I've got this...

Our tour theme this year came from Psalm 46:10.  In the words of one of my students, God says, "relax, I've got this."  Having watch each location and concert unfold I can attest to the truth of just that.  God had it under control.

Preparing the tour meant many phone calls to schools and each time I hung up feeling blessed by the people on the other end of the phone who were eager to hear from me, as if they were waiting for my call.  Even though I had never met any of the people I spoke to, I felt more like their friend than a stranger, and I was even more blown away when we met in person. 

Brenda took care of us at our first stop - Gertrude Children's Hospital.  She welcomed us as if we were old friends, and it was the same at each stop.  There is something to be said about the relaxed way people take you in here.  They make you feel so comfortable and at ease, it's easy to be sad when you leave.  Brenda made our time at Gertrude's the perfect first stop, and God knew she was the person for the job.  

Rusinga School was the no different.  We were brought in and joined by the staff and students right away.  I was even more struck by this sense of comradery as we sat in the crowd, following our concert, right along with the Rusinga students, listening as others presented.  There is something special about just being included. 

By the end of the day on Saturday I was further in awe of the people God has raise up around Nairobi. Nyumbani is run by several women who God called to start a home for children with AIDS and Le Pic school was started by a lady with the vision for a boarding school off the highway and away from town.  For the students these concerts will be remembered because of their interaction with the kids and I too had a wonderful time including the younger ones in our concert, but I can't help see the women God is using as well as the children at both stops, and will remember both. 

Sometime Saturday I got a call that our afternoon concert for the next day would need to be canceled. There had been an incident at a Nairobi school with older students beating up on younger students. As a result most Nairobi boarding schools gave the students the weekend off allowing them time away from their peers.  As a result the Lenana boy's would not be back from their break in time for an afternoon concert on Sunday.  The RVA band director instantly thought of Kijabi Girl's School, located only 10 minutes from RVA.  Because the musical groups head into Nairobi for tour we don't get to share our music near home, but God had pricked my heart for this possibility and had heard the prayers of the Chaplin of the Kijabi Girl's School.  As we shared our final concert close to home I knew it was the perfect ending to our tour. God had made our trip a success proving that "he got this."