Falling Together

So we’re not giving up. How could we? Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.

 

                                                                                         --   2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (The Message)



It has been a wild couple of weeks.  So on this national holiday of Labour Day, Ken and I decided to stay home and rest.  Wanting to get in a bit of exercise and try to process all that has happened recently, we got up at sunrise, donned our sweatsuits, strapped on our hiking boots, and left the house to hike the muddy paths behind our compound.

Our solitude did not last long, though.  Every few yards, someone stopped us on the trail to say hello.  Others looked up from back-breaking work in their small shambas and waved to us with broad smiles on their faces.  When we eventually reached the main road, motorcyclists honked, children standing at the doors of their mud-walled homes yelled out greetings in various local languages, and one car even stopped to ask how we were today.  It seemed to make no difference to the driver, or to anyone else for that matter, that traffic on the road had come to a complete halt.  Oh, the warmth and friendliness of Kenyans!

 

Now that I think about it, that road is still a bit of a challenge for me.  I have driven to work several times since coming to Kakamega, of course, but I still have not had the nerve to drive to the market.  It's only ten minutes up the road, but those ten minutes present the driver with a challenging obstacle course that includes unsteady old men with canes, women straining under the weight of firewood balanced precariously on their heads, children in school uniforms running to and fro, all types of vehicles in various stages of disrepair, a roaming collectionn of cows, chickens, and pigs, potholes large enough to swallow you whole, and a police checkpoint.  On top of all that, the GPS system in my van is in Japanese, and no one has been able to figure out how to turn it off.  So whenever I'm trying to negotiate my way down that road, I hear an insistent female voice giving what I am sure are urgent instructions in a language I can't understand.

But I'm not to be defeated.  So last week, I got up early, spent a few minutes praying for courage and protection, grabbed the car keys, and marched out to the van, determined to drive where I had never driven before.  I unlocked the door, put the key in the ignition, and turned it.  It promptly broke in half.  I called Ken, and he sent a driver to pick me up.  But I didn't have enough money to buy what I needed at the market, so the driver went back to the office to get my husband.  On the way there, his car was hit by a motorcycle.

When I finally reached home later that day, I attempted to apologize for having caused so much trouble by making Ken's favorite dessert, apple crumble, with a few apples that I had been able to find.  Of course, about halfway through the process, the power went out.  I left the pan in the oven, thinking that perhaps it might stay hot enough to finish the dessert.  But after doing other things for fifteen minutes or so, I realized to my horror that power had been restored.  Well, it's not that I simply realized this.  It was more a matter of smelling something burning.  I frantically ran back to the kitchen to get the potholders, and the handle on the drawer they were in broke off in my hand.  What a day. 

 

But it didn't end there.  In fact, that day seemed to trigger a chain of events in which a number of things simply fell apart.  For example, we've since had several massive thunderstorms in Kakamega, one of which pelted us with hailstones as big as golf balls.  Our buildings and vehicles paid the price.  I also came down with a sore throat, but the local chemist says that he won't have any antibiotics until this weekend.  We've had to cancel or postpone several Territorial events due to lack of funds, and the normal flow of requests from our corps, schools, and institutions for everything from roofs to water tanks has seemingly become a raging torrent.

 

So now that I'm finally sitting here in my quiet home on a national holiday, I asked the Lord a few minutes ago to speak to me.  And I never thought that He would use Marilyn Monroe to do that.  But for some reason I remembered an occasion on which she said, "Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall together."  Yes, that's right.  God is still in control, and he will often use broken things to bring Him glory.  So I won't give up.  And besides, it's going to be interesting to see what great things the Lord is going to accomplish in and through broken little me.

 

Another Jolene - Kakamega Central

 

Planting a tree in Kapsabet

                   

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