| By Patrick Seruyange BAMC,
:: 02-06-2011
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Right around this time last year, I was asking myself what the death of Uganda Martyrs meant
to me as an individual, apart from getting a day off. After hours of trying to answer this embarrassingly simple question, I remembered something that someone once mentioned; “You may kill a man but not defeat him.”
Since then, Martyrs Day has turned into a time when I reflect on what it really means to be a Christian.
There are dozens of stories in the Bible that end with a follower losing his life because of his decision to follow the way of the master, Jesus Christ.
Some of the deaths described are so inhumane that it is hard to imagine how far the ruthless leaders were willing to go to persecute the church and indeed Christ himself.
In Uganda, the story didn't change much. At a certain point in our history, fellow brothers and sister in the faith were put to the ultimate test: to deny God and live or die in his name. Obviously, the martyrs took the later.
No matter when and where Christians were persecuted, these stories have something in common. The leaders who ordered the killings might have been mighty and powerful; however, the day they passed away, they perished forever. On the other hand, the martyrs stories and legacies have gone on to inspire and challenge people for generations. Funny how a young and helpless boy like Kizito has inspired names of schools, hospitals and other entities after him and yet a powerful man like Mwanga has been forgotten with the passage of time.
History teaches me two things from this.
Deciding to follow Christ doesn't come without a cost and what we do for Christ will live far beyond our physical existence. In the words of Jim Elliot, “ We have only one life to live and it shall soon pass; only what is done for Christ shall last.”
I realise that one day, I might be faced with a choice: to die physically and live for eternity with the Father or live physically and perish the very day my body is no more. I can only hope and trust that should that day ever come, the name of the Lord will be glorified.
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Uganda Christian University's community newspaper
Me & My God 
:: Uganda Christian University 2008