A BLOODLESS AMPUTATION

I HAVE LOST MY RIGHT HAND! I made this statement first on Face Book, and was deluged with friends writing back anxiously asking how I was and, what had happened. But of course nothing had physically happened to ME. My Right Hand has increasingly been our son, DARYL.

On Sunday he finally decided that TFH was not the place for him, and let us know he would be leaving with immediate effect. BUT he has not left the family, or left in rage or anger against us. Rather he has not been able to bring his life in line with what we feel, and what he knows the Lord would expect of him as His Representative in this Ministry. We had of course known this might happen for some time, and had been much in prayer about it. It has been a disappointment, and hard to bear, and will mean that suddenly I am without a great deal of help and assistance on the side of the Children's Homes. Tomorrow is his 37th Birthday, and tonight we shall be all together as a family (ourselves, Manu, Daryl, Carol, and their three kids) to celebrate. Still a son, but no longer a colleague. No longer my Right Hand!

I MUST CONFESS, that I had come to lean on his support too much, and in doing so was in danger of becoming more decrepit than I needed to be! I had begun to be unaware of my own abilities. Had begun to 'shut down' and almost gone to sleep. This has clearly alerted me to the fact that it IS very easy to let go of what is actually STILL your responsibility, and also come to the place of feeling unable to let go of the 'thing' or 'person' you are leaning upon. To LEAN on God is one thing - He will let you do that without in the least diminishing your own strength, vitality, or sense of purpose. But to lean on anything or anyone else is definitely more than a risk that could deprive you of all your own motivation and vision. I think I was definitely well into the latter in letting Daryl take over so MUCH of what really should still have been my own practical concern. He did not make it happen; he did all that he could and more than he needed to, in order to be helpful and to relieve me. I have been given a 'WAKE-UP' call!

Daryl has proved himself a gifted PR man and Administrator, very pragmatic, and willing to quickly take up any challenge. I just relaxed and let him do all the thinking and sometimes the deciding as well. I had doubts about his Christian character, but was turning a blind eye to it.

I was becoming like Moses at 80 herding sheep in the desert, leaning more and more on his Rod for support..........He had got used to it, and increasingly needed to have it with him wherever he went. He did not question it's ability to help him. I sometimes think Moses, at that point, had no vision for the future, and was in fact accelerating the ageing process in his own mind and body! God suddenly confronted him and asked, 'WHAT have you got in your hand?' The Rod was in Moses' Right Hand. His Support, Protection, and Security, were all centred on that Rod. He was old, getting older - there was nothing but the sheep......nothing more, no greater hope or purpose for LIFE. The ROD had re-focused Moses heart and mind. GOD told Moses to throw this stick upon the ground, and it immediately assumed the reality of a serpent - and Moses fled from it! NO, I am not saying Daryl is a serpent, I am saying that if I had continued to lean so much upon him, I might have so given in to old age and depreciation, that I would have finally found myself UNABLE to do anything. Daryl was in a sense taking away my life.....not in an evil or malicious sense, but just by helping me give in to laziness, and a miss placed belief that I was no longer able to cope with or measure up to the task in front of me. As my Right Hand he made it unnecessary for me to use my OWN right hand to do any work. Yet MY own hand was and IS quite healthy enough, and able, to do the work given to it.

In Tolkien's great work The Lord of the Rings, we find King Theoden, Lord of the Mark, who had been a great and vigorous Leader and Warrior, sitting alone in his Palace, passively accepting and pre-empting his own old age. He had yielded up his sword and position, to one who had come to help, and in helping had slowly taken away from Theoden a reason to be alive!

The HELP was good, the sharing of a load of work much appreciated, but slowly I began to lose sight of the fact that by sharing more and more with others, I was giving myself less and less to do, until finally I felt myself to be almost unnecessary - not dead, not incapable, not useless at all - just ready to believe a lie and lay down the baton...........before God had made it neccesary for me.

