He hears me.
I didn't mean to get everyone all excited on Facebook about what has changed in my life. I actually forgot that people are waiting to hear "big news" that we are pregnant. So right away let me say WE ARE NOT PREGNANT! :-) When that happens there won't be any code to decipher. Trust me, you will know. It's actually something better than that.
Quick Storyline explanation. Storyline is a conference put on by Donald Miller who is the author of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Blue Like Jazz and many other writings. His conference is about teaching you that your life is a epic story. And if you draw your life out on a timeline you will see that. He encourages us to live life to the fullest, to create great stories. As the conference went on, my friend Tomi and I were feeling overwhelmed with much of the information that we were being given. (If you would like to hear more of my thoughts on the conference, let me know) Throughout the conference Donald would talk about his friend Bob Goff. He sounded like an interesting man, but most of the people interviewed this weekend were interesting.
**coffee break for back story**
October of 2011 I was driving home from work and listening to NPR when I heard a radio piece that rocked me to the core. It was about a community in Uganda and the atrocities that were happening there. You can read the article here. Basically it was a community run by witchdoctors who convinced all the people that if they had a human sacrifice done for them they would have good fortune. But it couldn't be any human sacrifice, it had to be children. The witchdoctors would steal children and depending on what type of blessing you wanted they would maim that child in certain ways, the biggest blessing was cutting off the childs head. They would convince the locals to have these sacrifices and bury the children's body parts in the ground under their businesses to guarantee financial success. Of course you had to pay the witchdoctor to do this, and although it was expensive the people would do it because they saw it as an investment. The officials knew this was happening, but because it was very discreet they couldn't catch any of the witchdoctors in the act and therefore could do nothing. And because the bodies were buried they were no witnesses or evidence. Then one day, a boy was discovered who had been mutilated and left for dead, but he didn't die. NPR talked about the hopes that this boy was the one and only witness who might help the case.
This story seemed unbelievable to me. There are families that are missing children because they were kidnapped and having their bodies cut into pieces with a machete. I wondered how I could go home and make dinner and watch tv after hearing this story. I wondered how we would feel or react if that was happening in my neighborhood. I wondered if the Ugandans would care. I wondered if I would. I cried all the way home. I shared this story with Drew and then with friends. I couldn't get this off my mind yet I didn't know what to do with it. This is one of my biggest problems. I see the injustice of the world, but can't think of how to solve it. I wouldn't make a very good president. So I prayed. I hate "just praying" for things like this. It doesn't seem enough. I'm a doer and prayer doesn't feel like doing. It feels like a cop-out when you really don't want to be involved. We say "oh…that's awful, I will pray for you". And maybe we will, but I feel what I'm really saying is "oh…that's messy, I don't know how to solve that for you, so good luck because I really don't have time to be involved". Sometimes all a person really needed was food or a pair of shoes or maybe some time for someone to listen to them. But this issue was global. It was big, too big for me. I resolved to pray not knowing how I could ever change a community in northern Uganda.
**coffee break over…back to work**
One of the cool parts of Storyline was Don would interview amazing people who have done amazing things with what God has given them. One man worked in the clothing industry, so he started making t-shirts to sell to help people afford to go to rehab and get rid of addiction.
The last person interviewed was this man named Bob Goff.
He is a bit hard to describe as he is very excitable when he speaks. There is no way you can't fall in love with this man in about 10 seconds. He really enjoys life. He started by telling the story about how he met Don Miller. Bob is a lawyer living in California who owns a cabin way out in the middle of nowhere. This cabin is on a river and is only accessible by boat or plane. You can't drive there. He uses this facility to host kids from Young Life Ministries. Don Miller was on a kayaking trip with friends and just happened to go by this cabin. Bob saw them and invited them in for food. So they got to know one another. Bob was sharing this with us and then asked Don if he could also share his work that he was doing in Uganda. I assumed he was another missionary doing missions there.
Bob began to describe how he wanted to do more in life. So he flew to Uganda and because he was a lawyer and that was all he knew to do, he went to the Justice Department and made friends with a judge there. He asked that judge what the greatest need was in Uganda and how he could help. This judge started explaining about how witchdoctors were taking over and killing all of the children, and they can't catch them, they can't stop them. But that a young boy had been recently found. He was kidnapped, taken to a field and had his privates cut off. He was left for dead, but he didn't die. So for the first time they actually had a witness that could speak out against the evil that was taking over Uganda. One boy against one nation of evil. But he needed a good lawyer.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
So Bob takes the case. He not only prosecutes that witch doctor, but opens the door for many other to be prosecuted. Also because that man was put in prison for life, people began to loose faith in the word of the witchdoctors. How could they believe these successes that come through sacrificing children would work for them when the Dr. himself was in prison? Bob recently received guardianship over that little boy in Uganda. Not only that, but Bob "randomly" met one of the worlds best surgeons who reconstructed that little boys penis. Now he has been made whole again in every way. The story doesn't end there though. Bob went back and spoke to that witchdoctor who begged for forgiveness. And through a long conversation, Bob forgave him and that witchdoctor came to accept Jesus. And now that man is going to speak to everyone else in the prison about Jesus. Men who enter this prison, never get out. It's a big, square, no window, cement building. They are going to die there, but now they can die with hope. A hope that they will live again. They have a deeper Peace and forgiveness, one they never thought they could deserve or have. Bob has also had the opportunity to speak to groups of witchdoctors that are still practicing in that area. He gave them his phone number in case they wanted to talk. LOL. One called while he was at a the conference this weekend.
After hearing all of this I had to take a moment and breathe. From the moment that I realized Bob was talking directly about something that I had been praying for months about I couldn't stop crying. Honestly, it was because I couldn't believe once again that God hears me. Not just on a personal level, something I could see everyday, but on a GLOBAL level. I know it wan't just my prayers that made all of that happen…or was it? What we do matters. What we say matters. What we PRAY matters! I know this. I've known this. But it's always so humbling when God actually takes the time to reveal it to me. Bob wasn't supposed to be at the conference. He said he was traveling through and just stopped to share with us. But God thought it was just that important that I get to hear the end of the story. Why was that important? He feels my heart. He wanted me to know….He hears. I don't know if you have ever felt that special. For the God of ALL to take time out of billions of lives to make sure that you know He hears you-that He loves you. OH MY WORD-- THAT IS OUR FATHER!!!!! He really, really, really, does love us that much. He takes the time and sends me to a conference that I knew nothing about & wasn't going to go to so that I could randomly hear a man who wasn't supposed to be there speak about something that I heard randomly on the radio 7 months ago and how God has miraculously redeemed that story. I was gloriously set up. I just..can't..believe..it. I really can't.
What else really matters but being heard and loved by God? I mean, really.
