Interesting phenomenon coming up and growing wide these days
in Uganda, especially when people have to give excuses for not being on time. Sadly
to me “African time” is often used as an excuse when arriving late is becoming
more and more common. “Mzungu time” is used for being on time. Interesting, isn’t
it?
Now that I talk about not being on time, we made a
resolution to try and be on time against all odds for all our medical missions
during this season, starting with our very first medical mission to Kamuge,
Pallisa here in Uganda. As always, we
loaded up our mission van with all our medical supplies and got the whole team
on board. Soon enough we hit the road.
Thankfully to God, it all went well, and we made it there in the estimated two
hour adventurous filled drive out of Jinja town.
It was 10 o’clock on the dot that we drove in to the
compound of Arise and Shine Primary School led by our very good friend, Pastor
Fred. However we caught him in the process of “preparation”. Usually,
he’d have some of those very beautiful children lined up in two parallel lines
facing each other smiling wide as they sing welcoming songs to the visiting
medical team.
Praising the Almighty God
for sending a medical mission team to their village as they hold flowers to
hand to every team member. However, things were a lot different this time as we
found them still getting our seats ready, harvesting fresh flowers and the
performing children getting their costumes on. I remember seeing Pastor Fred
from a distance as we drove in, with a kind of look anyone can easily interpret
as ‘Oh no, they’re early!’ Upon arrival,
his very first words were, “You’re on Mzungu time!”
God brought to my mind these two scriptures:
Ecclesiates 9:12 – moreover, no man knows when his hour will
come: …
This reminds me of the fact that we all are here, but only
for a while. Soon we’ll be going home. It’s only a smart thing to be ready for
that since we all don’t know when its coming.
Needless to add, Our Lord Jesus is coming again to take only
those that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, which is the only way
to secure a place in Heaven for eternity.
Matthew 24:44 states: “So you must be ready, because the Son of man will
come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
I so much agree and I can guarantee you, there will be no
chance to borrow the famous “African time” or “Mzungu time” phrases. Therefore,
I call out to everyone to receive the Grace offered through the blood of Jesus
so you are ready since it could be any time: next year, next week, tomorrow,
now, I don’t know for sure. But from where I am standing, looks like the time
is DUE if you have not accepted!
David Gitta
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