"They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky"

This past week I read a book called "They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky." This was a read recommended by one of my youth kids in the States, Jodi. She and one other, Jacob are getting ready to come here to Kampala for 3 weeks. In the process of preparing to come Jodi decided to read this book. When she first suggested that I read it, I told her I would have to wait until my Sudanese friends were back in boarding school from their holiday because I knew it would be too difficult to read with them home. The book is the true story of three Lost Boys from Sudan. It is written from their perspectives and follows their stories both individually and together. I went online, downloaded it from Amazon for my kindle app for about $7 and waited.

I was right to read it after they left for school last week... however it's the ones who aren't in boarding school, who I see every day that this book made me think of. Months ago I sat down with each of the guys individually and they told me their life stories. All but two of the stories I heard were of the life of a child soldier. Those two (non-child soldiers) were stories of childhoods lost to the war, families decimated and nonexistent. These two stories that I had already known most of the details of were played out in my mind as I read through this book. The horrors that these three boys in the book faced, two boys who I love dearly faced as well. They were there. They are lost boys.

I didn't even make it through the introduction of the book without feeling sickened. As I read I could see my guy's faces, hear their cries, and understand a bit more about the pain in their hearts. I've known these guys for over three years... I've been their teacher, their friend. I've seen them go through some incredibly difficult times. I've shared life with them and somehow mentored them. God placed me in their lives and I'm so grateful for that. It's not been with ease though. There have been days when the sadness is so thick on their faces that I have to look away. You can see a change in their features when their minds are hundreds of miles north of here.

This weekend I house-sat for the guardians of the guys. They were out of town, so I hung with the guys and their younger "siblings" and made sure order was kept. It was a fairly easy task because they're all pretty good kids. One of the guys and I had a really good, serious conversation about where he's at and what's going on in his head and heart. He's my buddy so it's easy to be honest with him and tell him things like they are. It was really good to catch up a bit and really know how he's doing. Life always gets so busy and we don't always talk about matters of the heart.

Anyways, yesterday before I left for the afternoon I was helping him type up the beginning of his life story while he studied away for finals. He had just the beginning written out and asked me to help with an introduction. I asked some clarifying questions and began writing. After the first few sentences a couple of tears streamed silently down my face. As I wrote the truth of his story down I couldn't help but feel utterly helpless. I have this overwhelming desire to protect him as though he hasn't seen more in his short life time than I ever will in mine. Hearing my pause in typing, he looked up probably to make a sassy remark about me not working and saw that I had tears on my face. This is a no-no because he hates it when people are upset. He just looked at me for a minute and then went back to studying for his finals, not knowing what to say. When I finished typing up what he has written I was getting ready to leave, gathering my things. We talked for a while; I explained my sadness and I saw that same sadness echoed in his eyes.

All of that to say that I HIGHLY recommend reading "They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky". Some of you have heard tiny pieces of stories from me and others. Some of you can remember the stories on the news. This book, though difficult to read because of the subject matter is fantastically written and very informative. As hard as it was for me because I know some of these boys personally, I can't express how important I think it is for people to read this book. I've promised the guys that I won't tell their stories without their permission and I stand by that. However to get a glimpse of the lives of a couple of these guys, read this book. Some of my guys were child soldiers and some weren't... I don't know which life is more horrific. I do know that there is hope in Jesus Christ and my prayer for each of the guys is that they would find this Hope Everlasting. That they would know Jesus and be free. Would you join me in praying for them?

Click on the link above to purchase the book. Much love!