Now here I stood
fresh out of my corporate job and absolutely no plan, except to trust God and
see where that road led.
I was excited. I
felt liberated. This was one rat that had made it out of the rat race alive and
in one peace. I felt like a prisoner who had just made a successful escape from
a super max high security prison.
I had quit to
follow my heart and do ministry. That right was the first obstacle. What was
this ministry I wanted to do? You see I had made this move at a time when “ministry”
had been demystified and so even you work was ministry. It was all about going
out to the market place and living the gospel. Taking the Gospel to the people
so to speak. And here I was doing the exact opposite.
I was undaunted.
I chose to volunteer at my home church All Saints Cathedral Kampala while
figured that out. I also started raising support which in this case was asking
people for their hard earned cash to facilitate this ministry.
Nga Christians
do not give, especially to ministries that cannot be quantified or where they
have not benefitted or witnessed the “power” first hand. And here I was, green
and bleak, a newbie, a fresher in this whole “ministry” business.
That was just
one of my problems. I wondered what I would tell people when they asked why I
had left the job the God had “blessed” me with as a reward for my years of
faithful service. I honestly did not have an answer. All I knew was that like
Jeremiah I had a fire in my bones. I thought that perhaps a scriptural analogy
would suffice but nga Christians really carry out due diligence when it comes
to separating them from their money.
So I went back
to God, remember the advice of a good friend who was doing something similar to
what I wanted to do. He told me, before you leave make sure you have promises
from God about these things. In other words, get a promise from scripture to
back up your call and ministry.
SO I went back
to God.in the months leading up to my notice period elapsing I asked and asked
and asked.
HE sent me to
the story of Abraham.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your
country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will
show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will
make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you.” So Abram went, as
the Lord had told him….
One thing that
really stood out was the portion “Go from
your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I
will show you. There are no assurance Just the command to leave all that
was familiar and go “to the land I will show you” it does not get any more
vague than that and scary.
Many people
think that following God is about him showing you the whole map and telling you
this is what will happen and how. But often it’s the command and the promise
that keeps you.
The other thing
I asked is God what shall I tell them. How shall I qualify all the crazy things
I am sure you are going to make me do? I need some back up here.
He took me to
the story of Moses.
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and
say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me,
‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them? “God said to Moses, “I am
who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I
am has sent me to you.’”
Two things
happen here. God asserts Himself and He deputises his servant. Well here I am, God has
sent me and God is who he is. Hey I don’t make the rules I just follow them.
He also reminded
me of some instance in the past where I vowed to expend myself in doing his
work and in return that He would expend himself making sure I was covered because
poverty and I had parted ways and I was not going back.
So armed with
nothing but A COMMAND and A PROMISE I set out to the ‘land’ He was sending me
to. I an still Journeying.
