Tag Archives: Church

Sunday service

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First I must say that yesterday’s service felt soooo good!  It’s been far too long without corporate worship (almost 2 years) and even though some of the songs were in Swahili the atmosphere was Spirit filled.  We are hoping to attend more often but it’s a 1.5 hour drive (one way) to get there, we’ll let God work on that!

True Vine Christian Church is led by Reverend Lewis Wachira, along with Pastor Joseck Angana and Pastor Charles McDonald (yup, my Charles McDonald!)  Yesterday’s service was not only a service, but a fundraiser as well.  Currently the church is renting a school space on a month by month arrangement.  They are looking to find a permanent place to hold service which will also enable them to have mid-week services, Bible studies, prayer groups, office space and much more.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s events:

Reverend Wachira and Chuck at the front of the rented space for True Vine Christian Church

 

Children come early for Sunday School...Reverend Wachira's son, Josiah, has even gone door to door in the area asking the children if they would like to attend!

Service begins around 10:30 and at that time the children come downstairs to join their parents to hear brief announcements and prayer then

Reverend Wachira dismisses the children for more Sunday School

 

Reverend Wachira then begins his sermon.  This week he spoke on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27…we are all part of the body of Christ and the Church and each is given their specific and unique gifts and talents.

The congregation

 

After the sermon Chuck and I were asked to say a few words to the congregation

 

Then it was time to meet the Development Committee for True Vine Christian Church

Let the fundraising begin!

Pastor Joseck recently returned from a trip to the US and kicked off the fundraiser by adding $1 and stating how big God is and how He can work big things for and through this church!

 

While Chuck and Lewis picked up the food for lunch (it was cooked at the nearby home of Pastor Joseck and his wife Catherine) I gave a short, (hopefully) encouraging message to the moms in the group.

Lunch time!

Rice, goat, cabbage and potatoes

 

A few of the children in attendance

 

And of course, after lunch it’s tea time!

Yummy chai!

 

Then we chatted with friends.

 

Shogo (Reverend Wachira's sister) and me

 

And soon it was time to pack up.

Packing up the dishes to take back to Pastor Joseck's home (where we had one more cup of delicious tea!)

 

and head home

One of the nice portions of road in Kenya...now if only the people would move off the highway!

 

Thank you Lewis for speaking the Word of God so beautifully, thank you congregation for your warm welcome and most certainly a thank you to Jesus for making it all possible!

 

Quiet or maybe not

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It’s funny, every Sunday we are woken up by drums beating and very loud singing from a church about 1/4 mile away.  Seems one of the prerequisites of starting a church is to have a PA system, no joke!  Unfortunately many misuse them…screaming into the mic with loud, gravely voices or cranking up the amp so high you get screeches and base that would knock you off your seat if sitting to closely.

Last Sunday though was different….electricity was out.  I could just imagine churches scrambling to find a generator and petrol (gas)…quick, someone get a generator so we can have service for goodness sakes!  Ah, peace and quiet, that is until a generator must have been found because the shouting, I mean preaching, began.

Figured we were safe on Monday since it isn’t necessarily a “church” day but around 2 in the afternoon the PA was cranked up and we were subjected so some (sorry if I offend anyone) not so nice singing.  I’m no singer so I’m not about to get up in front of a group on a loud speaker and sing but hey, that’s me!

I pray those who want to hear God can hear him over, and in spite of, the PA system.

I’d like you to meet…

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Reverend Lewis Wachira

and our new guest blogger from time to time.  And today is that time!

SEASONS

It is important for each of us to know the season we are operating in, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV) and to understand God does things in an orderly way, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and if we miss the opportunity in that season to be in and do God’s will we risk regretting the missed chance.

SEASONS CHANGE ALONG WITH PARTNERSHIPS

As we walk through the seasons of our life we must realize that partnerships can also change.  In 1 Kings 2 David knew the effects of the partnerships he had in his lifetime and he advised his son, Solomon, to deal with three people (Joab, Adonijah and Shimei) in order for the kingdom to be stable.

