African Praises

Last Post + 1

2011-09-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok; I know my last post on this blog said it would be the last one in 2011 …. Sorry… the trip home and our arrival was just too good not to share with everyone. We are home now; and to see the smiling faces of family and friends can be likened to …well … to a little bit of what it must feel like to go to heaven. But let me back up a little.

Leaving our family in Kenya is always tough. Our home and family in Kenya is almost identical to our home and family in the U.S.A. Both contain precious people filled with the desire to serve God and love one another. They are separated by being located half way around the world from each other, yet, they are joined together at the heart.

Leaving one and coming to the other is a painful joy no matter which one you leave.

We wanted to take George and family ‘up-country’* to our Village; but they wouldn’t fit in our suitcases.

(*the term ‘up-country’ in Kenya means the village in which you were born in.)

(Sigh…) Hopefully he will be able to come to the next Ingathering.

The drive from Nakuru was beautiful and passing the small mountain called “Sleeping Massai” always reminds us that we have begun the long journey home. The trip usually last at least 26 hours and during that time we get little or no sleep.

When, as was this trip, our departure time ends up being 3 am in the morning we have to arrange for George to spend the night in Nairobi as he doesn’t do well driving back to Nakuru in the night. Last time he drove back at night he hit a zebra! So we get him a hotel room to spend the night in and we crash there until 3 or 4 hours before we have to be dropped off at the airport.

Among the things we do when we get to Nairobi is to visit our favorite little gift store called “Zanzibar”. It’s run by this neat little old man who is the third generation proprietor of this gift shop. It opened in 1936 by selling things made from Rhino horns and continues to the present day by selling curios from all over Africa. He has become a friend of ours and has the best prices in Nairobi for almost anything to take back to the grandchildren.

This time the store owner wanted to show us everything in His two story store. Here are some pictures of some of his favorite items.

This is one of my favorite carvings. It is made from the ebony tree and carved from one piece of wood. If it wasn’t so expensive to send back to the States I would buy it for 200 dollars and sell it for 2000 dollars back in the States.

After finishing our shopping we ate a lunch/dinner and walked back to the hotel room. Our flight to Istanbul, Turkey would not be leaving till 3 am in the morning. The flight is almost seven hours long and fortunately we had some extra seat room due to the flight not being full so we grabbed some ‘cat-naps’ till breakfast was served. As we ate breakfast we flew over the beautiful Black Sea. It was beautiful coming into Istanbul from the sea.

Arriving at the Istanbul International Airport we hit the ground running because we only had less than an hour to make it through a gauntlet of security checks (there were at least 5 or 6) to get to our gate. If you had been watching us and all those people run about while trying to get to their gate (corral?) on time it would look surprising a lot like a cattle drive.

We and the rest of the cows were mooing and asking about the location of our gate of departure and everyone we asked, politely gave us the wrong directions. All the while the electronic signs said that our flight was giving its last call before taking off.It truly seemed like this would be a great time to panic!

Yet thanks to the prayers of the saints on both sides of the world we made the flight on time. Bwana asifiwe! (Praise the Lord).

The flight from Istanbul to Chicago O’Hare was almost 12 hours and again, as before, soon as we arrived we had another gauntlet to run. At your “point of entry” you must reprieve your baggage and try to get through both passports checks and customs before your next flight leaves. So there we were; watching with anticipation everyone else’s baggage go round and round on the conveyor.

Finally everyone else’s baggage showed up with the painful exception of my two, so we continued to wait and watch. I highly suspect that some of the baggage handlers were peeking around the corner and watching me squirm. Finally when they saw I was sufficiently anxious, they allowed my two suitcases to be put on the conveyor. Was that laughing I heard?

Then it’s a quick sprint through the airport to the customs section and a brief cross country race to the trains that will take you and the rest of the herd to their final security check. If completed on time you and your appointed herd will qualify for the final leg of our journey and to the “promise land” of Tennessee.

Flying from Chicago to Memphis we passed some of the most beautiful cloud formations I’ve ever seen. But just as we descended to the Memphis airport, as if our wonderful Father was making a statement, we saw the most beautiful rainbow ever. It was as if He was putting His final blessing on the most fruitful and wonderful trip to Kenya yet.

We were met by family and friends to be whisked away to one of the most wonderful places on earth; our neighborhood. Thanks again for all who prayed us safely back.

As I previously stated …. It’s really good to be home.

The Last Kenyan Post of 2011

2011-09-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well, this will be the last post detailing our 3 month visit to Kenya. Tomorrow we begin our long two day journey back to the United States and to all our loved ones there. We need it. We prayed this last week would be the best and our prayers were answered in more ways that we could have hoped for and now; we need to rest.

These last 3 wonderful months have become the most productive in all our previous years. The Lord has opened more doors than in all the other times combined.

When we first arrived it seemed as though we were getting off to a slow start, yet all the while our Father was building a platform strong and high enough for us to proclaim and demonstrate His incredible corporate Life. He did this, by making us take the time to connect on a more intimate level with scores of new and old friends. Thank you Nathanael.

We have been able by God’s grace to overcome some very big crisis’s, more deeply touched people’s lives, and seen some very encouraging beginnings, that we know will bring change to the spiritual landscape here in Nakuru.

The family of disciples has not only changed our location but our name as well. Because we feel future growth will cause us to move again, we chose a name that does not reflect our location. We do not know where we will end up in this area.

We do know that the Life we have been given is nothing short of Amazing, just like the grace He has given us to live this Life. Hence the name; … ‘Amazing Life Fellowship’.

The Word of God is increasing and beginning to come out of the hearts of people He took up residence in here in Nakuru. When we left last year there was only one reliable man besides the George the pastor. Now there are 4 or 5 men over 21 years old that are starting to bear responsibility in the church and at least eight between the ages of 17 and 21coming up behind them. We ate together, worked together, and played together. The result was a bonding of hearts. The Amazing Life Brotherhood has begun.

Our L.E.A.R.N. educational program has started with already 15 young people enrolled in school. LEARN stands for Letting Educational Adoption Reshape Nakuru. We feel this program will help the desperate lack of finances to help the less fortunate children here in Nakuru complete their schooling.

There have been much tears of gratitude on behalf of the parents and children who otherwise would not have been able to complete their education. A special thanks to their sponsors who have given these kids a chance for a good future. Please tell people about this program and see if you can “adopt” the educational future of one or more of these needy children. Here is the link to learn more… http://kenyalearn.blogspot.com/

The Kingdom hikers have come together in a much stronger and more deliberate way. Over the last few months they have met every week and completed several general workdays, taken Mzungus hiking on mountains and caves, put on an awesome all day Talent Show, and helped Yahshana put on a 6 hour Children’s Fun Day Extravaganza for over 150 plus kids. This last Gathering all of them expressed their love for each of us and told us how much they are going to miss us. They promised to take care of each other and continue to reach out to their friends and family while we’re gone.

One of the most encouraging and promising things that happened these past few months is the creation of a fellowship of godly men and women. For over two months we have been gathering every Wednesday morning and spending 2 to 3 hours sharing the teachings we have learned in Rose Creek Village.

It started with 2 pastors who wanted to hear everything they could hear about the Kingdom of God. They then returned to their churches and taught their congregations everything they had heard. They then went out and began to bring their pastor friends.

Last Thursday we rented a hotel meeting room and I taught for almost 10 hours. There were 30 Christian workers most of them pastors over one or more churches. After the long day of teaching they were so excited they said they wanted to continue to meet while we are gone and have even more men and women ready to teach when we return. As I said in the beginning of this post doors are opening up everywhere for the ministry of the Word.

Here is a letter I just received from one of them….

“thanks so much bro naoh. for sure you have left a mark in my life that will remain forever. through the two months we have been in your meetings i have come to learn that God is speaking daily in my life, the problem is how to know that he is speaking. it is my prayer that what have learned from you on how God speaks will be a blessing to many others as i plan to start another church next year. kindly remember me in your prayers for i know the devil is and will never be happy since i now have known the truth .i am planing to start a church here in nakuru. thanks also for the teaching information on worship as a music pastor and church planting in mind i believe to have a church where God will be worshipped in spirit and truth for the first time in my generation. am a bible student therefore i still need a lot of material for the body of christ. otherwise have a blessed flight home and always remember that you are a vessel the honey of honor. GOD bless...pst peter”

There are many more things that happened but we desire to save some of the more miraculous things for sharing at the Ingathering.

The rest of our Tennessee Nakuru Team (TNT) also have many personal stories to share upon returning as well. Speaking of them, I wish to extend my special thanks to the servants of God known as Doug, Tara, Brandon and the beloved Yahshana. The laying down of their lives and the love they have shown to our Kenyan family is one of the indispensible reasons this time has been so fruitful.

None of this would have been possible without the prayers, and support from our friends and family back home or the teamwork of the people God sent this time.

Together we have survived sickness, almost terminal homesickness, financial crises, near wrecks, death of friends, disturbing news from home, external accusations, internal doubts, and something akin to exhaustion. But, we have been filled with praise and exaltation for there is no one like our God and no other life that can compare to His eternal Life.

We are all ready to come home; … till our home here... calls us back.

Yesu ni bwana (Jesus is Lord)

The Exploding Kids Day and the Hiker’s Help

2011-09-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

It all began because Mama Yashanah had it in her heart tohave a kids day extravaganza! We have almost 40 kids in our church and so shewanted to put on something really fun for them and their friends before shereturned to the United States.

Now, Mama Yashanah is already somewhat of a legend around the Amazing Life Fellowship here in Nakuru, Kenya. Every one of the children whoencounter her, absolutely adore her. For the past 3 months, she has tirelesslygiven herself to these precious children that are in such desperate need of love and encouragement.

Now even Mama Yashanah knows that a whole day with 40 kidsis not something any saint should attempt alone; soooo… she enlisted the helpof the wonder working servants of all good deeds ….the Kingdom Hikers! TheHikers are already establishing a name for themselves based on their service tothe surrounding community.

When approached with the prospect of hanging out all daywith small kids who are extremely needy and somewhat undisciplined in the artof listening to anyone, the Kingdom Hikers rose to the occasion and pledgedtheir help.

The day was set and all the workers came together to ask Godfor the grace to do what was being asked of them. There were snacks to prepare,banners to be made, balloons to be inflated and activities to plan . Therewould be much preparation and much grace needed on the appointed day.

Littledid they know just how much grace would be needed!

As the children began to arrive at the "meeting tent" on the appointed day,balloons were put up, the welcoming banner stretched out and the snacks put safely out of the reach of little hands till the proper time for consumption.

It was just about then, someone mentioned that our beloved George had briefly mentioned to another pastor what we were doing and that there was the “remote possibility of a few more children attending that Kids Day”. No problem ….. we can flex.

As the festivities began and the lovely children began totrickle in, it seemed as though children began to appear out of thin air. Fivehere, ten there, twenty coming though the gate;… then the flood gates openedand scores and scores of kids began to arrive. Had someone put an ad in thepaper? Are those rain clouds coming in?

Now; after coming to Kenya for almost 5 years we know that itis critical to expect the unexpected, and it is of supreme importance that the worker of God be flexible.

As the children kept appearing,Yahshanah began to feel the inevitable stretching of herfaith and exclaimed;

Oh my, … we need more of ….everything! Oh, Lord who multiplied the fishes and loaves ....can you now stretch the juice and popcorn?

No problem; the Kingdom Hikers are here and the otherMuzungus have arrived! When we(Doug, Tera, Amma and myself) arrived, there was over one hundred and fiftychildren being entertained by the courageous Kingdom Hikers. But the “greatgrace” of God had kicked in and everyone was having a wonderful time.

Later there would be a dancing contest, coloring contest,stories, snacks and a whole lot ofimprovising. In the end everyone had a blessed time and everyone began to leave around twothirty. The rain held off till a little after three. The whole day was nothingshort of amazing.

We who observed all that happened, praised the One who helpsus in all we do in His name. By His grace we are impacting the neighborhood andmany of the other local churches, and maybe creating a lot of great dancers!

Thanks to all of you in the Village and everyone everywhere forall your prayers and support. There is so much to do here in Nakuru, Kenya forthe sake of the Kingdom of God. We know we cannot do it without your prayersand support.

Much love …. The Rose Creek Village Kenyan team....soon to be with you again!

Yesu ni Bwana!

2011-08-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

There is so much to be grateful for I hardly know where to start.

Things are going great at home because men and women are rising to the challenge of a shared life, Shammah is doing well, Jerry’s biopsy was clear; see (http://yippee-leukemia.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-10-good-news.html), people are coming to Christ, the Ingathering is almost here, the church in Nakuru is growing both numerically and spiritually.

The pastors we’re meeting with each week are thriving and taking everything back to their people and inviting new pastors to come. We had a great time of fellowship and outreach with the local community during the Kingdom Hikers talent show and all of us in George’s house are doing well and high spirits.

Once again, I find myself so busy living this Life I can’t seem to find the time to write about it. At least the other “sent ones” have been faithful in this respect. You can read their blogs to find out what’s been happening throughout the week. What a great bunch of people.

If you don’t know where their post is, here’s the list. Just click one and enjoy;

Amma’s…. http://haviylah.blogspot.com/

Tara’s….. http://tara-livingchristslife.blogspot.com/

Doug’s… http://rcvdoug.blogspot.com

Brandon’s... http://thestuffyoumayhavemissedinafrica.blogspot.com

Yahshana… http://yahshana.blogspot.com

The Growing Household of God

It is such a profound truth that the Kingdom of God is like a great dragnet cast into the sea, pulling up both good and bad fish. Then the good fish are placed into clean vessels and the bad ones discarded.

(Matthew 13:47, 48)

We are watching the Master fisherman drag His net onto the land and sort out the fish. Sometimes the sorting happens quickly and sometimes it takes a long time. Those who prove themselves worthy are placed in clean vessels. Then he changes them into true sons and daughters of God. Soon they begin maturing and learning how to fish themselves.

Last night we went to one of those “good fish” houses and saw what her own net had brought up. She had gone to all her neighbors and friends asking them to come to her house that night to hear the message of the Kingdom of God. God began the sorting right away.

At the end of our time together one of those friends left with new Life and two others expressed a desire to be joined to Household of Christ. The good fish’s name is Zipporah or Zippe for short. The next day we met with Zippy's husband who after witnessing our fellowship the night before expressed a desire to be baptized into our Life.

The Fun filled Outreach of the Kingdom Hikers Talent Show.

It took a lot of work and preparation to pull it off, but the Talent Show was a great success. There were snacks to get ready, signs to make and a whole lot of planning.

We had to extend the “tent of meeting” to accommodate all the people that would come. Here is some of the crew that “pulled up the stakes and lengthened the tent”.

Then there was lots of dancing…

Lots of singing…..

And lots and lots of fun!

The 5 hour Gathering and Fundraiser Extravaganza.

Years ago there was a war movie called … “The Longest Day” …it was given that name because they obviously hadn't sat though last Sunday's Gathering. It had to be five hours long. Although, I must admit it was a lot of fun. It’s a good thing we stretched the tent, because every available space was filled. We need more chairs.

Now on the way to the gathering George mentioned something about a “fund raiser” but we had no idea of what he meant. It was a stimulating experience. The raising of funds was a cross between a Village Auction of desert goodies and a Village wedding fun night.

The cause was good; raising money for a more permanent meeting place than the tent. Amma was delighted because nothing was auctioned but vegetables. For a full description click on Amma’s blog that is listed above..

Here are some of the pictures of the Fundraiser…

Words cannot express what is happening with the pastor’s meeting. All I can really say is our Father is gathering an army of dedicated spiritual leaders hungry to be on the front lines of this spiritual war we're in. I hope to do a separate post introducing each of these wonderful men.

Well there is plenty more going on, none of which would be possible without your prayers and support. Please continue to lift us up as we enter our last month, we want it to be the most productive yet.

Oh, something kind of funny, I sent David D. in California an update of what’s happening here in Nakuru and ended it with what I thought was Swahili for Praise the Lord. He said he looked it up on Google translator and it said I had written ….Rebel lord lima bean!

Soooo…. while I work on my Swahili, I’ll leave you with… Praise the Lord!

Much love … your sent ones.

What's Happening

2011-07-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

There have been many good and wonderful things happening here in Kenya. However, most of them are not easily described. I have been too busy experiencing them to write about them. God is working both inside and outside our church touching people’s lives and reviving their hopes. Through many and varied circumstances God is taking us deeper into people's lives. In the midst of tragedy He is bringing joy, in the midst of pain He sending comfort, and in the midst of adversarial attacks …He is bringing victory.

Probably the best approach to communicating everything that is happening would be to take each thing separately and describe what we are seeing. If you don’t already know about Amma’s blog, here’s the link http://haviylah.blogspot.com/ ; she does a much better job at keeping everyone up to date than I.

The Church

Much has happened in and surrounding our little church family; even the location of our meeting place has changed as reported in one of Amma’s blogs. Truth was that if God hadn’t stepped in and revealed our new meeting place we would have been “placeless”. But, as always, our good Shepherd had already picked a new and better location before we lost our old one. Moving was easy as we, like the Israelites of old, just pulled up the tent stakes in one place and put them down in the next. Then we celebrated!

Our new place has opened up a complete new neighborhood and we already have new people coming to visit. In fact the nice lady who owns the property and leased it to us lives in Nairobi and was with us on Sunday.At the gathering she was saying when she is in town she will always come and be with us. She then stood to her feet and told us that she could have gotten more money from other people who wanted to rent the land, but she felt the Lord told her to rent it to us for less. She said after the gathering this morning she now knew why.

Gideon, Robert and Adrian

Among the new people who have come to be with the church are a number of talented and personable young men and women. Three of the young men that particularly stand out are Gideon, Robert and Adrian. All three young men are musically gifted and have added a whole lot of life to our praise and worship. More about them can be found on the latest installment of my blog about the Kingdom Hikers. Here is the link… http://kenyakingdomhikers.blogspot.com/ .

Other people who originally attended our fellowship and left are returning. Two of them some might recognize are nice young man called Dickson and a lady named Alice.

The Kingdom Hikers

Speaking of the Kingdom Hikers; they are working together on a small talent show that will target the teenagers in our area. They already have a couple of dance groups and two bands committed to play. Please keep the talent show in your prayers that the Lord will bless it and encourage their hearts.

By going to the KH blog you can learn about the band ‘Tamasha’ (celebration). Two of the three previously mentioned young men Gideon and Robert are members of the band. To get a small taste of their delightful music you can go to my web album at https://picasaweb.google.com/abbanoah where I have placed a small delightful video of them singing a wonderful folk song called ‘Jumbolia.’

Tamasha

Our Hiker meetings are becoming more organized and are slowly starting to ‘run’ themselves. It is our hope that one young student called Johnny will begin to work the Kingdom Hiker blog.

After the two or three hour Sunday gathering is over we are having an hour long men’s meeting. This is the first time there are men coming who are genuinely interested in growing spiritually. There are about twelve counting the older teenage young men and they are really starting to ask some great questions. They seem to be sincerely grateful for the teaching and are starting to feel like their lives really matter discovering that Christ has something for them to do.

The Pastors

"The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West."

- E. Stanley Jones

Another encouraging happening is with our meeting some the pastors around the Nakuru area. The first week George invited four of his pastor friends. We met at the Kokeb restaurant and talked for almost 3 hours. Their hearts were precious and quick to acknowledge the disintegrating condition of contemporary Christianity. Among the problems they spoke of was the terrible deficiency of love and spirituality among members of their respective churches, worldliness and unbelief among members, gossips, rebellion and people not wanting to ever to be corrected. Sound familiar? As they spoke of the despairingly vivid difference between what is seen in the scriptures and what is now being practiced in Christianity, some of these precious men begin to tear up.

George and I began to speak of recovery and what it would take to wake God’s people up; of how only by the power of God could things be stopped from their downward plunge. And if anything was to be done the work had to begin with them. As we spoke you could visibly see the hope returning in their eyes. At the end of our talk, all of them were excited and committed to meeting every week for more discussions.

