TOP James

James is a 7 year old boy from Mubende Uganda.  The Due Unto Others medical team, from Duncan, Oklahoma, first met James while hosting a child health screening clinic in Mubende, in February 2012.  James was healthy and meeting health and educational milestones, at that time.  Unfortunately, a few days later, he was accidentally run over by a car, near his home.  In this horrible accident, he suffered a broken right femur and an injury to his left leg that required an amputation of the left leg, below the knee.  James was transferred to Wentz Medical Center in Gabba, Uganda.  Wentz was the home base for the Due Unto Others medical team, so they heard about James’ accident and were able to visit him on a regular basis.  James was required to remain flat on his back, with his right leg in traction for several weeks, before he had a large cast applied that went around his waist and then all the way down the right leg.  Through all of this 3 month hospital treatment, James kept a huge smile on his face. 

A local ministry came to fit him for a wheel chair and to counsel him about his new way of getting around.  The gentleman that came to counsel James came away saying that by the time their conversation was over, James was counseling him!  In previous blogs about James, it was said “I expect big things out of James.  He has a heart the size of the continent he lives on and a smile to match”.  It was also said of James, “He has spunk, resolve, charisma and a million dollar smile.  It would not surprise me if he is the president of Uganda someday”!

 

Through the generous giving of Christians, of various churches, to foreign missions, the Due Unto Others ministries was able to get James fitted for a prosthetic leg.  This would not have happened through government health care in Uganda.  Even more unique is that they were able to make him one that can adjust in length so that he can continue to use it as he grows.  This prosthetic leg is a life changing gift to James!  What a demonstration of God’s love!

We are looking forward to seeing James in about a month, when we return to Mubende.

T.O.P. Jamil

Continuing our review of some of our special "That One Persons" in Uganda.

 

Jamil is a 10 year old boy from Palissa Uganda.  He had been written off by his family and it was assumed that his massive eye tumor would end in his death.  Jamil had a tumor behind his right eye that caused his eye to swell and severely bulge out of the socket.  He had lost his vision in that eye about 2 years before and, because of this problem, people in his village were scared of him because they thought that he was cursed. At 10 years old, and very smart, he had not been allowed to start school because of the problems this eye issue caused.  His parents had abandoned him, so he lived with his grandparents and uncle’s family.  Jamil had been seen by an ophthalmologist in September of 2011.  When it was found out that his surgery and care would cost $700 usd, the family felt that that could not come up with the money.  The family had lost much of their hope.  They did, however, continue to pray.

 

 

After hearing of Jamil in March, then getting to meet him in early April, the Due Unto Others medical team, from Duncan Oklahoma, felt God calling them to go above and beyond for Jamil, showing God’s love to Jamil and his family.  A repeat CT scan showed that his tumor had grown by 50% in 6 months.  After visiting the eye surgeon to schedule the surgery, the Due Unto Others team was stuck in traffic, with Jamil in the van.  A street preacher was excitedly telling those in traffic, in the Luganda language, about Jesus.  As he was fervently preaching and spit was flying everywhere, he suddenly stopped, turned, and looked straight at Jamil and pronounced for all to hear, in perfect English, that “God is going to heal that boy”!   

Through funding of generous Christian people, from many churches around Oklahoma, Jamil was able to have the operation to remove his tumor.  Our God did “Heal that Boy”!  The love shown to Jamil and his family made a ripple through the village.  After healing from his surgery, Jamil was allowed to start school.  Once shunned and considered an outcast that was sure to die, Jamil is now big man on campus, as God has shown him special attention, healing and mercy.  Again, through generous giving of caring Christians, Jamil has his school paid for.

 

One in five Ugandan children dies before there 5^th birthday.  What if we could reach THAT one person?

T.O.P. Tendo

As our 2013 trip to Uganda approaches, we have started to put together some short summaries of some of our "That One Persons" that we met last year.  We are preparing these summaries, to share with our church, to raise awareness of foreign missions.  I thought that I would share these with the blog as well. 

