If anyone ever disparages volunteers to me, I will remember this one thing: Kasi brought me Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Thank you, Kasi!
We had a great week with our volunteers from Willowbrook Baptist. Every group from there has been exceptional and this one was no different. But it didn't start off so easy.
David was in Nairobi to get the volunteers. He'd been sick the weekend before and was still dealing with some stomach problems but was managing. He went to a store about a mile from our guesthouse to pick up a box of water for them. It was raining. Not just a little rain, but a torrential downpour complete with hail and lightning. The water was over the road. You couldn't see potholes or even the ditches on the side.
Returning to the guesthouse, David passed someone who was stuck. He stopped to help and as he pulled over the car slipped into the deep side ditch. It was now at a 45' angle and water filled the passenger side almost to the dashboard. He attached a chain from his winch to a tree across the street but was unable to pull himself out. David is now standing in the rain and hail beside his drowned car, watching as bicycles disappear into these "puddles" and then are fished out by their drenched riders, and he has an hour before he is supposed to go to the airport to pick up the volunteers.
If there's a monkey wrench, Satan will throw it....
With some help from other good Samaritans and missionaries, the truck was pulled out of the drink. The car was not an easy fix, though. The engine had sucked in liters of water and bent a couple of pistons. David was able to help the volunteers get to the guesthouse with their rental minivan and taxis.The volunteers came on to Tarime in the minivan, and David, Chloe and one volunteer stayed an extra day in Nairobi and then came down on the bus with most of the luggage.
God is good to work everything out, and the drama at the beginning was not a continuing theme for the week. We spent the first day with the group making introductions at immigration - it is something that takes a whole morning and seems pointless, but is very important - and at the church in Remagwe. The next day, with David here and the group intact, they got to work.
I will write more about their time with us in the next post, but, for now, this is the story of how David drowned the car.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Little Debbie and Other Thoughts
The other day I started craving Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. And Star Crunches. and Oatmeal Pies. Not one. The whole box - one of each - to myself. Just a little homesickness, I guess. Unable to get my hands on any of those, I broke into our chocolate chip stash and made a batch of cookies - I try to keep the chocolate chips for when Jon and Abby are home for their breaks.
David has been putting our home movies on DVD - some old ones and some from this last Stateside. He and the kids love to watch those, but they make me too nostalgic. Every Stateside we go on a family skiing trip with David's parents and sister and her husband. It is so much fun. David's dad turns 75 this year and still goes skiing every year. If I ever feel like we are sacrificing by being out here, it is that we miss that opportunity every year.
However, one verse that has meant a lot to me through the years - in reference to being on the field and also to just everyday life - is Psalm 16:5-9
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant place; surely I have a delightful inheritance....
That is just a little of home life for you.
On a completely different note, I so don't understand God. I am really ok with that because I fully understand that I have a finite mind that could never comprehend the mind of God. I don't need to understand God, His every intention and plan. I think that simplifies things for me and I often feel sorry for those who need to understand every little intricacy. I am mostly okay with my lack of intelligence. And one of my favorite quotes is by Brennan Manning: An understood God is no God at all.
However, I have returned to Genesis in my daily Bible reading and just stay baffled. If you think that sex is a new issue of sin in the world or that it is at an all time high, you don't know much about human nature. Every time we read the Bible God points out a different facet of His word. And every time He does that I think, "Where was I the last time I read this?" This time what I see is that there is a lot of sex in the Bible, especially in the early generations. And I don't understand what was accepted as normal. I question, "Was that okay then or was it sin? Were the sad events that followed a direct result of that sin or simply part of God's plan?" God does not choose to explain a lot of these issues.
I have not yet discerned if God is trying to teach me something with these observations or simply opening up a new aspect of the Bible. I do know that because we have shaped our view of God through the lens of the new covenant of Christ we often have a difficult time understand the Old Testament. Sometimes I just have to accept that limitation and move on.
This entry has had little to nothing to do with our missionary life or ministry and simply is waxing eloquent (eloquent may be an overstatement but I love that phrase for when I get a little long winded). Welcome to my inner world. But I want to encourage you to be okay with not understanding. The need to make sense of everything can be a major stumbling block in the Christian walk. We want to understand why God allows us to struggle financially, to give us a child with physical or mental struggles, to allow a good person to die, to only bring salvation through those who are willing to speak up. We can stumble over the strange events in the Bible and why God doesn't explain His intentions.
This is my take: God is God. Who am I to question Him? I am not the greatest, the smartest, the one most capable of judging fairness. I do not decide what I need or what my purpose is in life. I have to trust that to my Holy Father who is the Only God.
So try to let go of understanding every little thing without letting go of caring. It is a fine line. Care a lot. And let God be God - that phrase will never become trite. Neither will this one: There is only one God and I am not Him.
Blessings.