The next week there were ten pastors present and the meeting was a repeat performance of the first one. All decided to make meeting once a week together a priority and to seek God for meaningful changes. As you might imagine George and I are excited. Please pray that God protect this little band of men who want to find the truth about what it means to lead God’s people in an authentic faith.

Saying Goodbye

Lastly; we had to say good bye to Tabach and Chloe. Tabach was not only his usual "rear guard" wonderful self, but became, all over again, one of my best friends. I don't think I would have come through some very unpleasant situations without his compassionate, calming presence being there. Everyone here loves him and wants him to return whenever he can.

Same with Chloe. She has a way of getting in there with people that's wonderful to watch. My favorite thing was to pray with her. When all of us prayed each morning I witnessed a side of Chloe that I wasn't fully familiar with but grew to really love. I really believe she is beginning to know God. Yet, alas, they have both flown away. Take good care of them both, we already miss them.

Since we have arrived in Nakuru, we have experienced losing our luggage for almost a week, losing the only place we had to meet in, with little or no hope (outside of God) of finding one, the tragic and unexpected death of Mary’s husband, a blown engine in our only means of transportation, and a major attack of the devil to try and divide the church through carnal men here in the church. But there are many more good things happening than bad. I don't think I have ever felt God's anointing stronger.

In Conclusion...

We are rejoicing, not complaining, because similar events and much more difficult situations than ours are happening in Mexico, the Village in Tennessee, Kerala India and all over the earth where men and women of faith are committed to establishing the Kingdom of God and not their own kingdoms.

I know that in all these things we will prevail; that these difficulties and the attacks that accompany them are but signs that we are having a fair measure of success.

Bwana asi fiwi.

Safari

2011-07-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Monday we decided to take a little safari (journey)for two hours or so from our house to Lake Beringa and Lake Bogoria. It was very refreshing. Staying in a dark house in the city can, in the words of John Denver’s song “Fly Away” can … “make you hungry for things that you can’t even see”. We were hungry for the wonders of nature and the refreshment they always seem to bring us. So after a couple of hours of driving on some of the bumpiest roads on earth, we arrived at Lake Beringa and prepared to embark for another 2 hours in small boat on this beautiful African lake.

Our guide took us around the banks of this beautiful lake while pointing out all the many beautiful birds that live on the lake. Here are just a few.

Shortly after our trip through the water grass we encountered the first of the two families of Hippos we would meet that live on the shores of Lake Biringa. I was amazed at how laid back the laundry lady was in the back of the picture knowing that hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa. I guess you can get used to anything, I mean after all, we live by Gary’s dogs. More people in Africa are killed by hippos than lions. Another point for Judah.

As the grass began to thin out we came upon some local fishermen. As soon as the saw us they came paddling over to show us their catch and try their luck with talking us out of a few shillings. This is entirely ok, as most of the local people believe that all Mozungus are walking ATM machines. We gave them 50 shillings to split between the three of them. They smiled and paddled off. The two main eating fish in Lake Beringa are Tilapia and Catfish.

Leaving the grasslands where most of the birds hang out, we then hugged the bolder strewn shoreline. There crouched between the huge rocks and barely visible to the undiscerning eye was a monitor lizard. It was amazing how he blended in with the rocks. Now that attribute serves him well in hunting and comes in real handy when he himself is being hunted by the locals who would love to have him over for dinner.

Soon the small boat turned toward a small but beautiful island which we were told was owned by only one family. We were also informed by our smiling guide that the person who owns the island has five wives and twenty-six children. Wow! I would imagine that his household keeps him pretty busy. Yet, probably not as busy as a Rose Creek Village mom. Unlike our children there would be little problem finding his children unless they had become excellent swimmers.

The island was enchantingly awesome. It seemed to be almost a solid rock and the flora growing there provided good examples of showing how “life will find a way” where it seems there is no way to exist. There were Aloevera everywhere and other plants that were amazingly skilled at thriving on a lot of nothing. The prettiest of the smaller trees was called the African Rose Tree. As you can see we liked it a lot. George decided he would try and imitate the tree… but it didn’t work.

We found some little bleached bodies of some sort of crawling insects so I decided to investigate. The first rock I turned over I found these cool little millipedes. I let them crawl on me, much to Chloe’s disgust and then pretended to eat one. Chloe rolled her eyes, made the funniest of little sounds and walked hurriedly away.

Soon we were back in the boat headed back to the other side of the lake. We then came into the shallow part of the lake and met the other hippo family. They stared at us while we stared at them and then they began to get a little excited and started grunting very loudly. We took the hint and continued heading back to the van.

Before we arrived our guide stopped the boat and pulling out some dead fish “called” some crocks to lunch. It was fun watching them eat… something else other than us I mean.

He then tried to “call” some Fish eagles to come and dine on some fish he was waving in the air above his head, but alas too many other tourist boats had already been there and Mr. Fish eagle was full.

When we returned to shore we all loaded up in the Van and headed toward Lake Bogoria. Unlike Beringa Lake Bogoria is completely saline (salty) and perfect for the gazillion flamingos that live there. It is also where the “Hot Springs” are. After a short visit to the springs we headed home or at least we thought that’s what we intended.

No sooner than we pointed the van towards home we discovered we had a flat tire. No problem; this time we have a spare. We fixed it and headed out again in the direction of home. Half way down the road there started this obnoxious noise under my seat. Upon investigation it was discovered that the shock mount had broke from the too numerous to count pot holes we hit. So we looked for someone with a welder and pulled in to have it fixed. While we were there George took his seat out and had it welded too. I think he welded the battery cover as well. We were there for well over an hour with at least 4 different people working on it and all for a shocking 400 shillings ($4.47). Meanwhile we played with the local kids. Soon the van was fixed and we were on our way back to Nakuru.

When we finally made it home we discovered the electric was off so we got ready for bed by flashlight and candles. That night we went to bed exhausted but happy and refreshed from our safari. Such is life in Africa.

Tragic News

2011-07-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to some tragic news.

Last night I heard George get up and go out in the middle of the night and not return till 2 am in the morning. I didn’t think much of it because being a shepherd in Nakuru Kenya means being on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week just like it does in the Village.

George came in our room and told us that Mary’s (the one we call the priestess) husband Syrus was killed last night in a terrible hit and run traffic accident. It happened as he was riding his motorcycle home from work late last night. He was hit and run over by a semi tractor trailer. The details are sketchy but it seems the driver of the semi after running over Syrus kept on going. Sirus was pronounced dead on the scene of the accident.

Syrus was a good man. He was a good father, provider and a good brother. He is survived by an incredible wife and some wonderful children and grandchildren. Most of the readers of this blog know who Mary the Priestess is and how she has been an inspiration to all of us here and in the Village since we met 4 years ago.

Syrus’s daughter Janet is one of the sweetest girls in the Kingdom Hikers. She is a 16 year old that can really dance and sing.

When we went to see them today I hugged her and she just went limp and sobbed. It helped me under stand a little more why we're here.

Just the day before she left me a note expressing her gratitude for our coming to Kenya and loving them. She is such a sweet girl. Here is the note…

Going to Mary house this afternoon for the “time of grieving” was a bitter sweet experience. The last time we were there was only 8 months ago and she was only half done with her house. We took tea in the unfinished house. She said the next time we drank tea together it would be in the finished house. Yet neither of us could have imagined under what circumstances we would drink that tea.

This afternoon we drove up to the cutest little house with a functioning mini farm. The crops were full, the cow and chickens were in their pens and almost every inch of the land was being put to use. There was even a pit dug that Syrus was planning to make into a Tilapia pond.

When we entered the beautiful little home there was family and friends smiling and praying with Mary. Mary greeted us as we walked in and put on that great smile of hers while hugging us and welcoming us into her home.

Shortly after we arrived a few Kenyans drove up in a large white expensive car with a white man who spoke fluent Swahili. He was the head man of a large ministry and who Syrus had worked for. He came in, introduced himself, his associates and his body guard. He then began to preach to Mary about sin and “being ready ourselves” for death. Mary’s face indicated she was not enjoying the sermon. He said all the right things you’re supposed to say and yet it felt extremely impersonal.

It was awkward to say the least and I am trying to be discreet. When he was done I felt, at the risk of being rude, that I needed to state that Mary’s testimony was incredible and that we were happy to be considered by her as family. He thanked me and proceeded to leave.

After he left we sat for a time while George talked to Mary about the funeral and how we could help. I got up and went outside and met Syrus’s son Tabu. We talked while he played with his little son. Then he took me over to the little pit that was being dug for the fish and told me it was his father’s wish to do the pond so he would finish it himself.

All in all it was a sweet time with people in whom we have come to love and respect. In our short visit we were allowed to share in both their grief and praise. Please keep Mary’s family in your prayers and hearts. The next week will be difficult for them. Yet we are tonight praising our great God for taking the sting out of this death and giving us the abiding hope of seeing Syrus again.

We have seen in Mary’s face the same unbelievable grace that we read in every email from our beloved Shammah at home. He said He would never be far when we needed Him. Our God…is God.

WOW!

2011-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Wonderfully Outrageous Week!

What a wonderful and adventure filled week! This week was packed with cliff hanger suitcase mysteries, near tragic accidents, fun filled reunions, hair raising (I mean hair scalping) mistakes, Kingdom Hiker meetings, and was topped off with a great Gathering on Sunday. Let me start with explaining the scalping mistake.

One of my favorite things here in Kenya is getting a haircut in Nakuru. It only cost four dollars including a generous tip and it is completely relaxing. The whole experience lasts up to forty five minutes. He begins with the hot towels on the face and head. This is followed by a shoulder and scalp massage (which almost puts you to sleep) then he begins to slowly and methodically cut each hair or so it seems. After the cut you get your head washed three times. Then you come back for another lightly oiled full head message (which definitely will put you to sleep). I had been waiting for this for eight months.

This time I told him I only wanted one quarter inch removed. He smiled knowingly and said OK .Then began the hot towels and massage. I settled back in bliss for the full treatment. You cannot imagine how surprised I was when I heard (my eyes were closed from the awesome massage) an electric clipper gliding down my scalp!

When I looked up and there was my friendly smiling barber cutting an inch and a half wide highway right down the middle of my head. I sat up and the look on my face must have informed him of his mistake. I thought you were only going to take a quarter of an inch off, I exclaimed? Horrified he quickly explained that he thought I meant only leave a quarter of an inch. Oh well, he’s such a nice guy and my hair grows fast, so I said… “Kuna Matata” (no problem) on with the treatment!

When we arrived in Nakuru we vainly imagined that this time we were going to take the first week kind of easy, but looking back; God had other plans. That’s OK because as the man said… “It’s been a good week.” Those who watched The Thirteenth Warrior will know what I mean.

After the suitcase escapade and the near tragic traffic accident we spent most of the week re-connecting with people. It is so good to see so many familiar faces and equally gratifying to see some new ones as well.

The Kingdom Hiker meeting was great but very late as usual. George scolded them to be on time when next we meet; …. But we’ll see. We spoke to them about coming up higher spiritually and seeing what they could do if they put their heart to it. At the end of our time together the kids were ready to step up the meetings to every week instead of twice a month. We are going to try and put together a small concert/talent show in Nakuru. They seemed excited.

As I previously stated in my last blog we have some new young people (Gideon, Robert, and Adrian) who are very talented musically. Gideon and Robert play in a band that plays weekly in Hotels and other places. Both love the Lord and desire to help other kids with learning music. The band is called Tamasha and means festival. You’ll be hearing and seeing more of Gideon, Robert and Tamasha later.

A few of the young people met us this week at our favorite tea place called Kopeck. Seated at the table from right to left is Gideon, Robert, George, Lily (who also plays guitar and dances) and of course Tabach. These young kids seem very interested in creating something that will help the teenagers here in Nakuru.

I have taken the brother who wrote me from India a few days ago advice (see previous blog) to focus on what’s happening here in Nakuru. So there are five main areas Tabach and I want to focus on this trip. They consist of working on building up the men in the church, teaching the clan leaders to teach others, working with the Kingdom Hikers, and spending time with the pastors who are asking to meet with us. Amma’s and Yashanah’s focus will be with the older and young women’s relationships. Chloe’s will be interacting with the Kingdom Hikers. Please cover us in each of these specific areas.

As usual our Father picked the perfect people from the Village to come with us to Kenya. Chloe has been awesome, diving right in with the housework and talking to the young people. Yashanah is magic with the kids and has really connected with our house girl Betie. She made Betie a crocheted phone case and Betie absolutely loved it. Tabach has been his usual wonderful rear guard self and helping immensely with George and I being able to communicate better. He has also taken over “Bob Miller’s” job (Joel Hall) as chief meat cooker. Thank you Tabach! Amma and I are extremely grateful for all their fellowship and help and a special thanks to all of you who gave them up to come to be here with us.

Well, the challenge this week is to find the place our Father has for us to meet. We are going and looking at a place today. It’s just a bare lot but it has electric, is fenced in and is located in a much better part of town yet still close enough for everyone in Lakeview to walk there.

Maybe this is it.

Much love RCV Grandfather

WE GOT' EM !!

2011-06-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

We got our suitcases! After scores of frustrating calls and driving all the way back to Nairobi to find the Turkish Airlines Office …. we got’em !

It’s amazing how we take some things for granted. Like fresh clothes and a hot shower.

Sometimes it’s good to experience the absence of life’s amenities so as to know how different our lives are from most of the rest of the world.

Most people in our church family here in Nakuru don’t ever get to feel a hot shower in the morning, or even a cold one. They bathe out of a bucket. Many don’t have enough clothes or basic necessities of survival. Now we are working on helping with all of that, but meanwhile it’s good to feel a little of what they go through each day.

One of the most favorite times of my life is when we moved to the land we now call Rose Creek Village. Through circumstances beyond our control we were deprived of houses, hot showers, inside toilet facilities and other things that we thought were “basic necessities”.

For over 6 months 180 people lived “kind of like” most of the rest of the world populations; and right in the middle of the United States.

Now I say “kind of like” because we always knew we could get access to medical attention, food, or whatever else was required to continue life. Most people in the world do not have that assurance. We can never know what they feel. I can tell you now with all the hassles we encountered it was the best of times. But that’s another story; back to today.

Let me tell you of something that happened to me that I believe to be a miracle.

As some of you well know, every time I have come to Africa there is a great fight for my mind during the first few weeks. Discouraging thoughts, oppressive feelings are always there to meet me in abundance. Before I came this time I asked God for help that I might overcome these formidable attacks before they got a hold on me.

This morning I woke up assailed with the negative feelings and depressing thoughts that always begin to come when I first arrive in Kenya. It was if a cloud was descending on me. I began to praise the Lord, read my devotions and got up to take a shower.

Although I felt better, the oppressive feelings still lingered. After dressing I went to my computer and found an email from a man I met for 2 minutes 5 or 6 years ago in India. He stated that God had awakened him in the middle of the night and gave him a vision. The vision was about me.

As I began reading this letter it was as if this man had been in my head reading my mind. He addressed every discouraging specter floating around in my head. I was ecstatic! I could not believe this was happening. A brother I barely knew in a distant country was awakened by God in the middle of the night to let me know that God saw me and had arisen to come to my aid. I don't even think this brother knew I was in Africa.

Receiving the exhortation and encouragement as God’s word to my heart I begin to be filled with joy.

Instantly all the oppressive thoughts and feelings lifted. It was like the sun of righteousness rose in my heart!

Though I have no recollection of this man, God through him remembered me and rose up to fight my enemies.

Here is his letter. His English is a little rough but his spiritual insight is right on the mark....

Greetings in the name of our lord jesus abba,am writting you and i dont know you well we met in india several years ago and you were with pastor daniel,we chatted abit and you gave me your contact.I woke up in prayers this morning and when i was praying the lord was dealing with my life,it was deep in the spirit that you cant imargin,i saw the heavens opened and when i bowed down he remindend me you,i saw you in a deep cloud of wondering,you were in africa,i dont know if you are doing anything there!am not going to any church!is like you are in africa now,the lord has sent you there with your wife and your seeying that whet is a head is imposible!remove doughts in you! he is able to acomplish,he is with you in that mission,BE STILL,THE LORD IS WITH YOU!is has alresdy done it,praise him and dont complain alot.put your hands in the ploug and till,the plough is already there dont you see!he has rent you with his blessings!dont you see,you are not old!please labour in africa,do it with your all heart.He has given you alot!do it that way,dont strain your heart he is moving there and you shoud not stop him,move with him and support his work in that way!stop complaining!you are the one that he has chosen to do that work not somebody else and if you will resist he will take someone else and it will be a regret!He is with you.dont be discouraged.there shall be a crown in heaven for you. thats what the lord is saying.

The lord be with you!
nipur garnesh from india.

Who is like our heavenly Father? What can be compared to His love?
Give thanks for the Good Shepherd... for He looks well to the needs of His sheep. Praise the Lord Christ lives!!

OBTW… On the way home from Nairobi we were almost in a serious wreck. George switched lanes to quick and clipped a semi tractor trailer! His bumper snagged the semi’s bumper and ripped George’s bumper off. We could have flipped but managed to stop in time. We were right next to a gasoline truck while it happened. We stopped and George “negotiated” a settlement with the driver and headed home. That's George in a white shirt in front of the United semi. But with all God did today we weren’t frightened at all and continued to praise God for the suitcases and the angel from India. That’s enough for one day. Much love RCV Grandfather

We Made It!

2011-06-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well… We made it; mostly anyway. Here we are safe in the arms of those we love and who love us dearly.

With the exception of four of our eight suitcases not making it out of Istanbul Turkey the trip was a pretty run of the mill flight.

This doesn’t mean the flights were boring as Amma will fill you in on the details of the journey.

You can find her blog at…. http://haviylah.blogspot.com/ . Suffice to say that we are once again grateful to the One who safely delivers us wherever He sends us. We also have faith that if He can deliver us safely to Nakuru He can do the same with our luggage.

But let me tell you about the Gathering we just came back from. It was awesome and eye opening!

It will be hard to explain exactly why it was so good, except you understand what God is doing with us in Rose Creek Village. I have spoken previously about the Gardner being in the garden. He has come not only pruning the plants that they should bear more fruit; He has been removing some as well. He is removing unbelief and replacing it with His spiritual Life.

Lakeview Church is so connected to us that I believe they go through the same spiritual events we do … when we do. The difference here from when we left 8 months ago is really amazing. Truly the Gardner has left his mark here as well.

Last year a middle aged man named Morris began attending the church. Soon after Morris arrived he began to work his way into the young people’s hearts and began leading the worship on Sunday morning. A few short months later, he began to speak against George and the way the church was headed. He also began to pull the youth to himself.

The last time we were here we were greatly disturbed over the emotionalism in the Gatherings. I had to physically stop him from “ministering” in one of the meetings because of his blatant carnality.

After we returned to the States, George was forced to put him out of the church. I understand that he is now reviling throughout Nakuru. Sound familiar?

The History of the Church is filled with men who want to be first at the expense of the sheep. Yet their ego is not what’s so deadly; it’s their unbelief. The presence of unbelief in meetings can stop the Holy Spirit from doing what He desires to do. Listen to a missionary who was greatly used in China over seventy years ago…

"So much as one person with a contrary spirit to God is enough to affect all the meetings - that the revival fire did not flow until that person broke and confessed, or the Lord removed him." - Jonathan Goforth

What was true in China many years ago is just as true today as then. Whether in Tennessee, Nakuru or Nazareth; unbelief will hinder the work of God. May we never again allow unbelief to stay so long. May our cry for purity reach the ears of the One whose garden we are.

Today though, thanks to the Heavenly Gardner the “revival fire flowed” in Lakeview Community Church.

The gathering today was filled with light, joy and pure African praise. The word of God flowed so people were healed and encouraged.