Tendo is a 7 year old girl that lives in Konge, Uganda. Three years ago, she was involved in an accident where she was run over by a car, on the way to school. Through this accident, she suffered a ruptured diaphragm and much of her abdominal contents herniated up into her chest, collapsing her lung. She was treated in the national referral hospital and survived. When Tendo was released from the hospital, she still had the collapsed lung and diaphragm hernia, as they were not repaired. Her family was told to return when they had 2.3 million shillings ($900 usd) to have the surgery to repair the diaphragm. Her parents tried to save the money while Tendo began to have more trouble with her breathing, trouble with her swallowing and trouble keeping up with her classmates. Her mom went to her local pastor and said that she did not know what they were going to do, the family had made no progress over 2 years trying to collect the money. Pastor Shalom said, “we serve a big God, we will keep praying for a miracle”. A couple of weeks later, a medical team from Duncan, OK showed up at Tendo’s school to do a medical clinic. That same“Big God” that directed their path to Konge, impressed on the heart of the team that they needed to do more for Tendo. After a trip to see the surgeon, it was found that the surgery could still be done. Through generous giving and prayers from people in Duncan Churches, Tendo was able to have her “miracle”surgery. 

She and her family are still praising their big God!

Tendo came in to Wentz Medical Center a few months ago and she is doing well.  She is just as "sassy" as ever.

It is truly a blessing when God answers your prayers.  It is even more of a blessing for God to allow you to be an answer to someone else's prayer.  Contact me at DueUnto@gmail.com if you would like to give toward the medical clinics on our upcoming trip.

1 in 5 children in Uganda die before their 5th birthday.  What if we were able to help That One Person?

Jay

Time to declare it dead.

As I have started to think about our upcoming trip to Uganda, several things have come to mind.  One of those things is a list of things that are different in Uganda than Oklahoma.  The list is quite lengthy, but one of the hardest things to wrap our brains around is being up close to death and dying.  When we were in Uganda in 2012, we were exposed to people who were quite ill.  Many times those people got well, like Pastor Paul, but some didn’t, like Joseph of Mytiana.  Now I have much experience with death and dying through my work in the ER, but for the rest of our family this was uncharted territory.  I have mentioned in a previous blog, I literally hate to have to tell a family that one of their loved ones has passed away.  I have been told by several nurses, pastors and families that I am good at communicating a death to a family.  Of all of the things that I would like to be good at, I am not sure that I want to be good at such a conversation.  Unfortunately, this conversation, and what to say to the family is not covered in medical school.  Because of this lack of teaching, many doctors don’t know what to do or how to say what needs to be said.  When I have exposure to medical students in the ER, I try to find time to pull them aside and teach them this “dying art”. 

 

Recently, while working with a student in Duncan’s ER, a lady, younger than I am, passed away.  I used that unfortunate situation to teach the medical student what one older doctor had taught me many years ago.  As the medical student was taking everything in, I took out a piece of paper and wrote down the lesson about this dreadful interaction with a patient family.  This seems like a strange place to take a blog, but this is what I told the whipper snapper:

 

1.)    Before you go talk to the family, make sure that you KNOW THE PATIENT’S NAME.  This seems obvious but it is quite uncomfortable if you go to talk to a family and say “hello, are you the family of ……..the dead guy”?

2.)    Ask the family for any information about what they know about what happened prior to the patient coming to the hospital.  Any information that can be helpful must be gathered now, as when the family knows the loved one is dead, they won’t be thinking clearly.

3.)    Tell the family what you know and what has been done.  Explain everything from when the ambulance picked up the patient through the time that they were in the ER.  Include any information that you need the family to hear.  After they hear that their loved one is dead, they shut out any more information.

4.)    Say in very clear terms, borderline bluntly, that the person is “dead”.  You can’t dance around it, or try to soften it up, because if you do, the family will likely have some confusion.  You can’t say that the patient “passed on” or “slipped away” or “we lost him”.  I usually say that “I declared him dead at (some specific time)”.

 

Again, I know that this is a morbid topic for a blog, but as I continued to think about our upcoming trip to Uganda, I thought through some things in my life that I needed to “declare dead at this specific time”!  Things like need for control, lack of faith, or my pride .  Yours could be jealousy, unforgiveness or a critical nature.

 

I think that to get rid of something that needs to die in our walk with Christ we need to follow a similar algorithm as the one I use when talking to grieving families.

1.)    You have to call the thing that needs to die by its name.  Let there be no confusion.

2.)    Consult with God, family and close friends to gather information.

3.)    Discuss with God and tell him what you know and what you plan to do.

4.)    Specifically declare that thing “dead”, accept God's forgiveness and commit to not pick it up again.

 

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.   Name it, declare it dead, and He will purify you!

Just 5 weeks until we return to Uganda!  We are excited to reunite with our friends there and serve our God in the birth place of the Nile.

 

Jay

Sequestration of the Day Planner

I know that I am a little late getting this topic discussed, but here it goes any way.  Please know that this discussion is more for me, but if the Day Planner fits!

