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I’ve got some new pictures to share with you from our friends in Kenya and some news to pass on.  The wells in North Pokot have been completed and are fully functional.  The schoolrooms and pharmacy superstructure is complete and they have begun finish work inside.  The people there are so grateful to the volunteers from IGEM and to those who have contributed money toward their need.  Over the last few months your generosity has placed almost a quarter of a million dollars and countless hours of volunteer work into their impoverished tribal lands of 120,000 people. If you missed the story of how all that happened you can read it here.  

The needs, of course, continue to finish the rooms, equip them, and help support the staff who will help with education and medical needs.  There is some talk now about expanding the dispensary into a small field hospital to treat those who have no place else to go.  We are currently working that through channels to see if that is a possibility.  I know we cannot meet every need in Kenya so I’m trying to remain sensitive as to what God has asked of me and what I have to say no too.  Coming from a wealthy country those lines are not easy to find.  My heart goes out to people who have so little when we enjoy so much in this country.  My prayer every day is that God will give us wisdom in all of this and that their depence will grow on him not on Lifestream or The God Journey.    This isn’t easy!

Also, Im wrote previously about a pharmicist from Australia who has taken a personal interest in this project.  Her name is Rashida Cottrell and not only is their family sharing in the need there, but she is also going to be competing in a Tough Mudder run as an incentive for others to give as well.  This is a great story of passion and support.   You can get more details here or you can Rashida her for more information.  If you’d like to support her efforts and you’re from Australia you can do so and get a donation receipt.  If you’re in the US and want to support her you can give to Lifestream in her name and we’ll forward the funds on to Kenya and let her know that you helped her. 

I find myself both overwhelmed with gratitude at the generosity of so many of you and by the ongoing need in that corner of the world.  Who knew that God could open a door for my connections on the web for just such a time as this for people who are in such great need.  Your prayers are most welcome for the people in IGEM and those in North Pokot.  If you can and want to help financially you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Here are the new pictures: 

The work on the dispensary continues

With grateful hearts the people of North Pokot say good bye to the well drillers.  

The water flows freely in North Pokot

The volunteers who built the schoolrooms and dispensary arrive back in Kitale

For a farmer there is nothing like the firstfruits of summer.  In a vineyard, that’s when the grapes are turning ripe enough to enjoy.  I was out in my four-vine vineyard this morning and looked among the leaves and the picture below is what I found!  The first bunches are turning ripe and what a sweet treat it is to bite into the first grapes of summer and know that all the pruning, weeding, and nurturing have accomplished their work.  

It’s a good thing a vine is bright enough not to judge its fruitfulness in winter, or even spring.  It could throw quite a pity party when its branches don’t even have any leaves, or the bunches of grapes are small and hard.  Fruitfulness is a process, not only for a grapevine, but for us.  I wrote the book In Season: The Father’s Process of Fruitfulness to encourage people to get their eyes off of the results and embrace the process by which God invites us into himself and reshapes our lives so that the sweetness of his light and power can be shared with the world.  We so easily grow impatient, don’t we?  We judge ourselves by the fruit we think we should have by now and miss enjoying him while he’s shaping that fruit through the pruning of winter and the nurturing of spring. 

For those who want to embrace that process in your own life, have made In Season our Featured Book of the Month, and reduced the cost to $9.99 plus shipping for as many books as you want to order this month.  You can find it here.  
You can also find quantity discount pricing for In Season and other Lifestream titles if you want to use one of them for a study this summer or fall. 

Here is the chapter this morning’s walk in the garden reminded me of.  It’s one of my favorites, demonstrating that our growth in his kingdom will make us softer and sweeter, and that’s what will make us fruitful in our relationships with others.  

