A Revolution of Forgiveness
Medad Birungi faced pain few imagine yet speaks of forgiveness all can experience“My story changed beyond all recognition. Everything that was made ugly by pain and anger was turned to beauty by one simple, revolutionary thing—forgiveness.” Medad Birungi was once a boy who begged to die by the side of the road, a teenager angry enough to kill, a man broken and searching, yet today he is a testimony to God’s transforming power. In his life story, Tombstones and Banana Trees: A True Story of Revolutionary Forgiveness, Birungi charts his outrageous journey through suffering, abuse, despair and revenge to unexpected forgiveness and healing.
Through his story of healing, Birungi calls readers to find healing for their own emotional scars. He reminds them that when they forgive others they are doing something truly radical—changing relationships, communities and countries. They are welcoming God into the hidden corners of the human soul, where real revolution begins, inspiring others to start again and work for reconciliation. Birungi is “fascinated by forgiveness, drawn to it, compelled by it and delighted when anyone wants to join me. That is what revolutionary forgiveness becomes after a while—a passion. It draws us in, yet it does not overrule us. We must still make the choice to overcome our reservations.”
Tombstones and Banana Trees will take readers back to their own tombs and funerals and help them ask how God might turn them into new births and celebrations. Their eyes will be opened to the revolutionary change that God Himself has in store for all.
Medad Birungi grew up in the war-torn country of Uganda in the 1960’s. He grew up with a violent father. And, after years of abuse, his father abandoned him, along with his mother and siblings, on the side of the road when he was only six years old. His life became increasingly difficult—his poverty increased, his hope evaporated and his future was nothing but decay. For the first twenty years of his life, he lived on a staple diet of anger and bitterness.
But God had his hand on Birungi’s life, and it would change beyond all recognition. Everything that was made ugly by pain and anger was turned to beauty by one incredibly simple yet revolutionary act: forgiveness. Though he started as a boy who begged to die by the side of the road, becoming a teenager angry enough to kill then a man broken and searching, he is now a testimony to God’s transforming power.
From that trauma came the lessons that we can all appreciate: the impoverishment of life without Christ, the redemption of the cross and the revolutionary power of forgiveness. His story deals in nothing less than pure, God-given transformation. Tombstones and Banana Trees has the dual quality of being both uniquely individual yet universally relevant, holding together the grandest of themes and the most intimate of testimonies. Birungi’s life is so comprehensively renewed that any reader sharing in his journey will feel the impact.
Currently Birungi is the coordinator for missions, evangelism and church planting in the Anglican Diocese of Kampala. He also lectures at the Kyambogo University. But one of his greatest passions is the charitable organization that he founded, World Shine Ministries. He is a father of nine children (five biological and four adopted). He and his wife Connie live with their children in Uganda.
Visit the author’s website.
Tombstones and Banana Trees: A True Story of Revolutionary Forgiveness
by Medad Birungi with Craig Borlase
David C Cook/ISBN: 978-0-7814-0502-7/208 pages/paperback/$14.99
www.davidccook.com and www.worldshinefoundation.org
My Review:
If any one had a reason to be bitter and vengeful, Medad Birungi of Uganda would be that man. And he was that and more for over 20 years of his life.
As a young boy he was beaten and ridiculed by his father and eventually abandoned at a very young age, his father leaving with his other wives and children. His family and neighbors treated him, his mother, and siblings as less than dirt–more like ‘maggot valley.’ The poverty became worse, and his hope and future appeared empty.
He had received some teaching from the Bible about Jesus, His miracles, and His love from one Christian wife of his father’s and some of the Christian ladies at the local church. He was taught to repent, forgive and pray every day. So he knew Jesus saw their plight.
When Medad finally got to high school, he began to live a double life that he kept hidden from his mother and school administrators. He describes this journey of his life in great detail, and it will touch you deeply inside as a friend, mother, father, or sibling.
But God had way different plans for Medad than he could have ever imagined. Medad describes how he went to each person who was on his ‘hit list,’ forgiving each one after he became a Christian in 1980, despite how bitter he had been. Only by the grace of God was he able to accomplish this feat. And wait until you read about the results!
Revolutionary forgiveness like this can change relationships, communities and countries. He calls you to find your healing from your own emotional scars by coming to Christ, repenting, forgiving and praying.
Pick up Medad’s book and find that freedom for your own life! Then share it with others!
This book was provided by Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, at The B&B Media Group, in exchange for my honest review. No monetary compensation was exchanged.
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