Day 6
Every day has been a blessing. We have seen God’s orchestration in so many different ways. Today was not any different. For some of us, the day starts about 6:00AM with the pastel morning clouds radiating the early glow of the sun/Son. Bonface is already up preparing us breakfast as we all quietly (and slowly) make our way to the general living area of the place. With times of individual devotions and reflections, the day begins.
We eat breakfast together and share (again) some of the highlights of the day before, then the schedule of the day. One of the team leads us in a devotion about a favorite Bible character, focusing on a leadership trait, that God has revealed to them. We pray, sharing the praises from the day before, the challenges we are encountering now, and the hopes that we desire for the day. Before you know it, it is a few minutes before 8:30 and we scamper over to the meeting place (remember it is on the 3rd – really the 4th floor.) We are still getting used to the altitude (6213 ft), we often need to catch our breath.
Again, the Kenyan worship team led us in a wonderful worship time. One Swahili song seemed to especially energize everyone in the room. Midway through the song, the worship leader translated it for us – basically they were singing God brought Jesus to Africa – referring to Jesus early years and his time in Egypt and now he was in their hearts. To the Kenyans, it was an honor that Jesus had spent time in Africa and you could see the joy it brought. A simple daily reminder that God-with-us should bring us joy on a daily basis.
Clinton shared his testimony and spoke of his early years of playing football (soccer) and his desire to be a pro player – the only way out of the rough area he was growing up in. His dad had the same unreached aspirations and had turned to a life of alcohol. His “Mum” sent him to church every Sunday, although she didn’t attend herself. He found Jesus but the draw of the slums and the pressures of making a life for himself lead him to a life of crime and drugs. At age 19, Clinton, was on a downhill spiral. He came to a point where he knew (and he knew) that he would die soon and he simply didn’t want to die. He recommitted his life to Christ. He finished school and got a job as an accountant in a construction company and became actively involved in a church. Many people kept telling him that he was a great encouragement and should become a pastor. He quit his job and on faith attended seminary (although his “mum” was not happy with this decision because it meant he no longer provided income.) There were many times that he didn’t have enough school fees but God always provided and he graduated without debt. We share this story because it was a fantastic setup for the lesson of the day.
After Clinton’s testimony, Tim began his lesson on the “Resilience of Peter.” It could only have been Spirit-driven that yesterday’s devotion to the attenders focused on the Sea of Galilee and on Peter’s walking on water AND Clinton’s testimony of receiving Jesus, falling into times of failure and God redeeming him AND Clinton taking the risk of leaving his “successful” vocation to become a pastor. Tim’s main points from examining Peter’s life and leadership were – how Peter took risks (motivated by enhanced ministry opportunities, greater challenges and a well-placed confidence in Jesus,) how Peter redeemed his failures, and recognized his dependency on God. Only God could have orchestrated the testimony and lesson like that.
Bookending the lessons each day are two activities that hopefully make the lesson more real. They usually involve a lot of laughter and interaction and it has been so much fun to be a part of them with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. Today’s activities involved blocks and dice – if you want to know more you’ll have to ask us as this email already too long and there is still much to write about.
Margaret Williams shared her testimony highlighting recent events where she had to be resilient on order to get through some very unfortunate circumstances. It was well-received and help once more integrate the need for good leaders to be resilient.
After lunch, of course it was tasty! – Margaret and Peggy lead us through 1 Thessalonians and many of the students are hearing great tools for helping them study the Bible on their own. One student remarked, “I love studying the Bible but I was never taught how.” We then did some crafts and games until about 4:00 or so. We all then rested and/or some helped Kim prepare for the game night that would follow our 7:00 dinner.
Minute to win-it was the game of the evening. The whole camp attended as teams competed against each other in one-minute games that included everything from sliding an oreo from your forehead to your mouth without touching it with your hands to trying to roll a quarter between the tines of a fork. Of course it involved much cheering and laughter. After crowning a team champion, we all (well the Calvary team) went to bed for some much needed rest about 10:30.
Pray for another great day today. Several campers have approached our teams with some significant prayer requests and also a few have talked about a recommitted life, others continue to inspire us with their total commitment. Please pray for God to use us well and that we don’t rely on our own wisdom and strength.
