O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME - OR YOU - GO!

SIMEON, became part of mine and Esther's family in Testimony House just two months after our Marriage, in October 1971.   He was just 8 years old.    Both his parents were dead, and he was apparently uncared for.   He was one of a group of five small boys.   Quite lively lads,  inclusive of Edward Majimbo, Abwao Ongondi, Moses Ongonga, and Jacob Otundu.    But Simeon was, perhaps, the quietest, although still into every boyish pursuit, including a lot of fun.
After coming to us he began School here, in Eldoret, at Kapsoya Primary School-1972-1980.    He did not do well academically, but apart from breaking a window in the school in his 7th Grade, whilst playing football,  he was never in any trouble.     His Primary Results were so low, that he did not continue on to High School, but looked for an alternative.  He was now approximately 16, not very tall, but strong and energetic.    We were running a Course in Motor Mechanics at the time, and so he joined it for a year and obtained a Grade111 Certificate - enough to get him into an apprenticeship.   He joined ETEC  and then after another year SAME-TRACK, but again did not stay long, and after a year or so called back home to say he was now a Gardener to a private family in Town.     In 1993 he married, and we donated a Tea Party in our School Hall for friends and well wishers.     Later that year we offered him a job as a Gardener for the Homes and School at a more attractive salary than he was getting at the time, and accepting the offer, he remained with us until the 18th November, when he passed away.        Simeon's marriage endured, and God blessed them with three boys, the eldest of whom has just completed University.  Simeon was tickled pink that he could have a son (who looks exactly like his dad) in University!    He loved his children and his wife, and though they were never to be wealthy, I think they enjoyed a fairly stable and happy life together.    I know he will be missed so much by them.      Born on the 21st December 1963 he was in his 54th year when he died.   He suffered a Stroke affecting his right side in 2013, and although he recovered fairly well, this together with the Diabetes he also suffered from, slowed him down.    Nevertheless he continued to do a full day's work and always finished his assignments - still with that smile which marked a happy and jovial life throughout.      He was never one to mope or moan.    Rain or shine, Simeon took life as it came, and enjoyed it.     We, shall miss him very much indeed.
He is to be buried today on a piece of land he purchased some 80 kilometres away.     Yesterday, Friday, Testimony Faith Homes held a Memorial Service for him in the School Hall, with his workmates, family friends, and a crowd of old boys and girls from  the Homes joined together to give thanks for his life.   (The photo above was taken when he was just 18).     He never seemed to grow any older in his appearance,  and his eyes especially always had a mischievous twinkle in them. -  He is the SIXTEENTH (as far as we know) that has passed out of this world, of the 400, that have at any time lived within Testimony Faith Homes since it opened in August 1969.

YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, Esther and I together with our son Daryl,  visited with Joshua and Miriam Mbithi, at Neema Children's Home, as they Celebrated the Graduation from University of their son Mark Mumo.      It was a wonderful occasion, full of very real JOY and Thanksgiving to God for all that HE has done for Mark - and the family, which really ALSO included US since Miriam was one of our FIRST daughters, and as years have gone by has only become closer to us, together with her husband and children.     It was very much a FAMILY time, held in the sunshine and in their beautiful gardens, with all their extended family joining in with us.
So our day on Friday was quite a MIX, but in both the Joy and Sorrow, a lot of happy memories and the very real evidence of the Presence of God in the midst, and of His walking with us down through the years enwrapped us about.
AND ALL OF SO UNDESERVING!     Isaiah writes in the Bible in Isaiah 38v17 -  'You have loved back my life from the pit of corruption and nothingness.  -  for YOU have cast ALL my sins behind your back!"       We are all falling and failing, but HE CAN and WILL reach down to grab hold of us, and pull us back, when we call to Him !    Knowing our own willfulness and careless degradation, our Father, loves us still, and putting all our faults out of sight, brings us up and out of our darkness into His Glorious Light and Love.       Thank you Jesus.      Thank you for FAMILY!    As we live with one another, and observe each other, often with judgement in our heart, remember  how the Father and the Son joined together to keep us all together, and let LOVE keep us in Their Arms.

SURELY,  without the knowledge of GOD'S LOVE for all mankind, NONE of us can truly know how to be Human Beings, made in His Likeness.   We will never perfectly know how to Bless, Prosper, or Make Happy another person.     We might THINK we know how to forgive each others faults and failings, and to overlook them - but we DON'T;  we know nothing as we OUGHT to know it.   WE do not even know ourselves as GOD knows us, AND suffers us; ready to die for the love of us.    1. Corinthians 8v1-2 in the Amplified Bible Translation tells us -  'Knowledge may make a man look BIG,  But it is only LOVE that can make him grow to his full stature.     No matter how much learning a man may have, UNLESS he has LOVE he still KNOWS NOTHING AS HE OUGHT TO KNOW IT!!      And if a man HAS love, then God knows HIM!

