We don't have to be involved.
We really don't. In fact, it would be easier if we weren't. Besides, we have our own problems to worry about, let alone someone else's messes.
In my trip to Kenya, I visited a man named Obedi. Obedi is a former student of mine at the seminary in Ahero, and now is a pastor at a large church in Kisumu. He was always a diligent student with a contagious smile. His congregation loves him and his family, which includes a couple of small children. But Obedi has a heart condition and will not survive the year unless he raises $25,000 to have a surgery done in India. There are no specialists for this in Kenya. They are trying to raise the funds, but fundraising on this scale rarely succeeds. It was hard to look in his eyes, shake his hand, and try to offer support and encouragement, although my discomfort is minuscule compared to what he's facing.
I didn't have to be involved in Obedi's life. I didn't have to go over there and teach, and even going over there, I could have taught without getting involved. I didn't have to stay in touch with him over the years through social media. I could have lived my life quite nicely without getting caught up in his life-and-death daily existence.
I've told many of you about Giorgia, a young woman in Italy, who just had a lung transplant. We've been friends with her family for 25 years, even before she was born. We've visited them at different stages in her life, and each stage was punctuated with breathing treatments and struggles. This last trip, I couldn't visit her because she was in the ICU. We didn't have to get involved. We didn't have to find ways to play with her when she was little in ways that would not take the wind out of her. We didn't have to write her emails when she had to stay in the hospital. We're not heroes and we're not the solution to any of these problems.
Giorgia died last week - the day after I left. And we didn't have to get tangled up with her and her grieving family.
Of course, there are those in deep poverty in Kenya without clean water. There's nothing about our lives that forces us to arrange for dozens of households to get clean water. If this never happened, we never would have heard about it, and our lives would have continued on without a wrinkle.
We choose to get involved in things we don't have to. Not just Lynne and me, but all of us. We choose this. And it would be easier if we didn't. But it wouldn't be better.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2016
Monday, February 8, 2016
Idi nade? Bene!
Idi nade? Bene!
The Lord has opened up for me a well-packed mission trip this Spring, and I'd love your help to make this trip as fruitful as possible.
I have 4 opportunities on 2 continents to teach and foster discovery:
- Teaching Leviticus to students at Moffatt Bible College in Kijabe, Kenya.
- Teaching pastoral ministry to students at the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology in Ahero, Kenya.
- Leading a pastors’ conference in Homa Bay, Kenya.
- Speaking and serving on a panel for the Global Marketplace Impact seminar by CrossWorld in Sesto Calende, Italy. This is a conference for English-speaking ex-pats working in Italy.
We're packing all this into a 20-day trip, from March 18 through April 6.
Homa Bay, Kenya
You can help me in four key ways:
- Prayer. I'm asking for people to pray daily, starting now and all through the trip. I have lots of prep to do, I always struggle with insomnia and basic health in Kenya, security is now a bigger challenge than normal, and Lynne has 3 weeks to manage everything on her own. Please pray for these things. Pray also that God will impact people, including me, with His Word and His Spirit each day.
- Care. I do better there when I know people are caring for Lynne here, especially since communications are often limited. Notes, calls, emails, lunches or dinners, and offers to help are tremendous. The grass will be starting to grow, for example.
- Scripture. Send us a passage you want me to read and pray through while I'm on my trip, and Lynne will pray through the same passages on the same days at home. You will be ministering to us both during our Quiet Times through the Word.
- Finances. I'm amazed I can do all of this for $3000-3500. Simpler trips have cost more. The less we spend out of pocket per trip, the more times I can return to Kenya. (This will be my 6th trip there!)
“Idi nade? Bene!” That's “how are you?” in Luo and “well!” in Italian. These are two beautiful, lyrical languages spoken by people we've come to know and love. Any way that you can make it easier for me to love them in person will help them and me be more fruitful.
Sesto Calende, Italy
To help financially with a tax-deductible gift, please mark “Kenya 2016” on the memo line (very important!) and donate to:
Grace Fellowship Church
10201 W 127th St
Overland Park, KS 66213
Thank you. I look forward to updating you about the trip in April!
Colby
Colby
Monday, January 12, 2015
Step this way to see what life was like in 2015...
In AD 79 in Italy, Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Ash and burning rock rained down on Pompeii, creating a popular modern tourist destination, putting daily life as it was nearly 2000 years ago on display for gawkers to see just before heading to the gift shop to buy a souvenir.
Further west was another town at the foot of Vesuvius, the coastal town of Ercolano ("Herculaneum" in English), also destroyed when Vesuvius blew her top. As excavators were uncovering Ercolano, they discovered that although Ercolano is a much smaller find than Pompeii, it is far superior in its preservation, capturing even more clues of daily life than Pompeii. Pompeii was pummeled with fiery ordnance, burning much of the city as it was buried. On the other hand, Ercolano was spared the brimstone, but was blanketed with a think layer of volcanic mud, burying the city by several stories. Less than half of the original city has been excavated, because modern apartments and shops rest atop the covering, high above the original city.
