Remembering Mom

Merry Christmas to all our friends and enemies!  It's Christmas 2012, and I'm thinking about Jesus, and remembering the last Christmas I spent with my mother.  We were visiting the family in Oklahoma, while we lived in Redwood City, CA, and I was taking Mom back and forth to Wichita Falls for cancer treatments in 1978.  Our next visit was in early 1979 when she lay dying.  That was 33 years ago, and I was thinking about Jesus living about 33 years.  And here I have been granted 69+, a great gift of life.  

Here is a picture of the "Ross women," which includes my Mom with her hands on me.  Wow! I got guns for Christmas - those are the last ones I owned, so gun control doesn't have much to do with me.  Also pictured are her mother and grandmother - that was the last time I saw my great grandmother. 

You never forget having been loved by a mother.  That is one of the reasons street ministry means so much to us.  We have been loved by mothers, and so many kids miss that.  

Small Drama at Our House

So much for us all to pray for -- elementary schools, high schools, street children, war zones, patriotic soldiers, troubled marriages -- but still...add me to your list if you like.  A new experience for me yesterday -- I woke up as usual at 6:30, shot myself up with insulin, went over and helped the grandkids make breakfast.  While they were eating, I was standing next to the kitchen counter.  The next thing I knew I was sitting in a chair and paramedics surrounded me.  I could answer all their questions - what day is it?  what is your name?  who is the president of Guinea? (no, they didn't ask that!) what were you just doing?  They had me rigged up with sensors.

I didn't know what had happened.  The kids tell me they found me on my hands and knees, they ran to get Shosho (that's Darlene - grandma - in Kikuyu) and Mom and a phone to call 911 (Darlene says the kids were just great -- they knew exactly what to do!) and a chair for me.  My hands were trembling, my body was stiff, my face was pale, I was unresponsive, and I was trying to tie my shoelace!!  They thought I had a stroke.  One of the kids came over to me and kissed me, and they say I said, "I love you."  I'm glad I can still say the right thing even when I don't know I am.

I told the EMT guys that I thought it was likely low blood sugar.  So they tested me and got 30!  Then they said they couldn't understand how I could be sitting up talking to them with a 30.  Darlene got juice and bread with peanut butter and jelly - the only problem is she didn't take time to toast the bread! I recovered quickly and refused to go to the hospital; I had to sign that I was refusing them.  By the time they left the blood sugar was 90.

So I'm fine.  The only scary part is that this could happen without any warning.  I never even felt the blood sugar lowering.  So now I have to check my blood sugar before taking the insulin - or eat something at the same time I shoot up.  And I am shifting to the evening for the shot.  So..if I am ever eating dinner with you, please ask me if I have remembered my insulin.  Other than that, the doctor says to keep up everything the same, but to eat several meals a day -- sounds good -- little meals, she says (Oh! Okay!).

Losing Mentors

Our personal TIMELINES see transitions that affect us deeply.  I am getting close to 70 years old, so now I experience the loss of mentors.  Most of us have several mentors in life -- leadership mentors, intellectual mentors, relationship  mentors - many other kinds.

I have had several intellectual/spiritual mentors, beginning with my grandmother (Zula Thrississis Wills Coulston - how's that for a name?), a high school English teacher, a University of Oklahoma German teacher, and Dr. Abraham Malherbe, who taught at Abilene Christian University 1963-69 (I really shouldn't leave out how much Tony Ash, Everett Ferguson and Tom Olbricht and others meant to me as well!!).  By God's grace I was there from 1963 to 1968 - how's that for timing?

I took every course that Dr. Malherbe taught, and I may have learned more from him than from anyone but grandmother.  And my reason for mentioning him today is that I just today learned that he died back in September.  I remember how I felt in 1963 when I found out that C. S. Lewis had died.  I felt that same sense of loss starting deep in my body and coming up to my heart, finally making me feel light-headed.  At the same time I felt a great sense of peace and joy.  So much in my life benefited from the teaching of Dr. Malherbe.  Those exegesis courses that we all feared and loved were so great.  In the same semester in 1963 I had New Testament survey under Malherbe, Old Testament survey under Ferguson, Life of Jesus under Tony and Introductory Greek under J. W. Roberts.  The most intellectually stimulating and spiritually moving period of my life, with the exception of that first year doing street ministry in Nairobi.

In Christ we honor only the living, so I honor Dr. Malherbe, and I long for the day when I might listen to him again.  I think I still have things to learn.

Have a stimulating day,

charles

Wednesday's Good

It's great to be alive on Wednesday!  Chapel at 9 AM -- on Wednesday the MITS students do their own chapel while I have a session of encouragement and advice with the Team.  I talked to them about our December schedule with the property - we're getting the new computer rooms ready, and we are re-finishing the Learning Center courtyard, so we all have to stay out of the Learning Center for 9 days.  I also presented a proposal for MITS Policy on how we deal with parental (or other relatives of our kids) requests.  We have to be very careful about having anyone take a student off our property without one of our Team.  Too many bad things can and do happen.  We had an incident recently where a mother, even in the presence of one of our Team, started beating on her daughter, as sweet a girl as you could want in your family!  So we apologized to the girl today and started writing new policies.

 Today after chapel, Darlene and I spent an hour and a half with all the students - we have 81 now - while the Team met with the Pepperdine graduate students in social entrepreneurship who are visiting.  We made ornaments, had 3 of our "wild at heart" boys set up a Christmas tree, had 3 or our "captivating" girls put the bling on, then had all the students put on their ornaments.

Here are two of the guys putting theirs on the tree.  Afterwards we sang holiday songs, some in Swahili.  We have one to the tune of "Deck the Halls" and "Joy to the World" has been translated into Swahili (Furaha kwa Ulimwengu).

