Tombstones and Banana Trees (16 page)

Every child writes to his or her sponsor every term. And we encourage the sponsors to write back, to send gifts and the like at Christmas and the child's birthday. Sponsors receive term reports, and we encourage them to come and visit the children, to see them at school and even in their homes.

We also support widows in Rukungiri, Connie's hometown. We work with women who have lost their husbands to HIV/AIDS and support them and their children, giving them goats and money for agriculture. We support other widows in eastern Uganda with goats and money to set up home businesses. They form small groups that meet during the week to decide what economic microenterprise project they want to start and then deliver. Some choose to invest in livestock; others make other plans. But the end result is always the same: Lives are changed, and eventually communities are transformed. We also have a radio program in my hometown of Kabale that is used for advocacy for women and children in communities where many people cannot read and have no access to television.

Uganda really is a remarkable country. Our past is scarred in pain and our present riddled by corruption, but we have so many wonderful Christians at work among us. The country holds a magnetic appeal for Christians from the West, so much so that at times the flights into Entebbe Airport feel like airborne Bible study groups. But this great work exists only because there is a great need. And if World Shine Ministries was not active in Rwentobo, the village would be sinking deeper and deeper into poverty, ignorance, and disease.

I believe that Christians in the West have a big contribution to make in the development of Africa. Many people say the scale of the problem is too great, but I believe if you educate a child, you have educated a nation. Bit by bit, this transformation can take place, and within fifty years we could transform the entire continent.

You can see the potential in the area around our school. With more sponsors we could build an orphanage to protect the vulnerable children. With extra funding we could set up a clinic to help the community solve its health problems: malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, and all sorts of other preventable diseases that claim the lives of so many women and children. A clinic would allow us to go out to the villages to educate about health, hygiene, water, sanitation, and the importance of immunizing the children. We believe in community transformation because we see it in action.

There are forty thousand orphans in this region who have lost both parents. I believe that in the next ten years this project will help more than ten thousand children, expanding the capacity for primary students and beginning to offer a secondary-school education to those who wish to continue. During the summer months we plan to offer a vocational school so that children who do not do well academically can learn trades such as carpentry, bricklaying, computing, and sewing. With these skills behind them, as well as the knowledge of how to practice good hygiene, all in the context of sound Christian values, how could the future not look radically different?

And if we can help some of the 64 percent of people in the area who are illiterate, if we can teach them to read and write as well as be healthy and self-reliant, what better (and longer) lives they could lead!

I think I have said enough about World Shine Ministries and World Shine Foundation, and I should stop here. Just remember that something special has happened here, that this region so blessed by God with its beauty and its incredible bounty, as well as its history of revival, is not just a place of poverty and desolation. It is a place of life, of great potential, and of profound spiritual wealth.

I have told you about the work of World Shine Ministries because you have already played a part in supporting our work. By buying this book you have helped create much-needed income, and for that I am so very grateful. Thank you. If you have not bought this book, remember this: I was a very good librarian and I know all the tricks people use to get away without paying!

Before we end, permit me to share just a few final thoughts about the type of forgiveness that is at the heart of these pages you hold in your hand. Revolutionary forgiveness changes not only the one who forgives but also the one who is forgiven. And more—the family and surrounding community are affected.

Revolutionary forgiveness brings about a change that affects lifestyle, priorities, and marriages. It goes beneath the surface to alter character, to change your way of life, the people you live with, your community, your thinking, your priorities, your communication. Charisma minus character is very dangerous. Revolutionary forgiveness deals with character.

And we need more of it today. We need it between tribes, between churches, on a personal, village, community, and national level. Even at a racial level we need forgiveness. And we need it between genders.

We need people who will make the choice to forgive wholeheartedly, totally, patiently, indiscriminately, continually, despite pain, without thought for the payback, sacrificially—even though someone does not deserve it.

We need people who are not afraid of the tears, the brokenness, and the chance that they will look like fools. It is painful, and it is continual.

And we need people who crave wisdom. We may end up paying more than others who choose not to forgive, and so we need wisdom. We forgive yesterday, today, until eternity. We shall stop when we die.

If you wish to know the power of revolutionary forgiveness, start by praying this prayer from the bottom of your heart:

Lord Jesus, I thank You for loving me unconditionally.

I thank You for speaking to me in this book about bitterness and forgiveness.

I ask You to forgive me for all my sins and wash me clean with Your blood.

Fill me now with Your Holy Spirit and make me whole.

I forgive all the people who hurt me and wounded my heart—those who crushed my self-esteem.

I forgive them totally and unconditionally in Your name.

I denounce all the bitterness, anger, blaming, and unforgiveness in my life in Your name.

I denounce all demons of hatred, anger, bitterness, blaming, and unforgiveness in Your name.

I denounce all the demons from the water, forests, mountains, deserts, the graves; demons of depression, abandonment, rejection, and vagabondism; and all the principalities and strongholds of bitterness and unforgiveness in Your mighty name.

I receive the blessing of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Your name.

I release myself to the covenant of God, which was sealed by Your blood.

I declare I am delivered from anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness in Your name.

I declare I am a victor, not a victim, a success, not a failure, blessed, not cursed, in Your name.

I cover myself with Your blood and build a wall of fire around myself in Your name.

Blessed Holy Spirit, come into my life, lead me, and make me the person You want me to be.

Thank You, Jesus, for healing and delivering me today.

Thank You, Lord, for saving me and making me whole.

In Your name I pray. Amen!

May God bless you abundantly, exceedingly, and beyond any curse as you work out your response to His mighty call on your life. May you notice the tombstone being rolled away and hear the call of Jesus to leave the grave. May you be inspired to perform the privileged function of Christ's church—helping to roll away the tombstones that trap others so they may walk into the freedom of new life. And as you shed the grave clothes and walk free once more, may you know the life-changing, revolutionary power of forgiveness in your own life today, tomorrow, and forevermore. We know it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the L
ORD
of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).

Tukutendereza Yesu

Yesu omwana gwendiga

Omusayi gwo gunaziza

Nebaza Omulokozi

Glory, glory to my Savior,

Glory, glory to the Lamb.

Oh! His precious blood has saved me,

Glory, glory to the Lamb.

To God be the glory!

Amen.

Notes

1.
Festo Kivengere,
I Love Idi Amin
(Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977), 25–26.

2.
Ibid., page unknown.

Further Information

You can find out more about us from our website:
www.WorldShineFoundation.org

We can also be contacted at:
World Shine Ministries
PO Box 10262
Kampala, Uganda

Email:
[email protected]
(Yes, the
d
in my first name is left off deliberately.)

www.davidccook.com