Hear My Cry

Last night was a great experience with grandchildren. It was the grandparents' job to close out the day - trampoline jumping, swimming, a shower, dinner, finishing reading "The Last Battle" by C. S. Lewis with them, a snack, brush teeth, jump into bed. Time for a story - so I told them a story about their mother when she was a little girl even younger than they are.

And this is my story: "She was young, and she loved her grandparents - you know, Granny and Grandpa. We were in California and they were in Oklahoma, and that's a long way. We had friends who were going to Wichita, Kansas, in an airplane, so we let her fly with them. That was her first time in an airplane. And Granny and Grandpa drove from Oklahoma to Kansas and met her when she got off the plane. They drove back to Oklahoma, and I bet they stopped for ice cream along the way. They had a good time - did you know your Mom loved to catch grasshoppers? She caught a big jarful with her great grandfather on that trip; he's my daddy's daddy. (One of the kids said, "She wouldn't do that now.") But in those days she loved grasshoppers and frogs and all things that moved.

When the visit was over, Granny and Grandpa took her to Oklahoma City to catch a plane and return home. She was to fly alone - well, not all alone - the flight attendants take good care of kids who fly. When they got to the airport, and the luggage was on the plane, and the people were getting on, a man called the airport and said there was a bomb on the plane. So they hurriedly got everyone off and took off all the luggage. They did a careful search of everything.

Your Mom called me from the airport and told me she was scared. I was really glad that I know something of the Bible -- you will want to learn all you can of the Bible, and where everything is, so you can use it for good. I asked her to get her Bible out of her carry-on -- she always carried her Bible places with her - and open it to Psalm 61. Then I read the words of the first few verses and sang the song that goes with it: 'Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the ends of the earth I cry unto you. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, that is higher than I."

I told her to keep those words in her mind and to pray - to ask God to be with her and help her heart to be encouraged. And she did. And she came home. So please keep these words in your mind when you have trouble."

One of the kids said, "Did they find the bomb?" "No," I said, "there wasn't one. They searched every place, then allowed the plane to fly. But it was still scary, and a real adventure. Sometimes there is no real problem when we think there is, but either way, we put our trust in God."

The grandparents then sang the song several times to the grandchildren as they went to sleep. Softly they met the night. We looked down at them for a few minutes, asking that they be spared the troubles of the world, but asking even more that they be given strength and courage and undying hope in God's great love.

Daughter of my Daughter

August 2011 has been a highlight month for me. August 1964 was the month that Darlene and I gave our lives to one another. August 1995 was the month that street ministry in Nairobi became a passion in my life.

A few months back, one of my granddaughters asked me to study the Bible with her. So in August I studied a number of passages of the Bible with all the grandchildren. Our studies were Discovery Bible Studies. That means we studied as a group, that I wanted them to draw their own conclusions from the Bible, and that we focused on "what it says," "what it means," and "so what?"

The passages were all from 5 to 10 verses - some on who Christ is, some on faith and some on baptism. I gave each of them a notebook, a ruler and a pencil. We wrote the Bible reference at the top of the page, then we made 3 columns on the sheet. On the left hand side, we wrote out part of the passage, whatever they together said was the most important part of the passage. Then we talked about what the passage means - sometimes we talked about the meaning verse by verse, sometimes the passage as a whole. Then we wrote down what we concluded about what it means. In the 3rd column we wrote "so what?" and I had them talk about what we could do to obey the passage. We wrote those things down. We did 12 studies together.

I had to be patient and work slowly with them, since they are young. One of them did not know how to spell the words, so writing it out was laborious. But it was worth the time and effort.

Last week one of the girls said, "I'm ready. I want to be baptized Sunday. I have to do it."

Saturday night we had dinner together at our house. We brought out the pottery from our wedding shower and cooked steak and chicken and taquitos. We had wild rice and green beans. And ice cream for dessert. And we gave the girl planning to be baptized a little book called "God Thinks You're Wonderful" She loved it. First she read what we wrote in the front, smiled and said thank you. Then she read some pages to us, delighted with what it said to her. Then her mother gave her a journal and encouraged her to keep a spiritual journey book. She treasured that too.

