One of my favorite songs when I was in college was “18 and Life to Go” by Skid Row.  That pop-metal song crashed back into my life as I traveled to Uganda this weekend for the 18^th time.  My commitment to my beloved second country ensures that while this is trip 18, I do have “life to go” in my travels here.  But before discussing this upcoming week’s activities, here is a quick recap.

The Divine Collision book tour Henry and I started in late January ended in early March after a whirlwind spin through Texas involving three chapel talks at Baylor, a national radio interview, and three screenings of REMAND in Waco, Dallas, and Houston.  It was so good to catch up with dear friends along the way.

Breakfast in Dallas with Echols and Delaneys

Prior to Henry’s departure, the BBC broadcast the radio interview Henry and I did with them and published an extensive feature on our story.  The Washington Post also published a nice article.  Following the BBC story, I received calls and e-mails from Nigeria, Ghana, the UK, and Uganda, some of which have raised intriguing new possible projects.

On March 3^rd, Henry traveled back home to resume his medical school studies.  We loaded him up (down?) with lots of first-world “essentials” (developing world “luxuries”) for his family – frying pan, Tupperware, chocolates, etc.

We stopped at the beach in Malibu on the way to the airport for one last photo and said our emotional goodbyes as Henry boarded the plane for his 21^st flight during the trip.  Memories to last a lifetime.

Farewell to Malibu

I also sent Henry home with the near-final cut of REMAND – the documentary about how his case led to substantial reform in Uganda’s criminal justice system.  (Incidentally, the final cut will be shown on April 12^th at the Historic Egyptian Theater for the first and only time prior to going on the film festival circuit – tickets available here.  Please pass along this invite to others).  Henry showed the documentary in his local village to a crowd assembled the night before he returned to medical school.

Prior to returning to Uganda, Henry had learned that he was among a list of approximately 200 of the then-remaining 360 students in his medical school class (which had started with 500 eighteen months ago) who had to re-take one or more of his examinations from the prior semester in order to advance to the second semester of his second year.  Henry was quite surprised that he had to retake Immunology, which he had believed was one of strongest subjects.

Upon returning to school, though, he discovered that he had not performed poorly on the exam, but instead that his was one of eighty students’ exams that had been lost by the professor.  All eighty had to take it again.  Soon thereafter, Henry was notified that he passed the retake and advanced to his fourth semester.

When all the dust settled on the third semester, only 280 of the original 500 students remained.  The “sifting” process will continue for a few more semesters, with the expectation being that around 200 will graduate at the end of six years.  Henry is quite confident he will be among them.

During this 18^th trip, I will be nailing down the details of the upcoming summer prison project (June 17-27), finalizing a couple national conferences we will be hosting in late June/early July, arranging everything for this summer’s student intern class, and exploring new projects and expanding existing ones.

Before I left Malibu, I had my second call with a government official in Nigeria about potentially working with them on judicial reforms, and hosted a delegation of Guatemalan lawyers who are exploring possible criminal justice reform along the lines of those undertaken by Uganda.

Divine Collision continues to be received and reviewed well – thanks to those of you who have shared your thoughts on Amazon.  If you have had a chance to read the book, please let your voice be heard.  My publisher tells me that getting to 100 reviews on Amazon is an important benchmark.  As of today, we are nearly halfway there:)

Pardon my Super Bowl metaphor, but I couldn’t resist.  Today feels like a touchdown, goal, grand slam, ace, slam dunk, and hole in one all wrapped up in a Chipotle burrito.  Henry lands in a couple hours for a five-week, six-state tour of the U.S. – the very day Divine Collision is officially released.

As chronicled in Divine Collision, this day has been a long time in coming.  It was almost derailed more times than I have fingers and toes, including two weeks ago when his final exams were rescheduled to conflict with his trip.  Fortunately, Henry can be quite persuasive, and was able to convince the medical school dean to reinstate the original exam schedule so he could get on the plane.

On Monday morning, I spoke with him while he was on the way to the airport, and he was positively giddy.  He texted me from the runway just before departing from Entebbe (Uganda) for Amsterdam.  On Monday evening, he texted me from the security line at Amsterdam while he waited to board the final flight to Los Angeles.

We have numerous surprises in store for him, including a trip to the happiest place on earth.  He will be singing for his supper, though, as we will be appearing at numerous colleges, universities, high schools, churches, theaters, and bookstores along the way.

If you want to meet him (and get your book signed by him also), please feel encouraged to come to one or more of the events, including a potluck at my house this coming Sunday at noon.  Seriously, you should come.  (E-mail me for directions – jim.gash@pepperdine.edu).

