WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR HEAVEN?

Here at Made in the Streets in Nairobi we have had everyone painting Christmas stockings - all the students at Kamulu, the single moms at Eastleigh, the Team members, the other staff of MITS, the little kids in our family -- we have 89 stockings hanging up in the courtyard of the Learning Center and a few more to finish. I told them that Father Christmas only puts stuff in the stockings he finds. Darlene had fabric paint, so they have all been creative.

We watched the movie Polar Express, and we then gave the DVD to the girls. The boys have seen it. The big question is, What do you want for Christmas? Somebody asked me, and I didn't have an immediate answer, but I've been thinking about it. All I can think of that I really really want is a quiet, or noisy, afternoon with my granddaughters. I think that's "dayenu" as we say at Passover time about each of God's gracious gifts that are "plenty."

Then I started thinking about the gift of heaven and what other gifts go with it. And I was sitting in church at Kamulu on Friend Sunday yesterday (we had 186 before the kids went out for Sunday school, and I had 34 in my adult class - quite a few visitors at church), and two of our street girls sang a song for the church, and Titus led one of his wonderful prayers, and I looked around at all these kids, some in literacy, some in skills training, some in internships, some having jobs and with us on Sunday. And we set up all our tables and had chapati and bread and Blue Band and jelly and cookies and tea and coffee and juice and cake (did I mention it was Jeremy Mbuvi's first birthday yesterday and Laurent and Eliza's anniversary?), and everyone sat around

and talked and ate and the kids had so much fun.

And I thought -- this is what I want for heaven. This is the gift of heaven I want -- to be with these people eternally, along with some of my family and some old friends -- and Jesus, of course. I think that will do it for me.