Perspective

Moses is a young man from Uganda who has a robust laugh and a frequent smile that seems to take up half of his face. He serves as the youth minister for Christ’s Church in Rwanda, our hosts. Moses is soft spoken except when he preaches…which he did this past Sunday.

He stood behind a small wooden podium, smiled, spread his hands and boomed, “JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!” I settled in and anticipated the progression of the message…faith of a child, let the little children come to me, you must be as a child etc. “WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD YOU PROBABLY BELIEVED THIS SONG,” he said. ”When I was a child I didn’t, but I do now,” I confidently answered him in my mind. And then, as if reading my mind, Moses continued, “BUT WHAT ABOUT GENOCIDE?” “WHAT ABOUT THE MILLION PEOPLE IN YOUR FAMILIES THAT ARE NOW GONE? …” and the next ten minutes was the continuation of an inventory of the disasters, suffering and evil perpetuated in the world during the last few years. The misery in the refugee camps of the deposed in war-torn Africa, the tsunami in Indonesia, the terror of the destruction of the World Trade Center. Sometimes he painted more details to drive home the point: people live in fear of having their lips or hands cut off or of being “boiled in a pot” in Sudan.

My mind recoiled and fled to two almost simultaneous thoughts. “God would not allow that to happen to my children,” and a form of disbelief. “Is God really involved in our lives?” “Does He care?” “Does He even know?” I mulled my reaction over most of the rest of the day. Maybe these fears and doubts are submerged, unformulated, and hidden beneath my faith because there have rarely been circumstances in my life that have caused them to surface. It is easy to believe the song I sing every Sunday to the babies in the nursery class when life is routine in the heartland of America.

I wish I could somehow convey to you how fervent and genuine were Moses’ words that morning as he continued. He exhorted us to believe even without the knowledge of why or what outcome there would be or if or when we would ever know any answers. “JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.” In his eyes I believed he believed and as I glanced to my left I saw one of my readers, also with an upturned face and shining eyes. I had met Katherine (Kat-er-ena) just this past week and knew that she is a widow who has been raising three daughters on her own for the past 13 years after her husband was murdered visiting his parents in Burundi. The perspective of the moment crystallized an understanding that I hadn’t ever known before. The Rwandans that we have interacted with seem to be a hopeful people, the country is forward-thinking, this congregation of about 270, many who have personally experienced or witnessed the unthinkable, even after all of it, have hope and believe in God’s love. Some of these people, unlike me, had experienced a real testing of their faith…and it has produced perseverance and perseverance, hope.

This week my spirit has grown quieter because of their witness. I have enough faith to believe that God can give me what I don’t seem to have now if circumstances would warrant it in another circumstance...even one that my mind recoils from and dares not linger in thinking about.

“Jesus loves me this I know for God’s people help show me so.”