Government of Godfrey Binaisa Overthrown by Military Coop
The time? The last Saturday in May, 1980. We were in Uganda with a team from New Life Church. The government of Godfrey Binaisa had been overthrown by a military coup, and the country was in severe disorder. A soldier had been shot and seriously wounded a few days before right near where we were preaching at the entrance to Owino market in Kampala. Therefore we held our worship service out there with Ugandan church leaders to prevent the soldiers from killing any more people and to bring Christ to the warring factions.
I greatly admired the brave Ugandan Christians with whom we were partners during these days of crisis. By being out there they were jeopardizing themselves and perhaps their families as well. But I especially marveled at Rose Marie's JOY and nonchalant courage in facing the business end of automatic rifles. I also know that she stood there without flinching because she loved the Ugandan people more than her own life. Could this be the same woman who preferred sleuthing with Agatha Christie over talking about Christ to skeptics? It is this capacity for change and growth that led me to want to tell Rose Marie's story. In this world of bitterness and disillusionment her life is a heartening personal adventure, a bumpy but inspiring uphill journey which can only be explained by the working of God's grace.
It is perilous penning a book about your wife, especially with her writing major parts of it herself. I think I could now write a book about the composition of this For we both had further changing to do or it could never have been written.
Though substantial parts of the book are written by Rose Marie, I am the primary narrator of the story. But even where I am the story teller, I am often drawing upon content supplied by her. I also tell the tale from the standpoint of one who is often an unwilling participant in the action. At first I am amazingly ignorant of my own need to change both as a man and a husband. So the narrative focuses first on my movement from guilt to grace, precipitated by Rose Marie's midlife crisis. Her change follows upon mine. The book has three major divisions: Part One--A Mid-Life Crisis, Part Two--From Guilt to Grace, Part Three: Partners Together.
Rose Marie’s Story: Surprised by Grace. p. 4