I've always said I'm not religious I'm about having a relationship with Christ. You can call me a Christian if you want but I don't label myself that way because it has so many twisted connotations in our society.
I was reading in Luke 1 this morning. I was struck by verse 28.
(In the Message)
Good Morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out.
God be with you.
Right in that moment the realization of who Mary must have been for God to choose her and make this deceleration over her struck me. She wasn't like her Jewish culture making sacrifices at the temple but not really knowing God, making and following silly rules; She knew God. She had a relationship with Him. She probably prayed daily for the coming of the Messiah. She was already a part of God's work on the earth before she became the mother of the Messiah because she was praying for God's will to be done on the earth.
I want to be a part of God's plans on the earth I want the physical importance but I forget about the ground work that makes me qualified to be used by God. The prayer and the relationship. I think I often claim to not be religious because my religion looks different then the typical definition. I do a lot of things without talking to God about it. I forget to spend time with Lord sometimes. I go to church, I do churchy things, I go on mission trips, and sometimes there's a lot of relationship but sometimes there is none. I don't want to be a Pharisee making my life all about "things I do for God" instead of just being with God. I want to be like Mary. God, take my heart and make it yours. Mold it to desire you more then it does right now. Show me how to pray, show me how to seek you more. Convict me again if I begin to fall into religion.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
what a ride
The sound of this blog will be different then usually because I'm tagging it so travelers making the same trip can find some good info. There's not much out there.
30 hours of peace from the Lord. That's the best way to describe the bus ride from Kampala, Uganda to Arusha, Tanzania. I went into the trip with expectations of the worst. Yeah, it was bad, but not as bad as I expected. It cost me 95,000 Uganda Shillings which was about $38 US. The bus was 5.5 hours later then my ticket said. That frustrated me some, but I was used to Africa time by that point and wasn't too upset. I had some chapti in the restaurant with no ill effects and it was only 3,000 shillings for 2. I traveled with Kampala Coach and I would recommend traveling with them again. Once we were finally on the road it was rush hour traffic so the driver took a back road route out of Kampala which was bumpy but faster then normal. We got to the Kenya boarder around 12:30 am. If you a just getting a transit visa I would recommend bringing with you small bills in US dollars. The sign said the cost was $10-20 and when I said I only had $13 us he said I would need to get more because that wasn't enough and I ended up paying $25 because of what I lost in exchanging Tanzania shillings into US. Don't let anyone fill out your paper work, they don't allow agents to bring your stuff to the counter. If you are muzungu they swarm you. Just tell them you will do it yourself. You shouldn't have to pay to exit the country only entering. Oh and Tanzania visitor Visa in August 2012 was $100 not $50 like Uganda
Anyway. That was the only area I had any trouble. I was very nervous about my stuff getting stolen and I was afraid I wouldn't sleep. I wrapped my backpack around my legs and put my feet on top and and my purse around me and nestled between me and the bus wall. I dozed off several times and by the end I realized I was a lot more safe then I was fearing. All my bags made it and nothing was taken from me.
I hardly ate or drank at all the whole trip because I was afraid of needing to go to the bathroom because we only stopped to let people on or off. Sometimes we went 5 or 6 hours without stopping.
The pump on the second gas tank broke. So we broke down on the side of the road for a while and they cyphened the gas out from that tank into the other tank and we were going again.
I really felt like the people on the bus were watching out for me and I didn't feel like a target was on me because I was white. The staff was kind and were very helpful to me.
So a word to those looking to take this journey, it's bumpy, it's smelly, it's hot, it's exhausting, it's nerve racking, it's REALLY REALLY long, but it's crazy cheep. So if you're willing to go on an adventure I say do it but expect the worst. Otherwise, fly, it's not that expensive.
30 hours of peace from the Lord. That's the best way to describe the bus ride from Kampala, Uganda to Arusha, Tanzania. I went into the trip with expectations of the worst. Yeah, it was bad, but not as bad as I expected. It cost me 95,000 Uganda Shillings which was about $38 US. The bus was 5.5 hours later then my ticket said. That frustrated me some, but I was used to Africa time by that point and wasn't too upset. I had some chapti in the restaurant with no ill effects and it was only 3,000 shillings for 2. I traveled with Kampala Coach and I would recommend traveling with them again. Once we were finally on the road it was rush hour traffic so the driver took a back road route out of Kampala which was bumpy but faster then normal. We got to the Kenya boarder around 12:30 am. If you a just getting a transit visa I would recommend bringing with you small bills in US dollars. The sign said the cost was $10-20 and when I said I only had $13 us he said I would need to get more because that wasn't enough and I ended up paying $25 because of what I lost in exchanging Tanzania shillings into US. Don't let anyone fill out your paper work, they don't allow agents to bring your stuff to the counter. If you are muzungu they swarm you. Just tell them you will do it yourself. You shouldn't have to pay to exit the country only entering. Oh and Tanzania visitor Visa in August 2012 was $100 not $50 like Uganda
Anyway. That was the only area I had any trouble. I was very nervous about my stuff getting stolen and I was afraid I wouldn't sleep. I wrapped my backpack around my legs and put my feet on top and and my purse around me and nestled between me and the bus wall. I dozed off several times and by the end I realized I was a lot more safe then I was fearing. All my bags made it and nothing was taken from me.
I hardly ate or drank at all the whole trip because I was afraid of needing to go to the bathroom because we only stopped to let people on or off. Sometimes we went 5 or 6 hours without stopping.
The pump on the second gas tank broke. So we broke down on the side of the road for a while and they cyphened the gas out from that tank into the other tank and we were going again.
I really felt like the people on the bus were watching out for me and I didn't feel like a target was on me because I was white. The staff was kind and were very helpful to me.
So a word to those looking to take this journey, it's bumpy, it's smelly, it's hot, it's exhausting, it's nerve racking, it's REALLY REALLY long, but it's crazy cheep. So if you're willing to go on an adventure I say do it but expect the worst. Otherwise, fly, it's not that expensive.
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