Communication!!

You think you're a great communicator -- well, not really, because I had rather just stay in the background.  But I did learn the local language, and most people here speak mine.  And I went to school...forever...so I should be able.  But...

I have reached the point where my doctor said, "Charles, your pancreas has retired.  It is finished. So...it's time for insulin."  I looked at him doubtfully, and his P.A. said, "You'll have so much more energy" (very energetically).  I looked at her doubtfully, so she said it again.  He claimed it's not as bad as it used to be, and said he would give me some samples to get started. He sweetened the pot by offering me a little gizmo that attaches to an iPhone and it reads your blood sugar and records all the tests on the iPhone, and the iPhone dances when the blood sugar is below 100.  Well...who can resist technology?  So I took it all home.

So now I shoot myself once a day, in the stomach.  And he's right.  It isn't as bad as I expected it to be.  I just put an alcohol swab on my skin, stick a needle on the pen, crank it up and stick it in and push.  Hardly hurts.

But I came to Kenya without my alcohol swabs.  So I decided to look for some in Nairobi.  I went to Quickmart because it is close to home.   I went up to a counter where they sell a variety of products, near the cosmetics and medicines.  I asked the young lady, "Do you have alcohol swabs?"  She didn't know, obviously, because she looked at me without comprehension. So I tried to describe it.  Wouldn't you know they are called "alcohol pads" here, but I only found that out later.  When I repeated myself, she heard the word "alcohol," so she pointed to the other side of the store.  I walked over to the other side, and as I drew nearer I felt sure there was some mistake.  But I went up to the counter, and I could see bottles of beer, whiskey and other clear liquids.  I told this young lady, "I have probably been sent to the wrong place, but do you have any medicinal alcohol."  She also looked at me without comprehension, so I once again tried to explain and describe.  She finally heard the word "medicine," and she said, "No, we have nothing like that here."

So...I decided to go and look at an area of the store where they have things called "spirits," which is different from the one with all the bottles you drink.  I found white spirits, and methylated spirits, and then I spied a little bottle with clear liquid and written on it was "surgical spirits."  Hah...victory!

Communication isn't always easy when you are in another culture, but it is always fun!!

Mortals Making a Difference

"Death is swallowed up by life," Paul writes in the New Testament.  But before that, life is swallowed up by death.  We face our mortality, our quick venture into the world, like grass that fades in the hot sun.  It is what Paul writes that makes the follower of Christ face mortality unafraid, for Christ is risen, and he is the first one of many who will follow.

Still, I hit 69 years a few weeks ago.  Jesus was killed at about 33, my Mom took her last breath at 57, and many of my friends have been swallowed up.  So it creates a certain amount of anxiety.  That anxiety is really the strong desire to make my life count, to do something in Jesus' name that is wonderful and good and lasting and approved by the Father.

This week Darlene had her birthday, number --- well, she was really young when we got married.  And it made me think all over again about the course of my life.  I tried to think back on times where I might have some bragging rights, but I can't find any.  The really good things that were done were all initiated, empowered and completed by God.  I was a willing participant, but no credit can be issued to me. Still, if we get something done that God wants done, it makes life worth living.

I read now and then about people who are making a difference, and their stories inspire me.  There is the man in China who lives near the big bridge over the Yangtze River.  Over the years many Chinese have committed suicide from that bridge.  This man rides his motorbike over the bridge in his time off from work and talks people out of jumping - he says he has kept 235 from jumping so far.  That is a "front-line" task.

We have a greater goal - to keep people from going to their deaths by way of drunkenness or drug use, or theft or lying or greed or sexual impurity or jealousness - to get people to turn to Christ and follow him, obedient to his will.

Paul Ochieng is a friend who lives in Mombasa.  He has moved into the Soweto slums there, in a heavily Muslim population, and wants to love and lead them to Jesus.  He understands how to do it and follows the guidelines of the Church Planting Movement or Disciple Making Movement.  Last month he was in Juba, South Sudan, together with Peter Ladu, teaching and encouraging people there, and they had a very successful series of meetings.  Enough people making a difference like this can change the world.  He preaches for a very small church as well, and he is in need of support.

The Team of MITS is also on the front line.  There is a certain amount of risk in working on the streets where there are so many young people sleeping in the alleyways and up against walls and wherever they can find a place there they are not run away.  There is drug use and anger with violence.  And the Team keeps going, making a difference.  I am glad to have a small part in their ministry.  We often say that we hope to gain heaven by hanging on the coattails of street kids, for God loves them.

I know he loves me too.  And that is the real reason I want to make a difference.  I want to love others as he has loved me.  I'd love for people to think that would be a fitting line for my tombstone, which brings us back to mortality.  Let's remember to bow the knee and confess that the risen Lord is our Lord.

The picture is of a large group of street youth gathered at our Eastleigh Center, where they are loved by the Team.  Making a difference.