My dear family, friends, and supporters: As most of you know by now, I am on a team headed for Africa this Monday, July 25th (see Google map of Bulboa, Uganda). As I have prepared for this trip, especially over the last few days I have been thinking about all the people that have actually made this trip possible and I wanted to say thanks. In many ways I feel God has been leading me to take this trip for more than 15 years, and in some form or fashion you have played a part in making it happen, and for that I thank you very much.
As we fly out of Atlanta on Monday I would specifically ask for you to pray for our team, for my strength both physically and mentally, and for Deborah at home while I’m away.
Our team follows many others as our church continues to strengthen our ongoing partnership with Buloba Community Church and African Renewal Ministries (ARM), and that’s what this trip is about. It’s not an attempt to bring a western Christianity to an African community but to partner with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as they do the work for God that only they can do. After talking with the team that just arrived back on Thursday I know a lot of our time will be spent installing rain catch systems for local residents during the day (think cisterns for rain water) and holding soccer camps for the kids in the evening, two things I know very little about. So please also pray that our words and actions towards all those we meet along the way will be filled with Christ’s love.
Our 10 days of travel takes us from Atlanta to Amsterdam to Rwanda into Uganda and back again. Travel time from the church to Uganda is almost 24 hours each way and is almost 16,000 miles round trip. For those of you who have sacrificed financially for our team I thank you from the bottom of my heart. For those who haven’t had a chance yet, there is always time (especially since I’m raising money for this trip and my October trip together). Even if you can only give $10 it’s still helps tremendously, and is greatly appreciated. You can give online here and it goes straight to the church and is tax deductible. I will attempt to post brief, precise, non-rambling updates, on my blog as I can at http://www.scottfillmer.com as time allows each day.
As I think about the sacrifice Jesus made for each of us I recognize that we all sacrifice anything that hinders us from attaining that which we most cherish. So to live differently, as we are called to do as Christians, Christ must be what we cherish most (see Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 73:25). This is why we renounce the world, so that we may pursue Christ. It’s not about making lists of do’s or don’ts. It’s about finding what helps us pursue and gain Jesus, and when we do, we will look at the lesser pleasures we have forsaken and say “I have sacrificed nothing.” I have heard that put so many different ways but it doesn’t cease to be true and is just one of thousands of reasons for me personally going on this trip, to pursue and gain Jesus and to offer the same to others. I earnestly thank you for your prayers and support.
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This morning I had a conversation with a friend of mine about serving. Who is called to serve, who isn’t, why some of us feel a great need to serve, and why others don’t, and who are those called to support those who serve and so on. Then, out of the blue, I read this blog post by Kyle called Go and then I will provide, and figured he just beat me to the punch.
Over the past 6-8 months I have come across so many different types of ministries that were called to serve in one area or another. Some of them did what a Pastor from Uganda said they did in their church, they went, knowing and expecting God to provide, and started a plant church in a rural area of Uganda. The topic of discussion has been on my heart for some time, and in a personal way. Besides really trying to understand where God wants me to be with my life, I am trying to understand if God wants me to serve in a full time position or not.
The concept of “going” is contrary to what we know and think, especially in this country where we have to plan everything to the inth degree before we do anything. Scriptures don’t talk about going without planning, understanding, or a calling, but also to go and not wait for every single little detail to be worked out before deciding, yes, this is where I am called to be and this is where I will go.
Romans 12: 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
To Serve is a gift spoken about in Romans along with teaching, leading, giving, showing mercy, and several others. Like Kyle, I have spent years praying about where I am to serve, and in what capacity, but I find Kyle’s calling to be the start of an incredible journey for him. Coming to the conclusion that you should “go, and then I will provide” at his age (way way younger than me) is a great calling from God where He can use Kyle without wandering through the desert for 40 years before coming to that realization.
For me, I wait for confirmation from God, in hopes of recognizing it when it shows up, taking advantage of the opportunity when it does, putting aside my fears of the unknown, and remembering that God will provide.
I took these two photos of Deb’s oil lamp above a few minutes ago thinking about all this and 1,000 other things. Many times I feel like we as Christians are like this first photo. Just waiting around for God, for something, someone, to light our fire before we will go out and serve. The fuel is there, the fire is there, the two just have to come together at the same time to allow us to shine in His brilliance. But it takes fire (light), fuel, something to burn, and something to hold it all together to make it happen.
