LOVE YOUR PERSECUTOR AS YOUR FRIEND!

THIS IS A PORTRAIT OF A GREAT SOLDIER AND STATESMAN.   He lived between 1554 and 1586.    His Name is Sir Phillip Sydney.  I want to use him as an example of unselfishness today,

Philippians 2v4

Let each of you esteem and be concerned

not just for him/her self, but also for others

PAUL tells us, as followers of Jesus Christ, that we should always put the need and interest of others in front of our own.  WHY?    Because this is what Jesus Himself DID.  He put your need and mine in front of His own.   He was willing to be made uncomfortable, and even to be put in the wrong, to do so.

Matthew tell us, in his Gospel chapter 20 and verse 28, that 'The son of man, (Jesus) came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life to be a ransom for many.'

CONSTANTLY - all through His life on earth, Jesus put Himself last, and others first.   He left very great riches and honour in Heaven, exchanging them for very great poverty and dishonour on Earth in order that WE might become very rich and honourable in Heaven - 2.Corinthians 8v9.

'For you know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor -

that you through His poverty might become rich.'

JESUS did not seek material riches on Earth for Himself, or for us.    Even in Heaven He was not what we might call 'materially rich' - NO, He was instead rich in spiritual virtues;  and in all those things that God Himself treasured and esteemed.      He left all these behind when He came to Earth, and made Himself poor in an effort to make US rich in that which pleased God.

SIR PHILLIP SYDNEY was a Christian; he sought to live by the standards set by Christ Himself.

He was a Poet, and also a famous and successful Politician and Soldier, well known in England the Country of his birth.    But in all that he did he tried always to put Christ's example first.   He was loved and respected by all, and when he died in battle, he was buried with great honour in the midst of much sorrow by the people.

He died fighting for his Country, shot in his thigh by a musket ball.    He was only 32.    It took him twenty two painful and fever filled days to die.     During his suffering a fellow soldier brought him a cup of water to assuage his awful thirst - but he refused to taste it.    Turning to a comrade in arms, lying wounded by his side Sir Sydney said

'Here take this cup!

Your necessity, your need, is great than mine.'

Phillip died shortly afterwards, still in great thirst, demonstrating to the last his determination to copy his Master, Jesus, in putting the need of others first in front of his own.     History assures us that Phillip Sydney was a very materially rich young man.   Clever, intelligent, and holding high and trusted 

office in his nation's Government.       Yet he was not proud or arrogant, but rather a man of high honour and integrity,who did not have a high opinion of himself.   He had seen himself but a sinner like all others, understanding his own need of forgiveness, and realising his own need to forgive and reach out with God's Love to ALL men.      He was an uncommon and unusual young man - but he let JESUS into his life - not just in theory, but also in practise.    He was brave and courageous.

He is barely remembered, if at all, for his literary, political and military fame - BUT his example in being seen to live like Christ his Lord and Master has never been forgotten, and remains undimmed as a lesson for all.

SO NOW, if God lives in MY heart, in the Name of Jesus, how will I act toward the need of my brother or my sister?     Shall I turn away, looking first to my own comfort?     Shall I find excuse to accuse them, and rage against them, because I some offence - or shall I forgive them and pray for them?    

JUST NOW, and for more than two years, there has been a war being fought between two of our missionary families.     A member of one, abused a member of the other.     Self opinion and hurt has given birth to roots of bitterness, wrath, even anger.      Neither side is truly ready to 'lay down their arms'  (those weapons of our sinful world) in favour of turning away in forgiveness of the offence caused..     They were close friends at one time, now almost deadly enemies, and that after much loving council and prayer from their brethren.       But the GRACE of God is not demonstrated in full.

My enemy, and yours, is loved of God, and God let Christ even die for him or her.    Do I want to judge him unworthy?      Even in my enemy's life a purpose is being worked out, a purpose that entails his or her's  final salvation.      MUST any of us insist on our own 'pound of flesh', our own satisfaction and victory against the other?      What WOULD Jesus do?

God says - just let it be - I will revenge!   Meanwhile all you need do is to forgive, love, and trust me to do what is truly Right.     God help US from our 'self - rightness'.     God help us to have love in our hearts for ALL

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IT IS RAINING NOW, AS I TYPE, in Eldoret.     Long may it so continue.   The Rains are VERY late this year, already the Nation is feeling threatened with famine.    Here our Prayer O Lord.

THANK you, all those who prayed, for little baby Abigail - she is crying right now, but not because of Colic which has now eased considerably, but because she had usual Injections at the doctor's yesterday.     She took them them well, today and tomorrow we expected her to have to suffer discomfort.    But she is growing, and her chubby face has learnt suddenly to SMILE!

YES THIS IS OUR SCHOOL SWIMMING POOL.   Do you see the double storey building at the far end?    Well the Builder put a fairly large water storage tank in the room this end under the gable. Immediately below is the School Library AND a Computer Lab.