'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk, and not faint' -- Isaiah 40v31

SO in fact I now believe for a NEW lease of LIFE; that instead of seeing me RETIRE from active seervice, as I had begun to believe would happen this year, I am now looking into a 2nd chapter of 40 years with expectation and new vigour. I sense then that there has been a 'pruning' in my life. We must now look for and expect NEW life revealed in new shoots and buds appearing. AND DARYL, what of him? It is tempting to guess and gossip, but it is of no real purpose to do so. I can hear Jesus saying to Peter, who had asked Him about John and what the future held for him, 'What is that to you ? You follow me!' There is loving rebuke in those words. They were in a sense sharp, but Jesus loved John AND Peter just as much as the other. Each of their lives was special and indivually important to Him.

Daryl is still a beloved member of the Green Family. Part of him is his own dear wife, Carol, and their three children. They remain living close to us, and Carol continues to teach at Testimony School. Life goes on. Only God knows what he has in store for any of us. Each one needs the prayer of others, that God will watch over us, lead and guide us, and deliver us from evil.

0000000000000000000000000

THIS WEEK IT HAS BEEN RAINING EVERY DAY!! In parts of Western Kenya there has been deluge and flooding. Here in Eldoret it has rained a good part of the later afternoon, evening and even into the night. Nothing very devastating, but certainly refreshing, and welcome. We are Thankful and Blessed.

We have been told some donations are now on the way to us as well. Not enough to immediately cover all our current need, but enough to keep us going, and keep us from being seriously in debt. Bills are often many on my desk, but I can say with gratefulness that they tend all to get paid before the LATEST due date advertised on each. God is SO good. Sharing with Joshua and Miriam Mbithi on Thursday I found them testifying to similar experience in their own walk and ministry. He IS the same yesterday, Today and Forever toward all of us that trust in Him.

ALMOST

a real amputation!

On Thusday of this week two of our African cleaners fell out with each other. One is responsible for controlling who travels on the School Buses, and the other had been trying to force himself on a particular bus without a ticket, and been turned away. This was quite early in the morning. Later having arrived at work the rejected passenger found the one who had refused him, and there began a loud and abusive argument. During this unpleasant altercation the bus conductor punched the other in the face, where upon he turned and went away cursing his aggressor. He had not finished however, and finding a panga ( a broad double-edged knife for cutting through undergrowth and brush) went to the School Workshop and sharpened it. Then, hiding it in his shirt, returned to re-discover the bus conductor who also cleans the School Latrines. It was then School Break time, and all the children and staff were out of class. The two antagonists met outside the main Toilet Block almost in the centre of the School. Immediately the one took the sharpend panga from his shirt and set about the other severing his LEFT hand, and chopping the other severely. Blood spurting everwhere, the whole place panicked, with children and staff running hither and thither screaming.

Finally all was brought under control and the wounded one rushed to Hospital, and the other held and bound and given over to the police. The wounded one found good treatment and his hand has been restored to his wrist with good hope of eventual healing. It will take some months. We shall be the ones responsible for shouldering the cost of his treatment. He himself has no family, and since he will not be able to care for himself easily he will be staying with us here till he is able once again to use his hands. Always something NEW ! However we are not hoping for further such happenings.

And so yet another week has flown my - and the month almost ended. God Bless and be with you all

John and Esther

ARE YOU OCCUPIED?

WE LIKE TO SING the Chorus - 'He's got the whole world in His hands..' honouring God and witnessing to His Power. But the chorus is, of course, able to be turned round depending on what we are thinking about. The DEVIL may also be said to have the whole world in HIS hands since He is still the prince, the titular head under God, of this world. And again YOU and I might at some time think that WE have the whole world in OUR hands, seeking to manipulate and make merchandise of it for our own gain and pleasure. Did not Jesus Himself find Himself being offered the whole 'world' by Satan, if He would only fall down and worship HIM? And was it not this SAME Jesus that spoke and said -

Luke 9v25 - 'What is man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?HE answered Satan's temptation and said - 'Go away Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. God MADE the world, and He entrusted it to Lucifer as a gift. But Lucifer turned against God and miss-used the Created World in pride and arrogance. God went on to Create Man and put him into this World to bring back order to it, but Satan immediately set about the task of turning MAN against God also. He willfully misled him with reason and logic, and additionally used everything he could find or invent from the world's resources to attract Man AWAY from serving God to serving himself and his own lustful desires for self pleasure. SATAN has yet again twisted the world to his own purposes against God, until it is itself sick and spoilt - a terrible parody of what God intended.