I had a great trip to Waco, Abilene, and Lubbock earlier this month, and very much enjoyed the chance to speak with so many folks at these places.  I will always remember my first-ever book signing at Lubbock Christian.  More that event from the campus newspaper here.

And I certainly won’t ever forget the bat (yes, a bat) that circled ACU’s Moody Coliseum and dive-bombed me and the crowd of a couple thousand for the last eight minutes of my chapel talk.

We had a chance to screen REMAND at both LCU and ACU, and the press attended the ACU gathering.  More on that here and here.

I recently wrote an article for Relevant Magazine about how Bob Goff exploded my life – more on that here.

Also, I have had the privilege of talking to several folks in recorded podcasts/broadcasts.  The first was the Eric Metaxas Show, the second was with Dan Darling of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the third was with Mike Schutt of the Christian Legal Society.

A few days later, I was invited to kick off Justice Week at Oaks Christian High School with a talk to the entire school, which is now on youtube here.

I will endeavor to chronicle on this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Henry’s adventures around the country over the next five weeks.  Thanks for following along.

One final note – if you are planning to buy the book, I would be grateful if you did so in the next week or so, as initial sales figures are rather important.  Also, if you would be so kind as to provide a review of the book (once you have finished it) on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and/or Goodreads, I would be much obliged, as my publisher tells me that the sooner we reach a critical mass on these, the better.

After a productive summer project in four different Ugandan adult prisons, which was followed by an historic national plea bargaining conference in Kampala, the fall semester at Pepperdine Law began in earnest.  Because Divine Collision is officially being released in January, my teaching schedule was doubled up this fall so I could be more flexible to travel to book events in the spring.  This made the semester extra challenging, particularly in light of the week-long visit of a high-level delegation of Ugandan officials, the post-production and screening of the Remand film in November, and the final preparations for the book release.

In the summer of 2009, Dean Ken Starr traveled to Uganda to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ugandan Judiciary to formalize the partnership between Pepperdine and the Judiciary.

Dean Starr and CJ Odoki Signing MOU

As the relationship broadened and deepened, however, it became clear that an updated MOU would be needed to reflect the breadth of our partnership.  So about six months ago, we began discussing the terms of a new MOU and the location where it would be executed.  Eventually, we decided to sign the agreement in Malibu so the newly appointed Chief Justice of Uganda could follow in the footsteps of the prior two Ugandan CJs with a visit to Pepperdine.  And whereas the original MOU was with the Judiciary, the expanded MOU would be with the Justice, Law, and Order Sector, which included all 18 justice institutions in the country.

Accordingly, eight of the top Ugandan justice officials flew to Los Angeles in late October for a one-week study tour on case management and to sign the new MOU.  The delegation included the Chief Justice, the Principal Judge (head of the High Court), the Chief Registrar and Secretary of the Judiciary (administrative heads of the justice system), the Solicitor General, the Director of Public Prosecutions (chief prosecutor), a Court of Appeals Justice, and the Secretary of the Plea Bargaining Task Force.  We met with the LA County District Attorney’s Office, the LA County Public Defender’s Office, the US Federal District Court, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Los Angeles Superior Court, the California Court of Appeals, and the California Supreme Court.

The MOU-signing ceremony was held in the law school’s Caruso Auditorium in front of a crowd of over 200.  Over the course of an hour, I interviewed each of the officials and we presented each other with mementos, prior to the official signing.  The entire event was captured on video has now been posted here.

MOU Ceremony

Incidentally, that same week, Pepperdine kicked off the Parris Institute Distinguished speaker series by welcoming back to campus my classmate from 1993, Monty Moran, who serves as Chipotle Mexican Grill’s President and Co-CEO.  I interviewed him in front of another large crowd about how and why Chipotle has been such a success under his leadership.

With Chipotle’s Monty Moran

In November, the documentary film produced by Revolution Pictures was “preview screened” for the first time at Santa Monica’s historic Aero Theater before a crowd of about four hundred.

Aero Theater Marquee at Preview Screening

Post-Screening Celebration Cake with Henry’s Photo Edible in the Frosting

Before the film, we had a Producer’s Dinner at the Santa Monica Loews Hotel, which featured a conversation with Baylor President Ken Starr, whose vision and overriding sense of justice gave rise to the Global Justice Program almost ten year ago.  I was privileged to join Ken on stage, along with an alum and two students who participated in the events depicted in the film as we were interviewed by Dean Tacha.

