Our backyard

A short example to explain where I’m going:

For most of America we are empowered to take care of our property, family, etc.  That is the norm.  However, here it is much different.  It’s as if there are almost imperceptible classes.  Recently Ruthie and I wanted to buy bougainvillea that will hopefully grow up and along the ugly fence in our back yard.  In the States what would you do?  You’d go down to your local Lowes or if you wanted to slum it you’d go to the Home Depot and buy the plants…either way, you’d do it yourself.  When Ruthie and I told our property caretaker that we could handle buying and planting the bougainvillea, he laughed at us.  He simply could not believe that we, as white westerners, could actually plant the plants ourselves.  He thought it was hilarious.

Another example…the first toilet seat we had was quite possibly the worst toilet seat I’ve ever used and it proceeded to last a total of 3 days before breaking.  On a scale of 1 to 10 for Chinese junk this was a 12.  I will not tell you who broke it, Ruthie or I, but I will say that person weighs quite a bit more than the other and is missing an index finger.  Naturally we informed our property caretaker, Zuma, and so he went and bought one, but refused to install it because he had to call a plumber to install it.  I initially thought he was joking, but he was dead serious.  I told him I could do it and he then laughed at me again.  (By now we’re used to people laughing at us for doing daily tasks that other whites don’t do here….we get laughed at for walking everywhere, for jogging, for washing our own clothes by hand, etc.).  Now, I know for a fact Zuma could have installed the seat himself.  Afterall, I’m no handyman, but even I can install a toilet seat.  For Zuma, it was just so far outside of his paradigm to fix it himself that he couldn’t even imagine doing it.  He couldn’t have a belief in himself (faith…ahh…you know I had to segue into something Christian) if his mind didn’t allowa belief in himself that he could do it.

And how often do we all live like that?  We have the very power of God inside of us yet I know for a fact I don’t live every second like that’s the truth.  Throughout history men and women have tapped into this reality:  When we fully believe in Him (or Them) we then fully believe in ourselves.  When we believe in Him and Us there is literally nothing that is impossible.  To me, it seemed like the times that Jesus got most ticked off with his disciples were when they weren’t doing something….when they were waiting for him to do something.

To say that I love sports is like saying I love an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle…an understatement of massive proportions.  My favorite professional soccer team is Liverpool Football Club and they play in the England Premiership (EPL), which is widely considered the best soccer league in the world.  They have the richest history of any EPL club, but over the past decade the team has fallen under hard times, coming to a peak when they were bought out by two greedy Americans four years ago.  Since those Americans came into power the club has had a pretty rough fall from grace.  They started off the 2010/11 season by hiring a new manager, Roy Hodgson, a well respected manager who always seemed to manage bad teams into good (average) places.  All was looking up.

The only problem was that Roy Hodgson was only used to managing bad teams into over achieving ones.  For the entire first half of the season he managed Liverpool like they were a bad team trying to get them to overachieve.  The only problem was the Liverpool wasn’t a bad team, but because of their manager’s incessant game plan to “hope for a draw” which, while working fine for him at smaller clubs, was not suited for the grand history of Liverpool.  The players, as much as they fought it, slowly but surely, succumbed to the lessened beliefs of their new coach and were sitting in 12th place (out of 20) when Hodgson was sacked.

King Kenny

In early December a new American ownership group (same ownership group that owns the Boston Red Sox) bought out the two greedy Americans and immediately ushered in a new day.  They hired “King Kenny” as he’s known around Liverpool.  Kenny Dalglish won numerous titles for LFC as a player and as a coach.  He was an instant conduit to an era in which Liverpool battled for every title.  He didn’t bemoan the fact that the squad was selling all of its best players like his predessor.  He simply went ahead with his business and he believed in his team.  Draws with meddling clubs weren’t to be accepted under his watch.  He wanted to win.  And there is no small distinction between how a team plays when they are going for a win and when they are holding out for a draw.  You could instantly see the results.

Since Kenny has taken over, Liverpool regrettably sold its best player, Fernando Torres (video below)

and lost its 2nd best player, Steven Gerrard,to injury for the remainder of the season.  Did Kenny lower his expectations?  No.  Since Kenny has taken over, Liverpool has risen up the ranks from 12th to 6th (with a chance to finish 5th by seasons end).  Over that time span only one team has more points.  Their goal differential went from -3 when Hodgson was sacked to the current +16.  Quite simply, Kenny believed and Roy didn’t.  The results speak for themselves.

I’m tired of living for a draw….just hoping to break even and maybe get lucky to find myself ahead at the end.  Roy’s teams sat back and waited for a lucky break.  Kenny’s teams impose their will on their opposition.  Isn’t that what we’re called to do?  Impose the will of the Father onto this world.  We are called to spread love, freedom, power and hope.  The only problem is that so often we play for the draw.  We go to church, we don’t live church.  We give when it’s easy, and love when it’s convenient.  After all, if you don’t pick a fight with Satan he probably won’t pick one with you.

Jesus empowered us to change the world.  He’s given us everything we need………HIM.  Kenny believed in his players and unleashed them.  Jesus believes in us and everyday he unleashes us to spread His kingdom in whatever way he’s called us to.  I want to live a believing life where I believe in Him, in myself, and in others.

Have a great day and remember….nothing tops a Coke in glass bottle after a good days work.

Home…a place where everything is “right.” Where everything is run in it’s proper order. Where government exists to serve…where love is the currency…where we have everything we’ll ever need and want. To put it bluntly…I want to go Home. Not America, but the place where “all things” are in proper working order. Christians, though, are supposed to bring the ‘home’ of heaven to this earth. We are supposed to model it. Seems so easy until we realize we have an enemy who is bent on making it as difficult as possible.

Ruthie and are assimilating ourselves into two different cultures at once. We are assimilating into the Kenyan culture which has different intricacies than our “normal” American culture. Things are just different. In Kenya different values are held higher and some lower. American culture is not better….just different. Kenyan culture is not better…just different. However, Heavenly culture is better. And because of that Ruthie and I try to simultaneously merge our minds and actions into that of our heavenly culture as well as the Kenyan culture.

Currently I’m wrestling with how to be a Christian over here. The need is overwhelming. Our God is not overwhelmed though so Ruthie and I increasingly tune our ear to His words to get his perspective. We are both looking forward to see the fruit that comes from our few years here in Kenya. Even if we don’t see fruit and simply plant seeds (lots of seeds, mind you) that will be ‘ok’ with us as long as we’re doing what we’re called to be doing.

The adventure starts…..

We both come from one of the most blessed places on earth; the Shenandoah Valley.  However, we’ve had the priviledge to travel the world and see regions where the blessings are not evident.  In fact, we’ve been to places where the pain, lack of justice, lack of honor, and depletion of love is so grand that we find it unacceptable.  To cheesily quote JRR Tolkien, “we believe there’s some good in this world, and we believe it’s worth fighting for.”  We go to Kenya to love the coast with the love and justice and peace we’ve found.

I saw this video today and thought I’d share it: