In so much hurry to make a travelling connection, I dropped both the money and the tickets, and realised this predicament only at the terminal where I was due to make the connection! Fortunately, I had faith that my God would not abandon me in this loss, and I had not lost my passport.

After a repetition of several visits to the "Lost and Found" place, in vain, and a report of my loss to the police, I realised that I had to drop the dream of finding what I had lost, in favour of some other redeeming action. I had no money to make a telephone call to Michigan! Short of my God, I was a pauper in New York! Returning to the "Lost and Found" booth one more time, and after I had failed to persuade anyone in the terminal with means to place a call to Michigan on my behalf, I pronounced my need to make a telephone call, to nearby listeners. None of them seemed to react till I asked in a steady voice, "Is there a good Samaritan here?" Only then did a gentleman move to some drawer, pull out a ten-dollar bill, and pass it on to me, to go and buy a phone card. In my great appreciation, I wanted to know his contact particulars, but he declined my request!

A long story must now be cut short. One telephone call to East Lansing, Michigan, raised another telephone call to Manhattan, Kansas. A cousin in Kansas completed the divine circuit of rescue with a call to South African Airways at JFK with instructions as to the means of communication between me and her. Through Western Union money transfer, I got money both for a ticket to Kansas and a meal. At 1800 hours New York time, I was having the meal, and was ready to board a plane to Kansas. In Kansas, and together with my relatives, we worked out how to proceed with my journey to Michigan in time for the conference.

The tickets were later found, but not the money. There was a flood of human kindness and understanding in this loss. Without this experience, I would not have captured the essence of today's Scripture verse:

Isaiah 55:1 – Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (KJV)

Prayer: Mighty God, You have shown us how our trust in You never fails to protect us! Yes, You have calmed the sea to save our ship from sinking, and, so often, we have bought wine and milk without money, by the fountain of Your love. Strengthen our faith in You and banish all human doubt about Your saving grace to those who call upon You for protection. Amen.

On May 19, 2001, I received a telephone call to tell me that my friend, Patrick, had just passed away. I had last talked on the telephone with Patrick exactly a week before, and he had assured me that, though he had not been feeling well lately, he was getting better. Indeed, on the Monday of the week he died, he went about his usual work schedule of carrying out land surveys!

Patrick did not die of a sudden accident. It was lung cancer that took his life. Many of his friends, including myself, had not been privy to his cancer problem and, under the circumstances, missed the opportunity of visiting with him in his last hours.

Not knowing how long it will be before a friend departs this earth makes one need some preparation to handle the natural sadness of such a parting. With respect to Patrick, I did not have this preparation and so I received the sad news with shock, accompanied with automatic tears.

But now I must share the rewards I got in exchange for the parting of earthly company with Patrick. Patrick was 58 years old at the time of his death and I was 53 years old. Since Patrick and I had attended many funerals of friends departed, we had shared a common experience on these sad occasions over our years. We had seen a lot of tears shed! It was thus the first time we had been at a funeral service together (his funeral service) that we had observed not a single tear shed in the church! It was, perhaps, the lovely music from the choir of which he had been a member, and the thoughts that our beloved Patrick must be at peace, that kept our tears away. This rare observation was my first reward.

The second reward was a revelation to me as to why my tears had come on first hearing the sad news. The shortest verse in the Holy Bible was such a revelation. Jesus wept. Yes, my Saviour wept at some point in mourning His friend Lazarus. He did not just cry. He wept! Yet he knew that He was going to bring Lazarus back to life — a thing I knew I could not do for Patrick! If Jesus wept over the effect of Lazarus' death even with the power to bring him back to life afterwards, should it surprise anyone, including myself, that my tears often come in mourning circumstances?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to cry, only to wipe away our tears with your love and power during those times we mourn our dear departed. We cherish these revelations in the name of Jesus your Son. Amen.

Some minor roads that feed into the main ones in Gaborone, Botswana, do not give their users any right of way to enter the main roads. On occasion, however, a considerate driver along the main road assists fellow drivers in the side road by stopping and flashing his or her headlights as a sign that the minor road users may enter the main road. Having experienced such a kindness, I decided one morning recently to let some drivers in, and was happy to see their appreciation by gentle hand waves.