Producer’s Dinner Panel with Ken Starr

Remand tells the story of how Pepperdine’s Global Justice Program has partnered with the Ugandans to bring needed change to the Ugandan criminal justice system.  The star of the film is Henry – the Ugandan boy featured in Divine Collision whom I met in a Ugandan juvenile prison nearly six years ago.  We were pleased with how well received the film was by the audience.

After the credits, Pepperdine film professor Craig Detweiler (who accompanied the film crew to Uganda both times) interviewed Revolution’s Randy Brewer, me, and a couple students in the film.  As the event was coming to a close, we Skyped in Henry from Uganda to the extreme delight of the crowd.

Henry on the Big Screen via Skype

Over the past few months, the book publisher (Worthy Publishing) has been working with an awesome publicist to put together a marketing plan and speaking tour in conjunction with the book release.  This will begin in early January, but will pick up speed when Henry arrives in early February for three weeks between medical school terms.  We are currently scheduled to be in Texas, Virginia, DC, New York, and Los Angeles for speaking engagements, television and radio interviews, and film screenings.  Henry is quite excited about this upcoming trip to the United States – his first.

So far, the book reviews have quite favorable.  Bob Goff wrote a much-too-kind Forward and the book is endorsed by Ken Starr; IJM’s Gary Haugen; World Vision’s Rich Stearns; three Ugandan Justices; Amazima’s Katie Davis; Pulitzer Prize-winner Ed Larson; Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton; Federal Judge Edith Jones; Pepperdine, ACU, and LCU Presidents Andy Benton, Phil Schubert, and Tim Perrin; ESPN’s Roger Cossack; authors John Sowers, Jay Milbrandt, and Sara Hagerty; and several others.

The outside review we most eagerly anticipated was from Publisher’s Weekly, and we were thrilled with their write-up.  I am told it will be very important to book sales to have lots of pre-release sales and post-release reviews on Amazon once the book is released.  So, if you buy and read the book and are willing to write a review, I would be most grateful.

Here is another tip – pre-release, Amazon’s price fluctuates, and Amazon’s pre-release purchase policy guarantees the purchaser the lowest price between the dates purchase and actual shipping.  More on this here.  (Also, for purposes of sales statistics, purchases made on Amazon that include more than one unit only count as one unit sold.  So, if you feel compelled to buy more than one copy of the book, please buy them in separate transactions).

So, when will the book be available?  Soon.  Very soon.  While the official release date is January 26, 2016, the book has already been printed and will be shipped to online and brick-and-mortar retailers in ten days.  I am told that the online retailers will actually ship to customers before Christmas and that brick-and-mortar retailers will have it on their shelves no later than January 26^th.  It will be in Barnes & Nobles, independent book stores, and Wal-Marts around the country beginning just after Christmas.

Since I am a huge fan of audio books, I was pleased when it was decided that Divine Collision would be recorded and available on amazon and audible.com by the official release date also.  I had a blast recording the difficult-to-pronounce words for the professional readers, and actually sitting in while Henry’s first-person parts were recorded in the studio by a former Shakespeare actor.

Recording Pronunciations at Studio

With Jason L. White, Reading Henry’s Parts in Divine Collision

The reader for the other parts will record in Nashville, so I will have to trust that he gets the pronunciations correct.

Henry continues to excel in medical school and is eager to meet many of you in about two months.

One of the many ways in which Uganda’s court management structures differs from ours is in its heavy use of Registrars – lawyers who aren’t yet judges (but who will be in the future) exercise a fair number of judicial functions.  For example, the Criminal Court does most of its work in sessions – groups of forty cases that are scheduled for trial over the course of forty days.  The Registrar chooses which of the thousands of prisoners “on remand” will be “cause listed” for that next session.  A case being cause listed triggers the right to have an attorney appointed for those in the session.  The money allocated for the session (40,000,000 shillings, about 13K USD) is sent to the Registrar to administer.  1M goes to the judge, 500,000 to the Registrar, 250,000 each to the judge’s body guard and driver, about 10M to the lawyers for the forty defendants, etc.  Those who allege corruption occurs in the administration of justice often point to the relative trust placed in the Registrars when the session funds are released.

