Archive for February, 2009

A couple days ago I stood on a cliff overlooking the headwaters of the Nile River as the sun was going down behind the waters. We had spent the day relaxing on the banks, swimming in the shallows, enjoying the sun and conversing with Ugandan fisherman as they set out to navigate the waters in their tiny, dangerous looking wooden boats. Two young fellows offered to give me a ride out into the river, promising to bring me back; I didn’t believe them.

As I stood that evening, I began to reflect on the journey the water before me was just beginning. Even at the source, the Nile is a very powerful river. Here I stood in a resort with green grass and decent food, surrounded by a community that, though poor, is at least receiving basic needs and living in relative peace. This same river, swirling darkly in the twilight, will inevitably see things myself and no other human should ever have to experience. As it passes through Uganda, the landscape will gradually change from farms to desert sand, from villages and crops to a dry and dangerous scene, passing through a land on the edge of civil war. Fellow human beings living in certain areas of Sudan are living lives I would rather put far from my thoughts.

I was struck again with the calling that we as Christians must learn to answer. It is much easier to stand in the resort, the comfortable land of our Christianity. Jesus was clear that anyone who would follow him would shove off from the resort and begin that dangerous journey down the river into the place of caring for the needs of fellow brothers and sisters. Honestly, I didn’t want to look at the scene miles down the river; I would rather have thought about what I was going to have for dinner. Despite this, I am very grateful that Christ traveled down that same river to seek me out, and that he uses us to provide for the needs of one another.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “…If I can leave anything with you, let me urge you to be sure that you have a strong boat of faith. The winds are going to blow. The storms of disappointment are coming. The agonies and the anguishes of life are coming. But if you have faith in the God that I’m talking about this morning it doesn’t matter. For you can stand up amid the storms. I heard the voice of Jesus, saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me. Never to leave me alone.” Indeed he never has.

- jamie