Saturday 11 July 2020

THREE SUNDAYS AGO, on the 28th June, we were visited by the Eldoret Lions Club.  We had just come from our Sunday Morning Service in the School Hall, as they arrived with gifts of food and other provisions.   It was a surprise for us, since they had not visited for more than a decade!  BUT it was a Blessing from God, and we knew the Lord by His Spirit had moved and prompted them to come just at that time.     We were all glad and thankful to see them, and to receive their needful gifts that touched all of us in the Four Homes.
Quite a number of the Lions that visited that day were from the Asian Community, but others also from across our Eldoret Society.    Quite a range of  'colour'   from coal black through to my lonely white!   This was not noticeably apparant!  Just human beings brought together in recognition of our need of one another, and also the value of each other.     Moments like these are always very special to us.   Moments that break through our ethnicity, our cultures, and our many differences that so often can 'dehumanise our attitude' to each other, and suddenly reveal are individual humanity, and 'likeness' to the One God who Created us all, each and every one;  Created us in Love and CARE, and never wanting one of us to perish or die, or be hurt by one another.      We need MORE of these moments in our self centered and self-righteous world.

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A STILL EMPTY CLASSROOM !!

KENYA Government has decided to delay re-opening of all School, Colleges and Universities until January 2021 at the earliest!    And this might still only be stage by stage!     This is not welcome news to us, or indeed to any of the Country's private schools.     Many in this sector of education have had to borrow from Banks, and repayments depend on the regular payment of School Fees from those attending our schools.....    And of course, whilst no one is learning and attending schools, unlike Govnment, cannot continue to pay Teachers Salaries.    Closed for a whole Term, and now yet another, will confront many Schools with the possibility of permenant closure.    VERY few of our private Schools in Kenya have accrued capital in the Bank for times like these.    We are not one of them.  It is quite a daunting time, with huge amounts of money tied up in buildings now unproductive of any revenue.
The Government has said that Kenyan parents are afraid to see their children resume school before Covid 19 is erradicated in the Country.      Our children are more important than Schooling.   This is not a thoughtless argument - none the less, if children are kept from school for too long they will have forgotten what they previously thought they knew!    This is almost a total year lost.   When Schools DO re-open the Syllabus will be resumed from the time classes were suspended - AND there is little doubt some time will again have to be spent in Revision in order to bring children back to the level they were interrupted from learning - a BIG problem for everyone.     And not the only one, since so many have lost their employment, and are now without ability to live as they once did, or have funds available to even care for their families.      AND the Government encourages us all by telling us things WILL get worse, and the numbers of those becoming ill with C.19 will increase!!      AND all this with more and more of the National Lock Down being lifted, and more and more laxity in maintaining careful distancing every day.      Mainly we are all at the mercy of those who see FINANCE and income to running the Country as MORE important than saving lives.      But the REAL Mercy to be looked for must only be from GOD Himself.

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Our Current situation regarding C.19 in Kenya as at yesterday evening. 10th  July -

Pos. Cases    Total Tested  Recovered   Deaths
9448               206,584         2733             181

Cases Tested on 10th July -   - 6,979 P)sitive Cases 473  - a considerable rise.

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THESE DAYS I AM FINDING MY MIND FULL OF unquiet thoughts about our common origen as Human Beings, all Created from Adam and Eve in the Image (Likeness) of GOD.    I do believe this, by the way.      I do not believe in a lot of different ponds producing variations of MAN.    BECAUSE I do not believe THIS, I am able to somehow still look for a way for us ALL, from every creed,and colour, to be able to appreciate, understand, and value one another, as one of a kind.     I have not disquiet about the humany of us all on this planet, but I am altogether dissatisfied with our inability to accept each others value and worth on a parr with our own.
We are a world warped by the individualistic, prideful mind of every man, each one infected by error and a nature set against loving his neighbour more than himself.    In the end this has nothing  basically to do with colour, physical image, or nationality, but rather an internal state of being.  We were not Created to be so, but we, from the beginning, allowed ourselves to fall into it.    And so we have spent much of our varied histories pulling down, and even destroying each other in thought, word, and deed.      It is apparant, as we see and hear of world affairs, that, today, not content with pouring over the details of current sin and evils daily brought to light by the media, we now spend time, in growing numbers,investigating both the living and the dead, in order to bury them under all the discreditable scandle, we can find.    We do this regardless of whatever GOOD these once well remembered members of our race may have also done.   In England alone this has brought about the destruction of  faith in our history, and of men and women of good memory, as well as similar attenpts upon the living, without any pity or regret when proved to be wrong, for the homes and families, together with the accused, who were often brought to ruin and unwarranted distress.
Shakespear, in Julius Ceasar, wrote -
'The evil that men do lives after them;
the good is oft interred with their bones'
BUT in our day, this may be on the verge of being reversed.      Thus we now seek to remove or slander the good, removing the memory of it altgether, whilst we instead self righteously parade the 
evil, the weakness, human error, and hatefilled image in front of all, removing more and more the ability to even recognise what IS good.     But for the Grace of God, there is not one of us that fails and falls into  regrettable and often ashaming error.    But God holds out forgiveness to all who seek for it.     And who are we to determine who Does and who Dosen't seek for such forgiveness in their heart.     Thus it was that Noah's son HAM was cursed for proclaiming his fathers laxity of life after accidentally discovering him, in his tent. naked and drunken ( Genesis 9v20-25)  It is not for me to judge;  I cannot for I too am as much a sinner as the one I would now point out to the world around me.      JESUS, The Christ, warns us, when He said   'Judge not that you be not judged' and in another place He says again 'If you forgive people their mistakes (their reckless willful sins, leaving them and letting then go, and giving up resentment) your Heavenly Father (GOD) will forgive you.

And here I must close.   But I may from time to time continue further in sharing what is pressing on my heart and mind.

All who are with me here, all our brother and sisters who labour with us, and the children, and those other brethren who live near us and encourage us, send their love in Jesus to you all, together with their prayes for you all, that you may be kept safe on the narrow path that leads to life.

Sincerely always in His Love

John, Esther, and Daryl Green, and all at Testimony Faith Homea.







1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi John and Esther. We check always to see your posts. as always you are in our thoughts and prayers. I will miss your blog if you are unable to do it. My email is norcal51@fastmail.fm if you decide to do a newsletter instead. We are still trying to get Joyce here with us. We have hired an immigration lawyer and it seems promising by next summer. Love you both very much. ..... Norma