D.C. Day Two in Pics

Almost everything I do and almost every conversation I have makes me think about street kids and Made in the Streets and the Team we work with in Nairobi and the many friends in the USA who help in so many ways in the ministry.  And that's true of being in Washington, D.C.

When I sit on a city street drinking coffee with Darlene,
I remember those times when Francis Mbuvi or John Wambu
will come by the house in Kamulu and talk over the ministry,
the land, the buildings, the students...

In the movie Night at the Museum, this big guy from
the Museum of Natural History
usually says "Dum-Dum". And I think about
all the mistakes I have made in ministry,
and how much God has blessed the work anyway.

When we sit down for lunch, we pray
for the Team and the kids and the visitors.
Darlene is sitting in the National
Sculpture Garden, where we went after
viewing the great art at the
National Gallery of Art.
That's a Mediterranean salad
and a small pepperoni pizza.
Outside there was a mouse running around
scaring the big sanitation workers!
And some good modern sculptures
too, especially a
two-sided house that looked real
and more real as you walk around it!
We loved the Impressionist art and the
Rodin sculptures in the museum.

Speaking of that art we love, this
"Girl with a Watering Can" by
Auguste Renior is one of our
favorites.  Many years ago
when my mother was still alive,
I gave her a copy of this.  It's
a great reminder of family love.

This smaller version of "The
Thinker" by Rodin (the big one
is in Paris at his old house) is a
great reminder of what I want to
do for the street kids, and for my
grandkids -- to teach them to THINK
and to think well and strategically
and of good things.

This is the only painting
by Leonardo Da Vinci that
is in the Western Hemisphere.    
I think of the great debt we owe
scientists and thinkers, and I dream
that one of mine will do great things
through trust in God.

Day Two: Washington DC

Happy Day!  Our daughter and husband have given us a trip to DC -- all because they are so grateful that we have "helped them with the kids."  What do they think grandparents do?  Still...it's our good!

So...here we are, sitting in the Pavilion Cafe at the National Sculpture Gardens having an excellent pizza and a Mediterranean salad, watching the fountain among the green trees.  Sitting outside a bit later finishing a refill of iced tea, we had our excitement for the day.  Two guys came along in blue shirts with trash barrels and a trash pickup tool.  We saw them jump back and look down under a table.  Another one came with a small broomstick and beat at the table.  Then the two men jumped backward as a mouse raced across the sidewalk.  The third guy broke his broom without really trying to hit the mouse.  He said he saw "Mickey" in his mind's eye and just couldn't do it.  It looked like they were all afraid of the mouse, who got away in the bushes.

Earlier we toured the National Archives saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and felt good about being Americans, living under law and justice, even if it isn't always perfect.  We also toured the FBI building, going through their museum with one of the agents.  Great experience!  Proud to have people like that looking out for our rights.

And the National Gallery of Art was a thrill -- all those Impressionist artists -- Monet and Manet and Pissarro and Renior.  Many years ago when my Mom was still alive, I bought her a copy of Renior's "girl with a water can."  Today we saw the original!  And his "Dancer."  And one of Monet's lily garden paintings from Giverny and several of his paintings of the Waterloo Bridge at different times of day.

The Air and Space Museum is also inspiring!  Makes me want our government to put greater emphasis on space travel and for industry to get deeply involved in reaching the stars.  I remember doing a study of the Saturn rocket in ROTC at Oklahoma University back in 1961. I remember setting our one-week old daughter down in front of an old Sylvania TV the day Armstrong took that one great step for mankind.  We love the Wright brothers displays and all the rest of it, especially seeing that one small piece of Sputnik that is still in existence.

This morning we had breakfast buffet at the hotel and enjoyed talking to one another over a second cup of coffee.  It has to be a mile walking underground in the Crystal City shops to the metro station.  Last night there was only one thing open in the shops when we returned to the hotel - a Subway - so it was a sandwich for dinner.  When we went to the metro to get our Senior Smartrip cards, the man down at the trains said we couldn't get them there.  We needed to go up into the shops -- "when you get to the top, go right, then right, then left and right again, and you're there."  So we went up into the shops, but that didn't sound good enough to us, so we asked a man at an information desk about it.  I thought he said "comptuer shop," so he emphasized "commmmmuuuttter shop" - "go up there, turn right, then turn left at Starbucks (Starbucks!!!) and right at Smoothie Joes -- to the commmuuuttterr shop".  We actually found it.  Perks to being seniors!!

We watched "Night at the Museum" again before we came, and yesterday we went through the Natural History Museum.  Great to see the dinosaur and the squid and the "Dum-Dum" guy (Darlene took a picture of me in front of it).  It not only feels good to be an American; it feels good to be a child of the God who made all of the things that are -- what incredible variety of dinosaurs existed on the earth!  And it is incredible to see how many forms of quartz there are.  The Hope diamond was pretty good too.

Another thing we did was walk all the way down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial...and back.  It was worth it -- to look at the memorial and wonder who the finest president of the US has been and to think that many good men (and some day women) have held that post.  And on the way back we walked along the Vietnam Memorial Wall and read the names and thought about all the young men and women (and some older ones too) who have died in war.  Sobering...but sometimes the war has to be fought. We are proud of people who stand up to wrong.  Makes us want to stand up for something eternal and good and true.

So...be good, be true....charles

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.

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