Seasons

Seasons. We, in Northern Uganda, are now well into the rainy season.  Everything has miraculously turned from the golden yellow of dead grass, and the constant haze of dry dusty roads and walking paths, to various shades of green. Almost overnight!  And now even the flowers are starting to bloom.  The grass grows faster than you can slash it back down again.

In our lives we also have seasons. Some seem to be dry and dusty and very hot. Yet just below the surface is life. And all it take is a little water for everything to come back often even bigger and better than before.

We, Keith and I, have been through many dry seasons. We have made deep friendships like family then suddenly we experience the death of them that drives us into a dry hot season.  We have struggled and sometimes toiled and seen great fruit then suddenly there is another dry season. Yet through it all, the Lord has never left us nor forsaken us.  Why?  Because we are good?  Or, because we are doing great things? NO.  It is because He is love and He has a plan. He is longsuffering and He never changes.

We are going through another season right now.  But we would not describe this as a dry season at all.  It is more like the brink of new growth after the pruning has healed.

After living and working in Uganda for the last 13 years, we have come to see first hand and experience that to create dependency is very easy.  It is so easy to raise funding and sponsorship because we come from a ‘care culture’ where the Bible was the foundation of our worldview.  We care and we hurt when people are in great need. But after living here, we realize that our view of poverty and need is usually based on the perspective of our wealth.  Therefore our generosity more often causes harm that helps.  But there are other ways to help.

Sanctuary of Grace Christian Academy was started with funds that were a gift from another ministry.  We sort of inherited a sponsorship program. This sponsorship program covered 75% of our school funding.  After nine year this program is ending. The gracious gift is more needed in South Sudan where it is still a relief situation. We are so grateful and blessed to have had this gift and friendship for these years and yes, the friendship remains with us.

At first this seemed a bit scary.  How will the school run?  These people cannot afford what it cost to run the school. So we reported the loss to our ministry board, School Management Committee, and the Staff. Strangely none of them were as alarmed as we thought they would be. Instead they all said, “open it up for anyone to come and pay the fees and the school will be full!”

Then at the same time, two of our fellow missionaries has had to leave us, one of them only for a time. And now we are going to get guardianship of our little Micah.
We will be operating the Educator Development Institute’s second and third term, preparing SoGCA for a major structure change, taking care of our little 4 year old, and promoting the Phase 1 of the Roots to Fruits Christian Curriculum…but we are not alone.  What is impossible for man is possible with God.  After all these years, are we finally reaching a place where we really and truly trust Him?  I believe so.  All our ‘certainties” are in Him, therefore all our uncertainties are just surprises waiting to happen. He’s got this!!!

We are asking the Lord to send us some like minded missionaries to come and serve along side us in this ministry. Contact us if the Lord speaks to you about this.

klcoggin@gmail.com

Our Call Missions website:    ourcallmissions.org
Our Call Missions facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/OurCallMissions?ref=hl 

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