It is important to partner with people who can help guide and give us wisdom, scripturally, as we walk through each season.  Proverbs 13:20 tells us “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”

  • Great men who experienced terrible failures were because they trusted the wrong company
  • When you are in the company of wrong people there is the possibility and temptation of doing the wrong thing
  • Discern the season and change partnerships when necessary and with God’s guidance
  • Some people are still holding on to things which are of the old season and have expired

CHALLENGE TO UNDERSTAND SEASONS

Change usually creates fear of the unknown and may demand losing something you love most.  Therefore it takes Godly wisdom, scripture knowledge, wise partnerships, positive thinking and acting by faith to reach some level of greatness.  Crisis, tough situations and/or discouragements may be a sign change is coming and change seems difficult in the beginning.  A person of faith however relies on God’s promises and sees success at the end, never running away but facing the trials positively and surrendering to the will of God.

When one has reached a point of not seeing any hope, nowhere to turn, being at zero then God can begin to work.  Zero is a point of greatness because it is at that point when we allow God to take over.  Maybe you are at zero with no hope for the future, if so; it may be the sign which God is ushering you into a new season.

ACCEPT CHANGE OR SUFFER LOSS

Many people who don’t realize their season has ended or resist the change of season, end up in shame and those who are not willing to accept change and move into another season lose their anointing and favor and become a loud noise, just as it is said of Pharaoh in Jeremiah 46:17 “’Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’”

  • Those people who resist change suffer loss and humiliation
  • Pharaoh lost many of his people, horses and chariots for resisting Moses and the Israelites to leave Egypt
  • Saul died in shame for resisting David
  • Herod ended up in shame for resisting the birth of Jesus

WHEN A NEW SEASON IS ABOUT TO OCCUR SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

“I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all”  Ecclesiastes 9:11

God gives every person opportunity to move into a new season (“time and chance happen to them all”) and it is not the will of God to be stagnant or stay in a place for long.  When an opportunity is not utilized it dies and can never be recovered.  That is why we take risks when an opportunity arises to do God’s will and purpose in our life.

Most people who succeed in life utilized the rare opportunity which God gave them and risk is part of God’s plan.

  • David’s risk was in facing Goliath
  • Jonathan and his arm bearer risked entering the Philistine camp
  • The four men with leprosy risked entering the Assyrian camp

Is it worth the risk to do God’s will…these men thought it was.

Quote from a church in Tennessee…

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The “Southern” Ten Commandments

(1) Just one God

(2) Put nothin’ before God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin’

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

(6) No killin’

(7) No foolin’ around with an other fellow’s gal

(8) Don’t take what ain’t yers

(9) No tellin’ tales or gossipin’

(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.

Routine? Nope!

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Not necessarily a routine morning here in Tala but here’s how our morning has gone so far and it’s only 9am Thursday!

  1. woke up at 5am to be ready for a 5:30am Skype call with friends back in Phoenix
  2. a big thank you to Doyle for the Starbucks which helped wake us up!
  3. talked with friends and saw them all relaxing at the Miles’ home…yup I remember going to the frig and getting a nice, cold glass of tea
  4. felt like being with the group again, thanks everyone!
  5. after getting off Skype I began making pancakes (remember I said it wasn’t necessarily a routine morning!)
  6. as I’m making pancakes I see Bella “playing” with something only to find out it’s a 2″ cockroach she has killed – although that deserves a yipee!
  7. but as I’m working I can hear Bella crunch, crunch, crunching the cockroach which doesn’t do much for my appetite
  8. finish making breakfast, clean up the remains of Bella’s kill then sit down to eat and discuss what we’d like to do today
  9. check Facebook and email
  10. write this blog post to give you a very slight idea of what one morning was like here in Tala!

Not sure what the rest of the day will bring but I’m praying that whatever comes up I am open to God’s direction whether that be in the ordinary doings of life or something more and He be glorified. 

“…encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Hebrews 3:13

Big thanks!