The testimonies came from the folks from Tennessee and the folks in Nakuru. We danced and sang and gave ourselves afresh to the work of making us into God’s household. What wonderful blessings He has in store for His children here. Take a look at some of these pictures of today... they say more than I can write.

In the next few weeks I hope to introduce some of the living stones Christ has brought to Lakeview. Here are two of my favorites… Adrian and Robert.

Well that’s it for tonight. Give my love to all….

RCV Grandfather

All Things to All Men?

2011-06-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine what my brothers in Kenya would think if Amma and I showed up at the Nairobi International Airport dressed like this? Do you think it would help them any to say “I’m following Paul’s teaching to become all things to all men so that I might win some!” I don’t. I think they might pretend they didn’t know us and look for someone else.

Yet I think some of our ideas in doing God’s work are equally as silly. Especially mine. I so desire to help my Kenyan brothers and sisters I would do just about anything to be able to effectively speak and demonstrate the love of God to them. I have been thinking about it all week and getting a little anxious about going.

Then I was reminded of some wonderful advice from a dear friend named Nathanael. At first glance his counsel doesn’t appear too spiritual, but for me, it’s straight from the heart of God. I think most of God’s counsel comes that way. This is what he gave me.

First, I need to be myself and not somebody or something else that I’m not. I should try and just be a good friend. God is not sending to Kenya the man I wished I could be, should be, or need to be …He’s sending me!

I need to relax. Truth is I really don’t know what my brothers and sisters need there in Nakuru. Yet, I suspect if I go to be their friend and trust that God sent me, I can expect the ruler of heaven will show me what to do.

That is, after all, what Christ did when He came down to visit us. He didn’t try and relate… He came to be our friend. I think, just like us, He had to believe that He had been sent by God and that the Father would show Him what to do …minute by minute. So the first thing He did was to find out what His Father was doing and join Him. That’s exactly what I intend to do as well.

Second I need lighten up. Most of the people we will encounter in Nakuru have never seen the “lighter side” of Christ. They really don’t know He will; teach you how to not take yourself so seriously, how to laugh at yourself, show you how to have fun everywhere, and how life can be an incredibly exciting adventure.

When He came to the earth men were already weary from trying to “imitate God.” I mean, just think about it… try and imitate God? It makes me tired just thinking about it.

He has something much better in mind. That would be Him living through me… His life. Talking about an adventure…. Wow! We have really don't have any idea what He wants to do! And you know what? He wants to do it through us. The answer to what I should do is …get close to Him and stay close.

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psa 16:11)

Because of terrible misinterpretations of His teachings the idea is prevalent that if you walk around all day looking miserable you are really spiritual. Nothing could be further than the truth. Being miserable all the time is a misrepresentation of Christ and His gospel. So if I am to show them the path of Life I really need to ….lighten up.

So if you really want to experience a great day …stay close to the One who keeps joy and pleasure close to Him! Some might ask … even at the cross? Yep. Remember the scripture says … For the joy set before Him he endured the cross…

...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Heb 12:2)

Lastly my friend said I needed to show them that God is everywhere and in everything. From dragonflies to the dragon’s lies, God our Father is in it all.

We live with a very present God. One who reveals himself through sunshine and clouds, dragonflies landing on your finger to government agents driving through the gates to take our children. He is above all, over all, and very much for us.
He will always and in all things love us, protect us, discipline us, nurture us and if we’re watching ….reveal Himself to us in all things. No weapons against us will work, and like the person said…. I read the end of the book and ….we win.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD. (Isa 54:17)

Therefore there is nothing to fear, nothing to be anxious over, and nothing even to fret about. Nothing at all better to do than spend the rest of our days being grateful and showing our thanks.

So begin to pray for us that we go in His Spirit revealing His love and His incredible good news. I know that's what He wants to do. We will try and blog every wonderful revelation of Him we see. David Noah

Mary Kathini; Priestess of Lakeview

2010-09-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

It seems as though our Father likes the name Mary. He gives it to the most wonderful of people. There is the Virgin Mary mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene the first to see and hear the resurrected Lord, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus who is the example of always waiting on the Lord and Mary who washed the Lord’s feet.

I would like to introduce you to another favored woman named Mary; Mary Kathini … Priestess of Lakeview. At present Mary lives in Lakeview which is one of the poorest suburbs in Nakuru Kenya. We met Mary on our second missionary trip to Kenya when God began to extend His Kingdom to the residents of the Nakuru slums. What I remember first about Mary is her quiet demeanor, sweet face and explosive smile. Mary truly loves God. Although Mary is never showy or dramatic about her relationship with Christ, her love of Him can always be felt.

This first series of pictures taken in 2007, reveals the face of a pleasant looking woman with a smile that seems to hide some secret source of happiness. Later we would find that the source of that smile was neither her social situation or financial circumstances; but a deep and abiding hope in the goodness of the Lord.

Mary lives with her 3 of her 5 children in the poorest part of the city of Nakuru. She rents a four foot by seven foot storefront and lives in two small rooms behind the store. Now this might not sound like much, but she is on the high side of life in the slums. Many of her neighbors live in much more dire circumstances. Mary’s “elevated status” is due to the fact of that Mary is a very hard worker and a bit of an entrepreneur. Her little store is supplemented by raising a few chickens, selling charcoal and at times taking in some sewing work.

When Mary started coming to LakeView Village Community Church two and a half years ago, she jumped right into the work of building up God's people. According to the gospel she heard and took to heart she began taking care of those less fortunate than herself. She lives only about 50 yards from the meeting place and is known among her neighbors as one you can go to when you need help. After her baptism Mary began to grow spiritually and it wasn't long before her adversaries began to notice.

One evening on the way to visit a church members house before I taught that night, we noticed a police truck outside of Mary’s apartment and store. We didn’t think much of it as the police are called to that area often. After the home visit we headed toward the building the little meeting place and noticed the police truck was gone. The teaching went well, but all through the meeting I could tell Mary seemed anxious about something even though her face was glowing. I asked her if she wanted to share anything and she quickly jumped up and said yes. Her incredible story reveals the deep and abiding faith of this wonderful godly woman.

It seems as though Mary was in her room behind the store when she heard someone shout something from her back yard. Before she could get up and check the disturbance, someone began to kick her back door open. The force of the violent kick caused the door to swing into and break her sewing machine. Quickly two massive police men entered the room and demand that Mary come with them to the police station. Upon asking why she was being arrested Mary was told that she was being charged with selling milk without a license. Now Mary didn’t even know you needed a license to sell milk as she had been doing it for some time. None of the other little “kioskes” (little shops) had one. It is more than likely she was “turned in” by a disgruntled local shop keeper who was jealous of Mary’s business. It is relatively easy to bribe the local law enforcement officers to carry out your wishes for a price. Bribery is almost a cultural way of life in Kenya.

The week before this incident the Lord had led me to teach these precious people on the priesthood of the believer.How we were to be priest before being anything else. Mary took it to heart and did what many of seem incapable of doing….she believed it. All that week she meditated on her priesthood.

As the two policemen ushered her to the front door and the gathering crowd, Mary stopped and remembered the teaching from the following week. She was a priest of Christ. As she did she turned to the policemen and said…. “I am a priestess and would like to pray to my God before you take me.” Then dropping to her knees amidst two confounded policemen, she asked her ever watching Father what to do. She told him that she didn’t know that she was doing anything wrong and asked Him not to let the policemen see the milk on the table not two feet away.

Like Christ being confronted by the religious hypocrites of old, Mary continued kneeling and waited on her Father’s reply. Quickly He spoke to her heart. Arising she turned to the policemen and said;... “where is the evidence of my wrong doing?” The policemen looked at each other then looked around the room to find some milk. Neither of them could see the milk sitting on the table right beside them! They replied that there seemed to be no evidence. Mary then told them it is wrong to break into her house, destroy her sewing machine and arrest her falsely, and that she didn't even know it was illegal to sell milk. The policemen again looked at each other and then let go of Mary’s arms. They then turned and sheepishly said; “We are very sorry” … “Please do not complain to our superiors!” Mary looked at them sweetly and replied … “It is OK because my God has put His Spirit of forgiveness in me.”

The policemen quietly left the house and drove away probably wondering who her God was. Mary testified to the church that night that what was being taught was true and could be trusted. Everyone in the room clapped, cheered and praised our Father. That is how Mary Kathini became known as “Mary Priestess of Lakeview”. Oh… and the next week Mary got her milk license.

When we started the Micro Financing program called F.I. S. H. (Funding Indigenous Self Help), Mary was among the first to receive a loan. Then as before, her faithfulness and hard work became even more apparent. Receiving on Sunday morning eight thousand shillings (100 dollars and 46 cents American money); Mary was at the market buying supplies Sunday afternoon. We saw her downtown and we stopped and got a picture of her receipt. She carefully spent every penny to increase her business and over the next few months paid every shilling back. This enabled others to partake of the F.I.S.H. program. One hundred percent of what is contributed to the F.I.S.H. program goes into the hands of needy people.

As a result of Mary’s faithfulness over the last few years, miracles have begun to take place in her life. One of the biggest of these wonders is when someone gave Mary a plot of land to build her family a house of her own.

Now you might ask how Mary will afford the materials for a house. Mary never asks those kind of questions. She just starts with what she has and trust that God will provide whatever else she needs….like He has always done. These pictures are Mary taking us out to the house she is building from the materials God has already provided. She and her children are currently making all the bricks for her new house and have planted a small crop of corn. Half the house is already done. She told us that day when we return in six months, she and her children will be living in it.

While visiting the building site, Amma told Mary that we wanted to take tea in her new house as soon as it is finished. Mary said; “no need to wait; let us take tea now!” Then to our delightful surprise she pulled out snacks, cups and a hot thermos of Chi tea. After giving thanks and praising our wonderful Father we had a wonderful love feast in Mary’s new house.

There are other wonderful stories about what God is doing here but this is one of the best. Our hopeful desire is to see other deserving people like Mary help themselves. It is also that others like you and me… get the chance to take care of our brethren.

"All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them,

'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." ( Matthew 25:32-40)

May our Father send His Son to find His "green" pastures are full of sheep .... and not goats.

Eden

2010-09-10T23:50:00.001-07:00

Perhaps one of my favorite things to do in Africa is to travel across the Kenyan countryside and take pictures of the land and its people. Most of the pictures you will see in this blog are shot from the van windows. Not all of them turn out but the ones that do give a real feeling of what rural life looks like here in Kenya. I wanted you to visualize a little of what we see driving across this beautiful country. It will be minus the smells and speed bumps along the way but I think you’ll touch the magic.

Taking our ladies to work in the Kenya Relief Clinic in Magore gave me ample opportunity to capture some of Kenya’s breathtaking landscapes. It’s a thirteen to fifteen hour drive from Nakuru to Magore and back again. We have made it twice now in five days. I am sure that Amma, Joy and Amy have already brought everyone up to date on their wonderful time at the Brittany House of Grace and the Kenya Relief Clinic. They worked very hard assisting the doctors and were somewhat exhausted when we picked them up at Brittany House of Grace. Driving to Magore and back again we were able to see a lot of the beautiful Kenyan countryside and its lovely people.

One of the first things that you’ll notice about the Kenyan landscape is that you can see for miles and miles in any direction. The sky seems unusually enormous. The lack of smog and large industrial parks allows the sky to reveal its true colors. The blue is constantly changing hues and the sun is free to tint the clouds or to let them be their own true snowy white selves. The patterns formed by small farms and huts nestled among the trees and scattered among the rolling hills and valleys are unbelievably enchanting. The whole countryside looks like a Hobbit shire from Lord of the Rings.

I have always been fascinated by the social interaction of market place societies. Everywhere you look people are talking to and interacting with each other. Life in rural Kenya demands cooperation. It seems to always be filled with people laughing, arguing, fussing and filling the air with the sounds of life. It’s so unlike our own country with its self sufficient way of life. But here in Kenya, amid third world country conditions, people seem happy to need and enjoy one another.

Everywhere you look people are coming to and from the marketplace. On one side of the road there are ladies gracefully carrying their burdens atop their head (notice the woman carrying the bricks). The other side is filled with laughing, chatting children in groups of ten or twenty walking to school. And everywhere in between men pushing or (if they're lucky) driving little donkey carts laden with ponderous loads.

The area surrounding Magore is covered with sugar cane and is home to George’s tribe the Luos. Almost everyone you come across is chewing on small stalks of sugar cane. I tried some and found out why so many do so. We stopped on the way home from picking up the ladies and bought some of this very popular treat. It’s absolutely delicious when you get the hang of extracting the sweet juice. Of course when you stop to buy the sugar cane you automatically run the risk of being overrun by a small army of people carrying a whole grocery store up to the car for you to purchase.

We bought a few sections of sugar cane from a very delightful elderly lady who upon seeing we were Mzungus (white people), quickly stripped the pulpy green outer layer with a few whacks of her incredibly sharp machete. The next step was taking a bite, sucking all the sweet stuff out and spitting the remaining fiber out the window. It took a little while to get the hang of it but it was well worth the trouble.

Another of the beautiful sights to see while traveling to or from Magore is the huge tea plantations. These tea fields cover miles and miles of fertile Kenyan farmland. They date back to the British colonial period of Kenya’s history. The rows of slave quarters now serve as housing for the thousands of workers who pick the bright green tea leaves. The fields look like a well manicured lawn as the small new tea leaves are harvested constantly. Kenyan tea is some of the best in the world. Half way home we stopped at a very old and famous “tea house” in Kericho. Amma and I took a walk around the place while waiting for our food and snapped a few pictures of the local flora and fauna. The lady in the center of the picture is Teresa. She is a missionary we met in Nakuru that wanted to hang out with us.

Many of the highways in Kenya are relatively new and the men who drive the massive two trailer combos are not used to the increase in speed limits. As a result, on any trip you will probably see overturned trucks. The one below had just flipped and lost its cargo of logs. If a truck is over turned and the fuel is leaking out, word spreads quickly that free fuel is available. This results in large crowds with buckets and cups trying to scoop up the puddles of gas or diesel. Two years ago a fuel truck flipped and a large crowd surrounded the overturned tanker in hopes of obtaining free fuel. Tragedy occurred minutes later when sparks from the truck’s battery ignited the fuel. The resulting explosion left scores of people dead and many more terribly burned.

It is not hard to believe that humanity had its beginning here. The unbelievable beauty of the countryside touching the immense and breath taking sky is reminiscent of the pictures of the Garden of Eden. Driving down the highway to our home in Nakuru we became lost in wonder at the beauty of land and sky.

The more we looked the more we began to long for the heart of our Father to be revealed in this earth. What might this world have been if we would have just listened and trusted His Word? Surely the whole world would have been much like what we witnessed today. Bwana Asi Fiwi

David Noah

2010-09-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very long and emotional day.

It started in the morning with George and me almost driving head long into a siege of angry poverty stricken homeowners with rocks battling riot police with guns. The homeowners and a few bystanders lost. Seven people were shot, 2 killed and more in serious condition. Rose Benta is the wife of Joseph and the mother of Vivian. Both Joseph and Rose left the church last year and have been going downhill ever since.

Rose was shot in the chest standing just a few feet away from Helen, one of our dearest friends here and one of the most trusted clan leaders. Rose is still in critical condition. We will try to see her today. Another woman Doris who also left the church had a son who was shot but not fatally. Later that day, our cook Morelle, would hear of a shoemaker she knew who yesterday locked up his shop just to go for a few minutes and see what was going on. He never made it back. He was the second fatality.

The most heart wrenching fatality was Sicilia’s son. Sicilia is a dear lady in the Church who is our leading evangelist. She has brought many into the church. Her son was a 26 year old good looking young man with a wife and two children. We don't know all the facts yet but witnesses say he was just standing there when He was shot. Some are saying it was a grudge shooting. George had often tried to get him to come and visit the church, but after yesterday, he will never get the chance.

After hearing of Sicilia's son being killed, we decided to go over to her house and check on her. There actually were a few of our people living in that area and we needed to make sure they were all ok. The part of Nakuru they lived in is called Flamingo and it is on the road that leads straight into Lake Nakuru National Park. Not more than two miles from our house, we drove by an overturned, burned city truck that a mob had destroyed earlier that day. We thought the disturbance was all over.

The truck burning had happened when we first saw the disturbance at 10:30 in the morning. It was now 2:00 pm. This time as we drove by the truck, we watched scores of people stripping anything useful left from the fire, like vultures would strip a corpse. In less than two hours the truck had been reduced to a large charred piece of metal.

As we proceeded down the road we became occupied with all the damage that had been done and didn't really notice that the intersection we were approaching was filled with people. As we made our turn the crowd surrounded the car. We tried to back up but there were too many people in the way, so we looked forward and a way through the crowd. Suddenly a man raised his hand and motioned us to pull carefully ahead. That's when we noticed the line of riot police across the road in front of us. They were in full gear carrying automatic weapons and were most likely the same men that shot into the crowd killing Sicilia's son. It was a tense moment to say the least. We had mistakenly driven into the last of the uprising being put down. I couldn’t take any pictures for fear of being yanked out of the car by already very angry people or arrested by the police. We were soon waved through the police line by a very serious and tired looking officer. We drove on to Sicilia's house not two blocks away and feeling as relieved as the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

When we arrived at Sicilia's house she and her family and friends were weeping over their loss. After about an hour she asked us to take her to the morgue to view her son's body. We drove to the hospital and entered a cement room where the young man lay on a slab filled with blood. Sicilia collapsed as the family members and friends we filed in. As long as I live I will never forget the look on those horrified faces. They were filled with shock and grief as friends and family filed silently by to see and touch the lifeless body. He almost looked asleep. Someone lifted the sheet across his chest to reveal a single bullet hole near his heart. As you can imagine the bullet went in leaving a small hole and exploded his back.

After about 15 minutes we took everyone back to the Van and started home. As we neared her house, we could see the streets were filled with rocks and tree stumps; remnants of the earlier battle that spread throughout the entire Flamingo area. As we pulled up to Sicilia’s house George and I again offered our condolences and started home.

It wasn't until then that we realized that last week we rented a hotel conference room to have this weeks teaching in. I had about 1 and 1/2 hours to try and pull myself together and teach. Racing home we rested for a short while, grabbed a snack and jumped back in the van and headed out toward the Royal Springs hotel.

When we arrived the room was packed with nervous and emotionally exhausted people. Most of the people had witnessed the violence first hand. Two pastors had dropped by to find out what we had to say. I spoke on staying ready to meet God and letting him sanctify us completely. My thoughts were filled with the day’s pictures of people who left their houses thinking they would have more time to settle issues with God... and were regrettably wrong.

Our Father gave much grace that night to teach, and the people received it with much joy. The two pastor's visiting that night stayed afterwards and the youngerone remarked that he had never heard teaching like that and would be back next week. Before he left, he asked me to come and minister at his church. He said that I could be sure he would be teaching what he had heard tonight to his people on Sunday morning. It was very encouraging. The light is spreading.

Please remember Sicilia and her family and the Bentas. All in all it was a very amazing day... none of us will soon forget.

A Beautiful and Busy Day

2010-08-31T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautifully busy day. We were able to visit the homes of some of our church members and find out how we can help them with their daily lives. We also were able to conduct a few interviews and obtain some video footage we hope to put up on our website and let people know what we're doing and how they can help. The needs of the families here are so very great; that sometimes, it staggers our imagination.

Yet even the Kingdom of God begins with a small seed and keeps growing till it is the largest thing happening in the Garden. We have determined to do a little seed planting, weed pulling, fertilizing and watering and just see what might happen. So I thought I would take you with us on a little pictorial journey and at least let you see some of the people we're trying to help.

Our first stop will be at Rose’s house. Her little one room mud house is located in the poorest section of Nakuru’s slums. Rose is a forty year old mother of five children and one grandchild she is trying to raise. Her husband’s business was destroyed in the post election violence and he spends his time trying to find work of any kind. Rose’s children only eat once a day and are facing not being able to go to school because of a lack of funds to pay the school fees. We want to help her.

