Ambassador Dr. Mbikusita-Lewanika at the
Uganda National Prayer Breakfast on October 8, 2011
DIGGING WELLS FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY: A CALL FOR EXCELLENCE
IN SERVICE
DIGGING
WELLS
“Oh Lord God, let the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, for
you are my strength and my Redeemer. In the name of the
Lord Jesus I pray”.
His Excellency the President, First Lady Honorable Mrs.
Museveni, the Right Honorable Madam Speaker and other
Speakers, Honorable Ministers of the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus, Honorable Cabinet Ministers, Ambassadors of Jesus
Christ, Excellencies of Diplomatic Missions in Uganda,
distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen; I feel very humbled
and honored to participate in the Uganda National Prayer
Breakfast which I have heard about for many years and
wished to attend. It is a dream come true.
It is awesome to stand before you and deliver the key
note statement. I come in the name of the Lord Jesus and
I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens
me. Allow me thank and commend the organizers of this
National Prayer Breakfast; all those who have worked behind
the scenes and in front of the scenes, those who have
prayed for this Prayer Breakfast, we say thank you. We
honor those who thought of the idea, initiated the Prayer
Breakfast and those who have implemented it this year
and in the past. We thank you.
Let me begin by saluting your National Motto and those
who thought about it and wrote it; “For God and
my Country”. How wise of them to have put God first.
For we know that unless the Lord builds a house or Nation,
the laborer works in vain. Unless the Lord watches over
us, our families, Nations and this great continent of
Africa, we all labor in vain.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY: A CALL TO EXCELLENCE
IN SERVICE
What is Excellence? One Dictionary says excellence
is, “The quality of being extremely good”
(Oxford Dictionary) or “Exceptionally good”.
What is Service? The Dictionary defines Service as, “Contribution
to the welfare of others” (Webster); “The
particular skills or help that a person is able to offer”
(Oxford), “The availability for use by the Public”.
What an honor and a privilege to be with the Heads of
State of our great continent of Africa, the top leaders
and decision makers in this great nation, the Peal of
Africa.
I would like to share with you this morning some thoughts
about digging wells. Many of us are familiar with wells.
Some of us have been blessed to be born in villages, to
grow up in villages or visit villages. Therefore we are
familiar with wells. Some of us have drunk water from
wells. Who built those wells? Did your parents dig the
wells? Did your grand parents dig the wells? Did you dig
the well in your village?
Let us have our Scripture reading:
1. Genesis 26:13-15; 18 – 22
2. John 4:12
From the Bible verses we have read, we see that Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob dug wells not only for themselves but
for their children, their grand children and descendants.
Generation to Generation drank water from the wells that
their forefathers and foremothers dug. These biblical
examples of wells must have been well built to last for
hundreds of years.
We see from Isaac that digging wells is not easy. We saw
how he mobilized his servants to dig wells that produced
such quantity and quality of water that neighbors fought
over the wells. They contended for them, others blocked
them. These are good lessons for us. Just because you
dig a well does not mean that everybody will be happy
about it. Wells can also represent the good we do; seeds
we plant that last and benefit generations to come.
I am sure many here have experienced doing well only to
be rebuffed. Or offered excellent service only to be demoted
or even fired. We know that as we dig wells or plant good
seed of excellent service, others come in secretly or
publicly to uproot and spoil. No matter what happens,
we must keep on digging wells. We must keep on offering
excellent service to our children, or families, our Nations,
our Continent, and World.
We lean from Isaac that he did not stop digging wells.
Some of us would have stopped at the first well or given
up. Isaac kept on digging. When his well was taken or
blocked, he dug another one. He did not hesitate to unblock
a blocked well. Isaac kept on digging until his enemies
gave up. They could not keep up with him. They were no
match. He kept on digging until at last he dug a well
that had no contention. The enemies failed, Isaac excelled
and was blessed by God. No wonder he became a very wealthy,
prosperous and successful man. He became wealthy from
the wells he inherited from his father Abraham but also
from his own wells that he dug; the wells that his children
and grand children and other descendants would inherit.
The woman of Samaria
In John 4: 12, we read about the woman of Samaria who
had a conversation with the Lord Jesus; The woman who
was the first person to whom the Lord Jesus revealed himself
as the Messiah, the woman who was a pioneer evangelist.
This woman proudly boasted about the well her forefather
Jacob dag - Jacob’s well, which gave water to his
descendants. Jacob was well remembered because he dag
a well; a sustainable well that lasted centuries.
All who dag wells were appreciated by their descendants.
Are we digging wells for the future generations? Are they
sustainable wells?
For God and My Country: A Call for Excellence in Service
From the Biblical examples, let us move to the living
Word Himself, The Word; The Word that became flesh and
dwelt among us, Jesus the Christ. If we want to learn
and practice excellence in service, looking at Jesus is
the best idea. Jesus surpasses all well diggers. For those
who drank from the other wells had to keep on drinking
every day, with women walking for miles and miles to collect
the water.
Jesus offered and still offers water which quenches thirst
once and for all. That is why the woman of Samaria left
the water pot at Jacob’s well and went running back
to her village shouting, “Come see a Man; come see
a Man”. I can imagine her shouting to the shop keeper
saying, “be quick; close your shop! Come see a Man!”
To the Bar owners, those who were busy drinking she shouted,
“Close the bar quickly, come see a man!” The
she ran to the Butcher and said, “Forget about your
meat brother, come see a man!” To the bottlers she
said, “Forget about your coca cola, close your supermarket
and come see a man”. By now she was out of breath
but still ran to the market and said, “Hey, Hey!
