What a wonderful day. I woke up to the crowing of the Rooster in the garage not 4 feet from the open window over our bed. Does anyone know that a Rooster can crow once every 15 seconds for 30 or 40 minutes straight? I know it sounds preposterous but it’s horribly true. What an wonderfully gifted bird, counting out to himself exactly 15 seconds then letting loose one of the most terrible penetrating sounds a person can imagine. I thought, perhaps I need to pray for him because of the burning desire in my heart to lay hands on him. This is not just any old sound either, but one capable of bringing on delirium after just 10 minutes, suicide after 20 minutes and after 30 minutes ….murder. Yes, I was so impressed with his early morning abilities that I insisted on having him for dinner tomorrow night.
Be that as it may; it was a good night and a good morning, that is, before the foul serenade began. We fixed the shower head to actually let the water out instead of heating up to the surface temperature of the sun. So we had a good shower, a great cup of African tea and started off to town. After a quick visit to the cyber (internet place) we did some shopping and then to the bank to exchange our dollars for some Kenyan shillings. By then it was fast approaching lunch, so we decided to stop for a quick bite for before doing the major grocery shopping. We all ordered a different version of chicken and I had my favorite, called chicken masallah. We ate till we were full, mostly with our hands, and as I looked up all three of my fellow lunch mates were laughing at me and talking about grabbing a camera. The chicken masallah had some sort of orange colored seasoning in it that had made my white beard a bright orange colored Colonel Sander’s goatee and mustache. I tried wiping it off but it resisted all efforts till I arrived home and scrubbed it out with soap. Soon Joseph Benta arrived to have a pretty serious conversation about some recent troubling events in his family. Amma and Joel left on foot for the Wool Matt to do the grocery shopping while we talked with Joseph. All ended well with some healing and direction to help them get through their trouble. God gave some good wisdom but I cannot imagine taking anything serious from a man with a bright orange mustache and goatee.
When Amma and Joel returned we started home and took a quick detour to the entrance to Lake Nakuru National Park, being only 2 miles from the house. We didn’t go in, but as we stopped to look around a little monkey jumped up on the windshield and tried to get in. Joel loved it. Then the little guy went around and sat on Georges outside mirror and acted like he was going to jump on Georges lap. George didn’t like the idea but it all made for a good ending to a good day.
One of the biggest challenges here (as is everywhere) is teaching people to communicate. Speaking the truth in love is probably right up there next to prayer (speaking truth to God) in its importance. It is especially troublesome to teach here, because of the culture. Through dealing with a situation here yesterday, I learned that young people do not talk about sex with their parents. That leaves them on their own to find out what is what and if they have problems there is no one good to talk too. Bad idea. People are raised not to really have intimate conversations with each other on any level, husband wife, parent child, brother sister or whatever. That leaves most people only familiar with each other but never intimate. Being familiar is the natural counterfeit for Intimacy. The outcome of being familiar and not intimate with each other is to gain information by gossip (what we want to hear) not speaking the truth in love (what is true). Another Bad idea.
We have jumped right in to the work here and our Father is helping us do what we wanted to do. We are being allowed to get into peoples personal lives and problems (what kind of nut wants to get into other people’s problems?). I believe that humankind lost intimacy with each other when they lost it with God. Hence it is among the first things to be restored to us when new life enters. Naturally, we do not know how, or are too afraid to be intimate with each other and each culture has developed their own social conduct to meet the needs produced by the absence of intimacy. We must let the Holy Spirit teach us to be intimate with everyone we are in unity with. It is the approved social conduct of the Kingdom of God. Intimacy begins with being and maintaining respect for the person as God sees them... not how we see them. Without respect for God's love of them, … not ours… His, we will destroy every possibility of gaining closeness.
Well I do go on, don't I. As you might guess I have been thinking a lot of this lately. It is something I want to build in our Kenyan family here from the beginning. Don't forget to celebrate little Thanksgiving; it’s the only secular holiday that hasn't been totally corrupted. Give my love to your households and remember to pray for us. Much love abba
Well I must go, got to out to the garage and figure out if it’s possible to put a rubber band around a rooster’s beak.
All our love ….your sent ones.
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