patient love is kind; I kept repeating this to myself over and over albeit through gritted teeth, repeating it nonetheless.
When we finally arrived in the Kagoma Gate Village I was instantly reminded by all the smiling faces of the children why we make this trip. Once we started treating the injuries and medical conditions I forgot all about my frustrations from the morning fiasco. We were able to confirm 4 cases of children with malaria and get them started on medication. I am excited about the work we are doing in theKagomaGateVillage, I will highlight this village in an upcoming post.
An exciting thing happened while we were in town after our adventuresome morning. Every time we were in town we would see a teenage boy names Asan, everyday he was begging for food. Day after day it was the same thing, he would ask for food. Everyday I would tell him ministries he could visit that would help him get off the streets. Yet, the next day we would see Asan again and he would beg for food…love is patient, love is kind. After one of our many conversations about begging for food, I told Asan he should put as much effort into finding a job as he does into begging on the streets. He is a healthy strong 17 year old boy, so I told him he needed to find himself a job. Well patience paid off, as we were pulling out to leave Asan came running up to the van with a purpose. He found a job! He was so excited to share with us that he had a job. Asan is now the proud vendor of wallets and I am now the proud new owner of a sweet Velcro wallet ala 1980. He was so excited about his job and he was even more excited that he sold one to Kari and I, he must have said thank you 10 times.
“Love is patient, love is kind” I Corinthians 13:4
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