Elections...

I wanted to write to you with a large and important request:
Today is Monday, the 20th and Uganda is in full-scale preparation for the presidential elections on Wenesday, Feb 23rd. Recently there has been no intense increase in violence or threat to peace (minor clashes during campaigning aside) here. My prayer is that this will continue.
The details are not so important (and the time on my computer is running short)- Pres. Museveni and his former primary doctor, Besigye are the opposing front-runners in this election and much criticism has been made about both. Please click into Ugandan News on this site if you are interested in tracing archives or staying current with the campaign/elections.
There is a heavy cloud of anticipation in Uganda as citizens prepare to vote on Wednesday. Opinions are pretty well divided as to who is the better man for the job, etc. And beyond that, thoughts are polarized as to what “might happen if…”
I don’t have the answer… and with all my fascination with and classes in political science I have hardly a strong argument for either man or the outcome that might follow.
But I have a request.
Being out here… with these people my heart has enlarged to love and identify with them. For right now this is my country, these are my people. And as this time of anticipation for these elections builds my heart carries their burden of fear, concern, uncertainty and nervousness. It is too much for me to carry. It is too much for all who read this to carry. The only one that can carry it all is the One who promises he will sustain us if we cast our cares on him (Ps 55:22). IPeter 5:6 says that if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God he will lift us up in due time… because he cares for us. We can cast our anxiety on him because he cares for us. These are promises I am holding on to.And again and again I am continuing to be sustained as I come before God and ask him to carry my burdens and the burdens of these people.
Paul writes in Galatians that to carry each other’s burdens fulfills the law of Christ. To be burdened by the cries of and worries and anxieties of one another is the law of love. That burden, though, is not to remain on our shoulders. In humility we are to bring it before God in faith that he will take our burden and sustain us.
SO, here is my request.
Will you shoulder their burdens? I am in the thick of it and can tell you that there are many here who are carrying heavy anxiety and worry and uncertainty. Will you intercede on their behalf?
I, with my hut-mates, will be setting this week apart to come before God in behalf of these people. We are praying for Uganda, the elections and the people of this country.
Will you stand with us before God this week to carry the burdens of the Uganda people?