Riotous Love

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

The evening of April 28 was as normal as any at GSF, until one of our older teens came in with a soccer injury. After assessing him, it turned out to be a very dislocated shoulder. After several unsuccessful attempts to reduce it, we decided to take him to Kampala the following day to get it set properly. I was disappointed, because we had planned to take public taxis to get to town for a retreat that weekend. But now we had a change of plan. How could we know that God was orchestrating for our safety?

On Friday, April 29 we moved towards Kampala in a fellow missionary's private car, blissfully ignorant of the unrest happening at that very moment. What began as peaceful protests had morphed into violent demonstrations over the most recent arrest of the man who lost February's presidential elections, Kizza Besigye. When we arrived in town, we noticed something was amiss. There were no cars in the streets. And pedestrians were not moving, just staring at our car as we passed. A passerby simply told us, "if the police stop you, just tell them where you are going."

Moving close to the clinic, we were greeted by a sight I would not quickly forget: hoards of people running past, debris blocking the roads, and the sound of gun fire and tear gas being released. Police were everywhere. Many were dressed in full out armored riot-gear, all carried weapons, and most had gas masks strapped to their faces. A man bleeding from his head clung to the back of a boda, and an unconscious woman was slung across another boda, moving with the rushing crowd.

Our small band quickly left the car and went into the safety of the clinic. The remainder of our morning was spent watching ambulance after ambulance pass which were carrying some of the injured, random crowds of people running past us, and the pops and booms of gun shots and the release of tear gas. I felt like I was on the inside of some CNN news special report!

But through all of that, God was loving us! If our plans had gone as I had wanted, we would have been on a taxi, in the downtown taxi park where many sources say the worst fighting was. Instead we were safely tucked away in a medical clinic, getting the care people needed, and we even had a private vehicle for our convenience. All because a young man has been injured the night before!

All day as I thought about the "what if"s, I couldn't help but notice the beautifully orchestrated protection God extended over us.

Never underestimate what God can do with a dislocated shoulder.