THUS the one who loves ( prefers) the world and the things that are in it, becomes an enemy of God, separated from Him - 1John 2v15-17(Amplified Bible) 'DO NOT love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world - the lust of the flesh (craving for sensual gratification) and the lust of the eyes (greedy longings of the mind) and the pride of life (assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things) - these do not come from the Father, but are from the world itself.' (AND of the devil, by implication!)

And the world (will pass away and disappear) and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in is life abides (remains) for ever.'

BUT JESUS has also said that in the last days of this planet's life, 'the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of lawlessness and iniquity.' Matthew 24v12 Perhaps that is what we are seeing today - but are we watching? Are we alert and aware?

I have had DEMAS on my mind for about eighteen months. Not a great deal written about him in the New Testament of the Bible - just three scripture references by Paul the Apostle. Two of them find him mentioned as amongst Paul's companions (Colossi ans 4v14 & Philemon v24). The third reference is found in 2. Timothy 4v10 where it is written 'Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world..' Paul was actually 'forsaken' by many others in his life and ministry just as Jesus Himself was......I wonder why Demas was especially named out of the many? Perhaps he was one that Paul had put more hope in than others.....perhaps he had a preference and was therefor more personally affected....... YET in a way it may have been even MORE because it was the WORLD that had taken him away. The World - what part of it ? - the lusts of the flesh, materialism, selfish ambition of some kind? We are not told. But the obvious disappointment and personal loss hangs heavily upon the words. OUR commission is to witness and share what we personally have discovered about God's Love. To tell how He found a way to redeem not only MY soul, but everyone's soul who would believe it. It is SO special when we are permitted to see someone who has HEARD Gospel, the Holy Spirit catching their attention and bringing them OUT of the world to GOD! It is the hardest thing to see one such later turn back. As Paul again says in Hebrews 10v38 concerning such a person - 'Now the just that live by faith (in Christ), but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.' NO, it is abject misery to watch a loved one blindly pursue a path to self afflicted pain and hurt brought on by forsaking God's love and salvation. Much the worse when it is a member of ones own family, or special circle of friends.

BUT, in fact NONE of us should be of those that actually turn back, and to have done so in all likelihood means that we took our eyes away from God for a moment, just as David took his eyes away to Bathsheba bathing in her garden, and was carried off by his own lusts. How desperately we need to keep our thoughts upon the Lord, upon the Word of God. As long as GOD is with us we shall have Power to endure with Him, and in fact with all those who are on the journey with us
This young couple to the left have yet endured to remain together to become the older couple on the right! Not without the suffering of each other's foibles, failings, and differences. How has it come to be? BECAUSE as I have often witnessed to - JESUS lives in each of our lives, and gave us the strength and reason to be FAITHFUL, first to HIM, and then to each other. Oh JOY! No one and nothing down here on earth is perfect, but God by His Spirit can make it possible for everyone and everything to be endured for His Sake, and for His Honour. In this I WITNESS TO THE SAVING POWER OF CHRIST. Let HIM reign in your heart and you will have POWER to live, and you will also be PART of the power that keeps the worst of the evils from coming upon this world - at least until Jesus comes and takes us to be with him collectively - together with the Holy Spirit Who enables us, and Who in us keeps the worst at bey!

