Romans 12

Below are excerpts of Romans 12 from the Message Bible that I’ve modified. Please use this to pray for me this month!

• Pray with me, that I will take my every day, ordinary life - my sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering.
• Pray that I will go ahead and be what I was made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing myself to others, or trying to be something I’m not.
• When I help, pray that I will just help and not take over.
• When I give encouraging guidance, pray that I’ll be careful to not be bossy.
• When I’m called to give aid to people in distress, pray that I will keep my eyes open and be quick to respond.
• When I’m with the disadvantaged, pray that I won’t let myself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Pray that I’ll keep a smile on my face.
• Pray that I’ll be a good friend who loves deeply.
• Pray that I’ll be an alert servant of the Master, cheerfully expectant.
• Pray that I’ll be inventive in hospitality and that I’ll make friends with nobodies.
• Pray that I won’t burn out, that I’ll keep myself fueled and aflame.
• Pray that I won’t quit in hard times.

PLEASE ALSO PRAY FOR MY SAFETY!

I took these two photos the last time I visited Joe. The road adjacent to Bishop’s church is being “tarmac-ed”. It is a very s-l-o-w process to make roads, parking lots, driveways, etc in Kenya! The foundation is literally built one stone at a time!

The path on the right is a temporary footpath. The one on the left is the new road, still being made. You can see some vehicles in the middle of the photo (a yellow one and a blue one). They’re at the roundabout at the end of the road. When I talked to Joe and Linet today, they told me that two “thugs” (criminals) were shot and killed there today – in broad daylight, while innocent by-standers moved around nearby. This is the second such incident here in the span of two months! The other time, two people were killed right at the entrance to Bishop’s church compound! Both times, the people were only suspected to be criminals. The basic human rights of “due process of law” and “innocent until proven guilty” often have no place in Kenya!

Stones are harvested out of the ground, broken up into smaller pieces, and then loaded by hand into “lorries” (large trucks). They are then taken to the construction site and “offloaded” (unloaded), again by hand. They are then broken into yet smaller pieces – again by hand (with a hammer and chisel). Then they are laid out tightly, as this photo shows – again by hand!

I've mentioned praying for my safety because of the crime rate, especially in Nairobi, and because of the seemingly trigger-happy policemen here!

PRAISE ITEM

This is the sign at Nyayo House indicating the Alien Department of Immigration. I’ve included it because I finally got my replacement alien card! I also recently got my replacement Smart Card from Nakumatt.

That takes care of everything that was stolen when I was pick-pocketed, except my US drivers license (which I’ll have to replace when I next return there).