NEWS END OF AUGUST 2016

Dear Friends,

I was crossing an exit to a roundabout in Kisumu, that is also a very congested pedestrian area. I checked right (and left, although nothing should have been coming from the left) before crossing carefully. On my right a motorbike was about to hit a woman, who just managed to dodge him. This catching my attention stopped me from seeing the minibus charging the wrong way down the road that if I had been 2 inches further forward would have knocked me flying (and quite likely flattened me) but fortunately only ran over the toes of my left foot. No blood was drawn, and I only had slightly bruised aching toes. Give thanks. (No, the minibus, a public bus, did not stop, and I did not expect it to. It’s not the done thing around here.)

Reflecting on the incident later, in my own mind I already knew that as about the craziest part of town. It would be a lot safer if drivers did not travel both ways down both carriageways. It seems the police can’t stop them. Drivers cut corners even if risking life in the process. For them, what risks life is not failure to follow traffic rules, but anger, envy, malice, i.e. witchcraft. I didn’t die after all; someone protected me.

It was my empathetic compassion for the woman about to be hit by the motorbike that rendered me vulnerable to this accident. That’s one way of looking at it. If my eyes hadn’t been drawn to her, I would no doubt have seen the bus coming for me. On the other hand, someone else pointed out when I shared the story; if having less compassion had not slowed my pace I would probably now be dead.

A week ago I visited and prayed for a sick neighbour of mine, married about 8 miles away. After I had prayed, she started to get a lot stronger, even while I was still there. Alongside her house was ½ acre of maize needing harvesting but no-one to do it. A few days later I went back with my oldest three children. We brought in the equivalent of about 150KG of maize. Give thanks!

A few of my supporters will have met Anne Lawson. She was for a long time a mechanic with MAF in Tanzania. Having been at missionary training college together, she then also linked in with Church of God in Tanzania. The same people at the time were sending us students at Kima. Our paths crossed a few times, she even visited Andover Baptist Church in UK. On 22nd August Anne, by this time living in Scotland, went to the Lord after a long struggle with cancer.

Our church weekend-away is this weekend. It might bring back some memories of my time in Andover back in May this year. I think though that it will be quite different to a church ‘weekend away’ in the UK.

For a list of all the books I have had published so far see here.

Value your prayers especially for a colleague I am counselling through a painful divorce.

Jim