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

Learning from Technology

We learn from many sources -- something I love is learning from OBJECT LESSONS - finding things in nature and life that we can hang a spiritual lesson on -- kind of like Jesus with mustard seeds and weeds in the field, or Paul with athletic and horticultural thoughts.  Almost every day I make a short chapel talk - we begin with songs, then a student leads prayer, then another student shares a spiritual thought, usually ending with "and so I encourage you..."  Francis Mbuvi then turns to me and says, "Kulu, do you have anything?"

I use a lot of object lessons and I try to be very practical and use short words and act it out, to keep the kids with me.  Here's my sharing today --

"Two weeks ago when half of you were on the trip to the Indian Ocean coast, the ones of us left in Kamulu had a hard time.  The week you were here and the others were gone was really smooth, wasn't it?  (and they said YES).  But the first week was difficult.  We tried to watch a movie every morning after chapel that would help us understand the ideas from the books "Wild at Heart" and "Captivating." But every day the bulb on the projector would overheat and go off.  We would start it back and it would go off again. We finally gave up on movies!

I thought about it and decided to check the electricity.  So I asked Officer (he's a local electrician who does electrical work for us) to check it out with his meter.  When he checked the voltage, it was 198 volts.  Is that enough?  (I think I heard a yes or two, but most people said NO!).  How many volts do we need?  (several said 240!, which is correct).

So Officer traced the wires back to the boys' property where our electric line begins.  He found, underground, that someone with a jembe (that's a hoe) had dug down and broken one of the wires.  Now there are 3 wires (our kids know almost nothing about things like this) - one of them is "live", another "grounds" the power and the other is a wire that has to be there for the circuit to be complete -- we call it neutral.  It was the neutral that was broken. With a broken neutral you can still get something done.  The motor would run, even the bulb would light, but it would get hot.  That is what happens when there are not enough volts.

Because...the volts are the power, the electric current.  But you can't have electric power without RESISTANCE, and those are AMPS.  Motors are resistant to starting up, kind of like some of us don't want to get up in the mornings - we are resistant!  And bulbs are resistant; left alone, they would stay dark with no light.  Voltage and resistance work together -- but if the voltage is low, the resistance rises -- and that makes heat.  So the bulb turns itself off.

That's a bit like us.  We need to be wired correctly.  We all need 3 wires to work right.  And our wires are all made of LOVE -- love is what makes the world go round, what makes life worth living, what makes us get up in the morning full of joy.  The three wires we need are 1) the love of God, 2) the love of the church and 3) our own love.  If we will open ourselves to God, if we will trust Jesus, if we will accept the love of God, then power flows in us -- we are LIVE!  Without God's love, all good things will die.  But we need more -- we need the love of brothers and sisters, family love in the church.  Without the church in our lives, without the love of fellow believers, we are not GROUNDED.  With the church's love we have a place to be, a place to stand firm.  But even that is not enough for the world to go round - we need our own love.  First we love ourselves, then we love the people close by, then we love the brothers and sisters, then we learn to love the world.  Getting wired up right makes everything work right.

And whatever you think of that, from now on we will sit right here and watch movies!!

Charles

Communication!!

You think you're a great communicator -- well, not really, because I had rather just stay in the background.  But I did learn the local language, and most people here speak mine.  And I went to school...forever...so I should be able.  But...

I have reached the point where my doctor said, "Charles, your pancreas has retired.  It is finished. So...it's time for insulin."  I looked at him doubtfully, and his P.A. said, "You'll have so much more energy" (very energetically).  I looked at her doubtfully, so she said it again.  He claimed it's not as bad as it used to be, and said he would give me some samples to get started. He sweetened the pot by offering me a little gizmo that attaches to an iPhone and it reads your blood sugar and records all the tests on the iPhone, and the iPhone dances when the blood sugar is below 100.  Well...who can resist technology?  So I took it all home.

So now I shoot myself once a day, in the stomach.  And he's right.  It isn't as bad as I expected it to be.  I just put an alcohol swab on my skin, stick a needle on the pen, crank it up and stick it in and push.  Hardly hurts.

But I came to Kenya without my alcohol swabs.  So I decided to look for some in Nairobi.  I went to Quickmart because it is close to home.   I went up to a counter where they sell a variety of products, near the cosmetics and medicines.  I asked the young lady, "Do you have alcohol swabs?"  She didn't know, obviously, because she looked at me without comprehension. So I tried to describe it.  Wouldn't you know they are called "alcohol pads" here, but I only found that out later.  When I repeated myself, she heard the word "alcohol," so she pointed to the other side of the store.  I walked over to the other side, and as I drew nearer I felt sure there was some mistake.  But I went up to the counter, and I could see bottles of beer, whiskey and other clear liquids.  I told this young lady, "I have probably been sent to the wrong place, but do you have any medicinal alcohol."  She also looked at me without comprehension, so I once again tried to explain and describe.  She finally heard the word "medicine," and she said, "No, we have nothing like that here."

