UPDATE

SUNDAY 27th JULY 2008
36 Years ago I arrived with 28 boys at the gate of Testimony House. It was Boxing Day 1972, and the garden was overgrown more than a metre high, and the driveway curb less and untarmaced. But the view of the House was just as it is now. We had travelled uncomfortably in a five ton truck with 28 cowhide and bamboo chairs and 14 steel frame bunk beds with bedding. The 125 kilometres was covered on dirt roads, slow, dusty, and hot. Esther joined me from Nairobi with baby Steven (then about 6 months old) neither of us realising we would live in this house for 28 years as Mum and Dad to the then current 28 plus dozens more. The house was enormous. The sitting room alone measured 900 square feet with more than 7 bedrooms, bathrooms etc. We only had what we brought with us and £800. (enough to re-equip us with crockery, cutlery and provide food for a week! For months the house remained bare and empty and rather unhomely. We sat on boxes or the floor. It was a giant step from where we had begun in Maseno, Western Kenya, in a small 40x40ft mud cottage. TODAY, in Church we remembered a little of our Beginnings, and our Journey into the unknown. It was not such a sensational Exodus as Moses and the People of Israel - but in its own way it was as fraught with risk and danger, and certainly attended with many miracles. The last weekend of July annually is our time to mark the Beginning of Testimony Faith Homes, and the latter addition of the School. Yesterday the School marked its own Day as part of the Weekend - the 27th since it's own inception in 1981.
The weather stayed fine and dry all through until the last visitor left the compound at around 5p.m. the the skies opened to hours of torrential rain! It had been a wonderful day with more than 500 parents and visitors looking round the School and attending an afternoon concert put together by the students (including some of the 140 children from our four Homes who also attend the school). The chief guest this year was an old Christian friend and brother - Professor James Kiyiapi, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources. NEXT year the occasion will take in the Children's Homes as well and both Saturday AND Sunday will be open to celebrations and so on. We expect many of our Old Boys and Girls to attend.

Right now it is pouring with rain as I write. The end of an eventful week, and the beginning of a new one. Mainly for me this week will be administrative improvements in the keeping of our Records, and getting ready for the 19th Monthly Meeting of the Children's Services Forum which will be focusing on the needs and services to orphaned children suffering from HIV/AIDS, as well as those not affected by the disease but whose lives have been disrupted by it.
We ourselves still have one girl amongst our children who has HIV. She is 16 and in Form 2 of Secondary School. She loves the Lord, and understands fully her condition. Both her parents died of AIDS, but she is the only one of four brothers and sisters who had HIV passed on to her. She is robust and joyful, and loves to sing God's Praises. During the School Day she was hosting parents in the Home Science Room, showing them round and discussing what goes on there. She is very outgoing and coping well with life. We are still believing that the Lord will heal her completely. Her name is Jesse Ronata.

Our first two children were brothers of 8 and 12 years respectively. Zacaria, the youngest was a very attractive child, though a cripple. The Lord healed him of his trouble so that from almost total immobility he was able to walk again, and even run and jump. But regretfully he did not choose to run to Jesus, and ran instead to theft and immorality. He died of AIDS just a few weeks ago at the age of 45. It is sometimes very difficult to accept that after so much opportunity a life can end like this. We shed few tears. His brother is alive and well, married with two children, and in fact working for us in our Maintenance Department as a worker of metal. He also made a lot of wrong decisions, but by the Grace of God turned to Christ and was rescued from his own errors to be established and saved. For him his brother's death has been a heartbreak and a blow. We were glad to be able to mourn with him, and share his grief.

We remain at rest, though STUDENT unrest continues all over the State. It is the work of Satan, and yet another sample of the Last Days. What are we to do? How are we to be?
What are the priorities?

1. John 3 seems to minimise the necessities. Reading once again v.10 one is struck by the shear force of words used.

In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God;
neither he that loveth not his brother.

WHOEVER DOES NOT DO RIGHTEOUSNESS.
WHOEVER DOES NOT LOVE HIS BROTHER.