We also said goodbye to Shaley Craycraft and Kristin Pizalate, Aggies for Christ interns who have been with us for several months.  They did video of various kids saying goodbye and greeting their families and AFC.

The kids then sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to the interns.

I Preached Today

For 21 years in Redwood City, California, I preached almost every Sunday and Sunday evening.  I think I preached 1,995 sermons.  I thoroughly enjoyed preaching - sermon preparation was an opportunity to be creative, to burn with the need to communicate something of great importance to people's lives, to draw people to Jesus, to teach grace.

For the past 20 years in Nairobi I have preached very little - a few sermons at the congregation in Eastleigh while I was Director of the computer and electronics college, a few sermons at various churches we visited among the villages in Kenya, a few sermons in Nairobi congregations.  I found myself wanting the young men I know and love to have opportunity to preach, opportunity to grow and be creative and teach grace.

For the past 9 years at Kamulu Francis Mbuvi has been the preacher.  We work together - each week I prepare notes on the passage we use and share them with him, then I teach the Sunday morning class on the same passage.

This week Francis said that since today was to be our last Sunday for a while, as we will go back to a Texas Christmas, he wanted me to preach.  So of course I said "Yes!"

This year we have taught and preached through the book of Acts, a chapter a Sunday.  Now we are following that up with studies of Paul's companions.  We covered Timothy and Titus, and today's person is Epaphras.  I thoroughly enjoyed both teaching and preaching about him.  I reminded them that there is no one in Kamulu named Epaphras, and I asked if anyone had ever known a person with that name.  Maybe there is no one in the world today named Epaphras, not that I would know all however many billion we are now.   I looked at all the passages about Epaphras (Philemon 23-24, Colossians 1:5-10 and Colossians 4:12-14) and found many good lessons for us.

• Philemon 23 tells us that Epaphras was in prison with Paul and he sent greetings to his home church.  But he did not send the message "Get me out of here" or "Get me a good lawyer"  or "Get some money and buy my way out of here."  He just sent greetings -- a man who accepted life as God gave it to him, who was willing to sit in prison with Paul for the sake of Christ.  
• Colossians 1:5-10 tells us that it was Epaphras who taught grace to the Colossians.  I asked everyone to "turn to a neighbor and tell him/her who taught you grace."  That was a good reminder to us to give thanks to God.  
• Colossians 1:5-10 is also Paul's prayer for the Colossians.  I asked them if they would like to have a better prayer life.  And I said, "If so, then read Colossians."  There is more about prayer in Colossians than almost any other Biblical writing.  Paul prays for them, then he prays again in chapter 1.  He tells them to give thanks to God.  He tells them to sing thanksgiving to God.  He reminds them again to always be thankful. 
• In Paul's prayer he reminds them that their trust in God and their love of God's people has come about through the hope they experienced in hearing the Good News.  And this hope means there is something kept safe in heaven for them.  I told them I would now meddle in their affairs.  Because every parent, and every person who plans to become a parent, has a responsibility in Christ to KEEP SOMETHING SAFE for others.  Paul writes that it is not children who save up for their parents, but parents who save up for their children.  So I warned them - if you want to be in Christ and please Christ, then plan to save up for your children, so they have something when they leave home.  I told them, "I know we are in Kenya."  And in Kenya there is the belief that if I have given birth, if I have raised children, if I have given a home to them, THEN, when they get a job, I can retire (I got a laugh out of that).  But if we ground out lives in the Word, then every week after a child is born, we put a little bit aside for them, just as Paul encouraged believers to put a little aside every Sunday for famine relief.  
• Then in Colossians 4:12-14 Paul tells us about Epaphras' prayer.  He prays for them, and the word used of his prayers is "like a wrestler" - Epaphras agonizes, he puts all his strength and energy into prayer, he sweats for them in his spirit.  I said "You may know about those Sumo wrestlers in Japan with the big bellies, bigger than traffic policeman (I got a really big laugh out of that one) - they rush at one another with great energy to push the other one out.  Why?  Because they want to win. And Epaphras wanted to win, with all his being. And he wanted the Colossians to win.  
• What does he pray for?  That they might "stand firm" (Joel led that Swahili song during worship).  That they might be absolutely, totally, fully assured in Christ (I mentioned that this is a very long word in Greek -- 16 letters - and it means he wanted them to know "bila shaka" (without doubt) that Christ is real and Lord and worth dying for and all they would ever need for life itself.  Then he prays that they will be completely obedient to God (I used the Good News translation -- amazing how different many of the translations are on this verse, as each tries to communicate the exact meaning of the passage).  

I closed the sermon with "Let Epaphras teach you how to pray...Let Epaphras teach you how to spread grace around...Let Epaphras teach you how to love."

The young man (Alex Atema) who shared at the time of the giving (Swahili: sadaka) wanted to talk about how life is always a "Good Day". He was speaking Swahili but said "Good Day".  The other young man translating into English (Edward Muhea) put the rest in English but said "siku nzuri" just as smooth as you please.  Alex talked about trying to get a bus to come to Kamulu after a week's schooling at Nairobi Great Commission School. There has been a strike by "matatu" (small bus) drivers and only a few were operating (at risk). He started to step on and they said, "150 shillings" (he had 70 with him for the trip), so he stepped back off and returned to school. But he said it was still "siku nzuri" because that is what God always gives us.  And we should count every day GOOD because we have that day.

A thoroughly wonderful day at Kamulu!  It rained during class and still there were 23.  And the building was almost full for the assembly.  And Joel led "O Little Town of Bethlehem."  He says he is getting us ready for a wonderful end of the year.

peace and joy, charles