Our next stop a just few houses down is a lovely young mother named Judy. Judy is a twenty nine year old single mom who was abandoned by her husband. She has five children and does her best to see to it they have something to eat each day. If it wasn’t for the small help that Lakeview Village Church gives her, her children would have nothing to eat. She too does not know where the money will come to allow her children to attend public school.

We want to help her as well.

About two or three miles away from Judy is a precious lady who lives in the “better part” of the slums. Her two room house was neat and tidy. Mildred is always upbeat and praising God for the little she has. She is widowed and speaks very good English. She told us that she too could not have fed her four children if the saints at Lakeview Village Church had not pooled their meager resources and shared them with her. She spoke highly of George and praised God for the help she has received from him. To survive she does laundry and sells (when she can get it) boiled corn on the street side. This week she had a windfall when the state wide soccer match which was held at the newly revised open air stadium just a mile from where she lives. She made three hundred and ninety eight shillings and sixty two cents or five American dollars in two days. We would like to help her get her kids in school.

Six blocks from Mildred lives another struggling mother by the name of Rosaline. Rosaline has five children all of which need school fees. Feeding and clothing them takes almost all her meager finances and leaves nothing to get the kids ready for school. She also made it clear without the help of her brothers and sisters at Lakeview she would not be able to take care of her family. She said that she had never been is a church that helped in that way.

The last dear lady we visited was so delightful. Her name is Ann. That’s her daughter Elizabeth sitting next to her. Elizabeth was working six to seven hours a day watching other people’s children for roughly eight dollars…a month! She was doing the best she could to raise the forty five dollars in school fees to finish High school. We helped Elizabeth pay her school fees then took her to town to buy her books, cloths, and shoes last year. It had to be one of the highlights of our last visit. The difference in her today and eight months ago is striking. She is a bright young woman with hope of a future. Though they have been able to come up with some of the tuition needed to reenter school, we want to help them again this year.

When we left their house eight months ago we felt led to ask God to bring back Ann’s husband and bless the house. Today Ann’s husband has returned and is trying to provide for his family. Ann said since we left the blessings of God have been abundant and there is plenty of food for the rest of her children.

I am so glad, once again, God handpicked our team. They have already been through some difficult times and are learning how to lay their lives down in a different country. Continue to pray for us as tomorrow marks our half way mark. There is still a lot more filming, teaching, sharing, and loving to do. I am so grateful our Father has taught us to live and work together. It is paying off now, here in Kenya.

Driving home and looking at the thousands of other children in Nakuru coming from the same situations as the ones above, we want to help so much more. Our greatest desire is to see the Body of Christ raised up in this area to teach people how to help themselves and one another.

Most of the people we have found here in the slums of Nakuru have endured so much and yet they still praise God for what they have. They have given so much more than what we have given them. They desire to be a light to all Nakuru through walking out the teachings of Christ. They really want to learn how to love.

Truly as the scripture states … God chose the poor of the earth to be rich in faith.

“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5)

That is why it also says... and let the rich glory in his humiliation. We are humbled.
(James 1: 9,10)

RCV Grandfather

Who We're "Hanging" With

2010-08-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

Amma, Joy, Amy, and Bob Miller (Noah) are keeping everyone up on what's happening so I thought I would just put up, for your viewing pleasure, some of our favorite people that we are currently "hangin' with". The first of course is the man responsible for us being here; Agai (George) Olendo ...

The next is Petronilla. A lovely sister who is a devoted follower of Christ and a very encouraging sister. She has become a close friend and co worker here in the church. Petronilla is a talented seamstress, who runs a small and profitable sewing shop. You will rarely will ever see her without her lovely smile.

This is Simon. He is one of our favorite young people here in Nakuru. He loves the Lord and is a faithful servant of the church. Him and his buddy Loyde faithfully put up and take down the tent each and every Sunday. He has a delightful personality and is a lot of fun to be with. Just ask Joel. He has become good friends with Bob Miller (young Noah) and they are seen together a lot.

This next young mans name is Loyde. Loyde is a quiet, rather shy person with a wonderful disposition. He is the other half of who tends to all the needs of the meetings. Loyde specializes in setting up the sound equipment and helping oversee the moving and set up of the tent each Sunday. Like Simon he is a lot of fun to be around and seems to have a good relationship with the Lord.

This bundle of energy is Evelyn better known as Eve. She is the daughter of Helen, another of the leading women in the church. Eve sometimes leads the choir and is not shy at all. She has a good strong voice and doesn't mind using them serving God. Her laughter is contagious and her smile is dazzling. Eve is one of the leading youths and some of the energy powering the Kingdom Hikers.

This sister is Christine Were'. She is one of the two youth leaders in the church. She also is one of my favorite people. Christine and her husband Patrick have adopted Amma and I into their lovely family. Christine is a very community minded worker and has been a real force in bringing the youth together.

Next we have the peanut gallery. This little angel is Toto. She is without a doubt my favorite peanut. She is the cutest and happiest child here. Two days ago we found out she had become very sick so we went to pray for her recovery. I am happy to announce that our Father heard our prayers and she is now recovering. She is Christine's and Patrick's youngest. Toto's sister's (below top right), name is Lena; another very sweet child.

This next little munchkin is Margret. She is the friend of Toto. She is a mischievous sweetie. Margret always wants to be in the picture making a face. The picture on the bottom left is from 2 years ago.

We have been a little busy, filming, teaching, visiting and such. The pictures below are some of our doings.

Keep us in your prayers as we go deeper into the hearts of these precious people.

Much love RCV Grandfather on location.

"Settling Down"

2010-08-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

Today Amma and I slept in till eight a.m. We are finally feeling rested up. Joy, Amy and Noah are adjusting well and fitting in to the Kenyan morning rituals. Yesterday we met a wonderful lady missionary named Teresa. I think she is going to join Amma, Joy, and Amy on their clinic stay with Kenyan Relief. (kenyarelief.org)

We met her in town at our favorite “tea” place called Kopeck. We all seemed to “hit it off” right from the start. As she began telling us the story of how she ended up in Nakuru and what she was currently doing, I really grew to like her. Teresa is a woman in her fifties, pleasant and friendly to talk to. She is from Huntsville, Alabama and has been living here for a little over two years.

She is involved in various ministries from taking care of HIV patients, working with young women who have fled their homes to avoid a tribal tradition that involves genital mutilation. Many of these young women are forced to marry old men so their families can pay off a debt. Teresa works with a Pastor and his wife that maintain a home for sixty or so of such young women. She (Teresa) also does some teaching and preaching here and there in various local churches.

Listening to Teresa, I was struck with the simplicity and devotion of her service to our Father. She quite simply saw the need and came here to fill the vacancy. Her children have grown up, her husband is gone and she, rather than feeling sorry for herself, is racking up some pretty hefty rewards in the next life. Her life is adventurous, (this weekend she’ll be back packing up a mountain with some locals to witness to some people who have never heard of Christ) courageous and over all … very impressive.

She also said that she knew she could do it because of all the “short term mission trips” she had taken throughout her life. It made me glad that in the Village, we are introducing our young people to the same thing.

I am discovering people outside of our Village are not the only ones who need to “come and see”. So do we. There are things critical to our spiritual development as the body of Christ in the Village,that are found only outside the Village, that we must see as well.

The last few years, our Father has been opening my heart to all the other things He has been doing throughout the time He gathered us together in the Village and for the last two thousand years. It's so easy to slip into focusing exclusively on what God is doing with us and missing all the other wonderful things He is up to. A close friend of mine recently sent me a morning devotional from Charles Spurgeon about what a faithful Shepherd –King we have and how He is constantly building up all His people.

Here is an excerpt; ….

He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord. Micah 5:4

Christ's reign in his Church is that of a shepherd-king. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; he commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.

His reign is continual in its duration. It is said, He shall stand and feed; not He shall feed now and then, and leave his position; not, He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave his Church to barrenness. His eyes never slumber, and his hands never rest; his heart never ceases to beat with love, and his shoulders are never weary of carrying his people's burdens.

Most of the time we hear all the bad news about contemporary Christianity and how things are growing worse, especially in our country. The danger is, that we might subconsciously be developing a picture of Christ sitting on the throne, head hung low, wringing His hands and worrying over the terrible condition of things. He has not and is not. It has been a two thousand year old fight and things are drawing to a close.

Yet in every generation He has His Overcomers. He and they will not be caught unaware or unready. Yes, things are growing bad; many people are disheartened by the terrible worldliness flooding (not creeping) into the church and the growing number of young people leaving the traditional practice of Christianity. The overall response of contemporary Christianity to their young people leaving has been worse than what caused their young people to leave in the first place.

See (The Perils of Hipster Christianity and Why Young Evangelicals Reject Churches That Try To Be Cool - WSJ.com) Here’s the link…

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704111704575355311122648100-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwODExNDgyWj.html

Yet, God not only knows this; but knew it would happen before the Church was born. See (Luke 18:8, 2 Tim 3:1-5 etc.)

Meeting Teresa and others the Lord has been introducing us to, has helped change my purpose from pointing out what’s wrong to strengthening what remains. We need “the brothers we haven’t met yet” just like they need us. Our works aren’t “perfect before the Lord” either, but we both have a very good King-Shepherd.

I think if this continues to happen I may even be able to quit being so critical and, in a good way, …. “Settle down” in God's peace.

May the God who never sleeps strengthen us all.

“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you (down).”
(Revelations 3:2 and 1Peter 5:10)

RCV Grandfather.

The "Sorting"

2010-08-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

We had our Sunday gathering and it was such a blessing to see everyone’s smiling faces. One face was particularly glad we’re back. That would be the one on the right.

It was neat to see Noah and Amy sing and dance with the other Kenyan youths. They have already entered the work and are working on some things to bring back to the Village.

There were some new faces, especially among the brothers, a few new young people and a few new families. There were a few people that had left the church since our last visit and though it was disappointing we weren’t surprised. There will always be the Demas factor we have to deal with. (See 2 Timothy 4:10)

I am so grateful that the recorded history of the Church in the first century was not glossed over but was painfully honest. They had major disappointments and people left them too. It will never be pleasant when people leave, but according to Christ’s words it’s inevitable….

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13: 47-50)

So, it is today and so will it be at the final end of this age. I wonder if it will be as sad then as it is now?

The sorting issue today is not necessarily about heaven or hell, but who will enter the place that the will of the King is done, i.e. the Kingdom. We continue to pray for them before that “final sorting”. To see people walk away from Life is terrible. To be found useful to the Master is everything; it is part of our preservation.

Here in Nakuru we watch Christ throw out the net, and as we haul it to the land, we get excited about the number of fish caught. Yet sadly, catching the fish is just the beginning of the work. Christ must now sort them out. Only He knows who’s a good fish and who is a bad fish.

We’re always being reminded it’s not the number of fish caught, but the preservation of the good fish that matters.

As soon as the net hits dry ground, the Life of Christ starts to sort them out. Although I think most of the “sorting” choices Christ makes are based on decisions the fish begin to make. They make the choice to stay and become useful or to be thrown away; by how they respond to the issue of the Kingdom’s prominence. That’s what reveals their true goodness or badness.

Many people fantasize about wanting to enter the Kingdom (doing His will) but when the opportunity comes they judge themselves unfit to enter that Kingdom by not putting it above all and everyone else. As soon as they get near its empowering gates, the reality of its demanding prominence becomes evident and choices have to be made. (See Luke 9:57-62)

Sometimes it’s only on our return trip to Nakuru that we get to see the fruit of that sorting. The growth of the “good fish” is amazing; the stories of the ones who chose to be thrown back are depressing. Sort of like a dog returning to its vomit or a pig to wallow in its mire. It’s because the good ones have been put in a “vessel”. I think that vessel is the Church. Within its walls are salvation and no one who remains in it ever “spoils”. Just as He promised …the work He starts, He finishes. (Jude 1:24 written to those placed in a vessel.)

Speaking of fresh fish; there are two men we visited today that I hope make the “sorting”. They told us today they wish to become part of this family Christ is putting together here in Nakuru. Both desire baptism and want to serve Christ here in Lakeview Village Church. Lawrence is a Massai and Kennedy is a Luo but both want to become “Kingdomites.” Pray for them that Christ would place them in the good vessel of Lakeview Village Community

Well, we all had our goat meat lunch outing (Noah loved it), Amy refused the chopped intestines and Joy said we were fast approaching the boundaries of her comfort zone.

Once again we are grateful for the team Christ picked to come here. Please continue to pray …we really need some land and other things that only our Heavenly Banker can provide.

More later….RCV Grandfather

The Ancient Rite of Sleep Deprivation

2010-08-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

It’s a strange concept; traveling thirty nine thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean at almost six hundred miles an hour, while practicing the ancient rite of sleep deprivation. This should not have happened. I took twice the recommended dosage of those little blue sleeping pills I purchased in the Airport. I was hoping for a pharmaceutical miracle. The label on the pills promised a restful oblivion with just one but, alas, even two couldn’t deliver. Thus the sweet and restful slumber I so greatly desired eluded me once again. As I write this we have two hours, three minutes and thirty eight seconds left in our flight to Paris, France and I still can’t sleep. But as has previously been said by someone worse off than I; “It’s been a good day”; ... just not such a good night.

Once again our journey to Kenya has begun with spine tingling adventures and cliff hanging deliverance's. The first leg of our trip began with a little anxiousness as they announced our flight from Memphis to Newark would be a half hour late. Newark is a huge airport that requires navigational skills to get to your next flight and especially if it’s in another terminal which, woefully, it was. I vaguely remember, as we boarded the late plane, the lady taking our tickets exclaiming with sorrowful eyes; … “when you land in Newark you should try and take the shuttle bus to get to your next flight on time”. I think it was at the word try, that the foreboding sense of futility descended.

We arrived in Newark eight thirty that night and our next flight was boarding as we got off the plane. Its a little threatening, and somewhat frightening experience to hear your name called over an International Airport P.A. system. That's especially true when it’s declaring to thousands of people around you that your plane is about to leave …without you. It seemed as though everyone around us began staring, somehow knowing (because we were walking so fast?) that the loudspeakers were referring to us.

And it is most definitely disturbing when you aren’t quite sure if the gate your plane is sitting at, is the same gate you’re hobbling toward.

So, in desperation, we sent our youngest and fastest legs (young Noah) ahead to find out if we were headed for the right gate and to beg for a small extension of time.

Meanwhile the senior citizens from Selmer, helped by the young and beautiful Amy D, continued hobbling at a painfully fast pace toward the salvation that lay through the narrow and (hopefully) correct gate. It was by God’s hand, amidst staring ticket takers with scolding eyes, that we boarded the right plane and took our seats.

We made it to Paris, disembarking only to find ourselves trying to find, once again, where we were. Yet, this time it would be with the added blessing of all the guiding signs being written in French. Still we managed to survive by way of those blessed beacons of light, called information booths.

Thirty minutes later we met with our very friendly tour guide named Christian. We then spent the better part of the day seeing the beautiful city of Paris. You could tell our guide Christian knew and loved Paris as He drove down its streets. He spoke with such passion as we passed the more famous places like Notre Dame, The Victory Arch and the Louvre. It was definitely a superior way to eat up the nine hours we would have spent in the Paris International Airport waiting for our flight to Nairobi.

A memorable day for all five of us, thanks to Haviylah’s mom Sally, who funded the entire event. Thanks Sally. I will try to upload all our pictures to my web album when we get to Kenya.

Our trip from Paris to Kenya was a repeat of the previous flight. Amy and I practiced the ancient rite of sleep deprivation while Noah and Amma slept like half the time. I think Noah inherited his dad’s unusual ability to be unconscious at will.We arrived in Kenya about six a.m. very ready to get out of the plane and breathe the fresh Kenyan air. Thanks to everyone’s prayers and the mercy of God, all of our luggage made it to Kenya the same time we did.

To see George's lovely smile and smell the fragrances of Africa was intoxicating. The ride to Nakuru was, as always, beautiful but largely unseen as the very tired travelers nodded off almost the whole way. We arrived for a wonderful lunch prepared by Nelly, Vivian, Petronillia and a few other dear sisters.

I am finishing up this blog at the beginning of our first full day here in Kenya. This blog has taken 3 days to complete, two of which were without sleep. So if the sentence structure sounds a little strange, well, blame it on the deprivation. Sleep however did not elude us last night, so no more excuses for dumb blogs. Thanks for the prayers and don’t stop because we’re excited to see what our Father will do in Kenya this trip.

David Noah… alias RCV Grandfather

COUNTDOWN !!!

2010-08-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

Just three more days and off we go. Amma has been packing for three or four days now and I, among other things, have been trying to learn how to operate this new camcorder before Doug is gone forever. The thought of winding up in Africa alone with the dreaded “Digital Video Camcorder Recorder Operating Guide” is terrifying to me. Too many words like, data code, formatting, data base and other strange sounding things that make no sense whatsoever. If all else fails I do have Amma and Amy to rely on, so there is hope. We really want to film some interviews and get some pictures of what the Lord is doing in Nakuru.

All in all, its shaping up to be an awesome trip. Pastor Daniel from Kerala, India, will once again meet us in Nakuru sometime around the fifth or sixth of next month. It’s always a joy to have him with us and to experience him ministering to hurting people. Everyone fell in love with him last December, so they will be very excited when they hear that he is coming.

We will be meeting with a couple other Christian ministries in Nakuru and hope to discover how we can help each other. We know of at least two other ministries there and are looking for others. Amma, Amy and Joy will be traveling and staying Migori, Kenya for two or three days, working in a Kenya Relief clinic, ( … Kenyarelief.org … ) and learning how to possibly set up a clinic back in Nakuru. They are very excited about this opportunity.

There are several “goals” we hope to accomplish in the Lakeview Village Church other than the teaching and counseling we normally do. We hope to continue and extend the micro-financing F.I.S.H (Funding Indigenous Self Help), program we started six months ago. We also desire to put in place a new ministry to help the sick this trip. One of our biggest hopes is to establish a ministry called “Kingdom Hikers” (see previous blog) for the youth of Nakuru.
We have in the church in Lakeview a group of young people who really want to help their friends and classmates come out of the “low expectations” of their generation. These "low expectations" have come to define what many of the teens call their life. We really hope to begin something they can give themselves to and will be used to bring purpose to their lives. They have already started a buzz among their friends that something different is going to happen this month. Please pray that the One who loves them the most, give us creative ideas to get them started.

George is excited and knows that something wonderful is about to happen because of the opposition he is experiencing. Two weeks ago amongst other nefarious things happening, some bandits came over the wall where George and Nelly live to steal three tires, the tire jack, and the battery from our van. They also stole the neighbors tires as well, (sorry about that). Two weeks before that happened, the engine in the van went out. So we fully expect that we are going to have a wonderful time, full of things that make our adversary depressed. Amy Carmichael knew about such things when she wrote…

“The measure of the enemy’s activity is in direct proportion to the measure of God’s working. We take it as a sign of encouragement, however hindering it might be. Satan would not trouble to fight if he saw nothing worth attacking; he does not seem to mind the spread of head knowledge of doctrine or even a cordial appreciation of it. Often we hear people say how excellent the gospel is and how they never worship idols anymore. Sometimes even a heathen mother will make her child repeat a bible verse to you, and the father will tell him bible stories; …. All this goes on most peacefully; there is not the slightest stir, till something happens to show the people that that the doctrine is just not a creed, but contains living power…and then and only then, will there be opposition.” (Amy Carmichael 1903 from the book … “Things the way they Are” P. 27)

So with our dear sister’s encouragement leading the way for us, we rejoice that the devil knows who we are and what we’re coming there to do. Though we have no strength of our own the One who goes with us will see to it that "no weapon formed against us "succeeds. Pray to our wonderful Father, who loves us so, that He would continue to bash in the gates of hell in Nakuru and allow us to bring together all that love Him.

