21st time

Listening to this song (by Monk and Neagle, snippet o' song below) yesterday while driving, the words caught me as surprisingly poignant. I guess especially the point of the continuous pattern: because I'm well past the 1st, 2nd, 3rd time... It's one thing to ignore, but why do we, the redeemed in Christ do exactly this? Pretend not to see.

Nowhere to live, nowhere to fall
He used to have money, but he's wasted it all
His face is a photograph burned in my mind
But I pretend not to see him for the 21st time
...

He may be a drifter, who's grown old and gray
But what if it's Jesus and I walk away
I say I'm the body and drink of the wine
But I pretend not to see him for the 21st time
...

This is a call for a change in my heart
I realize that I've not been doing my part
When I needed a Savior, I found it in Him
He gave to me now I'll give back to them


Swahili word for the day:
Heshimu means "Respect."
(our fellow Lexingtonians should appreciate this one and the memories from the turn of the century that it evokes)

When the rains come...

Last week

Last night

We get it now. We've often wondered about the story of Noah, and just never fully grasped how 40 days of rain could really flood the earth. But last night, for 2 hours it rained and rained hard. Our entire campsite became a mudslide, at least a couple of houses in the village nearby were washed away, and as you can see above, the Ruaha river rose about 10 feet, enough to knock on our front door! 2 hours or rain did all this. Multiply that by 480, and yes, we can imagine the entire world underwater. Easily.

Swahili phrase for the day:
Mungu akipenda na mto hausipofurika.
Our translation for "Lord willing and the creeks don't rise."

The magnificent and somewhat quirky Baobab

These things take hundreds of years to grow, and live for hundreds more. It
makes us sad to see 'em being cut down occasionally.

Swahili word for the day is msitu which means forest.