June 2008 Prayer Letter

“A saint’s life is, in the hands of God, like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says – ‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed; He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands.”

- Oswald Chambers

My Struggle

The emphasis of my ministry is virtually 100% based on relationships. We all know that any close interpersonal relationship can be trying at times, even when both people are from the same cultural background. Throw into that mix two completely different cultures and the difficulties increase immensely.

Americans and Kenyans have two distinctly different mindsets and two distinctly different world views. The two people groups ascribe to completely different ways of doing things, two different sets of expectations, and two different attitudes about so, so many things. These attitude differences include, but are not limited to such things as – time, personal space, property, the sharing of resources, family and friend relationships, work, dress, learning methods, humor, social conflicts, vulnerability, self-worth, judgment, goals, etc.

The past couple of months have especially been a struggle for me in this regard. In fact, to be honest, I’ve been a bit down about it and have struggled with depression.

Frankly at times, I’ve not been too terribly proud of my actions and words, either.

For those of you that have lived all of your life in the States, you may not grasp what I’m talking about. It’s actually hard to put into words. However, I think the following excerpts (from a book titled “Ministering Cross-Culturally”) will give you a better sense of what it is I’m trying to say. Please bear with me and read until the end. I believe it will assist you greatly as you pray for me!