Softer and Sweeter

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls.
Matthew 11:29

In the last few weeks before harvest the grapes ripen rapidly. Two dramatic changes take place in these final weeks to make them the succulent grapes the farmer desires.
By early August the grapes have grown almost to full size. But if you pick one and bite into it then, you’ll be greatly disappointed. The grapes are still hard, and tart enough to pucker your lips. It is during these final weeks before harvest that the grapes fill up with sugar, making them soft and sweet.

The leaves are in full production at this time, pumping the grape bunches full of sugar. Almost daily you can taste the changing sweetness as the sugar content soars. This influx of sugar also softens the pulp inside the grape. As you bite through the firm outer skin, you’ll find the pulp has softened inside so it almost explodes in your mouth.

When the grapes turn soft and sweet, harvest is at hand. Today with special instruments farmers can measure the sugar content and know exactly when the grapes are fully ripe. Farmers of old, however, trusted their eyes and taste buds to tell them the same thing. Softer and sweeter. The same things that signal the maturity of a grape also signal the maturity of a believer. As God brings his promises to completion in our lives, one of the signs that he is about finished is the softness and sweetness that floods our demeanor.

Earlier, in the midst of promise and warfare, we might find ourselves a bit harder, full of arrogance, fighting and striving in our own efforts to accomplish God’s work. But the perseverance of summer shows the weakness of our own efforts.

By learning to trust God’s doing more than our own we become softened with humility and gentleness and sweetened with lovingkindness. All of the fruits of the spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—are expressions of a life that has been through the fire and come through with greater trust in the Father’s affection and his work in the world.

However, these are not the attributes most desired or generated by the world system. If you want to make it in this world, you have to be tough. Don’t show any sign of weakness (meaning kindness or goodness) because someone is waiting to take advantage of you the moment you do. Those are the rules. Everyone who succeeds learns them early and follows them adamantly.

Everyone, that is, except Jesus. In every conflict he faced, through every lie directed against him by those who sought to destroy him, he only demonstrated these incredible fruits of the Spirit. His authority scared many people, even though he held no political power or ever enforced his will on anyone. He went about doing good, but this only threatened those who would not allow God access to their lives. “We’ve never seen anyone like this!” the people gasped as they looked for ways to kill him.  Softness is not weakness; in God’s kingdom it is the greatest measure of strength.

All too often I’ve seen people loaded with knowledge and zeal but still captives of the world’s system. They are harsh and their words are judgmental. In their wake are a lot of offended people—not by the gospel—but by the way they’ve been treated. They want to be somebody. But as long as they want to be somebody their ministry will be polluted. Even in places where God has genuinely called them they are defensive and easily threatened, and they compensate for that with aggression and manipulation. Where they don’t succeed, they are frustrated and bitter at those they perceive as impeding on their ministries.

Those who have lived deeply in Jesus reflect the same humility and gentleness that Jesus did. They no longer advance their own agenda, angry when they don’t get what they think God has for them. They are not pushovers because they will resolutely stand in the truth, and they do so with a grace for others. They don’t threaten to leave and go somewhere else “where their gifts will be appreciated.” They easily express the compassion and care of Father to those around them. With simple love and concern they are able to help people engage God. They know that God opens doors and shuts them, and when he does, no man stands in his way. They are content with their part and have no need to diminish others to make the light shine brighter on them.

Living in that reality shows us that the harvest is at hand. If we don’t live in that place, our misplaced passion can easily crush the very people we’re called to touch with his life. The end product of summer, for those who traverse it with perseverance and growing trust, is a gentle and humble spirit. There is no more accurate sign of maturity than those who treat others, all others, with kindness and gentleness. When that settles on your heart, you know that summer has come to an end.

Let the harvest begin!
 

Every picture below brings me untold joy at this amazing work God has done in Kenya through the generosity of people Kenya and the generosity of those who frequent my websites. Incredible!

• For God to do what he did he had to disillusion a young preacher, Michael Wafula, nine years ago to go on an Internet search to find out if something more real was out there than the Christianity he knew.  
• And God lead him to a free copy of He Loves Me, which he downloaded and it began to provide the answers for some of the deepest longings of his heart.
• And God had to stir that man to invite me to come to Kenya, which opened a door for us to have a wider conversation via email for three years.
• And God had to me in contact with a missionary from Australia on her way to Kenya and her willingness to meet with Michael to see if the opportunity there was legitimate.  She wrote me back after her return to tell me that, “this man has a heart of gold and you can trust him with anything.” 
• And then God alerted me to the post-election violence in Kenya and nudged me to get a hold of Michael and see if he needed anything.  He had 250 people in his back yard he could not feed.  So we sent money for food and costs to help some displaced people. 
• God began to knit our hearts together as we had opportunity to help with other education and medical needs. 
• And then God stirred Kent Burgess and me to go to Kenya and spend time among this marvelous group of people who were just learning that God is a God of love.  They responded well to the dfthings we shared and launched them on a very different journey to share his love around east Africa instead of God’s principles.
• And then God had to stir us to get involved with seventy-two orphan children who were living in their own filth in a slum and many of you to send contributions to help relocate them to a safer and more sanitary space. 
• And then God had to put them in touch with 120,000 forgotten people in the upper reaches of Kenya who were dying of drought and poor sanitation.
• Meanwhile God had been stirring some people in Texas to put money into a fund, having no idea how it might be used.  
• And God had to stir the Kenyans we knew to want to go to that region with food and medical supplies and many of you to help fund them to go with over $62,000.  
• And God stirred them to return
• Then God made sure the people in Texas heard about the people in West Pokot and nudged them to help relieve the suffering there.  They sent $155,000 over two weeks to help the volunteers build a school, a pharmacy, and drill three wells. 
• And he nudged 55 volunteers to return to West Pokot to build the buildings and help further feed the people.  
• Then God tapped a woman in Australia who is a pharmacist by trade and wanted to help set up the pharmacy. She was willing to pay to build it, but that money had already been provided. 

Tell me God can’t touch a world by the simple obedience of people that he can knit together at a moment’s notice!  Does he need extensive institutions that eat up all the money in administrative fees, or obedient people he could bring together to rescue a group of starving people on the plains of Kenya? 

As I look back over this story I wouldn’t have seen any of these singular events as the most important thing going on in my life that day.  And yet, God was able to write a story of love and hope that astounds me in retrospect.   This is his church. He can really be its head.  What can happen in this world as thousands and thousands of people simply listen to him and do what he asks of them.  He truly does all things well!
I received this from Michael yesterday:

Dear brother Wayne, greetings in Jesus name, it is very long time without communicating but I thank God for this young man Thomas who has been communicating with you, including updates towards Northern Parts projects.  As you know, this place is far away and the roads are very bad, it needs grace of God, especially the well number two where we spend long time because of the broken down of the truck, we stay on the road some days till we fixed again, but God is good we are now joyful that all wells are covered, and found out last night that well number three is done.  All of us we were so joyful for what the Lord has done.  This is amazing grace.

I have gone many places in East Africa specifically Kenya but I have never served such wonderful people with hunger towards the word of God, thank you very much for all cooperation, also for the addition funds to enable this project to be completed.  So now the dispensary is very big and spacious. We have now the store inside, pharmacists inside, wards for women, Men, labour Ward, resting labour Ward, intensive care unit room, rooms for doctors, room for Nurses, room for staff, room for keeping records and Toilets and bathroom.  This is so great. Those rooms raise more work and funds.

All the work it will be completed next week, we thank God also for our volunteers who have worked tirelessly.  May the Lord bless you so much; send our greetings to all who has stand with us.

Amazing grace, indeed! 
Every one of these pictures speaks of the new life springing up among the people in West Pokot.  Don’t miss the last two!  After sending $93,000 in hopes of striking water in three different wells, to see it flow freely brings a smile to my heart.  

