My first Ugandan funeral

Today I had one of the many first I've been having these past couple of weeks here in Uganda, this time it was to go to a funeral and burial. One of our church members, Agnes, who has been with the church since the begging had a son who passed away. This woman is basically like the church grandmother and even is the one holding the babies a lot times when they are dedicated and she's one of the leaders of our hospital ministry. Because she's so heavily a part of the church, we felt it only right to have a strong presence at the funeral even though it was going to be way back in her village. We headed out at about 1 with three cars full of our staff and other church members who wanted to go to support Agnes and we got to Agnes' house and it's just amazing the different ways different cultures handle mourning. In America, it's a very solemn occasion full of hushed voices, here the women once they get close to the house of the key relative (i.e. mother) they put their hands on their head and start wailing as loud as they can (as Jess told me, think Jewish and you can kind of get it). We then loaded the body in the casket into the back of our pick-up truck along with several of Agnes' family members and drove for about an hour to the village everything was taking place. As everyone was gathered outside of a house, Jess delivered his message and shared the Gospel, it was cool because although it seemed like there could be potentially some opposition, God totally answered prayers and so seeds were planted and it was reported that several gave their lives to Christ. From there, we went down the road to where the burial was to take place and so after we all walked through some potato crops we arrived at the grave and a few last words and a prayer were given and the body was then lowered into the grave. It broke my heart to see Agnes she just knelt and wept as the burial was taking place. The awesome part is that about two months ago, her son prayed to accept Christ, so although there was sadness for the loss of her son, there was also joy knowing that He was out of pain and with Christ. It definitely was an experience to say the least, I'm so thankful that I had my eyes opened to something that I know takes place so frequently in this country especially. Even in the midst of sadness though, there is beauty, and the drive back was filled with break-taking view where pictures could not do God's creation justice, but the picture above I hope at least captures some of it.

ON A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Going to a funeral always gets one thinking about death. If you're reading this and you can't honestly say that you're going to heaven when you die, then I ask you surrender your life to Christ right now. He truly is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, there is no other way to heaven except through the cross. It's been said many times that every one out of one person dies and we all have to stand before God, but the thing that it comes down to will be if that will be the last time you will see Him or getting to spend eternity praising Him. We forget really what the purpose of the cross is, we forget that 1) we're sinners and 2) someone has to pay for that sin. God loves us so much that He CHOSE to come and die for us so we could be with Him for eternity and it wasn't the nails that held Him to the cross, it was His love for us that kept Him there. So really, if you want to truly experience the love of Christ and KNOW without a doubt what will happen to you when your time is up, now is the time to pray and just admit that you are a sinner, that you need a Savior, and that God provided us that Savior with sending His Son to die on the cross and rise from the dead. With that it's not just a prayer, it's not about going to church, memorizing verses, or Christian t-shirts, it's about fully surrendering your life over to Him and seeking to live for Him with every part of your being and not seeking to please Him because you have to, but because you love Him so much in response to His love for you that you can't help trying to do whatever you can to show Him you love Him too.