Sharing the Cross

There will always be things to challenge us. 

The real problem lies in that there are always two paths to every choice. 

Sometimes, we think we know poverty. We've seen the pictures, we've donated the money, we've done our part. Haven't we?

In Uganda, we stayed and visited at some very nice schools (at least, nice schools for Uganda.) The students are always dressed in clean uniforms, there's a beautiful landscape all around, and everyone is happy and excited to see us. The children run out beaming, waving, and calling "Mzungu, Mzungu!" (White Person)

And in that setting, poverty seems picturesque and idyllic. Everything's just perfect. All is right.

At least, so I was deluded. I never really knew what it meant to live there.

One day, we were herded up like a bunch of grumpy sheep and we squeezed into the school truck. From there, we drove around the Ugandan countryside. I was informed previously, that today we would be visiting, personally, in groups of two, the homes and families of the students of Our Lady of Guadalupe School. So, after some hours of driving back and forth like a drunken circus (I can only imagine what they thought of us!), I found myself in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Africa, with only my aunt, a six pack of pop, and 8 chipati to survive.

The student we were visiting, Emmanuel, lead us down a dirt path to his humble home. There we met the rest of his family, none of whom spoke English, and he showed us around. Communication was difficult as he spoke rather poor English, but we managed. This was the first time I ever stepped into typical African home. I wasn't totally surprised, but it did change my perspective.

By American standards, they had pretty much nothing. You could probably fit their house into my bedroom, everything was dark and the rooms extremely small. I think they were cooking a couple corn cobs outside, where my aunt had handed a bunch of licorice to the kids.

In reflection of that day and the rest of the trip, it's made me question myself. Why me?

Why am I the one who gets to live in an affluent country? Why do I get the chance to succeed, to have an excess to give? Why don't I have to walk miles just to get water for the day? Why don't I only get two meals a day, consisting of porridge and beans?

You could feed a child lunch today for 2.2 cents. TWO POINT TWO CENTS, PEOPLE!! That's about eight freakin dollars a year. I spent more than that, just buying a burger in the airport.

Why? In the overall view of things, life ain't fair. These are children. They haven't had a chance to do anything wrong and yet...there they are. They get so hungry that they have to leave school because they can't even concentrate.

I just made $50 today playing the organ. Technically, I could feed 2,272 children today with that. But what am I supposed to do? Sure, I can give them something today, but tomorrow they'll go hungry just the same. I'm not big enough to feed the world.

In my mind, that's not justice. That's not mercy. That's cruelty. Sure, I can understand pain. I can understand redemptive suffering. But children can't. They're not old enough to understand. To them, it's just pain.

But we're not called to understand. We're not always meant to make sense out of the bad things of this world.

What's necessary here is trust. Right now, faith doesn't mean believing that God exists. Faith means believing that God is good. Either He's a loving father or He's not.

Remember the student's house I told you about? Written in chalk on the wall in one of the dark, dirty rooms was:

"God bless us."

They know who God is. If they can look up to Heaven and call out in faith of His love, how can I dare question that? 

Some things are greater than we can understand. Yes, it's true that some are burdened with heavier crosses than others. But the way I see it, sometimes we're given lighter burdens, to help others carry their own. 

I might not understand, but I don't need to. God knows what He's doing. At times, it might seem hopeless, but you and I can still spread light in this world. 

Because with God,

Anything is possible.