For nearly two years, there was no substantive Chief Registrar – the one supervising the various Registrars.  Vacancies in important roles litter the Ugandan judiciary, including in the Supreme Court (about five), Court of Appeals (about eight), and in the High Court (about thirty).  But last year – just before we began our prison pilot project, Paul Gadenya was moved into this position from his post as Chief Technical Advisor of the Justice, Law, and Order Sector (umbrella organization over eighteen different departments affecting law and justice (judiciary, prisons, police, prosecution, department of justice, etc.)).  As Chief Registrar, Paul basically runs the trial court system and is fourth in the official judicial hierarchy below the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice, and Principal Judge, which is why we wanted to interview him for the documentary, so he could reflect back upon the progress toward implementation of plea bargaining that had been made since last summer.

As I knew he would be, Paul was terrific.  He is really smart, thoughtful, and well-spoken.  He doesn’t sugar coat the challenges Uganda faces, but remains optimistic about the future of his country and about its full-scale integration of plea bargaining.  He reported that since the Pepperdine prison project involving 160 cases at Luzira last summer, more than one thousand additional cases have been plea bargained by Ugandans, and the momentum is building to increase the pace.

After Paul, the crew filmed Andrew Khaukha, who works for both Paul and the Principal Judge to implement their vision of country-wide plea bargaining.  More than anyone, Andrew is making this happen with his dogged determination and strategic planning.  His will be an important voice in the film.

After we watched the rough cut of the documentary that was prepared after last summer’s filming, it became clear that the last chapter of the story was missing.  There needed to be an answer to the question raised by several of our students – sure, we interviewed 160 prisoners and prepared case summaries, but what would happen after we left?  Would these prisoners really get the access to justice they sought?  Would there be any lasting change?

These questions were partially answered by the interviews we captured in which the talking heads told us how much difference we had made, but what wanted even more than these answers were stories of real prisoners who had benefited.

So from the High Court, we returned to the Luzira prison complex where most of last summer’s filming took place.  This complex houses Luzira Upper, which is the maximum security prison, Murchison Bay, the medium security prison, and Luzira Women’s, where about four hundred women are on remand or serving out their sentences for violent crimes.  Last summer, we prepared 160 combined cases from all three prisons, though we filmed exclusively at the maximum security prison.

During my prior visit to Uganda about three months ago, I had attended a consensus-building workshop at which the latest draft of the plea bargaining practice directions (guidelines) were being discussed.  At this meeting, one of the prisoners from Murchison Bay named Rashid had been asked to speak about what plea bargaining meant to him the other prisoners.  I had been blown away by the clarity with which he articulated the reasons he and his fellow inmates benefited from plea bargaining – reasons that went well beyond the fact that he received a shorter sentence than he feared if had gone to trial.  He explained that the uncertainty of not knowing when, if ever, he would go to court, not knowing when, if ever, he would get a lawyer, and not knowing when, if ever, he would be released was crippling him and his fellow inmates socially, psychologically, and spiritually.

When he was finished speaking at that workshop, I knew we needed to interview him for the film.  With Andrew’s assistance, we secured permission to go to Murchison Bay to ask the warden if we could interview Rashid for our film.  Fortunately, the warden (Savestino) had been with me in Louisiana two months ago for a study tour of best practices in moral rehabilitation.  He was also eager for plea bargaining to continue because he saw firsthand the positive impact on prison morale, so he readily agreed to allow us to interview Rashid.

Because Rashid had read from a prepared text a few months ago, I wasn’t sure how well he would be able to tell his story without reading it.  When they brought him to the warden’s office, his eyes lit up when he saw me.  When I introduced myself, he smiled and said, “I know who you are – you came here to tell us about plea bargaining more than a year ago before the team of lawyers came last year.  I also saw you at the conference at the country club.”  That was a good sign.  I told him we wanted to ask him some questions and I asked him if he still had his notes from when he spoke.  He again smiled and said in perfect English, “I have it all in my head – I can talk about it all day long.”

The interview went exceptionally well.  He nailed every question and explained that he is so excited to be reunited with his daughter on March 23, 2019 – he is counting the days now that he has a release date.

Rashid embracing his future (Photo by Rob Hauer)

Andrew had also told us that two women we had interviewed at Luzira Women’s Prison had been released during the last year.  Both had been resettled to Mubende, about three hours from Kampala.  Our hope on Friday was to track down one or both of them so they could tell their story of how the plea bargaining program set them free.  But in order to do this, we needed to capture a slice of life in the women’s prison, which we didn’t have time to get last time, in order to set up the contrast.  So we got permission from the warden there and filmed about an hour of daily life at this prison.  As we were about to leave, we heard some faint singing coming from one of the cell blocks, so we went to investigate.  Ten minutes later, we were in the middle of the cell block surrounding by fifty jubilant women dancing, playing plastic drums (using a bucket), and singing their hearts out about their Savior who rescues them.  We recorded for about fifteen minutes, then shifted to the next cell block over who wanted us to record them singing.  We now have a soundtrack for the film that is causing me to tear up just writing this as I remember the passion and joy in their eyes and their voices.

