Hope for All

A traditional July 4th brings to mind flags, cookouts, parades, and fireworks. This year I was invited to a true red, white, and blue cookout at beloved matriarch Betty Dolinger's house, where family and friends gathered to enjoy each other’s company and count their blessings. I fall in the “friends” category, but I’m just waiting for the day when I discover I’m actually related, albeit distantly, to the huge Dolinger clan. In spite of the rain (which we counted as a blessing), there was much hugging and laughter, and I felt blessed to be there. I was especially humbled when the children climbed onto a bench, flags in hand and resembling Olympic medal winners, for us to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And I was very grateful to be in the circle when we all held hands around the picnic tables and Betty gave thanks. God is good.

Earlier this week I was blessed to be part of a very different sort of gathering. Twenty-three Ugandan children, ranging in age from 5 to 12 and rescued from lives of poverty, visited my home church to sing and dance their hearts out to the glory of God. Hope for Africa Children’s Choir and Academy, touring the United States through the end of this month, was created when United Methodist Bishop Daniel Wandabula asked Lydia Namageme and Tonny Mbowa, both orphans once themselves, before being rescued and made part of the African Children’s Choir, if they would be interested in building a new African children’s choir. They both answered with a resounding yes, and Hope for Africa was born. Lydia Namageme, known to the children as Auntie Lydia, is the conductor and manager for the choir and school; Tonny Mbowa serves as the choir’s director.

There is so much I could say about these children, taken from refugee camps in a country that has seen Civil War for 20 years. Many have lost one or both parents, and all have seen much suffering. That they are in our country now, fed, clothed, and being educated and loved on by everyone they come in contact with, speaks volumes about God’s goodness, both in their lives and ours. Their performances are amazing; they practically vibrate with excitement while they’re singing God’s praises and dancing for Him. They each have a personal testimony, and they all have high aspirations for the future. These children know exactly what they want to be when they grow up, and when they are adults back in their own country, they really will be the hope of Africa.

But as I watched them singing and dancing, this was the truth that God laid on my heart: These children know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where they came from and where they’re going. They remember the dire circumstances from which God lifted them up, and they know what Jesus has done for them, changing their present and securing their future. I only wish I was always so mindful of my testimony.

One of their songs included these lyrics: “The Holy Spirit will come down, and Africa will be saved.” But in the same song they sang, “The Holy Spirit will come down, and America will be saved.”

I believe there is always hope, no matter where we live, as long as we let the Holy Spirit take the lead. Give God freedom in your life.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)