The pharmacy nears completion

A few of the volunteers who donated their labor

Distributing the maize to feed the hungry

A river of life for the people in West Pokot

The used to walk 40 kms for water, now they with joy draw water near their own homes

For more information or to contribute to our work in Kenya, see our Sharing With the World page.  

At 4:35 pm Monday afternoon, I wrote the final sentence in my new book, Finding Church:  What If There Really Is Something More?  That’s always a wonderful moment, akin to a builder turning the last screw in the dream house he’s been building for his family, or a trucker turning off the freeway toward home at the end of a cross-country trip.  It’s a wonderful feeling.  Part of what helped me get to the end was the cheerleading of a friend who said he had the sense that “this message is a modern version of what Christ was doing while he was here in human form, fighting for the freedom of his beloved.”  Gracious words, given that he hadn’t read it yet, but I hope that’s true and I’m blessed not to be the only voice in that fight.  I do hope, however, that for many for whom the term “church” conjures up images of pain, arrogance, or bondage, might look elsewhere to the church that Jesus is building that is filled with love, life, and grace.  

If you’ve been following this odyessy you know I was close to this point four months ago before I blew it all up on the advice of a good friend and first editor I ever had.  I love how it has come back together and hope now we’ve find the form that will best convey this material.  But even then I had yet to work on the final chapter.  Though I had some notes there, I was never sure how this book would end.  On this reformatting I kept wondering and it didn’t become clear to me until early on Saturday morning as I began to approach it.  I had no idea how to give a final summation given the fact that this journey is still unfolding for me and that I have great hope that God is still percolating something amazing beneath the surface of our world and that the church will yet take expression in ways more profound than any of us see at this point.  Finally I knew how to end it in the only way this book could end, in a chapter titled, “To Be Continued”. 

Here are a few excerpts:  

No, this is not a promise for a sequel called Finding Church Too!  I am simply acknowledging that this book speaks into a story that is far from complete.  Though Jesus is building his church in the world she is not yet all that she needs to be to bring this age to its conclusion and to be presented before him as his spotless bride.  He is still building his church though in ways that mostly go unnoticed and unnamed. 

And while I’m filled with anticipation at what might yet lie down the road, I have no idea what she will look like in the end as people are untangled from obligation to human systems and become more preoccupied with him and his kingdom.   What will it look like as we learn to love one another from the heart and care about each other the way God cares for us? The tastes I’ve had locally and internationally of this family when people are focused on him and generous with each other have fulfilled every desire I’ve had to experience his church in the world.  My heart yearns to see more of his children find their way into that reality and when they do, what will we look like then?  I told you upfront that I wasn’t an expert with all of the answers and now that we’ve arrived at the final chapter, hopefully you’re convinced. If you have more questions than answers, you are not alone.  I do too.  I want to keep learning how I can more effectively engage this church Jesus is building and I anticipate that to be a life-long adventure.  But to be honest, if I died tomorrow I could truthfully say that I’ve been able to participate freely in the incredible beauty and power of his church that I always hoped was possible. 

Finding church is not a matter of locating a group you like and joining it.   I hope many of you arrive at the end of this book as exhilarated as I am by the possibilities of finding a more vibrant church experience than you have found to date.  If you’ve wondered why you never seemed to fit freely into the human models we’ve created, perhaps now you understand why.  You weren’t rebellious or independent; you just had a seed of life in your heart that refused to settle for an illusion when something real beckoned you onward.

Finding church is not a matter of simply joining a Christian group, but actually embracing him and inside of him discovering how to live and think with others in the new creation.  We can’t describe her in intellectual terms and then implement our own strategies to fulfill it.  The church has to be experienced alongside others who are being transformed by him.  You don’t control that, and neither do I. We can only make ourselves available to him and see how he links us together. 