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A big THANK YOU goes out to our friends at DBCC (Desert Breeze Community Church).  We recently received two packages filled with just about everything off our Current Wish List, along with these t-shirts.  I can’t express how wonderful it felt to know we haven’t been forgotten here in Tala.  It wasn’t just the “stuff” – although the Starbucks is going to be rationed and the pepperoni will be handled like gold – it was the fact people thought about us and cared enough to sacrifice time and money to send us some comfort items and supplies.  One box was filled with items for the kids – craft items, stickers, items to be used for incentive gifts and much more…thanks and as soon as the kids come back to school I’ll be starting some sort of program (student of the week for example) for the kids and put those items to good use.

 

Thanks again DBCC for ticking off items from that list.

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank my God every time I remember you.”  Philippians 1:2,3

Sorting coins…a lesson about life?

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Desert Breeze Community Church has been gracious to our ministry and allows us to have a “Change for Kenya” jar placed at the entrance of the Church at both services on Sunday.  People can place coins and bills in the jar (giving “change” for “change” in Kenya – cute I know) and when it gets somewhat filled we empty it and use the proceeds for the ministry.  Since we are moving in just 6 days we emptied it and counted the coin yesterday (by the way, thank you Desert Breeze for $281 in the jar).

What struck me is when I was counting the quarters I thought I had all of them out of the stack of coins…actually I was fairly comfortable I had succeeded in what I had started out to do.  I looked, moved things around, stared at the other coins and was fairly sure I had picked out all of the quarters to wrap.  As I continued to sort I noted a quarter I had missed.  A little later another showed up.  A little later another.  At the end I had many dollars in quarters to wrap when I thought I had all of them out of the pile of change.

What came to me is a lot of times, because of worry, stress, pride and many other factors I don’t see everything clearly (even when it is right in front of my face).  In addition, sometimes it is hard to discern the thing I am looking for from other things because they look so much alike (all similar in nature, color, shine, but definitely not in substance) and they are very pleasing to the eye.  Bottom line is we must be careful to not allow things (possibly good things) to get in the way of seeing what we are called to do (our primary purpose of loving and serving our Lord and neighbor) and possibly even allowing the other things to become our “god”.  Stay focused, pray often, be discerning…find all the quarters.

A BIG thank you…

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What a great weekend.  Friday my sister Paula came into town to say one last goodbye (I’m pretty confident she’ll be visiting us in Kenya soon!) and that evening she treated Chuck and I to dinner at Outback…yummy and probably the last steak I’ll have for quite some time.

Saturday morning (6:30a.m. to be exact) Chuck and I headed over to the Moses’ home for the garage sale…


…which went very well.  We loved visiting with everyone who stopped by and those who stayed to help pass the time…thank you!  We made approximately $650 plus someone gave us a check for an additional $500…you know who you are and thanks!

At around 2 we delivered what was left to Savers, headed home for a quick shower and it was off to the Koch’s home for a Farewell/Fundraiser cookout.

(Chris & Diane Koch, our wonderful hosts)

We had a great time chatting and visiting with friends.  Plus I got a great chiropractic adjustment before going home – thanks Chris!

(Paula, Tarrin, me)

Sunday morning my sister left very early (that’s why we said our goodbyes Saturday night!), we went to church at Desert Breeze, had lunch with three of our kids (Tarrin was serving the homeless in downtown Phoenix) then headed to Desert Breeze’s Farewell/Fundraiser. It was another opportunity to say goodbye but we also had people express an interest in coming to visit us in Kenya…to which I say “karibu Kenya” (welcome to Kenya)!

(Thanks Mary for the beautiful cake!)

Thank you all for stopping by for one more visit and thank you for your generosity (between the two events we raised over $1000!)…it’s hard to express what your sacrifice means to me, knowing the Lord touched your heart and you were obedient to His calling, thank you doesn’t seem enough.  Through your visit you lifted me up in prayer, encouraged me through my tears and loved me as a fellow servant of God.  I pray the Lord guides each of you in the direction He has for your life…

I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone through email, Facebook and the blog.