11/30/2011

Kisses From Katie (written by Katie Davis) is a book about a young lady who left everything to move to Uganda to serve orphaned children. Reading her story reminds me of picking up old missionary biographies, except that her story is happening today, right now. This book is newly released and Katie's story, in many ways, is still being written.

Katie left home after graduating from high school to move to Uganda. And she stayed there. Over the next few years, she adopted more than 10 orphaned girls and founded a ministry to help meet the needs of the thousands of desperately needy children in Uganda.

She left behind everything - family, friends, college, career, a boyfriend, a convertible, the promise of a comfortable life in America. She gave it all up for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who called His followers to love and to give and to go.

Katie's life is a combination of the faith of Hudson Taylor, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the depth of Amy Carmichael and the crazy love of Francis Chan. If you enjoy missionary biographies, pick this book up for no other reason than to read a first-hand account of a modern-day missionary serving amidst abject poverty and yet overcoming it with the love of Christ.

I enjoyed the book very much. The stories are touching and often heart-wrenching. Katie tells the whole story - the tender moments with little children and the difficulties of missing family and friends back in the US.

Time will tell if Katie will be able to continue her work in Uganda, if she will spend her entire life with the orphans she has come to love there. I see this as the only "downside" of this book - the fact that the real end is not known. Katie has begun very well but whether or not she will continue on to the end remains to unfold. She is only in her early 20s. She has remained in Uganda for about 4 years. Can she remain for 10 or 20 or 40 more? Will the luxuries of western culture eventually lure her back to America or will God call her to do something else that requires leaving Uganda. Time will tell. And yet maybe her staying for her entire life isn't necessary for her impact to continue on. Just in the few years she's been there she has touched countless lives, brought hundreds to Christ, and simply shown love in practical ways which alone can give hope in seemingly hopeless situations.

I realize that to recommend this book, I am encouraging other young people to consider Katie's path, which is so against-the-grain and radical. To encourage others to turn away from what our culture values and pursue a life of complete faith and dependence on God, learning to value what He values. "What will you do about college?" was a big question that Katie's parents had. Yet, Katie is off doing work she loves, living a life of meaning and purpose, changing the world for the better, storing up treasures in heaven. And in many ways her young age is an asset - she is living proof that one doesn't have to have a college education to impact this world. Young, old, rich or poor, you can be used of God to love others.

My pastor once said the following, as it relates to missions: "Each of our lives will be spent on something. The only difference is how we choose to spend it." We only have one life to live. Will we spend our days focused on self-preservation and achieving the American dream? Or will we be poured out for others, giving and giving and giving, leaving behind what is of lesser importance in order to attain what is eternal?

Katie has chosen the latter and her story is an inspiration.

I recommend reading the book and if you're interested in learning more, check out Katie's blog at http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ (There's a brief video there that introduces Katie and shows a bit of the work she does daily in Uganda).