During excavation, there was something missing. Details of daily life had been instantly preserved for the centuries, except for one thing ... people. The excavators kept digging and uncovering and collecting great artifacts, but no people. Until they got to the ancient coastline (the modern coastline is much further out). There, they found most of the town's citizens. It appears that they saw the danger racing down the volcano toward them, so they fled to their fishing boats to row out to safety. However, the tide was at that moment flowing in, trapping the panicked crowds, only to preserve them in an eerie snapshot of disaster.
The mud covering kept most of the town sealed through the ages only to be revealed in near pristine condition, including these three dimensional ghosts. One family was captured in what appears to be an unwary, casual afternoon at home.
Vesuvius last erupted in 1944, and today you can drive up most of the way, walk the rest, and peer down in. It smells of sulfur and is still venting smoke.
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The artifacts are fascinating, and to me, especially the every day items. But all of them together reveal what was important to the citizens of Ercolano, and in many cases, the social status of those who owned those items. The town obviously prioritized fishing, but also recreation - Ercolano drew a lot of out-of-towners. Jewelry survived well, and was quite popular. But Ercolano was also a naughty town - scads of evidence of prostitution, both straight and gay. Softcore porn was publicly displayed. There was lots of sex and alcohol, like a year-round Spring Break at Corpus Christi.
But also there were families and workers and productive life. Those were also important to some.
In other words, not much has changed.
Of course, we have to assume a lot - we can only see what survived, and some things did burn or deteriorate. We can merely wonder what average things went on during an average day of people unaware that they would instantly become museum pieces one day.
Freeze your home in time at a random moment. Imagine it suddenly covered with stories of mud to be uncovered in the year 4000, granting throngs of visiting gawkers a picture of normal life in 2015. What would your "artifacts" tell them about your priorities, values, and habits?
Everything I own is a future artifact, potentially. What I own doesn't really capture my personality, it doesn't define my status, and it doesn't give my life meaning. Out of context, it may even give the wrong impression of who I am. So, what if I treated my possessions for what they really are - artifacts? Mere curiosities that future generations of passing tourists look at and wonder, just before they go to the gift shop to get a soda and a souvenir.
Further west was another town at the foot of Vesuvius, the coastal town of Ercolano ("Herculaneum" in English), also destroyed when Vesuvius blew her top. As excavators were uncovering Ercolano, they discovered that although Ercolano is a much smaller find than Pompeii, it is far superior in its preservation, capturing even more clues of daily life than Pompeii. Pompeii was pummeled with fiery ordnance, burning much of the city as it was buried. On the other hand, Ercolano was spared the brimstone, but was blanketed with a think layer of volcanic mud, burying the city by several stories. Less than half of the original city has been excavated, because modern apartments and shops rest atop the covering, high above the original city.
During excavation, there was something missing. Details of daily life had been instantly preserved for the centuries, except for one thing ... people. The excavators kept digging and uncovering and collecting great artifacts, but no people. Until they got to the ancient coastline (the modern coastline is much further out). There, they found most of the town's citizens. It appears that they saw the danger racing down the volcano toward them, so they fled to their fishing boats to row out to safety. However, the tide was at that moment flowing in, trapping the panicked crowds, only to preserve them in an eerie snapshot of disaster.
The mud covering kept most of the town sealed through the ages only to be revealed in near pristine condition, including these three dimensional ghosts. One family was captured in what appears to be an unwary, casual afternoon at home.
Vesuvius last erupted in 1944, and today you can drive up most of the way, walk the rest, and peer down in. It smells of sulfur and is still venting smoke.
The artifacts are fascinating, and to me, especially the every day items. But all of them together reveal what was important to the citizens of Ercolano, and in many cases, the social status of those who owned those items. The town obviously prioritized fishing, but also recreation - Ercolano drew a lot of out-of-towners. Jewelry survived well, and was quite popular. But Ercolano was also a naughty town - scads of evidence of prostitution, both straight and gay. Softcore porn was publicly displayed. There was lots of sex and alcohol, like a year-round Spring Break at Corpus Christi.
But also there were families and workers and productive life. Those were also important to some.
In other words, not much has changed.
Of course, we have to assume a lot - we can only see what survived, and some things did burn or deteriorate. We can merely wonder what average things went on during an average day of people unaware that they would instantly become museum pieces one day.
Freeze your home in time at a random moment. Imagine it suddenly covered with stories of mud to be uncovered in the year 4000, granting throngs of visiting gawkers a picture of normal life in 2015. What would your "artifacts" tell them about your priorities, values, and habits?
Everything I own is a future artifact, potentially. What I own doesn't really capture my personality, it doesn't define my status, and it doesn't give my life meaning. Out of context, it may even give the wrong impression of who I am. So, what if I treated my possessions for what they really are - artifacts? Mere curiosities that future generations of passing tourists look at and wonder, just before they go to the gift shop to get a soda and a souvenir.
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