Completing the work

I shall never depart Africa unchanged.

I attended a well-drilling/pump repair course in North Carolina a couple months back. Amidst the fall mountain air and vibrantly changing leaves, the founder of the training center, a Scottish missionary of days past would daily tell of his Jesus wanderings and gathered wisdom. The class was targeted toward missionaries. “God is forming Christ in all of us…it’s just that we [putting himself in the same category as his students] are so stubborn that He has to send us half way around the world to complete this work in us.”

How painful this refining work can be -- but how beautiful the revelation.


Meet Maggie. She knows pain.

She’s experienced loss.

She’s been rejected.

She works long hours.

She lives on less per day than we probably spend on coffee.

But you’d never guess.

Her smile comes from within – radiates from her soul and decorates her face.


This dear sweet face that greeted us upon every return to the guest house, no matter the hour. Rushing towards our transport…”Welcome Back” in the beautiful Ugandan laced English.

Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

As we were pulling away from the church plant in Pader (which J-Squad helped fund) – Pastor Johnson asked me if I noticed anything about the church. I commented on the building and the commitment of the growing congregation...but then fell silent in my thoughts. Finally it formulated...”Do you know what I actually saw...I saw Joy.” God-given in its purest form...true everlasting Joy. “I wondered if you noticed” he replied.

The outside of the church.
Inside during morning service.
The choir
Pader...one of if not the most physically challenging locations we visited during the World Race...absolutely filled by Joy.

You can’t manufacture this Joy I witnessed...you can’t buy it, earn it, achieve it or sell it...

It makes me contemplate my own journey with the Lord. It makes me realize why He continually sends me to a land half way around the world...to witness His joy...because He doesn’t want me to miss it.



















"I am Justin, this is my wife Joyce, so together we are Pastor JJ." And of course everyone remembers Samwell! (who by the way introduces himself as Pator Sam these days.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1: 3-6