Two nights ago the Tank BURST open and all the water spilt out and down through the ceiling into the Library and Computer Lab!

You will imagine the mess and damage.    Fortunately the School was already insured for at least part of the expected cost.

THIS IS THE COTTAGE I first lived in on arrival in Maseno, Western Kenya in 1968 - a three bed roomed mud cottage.    The roof was made of iron sheets and was in good condition.  Inside were four simple rooms three of which were bedrooms.   No inside doors or ceilings.  No glass in the exterior windows.   A simple kitchen with no equipment of any kind and an outside toilet - a long drop as it is called - a small shack with a hole in the ground!    The home of a few snakes, bats, rats, and lizards.   BUT it was otherwise clean and well kept.   In August 1969 our first children came to find refuge there and TFH was born.

                                                   

AND THIS IS THE SAME COTTAGE photographed in September 2012, just forty three years later.   We left it looking as above in 1972.     The CHANGE in its appearance is very discouraging, since it only demonstrates the almost total disregard many people have for keeping property cared for and safe.

The roof looks ready to cave in, the whole exterior appearance as of a slum.  Standing in the foreground is WILSON Swayi, the first child I took in, with his son.   He took the photo remembering how things were!

THE FUTURE IS NOT ALWAYS any improvement on the past, but this photo tends to suggest that it CAN be worse !         But we must not condemn.      It does take more than physical care to keep any building as it should be year after year.     Wear and Tear cannot be totally avoided, and without funds over and above ones cost of living to pay for repair and redecoration, things CAN deteriorate.

We are now entering the 6th Month of the year.    It has gone by VERY fast.      God be with you all, and may you always remember those who have gone on before us as shining examples, and Lights not easily extinguished.     Lovingly


John and Esther & Daryl and Carol. 

!                                                                                          

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

THIS PHOTO MIGHT HAVE BEEN TAKEN A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.     I mean, nowadays Kings and Queens hardly dress up at all, and all look the same as an average citizen.   Society generally has altogether changed, and with this change has progressively come 'Political Correctness' - that determination to discipline ourselves so that we do not wilfully demean, vilify, or otherwise offend ANYONE.  Together with this cutting edge we have also seen society deprived of a great deal of its sense of history and grandeur.
The Royal Prince, and possible the next Head of State (King even) of Great Britain recently seems to have put his foot in it, by referring to President Putin of Russia as being like HITLER!    Quite apart from the fact that the Royal Family as a whole and especially the Queen or future King are supposed to keep themselves from commenting on politics of any kind,  it is being seen as almost forgivable for Charles to have made such a comment.    BUT, basically the cause of the comment - Putin's current action in the Crimea - was not without foundation. There was and IS good reason for 'anyone' to make such a comment, so WHY shouldn't they do so if for no other reason than to make a valid statement of sound political opinion.    Surely there should be freedom of speech?     PUTIN has rebuked the Prince today stating that he is historically ignorant! - Not fit to be King!
I know whose comment I am inclined to believe - and it isn't President Putin's.      Political Correctness has hampered and does hamper Freedom of Speech and thought when it is taken too far.   Indeed consecutive Governments in the UK have used this Ideal to slowly muzzle our freedom of expression and even freedom of OPINION.
Prince Charles is about eight years my junior, and although he has come in for a great deal of  criticism in his lifetime, and many hold diverse opinion about his worthiness to be King, YET in many other more common ways he is a product of his Age, and very much aware and unforgetful of the 'freedoms' and social standards in which he was himself brought up.     IF, as I believe we ALL have, he has failed in some aspects of his moral life and humanity,  it does not mean he is a moron, buffoon, or person of little perception concerning the current world in which he lives.      I must confess to finding myself to being very similar in many respects - as a human being born into the '40s.     I have resented the idea of political correctness.   I have refused to give up the freedom of saying what I think!
Somehow it is demeaning to give up this freedom which is surely the inherent right of all humans.     I have always been glad that Prince Phillip, Prince Charles' father also has maintained his ability to speak his mind.      We have become a nation - perhaps a world - of hypocrites, and sycophants!!    One thing I am very sure of, I would not approve of a King or Queen that cannot speak their mind.  Hurrah for Charles!      A very ordinary man, living in a very suppressed and cowardly society, but still FREE enough to speak out.
SINCE he and I were born, in the 1940s we have removed the Death Penalty, corporeal punishment from home and school;  amended unfavourably the Divorce, Abortion, and Homosexual Laws in the 1960s and more recently the Marriage Law.    This is not to speak of all the related relaxation on daily live and living that affect our moral life and traditions.     And few speaking out, few visibly rebelling against our radical compromise and treasonable repudiations of our history and social heritage.    In just a few decades England - and to a large extent due to its Political Correctness - has been eroded and deprived of 2000 years of civilised development.      MORE it has had its own religious foundations weakened and made to give way, politically, to unbelief, modernism, and misplaced respect of other religions, more and more imported and strengthened by unlimited and unrestricted immigration.    SAD. and perhaps irreversible without serious pain and discomfort., but nevertheless needing to be remarked upon.       I see little to admire in the way my Country, or even the world, is developing.    I am an old man, of course, and my 'marbles' may be getting cracked or gathering too much moss, but I must say that basically I prefer the 1940/50 era than 2014.       I do not expect unanimous agreement to these sentiments of course - but even so I own the right to keep them, and to express them, and to witness to them without Agreement by the Hague or any other earthly Court.     To and FOR all those others who may believe with me in having the RIGHT to express themselves fearlessly I seriously encourage you all to so continue.   You may not be liked for it, may be even made to suffer for it, but make your STAND.   Be BOLD and VERY COURAGEOUS whoever and wherever you are.