David has been putting our home movies on DVD - some old ones and some from this last Stateside. He and the kids love to watch those, but they make me too nostalgic. Every Stateside we go on a family skiing trip with David's parents and sister and her husband. It is so much fun. David's dad turns 75 this year and still goes skiing every year. If I ever feel like we are sacrificing by being out here, it is that we miss that opportunity every year.
However, one verse that has meant a lot to me through the years - in reference to being on the field and also to just everyday life - is Psalm 16:5-9
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant place; surely I have a delightful inheritance....
That is just a little of home life for you.
On a completely different note, I so don't understand God. I am really ok with that because I fully understand that I have a finite mind that could never comprehend the mind of God. I don't need to understand God, His every intention and plan. I think that simplifies things for me and I often feel sorry for those who need to understand every little intricacy. I am mostly okay with my lack of intelligence. And one of my favorite quotes is by Brennan Manning: An understood God is no God at all.
However, I have returned to Genesis in my daily Bible reading and just stay baffled. If you think that sex is a new issue of sin in the world or that it is at an all time high, you don't know much about human nature. Every time we read the Bible God points out a different facet of His word. And every time He does that I think, "Where was I the last time I read this?" This time what I see is that there is a lot of sex in the Bible, especially in the early generations. And I don't understand what was accepted as normal. I question, "Was that okay then or was it sin? Were the sad events that followed a direct result of that sin or simply part of God's plan?" God does not choose to explain a lot of these issues.
I have not yet discerned if God is trying to teach me something with these observations or simply opening up a new aspect of the Bible. I do know that because we have shaped our view of God through the lens of the new covenant of Christ we often have a difficult time understand the Old Testament. Sometimes I just have to accept that limitation and move on.
This entry has had little to nothing to do with our missionary life or ministry and simply is waxing eloquent (eloquent may be an overstatement but I love that phrase for when I get a little long winded). Welcome to my inner world. But I want to encourage you to be okay with not understanding. The need to make sense of everything can be a major stumbling block in the Christian walk. We want to understand why God allows us to struggle financially, to give us a child with physical or mental struggles, to allow a good person to die, to only bring salvation through those who are willing to speak up. We can stumble over the strange events in the Bible and why God doesn't explain His intentions.
This is my take: God is God. Who am I to question Him? I am not the greatest, the smartest, the one most capable of judging fairness. I do not decide what I need or what my purpose is in life. I have to trust that to my Holy Father who is the Only God.
So try to let go of understanding every little thing without letting go of caring. It is a fine line. Care a lot. And let God be God - that phrase will never become trite. Neither will this one: There is only one God and I am not Him.
Blessings.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Daily Life
Hello, dear friends.
I think that sometimes what I say can seem overly dramatic. Part of the reason is that I try to share what I think is interesting, different, or unusual about our lives. Another part is that I share the prayer needs, and they tend to be a little more on the edge than our moment to moment living.
Actually, we are quite boring. Seasons of life determine our days. The last several weeks have been the season of unpacking (finally!!!! after 3 years!!!) the boxes in our house onto the shelves and dressers that came in our crate. A lot of time at home.
A lot of our time since being back has been spent in construction. Putting in the rain catchment system (Praise the wonderful name of Jesus!) took months. This is Africa. It required that David stay around the house so that he could go out several times a day to check progress and make sure that the decisions made were good ones.
Right now, David is dealing with trying to get our on-demand gas hot water heaters to work. They came in the crate and we are thrilled to have them but now we have to work out the kinks because nothing, yet nothing, can work easily the first time. That is a prayer request. It would be horribly disappointing to have finally gotten these heaters and not be able to make them work.
I will admit that homeschool has suffered lately. I feel guilty, but try not to. Chloe is very young for her grade and we have decided to repeat 6th grade next year, so we have some wiggle room. I keep her doing bits and pieces, but have focused on other things since her schooling is not so urgent.
These sound like little things, but nothing is simple here. Everything takes a great deal of time and energy. There is little multitasking in Africa. It means that we have not focused as much on ministry. This is not something we like. David is often, in fact, brought down spiritually and emotionally when he is tied to the house. So, I could ask for prayer there, too, that we quickly come to a place where we are released from our house. David likes to say that the more stuff you have the more it drains your time and energy. And yet, a lot of this is necessary to our home being a relaxing place to re-energize.
I am not complaining. Really. I just want to give a window into our daily lives. It is what it is. And, frankly, it is not that exciting. We often go to bed before 9pm. How's that for being party animals?
We look forward to the day - prayerfully soon - when our time will be focused on ministry. We are doing ministry now, but not in the way we would like. I sometimes ask myself why we bother to do so much to our house when we already live in luxurious circumstances compared to our Christian brothers and sisters. Would it not be better to be content?
I come to the answer that we have repeated to ourselves many times: we are in it for the long haul. We need to do what is necessary to keep us here. If spending time on this now helps us to stay the course for many years to come, it is what we should do. There are others who would be more content to do without a hot shower. We have dear friends, in fact, who lived that way for years and saw it as only a minor inconvenience. Perhaps we are spoiled.
