Source of the Nile

After 16 years in Kenya, we finally travel to Uganda, which has been a hot spot for American church of Christ missionaries in recent years, with teams in Mbarara, Kampala, Jinja and Mbale and a family in Fort Portal. We spent a week in Mbale, where the local mission team and church have a training school for church leaders, a congregation and dreams for a University. I taught a course called the Ephesian Connection -- all the Scripture and events in the New Testament surrounding the city of Ephesus. 20 students from their advanced program attended, and we had a good week.

And once again in our short lives God has given us richly of his wonder. After flying to Kampala, we took a public bus (large van) to Mbale, 6 hours on the road. Then we had good fellowship and good treatment by the Mbale church. It turned out that one of the cars belonging to a Kampala missionary was in Mbale, and we had the privilege of driving it back to Kampala. That meant we could stop off in Jinja. There the church has developed The Source Cafe, so we had lunch and bought some of the coffee they produce. We were planning to spend the night at a hotel. But while we were drinking coffee, Kim Langford showed up at the Cafe and invited us to her house. It was great being with Kim and her two boys, one of whom is just the age of one of our granddaughters.

Our sense of wonder was filled to the brim by the natural setting in Jinja. This is where the explorer Speke in 1860 found the source of the Nile River. All my life I have read and fantasized about the Nile -- mostly about Egypt of course. But here we could take a boat ride up the river a little ways to where it begins in Lake Victoria -- we could stand at the Zero Mile marker (it's 4000 miles to the Mediterranean). A great experience.

After spending the night, we drove up a dirt road to Bugajali Falls, which is one of the #5 level rapids in the area (this will soon be destroyed by the new hydroelectric dam they will build). We climbed down the rocks and sat a few feet from the river just below the rapids -- incredible! I can't describe the joy of that moment. So we sat and talked about all the places in the Bible where water is mentioned, and we especially thought about the voice that John heard in his Revelation vision that was "the sound of many waters."

We are grateful for all our experiences, in family, in the church, in nature. They are all filled to the brim with joy. And we will not soon forget the sound of many waters.

"let the living water flow over us"