The Journey

One of the greatest lessons I've learned in life is that life is a journey not an event. An event only last a prescribed amount of time, whether it be a few hours, days, weeks or month, maybe even a year or more, it will end at a prescribed time, no event lasts forever. A journey is a totally different thing, it does have a beginning and an end, but it is what takes place in the middle that make life exciting, that is the journey! The journey takes us down many different avenues, it introduces to people, places, and things we never dreamed we'd meet, the journey enables us to connect with other, teaches us to communicate, and it teaches us to commit. The exciting thing to me about the journey is that we are able to invite others to join us and together we discover things that event people will never find. Will you join us as we boldly go where we've never gone before?

The Dynamics of the Unknown

In a perfect world we would always know what is just around the corner, who was lurking in the dark, what they really meant when they said what they said, and most of all...how everything is going to turn out...In a perfect world! We would never question what the Apostle Paul was getting at when He said that all things work together for the good, to them who are the called according to His purpose(Romans 8:28), because we would know that He really does have the whole world in His hands...In a perfect world! But we don't live in a perfect world, don't understand why things are the way they are, how things work, or why certain things happen the way they do...we are called to simply place our lives in the care of God and trust Him for His desired results. There is the dynamic of not knowing, the task of walking with God in His word and believing that Job was right when He said that God knows the way we take, and of Solomon who said we are to trust Him with all of our hearts, not to lean to our own understanding, to acknowledge Him in all of our ways...and then and only then would God direct our paths...after all, aren't the steps of good men ordered by the Lord? The dynamic of the unknown is walking in darkness and allowing the light from within to guide us, it is living by faith when the human part of us cries out for knowledge. It is following the example of Abram who left the familiar and comfortable place of his father to go not knowing where he was going, but seeing in his spirit what God was preparing for him, embracing it by faith and moving toward it...one step at a time...Our times demand this type of faith...don't they?

Second Chances...Go Brittany?

Call me a crusader for lost causes, broken people, and those considered underdogs, I am all of those! These week I was scanning cnn.com and saw where Brittany Spears had been on the MTV Awards show and won several awards...I say go Brittany! Before the religious crowd comes out of the woodwork and crucifies me understand that I do not listen to her or watch her, do not agree with her lifestyle and readily admit that she is not my idea of a role model for my daughters...however, she is a person, who has a soul, and tremendous talent and ability, she is a human being, a daughter, sister, and mother, she is someone's friend and a member of someone's family...Brittany Spears is a person who has the attention of many people! She is also an individual who was given a second chance and took it! For months we watched headlines of her failed marriage, apparent breakdown, child custody battle, parents intervening in her finances...we listened as the world said she was done, down for the count, her best days behind her...but she's back, looking healthy and thankful for a second chance! I am thankful for second chances, for I too have failed, dropped the ball, stepped out of the picture, checked out of the box, and found myself in need of family and friends, in need of redemption and the opportunity to try again. How well I relate to the story of David who returned home with a group of battle weary, tattered warriors, who were so discouraged they too considered stoning David. The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord and that God's response was to direct him to go to battle and that he would absolutely be victorious and recover all that had been lost! Isn't it wonderful that God can take our failures, our breakdowns, our inabilities and turn them into places of victory? Perhaps it is this principle that intrigues me, that if Brittany Spears can be redeemed and come back in the eyes of the world, what can God do with ordinary people like me and you? I say...Go God!

People in the Process

Years ago Bill Cosby did a record, not a cd, a real life actual album that talked about how wonderful it would be if Polaroid could create an easier way for childbirth, it would make the process quicker and less painful. I would suppose women across the world would rejoice and we men who want everything in life to be quick would be happy campers...but somethings need process! I don't mind eating microwaved food, at least when it comes to burrito's or corn dogs, warming up left overs is ok, but I want pot roast to simmer all day long, if not over night...there's something that happens in the process that makes it worth the wait! Process is an important aspect of our lives, in our emotion, physical, and spiritual development, somethings need to come suddenly and somethings need to be developed and waited upon. So often in our impatience we look for shortcuts, seeking to find an easier and quicker way, not recognizing that in bypassing the process we are depriving ourselves of much needed elements. The concept of waiting is frustrating to us, standing in line irritates us, going through the various levels of process annoys us...yet, if we are willing to submit to process we will posses and become exactly what God has desired for our lives. The Apostle John talks about this in John 1:12 when he states that as many as would receive Him(Christ) to them He gives the power to become the sons of God. At the moment of salvation all that He is is deposited into our lives, but it takes time and process for it to be developed...how we need to learn appreciate and enjoy process!

Back In Illinois

This morning I left sunshine and warm weather to venture off in Springfield, IL. Tomorrow morning I begin revival at Heartland Worship Center, I'm really looking forward to this meeting, getting to know the pastors and seeing all that the Lord will do. I flew Ted airlines, felt like I was on the Hee Haw Plane, to board I had to go out the rear door of the gate area, down two flights of steps, up another flight to the rear of the plane...where I was seated next to a young family flying with their two year old, who is the next two and one half hours was not still nor quiet for more than a minute, the mother the entire time wanting to move so the baby will have more room, I'm on the aisle seat, she's in the middle...I kindly moved and enjoyed the remainder of the flight. In Chicago for a layover I enjoyed a nice Chicago Hot Dog...something about being in the City...It's Home! United Airlines and Ted are now my least favorite airline, cost me 15.00 for my one checked bag which my receipt calls "Excess Baggage", how can it be excess if it's my only bag? Here in Springfield I'm staying at a nice Ramada Inn with all sorts of places to eat within walking distance...it's going to be a great week...Even if it is only 73 for a daytime high! It smells like Fall and that is something I miss!

Getting Anxious

In 18 days I will board a plane and leave for what I believe to be the trip of a lifetime. In 2004 I went to Kenya for the first time fully expecting it to be my last, before we boarded to return home I knew deep within my spirit that I would return over and over again, and I have. This upcoming trip will be my eighth trip since March, 2004 and already I am looking forward to the next time! What makes this trip exciting is that I am going to Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, the home town of the new Prime Minister, Mr. Odinga, near Lake Victoria, and will be participating in a large outdoor crusade with my good friend Evangelist Peter Franz. We will teach leaders to lead, share the Gospel, and train pastors and laity alike to share the message of Christ in the streets. Already 80,000 posters have been prepared and will be distributed, I believe many people will come to know Christ! I am excited! We will travel also to Turkana, where the second oldest people group live, descendants of the Cushites, I absolutely cannot wait. When I return to Kenya I always feel like I'm returning home, as if this is the place that I belong, not one day goes by that I do not think of Africa, that I do not dream of being there, and wish that I could spend more time there. I'm not a full-time missionary, probably not even a part-time missionary, but I am Wambua, rain in the Kamba language, the brother of Titus Kiillu, the friend of Rapheal Mutinda and George and Daniel Gichana, Pastor Maurice and many others. God has emblazed a passion within my heart and spirit for these people and I will forever be thankful that God has allowed me to journey into this wonderful land. And so I travel, and I share, and I love, and I dream, and I live in the hope that I can somehow make a difference that will not just change the moment, but the future for the better for the glory of God!