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BABY ABIGAIL is now two months' old.      Her voice power has increased as days passed by. Probably her lung capacity has also enlarged through the daily exercise she puts them through with her wailing and crying almost none stop day and night.     She has only one apparent enjoyment - to EAT!. No problem there.    However, when other wise awake her delight after taking in her surroundings, as if never seen before, is to open her mouth to SCREAM.      She has Colic.     She is other wise quite healthy, growing well, and beginning to look pretty.     Maybe she also resents being thrust into the world.             BUT let me be honest there is progress, and the fact is that although she is still able to produce more noise than a dozen cats whose tails have been trodden on, she is gradually reducing such periods of distress.      She is sleeping better.     Esther and I are glad for this, since the first six weeks were literally murder, and neither of us, nor poor Helen, were able to sleep.      Helen did managed to get some shut-eye at other times, but both Esther and I were having duties in the day time, so we did feel the stress.     Glad to have it even a little relived just now.

LAST SATURDAY, after posting the Blog, we admitted a family of FIVE children into Jacaranda Cottage.     I had, I believe, mentioned them before, and that we were expecting them.  However there was a slight hitch since we had not realised that we did not have five beds vacant in the Homes, and not having cash in hand, we had to delay Admission a little, until we could manage to go out and shop for beds and bedding. But on Saturday last they all arrived.   In this first photo Beatrice Rop, Mother of Jacaranda Cottage is seen with all five.   She has her hands full especially with the two youngest, Wesley 2 and a half, and Robert 4.

Photos displayed are of -
to the Left - Frederick, 10 in Primary Class 5, and below him, his sister Shaline, aged 8 in Primary Class 3.
To the Right is first of all
Robert aged 4, then his brother Darius aged 6, and his brother Wesley aged 2 and a half.    QUITE a large family, bat least they will all live together within the Jacaranda Family.
Remember their father died of AIDS, and their mother is terminally ill with the same.

This is a destitute family with no life support,   Their mother is being cared for by the local Baptist church,.      They had managed to stay all together but in truly dire circumstances, and this is clearly seen in their respective retarded development physically.     The real miracle for the children is that none of them have the HIV virus.

The three eldest were tested to see where they will fit in OUR school and should begin attendance on Monday.      Beatrice Rop will make sure they are all well cared for and fattened up.     We are thankful to have opportunity to give them shelter and help.      Of course we shall keep a careful eye on the progress of the Mother, and where possible, for as long as she lives, we shall hope to arrange visits in order to keep them as much together as we can.


OTHERWISE the week has passed busily and quickly with RAIN and sunshine both.  Temperature still in the seventies (Fahrenheit) most of the time, day and night!        We noted today that a young lady from the UK aged 21 had to return home from voluntary aid with Malaria and passed away the day after arriving.    Such a very sad thing.      Probably if she had been treated in Nairobi, (she was working only 20 kilometers away) she might have survived as, obviously, Kenyan doctors are very experienced in treating this infection.    Our hearts go out to her family
DARYL's eldest child Jesse marked his 16th Birthday yesterday.    I have a photo of him on my desk aged about 9 months in my arms - how years do go by.   He is now tall (5'11')and thin, and just about to finish his final Secondary School year.      His brother Jeremy and sister Becky both with us in Green Cottage with his Mum and Dad and uncle Edward, and uncle Manu to eat ice cream and Birthday Cake.
Nice to be together.

God Bless you all once more.     Never a day passes that we do remember most of you as the Lord brings you to mind.    We are ever thankful in believing for your prayers on our behalf.  MUCH Love in Jesus our King

John and Esther, Daryl and Carol.