I hope this book is continued in a broader conversation of men and women worldwide who are passionate about Jesus and his kingdom that are willing to look past our differences to the common unity we have by virtue of the fact that we are children of the same Father.  It won’t be about the best way to do church, or to which one you belong, but how can we all belong more fully to Christ.  How can he be our shepherd and lead us to greater freedom from our own agendas so that we can truly be one as Father, Son, and Spirit are one?  How can we encourage each other on that path, and how might he connect us in conversations and collaborations of generosity and graciousness that will make him visible in the world…

Sharing my joy with friends I’ve been near over the last couple of days at finally completing this book, illicited the same question:  “So when will it be ready to read?”  So before I get those emails, I’ll answer as best I know.  I’m going to spend the next month polishing up the entire work. While I’ve already cut about 15,000 words from it, I want to streamline it a bit more and hoping find another 5,000. For those of you who don’t write, that may not make much sense. Why cut out something I might want to read?  I am not cutting it to leave things out; I’m cutting out the extraneous matter to make what’s most important stand out.  And believe me, there’s always extraneous matter.  If I was with a real publisher it would take another 12 months to get it ready for publication. But since I’m doing this one on my own I’m hopeful to get through editing, lay-out and cover design by early September and release the book in late September. That’s all best-case scenario.  If I have to blow it up again, it will take even longer.  But I’m hopeful that I won’t need to.  

Thanks to so many of you who have been an encouragement throughout this process.  I

As my work on the book winds down this summer, it looks like some more travel ahead as fall rolls around.  I’m putting some of the finishing touches to the final chapters now and then will take one more spin through the whole thing before sending it out for editing. Hopefully I won’t have to blow it up and rebuild it again.    

I’m already committed to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State on July 6, and now in Clovis, CA on July 26.  If you’d like to join us at either event, please see our Travel Page for more information. These are all conversations to help others process their journey in learning to live loved and connect in more relational ways with other believers.  

Also, it looks like trips are in the works this fall for 

Atlanta, GA  •  Houston, TX  •  San Antonio, TX  •  Austin, TX  •  Kentucky 

Even though these aren’t final and we don’t have dates for these yet, I’m letting folks know in case you are in those areas and want to tag on to the trip with anything else while I’m there.  It helps to know that before we get tickets nailed down.  

At the end of last week I received the following poem in my email and was so touched by it that I shared it with almost everyone I was with this last weekend.  So I wrote him to ask if I could share it on my blog and with his permission you’ll find it below.  It captures the whole story of redemption in a magnificent way and ends in just the right spot.  

I met Jimmy last summer at our Seeding Community Conversation in North Carolina and was touched by this young man’s story, his passion for God’s kingdom and his willingness to follow Jesus even through painful and difficult places.  Recently my brother suffered a very painful loss and is processing that in his own journey.  I suspect this poem might have grown out of that.   

Genesis

by Jimmy Wolfe 

After the Beginning, my world
was formless and void.
Darkness,
           Doubt,
                     Chaos,
Covered and hovered over my heart.
There was light. Until there wasn’t.
Succumbing to the weight of night,
           the sun surrendered and
I could  not see what was good.
Dusk without dawn.
           How many days?
The earth stopped bringing.
           Life stopped living.
                      I stopped believing
but not trusting.
Dusk without dawn.
How many days?
On a seventh day, through the stormy silence,
I heard the Word speak
           “Rest, I will.
                     Trust, I Am.”
His whispered Breath filled this dust and
           Light broke through,
                     a garden grew,
                               a Kingdom came.
As I saw Him seeing me,
my fig leaf fell and His love
drove Fear and Shame through
the Eastern gate as fiery angels
turned West to hem me in.
And on One Tree Hill, He said,
           “Eat. Drink. Remember.
                      You’ve known good and
                                you’ve known evil.
Now, you know Me.”

