Our hope is in Him

My eyes are continually toward the LORD, For He will pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:15

We had a fabulous time with Mark's family. His mom, two brothers, David and J.R. and nephew, Gage came for 2 weeks. They stayed at GSF for a week and then we went on safari for the last part of the trip. Best safari we have been on.

Friday morning, we were leaving the lodge to get them to the airport for their flight that evening and got delayed paying the bill (as someone had billed a few things to one of our rooms). We then hurried to the ferry which runs only every hour. We got there just as the ferry was leaving and had to wait another hour! We were bummed and knew our time would be cut short and a little rushed. However, through the rest of the day, everything went smoothly. We even had lunch ready for us when we got to the restaurant and we didn't feel the pressure of rushing to get to the airport on time.

As we were traveling, we got reports of riots in Kampala. Because of the arrest of the top opposition leader the day before, the city and several other areas in the country were in upheaval. We even heard of some of our co-workers who were caught in the riots as they took two of our GSF kids to the doctor. We found out later that God orchestrated our matron and our two missionary nurses to all be in the car with Claudia, one of the other missionaries. If one of our kids would not have gotten hurt the day before, these ladies would have been on the Kampala streets, in the taxi park or in a taxi during these riots, which would have been a more dangerous place to be. God is good.

Meanwhile, we were talking with our driver and our country coordinator on how best to get to the airport (in Entebbe an hour on the other side of Kampala). The driver planned on taking the western by-pass which seemed we would only go through one place where there were riots. We got to that one place and saw that business was back to usual but there were still smoldering logs and tires on the side of the street. As I looked at the smoke I realized that the riots may have stopped only an hour before.

We continued our route and discovered the remains of ash, tear gas canisters and burnt tires all along the way. We quickly realized that if we had not missed the ferry, we may have been right in the midst of the end of the rioting all along the way. God is so good!

We got our family all the way to the airport and said our tearful good-byes but grateful the good things we had experienced together.

We drove back yesterday and all was clear. The unrest seems to be on the week days especially on Monday and Thursdays. We are safe here in the sugar cane fields but request prayer for peace for Uganda. Pray for wisdom for the leaders of Uganda and those in the opposition party.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:17-22