Kenya On My Mind

Kenya is certainly on my mind and my heart as we prepare for our upcoming mission trip. The only thing I have struggled with is teaching for the little ones.  I've been teaching adults for many years, but it's been a very long time since I taught elementary-school-age children and I just couldn't seem to get a grasp on what the Father might want me to teach these children halfway across the globe, in a culture so vastly different than ours.

Well, God is usually not early, but he's NEVER late! I woke up with a start in the middle of the night last night and looked at the clock.  It read 1:19.  "It's been a long time since you woke me up in the night with chapter and verse," I silently prayed.  I closed my eyes again and asked Him,"What book?" To my surprise I heard that still, small voice say, "James."  When I opened my eyes again, the clock said 1:25.  "Ok, Lord James 1:19-25.  I pray this is your message for the children in Kenya.

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says! Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at yourself in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect Torah that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."

Hear and obey.  Sh'ma!  Of course! The God of Israel wants me to teach this ultimate Hebraic understanding: to follow Yeshua is a two-part process, hear AND obey! As I sat in the quiet stillness of my living room at 1:25 this morning, a song began to reverberate in my spirit.  I could hear the pulsating rhythms of the African drums that so moved me when I was last in Kenya in 2005!  And then the words came: Kusikiliza Roho! Kusikia na kutii!  Listen to the Spirit! Hear and obey!

My cup overflows today -- I am once again about to fulfill my calling to the nations, going in the service of the King, with the great joy and blessing of having my husband John and two of my grandchildren with me!  My fifteen-year-old granddaughter, Jayde, will be teaching over 1000 girls in the Nasokol school about purity and abstinence.  My 13-year-old grandson, Jackson, will be teaching all the students also, and his teaching is "Keeping the Commandments: A Blessed Life."  "If you look carefully into the perfect Torah that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."  Oh, how I love to watch God work as He weaves together the Scriptures, the music, the messages we are to carry! 

I am typing out below our itinerary for the trip, as so many of you have asked for it.  I know this will keep about 500 people in a huge canopy of prayer covering over us as we fly in planes, ride in busses from Nairobi to the north country of Kenya, and minister in two schools, seven churches, and the open marketplaces.  Pray for us also as we spend our final three days (including the feast of Shavu'ot or Pentecost) ministering in Nairobi at the Open Blessing Church with my friend, Pastor Leah, whom I met on a bus in Jerusalem eight years ago!  We so appreciate all of you who have made this trip possible, and will look forward to the awesome testimonies of God's Mighty Working Power, and all the things He is going to teach US as we go to teach others is Word!