She wrote out what she wanted to say to the church at the baptism on Sunday, but when the time came, she said, "Just ask me questions." So I asked her, "Do you believe Jesus is God's Son?" and "Do you believe that Jesus died for us?"and "Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead?" and "Do you say that Jesus is Lord?" To all these she said "yes."

Then I told the church about the studies we had done. I said that I have baptized many people, and this one has the same joy as all the rest. Well, maybe a little more joy.

And I reminded her that her grandmother was baptized at 8 years old, that her mother was baptized at 9, and that she has models of women who stay with Jesus all their lives, so she can do it too. Then I said, "By the mercies of God, you will now receive the baptismal wash in the name of God your Father, in the name of Jesus your Lord, and in the name of the Spirit who guides you. And all your life you will live in the promise of forgiveness and having the Holy Spirit with you. Amen."

And helping her under the water was a most weighty thrill, a joy without parallel. I have felt warm all day, and it has nothing to do with Texas at 105 degrees. And she has been smiling all day.

Happy Easter

We have been "on tour" with two Kenyan Team members at Made in the Streets. We have taken a break for Easter weekend. We had our "family Christian seder" Thursday evening with 28 people over! On Easter morning we were singing in church, and our grandchildren were singing the hymns -- lovely sounds to a grandfather. Then came time for the offering. One grandchild had a 2-dollar bill in hand, and it was not one handed over by the Mom. Then a small hand reached into the child's own wallet and pulled out another 2-dollar bill and put both in the plate as it came by. Then a smile for the Grandad.

I love everything in my life. I love seeing children do good things out of the heart. I love helping street kids get off the streets and into our family. I love being married. I love all the advances of modern technology and knowledge of the world. I love the ever-present Spirit.

Pure Agape

Speaking of communication, there is nothing like the close and small, especially with the small ones in my life.  Before we left the USA to return to Nairobi, we had a couple of days with the granddaughters.  And they took us to the airport, but we stopped off at Starbucks before checking in.  The girls had hot chocolate, we gave them a Polly Pocket Cowboy and Corral present, and they sat and played while we talked to the daughter and the son-by-marriage.  Now and then one of them would come over for a hug and a little talk.  And we did the "kissing hand" and the "I love you to the moon and back" -- or to Pluto, or outside the universe, or whatever exceeds the last thing we said.  

The youngest one told Darlene that she would think of her Shosho whenever she sees the color gray, a reference to our current hair color.  One of the girls told me she would look at the stars and think of me.

Since we left the youngest one has decided that her birthday party should be tomorrow, since we are coming back for her party, that way we would be back.  

This kind of communication is at the heart of life.  

Tolstoy Tells it True

Had a great night last night.  The granddaughters spent the night with us for the first time.  An evening of delights for grandparents!  We had popcorn, colored Littlest Pet Shop, made a snowman craft, sat in front of the fire, blew up the air bed for the girls, ate turkey and dressing dinner, and read Leo Tolstoy's The Three Questions.  All while the parents were out of town having dinner and a night on their own.  Makes me really glad God let me live this long.

The book we read is a children's adaptation of Tolstoy's original story.  In the story Nikolai gets his 3 questions answered:  1) when is the best thing to do something? 2) who is the most important one? and 3) what is the right thing to do?  The girls appreciated the story and remembered the 3 answers -- good lessons for them, and for all of us.  I recommend the story to you, in either version.  

More good news -- social security is giving me an increase for 2009 -- such a deal!  It's great to grow old in this time.

When you pray, please remember these

  1.  Our good friend Virda Stevens needs God's healing hand,

  2.  Another friend, Hugh Fraser, needs continued improvement,

  3.  Land issue at Made in the Streets isn't settled yet - should get final court ruling Thursday

  4.  One MITS student, Joseph Kamau, left us to go and help his aunt on her farm after his uncle died.

  5.  15 young people from the streets have taken government skills exams in November and December -- in auto mechanics, 8th grade exit exams, and sewing -- and 3 others finished training programs outside of MITS (hairdressing and cooking) -- pray for their success in finding work and living on their own.  Anastasia will go to a 'bridging' program for her journalism studies at Universal College.  

Thanks -- peace and joy, charles