What’s Getting In the Way of Building Something Awesome

I was pretty proud of myself when I made a picture frame once. The reason I was so proud is that I had to overcome so many obstacles to build it.

First, it took me a while to find just the right wood.

Then I went to the store and bought an expensive circular saw to make a couple mitered cuts. Then I had to buy some expensive wood glue and then even more expensive clamps to hold the pieces I cut together. After a couple days and a whole bunch of money, I stood with a pile of tools behind me holding the crooked frame I’d built.

Let me tell you about a couple guys who moved from San Diego and from the Pacific Northwest to Gulu, Uganda last year.

They built an entire school campus—out of dirt!

They figured out, with my law partner and some friends in Gig Harbor, how to compress the clay in the dirt, with a little cement, into blocks and are making state of the art buildings out in the bush—with nothing!

You won’t believe what these guys are doing to build a school for the 250 kids and 30 teachers at the Restore Academy in Northern Uganda.

It reminds me of the creation story in Genesis, but it’s even cooler in a way, because I know these guys.

They’re just like me and you, actually.

And they had a lot of questions, probably like the disciples did.

They asked me what construction materials we had to work with and I told them—“dirt!” They asked if there was water and I told them there wasn’t, so they dug a well with friends at Water4.

They asked how much money they had to spend and I told them—“not much”. They asked how many trained construction people they would have to help them out and I told them—“none”. Then they asked who would train the workers if they could find some and I said—“you”.

So they asked when they had to finish the school construction by and I told them—“Next February”

They looked at each other, looked back at me, crossed their arms at the same time and said with one voice:

“We’re in.”

Someday you’ve got to see what these secretly incredible guys from the Restore Academy in Uganda have done.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as I’ve tried to follow Jesus, it’s that the people who do stuff, often don’t know what an obstacle is anymore.