Eyes on the Sky - Intercessory Voice on the Phone

Life can change in a matter of 1/2 hour.

5:30 - I get a call from a friend - bad weather in the area but it's heading due North - You should be OK, but you're going to get heavy rain.

5:40 - Friend calls back - Looks like the bad part of the storm is now heading more East. ( My thoughts right now, Of course it is:  I am driving through Tornado Alley in Oklahoma in the Spring ).

5:44 - Voice only says, "Radar to red - you better get to shelter now."

5:46 - Hailing on my car all sizes up to baseball-sized ice bombs.

5:50 - Finally find an overpass to try to sqeeze under ( Unsuccessfully mind you - the shelter from the bridge was filled with three cars already.  I sat just on the outside with a dozen other cars being pummelled with ice.

5:50 - Hail stops - it's raining, but I can DO rain.  Just as I am driving, my friend checks back with me to see what the situation is.  As my friend asks, I look over to my left (which is South) only to see a huge wallcloud approx. 2-5 miles away.  Hard to say really when all you see is a ominous black cloud taking up your immediate landscape as the bottom of the wall rotates in a gentle circular motion.
          I hear myself say, "I've got bigger things to deal with than hail."  I hang up the phone and floor it.

6:00 - Big Truck Stop - I pull into the safety ( If you want to call it that) of a roofed gas station.  I get out of the car to the sounds of more hail.  The temperature has dropped 20 degrees.  As I get my coat, others are parking seeking shelter.  We stand there together - as total strangers with a common experience and we watch as this monsterous force of nature passing in front of our eyes merely miles away.

6:15 - Another friend calls to tell me of a tornado that touched down (note to reader: the touchdown was four miles away, just by where I had been sitting below the underpass moments earlier).

6:16 - REALIZATION MOMENT:
                My friend had used media and social media to be my real-time eyes on the sky.  He used his skills of inquiry, research, analysis, and communication to help a friend out of mortal danger.  He never told me that he was on the computer, but I knew enough about him as a learner and professional to trust that he was providing me with the most current radar images from the fasted technological means possible.

Thank you Emgee for interceeding for me and being my eyes on the sky on one very dark afternoon.

Funny thing - I just looked up to see that this post took me exactly 30 minutes to relive and write about.                                     I think I need a drink!!

Bringing Books to Africa

Last August, I received a large donation of educational supplies from an educational distributor.  In nothing more than pure faith, I kept a crate full of K-2 leveled reading books in the hope that I could someday pass them out to African children.

Exactly 11 months since I got them, I will be passing out books to precious Ugandan children.  My plans include visiting schools as well.  I will pass them out to individual children and add some to classroom libraries.  I will be like a pack mule of sorts, carrying these books in a backpack from place to place. 

I will be the Santa of literacy, bringing smiles to eager minds. 

Some may say, "How can a few books make any difference to such a great need?"  My answer to them would be - When you have nothing, SOMETHING is everything. 

These are the books that will reach African children.  Do me a favor - take a long look at the books and say a little prayer for the ones who will receive them.  That is the SOMETHING I am asking of you - To me, it would mean everything!

Shots, Shots, and more Shots!

  So - what kind of shots does it take to get on a plane and go to Africa?  Apparently a boat-load of them and a lot of money. 

Here is the shots I have taken or in the process of getting (are you ready):
    Flu
    Pneumonia
    Tetanus
    Hepatitis A
    Hepatitis B
    Typhoid
    Yellow Fever ( I have to prove this one before the Ugandan embassy will provide me a tourist visa)
I will also be taking Malaria pills before, during, and after my trip.

I sure hope with all of these dead viruses in my body, everyone is playing nicely.  Oh, did I mention - I HATE NEEDLES!  Who doesn't, I know.

All of these shots got me to thinking about the conditions children must endure in third world countries.  It is no wonder that one out of every six children in sub-Saharan Africa die before their fifth birthday.

If I look at my sacrifice of pain and money in light of those terms, this is a small price to pay for bringing hope, love, and literacy to these desperate children. 

photo on flickr by x-dissolve

My Heart's Desire Coming True!

My trip to Africa is still on for this summer, but God has a different destination for me than the one I planned.  I received a call from Compassion International telling me of a sponsor tour in July to Uganda.  I have a lovely boy I have been sponsoring for a couple of years there.  I would be able to spend an entire day with him.

                            Just wait, there is MORE!

 Not only that, the first child I ever sponsored as an adult was a little girl from Uganda.  I raised her from six years of age until the day she got married.  She is 28 years old now.  Compassion tells me that they will try to find her and bring her to where I am.  Words cannot express what it would mean to me to embrace her just once. 

Needless to say, with my long history  and love for Compassion, children, and Africa, I jumped at the chance to go on this trip.  Thank you Lord!  I know I will be forever changed from my time there.  The only question is - HOW?  We'll find out together, dear friends.