CHANGE!

A VIEW OF GREEN COTTAGE SITTING ROOM, taken from my desk..... usually not so tidy and not so empty either.    TODAY at 9a.m. we have the lights on as it is RAINING, and rather dark.......but OH, what joy to see, feel, hear and SMELL the rain, at last!
But some of the older plants and trees often find this season a dangerous one.   After the long DRY season, the sudden abundance of rain puts a strain on old and brittle branches that are suddenly over stressed with the weight of the water. Quite a few of our elderly trees have lost branches in this way, land Tuesday morning we woke to find almost half of on the Giant Euphorbia bushes that line one side of the School Drive way had also succumbed, and collapsed.  It was quite a surprised though as theses bushes had been there at least eighty years and seemed almost eternal.   BUT........it WAS not as young and virulent as it once had been, and WHAM.. it yielded to old age at last.

THIS bush is just opposite to the School Hall, on the Office side of the drive.
The Bush is about three and a half times my height, say approx SIX metres, spreading
 out from a central root system.It looks similar to a cactus with ribbed, spiked limbs. 
It flowers usually just before rain, and stores quite a lot of water making each branch
 quite heavy. We reckon about half a ton fell that morning.

TO THE LEFT is a photo of how it appears in flower.

I took a few more photos just to show a little of the hole left in the root, and the bulk of what had actually broken away.      The rest of the Bush remains standing. say two thirds of the original.      It stands within the paved area, in front of the Office, and often Daryl had parked the Toyota Voxy there in its shade.    Fortunately he had moved it elsewhere on the day the Bush collapsed, or is would certainly have caused a dent or to the vehicle.

It has all brought home to me yet again how impermanent everything is.  Nothing is impervious to change;  nothing is changeless.   Everything is on the move, and one cannot go back to yesterday.      We seek the Eternal, but I wonder just how eternal eternity is.    Even there I feel there will be a progression - a continual change.........     Certainly the Here and Now is constantly changing.    Going back in ones memory few things remain as we remember them, and in actual fact trees die, buildings crumble, and even the coastline of our Island erodes with the weather.      People change  Customs, fashions, the constant mix of race and culture all contribute to a changing society, and perhaps even species.      Soon Man may be more bionic than human; he may have arranged for his own Birth, Genetic Code, Maintenance and replacement - all without a soul,I would suspect  -   a very horrifying prospect.        Can change be slowed down?    Maybe, but not I think a great deal.   No more than Face-cream removes wrinkles for a little while.    Age creeps on, and finally the flesh is done, and the tree falls.  What was no longer IS.      Even the Heavens will be rolled up and taken away.        

ABOVE is a close up of the root of our Bush, with the ruin lying all around it.   Daryl is standing there in the white shirty and one of our Groundsmen, also one of our boys who has been with us many years, now married with his own family. A very faithful family member - Joseph Kihara.      I think, at first sight, they were wondering how to clear the site - each segment of every limb was covered in sharp needle like spines making handling very difficult........  But it WAS all cleared in  matter of hours, and already - apart from the hole in the root complex - it all looks as if nothing happened.   So easy and quick to accept and get used to a change in appearance.

===================================== 

EASTER

is over, and we rejoice that the Lord helped us to be Blessed all together, and also to be inspired and strengthened onward for the balance of the year.    

FIRST, once again, a BIG Thank You to all those who sent help to us via AENON, and which arrived on the day of need on the 23rd April.     It is still more than we can rationalise about - just HOW  help always finds us ready and needing it!! Blessed Be His NAME, and blessed be all of YOU also.   Nothing could carry on without His Goodness, and that same Goodness moving in you on our behalf.

James 'MANU' attended the Eye Clinic again on Thursday.     He only had to have one injection on this visit.   The Doctor felt that the badly infected right eye is now stable, but thinks it will not improve further.    Manu will return on the 30th May to see a specialist to give a final opinion as to its future. His other eye is so far OK.

However Manu is still seriously afflicted by very uncomfortable soreness of both eyes, and this even with new glasses to help reduce too much sunlight.    He is very patient in all of this.    

He is still unemployed having spent much time and effort attending interviews and doing his best to find an employer - even with the good degree he has.    He does managed to get a little help from taking orders for baking cakes and also for laying on full meals and and so on - he is very good at it, and proficient.    Who knows he may eventually find this to be the REAL future.       He is now living alone about thirty minutes away from us, and is more relaxed, as we also are.    BUT he has also had two more seizures since living alone, both in the night, and although he suffered no ill effects, it has made him rather anxious.    He has seen a good neurologist and had all the scans and tests available, and NOTHING can be found to account for them.     We think it was just the fact that he had to start out on his own again in new circumstances without knowing how long it will take to actually find a regular job, with regular income.      God is watching.     Our thanks, sincerely, for all those who pray for and care about Manu.

The Government has more or less been carrying out what amounts to a  national Census this week, and our School Hall has been busy as one of the Centres for Registration.     Each person resident in Kenya has to fill in as very lengthy form with all his/her details.      There are people on hand to assist others in this, and generally it is a rather more complicated and time consuming  activity than usual.      A lot of public annoyance with it, though basically this is little more than the normal irritation at having to share private information about oneself and situation with outside organisations     When I was growing up we used to hear the phrase 'BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU'  but these days it far more truly an ongoing and progressive fact than ever before.      More and more creepy, and more and more relevant to the Mark of the Beast!!  But those who BELIEVE and TRUST in the Lord have a Friend who far more vigilantly watches over us, to keep, protect, deliver, and safeguard us, against all that ANY enemy might imagine to accomplish    Thank God for that Assurance, and Confidence in the Name of Jesus Christ.

SOON it will be MAY DAY - much more happy a term than LABOUR DAY, which mainly brings to mind industrial discontent, strike action, and hordes of impoverished, undernourished and ill considered human beings who share the planet with those who often demonstrate that they wish such members of the family did not exist.       I think Socialism has to be appreciated - but it is not an end in itself.        We all need to be able to appreciate accept and understand each other no matter what our condition socially may be.      Theses great gulf that open up between us socially and every other way are not the way to true peace.      We ARE in need of loving our brother/sister whoever and whatever they are.

I GREW UP with the May pole on the village green, and generally a village Fete, and everyone coming together for a day Happy Thanksgiving for the onset of Spring!      I think - I hope - such gatherings still do happen in a few places.    BUT the Day HAS changed....and there we are AGAIN....CHANGE.

Yes and greater CHANGE is coming soon.      |Le us be ready for it.

Love to you all, as always

|John,Esther, and Daryl Green

.....

..