…For years I’ve wondered what God would make of our son… Would he fulfill every North American parent’s dream by settling down in an enormous house with a nice wife and provide us half a dozen grandchildren to spoil? The unexpected answer arrived in the mail one day.
Dear Dad and Mom,
…In the country of Uganda, The Lord’s Resistance Army is committing atrocities against children that are too awful for me to put in this letter. Over the years they’ve abducted 50,000 kids and turned the ones they haven’t murdered into soldiers. I want to go to work with street children in Kampala. I’ll be living with local missionaries. It will mean lots of needles and I’ll need to raise a little money too. I once heard you say Dad that Jesus came to comfort us, not to make us comfortable. I guess I’ve been comforted enough, it’s time to offer some to others.
Your son, Steve
“Where do you think we went wrong?” I asked his mother. “Couldn’t he just have a beach ministry in Hawaii?” She grinned despite the fact she’d stuck herself with a sewing needle. “Maybe we blew it taking him to other countries or raising him on God’s Word,” I suggested.
“It’s what we’ve prayed for all these years,” she smiled. “That he would live life on purpose.”
And so a few weeks ago we hugged our firstborn son until his ribs squeaked there in the airport, as he embarked on a grand adventure half a world away. It’s funny the questions people ask when they hear he’s going to Uganda. “Aren’t you worried about his safety?” they say. And I’d be a fool not to admit that I have my moments. Check a list of the most dangerous spots on earth, and Uganda nears the top. But is safety what we’re here for? Isn’t the most dangerous place on earth the place of complacency? Isn’t Suburbia sucking the life out of more of our teenagers than any foreign country ever could?
I must be honest. There are times I’d rather Steve were staying home, making good money, putting it away for my nursing home bills. Yet I cannot hope for more than this: that my children will hear God’s voice amid a noisy culture, and that they will obey.
(Taken from Sharks Ahoy! by Phil Callaway)