AUSTRALIAN INPUT 2010

THIS IS THE 2010 TYNDALE
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL MISSION TEAM - 35 of them, including staff and two parents. Mike Potter, the Headmaster, is third from the left (top) and his dear wife Dani far right (bottom). All and every one worked themselves to a frizzle with zeal and zest. This has been the 5th Team to come out to us, bi-annually, going back to 2000. ALL have always impressed us with their excellent spirit and willingness to put their all into their work and fellowship. They have worked with paint brushes, spades, machetes, saws, hammers, their bare hands and muscle. They have provided needed Repairs and Redecorations we could not afford, and contributed to medical and recreational needs, and most of all made it possible for us to initially commence and build the first of the two Homes put up in 2007 - Tyndale Cottage. Their outgoing friendship have encouraged and uplifted our children as well as giving them Role Models and Examples to emulate. All this inspired we are sure, by the Holy Spirit, and a Vision and Purpose put by him into the Potters.

THIS MORNING they have left us.

As usual, as the buses came to pick them up and return them to Nairobi en route for Australia once more, there were emotional farewells, with floods of tears, and loving hugs as friendships made were suddenly challenged by sudden separation..............

THIS YEAR their main task has been (for us) the building of a six foot tall fence made of tin roofing sheets between Jacaranda Cottage and the neighbouring plot - some 100+ metres! The old rotting timber fence had first to be pulled down and the undergrowth cleared. It was a big task.
They worked hard and produced for the first time SECURITY for that compound, and safety too. Yesterday, as we all admired the completed effort, I suddenly was reminded of the words of an old

refrain 'Don't fence me in'.. I listened this morning to the 1944

rendering by Bing Crosby - very interesting.
'Oh give me land, lots of land under starry skies above'

Don't fence me in!

Let me ride through the wide open country that I Love;

Don't fence me in !

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,

and listen to the murmur of the cotton wood trees

Send me off for ever, but I ask you please,

DON'T FENCE ME IN!

As we admired the new Fence these words just flashed into mind. We were building this fence to keep wild dogs and even snakes OUT of the Jacaranda Cottage compound with its three Families comprising some 90 or more children and adults. It was meant protect, and also secure. We thought it would also discourage some of our more adventurous children from finding a way out of the compound without being discouraged. It was built in love for the good of those it surrounded.

BUT the words of the song suddenly were there to declare how opposed we all are to being 'fenced in - even out'. Many years ago when I was a teenager I remember watching a sheep nose its way under a wire mesh fence in order to get at some lush grass just out of reach. The fence was just a metre away from the edge of chalk cliffs more than a 100 feet above rocks and crashing surf. Leaving some of its wool on the wire the willful sheep forced its way through, but as it settled to eat the ground crumbled beneath her and she, with the cliff, hurtled downwards into the roaring sea below. She was not glad for the fence; she had been blind to it, and unable to accept its restriction. She broke free from it and paid with her life. Yes, and the Bible says WE, like sheep, have all gone astray and followed our own way....willfully, willingly blind and unheeding to where we are actually going.

And immediately to mind also sprang Isaiah 5 and the words concerning God's Vineyard....

My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it

with the choicest vine, and a built tower in it, and also a wine press therein.

And He looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

Knowing our proneness to sin, God has done His best to keep us safe, and to secure our lives pending the time we might come to fruition and the knowledge of Salvation......but not all are glad or even appreciative of His Love and Mercy - they seek for their freedom and the removal of every restriction. We see this in our children as they grow up. As they mature and progressively discover their own strengths and the attractions of the world around them, they seek to press against the laws that kept and protected them from their birth. Often they shake off what they believe are 'shackles' and jump over the 'fences' into supposed Liberty and Freedom. And then........ . Well of course God is even then Merciful and Compassionate, but we also know His Spirit will not always struggle with a Man's Self-will (Genesis 6v3). And then....?

In verse 4 of Isaiah 5 God asks this question - a question often asked even perhaps by parents of their children, or a friend........

What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

NOW I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard!

I will take away the hedge and the wall - THE FENCE

The ground shall be trodden down.

It will be laid waste.

It shall not be tended or dug.

Briers and thorns shall grow upon it.

No rain shall come upon it.

(It will face destruction)

WITHOUT the Fence - the WORD - of God we will be defenceless, and facing ruin and desolation. Without the Fence we are without protection, without prosperity, without all well-being. Without the WORD, Yes, without JESUS in our lives, we are without Leadership and Guidance. We shall be open to every marauding and destroying influence, overwhelmed and encroached upon by every devouring evil.

As all this flashed through my mind I wondered what would happen to the three Christian Homes now so safe and protected if we removed the FENCE - the REAL FENCE that encircled and protected all the souls that lived and safely grew within them. What would happen if the Word of God that governs Testimony Faith Homes as a whole were to be torn down, or in some other way removed or allowed to be depleted or forgotten? How important for us in Testimony Faith Homes, and indeed for each one of us as individuals and perhaps Leaders in our Christian lives, to make sure the JESUS is up front in our lives, His Word surrounding and demonstratively seen keeping our lives.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS CONTINUED through the week - and it has remained COLD.

A five ton truck bringing firewood for the school boilers has just arrived - managing to pull down a good part of one of our trees as it did so. Wood is expensive now as you would expect in a Country like ours where almost every forest has been exploited and robbed of its trees for purely selfish purposes with little or NO thought for replacing what has been taken away. Soon the government may put a total ban on a great deal of business related to timber. This will affect a large sector of the community still reliant on fuel such as charcoal.

THIS WEEK in the Daily Nation, it has been announced that with immediate effect ALL NEW private dwelling houses and commercial buildings such as schools will NOT be given Planning Permission unless they make provision in the Building Plans for a Solar Heating System. NOT to do so will result in fines upwards of 1000 pounds sterling. Additionally we are warned that ALL such houses and institutions both private and commercial will be expected to now plan to provide themselves with Solar Heating within the given Grace Period of FIVE years. It will be costly, and I am not sure what percentage of the population will be able to accommodate this rule. BUT I do believe it is a good and necessary move. For once I concur with the Government! We need to conserve energy against diminishing supplies. Lack of trees have been partly responsible for our own change of climate and reduction in rain fall, which in turn is affecting hydro electric power.

Have a Blessed and Useful Week in Jesus Name

John and Esther