© 2014 by Jimmy Wolfe

We got some good news this morning from Kenya. As you know we’ve hired a well company to come in and dig three new wells in the northern regions where a severe drought has caused great disease and death, and the people have had to walk 40 kilometers to get water from the nearest well.  The wells are costing $31,000 each to drill and we’ve been waiting for news that they have been successful.  This is the report we got today:  

The good news is that the water is now found in plenty for the first well.  The water came with great force and the manager of the company said that he did not expect water like this.  The water will serve a huge number of the community and their animals, God is good for this!

God is good even without this, but this is good.  I’m so grateful that they found water in the first drilling.  Two more to go!  The people are so excited to get life-giving water much closer to home.  

The first drilling in the northern region

The pharmacy continues to rise

The school rooms and pharmacy are being built with volunteer labor.  These people have been working tirelessly in that region not only to get the wells in with solar pumps, but to also build the school rooms and pharmacy to help with more enduring needs.  We sent an additiona $8000.00 last week in food supplies to help with the volunteers and to help with some of the elderly who didn’t get enough food the first time around.   

We also received some news about the orphanage and school. State inspectors will no longer allow the orphanage to provide its own education without procuring an additional five acres and paying wages that were prohibitive for the orphange.  They have decided to close the school at the end of this term and just maintain the orphanage there.  The children will be enrolled in nearby schools during the day and return to the Living Loved Center to sleep and eat.  Overall the costs will decline a bit, though student fees will still have to be paid at the schools, since they do not have free education there.  Costs will be about $8,000.00 per year to enroll all the students and that will increase over the next few years as more students move from primary to secondary schools.  And I do like the idea of these children not remaining on an island unto themselves, but engaging other students in their neighborhood as well.  That willl help acclimate them to live beyond the center at some point.  

So the work continues, as do the costs.  Your prayers are most welcome.  If you can and want to help financially you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

In my last blog post, I shared a bit about my dad and where he is on his journey today.  It just so happens that yesterday my brother on his web site, ttp.tv, just posted an interview of my dad telling how this journey began. It’s the first in a series, but gives you a picture how a heartfelt cry of wanting to know if God is real opened up a better road for him to travel on than the one he’d been on.  

Though he expresses his story in terminology I wouldn’t use today because it can so easily be misinterpreted, this will give you a great picture of my dad and the legacy from which my life springs.  I often tell people who are as yet unsure that God exists or that he is a loving Father in the way I’d describe him, to ask God himself.  “If you’re real, would you show me who you really are?”  It’s a prayer he answers.  Not necessarily overnight and not necessarily by the expectations we’d want to lay out in front of him.  But in the way that will most grant us access to him and to his heart, he will make himself known.  

Life in Jesus is a revelation, not a bunch of rules and rituals to follow.  

I visited my dad this weekend.  This is not an easy time as my mom is in a nursing home after suffering what we assume were a series of strokes that has robbed her of mobility and affected her capacity to process life going on around her.  I have always respected my dad as a rock in this world—his decades-long passion for God, his care for others, his honesty and integrity even at personal cost, and now the way he gives up his life every day to make my mom’s a bit more pleasant in the twilight of hers.  I would have to tell you more history than is appropriate to help you understand the depth of what my dad is going through in this the sixty-seventh year of their marriage, but trust me I am undone by the sweet and tender way he attends to her every need when there is little coming back to reward him for doing so. 

One morning he told Sara and me that God had spoken to him as he woke up and confirmed to him that he was in control of every bit of this process, that he was drawing both of them into a greater season of dependency.  “As painful as this is, I wouldn’t trade it away for the depth of connection it is giving me with God,” he told us choking up.  God also assured him that he was at work in Mom as well, deeply below the surface shielding her in the pain and drawing her closer as well even though it isn’t so visible on the surface.  It reminded me of what we wrote about Missy in THE SHACK, that God was in the truck with Missy, even as the abductor sped away.  Our fear for others (and for ourselves) always removes God from the situation as we assume people at the extremes are all alone in their suffering and pain.  I love being reminded that they are not. 

