In the Mind of a Fish

Last night we heard the news about our friend in Uganda who had been shot. It was early in the morning for them, but late at night for us. We were asked to pray for him since the hospital there in Jinja didn't have blood to supply Abe for what he had lost.

LaFonda and I knew him in 2006. He drove us all over the place and spent lots of time with us. Like our other friends in Africa, we cared for his well being.

Africa is such a violent place at times. It is a place where people die needlessly all of the time. People who are otherwise healthy will turn up with malaria and be dead a little time after that. Today, we have another jolt of that reality of the Africa we love.

Even though we are far away and we don't see everyone there as often as we would like to, we care deeply for them and hurt with them when they hurt.

The last time we were in Africa, I left LaFonda for a few more weeks while she finished up what we were doing. During that time, another of our friends died of Aids. I think it was the year prior to that when the lady we were supporting died in her village.


I've read articles that indicated that the Africans don't have any kind of respect for life. But, what I have found is that they don't have any respect for death. Death seems to be much more prevalent there than here in the States and most of it seems to be avoidable in some way and so it seems pointless.

We are going to miss Abe and we are full of sadness at his departure. But we also know that he has not died. Jesus said that even though he dies, he will still be living. He passed from life here to life there and he is resting and waiting with the others for our homecoming.