Passover and Hametz

For many years we have used a Seder service in our family and church life. Darlene did a careful study of Passover and the relationship of Jesus to the seder and to the concept of Passover. After we began the street ministry in Nairobi, we have continued to do a "Christian Seder" with the street kids in our lives. One of the fun things we do is put some packages of "bread with yeast" around the room where we do the Seder, then we have the kids hunt them down and throw them outside. There are many other parts of the Seder that are great fun as well as filled with meaning.

We remember Jewish friends in California who also had to prepare well for Passover. Some of them had large amounts of liquor in the house. Before Passover, they would gather all of it up and take it to the house of a friend who is a Gentile, because it is "hametz" (fermented, thus unclean). They would leave it there until the Seder service was over, then the next day collect it and bring it home. This meets the requirements of the letter of the law, for it is out of the house, unavailable.

I've been thinking about how being in Christ and following the way of Christ has made "hametz" a daily reality for us. In Christ we have a new and different life. Passover is every day. Every day we have to wake up and clean out all the unclean things in life, in the house, in the physical body, in the body of Christ. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Christ is the Passover every day. The unclean is not only certain foods (and actually Christ has pronounced foods to be clean), but the unclean is in the heart, as Jesus makes clear in Matthew 15. So every day clean out jealousy, impure thoughts, hatred and anger, desiring what is another's and so on, all that which the Gospel teaches us is not for us on a Passover, especially when we sit down to eat a meal with Jesus present in the middle of the family.

Kittens, Kittens

Here is Darlene with our 4 baby kittens. Last week we found a cat, sort of feral, in our house. It had come in the window; we chased it away. The next day Darlene and Laurent baked cakes for Kennedy's wedding on Saturday. Darlene did the wedding cake and Laurent several sheet cakes. Darlene put all of the cakes on our tables overnight, planning to decorate them on Friday. Friday morning 2 of the cakes had a bit eaten out of them, so we blamed the cat. We locked up all the windows (makes it kind of stuffy in the house, but...), and they decorated cakes on Friday.

That night the cat jumped on the window ledge and banged her head on the glass, three times. I went over and looked down at her and said "no." She finally went away.

Saturday morning Grace came to put on her wedding dress for the wedding; we have 4 hanging in the closet. Then we all went to the wedding, and it was great. We love it when our street kids grow up and get jobs and find the love of their lives. About 250 people came, enjoyed, ate a meal, tasted cake, and we finished in time for them to leave for the honeymoon (no easy feat in Kenya). Grace and Kennedy came to the house for her to change out of the wedding dress. As Darlene was helping her, she heard a cry, and thought a bird had gotten into the house somehow. When she pulled the wedding dresses out, 4 little kittens tumbled out.

So...tender-hearted Darlene opened up the windows in the bedroom, put meat and milk on the floor, and closed the door. The babies cried and finally momma came back. So now we have residents in our house.

We are glad that three team members at MITS have offered to take a kitten -- so that leaves one for us. And what of the Momma? Well, that's up to her. We never make anyone stay here; the street kids are free to leave if they don't like MITS. The rule is that they can't come back if they choose to leave after living here. Of course Momma cat knows how to get in. It's a good thing that our practice is never to leave any foodstuff out (the wedding cakes were a necessary exception). Anybody want a kitten?

Planning for a Volcano

We have been developing another "business" course for our students who are in skills training at Made in the Streets - this one is about PLANNING. Bill Rider of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, created the basic materials, and Darlene has tailored it for our current students. Part of planning is seeing the potential obstacles and possible pitfalls of our plan of action.

Darlene and I always try to plan ahead when we travel. But we didn't plan for Iceland's volcano, even though we had read that is would erupt someday. So we flew through London and stopped off for a couple of days in Athens -- which turned into several more days, as we couldn't go back through London. Our favorite travel agent, David Jack from the Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, finally got us seats on a Turkish Airline flight through Istanbul to Nairobi.