RCV Grandfather

The "Little Ones"

2010-07-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

When people find out that we’re leaving for Kenya they sometimes ask why we spend our money and time traveling all the way to Africa to help people we don’t even know. Good question; but we’re not really sure how to answer it anymore. Some of us began with a sense of obligation; wanting to give something back to our Father in heaven for taking such good care of us. You know; try and help the less fortunate. Yet, that was before we encountered the “Little Ones”. Now, it’s because we don’t have any choice in the matter ...whatsoever. You see, the first time we came to this incredible country, we tried to find and help people less fortunate than our selves, but alas, we couldn’t find any. We mistakenly thought poverty equaled unhappiness.

We are relatively sure that the less fortunate are there somewhere, but we can't find them. The reason is that shortly after arriving in Kenya we stumbled across the most beautiful little creatures we had ever seen. We called them the “Little Ones”. As a result we don't view anyone the same way previous to our encounter with the delightful little creatures.They somehow changed our entire sense of reality.

Some of them had no families, some barely enough food to eat and all of them had beautifully big eyes. Yet for some unknown reason the trials and tribulations that cause such despair in the inhabitants of our land, had no effect on their happy disposition.

The effect the "Little Ones" had on us was at first disturbing and then a little disorienting. They were so lovely, so delightful, that just to look upon them was to become completely enchanted with their beauty and hopelessly powerless to live without them. . After a few days we lost all sense of direction. We could no longer tell where our home was. We even forgot what “less fortunate” even meant. We felt “less fortunate” more accurately described… us …not them.

Everywhere we went these lovely little creatures would come up, look into our eyes and instantly make us their slaves. We were powerless to resist any of their charms.

The fearsome demons of our land, seem to have no power on these little ones. They were completely unaware that they were playing right next to a den of drugs, or the pit of poverty or the lair of death. It was as if they were oblivious to their desperate situation. Somehow, they had learned not only to not fear them, but to coexist with these fearful beast, not losing their sunny disposition and gratitude for being alive.

Though we never found out why, all the “Little Ones” took great pleasure and delight in our presence. Upon seeing us, they would immediately run up and beg to be touched and or held by us. Now; if to see them was to become enamored; to hold one……was well,... to become completely enchanted. To look into those huge eyes of wonder was to be transported out of the dire circumstances of where and how they lived, to find your selves at the very foothills of God. So we have decided they need us to look after them since they were not aware of their great need. We could see the frightening circumstances they lived in; but they could not. So we entered in a wonderful symbiotic relationship. They let us hold them and look into their eyes and we get to take care of and protect them. We feel we got the best part of the deal.

We leave for Kenya in two weeks, and can hardly wait to get back. The “Little Ones” are waiting for us with anticipation and those huge eyes. We have been away for 6 months and it has been extremely painful to be out of their presence. We are currently unwilling to be slaves to anything else; for the slavery of the “Little Ones” is better than all the pleasures our “affluent” society offers. So that is where our time, money, and vacations will be going. Alas, we have become their slaves.

There is something about Africa and her children. RCV Grandfather

Kenya Preparations

2010-07-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well, OK; here goes. Our Kenya trip is almost here and this will be the first related blog. Hopefully it will blaze the way for updates every two or three days throughout the entire trip. We are so excited! The anticipation of seeing our beloved Kenyan family is overwhelming. Amma and I are already about 50 percent there. We will begin the packing ritual in just a few days and hopefully not forget anything too important. George has been calling or sending texts and emails from Kenya every 2 or 3 days and it is obvious he is as excited as we are.

There are many things we hope to accomplish this trip and we will need God’s blessing on everything to succeed. Among the first things are; the training of the new men that have begun coming as a result of seeing our wonderful Father changing the lives of their wives, relatives and neighbors. They will need to learn how to take care of these precious women. There have been a number of men telling George that the change in their wives has caused them to believe something very different is happening at Lakeview Village Community Church. One man excitedly stated; “What have you done to my wife? She loves me now!”

The next project is building a ministry for the teenagers in Nakuru. The need is horrendous and the opportunities are abundant. Most teens in the area we live in, are busy just surviving and have little hope for a profitable future. Our specific area is filled with poverty, child trafficking, drug problems, prostitution, and an Aids epidemic. Crime is rampant and unemployment is out of control.

On our last trip we met with 12 teenagers who truly desired to do something to help themselves and their friends out of the terribly low expectations for themselves and their generation. We agreed to help and asked them to come up with a name for themselves that would reflect what they felt inside. Our request was given to them on our last week there and they couldn't come up with an agreeable name. We told them that if they didn’t have a name by the time we returned in 6 months, we would make up one for them, like the blue tennis shoes or something. Two months after we returned to the States, I got an email that revealed the name they had chosen. They wanted to call themselves the Kingdom Hikers. I asked why they had chosen that name and they said something like … “following God is not a stroll in the park but more like a Hike in the mountains.” We told them we loved it and the Kingdom Hikers was born. So we set to work to come up with coming up with a logo and a plan in keeping with the desires of their heart to hike the mountains of God.

Jeremiah, one of our artist in the Village, designed the logo and we started to get some money together to buy some Kingdom Hikers T-shirts. We asked people in the Village if they would buy one for themselves for fifteen dollars we could buy one for a young person in Kenya.

Meanwhile the kids in Kenya have gathered close to 40 or 50 kids that desire to be a part of the Kingdom Hikers. They are ready to form an organization that would help their friends and neighbors turn their hearts toward following Christ and becoming good citizens. We are absolutely thrilled. We are planning conferences, meetings, newsletters and whatever else we can think of to help these teenagers help their friends.

There is much more we hope to accomplish on this trip and we feel that God has put together a great team for the month and a half we plan to be there. Amma is working on starting a "well clinic" to educate and help those who cannot afford basic health care. We have two young adults Amy Dickerson and Noah Pavou, coming from the Village to teach the kids dance and how to share your heart with others. We have a wonderful servant of God named, appropriately Joy; who we know will spread the reality of her name to us and all who encounter her. We are going to continue the F.I.S. H. Ministry (Funding Indigenous Self Help). F.I.S.H is a small financing program that has allowed the people of our church to double their businesses and learn how to take care of each other. We are going to need another tent to meet in, because we have out grown the one we bought last trip. The Church is growing, and it seems we have just begun. The video below is a story of how we began a few years back.

We’ll need all your prayers and support but we feel God’s hand going before us already. So keep us in your heart and always keep us before the One who loves us most. Tell others of this blog so they can follow the adventure and join us in this wonderful work.
RCV Grandfather

Our June Conference

2010-07-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we just had our “June Conference” and there is one thing we’re all certain about; and that is … it won’t be in June next year. It was so hot! Despite the man eating horseflies and the unbelievable heat; our time together was off the scale. It is such a blessing to be with fellow disciples and hearing what our Father is doing in so many different places. We had been looking forward to this wonderful time together since the conference last year. So much work goes in to getting the Village ready for our friends and family but it is always a labor of love.

People started arriving Friday for the Irish Celi we have that night. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term Celi, it's kind of an Irish Folk dance that is a total blast. It’s fun for the whole family and we sometimes have up to a hundred people dancing?... at once. That coupled with the vigorous swatting at the man eating horse flies makes for a very lively time. All in all everyone seemed to have a great time dancing late into the night.

The next morning we began with some teaching on what it means to be a first century disciple living in the twenty-first century. We discussed the fact that people need both to hear and see the same “good news” preached by Christ two thousand years ago by people living it today. That message had power and its demonstration challenged people to forsake all they had in order to really follow Him without being distracted. It made them just like Christ, which is why they were sarcastically called by their enemies, “Christians” or (little Christs). Men and women, that were learning to become just like Christ. That is the path to both temporal and eternal blessing.

There were teachings and discussions on everything from midwifery to how first century Christians lived. Yet the thing we like the very best is an open forum on living the Christian life. Many questions were asked about problems we've encountered living the way we do, how to resolve conflicts and how to raise children. There were some good questions asked and answers that challenged our typical American thinking. Yet the reason the discussion was so enjoyable was because everyone there was seeking Christ’s heart and will. This allowed us to learn from each other and make some new friendships in the process.

The afternoon was filled with a delicious cook out and entertainment from our young people. That night everyone was pretty much filled and ready for the Gathering on Sunday to praise the One who loves us most.

Sunday morning began with ladies of all ages putting on a wonderful and spiritual dance outside town hall, that ushered us all into His wonderful presence. We spent the next three hours worshiping the One we love the most. Those three hours flew by as all of us recounted the goodness of our God.

After the Gathering we began to say our farewells while exchanging email addresses and promising to stay in touch. I long for the time when there will be no more farewells or need of email addresses. A time when all of us get to be together forever. Although I do love that we get to experience these little “previews” of things to come.

I feel so sorry for those who don’t know our heavenly Lover. He truly is the reason we live and breathe. Who is like our God and what can be compared to His love? The answer is… no one and nothing. Blessed be His name. Much Grace … RCV Grandfather

Vision

2010-06-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)

“But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

The above two verses explain the miracle that happened in our Village a few weeks ago. Once again we were instructed that we don’t live by seeking our needs first but by seeking His. We had also forgotten that the only real binding law on us is that of love. For a very long time we have had a problem getting much work done on our corporate workday. Workday in the Village consist of all the men and boys twice a month taking care of the physical needs of the land we live on. Sometimes the needs can be great, especially during late spring or early summer. There are almost 265 people who live on these beautiful 100 acres of west Tennessee hills, so we’re sort of like a small town. Driving through the gates you'll find of many of the same things you would find in any rural community.

There’s a town hall for important meetings through the week and on Sunday it's where we worship and praise our wonderful Father. There is a small library, grocery store, maintenance barn, stables for horses, petting farm, green houses, huge corporate gardens, roads, storage units, houses etc., etc.; all of which have their own peculiar needs and upkeep. Corporate workday is supposed to supply what Ray, our fulltime land manager, can’t get done during the week. Yet somehow, we lost our momentum and Saturdays became a drag. Men had a hard time wanting to do anything; with reasons ranging from the lack of preparations for workday, to just wanting to “chill out” on that day. After months of considerable exhortations to “do what you should”, we decided to get together and have a heart to heart talk about our responsibility to the land and our love for Ray.

Our good Shepherd, through a couple of brothers, poured out His Spirit on us enabling us to understand that workday and loving Ray was the same thing. Talking about our love and respect for Ray and all he is doing on the land for us bordered on hypocrisy if we didn't do our part to help him. Pictures were shown of what Ray wanted to do to better our Village and how he was failing at it because he had no time to meet the land’s basic needs. Men listen and received the vision of what could happen if all of us were to see ourselves as the owners of the Village and not remain in our thinking…. just tenets. Truth is; we (each of us)actually are the real owners of the Village.

The workday we experienced that day was phenomenal; we literally did more in 3 hours than in the 3 previous consecutive workdays. By the end of the day we had accomplished more than we had in 3 months worth of workdays. Such is the power of vision.

What was equally amazing was driving around and observing the attitudes of the men working. Some brought their sons to work, some stayed longer than asked, and some after finishing their jobs came back and asked what else they could do and all of them were smiling. For the first time in a long time, they were enjoying the fellowship with each other.

I think the reason we aren’t always as happy as we could be, is that we lack vision and purpose. Vision is what often makes the “yoke easy and the burden light”. We tend to forget who we are and why we are here. Sometimes exhortations to “work harder” aren’t always the answer for men to rise up and do what they should do. Sometimes we need to be reminded that all things belong to us and we should start acting in this Life like landowners and not tenets.

“For all things are yours…whether the world or life or death, or things present, or things to come …all are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3: 21-23)

The next weekend we had everything ready for our Conference and God gave us a promise ... but that's another blog.

RCV Grandfather

From I to We

2010-05-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

If Christians are to express the Life of the Godhead and come into the fullness of fellowship that Christ intended them to have, they must be ready to change their lifestyles. If there is any intention to change the loneliness and isolationism that defines most Americans, it will take a radical departure from their present lifestyles of pursuing the “American Dream”. That is true even if their lifestyles have been Christianized. The pursuing of this “nightmare” has resulted in there presently being twice as many suicides in this country as there are homicides. I often ask people if they like their “church” and the reply is most always the same. “Oh, I love the preacher; he is so biblical… I just don’t have any real friends.” If that is your answer, you are probably not in a church, at the best you’re in a Christian school. A true church is not just a place of learning it is the habitation of friends.

Loneliness and isolation is killing Americans and the stats show that progressively there isn’t much difference between Christians and non-believers. Contrast that depressing picture with the scriptural view of the corporate Life in a people who walk together by the Spirit of God…

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither did any of them say that the things which he possessed were his own; but they had all things common. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,” (Acts 4:32, 2:44-46)

If those who called themselves followers of Christ gave themselves to living in this manner with other like minded people, it could radically change the United States. It would do more to turn our unbelieving neighbors into seekers of God than anything else we could do. It would also curb the growing hatred for anything associated with Christ. It is the very thing Christ stated would “convince” the world that He is from God and we are really His followers.

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20, 21)

“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.” (John 13:35)

This would do more to turn people to Christ, than all the sermons, big buildings, and rock concerts, or for that matter, anything else. It would not only turn unbeliever’s hearts toward Christ, it would turn the ones practicing this lifestyle to Him as well. This lifestyle would change everything, because this lifestyle is the Life of Christ.

So what would this look like in the 21rst Century? What would living this super abundant life really feel like?

Think of all the painful situations you have been through this year; all the fears, worries, surprises, and problems. Consider all the joys; birthdays in your family, all the holidays, celebrations of accomplishments. Now multiply that by 280 and you will get some idea of what it means to live in unity of the Spirit with the local gathered people of God in Rose Creek Village. The scriptures state that the true unity of Christ’s Spirit binds the local body together in such a way that allows them to feel everything…. together.
“…And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
(I Corinthians 12:26)

Often after visiting us a while, people usually say; “Oh, I admire so much what you do, I just could never do it”, or “I couldn’t live like that even with my closest relatives!” We really do understand that sentiment, and always reply “neither could we, if it were not for the “Great Grace” that comes from heaven.

“¶ And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that anything which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." (Acts 4:33)

The Life that Christ has asked us to live cannot be lived without Christ becoming our way (lifestyle). He wasn’t kidding when He said He was bringing a life that was extremely full and it would need a brand new lifestyle to fully contain and express it. The old wine skin (lifestyle) cannot hold the new wine.

Part of the explanation of that fullness is understood by understanding; it is not the Life that He gave me, it’s the Life He gave “us”.

“… I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (Beyond measurement, more than needed) (John 10:10)

To understand the nature of this abundant life one must not miss the word “they” in the above verse.

It is true that as individuals He makes us alive, but the corporate Life of Jesus Christ is the Life He gives to His gathered people … not to individuals. The early Christians walked in this incredible corporate life and by it were able to reveal to a dying world what heaven really looked like. That new Life changed their world as it would ours. That life was not the independent Christianized life of individuals; but a spiritually dependant Life of a corporate body. It was a Life of mutual care and involvement with each individual part.A Life that had been joined together through Christ’s Body in that local area. The normal Body Life of Christ is not for one member, it is for the “two or more”.

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

Let me say again the corporate Life of Jesus Christ’s Body is a shared life. It is a gathering of friends who had been made alive by Christ to share the very same Life He shared with His father. To be a part of this Life meant leaving their independent lifestyles and living together with new friends. Friends who would share more than just attendance at meetings or having a simlar belief in the same doctrine; they shared a common Life.

Friends whose friendship was not based on their personal choices, likes or dislikes, but of mutual respect and love for the people that Christ had chosen them to be with. Friends forming friendships based on the commands of Christ to love each other all the time. Friends who made sacrificial changes to shape their lifestyle to accommodate their new life together. Whatever your life centers around will determine your lifestyle. Let me explain.

Think of your lifestyle as the container holding the various elements of your life. Are you a college student? Then your lifestyle revolves around going to college. That college life demands a college lifestyle. It dictates how you spend your money, the cloths you wear, place you live and the priorities you set. It will dictate the friends you seek out, the amount of time you spend doing what you want, and how you plan your future.

If you choose a life in the Armed Forces; then your lifestyle will revolve around military life. The way you previously lived as a civilian will no longer do, everything about the way you lived will change to a military lifestyle. If you keep your old civilian lifestyle while trying to fit your new military life into it, something will have to give. You will either lose your military life or your old civilian lifestyle or both. Trying to put a new life in an old life container will not work. When Christ talked about this new life and lifestyle he likened it to wine in wine skins; old wine skins cannot hold new wine.

“Neither do men put new wine into old wine skins: else the wine skins tear, and the wine runs out, and the wine skins perish: but they put new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved. (Matthew 9:17)

This is especially true for Americans. Our rugged, independent, self-styled, "compartmented" lifestyles are not capable of holding the wild, bubbly, spiritual fullness of Christ’s corporate Life. Most people’s lifestyles are just not flexible enough to avoid tearing or blowing apart.

The life Jesus Christ brings to His people is truly remarkable. Yet it can only be contained in His lifestyle. It is one that adapts constantly to facilitate whatever the together Life needs. Anyone who has experienced that Life, knows how truly full and different it can be.

His desire is not to come into, change, fulfill, enhance, or improve our previous lives and lifestyles…. He wants to end them. The reason is simple; our old lifestyles cannot hold the fullness of His new Life. That fullness which is only found in His Body, the Life of His gathered people, the Church.

“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22, 23)

People often ask …. “isn’t it hard to live a sharing all your possessions, knowing each other’s heartaches, sharing each other’s joys, being responsible for and accountable to each other, kind of life?” Our answer is… “At first it is a little scary, but only until we began experiencing the “fullness of Christ Life.” With all the difficulties and learning experiences it is truly as the Psalmist says ….good and pleasant. Today it would be very difficult for us to live anything less.

Now, don’t be mislead, I am not talking about everyone living together on 100 acres in rural Tennessee as we do. God doesn’t call everyone to live in the country with two or more families to a house. I am talking about Christ becoming your lifestyle. It is about embracing any change that would accommodate this new corporate Life. What facilitates the building up of His Kingdom dictates the entire church’s life’s style. Until you lose your previous individual life’s style, you cannot fully understand Christ’s life style. If you try and save your present “station in life” you will lose experiencing what is normal in the Life of Christ. His life only can be contained in His peculiar lifestyle. In fact, either your lifestyle or His lifestyle will win out. Sort of like trying to serve material gain (mammon) and serve Christ at the same time. One of them has to go.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

Now there is little doubt that someone will point out exceptions to this thinking throughout history and they would be right. Yet they are the exceptions not the rule. The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of following the Holy Spirit and not our Holy Desires. The American dream will become a Kingdom nightmare if we are unwilling to abandon not only our fleshly lives but our fleshly and worldly lifestyles as well.

There is a song written by one of our brothers that puts much of this teaching into perspective. For all of us who are called to become the Lord’s bride, it is exhortation to leave our cherished isolated Egyptian lifestyles, and hurry to the promise land of Unity.

Here are the words of the song, may they encourage us to seek the fullness of our Heavenly Lover found in His Bride’s corporate life.

She is Beautiful
I’m seeing myself for the first time.
It started when I glimpsed your bride.

And now I’ve gone from I to we.

I’m leaving the Egypt of isolation,

And joining myself to thee. And she is beautiful.

For she won’t let me stay in my Egypt ways.

Our God in the heaven has given himself for us.

Christ in the earth a people who fear his word.

Let us speak to each other the love of our father.

Keep us forever and always abiding within you.

The day comes when we shall go forth

and leap like a calf from the stable.

If only you give us the grace that enables for us to be holy,
Just as you are holy. Make us beautiful.
We are your bride, make us your radiance. You are wonderful.
Dress us in white we long to be obedient. Make us beautiful!

