DID HE, OR DID HE NOT?

AT LAST, on Tuesday 9th April, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta was Sworn in as Kenya's 4th President.
And YES, he did hold a Bible in his right hand as he did so - and not just ANY Bible but one that had been used and owned by his father, the 1st President of Kenya, JOMO Kenyatta.     He also laid his LEFT hand on another Bible held by his wife Margaret Kenyatta to underscore his belief that they would stand together supporting each other.
Hope everyone is now happy and satisfied that all that outwardly could be done was done to persuade the watching world that promises made WILL be kept.
BUT WE ALL KNOW that promises can be broken, even the best of them!    Usually on the day we make them it is all 'Smiles and Good Will' but once put to trial by disappointment, unfaithfulness and stress the smiles and the happiness can fade away, and those initial words prove breakable and of no account!!  Consider how many men and women standing before God at an altar, swearing their life long constancy and faithful loyalty to each other, later find a reason to FORGET, NEGATE, and totally ABANDON their words and Vows.     Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones once wrote - 'What right have we to expect nations to stand by their promises and to keep their vows to each other, if men and women do not do it even in this most solemn and sacred union of marriage?     We must start with ourselves, we must start at the Beginning.  We must observe the Law of God (not Moses) in our personal and individual lives.'
A man is only as good as his 'word'!     It used to be that a man's 'word' was his bond - his bondage - that which bound him to being true to it.      This was considered the proof of a man's integrity, strength and quality of moral character.       In those days - how far back should we go - a promise was a promise, a VOW was a Vow, and to break either was considered the greatest shame and sacrilege possible.      TODAY, with the world divorce rate rising every month, this concept and confidence seems to have been swept away in a continuing 'mud-slide' of moral decline.      By the way I read this week that one Nation has now passed legislation in relation to marriage/partnership of any kind - that it should be for a Agreed and and Certificated period of TWO years only!     It would seem that in THAT nation no one can keep their word longer, and it may well be that it cannot be kept for even shorter intervals of time!!!     Has Humanity, after thousands of years of progressive thought and learning, now entered into its dotage, and begun to decline into a universal condition close to Alzheimer's?
As a Christian, I believe in MARRIAGE.    I believe in it as a sacred contract to be arranged in front of God to be durable for life between one man and one woman.      I believe it ought to be indissoluble; a secure and reliable foundation on which to build a refuge strong and endurable; a 'family' home where the warmth and  dependability of love and welcome may always be found.      The building block of our world society, interlocking us into a network of conformable and dependable units working together for each others good.
TODAY we have 'partnerships' instead of marriage, partners instead of husbands and wives, and progeny instead of sons and daughters.       Soon Marriage and Family will be outmoded by the unrecognisable.
OUTSIDE of Religion there may be a reason NOT to see Marriage as something special and sacred.   And, since religion is somewhat challenged and considered out-dated, it no  longer has a voice that is heard.  SOON  a man and a woman, two men, two women, or whatever other union will be fashionable enough to try out, will all be as 'acceptable' as each other.   'Marriage' if any longer in the common vocabulary, will mean nothing more than a casual, sexual relationship of no particular gender, and of an indeterminate, self determined length.     THIS is where the world is going.     This is where the Government of the United Kingdom is going, in front of the Queen.          She has declared her stand as a Christian, but if the new Marriage Bill goes through SHE will have to sign the Bill to make it LAW......She HAS signed other Bills, some quite recent, that are definitely NOT based upon or encouraging to a GODLY life.      
CHRISTIANS, AND ALL OTHER GOD BELIEVING PEOPLE  -   WAKE UP, stand up, and cry out aloud when you see your Faith and Belief being eroded and endangered by an UNBELIEVING world system which is universally directed and in the hands of an EVIL spirit;  Satan himself.

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OUR THREE LITTLE  GUESTS FROM ELDORET'S STREETS, ARE STILL WITH US! They are all very happy and well behaved in fact. Our Social Worker and the house-parents have done their best to put them at ease and encourage their confidences regarding their past and present history. Very LITTLE has been gleaned so far. We have TWO weeks to try and unravel their past and to find a home or family that might belong to them. One week left - will we succeed? Maybe not, and then this will mean we will have to keep them a while longer, perhaps till they have completed school!

We expect the other Homes to have been having a similar experience. NEVERTHELESS, we are determined to put an end to this 'traffic' from country to town, AND to find a way to clean up the street of stragglers, beggars, AND children out to make a living. Our NEXT Meeting will be on MONDAY next week. We will keep you posted as to how we propose to go and, and what progress is made.

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ON FRIDAY THIS WEEK,  Schools closed across the State for the 'Easter Holiday Break'!!   All rather cock-eyed this year because of the election and so on.     It is usually a short Break of some  two to three weeks.  (We shall re-open on the 6th May.)    UNLIKE all other holidays it will be purely recreational without any EXTRA TUITION intruding into the freedom of the students to just relax and take a rest from Books.     This is by LAW now, and is a totally new departure from what has been practise before.     

THUS our School is now empty of its 800 students.     The four Homes are of course still very much full, plus a few more than usual as our 'family members' studying away in College and University will be home as well.     House-parents will be busier that usual since they will have to find ways and means to help the holidays to pass well and happily all day - where before there were still EXTRA studies to be done.

This year it will be more difficult still since the RAINS seem to have been more, and prolonged.

We have the mornings free at present, but as from 3 or 4p.m. the RAINS come heavily down and continue to do so well into the late evening - and again later in the night till early morning.   The world for us is a WET  one just now.     Good for the GARDENS, and bit depressing at times for the COWS and even the chickens, who seem to cluck and jostle each other less on wet and sunless days.   Maybe the roar of the raindrops on the iron roofs of their shelters is just too loud and oppressive !!!   Its simply POURING DOWN with deep eruptions of truly menacing thunder and lightening as I type this!!    We are ALL holed up in our houses for sure.