Sequestration has gotten much press over the past month and I am honestly surprised that there is still an internet to view this on since the sequester kicked in.  The definition of sequester is “to isolate or hide away”.  We have heard of gloom and doom and all of the bad things that could or would happen if congress allowed this 2% budget cut to take place.  That’s right, it was almost a full 2%.  It is almost laughable when you look at the percentage rather than the dollar amount. 

 

As I was mocking this 2%, God grabbed my attention.

I often find myself feeling too busy and unable to get everything done that I have planned in a day.  My day planner gets more cluttered and my time debt continues to mount!  Most days, it seems like I can’t possibly add anything else to the schedule.  When I get that busy, things like my quiet time and study can suffer.  I just can’t seem to make 30 minutes available for one of the most important activities of the day.  30 minutes is just too much time to part with.  It is unreasonable to think that I can find that much time in my schedule without something falling apart or getting neglected.  Let me break down a little math for you.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day.  2% of this is 29 minutes……ouch!  2% of a year, is almost exactly one week.  I don’t know about you, but I often need to trim back my time commitments so that I don’t bankrupt the obligation account!  I have to make cuts NOW, or they will definitely be more painful later!

 

You have heard me say it before, but reading the book, “Radical”, by David Platt, really challenged me in my walk and actually prompted me to GO on a foreign mission trip.  One of the challenges that David Platt gives in his book is for the reader to spend 1 week, per year, in a different context.  Remember that one week is 2% of a year.  Before reading this book, I often thought that my one week would be better spent working and then donating the proceeds so that someone else could GO.  I’d like to quote you a small part of Radical and see if it doesn’t challenge you to GO with 2% of your time.

 

The author states that he was planning a mission trip to Sudan, and it was going to cost him about $3,000.  As he started to think about going on this trip, a woman in his church asked why he did not just send the money.  Wouldn’t that do more good than spending 10 days with them?  He went ahead and went on the trip and a local man told him that many people had been generous, sending supplies and needed materials to the community.  But then the local man asked, “Even in the light of all these things that people have given us, do you want to know how you can tell who a true brother is?”  Then he continued, “A true brother comes to be with you in your time of need.”  He then looked David Platt in the eye and said, “David, you are a true brother.  Thank you for coming to be with us.”  Platt then writes the following:
Tears welled up in my eyes as the reality of the gospel hit home with me in an entirely new way.  I was immediately reminded that when God chose to bring salvation to you and me, he did not send gold or silver, cash or check.  He sent himself – the Son.  I was convicted for even considering that I should give money instead of actually coming to Sudan.  How will I ever show the gospel to the world if all I send is my money?  Was I really so shallow as to think that my money is the answer to the needs in the world?  If we are going to accomplish the global purpose of God, it will not be primarily through giving our money, as important as that is.  It will happen primarily through giving ourselves.  This is what the gospel represents, and it’s what the gospel requires.

 

That little bit of the book on page 197 & 198, spoke straight into me.  Not all of us will GO into foreign missions, but we are called to GO and make disciples.  He may call you to GO next door, across town or around the world.  Sometimes I think that our time and financial obligations prohibit us from going.  We must sequester some time to spend with God daily and to GO.

 

Nobody wanted to claim the idea of the US government sequester.  Both sides blamed the other. 

 

When it comes time for a Day Planner Sequester, it does not matter whose idea it was, just that you solve it!

 

Jay

One in five children in Uganda dies before their 5th birthday.  What if we reached That One Person?  

Anticipation

Are you old enough to remember the Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef" commercials?  If you are, then you are likely over 30 years old.  The commercial was from 1984.  If you don’t remember that ad, you most assuredly won’t remember the Heinz Ketchup commercial (1979) where they try to convince you that the ketchup is so thick and tasty it is worth the wait, while it comes out of the bottle.  The song says “anticipation is making me wait”.  As many of you know, I just finished working on a “Walk to Emmaus” men’s retreat 10 days ago.  One of the buzz lines of the weekend is “do not anticipate”.  This is repeated to try to get the first time attendees to relax in the moment and not worry about what is next.

 

I’ve got to tell you, I am full of anticipation right now.  I don’t think anticipating is necessarily a bad thing.  Sure, we should make good use of today, because we all know that this IS the day that the Lord has made.  “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”. Psalm 118:24 

We too should not worry too much about the future:  “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:34.

I am not worried about tomorrow, nor am I discounting today, BUT I am anticipating what God will accomplish through the Due Unto Others team in Uganda this summer.  Romans 8:24-25  says,  “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it”.  I have not seen what will happen in Uganda while we are there, but I am eagerly waiting, with perseverance, for it.  We feel that God has called us to go back to Uganda to continue our medical missions there.  Because of this call, we know that he has big plans for His Kingdom work there.

