Train Up Your Kids

Every parent who is thoughtful and caring wants to train the kids.  Politeness...taking care of themselves...watching out for danger...using their words...how to read...how to work...how to express feelings...  We have all manner of things we want to train the kids to do and say and feel and be.

And it varies from place to place.  What some parents in Kenya must train their kids to do is different from the American situation.

Many Kenya parents must teach their kids WHAT TO DO WHEN THE ELEPHANT COMES and WHAT TO DO WHEN THE LION COMES.  Because you do different things for elephants and lions. Nairobi city parents don't worry about that, but up in Nanyuki area!  And around Narok and other places!  The elephant wants to eat the corn, and the lion might want to eat the goats.  So what does a ten-year-old kid do?  There is a plan, and some of our kids at Made in the Streets have had to deal with these circumstances.

Not to mention the elephants ("the masters") and the lions (predators) out on the streets where some spent 3 or 5 or 7 years as little kids before coming to MITS.

So...now and then please say a prayer for kids whose lives are far different from those kids you have raised.

A NEW JOY

  How good it is to go with God!  He brings joys every morning and peace every night.  And I have a new joy in my life.

  It is not easy to stay in touch with our students after they leave Kamulu and seek their own way in Nairobi, and it used to be really difficult.  But now we have Facebook, and our former students make good use of it.  There are several joys connected to this.

  And they do not tell us when they put the cat out, or how many cups of coffee they had today.  Instead, they write about LIFE, the good and the bad.  They pour out their troubles and they state their faith.

  For example, today one of our former students wrote that she doesn't understand herself. She wants to do the right thing, but she does the bad instead.  She feels terrible.  She asks, "has anyone else ever felt like that?"  And another former student responded, "It's all there in Romans 7:14-20.  Read that idea!"  So I responded that I was glad our students stay in touch with one another, and one of them wrote back, "That's our mentor Charles."

  That's my new joy!  That Caylah and Rehab and Shiko and Dennis and others tell us what they think and feel and believe.  And we pray for one another, and our lives are enriched.