Close the market; run, come see a man who gives LIVING
water and you shall never thirst again!”
Jesus the Christ sure dag wells. He left his wells to
12 unschooled, unlearned, uncouth men and the 120 faithful
women and men. Look what they did to the World. They turned
the World right side up. Those few women and men who had
no computers, iPods, iPads, e.t.c. changed the world.
These few people had no radios, no television and no transport.
They had no horses, no bicycles, no chariots, no cars;
they had no airplanes. The Jesus establishment had no
jets to execute their mission. Jesus the well digger lived
with the 12 for about 3 years. Some women worked with
him and ministered to him from time to time.
All He left them were the wells he dug – his examples
of how to implement excellence in service to God and to
people. He loved God and put God first in His life. He
loved people and went about doing good because as a child,
He grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and
Man.
Jesus was a great leader who implemented the call to excellence
in service. He was a servant leader who washed his disciples’
feet. He had no problem with women no matter who they
were, where they came from, what they had done or not
done in their lives. Women ministered to him. Martha cooked
for Him. When Martha came to Jesus to complain that her
sister Mary was not helping, Martha said to the Lord Jesus,
“Please tell my sister to come and help me because
the woman’s place is in the kitchen”. The
Lord Jesus said to Martha, “Ah ah, you are wrong
Martha; the woman’s place is not in the kitchen
but right here in the sitting room taking part in the
discussions and learning. Right here in the sitting room
listening to the news, in Parliament, in Government, as
CEOs, as Managing Directors, e.t.c.”
The Scripture, the Holy Word gives us other examples from
Genesis to Revelation. Yes, even the Old Testament. The
Old Testament starts with Madam Eve, God’s special
project and the latest model in creation, an improved
version of humanity. When God showed this Eve project
to Adam, he was at first speechless with delight, then
he said, “Wow – this is indeed bone of my
bone and flesh of my flesh!” We have the Sarahs,
the Hannahs, Deborah the Judge and Head of State –
all men and women came to her. She was a National leader.
In the New Testament we have the Marys and other women
who did not run away from the cross but stayed there under
the gaze of the Roman Empire soldiers, the women who were
first at the tomb that Resurrection morning. These women
who were sent to the men who were hiding. The Lord told
them, “Women go and tell those men in hiding not
to be afraid. Go and evangelize – tell them I am
arisen and live forever more.”
We have the coworkers of Paul whom he described in detail;
women such as Priscilla, who started churches in their
homes; Dorcas who served others and the poor with such
excellent service that she was returned from death. Death
could not hold her prematurely because of her excellent
service.
All these people, men and women were not given money or
transport by Jesus the well digger. He simply commanded
them, “Go and make disciples of all Nations –
Start in your Jerusalem, then Judea but don’t end
there – go even to the utmost parts of the world.”
Young people
Allow me to talk about the young people - and our Nations
in Africa have plenty of them. Some countries have up
to 60% young people among their populations. In the Bible,
young people are well covered. In fact, among those who
did exploits in their generations were young people. You
have Esther, an orphan girl who became queen and delivered
a whole Nation from destruction. You have a refugee widow
like Ruth who became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus. There
was Daniel, who answered the call to excellence and served
in 4 different administrations; Joseph who became a Prime
Minister in a foreign and powerful Nation – the
super power of that era; Josiah the 8 year old King who
turned his people and Nation into the right path; Mary
the mother of the Lord Jesus.
Looks like when God wanted to do something big, he called
on young people. These are the examples we have. But what
are we doing with and for our young people?
God still calls young people to excellent service –
to do exploits and turn things around. Every child is
born for a specific purpose – to contribute to humankind
a discovery, a talent, a skill.
What will happen to the Bill Gates of Africa? To the Steve
Jobs still in the slums? The Oprah Winfreys, the Dorothy
Heights, the Rosa Parks and others?
Have we left sustainable wells for them to drink from,
be nourished and dig more wells? Are we the living examples
that they can follow? We are where we are because some
one dug a well for us. What wells are we leaving for our
children? Yes indeed – Africa has produced some
well diggers. We have however failed to document them
so that their examples and wells can live on.
Yes, all African Nations have had well diggers in the
past – and even now we have our own Professor Wangari
Matthai, who in her lifetime dug well in Kenya, Africa
and the whole world. From her life we know for sure that
it is not easy to dig wells. She was beaten; she was jailed
but she kept on digging wells. WHAT A LIFE; WHAT A LEGACY.
That is how it should be. Our works should live on and
make our world a better place. We have Mandela and many
others.
Let’s document them and not leave these writings
to those who write them from sometimes ignorant perspectives.
Let us train our young people in excellent service for
God and our Nations. There are too many Josephs still
in prisons. The answers and solutions for Africa are with
them in prison. The street children, the orphans, children
not in school, the unskilled youth, the unemployed –
among these are those with solutions for Africa. Among
these are those who can turn the tides so that our resources
benefit us not others, so that our resources are produced
with added value and our products compete favorably on
the global market.
Among these are genius scientists with discoveries that
can change Africa into a solution not a problem. Among
these are female and male youth who were born to lead
Nations, the African Union, the United Nations.
But how will all this come to pass when so many youth
live below one dollar a day? How can Africa come up when
these leaders sleep on streets, grow up in refugee camps;
when so many are malnourished and stunted in growth?
We need young people who grow up in wisdom and stature,
in favor with God and Man. The responsibility is ours.
Invest in young people and leave them with sustainable
wells. The Lord is ready to help us do so.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Lord Bless the Cranes.
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Note address by Ambassador Dr. Mbikusita-Lewanika at the
Uganda National Prayer Breakfast on October 8, 2011
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