There IS a force that keeps the worst at bey; that keeps Satan from bringing 'the tide of iniquity from coming fully in'. There IS a force that hampers that Man of Sin, who shall come to sweep everything of God away with all deceivableness and lying wonders, from actually showing his hand and from being revealed. That force is the Holy Spirit of God, inhabiting the lives of the First Born, the true ALIVE Church of Christ. Read 2.Thessalonians 2v1-12 As long as the Holy Spirit remains in the world IN the Believers who ARE the Church of the First Born, the WORST cannot come. But they are not many. The greater number have become cool towards God, and that number is growing. YET even THEY are able in the Spirit of God, to hold back the Evil, even SATAN himself. SOON the trumpet WILL sound, and even that small company, the remnant of the Ages, will be called up and away. All restraint will be taken away and the Lawless One will sweep in with his tide of Iniquity to cover and blot out all godliness.

ARE you AWAKE to this? Are you alert?

--oooooooooooooooooooo--

AND WHAT OF TESTIMONY?

We are all here! We who know and love the Lord are standing ready; ready to do great exploits for Him before the Trumpet Sounds! We are on Guard against that day, with our sword in our hand as we go about our work and business; as we minister to the children about us, and as we witness to those with whom we must trade and do our work. You ask, But are ALL standing? Perhaps not ALL, but those that ARE keep themselves occupied and ready. Especially our general and domestic staff are a mixed bag - and even some of the School's teachers

Times are HARD in Kenya. Hard also all around us where we are. The year has proceeded month by month with spasmodic showers of rain, teasingly unhelpful, whilst the earth has dried out, and set concretely around the roots of crops, crushing, strangling, and killing them. Many have died together with their livestock from starvation. The skies are cloudy, often grey, but they do not carry rain - the rivers remain dry, the lakes shrinking, the water tables sinking ever deeper below the roots of trees whose branches themselves like hardened arteries bring less and less life above the ground. The great Mahogany Tree outside Green Cottage, once so dense with luxuriant foliage is now looking starved, its branches bare and drooping, its leaves sparse, limp, and failing. All our trees begin to look the same. The lawns are green, but all above them seems prematurely aged, deprived of life. For us in Eldoret we still have some water supply from local underground sources, but none can tell how long they will hold up. We are like a desert being born. But our weather men say it will RAIN heavily in October - a Tsunami of Rain they say, an EL NINO of rain, that will drench and flood, and maybe of itself also take more lives! The crops have failed, money is short nationally, and in the months ahead we are told shops may become empty, - and thus our stomachs also. For the moment all remains relatively normal in Eldoret Town and environs, but we cannot say this will continue unless God intervenes. Not a good prospect for us, for Kenya, Africa, and the World. Prices are obviously continuing to climb. We are unable to buy what we once did. Tighter and tighter draws the communal belt around us all. The Lean years are upon us. Life goes on.

HERE IS A PHOTO OF EMILY AND STEVE with their little son, at home in Drakeley Cottage.

Yesterday Emily had gone to Nakuru to attend a Court Case against one of her younger brothers who is accused of Manslaughter against another teenager. On leaving the Court in the late afternoon Emily took a Matatutu, a local minibus taxi to come home the 160 kilometers. The taxi was packed with about 14 people, and as they all neared Eldoret, about 10 kilometres distant, and about 9p.m. at night, the driver lost control and the taxi ran off the road and rolled a number of times into a gully. Emily was thrown violently about with all the others, though fortunately perhaps a bit jammed together in the taxi. Her mouth and chin was cut about, and she had bruises, but fortunately no breakages. She was in a state of shock by the time she got to Eldoret finally, and to Hospital for a check up. Very frightening for her, and also of course for Steve who was anxious not knowing why she was so late getting home. We Thank the Lord for protecting her and sparing her life.

Today is Saturday, 19th September. Everyone has eaten lunch, and will eat supper. Most of our bills have been paid, but we have not yet seen funds for Monday onwards, or for salaries of our workers. It is a strange situation to be in. One that has recurred again and again in the year behind us. YET we live! And TRULY, ' NOW, may Israel (the people of God) say, if had not been for the Lord we would have been destroyed.' Pray for us even today as you read this. I am confident in knowing that BEFORE we called, and before we have shared the LORD has attended to our needs, and that help is on the way - help that cannot be anything else that miraculous proof of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in Whose Name we forever pray to the Father in Heaven.