Thursday night, I had dinner at my favorite restaurant with our Pepperdine students, who were finishing their summer internships the next day, and our Nootbaar Fellows, who will be in Uganda for another few months.  (Earlier that day, I had another productive meeting at the US Embassy about possible funding for some of the projects we are working on).

Farewell dinner with the Pepperdine Interns

On Friday morning, we completed our final interview, which was of the Principal Judge, who is the Chair of the Plea Bargaining Task Force, and the architect of the nation-wide roll-out of plea bargaining.  As always, he was clear and determined, and grateful for the partnership between our institutions.

At about ten, we set out in search of the two women who had been released.  By four, it was clear we wouldn’t find them, even with the help of a local prison officer.  We did get the phone number of one of them, who told Andrew that she had relocated to Wakiso, about forty-five minutes outside of Kampala.  We decided to reload and renew our search on Saturday morning, but time was running short, as we were set to fly home Saturday evening.

At 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning, Henry arrived into Kampala after finishing his final examination of his first year of medical school that afternoon in Ishaka – six hours away.  We chatted for a few minutes before catching a few hours of sleep in advance of setting out for a second day of searching for the released prisoner.

By 10:00 a.m., we had found her.  She was thrilled to see Andrew, whom she remembered from his many trips to the prison informing her and her fellow inmates about plea bargaining.  Since being released from prison, after spending four years on remand, she had been “born again” and was serving as an associate pastor for her village church.  She was also reunited with her nine-year old daughter, from whom she had been estranged prior to being arrested for her minor involvement in a mob killing of a thief.  During the plea bargaining program, she had pled guilty to manslaughter (she hit the deceased with a stick after a group of male villagers had beaten him thoroughly – he died a few days later), and was sentenced to time served.  Needless to say, she was thrilled to be out and living a new life.

Christine telling her story (Photo by Rob Hauer)

After the on-camera interview, we found out what her monthly rent was and paid three months’ worth.  She was exuberant and sang a song, along with a few others as back-up, called “Webale Jesu” – Thank You, Jesus (for Redeeming Me).  Her voice was almost as beautiful as the lyrics.  It was a rather emotional moment, to say the least.  My prediction is that the film will end with her singing this song.

Webale Jesu

Following Christine’s interview, we drove to the Wentz Medical Clinic where my family assisted the Gregstons (our Twin Family) in 2012, and where my two youngest helped a few weeks ago.  The crew shot some “B-roll” of Henry walking around in his lab coat to show that Henry is now entering the clinical stages of his medical training.  When we finished filming last summer, Henry’s goal to attend medical school was just a dream, so capturing him a year later as an actual student closes the loop in a very uplifting way.

Just before we left, Michelle Abnet (Revolution Pictures Producer) had the idea of taking a couple pictures with the wood carvings I commissioned when I arrived in Uganda three weeks ago, and had received back the night before.

“Remand” is the title of the documentary.

It was so great to spend the day with Henry again, and to be able to celebrate in person his exoneration on all charges that had been pending for over five years.  Our dear friends, Colin and Amy Batchelor, had sent with me some money to allow Henry to have a proper celebratory party with his family on Saturday night, which is the first time he will have seen them since we received the favorable ruling three weeks ago.

Thanks for following along.  My final edits on the book (“Divine Collision”) are due in about a week, and the publication date has been set for January 26, 2016.

I find myself in an increasingly familiar location as I write this long-overdue update on our team’s Ugandan prison project and plea bargaining conference – in the KLM Lounge in Amsterdam.  Nineteen days have blown by, and I have only had the time to summarize the first eight days.  Where I left off on Thursday, July 2nd, we had just completed four days of case preparation in three prisons – Mbale, Tororo, and Soroti – all in Eastern Uganda.  In the Mbale prison, more than 75% of the prisoners were “on remand” – waiting for something to happen.  No lawyer, no court date, no sense of the evidence against them, and dwindling hope.

Friday the 3^rd started very early (again), as our group of about thirty-five American lawyers, Pepperdine law students, Uganda Christian University students, drivers, and armed body guards piled into a bus, a van, and a truck for the two-hour drive from Soroti to Lira.  As in the other cities, our morning began at the courthouse where the resident judge in this district hosted a ceremonial launch of our work at the prison.  We always closed these ceremonies with a prayer, usually led by one of our students or lawyers.