God's Lovely Recollections

2010-05-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Becoming Faultless

Last year we experienced a much loved Saint pass through the veil to be with the One who loves her the most. In our celebration of her life and passing, many of us got up and tried to put into words the wonderful times we had with this beloved Village grandmother;… Gammal.

Person after person stood to tell the funny and delightful stories that had so endeared her to all of us. Now it is not as though this dear person didn’t have her faults, just as we all do, and no one speaking that day tried to hide any of them. These faults once greatly disturbed the people she lived with, and at one time were a concern to the shepherds watching over her soul. Watching Christ change her as she continued walking in the light of His life found in His people, was encouraging. Although, as Christ worked with her, the faults did not disappear as much as they ceased to bother anyone anymore. The manner in which those same faults were brought up at the celebration though, was one of laughter and mirth. Her strong opinions and sometimes terse deliveries of those opinions had all become sources of wonderful amusement and happy reflections.

Later a sister and I were reflecting on all that was said and we realized that every fault that had bothered us about her had disappeared. Or better put; they had been somehow changed into lovely recollections of our dear sister in whom we all loved. There was no condemnation from anyone of those who knew her best. As we reflected on the end of her life, our final judgment was that through the work of Christ, she was ready to be received in heaven. Then it dawned on us that this is exactly what Christ said He would do. We were experiencing the reality of His words….

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling; and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” (Jude1:24)

If we, the Body of Christ and assembly of the First born, didn't feel any condemnation for Gammal when we looked at the end of her physical life, how much more would our heavenly Father look upon her and see nothing but pleasure. She had become faultless. Or rather her faults had been changed into something with no condemnation attached. It was though the sin was removed from her “faults”.

Our ideas of being faultless are not His. Which means we will never quite know, on this side of the veil, what makes faults, faults… has been taken out of our or other’s …faults! What if the fault that so irritated me in another, or even in myself, doesn’t irritate God at all? What if what bothers me about others or worries me about myself is just another future “lovely recollections” of us?” Suffer me one more, what if. What if Christ actually did take away all my sin at the cross and when I was baptized everything really did become changed into “lovely recollections” of God about me? Now that is encouraging!

The only problem I see with this way of thinking is; if I am going to believe those things about me, I will have to start believing those same things about ….everyone else.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”(Romans 8:1)

Rylynn's Wild Ride

2010-05-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Rylynn’s Wild Ride

Today marked the end of a wonderful and terrifying week. It was filled with adrenaline, floods, tornadoes, emergency rooms and many prayers. I must say I am glad that this particular week has come to an end; and not just any old end, but a glorious, praised filled end. Tonight I sat in our daughter’s house and held my beautiful little granddaughter Rylynn Eden Dunsworth for the first time. She was home again after a very wild ride that started with her first breath seven days ago. Her ride would take her on an ambulance, helicopter, avoiding tornados in a hospital hallway, and escaping death before she was seven days old. We were surrounded by some of my other grandchildren and my daughter’s housemates. All of us were completely exhausted by the amazing events of the last seven days. As I set there watching everyone hold and coo over little Rylynn, I began to reflect on how living inside of God is both the safest and most adventurous place anyone could ever live. These last few days were proof again of how much He loves and watches over us. Who is like our God?

Last Thursday night we were awakened at 12:00 am by a phone call that informed us our daughter Jerusha was in labor with her fourth child. Now this was wonderful and exciting news. Most all of the women in our Village have their children in the safety and comfort of their own homes surrounded by family and friends. All of us were excited. My wife, my friend’s wife and one of my other daughters had been trained in the art of midwifery and would be part of the team that would assist in the arrival of our little granddaughter Rylynn. Everyone rejoiced to see the little one breathe her first bit of earthly air. Yet in those blessed first few minutes, God began gently speaking to hearts that something was wrong. Jerusha began to grow very pale and Rylynn was having trouble breathing.

It was quickly decided that we should transport both mother and child to the hospital in Selmer. Upon arrival the doctors determined my daughter Jerusha should be admitted and that Rylynn would have to be airlifted to Le Bonheur hospital in Memphis Tennessee. As we waited for the helicopter we all sensed that we were in a life or death struggle for the life of our granddaughter. So we called for reinforcements. Our friends all over the world were alerted and began covering everything with prayer. Friends in Mexico, India, Kenya and all over the United States from California to Florida would enter in the fight through prayer. Soon it was decided that Rustie, Rylynn’s father would go to Memphis with the baby and Jerusha would stay in the Selmer hospital and receive the care she needed to regain her strength.

We watched anxiously as Rylynn was loaded quickly aboard the helicopter and rushed to the hospital in Memphis, but our peace held us fast. After Rylynn was admitted to the hospital and declared in stable but serious condition, we all let down a little and returned home.

The next morning we took Jerusha to Memphis to be with Rylynn and Rustie. Between our brothers and sisters in the Village and the Gatehouse in Memphis there would always be someone to help and encourage them. So we waited and prayed.

[Just a side note about Jerusha’s husband Rustie and the changes this challenge wrought in him. One of the wonderful things about our God and the way He works is that He never just does one thing at a time. During this very stressful and anxious time I watched a man become a spiritual father and husband. Rustie was awesome. Facing things that normally wilt the strongest of men, Rustie believed God and provided spiritual support and leadership throughout the whole ordeal. Having lived through the heart bending trials of a seriously sick child, I know how each ticking second can make you want to run and hide. Rustie neither ran nor hid but stood in the promises of God. We are all proud of Rustie.]

The next day we got word of a strong storm system that would be heading to West Tennessee, where we live. Being in an active tornado area we told everyone in the Village to stay near their phones and be ready to be awakened in the night by the Village storm watchers. I went to bed at 10:00 pm only to be awakened at 2:00 am by one of the leaders saying he thought we ought to sound the warning siren and get in the shelters. Quickly dressing and waking the rest of my household I chanced to look on the computer at the weather map to see what was going on. What I saw made me get my entire house and the rest of our 280 people into our shelters as quickly as possible. The “super cells” were all over us and he weather radio was instructing us to get into a safe place because a tornado was bearing down on us.

Everyone made it into their designated shelter and prayed to the God who has always looked over us and kept us underneath His wing. Two and a half hours later we emerged from our shelters to a dark but still standing Village. We were grateful the storms had passed. The next morning, we awoke to discover a tornado had touched down three and a half miles from us and had devastated part of the little town we live by. The electricity was still off in the Village and we began to check with all the households to see what their needs were.

Some of us drove to Selmer to see what we could do to help. Our young people would find the opportunity to do so over the next few days. As I write this they are still bring food and help to the devastated community.

We would find out later that Rylynn, her mother and grandmother spent part of the night in the hallway of the hospital because of the outbreak of tornados. Yet all through this historic storm that left scores of people dead from flooding and tornados, Rylynn continued to improve and heal. Our Father was answering the prayers going up from friends and family all over the world.

It is now Thursday of the following week and the Village is safe, we are getting the opportunity to help our neighbors and Rylynn is home completely healed, looking beautiful. More and more stories are surfacing about the goodness of our Father who kept us safe in the emergency room and the devastating storm. Our thanks first go to our ever faithful Father. Secondly, we are grateful to all the people of faith gathering in rooms all over the world to pray for us, and finally we give thanks to the doctors nurses, and pilots who were there for us. He who heals the sick and calms the storm once again proved His promises are true for all those who live inside of Him. Could there be anywhere more blessed to live than inside His love? Who is like our God? Answer… no one!

The Deep Things of God

2010-04-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

(The Passage of Hadassah and Nichole)

“But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10)

Yesterday the Spirit of God revealed a few "deep things" to us through our celebrating the entering adulthood of two young women . It seemed to preview something our Father has waiting for all of us who love Him. The beloved people who live in one of the many places our Father’s feet has touched the ground, assembled to honor and witness two young maidens entering into womanhood. For the next twelve and a half hours our Master would shower His love and praises on these two beloved young women through His gathered people.

We have been asked many times by people on the outside if the love that drew us together is still alive. It is more than just alive. It reigns in our hearts. If they could have witnessed the twelve and a half hours happening yesterday, they would have understood. It is not only alive but has exponentially grown and matured.

All of us knew that our Father would be there for this event. Our Warrior King had triumphed over the enemy of their souls and delivered them into the kingdom of His beloved son. The fight for their souls was both active and severe. Yet there they were, in the midst of God’s people dressed in garments that expressed their inward beauty, ready to receive the testimony and instruction of the older women.

They were brought amid youthful dancing and rejoicing by their peers and siblings, revealing all that is good and pure found in youth. They were surrendered to the waiting arms of women who, by the grace of God, had formed an inside for them to come into. The fellowship of a shared existence. Forming two lines for the young women to walk through, they became a picture off the path that each of them had become a part of.

As the young women walked between their older sisters, they found this living path leading them to a great banqueting hall where food and gifts awaited. For the next 11 hours there would be a pouring out of gifts and experiences all designed to bring them into that shared fellowship. Prophesies, wisdom, experiential knowledge, adoration, laughter and love flowed till all were filled to overflowing.

It has been noted that each Village passage is for all of us and not just the people it focuses on. Perhaps it is through the giving and loving that all of us are called to do daily that causes us to grow. Perhaps it is because of the living Unity that we live in with our God and each other. Whatever the answer is; yesterday left everyone feeling humbled by His affection and dazzled by His Love.

If ever there was a time the church was seen to be the “pillar and support of the truth,” it was yesterday at the passage of Hadassah and Nichole.
We were able to demonstrate something He spoke of 2600 years ago when He said; “Behold (marvel and be astonished) how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in Unity…..” (Psalm 133:1)

Jumping in the River of Life

2010-02-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

Re-Entry

First of all; forgive the long delay between blogs. Coming back from Africa and reentering the rushing river of life flowing through the Village is sometimes a bit overwhelming. Being thrust into three hundred lives with all their pains and joys, is incredible. We live in each other’s hearts much the same way as Christ lives in ours. I would give anything if everyone could experience what we get to experience every single week here in Rose Creek Village. People sometime ask “what’s it like living in out there in Rose Creek Village?” Well, it’s sort of like living ten or fifteen lives all at the same time. It definitely requires His grace to live it. Yet we think, that if you have a difficult time being so close together you might want to start thinking about your eternal destiny. Heaven will be delightfully worse. To begin to understand the unimaginable life we live, you would need to understand some of what makes up the elements of our corporate life.

First of all there is what you see with your eyes when you drive through the gates of the Village. The first thing you’ll see is 100 acres of beautiful west Tennessee farmland located 8 miles west from the small town of Selmer. What once was a rundown cattle farm has become a beautiful little Village of winding roads and carefully landscaped rolling hills. You can actually feel the love that went in to each tree lined road and flowered garden. There are several school buildings, a small grocery store and what’s called the "town hall". That’s where we come together to be taught, discuss “Village” matters and praise and worship our wonderful Father. A short drive through the residential section of the Village will reveal twenty or so large mobile homes where the only fences between the houses keep animals in not people out. There are no locked doors and kids playing everywhere. You will find large garden plots, fields for horses, orchards, sitting gardens, soccer fields, playgrounds, a small petting farm etc., etc.

Yet all these things are just the visible pictures of something much deeper and infinitely more lovely. Something merely using all the physical beauty and peaceful serenity as vessels to express itself, much like an instrument that is used to convey the music coming from some musician’s heart. That “something” is the Love of our Father. Although the external beauty of the land and the sweaty love we invested in it speak of things inside His heart, nothing says it better than the lives of the people who live and die on this land. To enter their hearts and houses is to gain insight into how the Creator intended humans to live.

This doesn’t mean a life void of conflict or difficulties. Both conflict and difficulties are vital in shaping us into the image and likeness of our beloved Father. Therefore all who commit to live together in Rose Creek Village must first commit themselves to becoming true disciples of the corporate Life of His firstborn son, Jesus Christ. That means being fully committed to working out our differences in the midst of the everyday trials. This necessitates living with imperfect people with the patience and kindness that is found in His Spirit. Each day we encounter the pressure of the potter’s hands forming our eternal souls on his spinning wheel of corporate life.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done if His Kingdom hadn’t appeared, visibly existing in a real place. I needed to see it with my eyes, hear it with my ears, and touch it with my hands, like the apostle John and his friends. I needed it to believe that Christ was who He said He was….

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life…this Life was manifested and we have seen…..eternal life…” (1 John 1:1,2)

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:23)

I know that there are believers in almost every city throughout America; but to see them become disciples, gathered together, living out normal everyday situations in the Unity of His Spirit is breathtaking and rare. In fact we are told that the demonstrated unity and love of disciples is the only real proof they are the Disciples of Christ.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you have love for one another. It is by this that all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34,35)

Our love and responsibility to love one another doesn’t stop with the people we live with either. If it is truly the love of God at work in people, they will find other people to pour their love out on. More aptly put; their Father in Heaven will show them where to continue to pour out the Life He gave them. That is why there are pictures of the children we support in India and Myanmar all over the walls of our houses. You will also find pictures of our Family in Kenya. Eighty or so people who have decided to become disciples and live as one family. Like the Gatehouse in Memphis and the Village they are committed their lives to demonstrating the wonderful Life we have been given.

Well, more later; It’s much better to live this wild and wonderful life… than just write about it.

African Update # 18 2009

2010-01-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

A Letter to the Saints

To the all the beloved Saints in Nakuru;

Greetings with much love from Abba and Amma and all the Saints that live together inside the Kingdom of God's beloved Son, here in Rose Creek Village. We are here. We arrived safely home, carried on the wings of your faithful prayers and the love of our family here and in Memphis. It was about 9:00 at night when we arrived at the beautiful gates of the Village. The temperature was
-12 degrees centigrade and freezing. Despite the bitter cold, as we rounded the corner to enter the gates; there stood everyone in the Village to welcome us home. Men women and children had stood out in the cold ,waiting to greet us and hug our necks. We were overcome with emotion to see such a great display of love and sacrifice for us.

That night laying in my bed I thought of you and the wonderful work that our heavenly Father is doing in all of you. I want to say to you all once again; ... don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop. You cannot imagine what He wants to do with all of you. Keep believing Him. Keep following Him. Keep loving Him. Anything worth having is worth suffering for. He has chosen you to reveal in you His great love for Kenya. Guard your hearts from gossip or even listening to any negative thing about each other. Let you mouths be filled with only His words and His encouragement for each other. Bear each other's weaknesses for it is Christ's will that you do so. Realize someone is bearing your weaknesses and you must bear theirs. Put your brothers and sisters needs before your own and He will repay you.

Being with you the last 2 months was a total joy and a uplifting experience. If it is His will I will see you in 6 months. Our time away from each other will go quickly and we must work hard to use what He has given us so He can give us more. Do not hide what he has given you in the ground of your flesh but invest it in the lives of those around you. If you do, He will increase what you have, if you do not; he will take what you have away and give it to someone else.

To all the leaders who faithfully take care of the clans; may God bless you and may He find you to being faithful to take care of His sheep. Protect them from wolves, especially from the ones who pretend to be sheep. Lead them to peaceful green pastures and still quiet waters. Feed them with the food Christ fed them with.....Himself. Give yourselves to their needs both spiritual and physical. Encourage and protect your Pastor; George. Always give him what God has given you. Watch his face and learn to know it. See what his needs are and meet them. Watch for him getting overburdened with people's problems. Stay close to him. Never let him feel alone or taken for granted. Remember the more important you become in His Kingdom, the more love you will need.

I will try to write to you as often as I can, but know that there will not be a day go by that Amma and I will not be thinking of you. Pray that God allows us to do much here, for the church there in Nakuru. Thank you for all of your love that you so freely gave towards Amma, Joel, and myself. Remember it is the last hour of the last day. Work hard and stay together.

May the God of Abraham, Issac, Petronillia, Patrick, George, General, and Jacob be with you always.

Much love and grace..... David Noah

African Update # 17 2009

2009-12-22T23:15:00.000-08:00

     Hark! The Hungry Merchants Sing
     (Sung to the tune Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)

Hark the hungry merchants sing; Glad to hear the cash drawer ring;

All this stuff up and down our isles; Buy it quick and leave with smiles.

Hurry quick, fore prices rise; Keep those tears from little eyes.

With indebted host proclaim; Mammon rules in Jesus name.

Hark! The hungry merchants sing; Glad to hear that ching, ching ching.

Christian Theatrics

It is somewhat saddening to see Christmas Season become the ‘Festive Season’ here in Kenya. I guess the world is the world no matter where you go. America or Kenya the flesh is the flesh. Carnal Christmas is just one more bad piece of fruit coming from Christians desiring to be like the world. I have just completed a teaching called Floods and Frogs. It’s sort of a scriptural rant against the rise of Christian theatrics. Kenyan television is about one third religious programming and most of it is terrible. The rise of the Christian performer disheartens my soul. Watching slick looking preachers gyrating around on their “stage”, while yelling at their “audience” makes me sick. What does “blowing or waving” people down have anything to do with how Christ ministered his Holy Spirit to people? Does anyone care how crazy that appears to people who are looking for God? The apostle Paul was worried that people looking for God, would be “turned off” by attending meetings where believers spoke in other languages (other tongues) without it being interpreted.

“If therefore the whole church be come together into one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” (1Corinthians 14:23)

The answer to his question is; of course, they will think you are crazy. What in heaven’s name, do you imagine they would think about, people acting like they were drunk, (holy laughter) or falling and rolling around on the floor convulsing, (slain in the spirit) or a host of other wonder working theatrics? I believe that people engaged in those activities have little or no regard for scriptural authority or precedent. Our Father in heaven is not a God of chaos and confusion or theatrical wonder working. Christ’s Spirit is always under His control …. And as His followers, ours should be as well.

“And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (1 Corinthians 14: 32, 33)

Here are the first few pages of the teaching….

Floods and Frogs

For the past 2 hours, I have watched the many weird (and I do mean weird … look it up in the dictionary to know what I fully mean) religious programs flooding (and I do mean flooding) the living room and passing themselves off as authentic Holy Spirit filled Christian ministries.

“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood…. and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” (Revelations 12:15, 16)

I think there are many who do get swept away by this flood and eventually drown, trying to figure out what's God and what isn't God.

There is something for everyone floating by in this great body of fast moving water. Christian Rappers dressed like L.A. gang members grabbing themselves and giving gang signs, TV evangelist, that missed their real calling in life as comedians or actors, and of course, the miraculous “faith” Healers. All of them claiming to have “wonders from God”, flowing from this flood of Christian “revelations and resulting ministries.” Most of which in my opinion, are from the same source as that flood in the 12th chapter of Revelations.

A flood of books, teachings, CDs, DVDs, singers, concerts, conferences, ministries, retreats, speakers, councilors, educators, and entertainers. All offering some miraculous “whatever you need” for a small love offering to help their ministry.

After most floods you can also expect a major increase in the amount of frogs that will surely take advantage of all that water lying around.

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world … (Revelation16: 13, 14)

Frogs and their Ministry

The word ‘miracle’ in the above passage can be defined as ….. “A wonder or miracle performed to validate someone or some teaching.” (See Strong’s Concordance) I think America and the rest of the world, for the last hundred years, have been being plagued with those miraculous, wonder working, spiritual frogs. Frogs hopping from denomination to denomination, church to church, preacher to preacher and yes, sermon to sermon. Unclean Frog spirits that work ‘wonders’ through corrupt men. These “lying signs and wonders” are not meant to validate anything but the carnal practices and men they endorse. It’s enough to make you croak!

