A Heart-and-Hammer Assignment

Our “Hammer on one hand and Bible on the other”, Mission yielded more than a roof and spiritual cover for the people of Perani, in Kwale.  

We made friends.
The Peranites showed us what it means to love with total abandonment, in the name of the Lord. 

With needs so dire and hearts eager to receive visitors from beyond their shores,

We were received in a kingly fashion.

What we witnessed once we got our spiritual feet past the door, were mixed feelings.... hope and helplessness boiling in the same pot.

Here, spirituality is alive and kicking!

Charms are worn around their wrists, necks and waists for protection.

Ignorance, Disease and Witchcraft abound:

These remain Satan's choice weapons of mass oppression.

He speaks his native language, lies, (John 8:44), with unmatched eloquence.

In his consistence, the deceitful one never plays fair.

You give in an inch, or indulge him for one weary second,

And he throws everything and anything your way.

Talk of disproportionate force!

… unfair occupation by the master engulfer.

He takes and takes and takes.

After he has taken, he takes some more still!

Our mission, beyond securing a roof over the Amani Baptist School, pointed the Peranites to the only One who could secure their hearts and lives from the relentless on-slaught by the tireless terrorist.

May the Lord reign supreme in all of Kwale!

... for the least of these

Our Father who art in Heaven,

Who will be Your hands?

Will You ever send help our way?

Though our palm-thatched house is a stone throw away from the well of knowledge that is Baraka Baptist Academy,

We thirst in ignorance.

Our earthly step-father will have no part in our education,

... and so we wallow in innumeracy.

“Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink,”

For my brother Tembe and me, education remains a mirage,

… forever within our view, but eternally out of reach.

Will we continue to wither in ignorance?

Who will water our dream of a basic education?

Where will our help come from?

Inspired by  Mkala (6) and his brother Tembe (8), who live in Manda village, Kwale district.  Mkala's dream is that one day, in his words, he “will become a human being!” L

The chain of goodness has come full circle

Last Sunday we went to Riara School for their Sunday service, and memories of my own High School days came flooding back…   

Anyway, beyond the nostalgia, an age-old truth dawned on me. As was the case then, the harvest is still bountiful in many a High school today.  As if to nod in agreement, the Lord gave us over 60 sign-ups for Mizizi and SIMAMA (discipleship tools designed to generate growth, depth and motion).  Cherry on the cake: over 10 students made THE decision for Christ.

  

Now, one of the Form Ones who signed up for Mizizi was a girl whose mother had walked with me through the fog of my spiritual adolescence.

Flashback: Back in the 1900’s, I made my decision for the Lord.  Back then, I could not have been more clueless about matters spiritual.  God in His wisdom, brought my way an older, wiser and spiritually grounded woman, whose assignment, I think, was to open my eyes to the possibilities of living an authentic Christian life.  She was solid for Christ.  She helped me stand!

Could it be that God has brought this beautiful adolescent girl into my life for a reason?  Is this my opportunity to pay forward for all the goodness that had been lavished on me eons ago? Is this proof that we reap what we sow?

It is my time and privilege to love on her and a cool sixty others as they navigate their way through adolescence, somehow.

I went to give to the girls, but in reality, I was the greatest beneficiary!