All of us give of ourselves daily through sacrifices of time, money, insight, expertise, love...the list goes on. Each gift is a personal reflection of our priorities and unique God-given talents. At the end of the proverbial day, what refills, refuels, and refreshes a giver is the act itself of having given--the satisfaction of bettering a life.
When the "business" you're in is giving good news--the TRUE good news of Jesus, the dividends are endless on your investment. A parallel truth remains, however, that for those who consistently give, though the intrinsic reward is great, there is also a time to receive, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven," Ecclesiastes 3:1.
As we prepared to take a furlough from our life and work at New Hope Uganda, on our "must have" radar was a Bible conference for Geoff and me. Solid teaching that would refill, refresh, and refuel us was a desire for which we would not compromise, so Geoff began searching "Google" for conferences. He searched by date, topic and speaker and narrowed it down to three from which to choose. I won't mention the others, but it's pretty much a "no brainer" when you have some fairly solid line-ups in various states and one of them is Hawaii. We'd never heard of HIM (Hawaiian Islands Ministries), but when we saw that the speaker list included names like Francis Chan, Tony Campolo, Gary Chapman, Jack Deere and Tenth Avenue North it just added to the "no-brainier" component of the decision!
Although we've traveled to many places, Geoff and I have never been to Hawaii and it has been a real treat to enjoy a new place together. The conference started on Thursday with a special session for pastors and their spouses. We received encouraging teaching throughout the day and also met some wonderful people during the lunch break. Compassion sponsored the session and we were blessed to meet two of their leaders who are based in southern California not too far from where we are right now. They introduced us to Dan Chun who, with his wife, founded HIM 30 years ago. Given that most attendees have been coming for years, and that most of them are from the Islands, it was quite fun to tell him that we are from Uganda and were at the conference for the first time because of a Google search!
Over and over we met friendly new people who are doing great things in and for the Kingdom of God. Sharing stories and a few details of the ministries we're involved in was an unexpected blessing for us! We threw a few of our prayer cards in my purse as we were packing on Wednesday, just in case someone showed an interest. Of the 50+ cards we brought, we have only a small handful remaining! We were surprised at the genuine interest people showed in us and New Hope. Megan, whom we affectionately termed the "elevator lady" because we first met her in the elevator in our hotel, and then we just kept running into her, wants to have a group of kids she ministers to write letters and send gifts to our kids. Alanna, Kaleigh, Keoki and Kate--young ladies whom I met when God moved me to speak out of my comfort zone and I found them to be passionate of heart and action. A beautiful Japanese couple serving in the pastorate and loving the people in their church, Couples who have been in ministry for 25, 35, and 45 years! Two ministers named Daven, pronounced differently, not related and of two different generations, but working together in ministry. One of them asked what we needed--we just came to get some good teaching and certainly weren't expecting to give anyone a "wish list"! He has already been in email contact with some pretty exciting possibilities. A photographer, Phil Spalding who has a joyful countenance and kept us smiling. A precious woman who creates beautiful T-shirts with powerful messages combining Hawaiian culture with scripture--her husband serves with the police. Numerous seminar speakers whom we had the privilege of meeting and sharing stories with and two couples Brent and Linda and Rich and Denise whom we seem to have met because of God's own appointment given the connection we enjoyed in a matter of moments. And some sweet random people on the escalator who decided to take our prayer card to the morning prayer session where we were prayed for! I know this first hand because someone tapped me later in the day as I was going down the escalator and excitedly told me, "Hey! We prayed for you a LOT this morning!" I'm humbled. Only God knows all the reasons we were so abundantly blessed!
One thing I DO know is that if I EVER get an opportunity to attend a HIM conference again, I'll jump on it without a second thought! The sessions started at 8 a.m. and ended just before 10 p.m.! The schedule was packed and Geoff and I took time and prayer in deciding which sessions to choose from as almost 20 offerings were available each time! We ate from God's word as we heard His truths shared by Francis Chan, Tony Campolo, Don Cousins, Doug Fields, Patti Pierce, Nancy Duarte, Victor Marx, Jim Burns, Don Piper, Gary Chapman, and Jeff Schulte. Worship was led by Cory Oliveros and was beautiful. We are so thankful to have "happened" upon this conference-- all by God's design, of course.
Some people go to Hawaii for the beaches, the weather, the outdoor sports and personal enjoyment, but we have found the spiritual wealth and a passion for Jesus in the Islands that has amazed us! Praise God for having led us here!
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| These two men, along with many others, spent a full day in prayer for the conference |
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