IN FORGETTING OUR NEIGHBOUR WE FORGET GOD.

FORTY YEARS AGO Moses was in the 2nd term of a two years Course with the Nairobi Christian Industrial Training Centre.   He was then about 18.    He had come to stay with us five years before having already completed his Primary Education.   I still have a letter he wrote to us that year, written in the midst of his Course -
'........and what you said really burned my heart; as you said that you and Mum want me to have a good and clean life, in which God can Bless me abundantly with joy, a good wife, and a happy home and family in the future.  I tell you Daddy, I thank you very much for the word that you have been preaching to us.   I really know that my body is a part of Christ's Body, and that it is the temple of God.    All around us here in Majengo (a part of Nairobi) all the young people are occupied with sex and prostitution.   I am so glad because I was Saved before I came here.      My life is hidden in the Lord - I truly cannot join HIM to a prostitute.'
IN MY DIARY I had written - 'When Moses went to Nairobi in January this year, we really did fear for him. The locality in Majengo was very bad, and notoriously immoral.   It brimmed over with fleshly temptations of all kinds.  We have followed him in prayer, but we have come to realise the terrors facing many parents to day, who watch their children leave the shelter of home and family, and Christian influence, for the wide open world in which they must seek to stand, and eventually make a living.  (much worse now in 2014)

It has been a GREAT JOY to us to see Moses standing so firm upon the Rock of his Foundation, our LOVELY JESUS.   Praise His Name.    We hear that Moses is continuing to win many to Christ in the BIG City.'

Moses went on to complete his Course in Painting & Signwriting and soon afterwards married the love of his life.    He became a teacher in his craft, and eventually a Lecturer.      But the real GOAL was always to WITNESS for Christ.       He now has a Church in Nairobi, Bishop of many churches he has himself planted and watered with the Word of God. He has also a Bible College AND a Children's Home, with his headquarters in another grimy and depressed area of Nairobi.     He has held on to his Faith in Christ, held on to the wife of his youth, and has enjoyed a family full of children and happiness.    God has walked with him and answered all his prayers.    Now 58 he has not faltered.   He remains a LIGHT in a dark place.

INTERESTINGLY my Diary reports, on the same day in 1974 on another Letter received.  Perhaps it might be still relevant to include part of what was written here.
'NOW HOW ABOUT THIS?   (it begins)!    This is an extract from a recent Letter sent to us by Christian friends  -

".....We do not find anywhere in the Word that we should 

found Schools, Hospital, Orphanages etc..., to win the lost.

It has been said that the lost will not listen to us if we take no thought

 for temporal things, but this is not true.

Ministers are to preach the Word.   It is easy to get side tracked.

Be careful about this!"

Wherever your opinion may be in respect of this comment, I feel that a ministry such as ours can and does contribute to the winning of souls - After all just consider how many MOSES has been able to win?

IN 1974 MY Diary rambled on a little to say........

'Many established church denominations ARE involved in social work to such an extent that they have left preaching the gospel.   This is true.   HOWEVER, we feel that if more Born Again Believers were engaged in Social Work then much MORE would effectively be done for Christ.   Social Work without God is work without faith.    It is useless, and from the world problems around us we see the obvious truth of this.   BUT Social Work WITH God demonstrates work WITH Faith - it is total involvement of God and Man with Man!

Testimony Faith Homes is a Gospel furthering work seeking to further the Gospel in and through the lives of those God brings to our door, as well as through the written and spoken Word of God.   We feel it best for God to care for the poor and needy than for the Devil to do so!

We do feel this is an 'easy' task  (we would still say the same today).   There are heartaches and sorrows many times,     Not every child responds to God.   Each is an individual.   Some actually run away from us as thieves, leaving us feeling failures even though the 'seed' of God's Word was sown in them, and they leave still with more than they initially came with.     We continue to pray on for them, knowing that the LORD still seeks after them.'     And MOSES yet stands in sinful Nairobi  -  not ALL the ground is hard, not all the seed sown is without harvest.

FORTY YEARS AGO!    .  And today in 2014 there are still heartaches, hurts and tears because of those who stop their ears from hearing and their eyes from seeing,    BUT as we look at those who have left us WITH Jesus in their hearts and lives, and even those who left without believing, only to be found of Him later, -- THEN our heart is filled with Joy and all our sorrows are as nothing compared.   In the last THREE WEEKS we have had to come to terms with possible closure of this ministry!     Funds were still coming, but every month outgoings have been more than receipts.  Bills began to mount up.      This had been a trend for more than six month's in fact, and there was need for us to KNOW what WE should do.      Well even the disciples got to the point of seeing the possibility of the ship going down with all hands - THEY also cried out..        And in the midst of OUR crying out the Lord laid our worry to rest, and the 'storm' of apprehension we had been enduring subsided.   'Oh ye of little faith!"     Yes, even after forty years of similar upsets and challenges.     BUT how wonderful that HE is able to PROVE HIMSELF in being with us, and in having everything under His control.  And we thank all those who work hand in hand with Him to give us such evidence.

TWO NIGHTS ago we suffered a severe electrical storm of wind and rain.   It continued through the night, died down to a cold and cloudy day following, and now TODAY the sun is shining once more, though there ARE clouds around.    Might be the early beginning of the RAINY SEASON, or maybe just a little hic-up in what has been the best summer weather for many years.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS AIRLINER?    Where did it and its 250 odd passengers vanish away to?
For a WEEK the world has waited for NEWS.      How could such a huge Airliner and all its passengers just disappear?     MANY suggestions have been made.   TODAY we are told it was in fact HIJACKED!     Yet still no sign of the plane or the passengers.     STILL GUESSING!    And this is yet another instance of world insecurity.     DID it CRASH due to some technical problem or human error? Was it sucked into some kind of 'black hole'?     Was it kidnapped by Aliens?  
NOTHING LIKE it has happened in such an overwhelming way before.   Oh yes an occasional solo flight in a small plane maybe, but nothing on this SCALE.     This is frightening.    Will it happen again? Will the aircraft or the passengers EVER be found?     We imagine the distress and horror of the relatives and friends still waiting for NEWS.     What will this do for Air Travel in general?   Will FEAR grip potential passengers.      Truly our World is beset with increasing challenges to security and peaceful living.  Keep these verses in Luke 21 verses 25-26 as a constant reminder that time is running out.....

'There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars.

And upon the earth there will be distress (trouble and anguish) of nations

in bewilderment and perplexity, without resources, left wanting.

Embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn

at the roaring of the tossing sea.

Men swooning away or expiring with fear, apprehension and dread and expectation

of the things that are coming on the world;

for the very powers of the heavens will be shaken and caused to totter.

BUT WE who trust and put our confidence in God and in His Word, even JESUS, need not fear nor be made to shrink or turn back from pressing forward in the Great Enterprise of bringing in the Kingdom of our God.     This, dear friends, is the time to AWAKE and SHOUT aloud for God, and for our KING,

Breath deeply in, Look up, and ARISE and SHINE for God, as we expect the coming week.  May He ever comfort, strengthen and give you FAITH

John & Esther and Daryl Green