In the Picture: Francis with a mother and her six children in Eastern Uganda, their father is in prison on death row .
Normally we don’t ask prisoners the crimes they committed while we minister to them in prison or even before we go out to their families to search for the children to bring them to Wells of Hope . But while in the field we come to learn of their crimes and we are told of stories some of which are too horrendous.
There are have been days, upon learning of the crime that was committed by the inmate, I start to wonder whether I would have made that journey to go and trace this man or woman’s family. If I had known what crime he or she committed probably I would not go. When we get to the homes and are able to see their children, we find them living in deplorable situations, characterized by abject poverty ;these innocent children welcome us with huge smiles when they see us and although some are in tears .I think I have seen Christ face to face whenever we have go out to find these children. His mercies and love begin to flow through us and we are compelled to take the road to reach out and love the children.
One story that almost devastated me was of an inmate who stole money from a young boy aged 14 years; After doing that he went ahead to slaughter him in broad day light as a sacrifice over an anti-hill! With assistance from his friends they bound him by stuffing his mouth and, slit his throat spilling the blood on the anti-hill. And this was to appease the gods, so that the he is not arrested.
The stories are too many, but one thing that keeps coming in my mind is that Jesus takes the place of prisoners and says that whenever you help a prisoner or anyone in need, it is not the prisoner or person in need who you are helping; BUT it is Jesus the SAVIOUR we are actually helping .Otherwise, given these kind of the stories, it would be very difficult to help these prisoners in whatever way.
Looking at Matthew 25:34-40 Verse 40, Jesus says. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” We see that Jesus takes the shame, the pain, suffering and the sin and owns it all.
Like He demonstrated on the Cross , Jesus takes all our burdens, our shame and pain .What was ours becomes His .SO when we find ourselves in situations where we are in need , Christ takes over our condition ,and then He presents an opportunity for those who are in a better position or to whom Light has been revealed to reach out to suffering people (The Sick, Hungry, naked, strangers and prisoners) to love and provide them Hope. And when we show mercy to them , it is not them that we are reaching out to; it is Jesus who has taken over the suffering of the people in need that we are helping!!.
So for you and me to be able to help others, we need to focus on Jesus and not the people we are reaching out to, because it is Jesus that we are reaching out to. It’s an opportunity our Lord presents to us everyday to reach out to Him.
And to achieve this we need to seek His face everyday so that He leads us to do what He wants us to do for His people for the sake of His Own purposes and glory.
You can be God’s hands and Feet!
Even the smallest donation helps reach children with parents in prison around the world with the love of Jesus. Please click here to see wish list!
Francis Ssuubi
Founder
Wells of Hope
There are have been days, upon learning of the crime that was committed by the inmate, I start to wonder whether I would have made that journey to go and trace this man or woman’s family. If I had known what crime he or she committed probably I would not go. When we get to the homes and are able to see their children, we find them living in deplorable situations, characterized by abject poverty ;these innocent children welcome us with huge smiles when they see us and although some are in tears .I think I have seen Christ face to face whenever we have go out to find these children. His mercies and love begin to flow through us and we are compelled to take the road to reach out and love the children.
One story that almost devastated me was of an inmate who stole money from a young boy aged 14 years; After doing that he went ahead to slaughter him in broad day light as a sacrifice over an anti-hill! With assistance from his friends they bound him by stuffing his mouth and, slit his throat spilling the blood on the anti-hill. And this was to appease the gods, so that the he is not arrested.
The stories are too many, but one thing that keeps coming in my mind is that Jesus takes the place of prisoners and says that whenever you help a prisoner or anyone in need, it is not the prisoner or person in need who you are helping; BUT it is Jesus the SAVIOUR we are actually helping .Otherwise, given these kind of the stories, it would be very difficult to help these prisoners in whatever way.
Looking at Matthew 25:34-40 Verse 40, Jesus says. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” We see that Jesus takes the shame, the pain, suffering and the sin and owns it all.
Like He demonstrated on the Cross , Jesus takes all our burdens, our shame and pain .What was ours becomes His .SO when we find ourselves in situations where we are in need , Christ takes over our condition ,and then He presents an opportunity for those who are in a better position or to whom Light has been revealed to reach out to suffering people (The Sick, Hungry, naked, strangers and prisoners) to love and provide them Hope. And when we show mercy to them , it is not them that we are reaching out to; it is Jesus who has taken over the suffering of the people in need that we are helping!!.
So for you and me to be able to help others, we need to focus on Jesus and not the people we are reaching out to, because it is Jesus that we are reaching out to. It’s an opportunity our Lord presents to us everyday to reach out to Him.
And to achieve this we need to seek His face everyday so that He leads us to do what He wants us to do for His people for the sake of His Own purposes and glory.
You can be God’s hands and Feet!
Even the smallest donation helps reach children with parents in prison around the world with the love of Jesus. Please click here to see wish list!
Francis Ssuubi
Founder
Wells of Hope
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