Kampalalalalalalalala

So I am in Kampala. I am not realizing just how much I missed really tasty food.

I got Coco puffs and a sausage roll and almost died from happiness.

Now, I didn't miss these things at all when I was in Sudan, but now that I am in civilization, it is kind of strange how happy I am to have them. And milk. And cheese.

Anyway...

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Kampala is FUNKY. It is a weird city if I have ever seen one. On one hand, it is a LOT like new york. When you are downtown, it looks just like it... just not very diverse.

But on the other hand... Everyone here has just recently come from tribes. Very few people have actually been born in Kampala. So that influences all kinds of things and makes them so strange.

One thing that is funny is how... even though I don't know how this would happen... the bodas are MORE dangerous here then they are in Sudan.

Yeah.

I mean, picture Manhatten traffic, add in badly potholed roads, and add in about 50,000 motorcycle buzzing in and out of every gap that is wide enough for their handlebars to fit through... and some that aren't.

I have already seen someone wreck on one of them, and almost had a wreck (When you are driving highspeed next to a car and it starts to change lanes... onto you... that's bad. I had to beat on the van with my fist to get it to stop so we could live)

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So I'll type more about Kampala later, but for now I wanted to say something that has been on my mind a lot during this trip.

Now, in most churches in Africa, there is a certain way to pray. This way includes lots of screaming and intense looks on your face and shaking and bending.

See, one of the things I do most is wonder. I wonder about a lot of things in the church. Now, I don't especially trust my wisdom, so I don't want to be foolish and speak out against things.... But I still wonder.

One of the things I wonder most about is this kind of prayer. I don't understand it. I mean, from reading the Bible I seem to have gotten something much different then everyone else.

See this is how I understand it, biblically: I am talking to God.

Not very complicated.

So... I know God hears me when I talk to him, so logically, I should talk to him the way I talk to any other person who hears me. But it seems like a lot of people talk to God as if he doesn't really hear them. Or as if his ears are really bad from his old age.

For instance, according to me, when I ask God for stuff it is like asking Trevor (my brother) for his ice cream. Now if I want him to give me his ice cream he just scooped, which many times, because I am lazy, I do, I will say "Hey Trevor, can you give me that ice cream please?" Now if he is in a good mood, he will give it to me... he is a nice brother and he cares about me.

So that is how I logically see talking to God. I need something, I ask for it. It takes about ten seconds. But that is not typically how I see prayer in the church today.

Back to Trevor: If he is in a bad mood, he will be hesitant. If he is, I would beg more until he gave it to me (assuming I really wanted ice cream that badly). If he was in a REALLY bad mood, I might have to beg for like... a minute.

So it seems like most people take the "Bad mood" example to justify praying over and over for the same thing, really fervently. They point to the example of the widow coming to the Judge and bothering him until he go so annoyed that he gave way. Or the example of the man knocking and knocking at the door until finally the annoyed occupant came and gave him food. As if we "win" things from God through endurance.

But personally, the way I have seen God, through the bible and through my experiences, he is not some person who only gives us things when we annoy him enough. He is a father, and he is unchanging. Like Trevor if he was in an amazing, loving mood all the time. I mean, if I was in a good mood I would give my brother or sister anything they want, as long as it is in my power to give it to them. And I am very limited in love, I am very selfish, very needy, and generally a broken human being. God, on the other hand, is none of those things. He is perfectly loving, perfectly selfless, and he is complete. So the idea that he would only give me something if I annoy him enough seems ridiculous to me. If I, being a sinner and a broken person, would give my brother anything in my power to give him if he just asked, how much more would God, being perfect, give me anything as long as I just ask??

But lots of peoples prayer doesn't seem to reflect this principle. When they want to pray for something, they say "IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS, I PRAY FOR SUCH AND SUCH TO HAPPEN, LORD JESUS MIGHTY FATHER! AND I PRAY THAT SUCH AND SUCH WOULD TOTALLY HAPPEN, LORD JESUS MIGHTY FATHER, THAT YOU WOULD CAUSE SUCH AND SUCH TO HAPPEN WITH YOUR MIGHTY HAND, LORD JESUS MIGHTY FATHER!!! I PRAY AGAINST THE POWERS OF SATAN, LORD JESUS MIGHTY FATHER, THAT ARE PREVENTING SUCH AND SUCH FROM HAPPENING AND I BINNNNNNNND YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS, LORD JESUS MIGHTY FATHER, YOU WILL NOT PREVAIL!!!!!!!"

Now, when I hear this... I simply cannot escape picturing the same manner of speaking in the context of me asking for ice cream:

I go up to Trevor, and getting my best "intense" face on, I raise my hands and scream: "IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS, I PRAY THAT YOU WOULD GIVE ME THAT ICE CREAM, BROTHER TREVOR AWESOME GUY! AND I PRAY THAT YOU WOULD PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR ICE CREAM, BROTHER TREVOR AWESOME GUY, AND I PRAY THAT YOU WOULD CAUSE YOUR ICE CREAM, BROTHER TREVOR AWESOME GUY, TO COME INTO MY HANDS RIGHT NOW!!!! I PRAY AGAINST THE POWERS OF SATAN THAT ARE PREVENTING ICE CREAM FROM COMING FORTH INTO MY POSSESION, BROTHER TREVOR AWESOME GUY, AND I BINNNNNNNNND YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS, YOU WILL NOT PREVAIL!!!!!"

Now I picture him sitting there stunned for a couple seconds, and saying "Wow... all you had to do was ask." Or maybe "Were you really even talking to me, or just saying stuff?"

Do we not have faith unless we feel like we have done something to deserve the thing we are praying for? Like we have somehow won it by endurance? Don't we know that all the pacing and screaming and repeating in the world couldn't make us deserve a penny from God?

Maybe I am wrong. I mean, in Acts they were praying fervently for Paul's release. But then again... they obviously didn't have faith for it, as they did not even believe that he was at the front door. Maybe sometimes that kind of prayer works because it makes us believe that what we are praying for will happen, though if we were to have the faith and just say "God", it would also happen.

I don't know... so I don't teach... but I do wonder. A lot. In fact I am quite torn about the issue right now. On one hand I don't want to seem like some unspiritual, uncomfortable christian in the prayer meetings here, but on the other hand I feel so stupid screaming my lungs out for things for hours when God says all I have to do is ask.

What do you guys think?