Every day he goes down to the nursing home to spend the day with my mom in the middle of circumstances he no longer controls.  Every night he returns home to take care of all the details of their lives and prepare for the next.  He takes her food every day because it isn’t so good where she is.  It is a lonelier life now for sure, and their isn’t much happiness in the circumstances he bears.  But my dad was on the front in an infantry division in World War II in the northern reaches of France and thinks this is still far easier than that was.  So he soldiers on every day determined to make each day as sweet as possible for his bride at this stage of her journey. 

So now he is leaning into God’s reality each day more than he ever has.  He has no idea how long this stretch of the journey is so he takes one day at a time and simply does what is before him.  And I treasure every moment I get with both of them, Mom in the narrowing space of life, and Dad in his deeper touch with God.  It’s easy to understand why we all hope for “the good life,” and think of it as circumstantial ease that allows us to enjoy life on our own resources.  It seems that only in times of extremity are we reminded that we weren’t created for this broken age and that we cannot endure it alone.  Our hearts long for another reality, and then we discover again it is right here with us. 

Jesus said as much.  “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”  (Matthew 5:3, the Message)  The more disconnected we are from the kingdoms of this world the more drawn we are into his.  In a world that lots for amusement and easy it is so easy so easy for us to complain when our temporal joy is disrupted with brokenness and challenge.  I love the legacy my dad is giving to my brothers, our children, and our grandchildren.  This world and its “joys” are ever-fleeting, but a live lived in love—the Father’s extravagant love and the love we pass on to others who may be able to do little for us in return—draws us into the space that is far more real and far more enduring. 

The trust that goes deeply into God when life deals you challenge and pain, is a rare and precious treasure.  I have a front row seat for one example of it right now.  My inbox if full of many others who are being swallowed up by the pain of this age. Trust me, there is a place deeply in him that can set a heart at rest even in the midst of great extremity.  I pray you find it too.  

I’m going to lump a number of things into this update, since so much is going on.  The TellitCon event scheduled for June 20-21 in Visalia, has been postponed due to a lack of enrollment for that date.  Bummer!  I was excited about some of the things on my heart to share with young storytellers, but I figure there is a better time and place ahead.  We’ll see. Perhaps a podcast if nowhere else, eh?  

Also, I’ve gotten some new pictures from Kenya of the walls going up at the school.  Wow do these dear folks work fast!  

Check out the scaffolding.  Pretty sure that wouldn’t work here in the States.  I hope they are all being careful.  The work on these buildings is all being done by volunteers who have come up from the Kitale area to help.  Such amazing generosity!  

Along with the pictures came this report:  “Greetings in Jesus name, sorry for not being in touch for sometime it is due to running their and here inclusive to make sure that we put things in order, some of the license I was so needed to sign it. For every process, I thank God that everything is ok in Northern parts project, the drilling water company are ready to start the work on Tuesday, they will be travelling on Saturday, well equipped and ready to drill water. Expects updates report from entire of the week. Concerning the dispensary and the school, the work is going on well done and the roofing will start also next week. Our volunteers have done wonderful work and some of them are going to rest for some days while the new others will take on for the completion.  We appreciate your involvement in every steps.  Thomas will be updating in every steps including pictures from the ground.  I am now familiar with the people of Northern Parts.

Finally here are some podcast updates.  This week and next John Lynch (BO’S CAFE, ON MY WORST DAY) is my guest on The God Journey. He shares quite openly from his journey and his passion to help others find a home in the Father’s love and affection.  

Finally, for the past two weeks I have been a guest on the Dustin Daniels Show talking aboout HE LOVES ME.  You can find those interviews here:

Show 72: What Really Happened on the Cross?
Show 71: He Loves Me – Learning to Live in the Father’s Affection

All for now.  Life is good.  Fullness amidst challenges.  What could be better?  Fullness without challenges, I guess, but I seem to suspect that the fullness I get to live in today has a lot to do with the challenges God has met me in in times past.  A blessed weekend to you all.