Not used to so using my headlights, however, I forgot to turn them off as I went on my way to the workplace. Moreover, since it is now summer in Botswana, there is no darkness to warrant the use of headlights immediately after dawn. So, I was not consciously aware that my lights were on as I approached my workplace. I was several minutes later than usual at the parking lot (mainly because of having stopped to let in the other drivers) and thus found my favourite parking place occupied. I found a parking slot some place where my left neighbour was another car and my right neighbour was a pavement.

I hurried out of the car and left those lights on! Six hours later, I returned to the car intending to use it to go home for lunch. This plan failed as surely as the batteries were flat! I did not feel particularly hungry so I went back to my workroom thinking about the most efficient way to solve the battery problem. All ways that came to mind would take more than an hour of time and some unusual hassle. I spent the lunch hour working on an urgent document, and then assisted a group of my students who appeared, requesting some help with their studies.

I later joined a fellow professor in his workroom and shared with him my car problem. He said he could solve it because he had, in his car, the needed jumper cables! So we went together, in his car, to my car. Did we need to push the car out for positioning? No, because his battery was on the left side of his car, mine was on the right side of my car and the pavement was not occupied! We solved the problem so quickly and conveniently! I thought the hand of God had planned that solution as early as dawn that day. Did I read too much into this scenario?

Prayer: Mighty God, your wonderful ways continue to amaze us! Help us to have perfect peace as we realise your perfect plans in our lives. Amen.

Over the period July 23, 2000, to August 20, 2000, I was away from my usual work station, taking a holiday. The place for my break was Kabale, my birthplace, in Uganda. As I arrived in this small town, I noticed that the place was a lot drier and dustier than I had known it before. I was also told that food was in short supply, mainly in the neighbouring countryside, as the rains had stopped coming much earlier than usual, leaving food crops too young to survive.

It was thus with a hint of disappointment that I retired to our house on the hillside for my first night of the holiday. I was a guest in a dry dusty place and among a people worried about the food scarcity that promised to get worse with time. Indeed, my experience of the next few days did not help things as the only way to avoid an envelope of dust was to travel in a car with all the windows closed, in places where I would have preferred to walk. Moreover, while in that car, I noticed that many people on foot grew apprehensive of my approach, as I was bound to raise enough dust to completely cover them!

The fact that one of these dusty places was the gate of a hospital where most victims of this dust were out-patients depressed me even more. My problem-solving instinct soon made me determined to do something about this. Besides the daily prayer and wish for rain, I sought audience with the financial head of the municipality and asked him what he was planning to do about the unacceptable level of dust by the hospital gate. We both pondered the possibility of trucking and spraying water there, but he pointed out that there were not enough funds to effectively sustain this method. We were discussing this problem in the evening of August 14, 2000.

Close to midnight, the beginning of the 15th day of August, 2000, I woke up to a very pleasant sound of a strong downpour of rain! What with the sounds of water streaming from several places on my roof-top and the consistently heavy downpour, I could not contain the mounting effect of gratitude I felt for the Lord over this most welcome gift of rain! As I sang in praise to God for this gift, I wished I were not physically alone so that I could share this joy with all members of my family! Yet I also felt that God had chosen to bless all those who needed this rain, in His own way, and I was immensely grateful!

There had previously been scheduled a service at the local church, for that day, and the route I travelled was totally dust-free! Neither was it muddy! Please join me in praising the Lord for His many gifts of this nature, which we continue to receive.

Prayer: Praise be to you, heavenly Father, for continuing to take care of our needs, in spite of our weak faith, in the power of your hand to save and serve us, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, warm greetings!

The most challenging demand in charity is to share what you do not have enough of. But then, who does not know the adage that the most precious possession is available in small quantities? And if we must share only the excess of our needs, how precious is that sharing likely to be?

Positioned on a tiny island of love and hope, God's children are surrounded with an ocean of need and despair! The Lord is beckoning all His children, the custodians of divine grace, to alleviate the need and dilute the despair surrounding them. The feeling that the little we have cannot go around is only a human feeling devoid of ways the Lord of Lords works. The word of God about this, in the gospels, is as vividly illustrated by the little fish and bread as it is, in the Old Testament, by the little flour and oil. Let us therefore not resist that little voice inside telling us to do something about so much need and despair in our environment.

Prayer: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our anchor since ages past, the most reliable provider for our needs, we pray, today, that you provide us the courage to do your will in the most challenging circumstances of charity, and the wisdom not to doubt the strength of your hand in providing all we need to do your will in charity. Amen.