So...I decided to go and look at an area of the store where they have things called "spirits," which is different from the one with all the bottles you drink.  I found white spirits, and methylated spirits, and then I spied a little bottle with clear liquid and written on it was "surgical spirits."  Hah...victory!

Communication isn't always easy when you are in another culture, but it is always fun!!

Mortals Making a Difference

"Death is swallowed up by life," Paul writes in the New Testament.  But before that, life is swallowed up by death.  We face our mortality, our quick venture into the world, like grass that fades in the hot sun.  It is what Paul writes that makes the follower of Christ face mortality unafraid, for Christ is risen, and he is the first one of many who will follow.

Still, I hit 69 years a few weeks ago.  Jesus was killed at about 33, my Mom took her last breath at 57, and many of my friends have been swallowed up.  So it creates a certain amount of anxiety.  That anxiety is really the strong desire to make my life count, to do something in Jesus' name that is wonderful and good and lasting and approved by the Father.

This week Darlene had her birthday, number --- well, she was really young when we got married.  And it made me think all over again about the course of my life.  I tried to think back on times where I might have some bragging rights, but I can't find any.  The really good things that were done were all initiated, empowered and completed by God.  I was a willing participant, but no credit can be issued to me. Still, if we get something done that God wants done, it makes life worth living.

I read now and then about people who are making a difference, and their stories inspire me.  There is the man in China who lives near the big bridge over the Yangtze River.  Over the years many Chinese have committed suicide from that bridge.  This man rides his motorbike over the bridge in his time off from work and talks people out of jumping - he says he has kept 235 from jumping so far.  That is a "front-line" task.

We have a greater goal - to keep people from going to their deaths by way of drunkenness or drug use, or theft or lying or greed or sexual impurity or jealousness - to get people to turn to Christ and follow him, obedient to his will.

Paul Ochieng is a friend who lives in Mombasa.  He has moved into the Soweto slums there, in a heavily Muslim population, and wants to love and lead them to Jesus.  He understands how to do it and follows the guidelines of the Church Planting Movement or Disciple Making Movement.  Last month he was in Juba, South Sudan, together with Peter Ladu, teaching and encouraging people there, and they had a very successful series of meetings.  Enough people making a difference like this can change the world.  He preaches for a very small church as well, and he is in need of support.

The Team of MITS is also on the front line.  There is a certain amount of risk in working on the streets where there are so many young people sleeping in the alleyways and up against walls and wherever they can find a place there they are not run away.  There is drug use and anger with violence.  And the Team keeps going, making a difference.  I am glad to have a small part in their ministry.  We often say that we hope to gain heaven by hanging on the coattails of street kids, for God loves them.

I know he loves me too.  And that is the real reason I want to make a difference.  I want to love others as he has loved me.  I'd love for people to think that would be a fitting line for my tombstone, which brings us back to mortality.  Let's remember to bow the knee and confess that the risen Lord is our Lord.

The picture is of a large group of street youth gathered at our Eastleigh Center, where they are loved by the Team.  Making a difference.

Interview with Death

   Death:  Have you seen my latest work, Charles?
   Charles: Watching you work is not my great interest.
   Death: I thought you like me. You think about me enough.
   Charles:  True, but....
   Death: And you know I am necessary to the world.
   Charles: But....
   Death: And we will meet face to face one day.
   Charles: Of course, but....
   Death:  I plan to be quick and gentle with you.
   Charles: That I would appreciate.  What I don't appreciate is the pain and loss some of my friends must endure, and the pain of families left behind.
   Death: I'm not promising quick and gentle, of course.
   Charles:  Don't tell me....
   Death: What's bothering you?
   Charles:  Charles and Jack and Bryce and Connor...the recent ones...it's painful for us.
   Death: You know they served well.
   Charles:  True, but....
   Death:  I take no one lightly; my work is serious.  There must be a season of harvest.
   Charles: I worked in harvest - the grain is cut, and dies.
   Death:  But it feeds life.
   Charles: True, but....
   Death:  You've read Paul.  "Unless it dies, it cannot rise."
   Charles: Thanks for reminding me of hope.  It still hurts.
   Death:  I know.