This rain has also SLOWED DOWN work on the School Swimming pool which ought to have been completed by now.    Still a lot of MUD around, and this means finishing the surrounding area of the pool has almost come to a standstill.    We are hoping all will be complete by the end of the month if the Weather-men are right and the Rains cease by the end of next week.    We shall see.

OUR SON MANU is celebrating his 29th Birthday with a Party for his friends and work mates today in his own apartment.     It will be rather WET.......his apartment being quite small he had made arrangements to have the party in the garden!!!      He expects about 20 guests and it will be a kind of Farewell to his Youth, he says,- since next year he will join the pre-elderly 30s!!!!     His actual Birthday is Monday the 15th.       The Family,(Daryl and co, me and Esther and possible even Helen) will have our own celebratory supper with him on Monday evening here at home in Green Cottage.

TOMORROW I will be sharing the Word of God at our Sunday Morning Fellowship with the Family - some 140 kids and 20 staff and others.     We usually begin with Worship and Prayer prior to Breaking Bread together.     There are hymns and singing and testimonies, and then the Word.

'I have gone astray like a lost sheep!

Seek thy servant!

For I do not forget thy commandments

Psalm 119v176

THE ONE THAT LOVES ME SAID TO ME,  'I will NEVER leave thee nor forsake thee!'

BUT I STRAYED!   I wandered away from Him until I WAS all but lost, unable to find a way back to the safety of His arms.   I was in despair - as a Christian!

In the original GREEK in which the New Testament is written Hebrews 13v5 has God assuring those who have come to know Him through faith in Christ Jesus - 

I WILL NOT IN ANY WAY FAIL YOU, NOR GIVE YOU UP,

nor leave you without support!

I will not, I will NOT, 

I will NOT in any degree leave yo helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you down

(relax my hold o you)

ASSUREDLY NOT! 

CAN someone who knows Jesus STILL wander away and get lost?     I DID!

And getting into a subsequent mess, I cried out for him to FIND me  -   again, NOT because I had kept his commandments, but because I still BELIEVED in them; that they were good, and meant to guide my life.    YES, Jesus, to whom I belonged, in whose hand I had put my own, and who had secured my forgiveness and salvation with his own Blood, had promised NEVER to let me go.

WE HAVE ALL SINNED, AND FOLLOWED OUR OWN WAY (Isaiah 53)   AND we will ALL suffer temptation to go on doing so until we DIE.    SIN is in our FLESH, - in the stuff we are MADE of.

God did not put it there - but it wormed its way in .......

SO we WILL all find ourselves in a tight place sometime!    Where will my help come from?

Psalm 121v2 assures me that - 'My help cometh from the Lord who made the Heavens and the Earth.

TURN TO JESUS -  The very one that gave his life for us on the Cross.    He will not forget you or give you up,    HE will rescue us from our going astray.   He WILL save us to the uttermost!

AND EVEN MORE THAN THIS PSALM 121 TELLS US that HE is our Keeper, the One that never ceases to care for ME - He will watch over me SLEEPLESSLY.

When He sees me straying He will follow after me, and will BRING ME BACK to my true home.

HE WILL PRESERVE ME FROM EVIL;  He will preserve my soul!    FOREVER!

IS YOUR HEART HEAVY TODAY?

Are you heavily born down with sins that have separated you from God's Love?

Even Jesus felt forgotten of God as he hung on the Cross.   WHY?    Because of my sin, Because of YOUR sin, that He carried for us - which ultimately HID him from God; from his Father's sight.

HE said on the cross UNDER the thick blanket of OUR SINS,    WHY have you forsaken /left/ departed from ME.        The sins that you BARE hide you from my sight, prevent me even from being SEEN by you.

BE SURE JESUS KNOWS how it feels to be ALONE ad CONDEMNED.

He took YOUR trouble and MINE - that SIN that so easily sticks to us - and made it to BE his own.

He knew how that sin of ours FELT when it touched the purity and holiness of GOD.   He Cried out!

My God!     My GOD!

AND SO DAVID cried out too, desperately to the only one he knew that could help him. He cried -

SEEK THY SERVANT

DAVID knew as well as Jesus did that He was born to Serve God, and that SIN Had taken him out of the way and hidden him (made him to get lost from God's sight)

'I am HERE Lord, under this SIN, behind this SIN!    SEEK for me - LOOK for me, for I am Your Servant - I am here only to do YOUR will and to KEEP your word

Why are you cast down oh my soul - and WHY are you so disquieted within me? - Psalm 42v5

LOOK AWAY TO JESUS.......remember HIM!

CONFESS YOUR SIN, your back-sliding - the error that has come between you, leading you astray and AWAY....

ADMIT TO HIM that you WANT to be his servant - that you ARE his servant, and that you acknowledge and accept that His Commandment, His Word and Way IS good.

HOPE THOU IN GOD ALONE.

He is already looking for you - seeking you out.

He will never give up on you, neither forsake or forget you - if you have called on his name.

AND IF YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN HIM?    If you have not believed on His Name?  What then?

CRY out to Him NOW.   Accept Him as Lord and Saviour, the ONE who has purchased your Forgiveness with His own life blood, making you to BE a child of God.

THEN YOU WILL BE HELD ON TO - NEVER LET GO OF - NEVER AGAIN TO BE GIVEN UP AS DEAD OR CONSIDERED TO BE PERMANENTLY LOST.      You will be SAFE somehow, somewhere in the Saviour's Arms.

KEEP CLOSE TO JESUS.     Our prayers ascend daily for you, day by day - not ALL of you every day, but day by day we pray for some of you without forgetting any.      Take good care and be of good cheer.

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol