Kenyan Worship Service Wk 1

Things that struck me while spending time with my brothers and sisters in Kenya…

God gives His vision to His people, a vision to service Him and grow His kingdom.  He has given this vision to the pastor and visiting pastor the church I attended today, and when God gives this vision you can’t help but follow as these men are doing.  I pray knowing God will provide the strength to accomplish the work.

I was struck by the Nigerian AIM missionary with us, He took every opportunity to challenge the people to give their lives to God.  Too often I focus on the relationship, hoping to give a blessing to the people I encounter just by sharing love with them but I don’t challenge them toward Christ.  Lord, may I take my encounters more seriously. Give me the words,  Amen.    

Learning language has opened my ears to better listening of new languages.  Meaning, I pick up more word meanings, even in a foreign language, because my ears are tuned to better listening.  As I listen to the prayers of the pastors I couldn't help but pick up on the Swahili word for Father.  It was fascinating to hear the Kenyan people pray to God as their Father.  In contract, the people of Madagascar pray specifically to Jesus or God overall.  Both are good, but I can't help but think in this way the people prayers to God points to their cultural background.  This then points to a God who relates specifically to each people group.

I could not help but notice the difference in the clothing of the children here in Kenya from that in the children of Mada.  I don't mean that they had a different style, this was not what stuck out to me, it was the quality of clothing that I noticed.  The Kenya children had much better clothes to wear than the children in Mada.  The quality of Kenyan children's clothing relates to the development of the area overall.  On the one hand, it is immediately apparent that Kenya is more developed with it's high rises and two lane roads.  Having said this, I wouldn't have thought of Mada as poor.  Yes, their houses are a bit ragged, but there is still commerce and work within the town.  I am still mulling the difference in quality between Kenya and Mada trying to decide if there needs to be action as a result of what I have seen.