Blog

Moving is not fun, at least not in my opinion. This is a direct result of having moved too many times in the last 20 years. Fortunately, this time we were not moving. It was the Southern Region Office. The office has been jumping around from place to place for the last few years after having to leave South Africa due to visa issues. This week, it moved into another temporary, yet semi-permanent place. Temporary because we could move again. However, now that we have our own furniture and space, it feels more permanent. Last week Brandi spent time tracking down furniture from a company here in Nairobi that is downsizing. She found desks, chairs, and all kinds of other office goodies at a great price. I discovered that I prefer her to shop with someone else’s money. This week, they delivered the furniture and we began the set-up process. The set-up is not yet complete, but progress has been made. Maybe not the...

How will my life impact the future? How will yours? No matter how great or small it might be, our lives will impact the future. This past week I met Francis. His story reminded me of the impact one life, even one moment in time can have on future generations. The meeting was set up by Joseph, a former student of mine. Joseph had shared with me about his pastor friend who wanted to plant a church near where we currently live and he thought I should meet him. The three of us met in a small local restaurant. Chai (tea with milk) was brought and as we shared our first cup introductions were made. Although I was eager to talk about the possibility of participating in a church plant in some way, I was fascinated by Francis’ story. It was not some miraculous conversion testimony. In fact, as he shared his story it might even be considered mundane by some. A missionary...

Relationships often are limited by how we see another person. Followers of Jesus too often overlook people in our life because of how we see them now. People have a role in their life, a place, but often we are limited by the current state of the role. How often do we look at the potential in a person and not simply see who is standing before us? My friend Job is a good example of this. He was once my language teacher. However, it is possible that he will one day be a missionary. He is eager to learn the bible. His faith is solid. His church has trained him well, with investment from many others. What would I have missed If I had simply seen him as a language teacher? Make no mistake, he is an excellent Swahili teacher, but he is much more. There would have been a missed friendship. I may not have heard about the calling he...

Despite the Corona Virus altering lives and changing plans, making disciples has marched forward. Has discipleship looked different during the last few months? Definitely. But, discipleship has not stopped. The mission of making disciples has adapted as has other areas of our lives here in Kenya. As a result of Corona Virus many of my plans have been changed or by canceled. Certainly, you can relate. Who has not been impacted? What has amazed me is not as much that ministry continues, but how it has adapted. We have restrictions on the sizes of groups that are able to meet together and what medical protocols are required. (not that everyone is following them, but they do exist) In spite of everything, the church has not stopped being the church, it simply adjusted to the new situation. Worship Continues Worship of God did not stop because of a pandemic. It did adapt. The small group of men I disciple meet and sing songs and study...

Have you ever begun a project with enthusiasm only to find yourself give up after a few days, weeks or months? Too often is my answer. Why does this happen? Whether a personal or work goal it is frustrating. Let me share a recent experience and how I plan to reboot a goal that I started at the beginning of this year. For example, take this blog. I had high expectations and was full of excitement about blogging. My goal had been one blog post per week. As you can see from the blog history I was successful for one month. On the upside, January did have five weeks. What went wrong? Having spent the last couple of months during Corona virus disruptions considering this, I have come up with a couple of conclusions. First, time. January was a month of gearing up for this year, which has had its own twists and turns. However, I had time to write every week. Then along...

The kingdom of God is like a treasure. A very valuable treasure. It is worth more than anything else in the world. In Matthew 13:44 a man finds a treasure in a field. He is so happy because he knows it is very valuable. What does he do? He buries it again. Then he goes and sells everything he owns. Why would he do this? He sold everything in order to buy the field where the treasure is buried. His family must have thought that he was crazy to sell everything to buy the field. But the man knows the truth. It was a field with a buried treasure. The field was worth more than anyone else knew and he was willing to pay whatever the price for it. The kingdom of God is like this. The kingdom is worth more than anything else in this world. We need to be like this man. We should sell everything in order to gain the riches of the...

Last week I shared about my experience with Geoffrey, a taxi driver here in Kenya. His question about studying the bible has got me to thinking this week. How can a person better understand the scriptures? There is no silver bullet. Yet, there are some tools which can help. I was taught one such tool several years ago and want to share it in hopes that it will help others. Going through seminary I was taught about the church, doctrine, missions, worship, and many other things. Many of them helpful and good. Some of them were very practical while other things were academic, which is good and has its place. However, how much of it could be transferred to the work overseas that Brandi and I were going to engage in? Realistically, most of it could, but it needed to be presented in different ways. The material needed to be culturally applicable and not just western. While preparing to move to Uganda several years ago we had an opportunity...

Using Uber to get around town is convenient. No need to worry about parking. I don’t have to fight the traffic but can relax and talk to the driver. These conversations can consist of inconsequential matters or I can practice my Swahili if the driver is willing.  However, I really like to be able to have a spiritual conversation. This does not happen every ride. Yet, when it does happen, I am always amazed at what I learn and what topics come up. Geoffrey picked me up one morning as I was on my way to a meeting. I discovered he does not live far from us. He goes to the Anglican church a quarter mile from my house. He has five grown children and many grandchildren. We practiced Swahili. He corrected my phrases and grammar, and he was really a great guy to be riding with. Then he found out I taught the bible and that I am a missionary. Geoffrey said he had a question for me. A question...

In order to get to know the people in our community I have gone to the local shops, to buy fruits, vegetables, and other items. I want them to see me out and about and hopefully begin to have some good conversations. One Sunday while taking a walk in our community and learning the area I encountered Sammy. Sammy walked up to me and introduced himself. He said we needed to be friends and he would teach me about the area. He also told me to stop by his house sometime, which was not far from where we met each other this morning. He told me it was near the piki piki stage. (a piki piki is a motorcycle taxi) Later that evening I went to look for Sammy but could not find him. Instead, I encountered George. George had been watching soccer and drinking a little bit. He too insisted we be friends. I think his hope was for me to go watch...

2019 is history and 2020 is still in its infancy. This is the time many Christians are getting started on a plan to read through the bible. Reading God’s word is one of the most important disciplines a Christian undertakes. It is also one of the most difficult to be consistent with.   Reading through the bible in a year does not make a person a super Christian, it is a worthy undertaking. The goal for a Christian is to daily be in the word of God. Reading a few chapters (or listening to an audio version) every day is a spiritual discipline that should be present or being developed in the life of a follower of Christ. I had always struggled with completing the bible in a year until 2019. Every year I would begin with high hopes that this was my year to read through the entire bible. Unfortunately, a few weeks in, sometimes after a month, I was off course and I gave up. Normally...