Friday, April 22, 2011

Good Friday

Tonight I attended the Good Friday service at Gaba Community Church. Gaba is the church from which the Babies Home was born (no pun intended). I almost didn't go because it's kind of a hassle taking a taxi, and walking to the church while lugging a baby and gear BUT I'm glad I did. (By the way, I get a LOT of stares walking around with Gideon--1) men in Uganda generally do NOT care for children, 2) I am a white man with a black baby, and 3) No body here carries their baby in a Baby Bjorn on the front of their body--BRING ON THE STARES!)

It's been kind of a quiet day. My housemates went to a local resort to stay for the night and our power has been out since 4am--it's still out at almost 11pm. The service was NOT quiet. It was an upbeat celebration of what Christ did for us on the cross. It was so nice to worship. Things have been discouraging lately so it was good to focus on God and his goodness and provision.

The preacher tonight spoke from Ephesians 1:3-14. This is a great passage that speaks of how we are "adopted" by God (v. 5). Coincidence? I think not. It was funny because when he started to speak about v. 5 and mentioned adoption, Gideon screamed out loud. It was like he was saying "AMEN".


Another meaningful part of worship was the Michael W. Smith song "Above All". Now, normally, I am NOT a MWS fan. I may have even openly mocked his voice! BUT the lyrics really spoke to where we are in this process: "Above all powers, Above all kings, Above all nature and all created things; Above all wisdom, and all the ways of man; You were here before the world began....." You know the rest. Basically, this was meaningful because it was a reminder that God is sovereign above every step of this adoption process--including the waiting and frustrating parts. Good reminder for me!


It was a great night of worship. I sneaked a video of some of the singing. I hope to post soon, when I have more power. By the way, the pictures are from the area of town called Gaba, where the church is. It's about a 10 minute taxi ride from our house. It's on the banks of Lake Victoria. We took these one day when we went to explore the market.


1 comment:

kristygpayne said...

Jamey this is AMAZING. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. It brought us to tears to hear that our precious Lord spoke about adoption tonight through that pastor. And beautiful sweet Gideon crying out to our God in praise for his adoption! AMEN! WE LOVE YOU and miss you terribly!

The Paynes