Do you know what day it is in Uganda? That’s right, it is July 4th. It is not Independence Day there, but it is July 4th. After spending almost 5 months in Uganda earlier this year, I have a fresh perspective of how blessed we are to be Americans! We have more wealth, more comfort, more food, more freedom, more luxury and more health care than anyone in the world. We have less hunger, less needless death, less loss of utilities, less poverty, less childhood mortality and most of all LESS DEPENDENCE ON GOD than anyone in the world. All of our comforts and access to the best, makes it where we are able to not be dependent on God. We are far too self-reliant. We are independent this day!
While in Uganda, it was interesting to see the Ugandan’s
view of Americans. Many of them think
that everyone in the USA is rich. To be
honest, if you compared Americans to most of the people in Uganda, that
statement is true. We also heard some
interesting comments like, “All Americans are so kind and caring”, or
“Americans are so giving”. As much as I
wish those statements were true across the board, I know that they are
not. I explained to our Ugandan friends,
there are many good people in the US, but there are also those that choose to
do wrong and actually those that are evil.
Most in Uganda see all Americans as the same, or with similar Christian
beliefs. I know that this is how our
country was founded, and I sorely wish that this were still true.
When I look at the US, I see a country divided, oblivious to
how blessed we are and how we are on the edge of losing these blessings. We can argue over healthcare, gay marriage, fast
and furious, deficit spending or taxes, but if we could just get back to
agreeing on being one nation, under God, I think most of our differences would
fade away. While we were gone, I was
“tuned out” of all of these debates for the entire time. When I returned, the same exact debates and
arguments were still raging out of control.
There had been no resolution or common ground found.
For all of my Oklahoma friends, I want you to remember how
good it felt to be “One state under the Thunder”. We had something in common. We were pulling the rope in the same
direction, cheering for our neighbor, and gathering momentum. Just think about how much momentum we could gather
if we all rallied behind a Living God!
What will it take to get America back “Under God”? What will it take for us to have Dependence
Day? What would it take to get us to be the people that the
Ugandans see us as? The great American
philosopher, Brad Allen, said that he thinks there will be another revival in
the US, but he is concerned about 2 things:
1.) It may happen outside of our current churches & 2.) It may have
to get a lot worse in the US before we turn to Christ. I too am worried that this may be true. We are so self-reliant, that I am afraid of
what God may have to do or take away to get our collective attention.
I pray that on this Independence Day, we will be more
dependent on Him. I pray also that we
will return to Dependence before the blessings of America are gone. Could we schedule a Dependence Day? I'll bring the fireworks!
Jay
Great post!
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