From the courthouse, we headed to the prison and broke into our groups, each consisting of a Ugandan lawyer (from the local practicing bar), an American lawyer, a Pepperdine student, and a UCU student.

Insert your own clever quip here . . .

As usual, we had the case file of evidence against some of the defendants we interviewed, and only a flimsy conclusory indictment for others.  Also as usual, Tennessee prosecutor Emily Smith (’10) and former LA prosecutor Alan Jackson (’94) broke off in the late morning for some focused training of the local Ugandan prosecutors.

Around 1:00 p.m., we paused for the typical Ugandan lunch of matooke, ground nut sauce, rice, anemic chicken, spongy beef, and assorted vegetables.  (This same fare was served each evening at our hotel also).   By the end of the week, the American lawyers were eager for something that looked and tasted familiar, or . . . not so familiar).

As was also our custom, in the mid-afternoon, a group of us broke off from the others to re-enact four stages of the plea bargaining process for the judges, magistrates, prosecutors, and defense lawyers in town, which was followed by a spirited question and answer session.  On each occasion, the entire group unequivocally embraced the plea bargaining program that they now understood and could apply.  We always left encouraged.

That evening, we continued our tradition of hosting a dinner at our hotel for the judges, magistrates, prosecutors, and defense lawyers so that the conversation and relationship building could continue.  By the end of the night, we were exhausted, but quite satisfied that we had accomplished our goals.

As we were heading to bed in Lira on Friday night, the second wave of team members were arriving in Kampala.  Federal District Court Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell and California Appellate Justice Tricia Bigelow were given special treatment at the airport – pulled into the VIP lounge and then given a police escort, complete with sirens and honking that parted the gridlocked traffic, reducing the two-hour drive to just over thirty minutes.

A little while later, John Cotton Richmond (US DOJ Human Trafficking Prosecutor) arrived with the film crew, who returned to Uganda to finish the documentary called “Remand” that began last summer.  That crew also received a police escort back to the hotel, which differed greatly from last year’s three-hour detention at the airport.

On Saturday morning, both groups set out from their respective destinations for Murchison Falls National Park for a celebratory 24 hours at the Paraa Safari Lodge.  This weekend served as an appropriate transition point from the intensive and gritty prison work to the philosophical and relational work with the policy makers, high level implementers, and funding sources for the expansion of plea bargaining to the entire country.

After checking into the spacious, western lodge, we hustled the quarter mile down to the Nile River to climb aboard a double-decker river boat for the three-mile cruise to the base of Murchison Falls.  While this was my third such cruise, the first timers were enthralled to be floating on the same river Moses traveled in a basket in Egypt so long ago.  We saw hundreds of hippos and water buffaloes, scores of rare birds, a handful of crocodiles, and soaked in the grandeur of God’s creation.

Murchison Falls

That evening, the team of presenters gathered over dinner to finalize the agenda for Tuesday’s national conference.  Over the course of the week, our plans had evolved away from the “Sage at the Stage” idea of presenting PowerPoints and gravitated toward a full-blown re-enactment of how the plea bargaining process works from arrest through sentencing, supplemented by robust discussion between each scene.

We awoke early Sunday morning for a game drive throughout the park in four safari vehicles.

Lion Cub in a Tree

While the lions, elephants, giraffes, and antelope were great to see, my favorite encounter was with a dung beetle.

I, The Dung Beetle

This little guy worked slavishly for hours (days?) to shape a perfectly round ball of animal excrement about twenty times his size.  His mate then clamped onto the dung ball and went for a ride.  The male pushes the dung along the road until he finds to a place where the female can lay her eggs inside the dung ball where they can grow, the dung providing the nutrients needed.  As we watched, this male beetle rolled his ball of dung for about three minutes until he got to a place he wanted to go.  He then flipped upside down and pushed with his hind legs as the ball slowly moved up the lip of the road, only to shift slightly and then roll back down.  Again and again he tried, only to be met with the same fate.  Eventually, we left in search of other wildlife.  I choose to believe that all of his effort eventually paid off and he was successful in fully accomplishing his task.

While (thankfully) not a perfect analogy, I identify with this little guy as he pushes and pushes, trying to get to the right place with the right people coming along so that the task can be accomplished.  Too many times I have felt the ball rolling back downhill.  As will be clear in my next post, however, I have no doubt that the ball has rolled up and over the barrier and we are now reaping the fruits of our labors.