Doctor Alex, a Ugandan medical doctor, and I pulled up to the children’s hospital in Jinja, Uganda. We arrived on a bota-bota, a small motorcycle taxi used everywhere in Uganda. It was a cool, quiet morning. However, behind the white, razor-wire-topped fence that surrounds the hospital was a bustling little economy.  

As we came down the driveway to the hospital’s open doors, nurses and patients were scurrying around. Doctor Alex brought me to the emergency, chronic illness, acute illness, and starvation wards. There, I saw children suffering from a variety of ailments, from broken limbs to heart murmurs and from starvation to tuberculosis. The children within and surrounding Jinja had at least some access to medical care through this hospital. But most of the children in the villages deep within the Ugandan bush barely had any medical care. During that moment, I had an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and numbness.  

Two years prior to this encounter, my family, including my parents, brother, and two sisters, traveled to Uganda. We were able to experience the Ugandan culture with AFLC missionaries Pastor Brent Raan and his family when we went on a short-term mission trip up to Gulu. We witnessed the poverty and distress, yet the believers there still had an amazing zeal and fervor for Christ. During our short stay in Gulu, I met a doctor from New Zealand named Nick who worked at the local clinic in Gulu. After some conversation, I was able to shadow him for an hour at the clinic. During this time, I saw everything from a wheezing baby to a person with a major infection and a severely beaten man. Everyone who came into the clinic to seek healing emanated a sense of hopelessness. Most people knew their desperate situation. They could barely afford the right treatments to heal and recover—if at all—especially the people from the deep villages. 

I began to process the effects of poverty and poor medical care for the impoverished before, during, and after that trip. My time there helped me realize the desperate situation in Uganda. The second trip brought to life the desperation. The people who were the most desperate were God’s little children. The most vulnerable people on the planet—children—cannot attain adequate care to stay healthy. Instead, they are starved and diseased.  

After the second trip, the desperation drowned me. I needed to take a break, step back, and take a breath. Then, I needed to look at the big picture—God’s plan. For nothing happens on this earth or in this universe of which God is unaware (Psalm 95). I needed to realize that the God we serve knows all things. He is the same God who heard the Israelites’ pleas in Egypt. This was the first thing I needed to learn.  

The second thing about God that I learned was the “Jesus aspect.” Jesus became man, died on a cross for our sins, and rose again. Jesus defeated the enemy. There is nothing on this planet which is not under his control (John 16:33).  

Amid chaos, it looks like God left us. But he is right in the midst of everything. He cares about and loves hurting people. Now I can exhale and keep taking steps forward, knowing God has everything under his control. 

Josiah Trost [FLBC freshman] is a member of Emmanuel Lutheran, Kenyon, Minn.