Gabriel


I asked you to pray for our friend, Loumo Gabriel. Well, I found out yesterday morning that he had passed away during the night. After worship yesterday, many of us from our church went to the home to be with his family and friends. We and many others from the community all gathered around the grave. I read and shared a bit from the story of Jesus and Lazarus in John 11. Of course, Jesus proved true his claim to be the resurrection and the life when he raised up from death his friend whom he loved. But not before entering into the sorrow of the occasion, weeping with those who wept. Isn’t that the gospel? Resurrection life has come because Jesus has entered into our sorrow. I was able to share about how, just as Jesus called forth and out came Lazarus from the tomb, so a day will come when all who have trusted in him will come bursting forth out of the graves to share in his resurrection life in glory forever.
We do not know about Gabriel in terms of where his heart was before his death. God knows. We are thankful for the many times we were able to visit him, pray for him and speak about Christ. A few weeks back the church took up an offering to help his mother who was caring for him in his last weeks of life. A number of us went out to deliver some food which was bought with that gift. How greatly moved and blessed I was to see some of my Karimojong brothers and sisters, with tears in their eyes, praying for Gabriel while appealing to him to be looking to Jesus. God is good.
We are thrilled to now have in our midst our newest teammates, Christopher and Chloe Verdick. Chris is working with Bob Wright and Chloe, blessed with good accounting skills, has taken over the bookkeeping. I am very happy and relieved to no longer have that on my plate.
I have been so blessed by the fellowship and ministry of my summer intern, David Landow. He will be returning to the states at the end of the month to continue his seminary training. He will be greatly missed.
These fine servants of Christ, the Verdicks and David Landow, have put us to shame with their excellent blogging about the work here. So if you are interested in further reading, check out their sites.
www.verdickmoja.com
www.davidlandow.com
       

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