Sorry for the length of the email but it was a really good day…
For Him,
Tim Scott
Every day has been a blessing. We have seen God’s orchestration in so many different ways. Today was not any different. For some of us, the day starts about 6:00AM with the pastel morning clouds radiating the early glow of the sun/Son. Bonface is already up preparing us breakfast as we all quietly (and slowly) make our way to the general living area of the place. With times of individual devotions and reflections, the day begins.
We eat breakfast together and share (again) some of the highlights of the day before, then the schedule of the day. One of the team leads us in a devotion about a favorite Bible character, focusing on a leadership trait, that God has revealed to them. We pray, sharing the praises from the day before, the challenges we are encountering now, and the hopes that we desire for the day. Before you know it, it is a few minutes before 8:30 and we scamper over to the meeting place (remember it is on the 3rd – really the 4th floor.) We are still getting used to the altitude (6213 ft), we often need to catch our breath.
Again, the Kenyan worship team led us in a wonderful worship time. One Swahili song seemed to especially energize everyone in the room. Midway through the song, the worship leader translated it for us – basically they were singing God brought Jesus to Africa – referring to Jesus early years and his time in Egypt and now he was in their hearts. To the Kenyans, it was an honor that Jesus had spent time in Africa and you could see the joy it brought. A simple daily reminder that God-with-us should bring us joy on a daily basis.
Clinton shared his testimony and spoke of his early years of playing football (soccer) and his desire to be a pro player – the only way out of the rough area he was growing up in. His dad had the same unreached aspirations and had turned to a life of alcohol. His “Mum” sent him to church every Sunday, although she didn’t attend herself. He found Jesus but the draw of the slums and the pressures of making a life for himself lead him to a life of crime and drugs. At age 19, Clinton, was on a downhill spiral. He came to a point where he knew (and he knew) that he would die soon and he simply didn’t want to die. He recommitted his life to Christ. He finished school and got a job as an accountant in a construction company and became actively involved in a church. Many people kept telling him that he was a great encouragement and should become a pastor. He quit his job and on faith attended seminary (although his “mum” was not happy with this decision because it meant he no longer provided income.) There were many times that he didn’t have enough school fees but God always provided and he graduated without debt. We share this story because it was a fantastic setup for the lesson of the day.
After Clinton’s testimony, Tim began his lesson on the “Resilience of Peter.” It could only have been Spirit-driven that yesterday’s devotion to the attenders focused on the Sea of Galilee and on Peter’s walking on water AND Clinton’s testimony of receiving Jesus, falling into times of failure and God redeeming him AND Clinton taking the risk of leaving his “successful” vocation to become a pastor. Tim’s main points from examining Peter’s life and leadership were – how Peter took risks (motivated by enhanced ministry opportunities, greater challenges and a well-placed confidence in Jesus,) how Peter redeemed his failures, and recognized his dependency on God. Only God could have orchestrated the testimony and lesson like that.
Bookending the lessons each day are two activities that hopefully make the lesson more real. They usually involve a lot of laughter and interaction and it has been so much fun to be a part of them with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. Today’s activities involved blocks and dice – if you want to know more you’ll have to ask us as this email already too long and there is still much to write about.
Margaret Williams shared her testimony highlighting recent events where she had to be resilient on order to get through some very unfortunate circumstances. It was well-received and help once more integrate the need for good leaders to be resilient.
After lunch, of course it was tasty! – Margaret and Peggy lead us through 1 Thessalonians and many of the students are hearing great tools for helping them study the Bible on their own. One student remarked, “I love studying the Bible but I was never taught how.” We then did some crafts and games until about 4:00 or so. We all then rested and/or some helped Kim prepare for the game night that would follow our 7:00 dinner.
Minute to win-it was the game of the evening. The whole camp attended as teams competed against each other in one-minute games that included everything from sliding an oreo from your forehead to your mouth without touching it with your hands to trying to roll a quarter between the tines of a fork. Of course it involved much cheering and laughter. After crowning a team champion, we all (well the Calvary team) went to bed for some much needed rest about 10:30.
Pray for another great day today. Several campers have approached our teams with some significant prayer requests and also a few have talked about a recommitted life, others continue to inspire us with their total commitment. Please pray for God to use us well and that we don’t rely on our own wisdom and strength.
Sorry for the length of the email but it was a really good day…
For Him,
Tim Scott