We walked outside into the cool Kampala, Uganda breeze talking on the breezeway. As we went outside he took my hand and we walked together into the surrounding village.
He was once a Muslim. Now he knew the Lord. And as a result my new friend, who I walked hand in hand with today, was ostracized from his entire family. Even threatened with death by his father. Perhaps I should explain why I and another young man would walk hand in hand together in a public place. Or goodness, why we would hold hands at all!
In African culture it is very common for male friends to walk holding the hand of another friend. It expresses a closeness in the relationship that would be shocking to anyone in the United States. I must admit, I've never held the hands of another man before outside my time in Africa. Here, however, I felt privileged to walk along the dirty, unpaved Ugandan roads holding his hand as he shared with me his conversion experience. From the threshold of a life without grace to a new found life with purpose and meaning that Christ had given him. Though totally different as men, when we
walked together this evening holding hands I felt a strong spiritual bond with a new brother in Christ.