Tell somebody what the Lord has done for you...

Tell somebody what the Lord has done for you. Let them know, He's a God who cares....

Yesterday was a much better day. We got up and had a wonderful breakfast at my favorite coffee place in Nairobi. We then headed off to church. As we rounded the corner to church, a young street boy started following us asking us for some money. Normally, I just shrug them off (its hard to tell which ones are genuine and which ones aren't) but yesterday was different. As he was following us, my friend starting talking with him. Just as we approached the church gates my friend says in swahili, "Come on, let's go to church." The boy looked hesitantly at us. The boy began to explain to us that the guards at the church won't let them in the gates. They get shooed away when they try to go to church. That saddened me. Isn't a church suppose to be a safe place for all people not an elite place for the rich? Would Jesus turn the street boys away? I don't think he would. We assured him that he would get in because he was with us so my friend grabbed his hand and we walked through the gates with no questions asked.

We were a bit early for church so we stood outside and chatted with the boy for a while. We offered to take him for lunch after church but he kindly requested that we forgo lunch and instead buy him some food for his family. He explained to us that his parents were dead and his grandmother looks after him and his two sisters. His grandmother has no source of income so often they will have only one meal a day if she can gather something.His story broke our hearts. We were still being cautious because some of these kids do make up these stories just so that we would give them things. However, this boy seemed to genuine.

We entered the church and he sat in between us. The church service was amazing. It was so refreshing. My heart was so content as we danced and sang praises to our King in swahili. Reminded me why I love this place so much. The sermon was amazing. The pastor is a great teacher and theologian. I love listening to him. I kept looking down beside me at the young boy and was amazed at how attentive he was. I am pretty sure he could recite the whole sermon back to us if we asked him too; that is how focused he was on it. He even knew many of the songs and was singing along and dancing. He came out of the service with my appreciation. He told us how much he enjoyed it.


We then left and went for lunch. We ordered the boy a huge hamburger with fries and a coke. He was so appreciative. He gobbled it down so fast and left nothing on his plate. We had some time to just chat with him and learn a bit more about his life. After wards, we took him to the grocery store and filled up a basket of basic groceries for his family. You could tell that every time we put something in his basket, he was overwhelmed. We kept asking what he needed and I don't think he knew what to say. He was so overwhelmed and appreciative. He kept saying thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.

It was time for us to leave him after we had spent the better part of our day with him. We gave him some money to get home. He turned to us and said,'Thank you and may God bless you very much'. It was so wonderful watching him walk away with a huge bag of food for his family. He was such a blessing to us.

The first song we sang at church said, "Tell somebody what the Lord has done for you. Let them know He's a God who cares..."

That's what I wanted the boy to know. I wanted him to know that God cares for him so deeply. I want him to go home and tell his family what God did for him yesterday and the way that God has not forgotten them. Because He hasn't.

The rest of the day was great. We had some friends stop by to visit me. Then in the evening, I was able to meet up an american friend that I had met when I was in Kenya in 2007. We chatted the night away in a local restaurant. It was so great.

I went to bed thanking God for reminding me why I love this country. Ok, there are still things that drive me crazy (like Kenyan immigration - had more issues with them this morning which made me want to pull my hair out) but for the most part, I really do love it here.