I almost forgot to explain the title of this blog! Shalom. Hmm. Sounds vaguely familiar? A Jewish greeting for hello and goodbye? Yes. But also something more, something difficult to describe. More of a concept, than a definition, really.
Shalom's Hebrew meaning indicates a sense of being complete, perfect and full. It is used in the Bible to mean "Prince of Peace," describing Jesus' character. It has also been taught to me as describing our world before the Fall. God created the world as being perfectly whole, yet now we behold it broken.
"Seeking Shalom" is part of my life every day. I believe that our purpose as believers in Christ is to allow him to restore this world person by person, neighborhood by neighborhood, nation by nation to Shalom, to its fullness in Him, through broken vessels like us.
In regards to Uganda, He has already begun that work, the work of slow, painful but lasting restoration and I am humbled to be in any way a part of that.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Let's start at the very beginning...
... a very good place to start! Thank you for those wise words from The Sound of Music, Maria.
Welcome to my first blog EVER! This is exciting news, all. And even more exciting is the fact that in exactly one month from today I will join my friends from schools all over New England in starting our journey. Destination: Uganda.
For months now, we've been preparing for this five week trip. Led faithfully by Tom and Nancy, we have been reading books and articles to brush up on Ugandan history, and it is a very, very dark one. Uganda's past is wrought with intense spiritual battles and yet God is bringing hope and victory in the midst of it all. This summer promises to be challenging emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Am I ready? Well, I do believe that God will not send us where he has called us empty-handed. He prepares us in his own timing for the moment when we need to act, and we know we are not alone. So, I will be as ready as I am going to be :)
This blog will be your go-to place in the weeks and days leading up to departure for information on Uganda, our team, this trip and how to pray. Many of you have committed to pray daily while we are gone, and that is a real blessing! Thank you so much.
My parting words are not my own, but King David's. I have been digging into the first Psalms lately and yesterday God touched my heart with this one. To me, this is sung on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Uganda for the horrors they have endured, horrors I cannot even begin to imagine. The good news? God is for us, not against us and is with us through it all. Please join me in praying through this psalm (9).
Welcome to my first blog EVER! This is exciting news, all. And even more exciting is the fact that in exactly one month from today I will join my friends from schools all over New England in starting our journey. Destination: Uganda.
For months now, we've been preparing for this five week trip. Led faithfully by Tom and Nancy, we have been reading books and articles to brush up on Ugandan history, and it is a very, very dark one. Uganda's past is wrought with intense spiritual battles and yet God is bringing hope and victory in the midst of it all. This summer promises to be challenging emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Am I ready? Well, I do believe that God will not send us where he has called us empty-handed. He prepares us in his own timing for the moment when we need to act, and we know we are not alone. So, I will be as ready as I am going to be :)
This blog will be your go-to place in the weeks and days leading up to departure for information on Uganda, our team, this trip and how to pray. Many of you have committed to pray daily while we are gone, and that is a real blessing! Thank you so much.
My parting words are not my own, but King David's. I have been digging into the first Psalms lately and yesterday God touched my heart with this one. To me, this is sung on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Uganda for the horrors they have endured, horrors I cannot even begin to imagine. The good news? God is for us, not against us and is with us through it all. Please join me in praying through this psalm (9).
1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will tell of all your wonders.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.
7 The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will govern the peoples with justice.
9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
and there rejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The LORD is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
Higgaion. Selah
17 The wicked return to the grave,
all the nations that forget God.
18 But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, O LORD;
let the nations know they are but men.
Selah
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