But we are all different. I, for instance, need color. I paint my walls - the living room is blue, the kitchen red... It rejuvenates me, whereas staring at extra glossy cream walls (that is the norm here) drains the life out of me. I need books and sewing and crafty things. I need to be silly and fun and different.
Am I getting too far off the ministry subject for this blog? Not sure, but welcome to my world. These are the things we think about as we live here. How best to balance our time. What our priorities should be. How to make it for the long haul.
These are matters for prayer as you think of us. Some missionaries think that prayer letters and requests should only be for ministry. I think that we need prayer as much or more than our ministry. We can be the weak link in the chain, and we fight against that. We are humans with feet of clay and we patch up the cracks daily.
But don't think that there is not joy. Our house is full of laughter. We make fun of ourselves and life as much as we can. I can't imagine taking myself or life too seriously. I am much too much of a fool to be given such importance. I hope that the people who see us on a daily basis think of us as people of laughter. That would be a very high compliment. Unfortunately, you tend to see my serious side!
We love you and we thank God for your interest in our lives. And most especially for your prayers.
Blessings.
By the way, if you look to the right side of the page you can now sign up to be emailed when the blog is updated.
I think that sometimes what I say can seem overly dramatic. Part of the reason is that I try to share what I think is interesting, different, or unusual about our lives. Another part is that I share the prayer needs, and they tend to be a little more on the edge than our moment to moment living.
Actually, we are quite boring. Seasons of life determine our days. The last several weeks have been the season of unpacking (finally!!!! after 3 years!!!) the boxes in our house onto the shelves and dressers that came in our crate. A lot of time at home.
A lot of our time since being back has been spent in construction. Putting in the rain catchment system (Praise the wonderful name of Jesus!) took months. This is Africa. It required that David stay around the house so that he could go out several times a day to check progress and make sure that the decisions made were good ones.
Right now, David is dealing with trying to get our on-demand gas hot water heaters to work. They came in the crate and we are thrilled to have them but now we have to work out the kinks because nothing, yet nothing, can work easily the first time. That is a prayer request. It would be horribly disappointing to have finally gotten these heaters and not be able to make them work.
I will admit that homeschool has suffered lately. I feel guilty, but try not to. Chloe is very young for her grade and we have decided to repeat 6th grade next year, so we have some wiggle room. I keep her doing bits and pieces, but have focused on other things since her schooling is not so urgent.
These sound like little things, but nothing is simple here. Everything takes a great deal of time and energy. There is little multitasking in Africa. It means that we have not focused as much on ministry. This is not something we like. David is often, in fact, brought down spiritually and emotionally when he is tied to the house. So, I could ask for prayer there, too, that we quickly come to a place where we are released from our house. David likes to say that the more stuff you have the more it drains your time and energy. And yet, a lot of this is necessary to our home being a relaxing place to re-energize.
I am not complaining. Really. I just want to give a window into our daily lives. It is what it is. And, frankly, it is not that exciting. We often go to bed before 9pm. How's that for being party animals?
We look forward to the day - prayerfully soon - when our time will be focused on ministry. We are doing ministry now, but not in the way we would like. I sometimes ask myself why we bother to do so much to our house when we already live in luxurious circumstances compared to our Christian brothers and sisters. Would it not be better to be content?
I come to the answer that we have repeated to ourselves many times: we are in it for the long haul. We need to do what is necessary to keep us here. If spending time on this now helps us to stay the course for many years to come, it is what we should do. There are others who would be more content to do without a hot shower. We have dear friends, in fact, who lived that way for years and saw it as only a minor inconvenience. Perhaps we are spoiled.
But we are all different. I, for instance, need color. I paint my walls - the living room is blue, the kitchen red... It rejuvenates me, whereas staring at extra glossy cream walls (that is the norm here) drains the life out of me. I need books and sewing and crafty things. I need to be silly and fun and different.
Am I getting too far off the ministry subject for this blog? Not sure, but welcome to my world. These are the things we think about as we live here. How best to balance our time. What our priorities should be. How to make it for the long haul.
These are matters for prayer as you think of us. Some missionaries think that prayer letters and requests should only be for ministry. I think that we need prayer as much or more than our ministry. We can be the weak link in the chain, and we fight against that. We are humans with feet of clay and we patch up the cracks daily.
But don't think that there is not joy. Our house is full of laughter. We make fun of ourselves and life as much as we can. I can't imagine taking myself or life too seriously. I am much too much of a fool to be given such importance. I hope that the people who see us on a daily basis think of us as people of laughter. That would be a very high compliment. Unfortunately, you tend to see my serious side!
We love you and we thank God for your interest in our lives. And most especially for your prayers.
Blessings.
By the way, if you look to the right side of the page you can now sign up to be emailed when the blog is updated.
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