I can’t wait to see our friends from Africa Renewal Ministries and the Renewal Healthcare Network.  Thanks to the internet and facebook, we have been able to keep up with them and make plans for this summer, but it is just not the same as working with them daily.  I am anticipating reconnecting with some of the “That One Persons”, like Jamil, James, Tendo, Nakiganda, Joseph (from Soroti), Shakib, Jonathan and others.  We have been receiving pictures of them, but interacting with them is such a joy.  We look forward to worshipping our God with the people of Uganda.

 

You can be a part of the Due Unto Others team in Uganda for 2013!  Here are the 3 ways that you can help our team:

1.)    We need many prayers.  Please lift up the people that we have treated and the people that we will be treating this summer.  Please pray in all things that God will be glorified.

2.)    You could join us for a 2 week short term trip to serve God and the people of Uganda.  Please email me dueunto@gmail.com for more information and pricing.

3.)    You could partner with us to raise the money required to take the Due Unto Others team to the rural areas of Uganda and to purchase all of the medical supplies required to put on 6 weeks worth of clinics.  Please email me to get more information on this as well.

 

We know that God has a reason for us going back to Uganda this summer.  We are looking forwarded to our time there, but ANTICIPATION IS MAKING US WAIT.

 

Jay

We all live a story!

I had the pleasure of being the Lay Director on a Walk to Emmaus this past weekend.  I was joined by 30+ team members.  These guys are some of the most Godly men that I know, and many of them have been examples or mentors to me in the past.  Our team was able to lead 28 “pilgrims” on this Walk to Emmaus, and we experienced the Holy Spirit and God’s love for 72 hours that I will never forget.  When we had returned from our “mission” to Uganda last June, I wondered what my next “mission” would be for Christ.  To be honest, I struggled feeling “missionless” for a while.  I was contacted by the Great Plains Emmaus board, in August, and I accepted the “mission” of leading the Great Plains Emmaus walk #80.  It took 5 months of preparation and team formation, but man was it worth it.  We heard some awesome talks and testimonies from many inspirational men.  My talk was about perseverance and the stories that we live.

I feel the lives that we live tell a story.  Sometimes it is a short story, sometimes an epic, sometimes a love story and other times a thriller.  I read a book, in September, called “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller.  Several things that he wrote struck a chord with me.

1.)    There is a force in the world that does not want us to live good stories.  It does not want us to face our issues or to face our fears and bring something beautiful into the world.  I believe God wants us to live exciting and inspiring stories, but the enemy would rather that we create meaningless stories, teaching those around us that life is just not worth living.

2.)    When we live a story, we are telling others what we think is important.

3.)    The main way that we learn story is not through books or movies, but through each other.  If your friends are living boring stories, you probably will too.  We teach our children good and bad stories.   We teach them what is worth living and dying for, and what is worth pursuing. 

4.)    Much of our lives are spent trying to avoid conflict.  Half of the commercials on television are trying to sell us something that will make life easier.  Part of me wonders if our stories are not being stolen by the “easy life”.

5.)    When we look back at our lives, what we will remember are the crazy things that we have done, the times that we worked harder to make a day stand out.  The times that we decided to make a bad day into a memory maker.  You might remember this blog about memory makers.

6.)    It is not necessary for you to win for your story to be great.  It is only necessary for you to sacrifice everything!

7.)    A good story teller doesn’t just live a good story, though.  He also invites others into the story with him, giving them a better story too.

 

I challenged myself and the guys at the walk this past weekend with the following.  See how it hits you.

What are you telling through the story that you are living?  Is your life telling the story of the Gospels to your friends and family?  It has been said that if you are not telling a good story with your life, nobody will think that you died too soon.  I want to live a life full of adventure.  One that shows that a Christian can have fun while serving a Risen Savior.  I want to live a life of perseverance that uses my God given gifts to their fullest.  When it comes time for God to take me home, even if I am 100 years old, I hope that the overwhelming topic at my funeral is “Man, it seems like Jay died too soon”!

 

Our family feels that God has called us to return to Uganda this summer.  We purchased our plane tickets today and we look forward to God filling in the pages of our story as we serve the wonderful people there.  We look forward to seeing many friends there in a few months. 

I received some pictures of James from Mubende this week.  James was a young boy that had been run over by a car on his way to school.  This accident caused him to break his right femur and have his left leg amputated above the knee.  Through the generous giving of Due Unto Others supporters, James was able to get his prosthetic leg this week.  What a blessing this will be for him! 

Jay