AND, you know, when we come to understand LOVE from God's viewpoint, then it MUST affect our own Loving of one another.     Think of how many rifts, feuds, hatreds, and bitter separations within friendships, families and even Marriage, would be healed AND forgotten if we would only consider HOW God loves us, me and you.     If we could only stop and SEE how we ought to love one another as HE, (God in Jesus), loves us.    HE never accuses, but HE is always ready to forgive - not only when asked, but even BEFORE He is asked.   LISTEN TO THESE words of Paul the Apostle in 1. Thessalonians 2v8  -   BECAUSE we affectionately longed for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not only the Gospel of Christ, but also our own lives - Because you had become so dear to us.'
GOD'S LOVE, working in Paul's life found Him willing to die for the sinner, just because he had realised how beloved and precious in God's Sight was the life of EVERYONE;  HE wants no man, woman or child to die, to be given up to judgement, and DEATH.    HE would rather have MERCY.  Hosea 6v6 / Matthew 9v13
IF that Mercy is unknown to us then we will not have it for others, and we shall die in our own sin; we will have thrust from ourselves God's love for US.     We will have rejected letting it WORK in us, and repudiated Him in our lives.      The Devil would like us to remain LOST in our own self righteousness - and it is SO easy to satisfy him - when we rely on our own hard stony, and selfish heart.


Dear Friends, brother and sisters in the precious Family of God, we do Thank God for all your love that spills over upon us, and we lift up our hands in Praise of Him Who Loves us in your.    May He continue to deepen and widen our love for each other, and for the whole world.

Sincerely in His Mercy and Grace

John, Esther and Daryl & Carol Green

SHALL WE ALL WAKE UP, IN THE 'MORNING' ?

BISHOP CORNELIUS KORIR of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, passed away last week.    He is to buried today in the Cathedral, and hundreds of thousands are expected to attend.    Even yesterday the Town was overflowing with huge numbers who had come to pray and prepare for the Funeral.
He and I knew each other, and met quite frequently on various committees, and even in the course of daily life.  On one occasion I had visited him in his Cathedral Office.   It was my first time, in fact to go there, and even to meet him face to face on a personal matter.     Arriving a little early I was shown into his office, and asked to wait.    After a few minutes I got up from my chair and my eye was caught by a very beautifully carved Crucifix.    I went and stood nearer, and as I did so the door opened, and the Bishop, dressed in a plain white cassock entered.     Greeting me as he shut the door, he said '....you are first white protestant  I have found admiring my crucifix........do you like it?'
'Well, yes I do indeed, Bishop Korir.   It is beautiful!.
"Yes", he replied, "But I thought you Protestants prefer to see the Victory of the resurrection rather than the sacrifice of  His suffering."
"True,"  I had rejoined,  "but after all there would have been no Victory, without His Death.     Even when I look to an empty Cross, my mind sees Him first, dying for me."
"Then we are brothers" he said, taking my hand.      And so we sat down and fellowshiped for some time.    Every time we met after that, it was always with joy.

Bishop Korir died when he was just 67, having been born in 1950, ten years my junior.     It is said that he had High Blood Pressure, and was also Diabetic.    Neither malady had been diagnosed early, and he had been taken suddenly ill, and was to be hospitalised, had he lived through the night.    He was Ordained Priest in 1982, and consecrated Bishop of Eldoret in 1990.  He was known and respected as a man of peace, and this is being recognised today by the Government, to day, in giving him a State Funeral right here in Eldoret.     He will be interred within the Cathedral itself.    He will indeed be missed.

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The WEATHER to day is very windy and a little cloudy but with at least a little sunshine.   A cool, fresh day,      But there is also just a little rain each day, and this is expected to carry on through the month.       This is not likely to produce a good wheat, or even maize, harvest due to the lack of good dry weather to assist in drying out the crop prior to storage.