We pray always for you all. May He forever be close to you, to comfort, encourage and sustain you till He comes or Calls.

In His Love and Grace

John and Esther

.

LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY

1969 IN MASENO, WESTERN KENYA. Yes, it IS me sporting a beard - but it did not stay long. To the left is a Bible School friend, Elijah Akhahenda, and to the right is Eveyline Echenje. We were all part of what was known as 'The Roaving Team' a group of young people often out and about at week-ends sharing the Gospel in Schools and Villages. Elijah is in the USA with his family now-a-days. We had some great times together. I had no idea, when this photo was taken, that I would become involved with children, or that Testimony Faith Homes would ever happen. BUT it was at a week-end retreat just BEFORE that the Lord spoke to my heart. I had been feeling homesick! I had been in Kenya seven months. I had not found it easy, as it had not turned out as I had hoped. Instead of full time evangelism I found myself in charge of mission administration and also with a lot of idle time on my hands. Surely I had not come to Kenya as a part time book- keeper! During the the week-end an elderly pastor from Dagenham, Essex, UK (Afred Webb) who was visiting us took me on one side, and said 'John don't let the enemy depress you. I feel in the Spirit of God that you are to stay and do something special.' By the following year I found myself father to a gang of 28 destitute boys between 12 and 16, and by June of that year I became engaged to Esther, then teaching in Machakos 400 kilometres away. We married on 14th August 1971. She has indeed proved to be worth more than 'rubies' as a wife and mother. Our love for each other has grown over the many years until the present, and we can only recomend to all those who have embarked on such a union to persevere, and patiently work at it to perfection. The blessing thus achieved will be great. Truly 38 years seem like yesterday - though we certainly don't look like that anymore. And now we see Michael our own 3rd child married at last at 35.In February 1972 we travelled to England with one of our younger boys, Johanna Nanjelo, and later that year, in June, the first of our very own children (Steven) was born at Truro Hospital. THEN on our return to Kenya, we moved our Home, and the 28 children, to our present site in Eldoret, to Testimony House, and slowly grew, and GREW unti today! More than 250 have come and gone, and more than 14o in residence right now. MOST of all of us came together on the 29th August to Celebrate and to Remember, and to CATCH UP. It was a GREAT day and we had a truly Wonderful time together - the best ever. During the morning hours we met in the School Hall, all crammed in together, for a Service of Thanksgiving & Remembrance (children past and present, and all our current staff members). We had not advertised, not wanting a big public event, and had not invited guests, feeling this might spoil the sense of 'family', and I think I was right. Many old friends had hoped to join with us but were unable due to pressure of work and other circumstances, and many sent Greetings of Love and Thanksgiving including Francis and Elain WAINAINA first Dad and Mum of Jacaranda Cottage, Harry SPEEDIE who set up the Mechanics Training School we had, AND ALSO Uncle Stan and Auntie Doreen HYDE now in their 80s. Also more Greetings from the POTTERS at Tyndale School, South Australia, and many many others from all over the world.
Wilson Swayi our first boy, who was 14 when I found him, was first to stand and give a very moving testimony of the circumstances of his early life, and the way Testimony Faith Homes brought him to Jesus, and to Salvation. He is now 54, married with one son, working for us after many years in Nairobi. Many others followed him, including Joshua and Miriam Mbithi who were Mum and Dad in Jacaranda Cottage for NINETEEN years, and also Anthony Ndungu, Principal of Testimony School who has just celebrated 25 years with us. There were songs, choirs, encouragements - and then finally the Word of God was brought to us by Moses Ongonga, himself 52, married with two children, and 2nd pastor of one of the biggest Churches in Eldoret with a congregation of more than 4,000. Moses was 14 when he joined us. Many were moved by the Holy Spirit to respond to the Altar Call.
AFTER the Service we all repaired to the School Dining Room where we all sat down and shared a beautiful meal together as a family as we shared and chatted. THEN at 2p.m. we returned to the School Hall for a time of Entertainment put on by the children now resident with us. House by House each family came on stage and gave a presentation to the assembled family.