If you’re wondering whether I think there may be exceptions to that harsh assessment, the answer is; of course there is. There are always exceptions. I earnestly believe, that floating down the prideful, swollen banks of this false, flooded river of contemporary revelation and resulting ministries, there are some sincere, well meaning people. Both on the giving and receiving end of ministry. Having said that, let me also say that those exceptions do not negate the fact, that most of the inner tube floating performers, with all their Hollywood theatrics coming down that river are sincerely wrong. Not only are they wrong but they cause millions of believers to drown in the fast moving currents of Christian paraphernalia. The flood of new Christian ministries and information has dramatically increased, spilling over its banks into every aspect of the Christian life. Yet its growth is directly proportional to the decrease of real practical Christian Love. With the rise false “Christian” teachings and ministries; deception and lawlessness have exploded. The scriptures speak clearly to the time we live in …

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:11-13)

“...For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own desires they will heap up for themselves teachers, having itching ears (wanting so badly to hear what they desire to hear); they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4)
“Christian ministers with “frog spirits” teaching people to believe fables (lies) through the powerful influence of technology and Christian theatrical wonder working.

Pray for those being seduced by the wonder working frogs and their human ministers. Pray that people will see the Christ of the scriptures in all our festivities.

May God allow you to be with those you love this Christmas and may you allow God, in all you do or say, be with the ones He loves, as well.

Merry Christmas from your sent ones in Kenya

African Update # 16 2009

2009-12-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

The Night Love Was Born

This Christmas will be somewhat different. Through circumstances beyond our control, my wife and I won’t be spending Christmas with our immediate family or hardly any of the people we are normally with. We won’t be in America and feel any of the “warm fuzzies” we grew up with at Christmas time. They’ll be no colored lights, Christmas music in the stores, Christmas trees, or colorful Christmas decorations everywhere. Our Christmas time will be spent with people, who for the most part, don’t even celebrate Christmas that much…. And we are excited!

Now don’t misunderstand me, I love all those wonderful things, from watching the ghost of Christmas past “converting” Scrooge; to having Christmas dinner with family and friends. I really don’t think Christ cares what we do, one way or the other, about most of those seasonal things. His emphasis has always been on us showing great love in whatever we do and say; not being politically or religiously correct.

All those things go along with the “Christmas Season”, depending on what country you happen to find yourself in, but not so much with what happened 2000 years ago. This Christmas, I wanted to hear the heavenly carolers and be bathed in the same light those shepherds experienced on the hills of Israel, so many years ago.

So, by the providential hand of God, I find myself half way around the world, living in Nakuru, Kenya, and without any of the usual amenities commonly found at Christmas time in the U.S.A. As a result, I am spending a lot of time in the scriptures and begging God to override my familiarity with the amazing story of the birth of Christ. I want to better understand the incredible event that happened over 2000 years ago. Here is what I have seen so far.

First of all, there is the prelude to this incredible story; … a promise given to an old Jewish priest by a messenger from another realm of existence. It’s a wonderful realm; not only that I very much believe in, but also have friends and family currently living there. The priest was told that God would break His 400 year silence with Israel and it would all begin with his wife having a baby. That by itself, would be amazing enough, since both husband and wife were well beyond their child bearing years. Yet, the old priest named “God remembers” (Zacharias) came together with his wife named “God’s promise” (Elizabeth) and “God remembers His promise” produced a son. A promised son who would prepare the way for God to communicate with man; and in a manner never before imagined. His thoughts would take human form.

Our story begins with the heavenly messenger that first spoke to Zacharias, appearing again. This time it would be to a young Jewish girl with hopes of soon being married to a wonderful Jewish carpenter and settling down to a normal Jewish life. The messenger calls her highly favored and blessed of God. He tells her the Lord is with her. The startled young virgin is told not to be afraid, for she has found favor with God. And as the messenger relays the extraordinary events about to take place in this young girl’s life, her hopes and dreams of a normal life begin to fade away. Everyone who is set apart for the Lords purposes”, must bid farewell to the thought of having a “normal life”. Abundant Life can be many things, but never normal. If you desire a normal life, His life is probably not for you. His life is one full of adventure, sacrifice and great joy. Those who partake of His life and favor will also find his share of suffering, for those He loves, He troubles.

Unlike Zacharias’s unbelief, in doubting what the messenger said, Mary, overcome with wonder asked; “How can this be?” Like many of us, Mary thinks God can only do things the way we do them. Yet the same angel that struck Zacharias mute for his unbelief, gently explains to Mary that she will be enveloped by God’s power and that things impossible with men are possible with God. She is then given instructions to visit her old relative and see with her own eyes, that her God is Lord of the impossible. Mary's body will become the vessel in which the incarnate Word of God enters in the earth.

Never confuse your “wonder” with unbelief. Unbelief is always admonished by God; while wonder is always helped. Wondering how, or even when, God will do something He said He would do is not the same as believing He can't or won't do it.

Receiving the message within herself, she immediately begins to praise God for the love that He has shown her. Her praise is the evidence and assurance of her faith. Praise is a way of securing our faith when God speaks to us, a way of “fastening it down”. Yet, that same praised filled faith would soon be severely tested, as the inevitable signs of God's overshadowing, would begin to show in her physical body. Just who is going to believe her story? Even her fine young Jewish carpenter, would not be able to understand what God had done in her, without the heavenly messenger’s help. Neither will people understand what God is doing in your life, without that same help from heaven, and that, only if they really want to know. Follow Him closely and leave the explanations to Him.

Not many of us realize how much God is in control of everything going on around us. Even wicked Kings and Rulers serve His purpose. The scriptures state that in the “fullness of time” Christ came. In other words; when God finished getting everything ready, Christ would come.
Rome didn’t bring its “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace from 27 B.C. to 180 A.D.) to all the surrounding countries it conquered, build them roads, or help facilitate a common tongue for its own Roman ends. It was for the facilitating of people hearing what began that night. Rome just didn’t know it. It wasn’t Augustus Caesar who decreed that everyone should return to their homeland for a census, it was Almighty God working out His purposes.

Sometimes the providential hand of God is the most difficult to kneel and kiss, especially if you’re pregnant. Yet through all the decisions of King or State; God is working out His purposes in the lives of His children.
Submitting to the decree, Joseph travels with his very pregnant wife to Bethlehem and the most important event in human history…. Something Ancient was about to be born.

The Birth of Love
What can be said about the Love of God taking human form and being birthed of a woman? What better way to reveal the substance of the likeness in which all men were made from? How could anything reveal, in any better way, God’s design for our lives that we had so completely lost? There in that stable, was the Light of Heaven, the Wisdom of God; all the Power, Truth, and Compassion of God in the helpless form of a little baby. Here, was the Creator, revealed in the image and likeness of His creation; the final proof of His triumph over darkness, God in human form. At last; there is someone to follow, someone to bring order to the chaos. God in heaven will now speak to us clearly in and through His Son.

Who then, shall this great event be revealed to first? Should the leaders of Rome be informed? Should the High Priest in Jerusalem be notified? Here we begin to see that the most important moment in time and all other subsequent, heavenly movements are only revealed; … to those who are really looking for it! Others may hear of it, but will never have it revealed to them by God or His messengers. For from the very beginning, the last (in human estimation.) shall be the first to hear, and the first (in human estimation) shall be, the last to know. Are you watching?

Sometimes, here in Nakuru we are amazed at who God chose for us to teach the incredible things we have learned from our Master, over the past 20 years; …. And who He hides it from. No one would have guessed that He would have chosen first, those from among the poorest of the poor. Yet among these, “the very least of them”, we have found precious gems being led by worthless stones. Shouldn’t we have known that God chooses the poor of this earth to be rich in faith?

Everyone we talked to here in Nakuru says the same thing; ever since they have known George Agai Olendo, he has been looking for the God of Love in a people. Is it any wonder that when we spoke of the Kingdom to him, he felt a great light begin to illuminate his darkness and heard God’s messengers (angels) speak to his heart? By this, we knew he was of God. So it was as well, with the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks on that night.

Though the “Gospel of Christmas Cards” depicts the angel that first spoke to those shepherds as floating above their heads, the scripture says he stood before them. Who was this radiant messenger standing before them? They were greatly afraid. When a messenger of God is sent to speak to you His commands, you too, will be afraid; … that is if you really discern who told him to come. The messenger quickly said to the frightened shepherds; do not be afraid, because it is to you I have been sent, to bring this great and wonderful news. I speak to you as representatives of the entire human race. Know that today a child has been born in Bethlehem, who shall be to you God's Anointed Deliverer. Then as if to say; … You’re not going to believe this, for it is a sign to you, but you will find Him in a stable, wrapped in rags and lying in a feeding trough. Suddenly, armies of angels appeared out of nowhere, praising God saying; …. Because of this night, there will be peace for men in whom God is pleased. Then just as suddenly as they appeared they vanished, leaving some very dazzled shepherds.

What would be the response of those humble shepherds? It is the same response of all who receive God’s message. They first believed, and then quickly ran to find the Child, the messengers had talked about. As soon as they found Him, they went and told everyone else they could find. That’s why they were first to hear the heavenly good news.

Four hundred years of silence; then angels begin to appear to ordinary people… a young girl, an old priest, and some lowly shepherds. What did they have in common? The same thing everyone has in common that receives God’s messagers. They loved God and were looking for Him.

Was God “making a statement” about His disdain for the authority and pomp that comprises the world’s governments and religions? I believe He was. So then, the most important event in human history, revealed by the Armies of Heaven; is only made known to a few poor shepherds on a hillside, in the tiny captive country of Israel. That’s quite a statement about God’s regard for the governments and religions of this world. That statement was made because He well knew who governed them.

“Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the Kingdoms of the world in a minute of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘All this has been delivered over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” (Luke 4:5, 6)

God’s choices are completely vindicated, when Israel’s political and religious leaders were informed of the birth, by the Persian “Wise Men” a year or two later. The politicians, tried to find and kill the child, and the religious leaders were totally indifferent to the ramifications of what they knew the scriptures were clearly saying, so they quietly returned to their bible studies. Some things never change.

God’s counsel to all “wise men”, then and now, still stands; don’t return or talk to them again. We will know who they are if they hear us or not.

This Christmas we would do well if we concentrated on finding out what would pleases the One who was born in that animal shelter. It is such a difficult time for so many people. Loneliness is keenly felt this time of the year. There will be plenty of opportunities to honor him, by loving and helping others. Don't miss them.

Are you looking for the “true meaning” of Christmas? It won’t be found in giving gifts or in not giving gifts. It’s not in the lights, stories, traditions, or you being scripturally correct and condemning those who don’t have your “revelations about the pagan origins of the Yule log.” Been there, done that, found the dead end. It’s not even to be found in the Christmas meal surrounded by family and friends.

The real meaning of Christmas is found in God’s Christmas Meal. The One He prepared for us.The meal that first appeared in a town called, Bethlehem (house of bread) and was lying in a manger (feeding trough). It’s about finding and eating the bread that came down from heaven that night.

If you can’t find it, perhaps it’s because you’re looking in all the wrong places.

Go and follow the reflection of that star (light) on the faces of those “wise men” who are seeking Him. Listen with all your heart to the songs of praises coming from His messengers that live in that "other realm" here on earth. Look for the excited shepherds with the glowing faces. Ask those who have found Him, where He can be found, they will be very happy to tell you.

Seek Him this Christmas and celebrate the night that Love was born; .... enjoy your Christmas. I know we'll enjoy ours.

African Update # 15 2009

2009-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Hot Springs Adventure

After 5 weeks of some pretty intense situations and ground breaking efforts in church planting we decided to take a break. So we put together some lunch materials and headed out for the two hour drive to Lake Bogoria Park. This lake is famous for its geysers and hot springs. Viewing the Kenyan countryside is always a treat.

Along the way we noticed large fields of something akin to Yucca plants and wondered what they were for. A few minutes later we notice a small factory with large lines of some material drying out in the sun. We pulled off the road to get some pictures. George began to explain that these were “Sisal” plants, whose fiber was being harvested to make various products. Just then a factory supervisor came over and asked if we wanted to tour the plant. He then directed us to the entrance of the factory and took us for a delightful look into the processing of Sisal leaves.

The above pictures show the process from extracting the fiber from the plants, to shipping it out to various destinations around the world.

The first little excitement we encountered, after our Sisal tour, was a male ostrich running right in front of our van. We stopped and gave chase, managing to get a few pictures before he left us in the dust. We actually would not have purposely gotten that close anyway, as a male ostrich is about the same size and makeup of a prehistoric, Velociraptor. His 4 inch, front toe claws can disembowel a man very quickly.

When we finally reached the lake it was absolutely breathtaking. The roads are rough and the lake is narrow and very long. We drove beside it for at least an hour, stopping ever so often to get out of the van and photograph the amazing display of God’s creation. There were flamingos, wart hogs, water bucks, gazelle, great brown eagles and other animals, playing out their life and death struggle, around this beautiful lake. The temperature in the park, because of its low elevation and semi arid climate, was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This was very different, from Nakuru with its cooler temperatures, due to the higher elevation.

The brochure for the park had stated there were cheetahs and spiting "Black Mambas" cobras within the park, but we didn’t see any. Which, considering how much we walked around the lake, was probably a good thing.

After chasing the flamingos and finding some neat bones we arrived at the hot springs. This is a favorite place for many Kenyans, because of their love of the steam coming off the boiling springs. A few vans arrived the same time we did and it was fun watching them “soak up the steam”. Joel joined a few Catholic priests getting the “treatment”(you can see some nuns in the background). Although the heat was formidable, we had a great time.

Despite the “Kamikaze” Kenyan flies, we ate the lunch Amma had prepared, finished our Stonys (ginger soda) and began preparing for the trip home. Not only was it really hot in the park, it was also very, very dry. It seemed like the air itself sucked all the moisture from your body, so we finished off our water, thinking we could get some more in about an hour; … Bad decision.

Driving out of the park we stopped at a honey stand and where we were literally “swarmed” by honey merchants. Honey bottles of every size and shape were stuck in our faces amid of cries of “buy mine, buy mine!” George finally negotiated a fair price and we drove off with some very good honey. By now, we were starting to get real thirsty, but were confident that water was only 40 minutes away, so we were ok, ... or so we thought. Suddenly the car began to sputter, and finally came to a very jerky stop. George looked at me and went, Uh Oh. He looked rather pale, as he told me he had forgotten his tools.

Now that is not what you want to hear, out in the middle of nowhere, with the temperature close to 100 degrees and no water. It is rather amazing how many bad scenarios can fill your head in those first moments or how quickly you remember that the area you are in, has animals that have high regard for your "good taste", if you know what I mean. So George says; "I’ll try to go and find some tools", which is a great idea, considering that, completely taking the carburetor apart with a butter knife, didn’t work. He then proceeds to hail down one of, the not so frequent cars, passing through the area. As he got in the car to go, to who knows where, for God knows only how long, we cried out with fat dry tongues, “Don’t forget to bring back some water.”

You can read Amma’s or Joel’s blog and see it from their perspective but from my perspective, it was a little frightening. Especially since night fall is only now three or so hours away. Add to that scenario, that bandits frequent that road, the mosquitoes are formidable and carry Malaria, we have no water, and there are Black Mambas (spiting cobras) present in the area, not to mention the high speed, oversized, kitty cats in the area, that think highly of your “good taste”. After some very sincere soul searching, fervent prayer, humming some heart- felt hymns, and walking around the van in the 100 degree heat, trying to look tough with my cane; George pulled up with two very beautiful looking mechanics. No water, mind you, but two wonderful mechanics.

One had on, what was left of some smaller person's green overalls, completely covered with grease (that was a good sign) and the other had on dress pants with almost, a tee shirt. They worked for 30 minutes, completely taking the carburetor apart and removing the offending piece of grime. Which was no bigger than a grain of salt, (see Joel’s blog for a picture) but had caused us so much trouble. They went on their way a whopping thirteen dollars richer and possessing forever the knowledge that they had, that very day, saved the lives of 3 stranded Mozungus.

We started home 120 minutes before nightfall, very, very grateful to have such a wonderful God who always watches over His servants. The trip home was delightful, although the first forty minutes before we purchased water, were the longest forty minutes we have spent in a long time. When we arrived in the first town, we purchased 4 big bottles (one and a half literseach) of water and just sat in the car consuming that wonderful cold, liquid, H2O. That was some of the best tasting water ever!

While we set there, this very old lady came up to beg some money. I told her I would give her 50 shillings if I could take her picture. She gratefully said yes, I took the picture and she proceeded on her way. As I looked at her picture today, I wondered … How do we reach such people? The answer, I believe, is not in us reaching them at all, but the Kenyans being raised up to reach their own. That is what we are doing here in Nakuru.

Please continue to pray that God would bring His family together, here in Nakuru, and burden their hearts for the lost. Much Grace… your sent ones.

African Update # 14 2009

2009-12-04T03:00:00.000-08:00

Another Fine Day

Today was spent visiting folks during the day and teaching them in the evening. We actually got to visit 6 different families before lunch. Some of them were neighbors of the people we scheduled to see that day. If the current trend continues we are going to have to get a second tent.

The mosquitoes are getting worse because we have had a lot of rain. The good side of that, is the rain greatly reduces the dust. It’s a real tossup as to which is more annoying; the mosquitoes or the dust. On the way to the teaching last night we wondered if anyone would be there, because it was pouring down rain. As we pulled up to our little meeting place, there they were; wet, but smiling and singing. There were ten or so wonderful, dedicated ladies and men, who had walked a mile or two just to hear the teaching. When I pulled up I wondered if I would have walked those two miles in the pouring down rain to hear my teaching. The answer sadly is; probably not.

Yet I don’t think they had come to hear my teaching. They had come to hear God speak to them. I taught about the importance of God breaking us, in order to release the sweetness of His Spirit that is inside us. They listened intently and then we prayed. After we finished, each person came up and thanked me with the two sided Kenyan hug and grateful smile.

What surprised me was Joel. After the teaching, he walked up to me, smiled and said, … “that was a good word”. Later outside he said it again, ... “that was a really good teaching”. I could tell he had received something from the One who loves him the most. Earlier that afternoon, Joel had come in my room and asked if I wanted him to go with the rest of the youth to the meeting place. They had arranged a meeting to rehearse some skits and dancing, that they were preparing for our Christmas Celebration. He indicated he would prefer to stay home, but would do whatever I asked of him. Between the practices and the meeting that night, it would have meant him staying in that little building 4 or 5 hours. He knew the kids wanted him to come, but it had been a very busy day already. I told him that he must make that decision, but I would be ok with whatever he decided.

A few minutes later, I heard him going out the door with Simon and Lloyd. Joel was becoming a servant of Christ. He put himself aside, did the thing he did not particularly want to do, and walked outside a disciple of Christ. I believe that is why he heard His Father speak to him that very same night. Joel’s decision that night, was not the first time he had to make a hard decision to follow Christ. When some of his best friends left the Village to pursue the world, they would call him up and try to get him to join them. Yet, he then, as well as last night, united his faith with his works. The result, is a young man who is growing in the faith and becoming a fellow worker in the establishing of God’s Kingdom in Nakuru Kenya, Africa. Amma and I are blessed to be on this adventure, with this very wonderful young man.

George and I have been hard at work hammering out the details of our Micro-Financing program, called FISH. (Financing Indigenous Self Help) The name is associated with two thoughts. First the adage … “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Secondly; the story of the young man bringing his few fish and loaves to Christ, who multiplied it to feed the 5000. In keeping with God’s directive not to build this church with money instead of faith, we have labored to find ways to inspire people to be practically responsible for the well being of their fellow brothers and sisters.

We have laid a foundation of seeking the Kingdom of God first, and everything else later. God knows our needs. We have also taught that them, you do not own a teaching unless you are practicing it. The Kenyans are responding with zeal. They want to be equipped to make war on the poverty that surrounds them, by working with their own hands. They just need some help to get started. Hence the FISH program was born.

Most of the loans will be anywhere from 5 to 8 thousand Kenyan shillings each. That is about seventy, to a little over a hundred dollars each. We are not charging intrest on these loans but asking that they give a certain percentage of the profits back to the church. The applicants will be chosen within the clans (home groups) by their peers and clan leaders. Clan leaders will provide the weekly oversight. The greatest considerations will be given to the widows with children and or any other hardship case. Each will have a definite amount and time period, to pay the loan back. All transactions and other considerations, will be handled by the clan leaders with weekly reports and funds being given to George, which will be placed in a Church bank account each week. Strict records will be kept.

