I have a dream for Rwanda

I have a dream for Rwanda, today! 

I have a dream that Rwanda will be a major business center for Eastern Africa.  Rwanda is a land filled with rich and beautiful resources such as coffee and tea, a land with advanced technology, and with people who have the strength, courage, intelligence, and resolve to harness those resources and technology and make this a land of prosperity.  I have a dream today.

I have a dream that Rwanda will be a catalyst in ending a culture of deceit, deception, corruption, and even thievery that has been a stronghold that has run rampant in Africa for way too many generations; a culture of deceit, deception, corruption, and thievery that was brought to Africa and has spread through Africa by way of the mizungu from Europe and the West.  Rwanda has a strong national leadership today, with strong moral and ethical values and with great integrity and I call on these leaders to continue on a path of ‘right’, to model integrity, and to be a light to this entire continent that shows the prosperity that comes with integrity.  I have a dream today.

I have a dream that the AIDS crisis will be eased here in Rwanda.  AIDS has taken some of Rwanda’s brightest and best and has taken them in the most productive time of their life.  I have a dream that there is work going on in Rwanda right now that will be instrumental in wiping this scourge off the face of the earth.  I have a dream today!

I have a dream that Rwanda will break out of the endless cycle of asking the mizungu for money and that Rwanda will be the light of hope and prosperity on the African continent. Rwandan men and women have the intelligence and the desire to break this cycle and to build an infrastructure that will enhance the Rwandan culture while at the same time bringing peace and prosperity to this land.  Yes, Rwandan men and women have the intelligence and the desire; the only thing missing is the dream.  I have a dream today!

I have a dream that every Rwandan from north to south and from east to west will have clean water to drink every day.  I dream that every Rwandan village and town will have plenty of clean drinking water so water born illnesses will be wiped from the conscience of every Rwandan man and woman, boy and girl.  I have a dream today!

I have a dream that Rwandan’s will put ethnic violence and a history of ethnic differences behind them forever.  God is no respecter of person nor should we be.  All men are created equal and have been given the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Rwandan’s know this and it’s time to put the ugliness of genocide behind you.  It’s time to reconcile to one another, to love one another, and to let the unity of the body of Christ pull you together to build a strong and prosperous Rwanda.  I have a dream today!

I have a dream that the people of Rwanda will ask the Holy Spirit of God to sweep over this land in a way that is similar to Pentecost and that God will hear them and there will be a Holy Spirit awaken of the like that has never before been seen in Africa.

I have a dream that Rwanda will be a center of missionary activity in Central Africa.  I dream that missionaries, Rwandan missionaries, will be sent from Rwanda into foreign lands to build God’s Kingdom.  Rwanda’s location in the center of Africa, the new airport that’s being built in Rwanda, and the technology and spirit of the African Christian make Rwanda the perfect launching place for missionaries.  I have a dream today.

 

Church in Rwanda

It was another beautiful day in this paradise that is called Rwanda.  We woke up early from some much needed sleep and got ready for church.  We walked the ten or 15 minutes up the hill to the church in the glorious sunshine.  Worship was just getting under way.

Worship in Rwanda is incredible.  The Spirit of God was moving mightily as we sang and danced to the African music.  Pastor Isaiah, from the Foursquare church, spoke a powerful word to us about a piano’s harmony and how it can only be harmonious when the black keys and the white keys are all played at the same time.  We all serve one God and God sees us all the same; surely we can all live harmoniously together.

It was incredible, too, to see our folks join in the worship and step into their gifts.  They were all singing and dancing and engaging the kids in singing an dancing.  I can’t explain how good it feels to see our folks engaging in worship and loving on the Rwandan people.

Africa is such a humbling place.  We are so fortunate in the USA.  Sure, the economy down and people are ‘hurting’ but the people who are ‘hurting’ are doing much better than most of the people in Rwanda.  If you’re reading this in the United States and you have electricity that is dependable, and you have clean water to drink, and you have a house with doors and windows, then you are very fortunate.  Thank God for his blessings!

We’re here!

 

At Washington-Dulles - ready for a long ride!

We made it to Rwanda!  We left GCC’s parking lot at 3:00 am on Friday morning, made it to Logan for a 6:00 am flight to Washington DC, then made a 10:40 flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Rome, Italy.  Then, we just had one more flight from Addis Ababa to Kigali, Rwanda.  We made it right on time and exactly 24 hours after our first flight left Logan. 

Everyone was surely tired when we arrived at about noon local time as many we too excited to sleep on the plane.  We made it to our missionary house (which is very nice by Rwandan standards) and rested for only a few minutes before heading out to an outreach in a nearby village.

I was concerned that we might have overbooked for the day and folks would be too tired to go out.  I made the outreach optional, telling the folks they could stay and relax if they weren’t up to going out.  Of course, everybody went.  We traveled for about an hour to the village packed like sardines in a little van.

As soon as we arrived and stepped out of the van, though, everyone’s energy level went up by 2000%!  There were hundreds, maybe 1000, of people there.  Many of them were children.  We were immediately accepted and loved by the villagers as we started to sing and dance with them.  The love of God and big smiles are a universal language.  Even though we couldn’t communicate well via the spoken word, we were able to communicate through smiles, touches, and hugs.  It was incredible.

As the pastor of the group, it is awesome to see everyone step outside their comfortable place and get involved in ministry and in loving on the folks.  And everyone in this group did just that at the outreach.  Hundreds of folks (mostly children) came to the Lord and the Holy Spirit moved in a mighty way.

Keep us in your prayers; I’ll keep updating via the blog.