A moving and informative account of an African mission trip.
A husband-and-wife team fights doubts and heartbreaking conditions to provide medical care in the slums of Uganda.
“The opening minutes of the clinic reminded me of going to the symphony,” writes McDonald in his debut memoir. “When the orchestra first shows up and tunes their instruments, everything is chaotic and discordant.” The turmoil came from the hectic traffic of Kampala and the haphazard conditions of the health clinics the author and his wife, Stephanie, were sent to work in. But they both were anticipating something magical from their brief mission trip to Uganda. The pair met while working as nurses. For her, using these skills to help disadvantaged people in a place like Africa was a lifelong dream, and for McDonald, who had recently renewed his Christian faith, any opportunity to better serve was unmissable. So when their friend Bishop Beall proposed a mission trip through the Sports Outreach Institute/Ministry, they jumped at the chance. In the slums of Kampala and in an area north of the Nile, they and their team spent long days dressing wounds, appreciating the country’s majestic beauty, and observing the lasting effects of Joseph Kony’s guerrilla army and the rampant sexual abuse he inflicted on entire populations. McDonald uses the relatively short visit to his advantage, making the most of every detail and conflicting emotion he experienced throughout such exhausting days, especially related to Uganda’s history and his own trepidations about ministering to people. He eventually overcame his fears during a particularly stirring foot-washing session taken straight from the Gospels. The author largely relies on the same elements found throughout contemporary Christian nonfiction: the importance of sacrifice, the difficulty of trusting in God, and the resistance to “spiritual attack.” But he also deftly touches on more profound issues when tackling his own wife’s discomfort with religion and the way Ugandans seem to unquestioningly accept the story of Christ. With more time spent developing and ruminating on these ideas, McDonald could have created a deeper reflection on the many facets of missionary work—but he still offers Christian readers a clear view of a fascinating country.
A moving and informative account of an African mission trip.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-973601-64-7
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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