The longest day! How everything seems speeded up, and we
hurtle along so fast into the future......
I noticed last week that some of the UK politicians are
lobbying for more pay! Sounds like Kenya! In the face of
rising food and fuel costs here the Government put forward a
plan to increase the TAXATION of the M.P.s This met with
almost instantaneous (and predictable) anger from the M.P.s.
One of them - Hon. Bonny Khalwale - was quoted on the
front page of the Daily NATION as saying
"Do they (the Government)
want to make us as miserable as our constituents?"
How insensible this man has to be to say such a thing - even
with taxation he will never be as badly off as his
constituents, the majority of whom will be either unemployed
or earning less than £36 a month to his £12.500 a
month!! There is, and can be, no comparison between him
and them. But this is the world that we now live in, a
world on the move away from honour, integrity and
compassion.
The Statement was made on Thursday 19th June under the
Banner Heading of
MPs REJECT MOVE TO TAX THEIR ALLOWANCES
How is it possible for men and women elected to IMPROVE and
BETTER the general living conditions and standards of the
man in the street, to treat them with such contempt - truly
these ARE 'shepherds that feed themselves instead of the
sheep' - consider Ezekiel 34v1-4 speaking of 'spiritual'
shepherds, but very much applicable to many politicians the
world over.
THE DAY BEFORE, on the 18th we find them seeking to get a
further Ksh.650 million for themselves in allowances for NEW
expenses. TODAY the Religious Leaders are leading the
outcry against all this greed and acquisitiveness!
Esther has been away for a few days with Anthony our School
Principal. They were both attending a Seminar on School
Management, and the place of the Computer in current
educational systems and planning. Esther of course as
Headmistress of the Primary Section of the School was very
much into this. Seems that they had a very interesting
and challenging time. The School - founded in 1981 -
is now quite well established right up to the 4th Form of
Secondary, and present seems very popular with the parents
that trust us with their children. We presently have a
total population - Nursery to Secondary - of some 800
students, 130 from our Children's Homes are learning free of
charge. Locals using the School have to pay to attend,
and this charge pays for the total cost of running PLUS
undertaking for the free education of the Homes children.
No other financial advantage comes from this enterprise, but
we have been very glad of the good foundation we have been
able to offer our children through this project, AND for the
fact that it has been used as an Evangelistic tool to share
the Gospel message far and wide.
With carefully chosen teachers who all have a Christian
testimony, and able to communicate freely their faith, and
belief, as they teach and interact with the children, and
with the added freedom to present the Gospel message daily
during Morning Assemblies and weekly Christian Unions, we
have a wonderful chance to reach our children - and through
them their parents as well.
This week we received a letter from one of our past Asian
students. He spent only two years with us from 1998 to
2000 in High School before going to the USA to university.
He enclosed a copy of his Testimony in which he wrote -
My Principal in High School preached once every week during
the Friday morning Assembly, and a 'Memory verse' from the
Bible was pinned up in the Classroom on that day as well.
(it stayed there for a week). I cared less for the
verses, but for some mysterious reason two references
remained stuck in my mind down through the years - 1.John
3v3 and John 3v3. I never went to the Bible to read them.
Pravin writes about himself saying -
I am an Asian by race, a Kenyan by nationality. My
grandfather moved from India to Kenya way back when both
Countries were colonized by the British. My father was
very young when he moved from India to Kenya. As a
family we all practiced various sects of Hinduism. We had
our own culture initially controlled from India, tightly
maintained so as not to allow any corruption. It was my
mother who was the most serious in her religion. When I
was young, my desire to obey and worship the so called god
was very intense. I totally depended upon my parents and
believed with all my heart in the god that we all
worshipped. As a child I strove to do all the necessary
'good works' in order to please this god. I woke everyday
early in the morning to perform a ritual called 'pooja', and
went to the temple and so forth.
Not until I entered High School was I introduced to
Christianity.
The exclusivity of Christianity highly offended me; born as
I was into a pluralistic society I found it impossible to
believe that there was only ONE WAY to the Almighty.
Pravin had many deep rooted resentments against
the whole concept of Christianity. He carried them with
him through High School and on to the United States. He
also carried those two Scripture References with him too;
just the references but not the content for he had never
read them.
He continues -
When I arrived here in America, I was to all intents and
purposes an atheist. In order to fit into the new
culture I thought it was cool to use profane words, and
other vices that I slowly picked up in the University. I
went through many financial and emotional struggles in the
years that followed, but I never cried out to any
supernatural being; never went to a church or temple of any
kind.
It was only after his Graduation in 2005 that, having found
employment he relaxed a little , but with no greater
awareness of God. Then one day a friend from his past
rang him up to share that she had found Christ as Saviour.
He was horrified by this revelation. She had been a
Buddhist previously.
She invited him to go to witness her Baptism in a Baptist
Church. Curiosity tempted him to go, but he remained
very skeptical and unbelieving. "Nevertheless," he says,
"I asked the pastor (of the church) to pray for me!"
Some days later he was again on the phone to his friend.
As the call is coming to an end his friend says "why not
read John 3v3 and 1.John 3v3 and actually READS the words of
the verses to him.
"I was shocked!" he writes. How could it be that out of
all the verses in the Bible these two that had been locked
away in my memory for so many years, unread, should now be
presented so clearly in front of me. A miracle had
happened!"
The next day he went out and bought a Bible and began
reading. He still had a step or two to go. He needed
to know that the Bible really was God's Word. He still did
not find it easy to understand how sinful a person he was
BUT.......
"The Word captured me,
and I repented of my sins.
Christ accepted my repentance and forgave me.
I can now confidently say that I now KNOW that I
am a Child of God, and that as I read I am growing into the
Image of God and Christ.
To receive a Testimony like this, right out of the blue, has
been a great blessing to us and cause also of much
rejoicing. It shows us that we should not flag or fail
in proclaiming God's Word ............ We now wonder what
God has in store for this young man who has become so up
front with his new found Salvation.
This must be about all for this week. Except to say that
my EAR is now sorted out. Had to have it syringed, but
thereafter my hearing has returned with full vigour. NOW
I have to be careful what I listen to!! Thank for your
prayers.
Always in His Love
John and Esther
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