The program will hopefully accomplish several ends. One; quickly increase their own income and help our brothers and sisters take care of each other. Two; promote helpful interaction between leadership and people. The scriptures indicate that he who is faithful in matters of money will be faithful everywhere else. We need to know who is going to be faithful and who needs help. Three; give the people a chance to put in practice what we are teaching.

We are fully aware that this will cause problems, but we think they will be good problems. We are also quite sure their are bugs that will have to be worked out. There will be special considerations, and people will have to deal with their envy and greed. Yet some of our best learning experiences in the Village, have come out of our having to be accountable to each other.

Please continue to pray for us, as we strive to hear His voice. From my perspective it is a flat out miracle that we have progressed this far, so quickly. With the unbelievable cultural and language differences, we have to completely rely on God, to help us understand each other's words and hearts. We painfully found out that if George and I aren’t completely clear (in total harmony), before going in to a meeting it can quickly become a disaster. Although if we are together, though we may not understand what each other is saying, the Spirit of God gives us peace and leads us into all truth. It is actually amazing.... Grace.

Well that’s all for now….Bwana Asi Fiwi ! Much love ….your sent ones.

African Update # 13 2009

2009-12-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

Them

Thanksgiving is past and by now, most of the leftovers as well. I sometimes wonder about what we give Him thanks for. It has been quite an experience here, going from one of the most prosperous countries in the world, to an environment where people are grateful to make two dollars a day. One third of the people we are here with in Nakuru, live in one room shacks made of mud. The picture to the right, is in the house where I taught last night. Such precious souls.The lady we visited two days ago, lives in a one room house with 5 of her children and grandchildren. They sleep in a 7 x 8 foot “living room” which is divided from the kitchen by a bed sheet. Many do not have electricity, and couldn’t afford to turn it on if they did. Some go to bed hungry and some do not have a bed to go to bed hungry on. All of them are trying to follow God and some are really becoming true disciples.

That is why it was a very special Thanksgiving for me. I got to be with them, and for that, I am exceedingly grateful. My thankfulness did not come from thinking about the comparative luxury we live in back home. Nor was I thinking about the fact that till recently I have never even heard of anyone starving to death. My heart was overflowing with gratitude because I got do what I was created to do. That being, to love them, and be loved by them. More important even still, was just to experience His love for them.

If we but knew, how much He loves them. Not the huddled starving masses somewhere else; … Them, the ones right here in front of us. The Judy’s, Mary’s, Fred’s and Simons. How much he wants to help Them, comfort Them, and bring hope to ….Them. I am so thankful for Them. Each and every one of Them He has put in my path.

I used to believe that I could help change the world. I no longer even desire that, because I just want to help them. Changing the world is an illusion. If you are a follower of Him, the only help you can give the world… is to them, the ones right in front of you. If we could only feel His desire to bless the ones that we encounter every day, our lives would be transformed. We would make every occupation secondary to letting Him love them the way He so desires to do. We, who are his Body, do not experience joy because we do good deeds; our joy comes from letting Him do good deeds through us. Have you ever felt the strength of His love toward another? It is sometimes overwhelming.

We were fashioned inside of Him, not only to receive His love, but to carry it around, sharing it with any and all He chooses to lavish it on. Oh that we might really find out our true purpose for existing! It is not to express our own thoughts, feelings or desires. We were made as vessels to express Him. Who is in front of you?

“There’s just one reason we draw breath, to be your Kingdom in the earth and we will give our very lives to see you come….Reign in our Hearts!”

We miss and love you ….your sent ones.

African Update # 12 2009

2009-11-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

The Battle

Saturday was another good day with the young Kenyans. They are beginning to bring their friends to the meeting and we are having some good discussions about what it takes to follow Christ. After the meeting about half of them came over to our house and hung out. Then around 3:00 they began washing our tent. The dust and dirt have been terrible the last few days and the tent was filthy. We got our neighbor to move his car and the kids rolled out the 40 x15 tent and began to scrub it down.

What started out a difficult job quickly turned out to be, what can only be called as a free for all and miniature Water Day. In the end, everyone was soaked, the tent was clean, and everyone had a great time. Joel loved it.

The busy week had left all of us very tired. Amma was exhausted and had to stay home from the Gathering and rest. Joel was still a little weak from his bout with the African flu that he said, caused him to be the sickest he had ever been in his life. George and I have been working through some language misunderstandings, details of the financing program, tense situations with people and the planning out the last 4 weeks of our visit. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in.

To say the least, the week had left us weak and tired. So when we arrived at the tent 10 minutes before we were to start, and there were only 3 or 4 faithful people there, it was a little discouraging. To add to the general feeling of hopelessness, there came a drunk stumbling around, about 15 feet from the tent, scowling and mocking when we talked. George tried to get started, but the heaviness was growing. The spirit of heaviness was thick in the air.

Just at that moment in walks Judy. Judy is a beautiful young Kenyan woman who is the one that leads us all in praise and worship. Now as some of you know Judy’s name comes from the word Judah, meaning Praise, which may give you a hint which tribe she’s in. You could tell she felt the heaviness and it visibly weighed on her. She whispered something to George and turned to face, the now 10 or so people in the tent. Her actions next, can only be described as pulling her spiritual slingshot out and putting a rock in the forehead of the spiritual giant of depression that was taunting the armies of God. She spoke in Swahili, and though I could not understand the words, my spirit leaped within me. For 15 minutes she prayed, exhorted, and danced, almost by herself, before the Lord. Soon she was joined by another warrior named …Judy. The two sisters of Judah praised God with almost visible strength coming in to them each moment. Soon all of us were our feet and beginning to praise God with loud praises. It somehow reminded me of what happened at Standing Stone Park.

Suddenly we were singing, dancing and routing our spiritual foe with shouts of great joy. Even the drunk man began to dance as the Spirit of God filled the tent, and spilled over outside the tent. Soon the flood gates opened up and people poured in, filling every bench, chair, leaving standing room only. One of our men stood up and invited the wide eyed drunk man to come in, but he said now he was too tired and had to go home. When it came time for me to speak, I gave glory to God and honor to our two courageous sisters.

We prayed for Amma to be strengthened and to feel better that day. The Lord blessed my speaking His word and people who had come for a visit began standing to tell of their desire to be a part of this family. What a day! There must have been some awesome prayers going up for us. What a turnaround. This also, was the week we had decided to attempt a photo shoot, so immediately following the gathering we cleared the tent and began to take group pictures. It was difficult to get everyone in the picture, but everything went ….picture perfect. We had just enough time for "hanging around" fellowship and get the tent down, before a sudden storm came up with a light rain that settled all the dust. When we arrived home, we were greeted by a smiling Amma who told us that she had not improved till 45 minutes ago when “all of a sudden” she felt better.

Yesu Asifwi Sana…praise Jesus much.

To all the watchmen and women who pray for us diligently and faithfully. Thank you; and May God bless you as He has blessed and cared for us here. Pray even more, that the people who sit here in the great darkness will see the Great Light that our Father is raising up in Nakuru. Pray for our visit to Eldoret, Kenya in two weeks. Pray for the Micro-Financing program we are working on here. Pray that in all things God would extend His hand to honor our great Messiah and King. May all praise be given to our Warrior King for his love and constant care of His beloved people.

To give you a perspective on what’s happening here, I am including two pictures that span 2 years time. The first one below, on the left, is when Shammah , Nathaniel and I were visiting here in 2007. Of the 17 Kenyans present in that picture, only 4 are still here. The picture on the right was yesterday. There are 145 + present.

Much, much grace ….. your sent ones.

African Update # 11 2009

2009-11-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

The Crater

Today we took off for some outside rest and relaxation. We have been working hard and we needed a break. It was a fun day and we took advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve been having and took Joel and friends to see the Crater. Our day started with our “live in comedian” George, busting in our room trying to act like a Mommy. He had strapped Michelle Haviylah on his back and was trying to act like he knew what he was doing. He almost lost her once and you could tell by the look on her face, that little Haviylah had no confidence in this make shift mommy. After a good breakfast of eggs and rice with some mango that needed to hang on the tree a week longer, we piled in the Van and headed off for the crater. The crater is an extinct volcano whose ridge is the highest elevation in Nakuru.

The drive up there is breath taking for 2 reasons. The first is the unbelievable view of Nakuru from that high up. You can not only see all of Nakuru at once, but the entire landscape of Lake Nakuru National Park as well. The second reason is the road. It is about as wide as the narrowest of our roads in the Village but with 4 to 6 foot ditches on either side. When another vehicle comes from the opposite direction you have approximately 4 inches left of road as you drive by the other car. Sometimes the mirrors touch but everyone stays on the road. You can imagine why.(Hey; I wonder if those 4 to 6 foot ditches would work in the Village?) ;-) That and rocks the size of volley balls, that are ever so often in the middle of the road. I have been to the top 2 or 3 times now, but have never seen it so green and clear.

One of the outstanding things about this part of Kenya is no matter where you drive you can see for at least 60 or 70 miles. Everything seems so big. There were lots of wild flowers blooming around the edge of the crater and with the incredibly blue sky it was spell binding. We had brought Simon and Lloyd with us and as soon as we hit the top, the three musketeers disappeared.

Every once and a while I would see them seeing how close they could get to the edge of the 800 foot or so drop off, so I did what I used to do when I would take the chosen to Fall Creek Falls ….I looked somewhere else! The only other people at the top were some young locals who were out of school and having a blast poking fun at the Mozungus snapping pictures of everything in sight. Three of them consented to have their picture taken and ran away laughing after I showed it to them.

The wind was really blowing and the Eucalyptus trees were extremely fragrant so the whole experience made you want to just sit down and try to take it all in. After about an hour and a half, we began our descent and noticed a few High school age kids walking up the long, steep incline. Soon the few, turned into a few hundred and the road became very crowded. We had left just in time. It seemed as if all the young kids in Nakuru were going up to the crater. Half way down we spotted Evelyn, one of our girls so we stopped and said hello.

When they started to leave, one of Evelyn’s friends pointed out that our right front tire was almost flat. We managed to make it to the bottom of the hill and found a shady place to put on the spare.

After that, it was straight to a roadside goat grill, for some Ugalie, Katsumbali, and of course, goat meat, served with other goat parts. Ummm …. Goat intestines! No pumpkin pie, but you can't have everything. Then it’s back in the van and to try and get home for a little nap. Oh, I decided it was high time for me to start driving; so when we came to Nakuru, while George tried to score some Kampala bananas, I got in the driver seat. I noticed that everyone put their seat belts on for the first time. I made it home without incident except for the time I almost took a bora bora’s (bicycle taxi) driver’s elbow off. He pulled it in just at the right time, so all went well.

Tomorrow we meet with all the young people and the men. Please keep the prayers going we are more than half way through and still much to do. Happy Thanksgiving...we all have a lot to be thankful for. All our love….your sent ones.

African Update # 10 2009

2009-11-25T00:15:00.000-08:00

Another day in the Kingdom

We made it! To the end of another day that is. Another day in the Kingdom of God. Filled with skirmishes, a few battles and some outstanding victories. Today we visited several new folks that want to join this most wonderful and growing family in Nakuru Kenya. The visits take about 30 to 45 minutes each, and are spent getting information, taking pictures, eating butter bread sandwiches, drinking a Stony (carbonated ginger drink that is awesome) and praying a blessing over the house. The first few houses we visited, we asked if they would explain how the church in Lakeview was helping them. Their answers were both revealing and encouraging. One dear lady said, that this was the first time she was experienced the love of God in a people. She spoke of the care that George had given her family in times of need and the constant care she was being shown by her new brothers and sisters.

At another house, a sister shared how, for the first time, she was beginning to understand the scriptures and felt real growth in her walk with Christ. (sound familiar?)

She stated over and over again, her gratitude, for being in a church that felt like she had really joined the Family of God.

The first two houses were very encouraging, but the last house was over the top. When the sister in the last house we visited, found out we were coming, she invited her two neighbors to "come and see". They had witnessed the change in her life, and wanted to enter that Life. So after talking for a bit, we prayed with Mary (blue shirt on right) who gave herself to Christ.

Then the second one, Lucy, ( she is in the blue jacket on the left) came and knelt in front of me and asked to leave her life and enter the corporate Life of Christ. We prayed for the One who loves them most, to receive them both to Himself. And you know what? He did. I am not sure what Catholics mean when the say the Lord is present in the Eucharist, but I do know He is very present in the Lives of His gathered saints. What a great day. (Lucy is on the left and Mary the right)

After the visits, we stopped by to visit a wonderful sister named Helen at her work place. Helen is one of the neatest ladies here. Her smile would light up a cave and her generosity is legendary.

Helen sells small, thick clay pots, that she buys from the town of Kissi, Kenya (that’s the first place we first visited in Kenya 3 years ago), that, when placed on a metal stand, serve as a coal burning cook stoves. The metal stands that the clay pots sit in are made in little shops right next door. The whole block that her shop is located on is filled with scores of small metal working shops. The sounds of metal hammers fashioning, buckets, rims and other odds and ends, was delightful. Helen was very surprised that we “dropped by” and insisted that we eat lunch in a very small (think 8 x 12)café across from her shop.
After ordering tea (chai) Mary appeared with a little bundle of newspapers that contained some of the best fish I had ever eaten. Little scary at first, but amazingly delicious.

After lunch, we hurried home for a quick nap and some dedicated study time for the teaching at Helen’s clan meeting that night. We ended up being late to the meeting but was received by 10 or 12 wonderful people waiting, in a very dimly lit room, for us. I only taught half of the teaching before having tea and chapatti (which is part of the ritual when teaching in someone’s house) because of how tired everyone was. Then it was back in the van for a short trip home and a well deserved sleep.

Bwana Asi Fwi lala Salama (Praise the Lord and good night),… Your prayers carried us through another day! Much love; ...your sent ones

African Update # 9 2009

2009-11-22T23:06:00.000-08:00

The Call to Fight

I guess all of you that read Amma’s and Joel’s blog know about George’s jailhouse blues. It was quite an experience. That poor meter maid must have had a bad day or was looking for a little extra cash from George that day. The justice system herein Nakuru is just a tad different than back in the states. A meter maid can haul you to jail for asking the wrong question, and he was facing 2 days in jail for... we still don’t know what.

If George would have had to stay overnight, he would have slept on a concrete floor amid drunks and other “seedy” individuals. Although it was wonderful experience, for the young people and I, to grab hands, outside the police station, pray for George's release, then see George’s big smile coming out of the police station seconds later. I really wasn’t looking forward to doing Sunday morning without him. God is so good.

The incident served as a small example of what I wanted to teach at the Gathering, and can serve as a reminder to our folks back home, of a very consequential, neglected truth. We are at war. There are many days that don’t seem that way, but those days can be among the most dangerous. It is not hard for our Kenyan family to picture a warlike condition existing in their neighborhood, because of the post election violence that killed hundreds of people, here in Nakuru, only 2 years ago. I asked them how dangerous it would have been, during those days, for someone to walk out of their house for a stroll in the park, having forgotten the violence that was happening around them. They replied; they could have been killed. Yet isn’t that how some of us are presently walking around, sort of in a daze, not realizing the terrible unseen war going on around us? I know there are natural causes for maladies in our everyday lives; but I also am aware, that some incidents, happening everyday to us and the ones we love, are not so natural.

We are not the only ones in this war using spiritual weapons. Sicknesses, depressions, sudden outburst of anger, hopelessness, confusion and a host of other things, we think are just natural problems, can come from a very abnormal, dedicated enemy. When a brother, sister, or young person is struggling, do we just automatically think its normal? Do we always think the struggle our young people are having is just “part of growing up”? That is a good way to lose fellow soldiers and trainees. We had better wake up to the very real war that is raging around us.

Christ is our “Prince of Peace”, and at the same time, He is our Warrior King. Though He sits with God in the Heavens, at the very same time, He wars with us, here in the earth. If we are not presently being trained as warriors, we will suffer much unnecessary loss. Here is a short section of what I taught at the Gathering…

The Warrior King

Christ our Warrior King is fighting at this present moment, and to experience His true Eternal Life we must enter that fight.

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1Timothy 6:12

True Christianity is a good fight, and one that we need to enter. One in which all participants on the side of our God can feel and experience the Eternal Life He has given them. Perhaps the reason so many Christians are barely aware of the incredible, abundant Life from heaven, is they are not in the fight; so they never “lay hold of it”. The absence of the battle is the evidence of a false faith. Christ is fighting even now; so if we don’t experience the fight we will not experience His Life. There are many who claim to be filled with His Life, and never experience the fight. People, who will join a church, (or live in a Christian community)be baptized into that church, attend that church regularly, have a “Christian” marriage in that church, teach in that church, and when they die will have a Christian funeral in that church and never experience the terrible conflict of this war. That is not biblical Christianity. We are commanded to fight the good fight.

Amy Carmichael was a valiant warrior from Scotland, giving her whole life to the fight in southern India, for the souls of young girls. During that fight she penned a poem called; “Hath thou no scars”? The stanzas of the poem ask how anyone can fight a war without scars. How shall we call ourselves followers of our Warrior King who bears so many scars from His battles, and we ourselves “have no scars” ? Our King is a warrior King whose scars are the proof of His love for us…. Where is the “proof” of our love for Him or His children? Where are our scars?

                      The War and the Enemy

The place of this war is not heaven or hell. It is fought on the earth in the hearts and minds of every human. God our Father is not battling evil in heaven. There was a brief rebellion in Heaven, but it was stopped as soon as it started and all the opposing entities were thrown out of the dwelling place of God.

They, the powers and principalities of darkness, have brought that war to earth. Every human being is part of this war, whether they are conscious of it or not. Every person is a player.

                                   Who is the Enemy and Who is on the Lord’s side?
We are told that our enemy is not flesh and blood; that they are evil spirits waging war against us, attacking our bodies, minds and sometimes even out spirits. Do we really believe that?

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Our enemies are not each other, other Christians, nor even the evil governments of this world. All of our fighting with each other, arguing with other Christians, and entering into the conflicts of nations must give way to the real fight to which we have been called. Our real fight is with this present darkness itself and our mission is to destroy, on earth, the works of God’s enemies. The enemy can be found in 3 distinct places; in our selfish, sinful desires, in the worldly secular influences that are all around us, and especially in the one called; the Accuser of the brethren.

You cannot be neutral in this fight. If you choose to remain selfish in your thoughts and actions, you will become God’s enemy. If you choose not to be trained as a soldier of Christ or to continue in your friendship with this world and its pleasures, it will result in you being recruited by the other side, to fight against your own fellow soldiers.

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.”(Romans 8:6, 7)

“Where do battles and fights come from among you? Did not they come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world (to fulfill his pleasures or pursue worldly goals) makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4)

We are so grateful to be active soldiers, fighting with a real visible army of Saints, in this very ancient war, which our Warrior King will soon bring to a close. We are raising up new recruits each week. It seems as though there are new people coming each week to “sign up”. As we lift Him up, he is drawing men and women to Himself. Just He watched over us in Tennessee, God is showing His favor to the Lakeview Village Church, here in Nakuru, Kenya. He is letting people in Lakeview know that God is with His gathered people.

We met with the young people again and they are beginning to get excited. They are planning a Christmas celebration, complete a feast, skits and dancing. Pray for our Christmas celebration that it would inspire and bless all who come.

We want to bless all in the Village who have been faithful to pray and serve the Lord on our behalf. We are so encouraged how people have risen up and stood their ground. We also want to say how proud we are of the Memphis Gatehouse, for the wonderful reports of you "fighting the good fight". News of your zeal and exploits are giving us strength. Keep up the good fight. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving ....we have a lot to be thankful for.

We love you and miss you ….your fellow soldiers on the African front.