THIS A VIEW OF EASTLEIGH, a district of Nairobi.     It is a very crowded and densely populated area, and there is also a considerable mix of different races residing there, including refugees from the Sudan and Somalia.      This area has been much in the news of late because of terrorist activity - shootings, bombings and so on.       Similarly in certain areas within MOMBASA on the coast there have been increasing violent incidents.      The focus, from government, is that this is mostly due to the Al Shabaab and other Muslim extreme groups.     This has of course brought certain tensions within Kenya itself, which as a nation, has lived together as a multiracial society peacefully and well, generally speaking.      BUT NOW there is fear and anxiety as Churches, buses, taxis, and even public places of commerce such as offices and even public markets have all come under attack.     There seemed, initially, an effort to make this 'look' as if it was purely a 'religious' matter, but this has now progressed to one than may be considered as 'racial'.      However it is hard to always tell what is happening.  And additionally successive Governments have always taken advantage of this kind of thing to take people's eyes off of other problems, such as growing poverty, unemployment, all aggravated by rising prices in all sectors.     BUT we must also realise that Tourism is one of the most important sources of national income, and for the government to orchestrate anything that might curtail or discourage visitors into the Country would seem foolhardy.        No, there is no doubt external pressure is focused on Kenya.........but WHY?
This last week the various High Commissions and Consulates of the United Kingdom, America and many others have been issuing Warnings to its nationals visiting or even living in Kenya.

Mwenda Njoka

The British High Commission, for example has issued a warning to all its citizens travelling in Kenya to 'avoid travelling to Eastleigh and within 60 kilometres of the Kenya-Somalia border.'  More recently the Commission has further advised against non-essential travel to Garissa and the slums of Nairobi.   This was as a result of more bombings and deaths which extended to the Thika Township as well.    Indeed the Death Rate in Kenya from Terrorism, Crime, Road accidents to name a few has increased in leaps and bounds.

The Interior Ministry's spokesman, Mr. Mwenda Njoka dismissed these warnings.   He is reported as saying "Every part of the world is nowadays prone to high threat from terrorism including Britain."
Continuing he remarked that "Here in Kenya, we've taken a number of measures to mitigate against threats and significantly minimised occurrence of the same, as such for any country to issue travel advisory comments against Kenya is an  unfortunate and irrational move."
IT WAS THEREFORE REGRETT-ABLE THAT THE VERY NEXT DAY there were two further Bomb Blasts in Nairobi, killing 10 and injuring more than 70.    These were 'apparently' home made bombs - one in a minibus and another in an open market area.      This does not present Kenya as a safe place for Tourists - but it also
emphasises that Kenyans themselves are perhaps in the MOST danger, and the least protected.     Where will it end?     Will it be confined to Nairobi and Mombasa or can it be expected to spread to other areas in an effort to destabilise and bring insecurity to the rest of the State?
ALREADY visitors are packing and leaving prematurely, and doubtless more will be cancelling their projected holidays.      This will cripple the industry.
Since 2007 in particular Kenya's reputation for Sunshine, Peace, and Hospitality has been continually challenged by changing weather patterns reducing our summers, rising crime and and terrorism reducing our peace and prosperity, and general economic strictures forcing everyone to be less open handed, and at times even open hearted.     Fear and Anxiety for the present AND the future is beginning to GET to the people.      Nairobi is no longer 'the city in the sun' but NAIROBI the centre of anxiety.

SO FAR ELDORET remains unaffected.     Our one million population remains at peace with each other, and there is nothing visible of inter-racial unrest, or even terrorism - at least as I write this.   It can all change in an instant of course.       But on the surface at least, there is nothing to suggest any impending trouble.       The Town is quiet, FULL of people mooching about to pass the time - NOT so many shoppers in comparison.    The main ROADS remain chock ablock with traffic, assuring us that TRADE continues, and that so far our main arteries are OPEN and unchallenged.       WE BELIEVE you can safely COME to Kenya as long as you keep away from clearly marked DANGER areas, and as long as you 'commit you way to the LORD'.     The SUN is shining here on our compound, our children are attending School with happy faces and untroubled hearts, and life moves on with confidence that HE watches over us.      And NO we are not being SMUG about it!   We just feel safe, and we have ALWAYS BEEN SAFE, in the midst of Rebellion, and many other conflicts that have challenged our immediate society over the last 45 years.   IF God be with YOU, who (or what) can succeed against you?   Romans 8v31

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LATE FRIDAY afternoon we received a gift of money that ended almost two weeks of dearth.    The miracle was that during the whole period, when we could not use the Bank and had no available cash, we DID still - all 150 of us - EAT.        Our College students could not return to College, our vehicles could not move,  and some Bills could not be paid - BUT we did all live.   And this because of our chickens, our bread, and our garden vegetables.   AND, of course, as we continue to live we continue to LEARN.........NOW the College students have returned to their college with their fees paid, and we were able to buy MEAT!    and so many other things suddenly were suddenly FREED and WE rejoiced yet again.       It is often hard for us to know how to convey our life here.     The SCHOOL with 800 students now seems such a prosperous enterprise;  it gives a very solid impression that TFH has need for nothing.     BUT the School makes no profit; it runs purely to pay for itself.     It is not a drag on us in any way - it JUST pays for itself.        The FOUR Children's Homes, and the 140 kids (FIVE newcomers joining us TODAY) plus some 15 others working in and among them, has to pay its way without any regular income.       We pray and we wait.      We do not know how long we will wait, or even IF what we wait for WILL come.     Every day is new, and it is a challenge.       Thinking of this and reading in some of my first Diaries I thought it might be good to enter a few more entries here..........

JUNE 1982 - just a month before the attempted Cue on the Moi Government on 1st August that threw the Nation into confusion........

June 24th - 30 pounds from U.K.  It felt as if it were 300 we were so greatly in need!

June 25th - TWO Birthdays to celebrate

Quarterly Board Meeting.

June 26th - Spoke during the afternoon at Eldoret Christian Centre on Ephesians 5v4.

Received 500 Kenya shillings from the priest of the Singh Temple whilst I was returning from town.

I must have looked a little startled, for he put his hand on my arm and said 'It is a gift from God - take it!'     And I did -   with Thanksgiving.

Had to pay a lot of Bills today - more than 600 pounds of them.      One or two cheques I paid out without knowing if the funds were actually going to be in the Bank!    A little reckless!    But the funds were there on the day!

June 28th - Taught Accounts at the Trade Training Centre a.m.

Went with Esther to visit one of our old boys hundred kilometres away.   We found him thin and rather lonely - very glad to see us.

20 pounds received from UK.

July 4th - NO post for some days now.    We have 300 pounds still in hand even so by God's Grace. Praise the Lord for it,    But we have a lot of unpaid Bills.

July 5th - Received 220 from the U.K. -  Glory!

Taught Accounts again till 10a.m.     Paul and Lou (from U.K.) stranded in Kakamega, 120 kilometres away in our truck which had broken down.     Travelled down to rescue them.    All's well

July 6th - Received a further 100 from friends in the U.K.

Peter Wangolo aged 6 very sick.   Has not been well for some time and is losing weight fast.   Esther very worried as doctors seem unable to diagnose what is wrong with him   -    more tests today in the afternoon    (LATER that day he was diagnosed as having TB.    Is on the mend now)

In actual fact Peter completely threw off the TB and and grew up to become a Chef.    He is married, and is in fact now the Chef in Drakely Cottage.

Aug 1st - 'THIS IS THE VOICE OF KENYA!

In the early hours of this morning, the Government of President Moi was overturned.

A National  Council of Liberation has been set up in its place.    Further Information will be given later.

ALL members of the public are advised to remain indoors and not to travell'

Some of the children were up early playing (it was a Sunday) and had switched on the radio about 7a.m. and were the first of us all to hear this announcement.    Then rushing into our bedroom they shouted the news excitedly to us.    It was a frightening moment.   Soon everyone had the news, and we all converged on the sitting room to listen to the radio, which continued repeating the unchanged original statement and played more canned music.     There were no updates on the situation and it was quite unnerving not to KNOW what was happening in the Capital.
The CHILDREN, of course, were the most affected, and were full of chatter and concern.   But we felt no fear, and carried on with our normal Sunday Program.   We had a fine morning Service.
LATER that same Sunday news was Broadcast that the Rebellion had been crushed.
A week afterwards President Moi attended at Nairobi Pentecostal Church in Valley Road.   One standing next to him heard him share with another how on the morning of the Cue Attempt, he himself had risen early and was reading his Bible.   He had read Psalm 46 and said it had well prepared his heart and mind for what soon followed.      (I would like to say that for all the flaws, faults, and accusations that have been flung at this President it should not be forgotten that even until now his Christian Testimony has always been unwavering.      Was he - is he - a hypocrite?     Only he and God know the truth - I cannot be his judge.)

Dear friends, brother and sisters in our Lord Jesus,    we Greet you all in His Name.    Let not YOUR heart be troubled, made anxious by anything - just be GLAD HE IS WITH YOU.       Please pray for Helen's little 8 week old daughter, Abigail.     Since she was born she has not ceased to loudly cry.  At first we felt this might just be Colic, but it has in fact worsened in time day and night.   Everything seems normal but there is no doubt she in great discomfort when it comes to going to the toilet.   TODAY Esther and Helen have gone with her to a Consultant to seek some advice and re-assurance.  I sincerely hope help is found since we ALL need some SLEEP!.     Much Love to you all, and our prayers for the week ahead that you will, each one, be kept safe and well.

John and Esther / Daryl and Carol.

WHAT IS THE REAL RELEVANCE?

IT IS THE DATE THAT IS RELEVANT!     11th May 1940    It was also in fact a Saturday....
SEVENTY-FOUR years since this spec of humanity first appeared and began drawing attention to himself.
THIS MORNING in the Daily Mail there was an Article concerning the son of a well known columnist born in 1949.    He wondered what his father would have thought of today's world .......  IS it still worthy dying for, going through hell for?      I firmly believe that the majority of those who did fight and die in the last Great War, might indeed feel they died in vain.     What they had in mind then does not exist today.    'King and Country' just a laughable quote from the past.     All has virtually GONE, and what is left bereft of FAITH, virtue and honour.      A Nation (I am talking about England of course, though it DOES apply to other 21st Century Nations) drained of real freedom, emptied of innocence, and progressively disabled in trusting its traditions, history and hero's.     Even our national identity can be questioned.  Our aims and aspirations definitely different.
What real pride or confidence in owning a British Passport?      There is no doubt that this is a very different world.   The Columnist has written a Book - 'Littlejohn's Lost World' by Richard Littlejohn. It's worth a read I think.     For some in America, the United Kingdom it will be considered that the WAR was won.........yet in many other ways I think it was LOST.      The ideals and even the realities that were fought for, though seemingly won, were and in fact soon to be lost to even greater defeat from within.

WINSTON CHURCHILL at the onset of the 2nd World War in 1940, and on the 13th May, just two days after my birth, gave a Speech in Parliament.    He had just been appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.     Here are a few excerpts from that speech -   He said:-

'We are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history.....

That we are in action at many points - in Norway and in Holland - 

that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean.   That the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations have to be made here at home.

I WOULD SAY TO THE HOUSE

as I have said to those who have joined this government:

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.

We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our aim?

I can answer in one word: Victory.  Victory at all costs!

Victory in spite of terror!  Victory, however long and hard the road may be,

for without victory there is no survival.

The WAR WAS WON,    Victory WAS obtained.    It did cost blood, toil, tears, and sweat.  FIVE long years of it.

BUT my question today, SEVENTY years later is, did the United Kingdom Survive?    Did we really achieve the Aim and Goal that was then in mind?     Did we manage to rend out of our Enemy's hand our national identity and heritage intact?       I think not - at least not for very long.     THAT Enemy was defeated but not destroyed altogether, and like SATAN himself came in different guises to pursue his own purpose which was to overwhelm us and DEFEAT US, step by step removing every valuable thing held ever dear until naked and defenceless we find ourselves in chains of a different kind.     Yes some will say that seventy years ago we were backward, unhelped, unenlightened, and that today with advent of the electronic and digital revolution providing amazing advance to help our personal comfort, communications and entertainment we are MUCH better off.       I think not.     It is not a fridge, a mobile phone, a computer or television that really secures my comfort and inner security and joy.  All things are toys to keep us blind to greater happiness.      Was it not Carl Marx who said that 'Religion is the opiate (the drug) of the people' - to keep them quiet?      Well THAT toy may be on the way out - there are other even more deluding attractions to keep us from the truth.   

LIFE is a constant struggle in countless theatres of war.      The AIM must always be VICTORY, if we are not to give in to pressures, and force that will destroy or depreciate us.    BUT even in what we may feel is a Victory ,in some area of life, may later become DEFEAT through our own in-attention to the never ending determination to even yet pull us down.     It is very easy to rest on our laurels, and the keen cutting edge of our 'victory' to become dulled - even forgotten.    We must not slip back, give up ground previously won, but instead plant our Flag high, and from this hard found foothold to GO ON.

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SOME FIVE OR SO YEARS AGO,  we began to be concerned for the state of our 2nd Children's Home, Jacaranda Cottage, just across the 50ft tarmac road from Testimony House and School.   It was built in the 1930s, of sun baked mud brick.     The tin roof leaked consistently and determinedly from the onset, and slowly walls and floors have given in to further wear and tear endured over the 39 years we have used it.     It has served well, but was never a convenient house, not easy to run or manage as a Children's Home.      

We began to pray for funds to come in to seriously renovate or even build a NEW Home. Plans had even been drawn up and approved by the local Council five years ago.    But nothing happened to give us any firm expectation of actually seeing it happen.     We have, on and off, continued to pray and put this matter before the Lord, as the leaks increased the house became more and more depreciated, even with fairly constant maintenance and repair.       

Suddenly a few weeks ago we received a letter from the U.K., from recent visitors we had not previously known, and who only spent a day with us at the time, to say that an offer had been made to build us a NEW Jacaranda Cottage - funds to begin to arrive in December this year...............
I leave a GAP there because when we reached this point in the Letter WE stopped and stared at it unblushingly.  We had ceased to really expect this would ever happen.     The last eighteen months have been very diminished in income, and our life more straightened as a result.    The last thing on our mind was God actually deciding to answer our prayer for a new Children's Home - a New Jacaranda Cottage.      We just stared at each other - then we YELLED with excitement and joy.     Just a month ago we had been considering the possibility of having to close down this ministry - and NOW here was God emphasising the need for us to trust Him still for the future.      Building will start in December/January.   WE ARE PRESSING ON!!

Here we have a glimpse into the present Jacaranda cottage, sitting room, and below a view of the current Family that live there with Beatrice (L) and Joseph (R) who are Mum and Dad there with them all.

A NEW building will very much improve the way of life in the home, and very much assist in providing better space and living conditions.
We plan for it to follow the same pattern and design as Tyndale and Drakeley Cottages.  One storey, 4-6 bed roomed family home.



I suppose we have all SURVIVED living here over the years.    We have survived through times of severe material drought and need, through times of
local antagonism and political covetousness, and through times of toil and sweat.    We came through it all because we BELIEVED that for all the obstacles we COULD win, as we walked and trusted in Christ being with us.     We have often felt VERY challenged, finding ourselves people of 'little' rather than great Faith.     Tested and tried and found a little short of what George Muller had.      BUT, in His Mercy and Grace, God has never tired of repeatedly showing us that when WE think we might NOT win, HE knows we WILL.     At this point in my life I am still learning.       I am still trying to make up my 'grades' so that I will obtain the 'crown' and hear the words 'Well done' from my Teacher and Lord.    Many times I have been laid low, and have even FELT low and almost in the grave of life - but with Churchill I have been always inspired to struggle up, determined never, never, NEVER to give up.

TODAY my dear wife has taken me out for lunch to celebrate a little early my Birthday of tomorrow.   This afternoon my daughter in U.K. phoned me up for a chat that cheered my heart, and tonight there will be a cake with less candles than my age to share with family here.     Tomorrow, God Willing, I shall wake and proclaim His Mercy and Praise Him for 74 years of His Love and Care.     In the evening we shall repair to the Missionary Fellowship Meeting to meet with the lord - more than 35 of us.    It should be a good and wonderful Day.  
God Bless you all, and keep you sharp, and burning in your zeal for the King.

John and Esther

POLYGAMY - THE BEST REMEDY?

THIS PRESIDENT DOES NOT LOOK VERY SURE.    Highly doubtful in fact.     AND a good percentage of Kenya,  in viewing his Signing of the greatly discussed new Marriage Act last Tuesday,  are even more doubtful of the wisdom behind it.!
Mr. Kenyatta has strongly testified to being a Christian, but in signing this Bill into Law he has joined the world around him in putting the Will of God AFTER the will of MAN.   He looks rather unhappy I think - has he found, as so many others have, that it needs courage and boldness to stand for God in a godless world.
IN OCTOBER 2009 ALL THIS was first being muted in Kenya, and I had written a Blog at that time entitled 'Brides Galore'.   I will repeat at least some of what I wrote then here, since it is now a comment on what has actually been made LAW.


THE DAILY NATION, in October 2009, sported this photo of a rather flamboyant Zulu business man in South Africa getting married to FOUR wives all on the same DAY!    He said that he prefers polygamy to keeping girlfriends!    It was interesting at the time (2009) because Kenya was considering changing its Marriage Laws in which it was being proposed that a Kenyan man might enter into polygamous relationships provided he had permission from the first wife.   Maybe this would pave the way for the Scripture to be fulfilled which says in Isaiah 4v1 - 'In that day seven women will take hold of one man!'   No, I am not condoning such action  - and I know that this is not good exegesis.......BUT on the other hand we do live in a world where there are MORE women than men.    Such an in-balance might indeed encourage polygamy!    Not too far back one of our Government ministers decided to take a THIRD wife, the previous two still living with him. He testified of himself saying ' the fact that I love women does not mean that I have loose morals..' A little glib perhaps?   Certainly to 'love' anything is to admit a fondness for it.    Not far away from lusting for it.   To love another human being beyond a proper appreciation and respect can easily lead us into immorality, and if we are already married then also into unfaithfulness and Adultery.   'Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her (to imagine intimate relations with her) has committed adultery with her in his heart (mind).    So said Jesus.
Paul in 1.Corinthians 7v1-2 says it is better for a man to marry rather than to burn in his lust for her.  BUT he did not suggest that he should GO ON DOING so on the premise that his personal sex drive was never satiated!    From the Beginning it has been meant for a Man to have only ONE woman, and for a Woman to have only One Man.      This is the revealed will of GOD - the One True God, though not it seems of every god.      But the True God is not a Man Pleaser, and seeks not to pander to the fleshly dictates of any Man.   The book of Genesis portrays God giving to Adam just ONE woman to be his wife.   In fact there WAS no other to offer him.!     BUT in the day of JOB multiple choice was available and, on his own testimony he found it a little difficult not to notice each and every girl that passed by.   He was afflicted by what many today might call 'A Roving Eye'.    And he was already married when he declared this of himself.     And HE was troubled by it;  he was not happy about it;   he could not accept it as a right condition for himself.  He wrote in his book Job 31v1 ....I made (I dictated) a covenant  (an agreement) with my eyes.   How could I then look lustfully at a girl?   For what portion or inheritance could I have from God above if I were lewd (MORALLY LOOSE)'
I PERSONALLY have always found this verse very interesting.   It suggests, strongly, that when I find myself with a character fault, then I should do something about it.    I was just reading about some testimonies from youngsters involved in homosexuality.  Most of them defended themselves by saying that they had been born with this predilection; they were programmed to BE the way they were. HOWEVER, Job did not seek to defend himself in what he KNEW was not acceptable in his life, and set about putting his life, by force, back on track with GOD.  He took himself in hand.   He did not become the slave of his EYES, but made himself their master and himself determined what they should focus on, and with what motive.     He denied his eyes the right to look wherever they willed.   He did not permit himself to be subjected by them, but made himself their master.    He brought God into this battle, and he succeeded.   PAUL in Romans 6v12 writes - 'Let not sin therefore rule as king in your moral (short lived) perishable bodies, to make you yield to its cravings, and subject to its lusts and evil passion.     No...... 'I' AM NOT TO LET  IT.      I am in charge, in Jesus Name.    AND YES, I AM dogmatically saying that 'evil passion' has to be identified and accepted as that which GOD has banned in a God fearing human life.     It may be unable to be controlled in a godless life.    BUT if God is with me, then HE is able to repair, reset, and reprogramme me into the person and image I was created to be, before SIN came in to mess me up.     I do not have to be a thief, I do not have to be an adulterer, a homosexual, a murderer.   I do not have to give into to bad temper.   I CAN be what I was intended to be in God's sight.     Yes with God NOTHING NEED BE IMPOSSIBLE.     With HIM with me I can have the upper hand in my life,   and I can WIN.