Not much space to manoeuvre is there? What IS required of us? In the Old Testament it is written -

MICAH 6v8
What doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy god?

We are all heading for confrontation on a grand scale with the perpetrator of all Evil.
It is not a time for compromise, or for half hearted commitment.
When we have done ALL that we can to maintain our Testimony
we are simply to STAND
To stand and not yield or retract an inch.
Simply a question of WHO is on the Lord's side?
let him/her come and stand by me.

We have need to demonstrate the ungodliness of sin; we need to let Christ LIVE and destroy the works of the devil in ourselves, and in the world around us. This world is condemned; love of it and it's lusts puts us against God. The world will crumble around us, and we have to see and understand that we are not part of it - we are not of this world, we are only passing through, having no true home here at all in reality......no we look ahead to our true home, and to a city not made with hands. We need to reprogram our way of seeing ourselves and the world in which we live. The King is Coming. A new World is coming. All things will become NEW

May His Spirit be very present with you in the days ahead.


John and Esther

UPDATE

SATURDAY, 19th JULY 2008

This last week we have had a Team of students and staff from Tyndale Christian School, Salisbury East, South Australia with us. They have been the first to occupy and try out our new Guest Hostel which was completed recently. They liked it except for a few 'hic-ups' in the plumbing due mostly to poor water pressure whilst they were with us.
The Team spent their 12 days slogging hard in and around the four Homes, painting, landscaping, and fellowshiping. Mike Potter (their headmaster) and his wife Dani, led the Team with members of the School's Staff and I think their Christian example and work ethic really spoke to our own children both in the Homes and in the School. Tyndale has more than 1,000 students, and a Team has been coming out to us every two years; students working hard to pay for their air fairs and other needs in their spare time outside of school hours. Our children, indeed all of us, look forward to these visits. Mike and Dani and their children are like family to me and Esther, and our own kids. We have known them almost from the commencement of their marriage, and although they are as a son and daughter to us in age, we felt the lord brought us together. It is wonderful how HE arranges our steps even in the area of finding friends and family members!
They left us this Thursday morning and should be flying home to OZ today.

IN THE MIDST of their visit we have also been hard at work preparing for our 39th Founders Day which will be next SATURDAY. I may have to delay writing up the blog in order to cover that day next week....... Especially on the School side we have been busy trying to spruce up and paint where the 'wear and tare' has been worst. We ourselves have a student population of almost 800, and it certainly is beginning to show after almost 21 years. We usually have some 500 guests visiting, and next year we are expecting even more.

DURING THE WEEK the papers have been full of reports of student indiscipline and unrest in our Schools, across the Country. In the DAILY NATION of 14th July we read -

'Indiscipline in schools has reached unmanageable levels,
said Mr. Tirop (Chairman of the Kenya Headteachers Association)
who also warned that teachers were unable to enforce discipline
as their hands were tied by the law.'

Of course it would be wrong to say that 'the cane' is the cause of the problem. The cane can never be seen as the only tool or method of good discipline. But the cane remains the 'symbol' of discipline - harsh discipline - and it is suddenly unhealthy and unfashionable to administer harsh or stern discipline in most of the world. I myself was caned both at home and at school when deserved. It was not often endured - once was enough in either place - since the pain of it was not looked for a second time. It definately improved me, but it was not the only method of correction that did so in my life and experience. In the same Report in the Nation, Francis Ng'ang'a (General Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers) said -

'2007 Court rulings against disciplinary measures in Kenya
marked the beginning of current lawlessness in schools.
Parents have given too much freedom to their children.
They are accompanying them to entertainment joints (clubs & Hotels)
where they are exposed to all sorts of behaviour.
They must come back to their senses and realise that they are
ruining their children'

Continuing, the report commented - 'Experts say that liberal parents, the ban on caning, some provisions in the 2001 Kenya Children's Act, and lack of role models of high moral integrity are some of the factors that have robbed teachers of the power to correct wayward students.
"Teachers dare not punish a student lest they be dragged to court. Neither can they cane nor use other forms of punishment as this amounts to abuse according the (current) law."
I personally am glad I was brought up and educated in a day when discipline was 'harsh'. Today we seem to have decided that it is sinful to be harsh - we need to be pityful and 'softhearted' in our approach to willful disobedience or anti social behaviour. What about proverbs 15v10?