TO THE LEFT IS A PHOTO of Testimony House, as we found it a few days after we arrived in December 1972 .     It was an OLD house even then - made of mud and wattle.    Now, 45 years later, it is that much older, and showing signs of wear and tear.    Originally built by a Dutch farming family who had 'trekked' up from South Africa;  a family of 9.    This house has 9 bedrooms, kitchen,dining room and an enormous nine hundred square foot sitting room! Since we came to occupy it it has endured an average of 40 pairs of feet continually tramping through every day of every year.    The roof is of thick iron sheeting, still sound, but needing a repaint after more then five years, and the floors, made of iron wood, also sound, but also needing attention here and there due to wear, together with, here and there, some dry rot, and invasion by Safari Ants.      The walls are all constructed from wattle and mud, also suffering from age and ANTS.    Still a comfortable and roomy home, it all now looks tired, and needs a little re construction in places as well as redecoration throughout.     The kitchen especially suffers from rain leaking in from a badly set roof, and also a complete refit.      We would ask you to remember this house, and to join us as we pray for the Lord to assist us to give some attention and care to it, as days go buy.

Esther and I were Mum and Dad to 40 plus in this house from 1972 to 1998.    We now live just opposite to it in Green Cottage situated at the end of the pathway leading to Testimony House.   We look at it every day, and whilst remembering the very happy days of our being at home there, we also see that, like us, it is ageing.      Unlike us, it is unable to take a little ease from its daily usage, but instead must continually endure exuberant and youthful life surging through it.

This week end we are being visited by two of our old girls, (Sarah Njeri  and  Francina Emsley) one working in Nairobi and the other in Mombasa area.    Nice to have the with us, and to talk over old times.      We also were recently surprised by a visit from Nicholas Kibet and his family.    Nick works as a waiter in very popular cafe in the town centre, and his wife is a primary school teacher.  They have three boys.      Very proud of them all, and it was a great joy to have them with us.

It is now 3.15p.m. and the Bishop's State Funeral is just about to conclude, before his internment at the Cathedral, as planned.     They have kept to time.       I must also come to an end for this week.

Maybe I will share some dental news then!     God Bless you all, and give you desires of your hearts as you live for Him, and for your neighbour.

Lovingly as ever

John, Esther and Daryl Green

UNHEALTHY PREOCCUPATION WITH SEX - IN ANY GUISE

THE BRITISH PRESS AND MEDIA are FULL of sexual harassment - and such as involves our Members of Parliament - and even the Cabinet.      The world truly is becoming more like a giant sewer these days, and EVERY EVIL  spewed up daily, to defile and spoil the mind and imagination of all mankind.
OF COURSE this is not NEW!  This could have been said during the progress of EVERY generation.    Since the Garden of Eden,  humanity has continued to increase the opportunity and incidence of evil and ungodliness.       In NOAH's day  'GOD saw that the wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth, AND that every imagination of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually.'  - Genesis 6v5 (The Bible).       It is said by some mathematicians
that there could have been seven billion people on the earth prior to the Flood!!    Only EIGHT were saved in that day.     At THAT time God was grieved when he He saw the moral decay of Man, and wished He had not created him.    He did indeed bring a universal flood upon the Earth in order to effect this.     BUT, Noah!   And Noah's family....(eight of them)!
WAS Mankind really SO bad?    YES!
JOB 15v16 finds Elephaz, the Temanite, saying 'How much more abominable and filthy (than all the imperfections of God's saints, and even the heavens) IS Man which drinks iniquity like water!'       Sin and Iniquity is, and has been, since the Fall, in ALL men progressively.       AND, although God practically wiped humanity OUT in the Flood, He saved Noah, his family and the Earth.     There was a NEW Beginning!       BUT the 'germ' of sin was still passed on to Noah's descendants from Adam's line.

AND Man still being infected with it,  has also found himself tempted by it, and giving in to it's tune playing on his fleshly appetites; and for the most part he continued to dance to it's tune.     AND TODAY with yet again a world population of SEVEN BILLION we find our selves AGAIN in a World almost identical to NOAH's world,   with a cauldron of evil frothing over, all around us, defiling every part of our environment until the very ground we stand upon, is giving way, and crumbling around us.         Well God is STILL able to SEE what is going on with us, and I fear that He is STILL grieved by what He sees, and this time might make a FULL END!      Not by Water but by FIRE.     The Apostle Peter writes about this 'End' in his 2nd Letter chapter 3 describing a World Society of unbelievers walking in their own lusts.    He warns that God, having destroyed the World Order once with WATER,  will, at the End, destroy it with FIRE.      It will come suddenly upon a world society too busy revelling in its godless revellings and rioting to even be on guard..

