I had a Bizarre Encounter With a Woman this Weekend...

I’m an avid rugby fan.  Growing up my dad tweaked my interest in the sport from a young age, and I remember him watching a few of the games of the 1995 rugby world cup on pay per view.  It wasn’t until we moved back to South Africa in 1999 that I grew to really love the sport.  Dad and I would go over to a friend’s house to utilize their cable TV to watch our province play.  Since then, I’ve been hooked.  One of my favorite viewing places here in Kenya is a sports bar about 25 minutes away via public transport.  They have loads of TVs and pretty good food. 

Saturday night I went to watch one of our South African teams play a New Zealand team.  Almost immediately after I sat down, I Kenyan gal came and sat in the spot next to me.  I was quite sure that she would be being flirtatious the rest of the evening.  I was right.  Although, I’m not actively on the Smirnoff Ice downing lady market at the moment.  We began to talk about different things, and she learned that I have been here teaching at ANU.  She had grown up in the church and attended the Nazarene church for a while.  Since then she’s gone through a period of doubt in her faith.  I asked her why, and she told me it’s because God hasn’t answered her prayers.  I told her, “You know God doesn’t always answer our prayers positively, and I think there are times when God doesn’t answer our prayers because we ask them selfishly.”  The crux of her message was that she really felt like God had failed her in this situation.  She told me she’d done all the ‘right things’ growing up.  She’d gone to church, to Sunday School, etc.  But there was something that Caroline was lacking, and I think its something that a lot of nominal Christians struggle with.  

Sunday put a lot of things in perspective for me.  I was teaching a Sunday School class at church on John 10.  One of the lines from that passage says: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”  This knowing is something that takes some action on our part.  I think about what it means to know someone.  I can know someone’s name, but that doesn’t mean I know them.  To know someone, you have to spend time with them, you have to interact with them, you have to live intentionally desiring to become closer to that individual.  Because Jesus knows us and we know him, he lays down his life for us.  That’s commitment!  That’s a depth of knowledge that is incredibly tough to comprehend.  Amazingly, one of the people in attendance in Sunday School was a an actual shepherd from the community.  He shared that if he lost a sheep, he'd go after it out of the love he feels for it.  Do we have that same love for God?

Our relationship with God isn’t about doing the right things, but living in right relationship with him.  Our of that right relationship with God flows the rest.  Caroline was lacking the commitment.  It’s something we all struggle with, and I’ve struggled with, but something we are promised in scripture time and time again, is that if we abide in Christ, he will remain with us.  Still, God won’t answer our prayers the way we always want, maybe it seems like he won’t even answer them, yet that presence, that knowledge of God is what sustains us.  

I didn't know that I'd be undesirably hit on for two and half hours by a tipsy gal, and yet end up having a deep talk with her about God.  Strange how things happen sometimes.  Caroline had quite a lot to drink, and ironically lives relatively close to me, so I paid for her matatu ride home and we parted ways.  

What I'll Miss About Kenya...

Kenya has once again become my home.  For those of you who didn't know, I attended boarding school here in Kenya for all of high school.  I left in 2005 and returned last September for a program through my graduate school, Nazarene Theological Seminary, called 365m.  365m sends students all over the world for practicul intercultural experience and to continue taking classes online through our school.  I've been based at Africa Nazarene University and have loved (or come to love) every second of it.  Here are some of the top things I'll miss:

1. The people.  They are amongst the kindest I’ve met anywhere.  I'll miss walking down to the tuk tuk corner hand in hand with Lucy's kids.  
2. Their hospitality.  The very first weekend I was here some new friends invited me to spend the weekend at their house.  They and others have cooked elaborate meals for me, over which I’ve learned much.  Other times I've been in the middle of town with thousands of people around me when some kind soul comes up and offers to take me where I need to go, and have even paid my bus fares along the way.
3. Church.  The church I’ve been attending is the local Nazarene church on campus.  We’re very diverse with a huge group of students from many countries in Africa.  We also have probably the largest kids group on the East Africa Field for the Nazarene Church.  Our church is vibrant and does some incredible things for the community.  Just today I paused and listened whilst everyone around me sang his or her praises to God.  I got the chills and a couple of tears in my eyes.  Gonna miss Sunday’s here.  
4. The students on campus and their diversity.  Our students come from multiple countries, ethnicities, and tribes.  They speak hundreds of languages (combined).  I have learned so much from our dialogues during and outside of class. 
5. My co-workers in the religion department, especially my office mate Rev. Gift Mtukwa.  He (and the others) has become a great friend.  I’ve learned much about God and how he works in the world. 
6. Incredibly cheap and handy public transport.  Some kind of transport will take you almost anywhere you need to go.  People with cars hate matatus, but for those of us inside them, it’s nice to have them skirt around traffic illegallyJ
7. Wildlife/nature.  I live right next to Nairobi National Park.  97% of the nights I’ve been here I’ve heard hyenas.  I’ve occasionally heard the distant sound of lions.  I’ve also encountered several snakes.  A lengthy Rock Python slithered right between my legs whilst I was mid-stride.  Countless birds chirp starting about 3:30 in the morning till late.  The park provides great scenery for many a run along its borders. 
8. Slow pace of life.  At times I have hated this, but I think the majority of the time I’ve enjoyed it.  You never really have to worry about being late, as it’s not that big of a deal.  You rock up when you can in Kenya.  It’s gonna take some adjusting getting use to a more scheduled life in the States.
9. The food.   The Kenyan staple foods are great.  My favorite is probably chapati.  It’s a flour based bread type of food half way between a tortilla and a crepe in texture.  Kenyan’s used it to pick up other foods like stew and the like.  I’ll also miss the price of food.  Kenyan food from local joints is especially cheap.  There’s a place across the street where I can eat to my heart’s content for just under two bucks.  Non-Kenyan food is also quite cheap.  A relatively classy meal here is way cheaper than the US.
10. The rains.  I’ve written about this elsewhere, but the rains in Kenya and Africa have what seems to me to be a greater significance than I’ve noticed in the other places I’ve lived.  In the US, the places I’ve lived have received moisture all year through rain in the summer and snow in the winter.  Here, there are two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.  The moment the rainy season begins, life comes back to creation.  Things turn green again, bugs come, animals regain their lost kgs from the dry season, the mud returns, etc.  

There are other things I'll miss as well.  Maybe I'll write a part II with these sometime.