HARSH discipline is for him who forsakes the way.

The word used is HARSH. It is a HARD word; a very DETERMINED word. Not at all soft or accomodating in its implication. To be HARSH is to be pitiless, unrelenting. Harsh disicipline is not to be got around; not something to be avoided or diluted so that it can be faced without fear.
NEITHER is it meant to be handed out 'ad lib' for every mistake made. It is meant to be a 'Bottom Line' - a last expedient for the most extreme offence. The very FACT that there is HARSH DISCIPLINE at hand to be used is in itself a deterrant before it is even applied.

God's Word is no longer heeded in our society. It is being removed from, and in some places has already been forbidden to be used in Schools across the 'Christian' world. Without the Word of God we have no true revelation as to how we should live, or how society should be. As Solomon points out in Proverbs 29v18 -

'Where there is no revelation THE PEOPLE CAST OF RESTRAINT'.

I believe this is a very important verse of scripture. To disregard God says about human discipline and the society we live in will bring us to a place where there are no restraints. We shall live in anarchy and rebellion, and society will be lawless and uncontrollable. Isn't it getting like that NOW? What about the almost daily murders in London alone!

TESTIMONY SCHOOL still has the cane in place. It is known to be in the Headteachers office. It is not used very frequently, but it is known to be there, on hand, when needed. It assists in keeping discipline even when it is at rest. We also have alternative methods of discipline. The School is well ordered, peaceful, and respected. Perhaps it is an island in a turbulent sea! We look to God for wisdom and advice in all our ways.

TWO more children admitted this week to the Homes. One to Jacaranda, and one to Tyndale - a girl 8 and a boy 10 years. Victims of the unrest, they have lost their mother who recently died, and their home which was burned to the ground. We are now 140 in number.

God bless you all, and be with you. Be ANXIOUS for nothing, but look to Jesus, letting him garrison your mind around about. Hallelujah.
Lovingly in His Wondrous Name and Grace.


John and Esther

UPDATE

SATURDAY, 12TH JULY, 2008

WILD weather in many places in Kenya this week.    Even here in Eldoret!    One afternoon I was interrupted from working on accounts by a most unnerving ghostly sound that seemed to surround the Office building - a blinding flash of light, a resounding roar of thunder, and a wind that took hold of the falling torrent like a whirlwind.     The downdraft from a passing cyclone; fortunately brief, although the rain POURED down for hours, forcing everyone indoors.     Well rain is to be expected in July - but cannot remember anything like that wind in forty years.

 

Well it is good to see the Guest house in use.     Just a slight problem with the water supply - the pressure is low due to rationing - yes water is still being rationed due to the low rainfall during the year.    This has meant that the showers only work certain times of the day.     We hope this will right itself when water levels return to normal in our local dams.       The completion of the Guest house was to herald the next step in renewing and expanding Jacaranda Cottage.     We have already had TWO sets of plans drawn up.      One of a revamped and slightly expanded Cottage on the same site, and using part of the existing material, as the current house.   The other of a completely NEW Jacaranda which would be sited opposite the old one, in-between Drakeley and Tyndale, bigger than they are, but otherwise of an exactly similar design.      The cost would be the same for both.  Well we have SOME of the money needed to go ahead, but not all, and we will not start this project until ALL the funds are to hand.    We are not rushing ahead, and this will give us time to further pray and see how the Lord will lead.   Please pray with us.       The New Jacaranda will be able to accommodate a family of 45.

The plan is still to accommodate the Jacaranda Children in the Guest House whilst we are building - and our hope and prayer is that we will be able to go ahead to build soon - much excited speculation amongst the children.......