And our world IS blind and deaf to everything that leads to purity of life.    A very indecent world, unheedful of its past honours and glories, decadently descending more and more into the worship of every degenerate and worthless pastime, until - like a tide of iniquity - all that IS righteous and Holy will be swallowed by its incoming fullness.     ARE WE - ANY OF US - READY?   Are we even BELIEVING in what is coming.         Our world institutions once respected and honoured our toppling into this sea of iniquity - and that sea of iniquity -  all that has been looked to as worthy of praise and example is now, in our time, being undermined and even pulled down about our ears, to that in the end we find nowhere to stand, and no one to look to for leadership and LIGHT in a dark place.

Again let me cite the 3rd chapter of the 2nd Letter of PAUL to Timothy, in the Bible's New Testament.  IN THE LAST DAYS.      Isn't this just a confirmation of all that I have been pointing to?    And because of this picture, painted once more so graphically, HOW SAFE CAN ANY OF US BE from the sticky soup of sinful appetites that stalk our streets and habitations?    How totally AWFUL it is to see that at the heights of power and leadership we find debauchery, dishonesty, and even a determined mind to serve oneself and not our brethren, even the nation.       Can the world be saved?  Is it too far gone?    Are the scales already too weighted on the wrong side to be redressed?    IF we ARE living in Noah's day, then I suspect the worst scenario.      WE need to take our eyes from our world focus and interest, and LOOK UP WITH HOPEFUL EXPECTANCY.

AND IN THE MEANTIME  we who may have sense of the Rightness of How to Live in front of God, should take heed to ourselves and check ourselves to see what it is that Rules in our lives.
IN KENYA we are seeing wilfull ignorance of what is right, and righteous.    We wallow in alcohol, drugs, sex, and poverty, encouraged by the exuberant selfishness of the rich and licentious leaders in every level of society.      The Sunshine is being diminished and even hidden, and replaced by a very uncertain, and apprehensive society.      NO one is safe from human mistreatment.     Strikes and Riots paralyse our social facilities,  crime, threatens our safety, unemployment our ability to pay our way,  drugs the future of our children's hope, and alcohol eating away at the very fabric of home and civil existence.

We do not know how many LAST DAYS we may have to endure.      Are there NO voices, no Visionaries like Noah, to declare the present danger,  declare a way of recovery,  and to remember in  Whose Likeness we are Created to be.

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LATEST GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENT 

DARYL,  has just sent in a  copy of a Government Letter which he has just received from the Principal Secretary of the Kenya State Department for Social Protection. and dated 1.11.17

RE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF NEW CHARITABLE CHILDREN'S INSTITUTIONS

a)   Many children are inappropriately placed in CCIs, yet they could  desirably be placed in Foster Care, Guardianship, or Local adoption with Kenya families.  In this respect it is evident that such children are put in institutions under circumstances that are not in their best interests, and are accordingly denied the opportunity to be raised within families.

b)   It is evident that some of the Children's Homes were involved in unscrupulous practices which may involve Child Trafficking.

In view of the above this is to give instruction that there shall be no further Registration of New

CCIs  until the current situation is streamlined to secure proper care and protection of vulnerable children

(The Letter is addressed to the National Council for Children's Services for their action)

We have commented many times before about the declining climate in Kenya Children's Service toward Children's Homes, even though the need remains as high as ever.      This is due mainly to the influence of the United Nations generally policy of Foster Care.

WE DISAGREE WITH THE GENERAL DRIFT OF U.N.  policy in this respect.

This latest directive may well be taken as a definite indicator that existing Children's Homes will now be fazed out / or even closed down in the future.      We shall be examining how this might affect our own ministry and involvement with underprivileged children in the near future, and will soon hope to have more information in the next few months.

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JAMES MANU,  had his 5th Eye Clinic visit this Thursday/Friday.     We have not had all the result so far as Manu went on to Nairobi for a few days to visit friends there.     It was more painful than usual due to the fact that they had to drain fluid that had collected behind both retinas.     He survived.  He is OK in himself, and he is looking into the possibility seriously now of learning Braille just in case his vision worsens.     We are still trusting the Lord to step in for him.

THINGS remain relatively quiet throughout the Country, with politics having quietened down and the media also taking a low key attitude in their reporting; which is a good thing.      This does not mean all the problems have gone away, but for the time being we DO now have a President, and there is hope the Country can stabilise a little.       

The National Primary Exams have now concluded and we said Farewell to the 75 candidates at a 'dinner' laid on by the School (Daryl, Esther and I attended).     High School Form 4 Exams start this week, and will go on until the first weeks of December.      Everyone apart from the Candidates for this exam have now commenced their holidays.

AND now we shall all be looking forward to having the kids to ourselves, and to look forward to Christmas.      Thank you all for your Prayers.     We all need them.

John, Esther and Daryl Green