It was fantastic. Esther had made a CAKE, and this was cut and shared by all. What a Day.

During the evening those who had grown up in respective homes returned to eat once more and to spend time with the family members still growing up there.

SUNDAY morning our usual Service remained in place, only on this occassion another of our Old Boys, Wyckliffe Ondanga also in his 50s spoke to us. Wykliffe came to us when he was 15, and on completing his Secondary Education entered Bible College where he attained a B.Th. He worked for a while with a Christian School, and then also for us, becoming at one point Head master of our Secondary School. He was present with his dear wife Miriam who is also our Nursery School Headmistress. Wyckliffe spoke on the words PRESS ON, and really pressed it home to us all. A most encouraging and motivational Word.

Then Lunch for all the Homes children and staff and old boys and girls before departures. It had been a most enjoyable and memorable occassion. And NOW? Where shall we go from here? Surely whatever it will be, it will be hand in hand with the God that has held our hand and led us for this first 40 years together. We, Esther and I, were especially delighted to have Michael, and his wife Janet still with us, AND Steven, Anjela, and their children, AND our daughter Elisabeth, all with us from England. They had of course come for the Wedding, and stayed over. Wonderful to experience so much of our past with our present. But only a SHADOW of that Great DAY that is yet soon to come, when all those in Christ past and present at HIS Coming, will find themselves instantaneouly with Him AND with one another.

EVERYONE has gone now, either to their homes, or to College, or School. The Weather remains cool, and for the most part overcast, but little or no rain. Eldoret's river is just a mere trickle, the Country as a whole still in the midst of droubt. The Meteorology Department still warns us of EL NINO rains just ahead, and thousands of people in low areas have already been moved to higher ground to avoid them being swept away in expected floods!!! Will it actually come? No one knows. One anxiety quietened by the expectation of another. One political gaff put out of mind by yet another one - this has always been the way things go from day - and not just in Kenya. We can SEE the world is suffering all together from similar maladies. Any time now we might well expect to see the Man of Sin spoken of in 2. Thessalonians 2 revealed - should we. It rather looks as if the Church of Christ will have been called up to meet the King in the clouds before that happens. But on the other hand we ought to expect such a man to already be standing in the wings waiting to step onto the world stage - we might just have a glimpse of him..............WATCH and PRAY.....the time IS very much at hand.

Finally let me just apologise for being unable to meet my Saturday appointment for the forgoing weeks.......just could not get time with so much else going on in addition to daily routines. From today I hope to be able to be back on track. We trust that if you are one of those reading from us on a regular basis that you will continue to pray much for us. We remain in a time of great need and pressure on many fronts. Attacked and buffetted on many sides, but still alive and standing, and looking ahead into the NEXT 40 years - we must be occupied UNTIL He Comes.

Our Love and Thanksgiving to you all for your love, care and fellowship always in Jesus

John and Esther

Note of Pictures numbered as from the one at top of the page downwards as 1 - 8

1. Elijah Akhahenda / John Green / Evelyn Etchenje - 1969 before we began TFH


2. Group of the first gang of boys - July 1970 = Maseno


3. Past & Present 'TFH Family Members' at the Anniversary Lunch 29/8/09 - 300+


4. Pastor Wycliffe Ondanga urging us to PRESS ON at the 40th Anniversary


5. Some NEWCOMERS, already happy and settled


6. Drakely Cottage Family members on stage to entertain during the 40th Anniversary


7. Tyndale Family outside their house


8. A view of the School

SORRY my Server went off during the day and I have had to delay sending. It may be that on printing some of the pictures might not come down, since I have not had chance to check. I will do so soon and make necessary adjustment if needed. Thanks for patience.