 

REGION'S BISHOPS SHUN LAMBETH

Anglican bishops from Kenya and four other African countries will not attend the church's biggest meeting, the Lambeth Conference, due to differences over same-sex relationships.

 

Unlike Tanzania's Anglican Church which is against consecration of women as bishops, Archbishop Nzimbi said Kenya had not made a decision on the matter adding 'We need to pray and think about it'.

 

C.S. Lewis wrote about women in the priesthood way back in 1948 printed under the title 'Priestesses in the Church?'     He writes that he came to put pen to paper on this subject 'When I heard that the church of England was being advised to declare women capable of Priest's Orders.    I am indeed informed that such a proposal is very unlikely to be seriously considered by the authorities.   To take such a revolutionary step at the present moment, to cut ourselves off from the Christian past and to widen the divisions between ourselves and other churches by establishing an order of priestesses in our midst, would be an almost wanton degree of impudence.   AND the Church of England herself would be torn to shreds by the operation.'

THAT was sixty years ago.     What would he say now?   You will have to read the whole article ('God in the Dock' - published by COLLINS Fount Paperbacks).  Worth looking into!

 

Naturally I have by own opinion about this too.    But I will not comment at this time.

 

Kenya has a new Law that came into force yesterday.      Anyone found smoking in the street will be fined!     This will be interesting......

 

God be with you all in what seems daily to be a progressively failing world.   We can desperately do with some Good News.        I listen constantly for the sound of the Trumpet.

 

John and Esther

 

 

 

Update

SATURDAY, 5TH JULY, 2008

This week has also been very busy and I was SO busy today that I did not in fact managed to write anything, but went to bed completely forgetful of even trying to do so. Most of the week we have been engaged in last minute 'Getting Ready' for our friends from Tyndale Christian School in Southern Australia. They all finally arrived yesterday about 6p.m. and are now all installed in the new Guest House (28 of them). We are very happy with the final finish of this building, and it also gave rise to a lot of praise from our guests, although in fact it is a very simple and rather spartan facility. Tyndale will be with us for 13 days as from now, and we look forward to having good fellowship with them. They have come prepared to do a lot of interior and exterior decorating, AND perhaps laying a new sewer line from the Nursery School to the Municipal sewer line across the road! They will also be interacting with the children of course both in and out of school. This is now the THIRD visit over a period of six years, and we feel it has been a very good and healthy link. The Headmaster of the School, Mike Potter, is suggesting we might visit THEM !!! Wow, that would indeed be an experience for us old foggies.

Our son Daryl who was scheduled to leave us at the end of June, will be staying on at least for the time being. He has continued to be a very practical help to us all, and even in the final concensus he has been of tremendous help in getting the latest Building up and in shape. He has a flair for these things. He will continue on as the one responsible for the ongoing state of repair and maintenance for all our many buildings old and new. He will work in with the Maintenance Department, and will also be a general help on the Children's Homes side as Carol continues her teaching in the School. This at least assures the family stays together and intact without one or the other taking off in another director. A great deal of prayer is still needed for them - and for ourselves as we seek to walk along with them in the Love of the Lord.

Our Server has been having problems, and we have only had intermittent access to E-mail and the net over the last fortnight. This has forced us to look for alternatives, and I will shortly be advising you of a NEW e-mail ADDRESS. Additionaly we have now also obtained a gadget that enables us to have unlimited access to the Web at faster speeds that we have hitherto been able to obtain.

Manu spent some few days with us - he just left today (Sunday) back to his Internship some 800 kilometres away. He had lost a little weight and looked good. He was in fact in much better case than for some time, and spent all the time with us, very happy and somehow more at peace than we have known him for some time. We are believing that the LORD is in fact taking him in hand, and the three months (finishing in October) might well be part of the plan to give him time and space to reform and return to the Lord. Go on praying for him..

All for now as I rush off to the Sunday service. God Bless you and be close to you all

John and Esther