TO-day - in MAY 2014 - almost FIVE years latter the Law is passed, POLYGAMY  is allowable.   One Muslim brother in Mombasa is VERY glad about it.  HE writes "According to Islam, the objects of marriage are protection against physical, moral, and spiritual maladies; peace of mind; procreation; widening of the circle of relationships and safeguarding against adultery and homosexuality.  One or all of these objects can be difficult to realise if a man has only wife.......In view of all this, who can deny the wisdom of the Islamic institution of polygamy?   Many moral and physical evils have arisen in the world as a result of women being more than men - the best remedy is polygamy.'      The best remedy for a selfish man's weakness perhaps, but not the best remedy to demonstrate faithfulness.

BUT FINALLY - IS POLYGAMY ACCEPTABLE TO GOD?    Is HE happy about it?   What does His Word say about it?    What does it say in 1.Corinthians 6v9-20 in relation to such character faults as fornication, adultery, homosexuality and so on?       Are we on the right track in permitting and encouraging any one of these human flaws?    JOB thought he would lose his chance of immortality if her himself continued to neglect his own reform.
THE TRUTH IS GOD IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT POLYGAMY.     The NEW TESTAMENT forbids those who are polygamists to hold any office in the Church.   It does not bar them from being members of that Church however - Why?  Probably because some joined the Church AFTER already being polygamists.   Such would have been expected to continue providing for the women he had married and the children he had fathered,   (1Timothy 3v2 & v12) without continuing to have a sexual relationship  EXCEPT with his FIRST wife.     There WERE polygamists, homosexuals, adulterers, thieves and so IN the church - but they did not continue in their ungodly ways.    1 Corinthians 6v9-11.
We know of a certainty that a practising SINNER of any kind will NOT get to Heaven.    The sinner MUST repent and begin and maintain a NEW life.
POLYGAMY is but a compromise with ADULTERY - it is in fact only LEGALISED adultery and fornication, fundamentally against God's original plan and purpose, and never meant to be for the men and women who were meant to live together as ONE.

THIS NEW LAW has not maintained the restraint given to the 1st wife in giving her assent.   NOW she need not be asked, and the man need not even TELL her that he has another wife or even more than one.    This is clear straightforward freedom to commit adultery - legally!!    What happened to the Word of God Mr. President, while you took up your pen to sign away its Authority.      This Bill will put every home in danger, and open up the road for any person to be unfaithful to his wife and children - just to please himself, and to satisfy his carnal lusts.     Shall we applaud such an Act?    Shall we applaud such an attack on Home and Family.       IT IS A GODLESS piece of legislation which will increase sorrow and poverty.      We do not condone it.       Polygamy has been around for centuries, and even in Kenya it has existed both before and after my arrival in 1968.      Nothing about it may be held up as encouragement to family life, to filial faithfulness, love or care.     Favouritism, Jealousies, Neglect, and poverty have all been suffered and born by the majority involved in it.       It is not the man that suffers of course but the women and children.        Many of our orphaned children are from polygamous families.   Pray for Kenya and your world too - for Satan's work and intent is AGAINST God's Way.

MUST CLOSE FOR THIS WEEK.      Nothing much happening here - we wait for RAIN.    We ARE all well, and God is good to us in very difficult times.    God Bless you all and keep you safe.


John & Esther / Daryl & Carol