If you have to be stuck somewhere because of a volcano, Athens is a mighty good place. We watched the sun set from the Areopagus, where Paul preached to Greeks about the unknown God who is known in Christ (Acts 17). The picture is of the Areopagus taken from the Acropolis with the Parthenon in the background. Note the new stairway they put in to make it easy on older people!! The old stairs are still there, down below, and still a bit slippery, but that is probably the way Paul got up there, so we went ahead and climbed up that way. We ate gyros and feta cheese and spinach pie (and Darlene ate baklava). Dino Roussos graciously invited us on a bus trip with Christians from Tennessee to Corinth and Mycenae (remember Agamemnon and the Lions' Gate with the oldest sculptures in Greece??). It was a sentimental trip to Corinth, because we remember well one of the last trips we made with Darlene's Mom, who would come to Kenya and teach street kids to read for 6 months a year during her 70s. She loved Crete and Nikos Kazantzakis, whose tombstone reads, "I desire nothing, I fear nothing, I am free." She also loved Corinth, and she put a foot on every paving stone of the ancient city so that she would step where the apostle Paul did. So Darlene and I went down the street that way this time too. Now Darlene's Mom cannot go in the flesh to any place, but in the spirit she can still walk the walk with the Lord, and some day she may again step where Paul has stepped before her.

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.

Moments of Joy

It was with great joy that we presented a "thank you" to John and Rosalyn Bailey at the MITS fundraiser at Legacy Church. The Baileys received a book chronicling their relationship with Made in the Streets titled "Tell Us Your Story." Life stories of three of the MITS girls are in the book as well as historical pictures. The woodworking boys at Kamulu made a wooden plaque with "Asante" (Swahili for "Thanks") engraved on it.

After the fundraiser, the Coulstons and family, along with Jackton and Irene and some Legacy Church members, went to DoubleDave's for pizza and fellowship. Jackton told us he had been praying for snow, since he has never in his life seen any. As we sat down to eat, a strong wind was blowing outside, and it began to snow. So Irene went outside to dance in the snow and was joined by the little girls in the group. Such fun to be with people experiencing parts of life for the first time, just as we rejoice when a street kid experiences having a bed of his own, or 3 meals a day, or a new pair of shoes, or an understanding of the God who loves him.

How Are You?

Our "base" is now the Dallas/Fort Worth area when we are in the USA. From here we go out to Tennessee, California, Iowa, Arizona and any other place where we can visit people and churches who will love street kids and us. And we arrived in time for the Texas Snow Season of 2010. We had a white Christmas and a white Valentine's Day. Then our two team members arrived from Nairobi; neither of them had ever seen snow, and Jackton was praying that God would let him see snow.

So after the fundraiser at Legacy Church, we went out for pizza at DoubleDave's with some people who helped us. And it started to snow, with the wind swirling it all around. Irene went out and danced in the snow, and Jackton went out and let it blow in his face. Delightful!

As we travel around, we see people whom we know and love. And they say "how are you?" And often my answer is, "I'm happy to be here with you." And it's true. And then I reflect on the question - it turns me inward to examine my heart and feelings and my true state.

And I have found inside myself that I am doing the very thing for which my life was created. That is a welcome joy for one who spent many years feeling inadequate and a bit restless, one whose teenage daughter painted a sweatshirt for him at Christmas one time with a lion and a lamb and the words, "May you find your peaceable kingdom."

And I have.

Showing Off

I like to show off.

I like for people to see Made in the Streets. Visitors come to see us now and then, and they go out on the streets and alleyways with us and meet street kids. And they hurt inside, because they have never seen anything that touches their hearts like this. Then they visit our Centers and see the former street kids who are with us and how they have "cleaned up" and how good and smart they are, and they are impressed. I love showing off the ministry.

I like for people to meet the people I work with. The Kenyan Team that runs Made in the Streets - these are special people. This month two of them, Jackton Omondi and Irene Otalo, are in the USA traveling with us, visiting churches and friends. And people love them and listen to them. I love showing off my friends.

I like for people to know I am a Grandad. I taught two granddaughters how to ride a bicycle last month, and I'm still glowing with excitement as much as they are. I love showing off my family.

I like for people to know about the church -- and about the churches that are a rich part of my life. Eastside and Redwood and Campbell and Palo Alto and Conejo and GCR and Mt. Ave and Simi and Otter and Central and South Mac and Singing Oaks and Prestoncrest and Legacy and Hamilton and A&M and.... I love to show off the church.

I like for people to know that I respect Jesus. I confidently sing "He is here, He is here, He is moving among us, and He is here." I love showing off my Jesus.