Walking the path marked out - by Charity Okurut (early 2000's)

No matter what the circumstances, no matter the happenings, know this: He holds you in the palm of His hands and He has wonderful plans for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.
Along the way, don’t look down so long that you don’t see the road ahead. Don't keep your head up so high that you don’t see the path, and so trip and fall. Don’t look back so long that you forget where you are going, nor keep your eyes fixed so far ahead that you forget where you came from, and what made you who you are today.
Memorize the faces of those travelling alongside you. Identify those who need your help and recognize those who need to help you.
And no matter what - never give up!

~ Charity Okurut nee Pilkey

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More of life in the village - began writing in the village, and will slowly finish this week

As I sit here to write, I am surrounded by small children –some nephews, a little orphaned girl, and a great-nephew, plus some of my own children coming and going. I came to the church building to write, because the internet reception is better, the heat is not as intense, and I thought I would be alone – if I could speak the language I might ask them to leave for a little while, but I think that choosing love, and bearing the noise of all the “emotokars” (cars made of pieces of wood –that don’t resemble cars, but with an imagination and some good sound effects, they become perfect cars!)…in the time that it took to write that, they realized that I wasn’t looking at pictures or doing anything interesting, so they took their cars outside –but left a baby behind to play on the dirt floor. Actually, the floor is not dirt, it is made of cow dung. Here is Benjamin’s description of the [making of the] cow-dung floor: “I watched one of my cousins make a cow-poop-floor. First, they coll...

“Palm Sunday”. Thinking about Worship, “social distancing” & examining ourselves and our Gospel message

Psalm 139:23, 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” 2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem by a crowd full of people singing and rejoicing over miracles. When Nicodemus came to Jesus and said that they (the Jewish leaders) knew that He must be from God because of the signs/miracles, Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) The Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah, and the entire Old Testament is full of messianic prophesies - on the road to Emmeaus, after His resurrection, Jesus went through the entire scripture to teach that it was all about Himself. The mes...

reflections on airports and travel (written in 2003)

Departures Written by Charity Pilkey, April 2003 To every photograph, there exits the negative from which the subject was derived. And here stand many subjects. Some would think themselves the photographer, or more defined as the photojournalist. Others, of course, are the born model. While some still, would rather not be depicted as either. But all are indeed, to me and my purpose, if not in reality the subject. The subjects in a photograph taken here, before each one’s destination, and yet also, after their arrival. Each one has a negative; a strip like that of a comic, but more properly described as a slide-show. And whether their departure is but for a little while or if it is expected to be for an eternity, there will exist forever in their mind’s eye, this place of departure and the happenings that brought them here. This place where everyone holds ready their passport, will be stamp now in each one’s life passport . A stamp which cannot be erased....

Life in the village, as a parable that points to Christ and to eternity

I have stepped out of the village for one week, and am spending time with my sister and her family in Kampala (with my 4 littles). Samuel is still in the village and working hard to finish a permanent brick house for our extended family there. We began this house 9 years ago, and it has been very slowly taking shape. Unfortunately, not much can be accomplished with any quality, without Samuel overseeing (even now, if he leaves a “professional” builder to work on one portion of the house, while he is on the other side, he can come back and find that no level has been used, and the work needs to be redone). As I wrotelast time , I could die to certain life comforts, and would gladly count them a loss for Christ, but still struggle with being a foreigner with the language. We haven’t been called to live and minister long term in an African village (at this point in our lives). So, I am enjoying a visit with my sister before spending the next few weeks in the village and the...

Excerpt from Chapters One & Fifteen of Samuel's testimony/book

1 Ingoratok: People from Ngora From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26 MY FAMILY COMES FROM WHAT is now the District of Ngora, in Uganda, East Africa. And before that, as history tells it, my people were traveling for generations. My ancestors originally came from the Mediterranean, which perhaps is why even today our language has some similarities with the romance languages of the Mediterranean. Words such as emesa which means “table” in my mother tongue of Ateso, is very similar to the Spanish translation mesa, to name but one of many examples. From the Mediterranean, we travelled down through Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and then down through Uganda and Kenya. We arrived in Uganda around 1600 AD. As we travelled, we left settlers along the way, including the present-day Kalenjin, Maasai and Jie peoples of Kenya, the Kuuku of Sout...

Passionate for Truth: If you are a born-again Christian, do you use the JW Bible or Book of Mormon? What if I told you that Jesus appeared to me with insight into re-translating the Bible? What If I added words to the Bible and made it available for Christians everywhere?

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” Revelation 22:18-19 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:1-2 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6 In the Garden with Eve and in the dessert with Jesus, Satan used the Word of God too... ...

The Father-heart of God: a Definition

Having grown up hearing and learning the meaning of the “Father-heart of God”, I have never thought to sit and write a definition, until now as we prepare for a time of staff training (or envisioning). And as I have recently been told that the term didn’t make grammatical sense to someone -I wondered if it was our (mine and Samuel’s) Canadian, British and Ugandan language background, and similar church and training background that gave as a unique understanding of a term that maybe doesn’t actually makes sense? But when I googled it, mostly American blogs and studies came up - so American English uses the term too …but what does the term mean ? That is what I want to write about here. I am sitting in a coffee shop, thinking about the Father-heart of God, with headphones on. I felt compelled to listen to “How Great Thou Art” as I write and wish I could sing at the top of my voice while sitting here… thinking of all that it has ever meant to me and what it means now, the great truth...

Reflecting on Child Soldiers and IDPs in Soroti, 2004: Journal Entry and Poem

Child Soldier (Reflecting again on meeting child soldiers in Soroti, Uganda in 2004) Although I didn't know it at the time, I met my husband - and even interviewed him- in Soroti Town in 2004. That visit will forever be etched on my memory. We have just published the second edition to Samuel's story now. Having freshly re-read and edited every page, I have again re-lived his story as if it is my own (which is probably why I have been feeling so exhausted lately!). Imagining life as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), living on a battlefield and surviving in the jungles, is one thing; remembering the child soldiers and child wives that we met is another. The picture on the right, and the one below, are of IDPs in Soroti. They have beautiful smiles, and while they were completely displaced and spread out throughout the city, seeking safety from Kony's army that rampaged villages in the district, they were still "innocent". The children that we me...

Citizens of Heaven: reflections on how the lack of speaking and understanding a language make me a foreigner.

I have experienced life as a foreigner in varying degrees over the majority of my life, probably beginning on my first short term missions trip (to Uganda) 22 years ago (yes, 22 years…yikes!). I don’t recall feeling so much a foreigner on that trip, but I was changed, and became a distinct “foreigner” upon my return to Canada. I think it was then that I began to learn how to die to myself and began to desire to live out James 1:27 (in it’s entirety – I yearned to live out true religion by taking care of orphans and widows AND by remaining unpolluted by the secular world) *note: I am far from perfect, and simultaneously began a fight against sin, as once convicted of something, once one knows the good that they should do and they do not do it, they then sin… the struggle against the flesh is real, but with every victory, as sin is put to death and as I choose to live life in the Spirit, I am learning more and more how to live a life separate from the world. ...

A Call to Discern, Contend for & be Sanctified by Truth

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