"Choosing a Life that Matters"

Peggy and I are on the NE side of Mt. Kilimanjaro at about 6500 ft elevation; it is raining off and on and wearing a jacket is necessary. The lodge is completely engulfed in a cloudy mist now but when it clears the plains of Amboseli in Kenya come into view dotted by an occasional ancient cinder cone. There is a club in the Moshi area called “The Kilimanjaro Mountain Club” which organized a weekend stay at a lodge called Snow Cap overlooking a Maasai town called Loitokitok. It is fairly well known in the area because it was one of the original areas where gospel work started among the Maasai. A fascinating paperback ,now out of print, called Road to Kilimanjaro gives the history of the area and makes a truly inspiring missionary story. With some effort old copies can probably be found through amazon.com connections. Times have changed but God remains the same and so does the human condition. A.W. Tozer, a famous Chicago pastor and author of the last century, once said, “God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible, what a pity that we plan to do the things we can only do by ourselves”.  He chooses to use people like us who are weak, fragile and vulnerable.

We are still feasting on a little book which we got the last night of the STEER conference (an organization of ranchers and farmers supporting missionaries by raising cows with their own herds) when we were home in North Dakota in October. The featured speaker for the conference was Dennis Rainey who runs a ministry called Family Life (connected with Campus Crusade-now CRU). The book’s title is the heading for this blog. The last blog was so crammed with events including the “hurricane of the century” that there was no space to mention anything about this. We noticed not long into Rainey’s keynote address that many people started taking notes, I only got the high points; then there was a book table by the door and my eye caught the title. It turned out he was giving the summary of the book. He reviews “seven decisions you will never regret”. We highly recommend it to all our readers because it contains information which is vital to living a life characterized by our Lord as being the source of “rivers of living waters” Jn 7:38.

The day of our return to Moshi was my 75th birthday (13 Oct) and the next day it occurred to me that it most probably was the first day of the last quarter of my life! We both think we are good for another few years and by God’s grace we would like them to be as significant as possible even though the journey is approaching the finish line. Following is a summary of the seven decisions:

1. Seek God and not sin because it is the greatest quest
2. Fear God and not men because it is the greatest respect
3. Love God and not the world because it is the greatest affection
4. Believe God and not the deceiver because it is the greatest adventure
5. Obey God and not feelings because it is the greatest act
6. Worship God and not comfort because it is the greatest experience
7. Serve God and not self because it is the greatest privilege

In principle we have proven as very true each one of these and hope to experience them more deeply in the coming year. Thank all of you again for your prayers and support as we go into our fourth year of bond service to Christ in Tanzania.

I hope these will inspire you as much as it has inspired us. Mr. Sanford who was the chief donor behind the success of the large medical provider organization now dominating the upper Midwest has a sign in his office which reads, “I aspire to inspire before I expire”.

View most mornings from my porch chair

As the year ends we hope to have our chicken house project up and running so the orphans can be taught how to raise chickens, we are looking forward to the approval of the teacher’s training curriculum so we can start issuing official diplomas for those who graduate from the three year program and most importantly be able to disciple in depth some of the teacher trainees. 

Sunrise beside Mount Kilimanjaro

Other events we are expecting in 2018 include visits by some of you which may result in commitments to serve with Rafiki Foundation. Anna, our daughter, will be with us for Christmas and is scheduled to take a job in London after the first of the year so it will be much easier to visit-just a plane trip across the Sahara. We are excited that Anna and her boyfriend, Scott, will be with us for Christmas this year. One of our biggest challenges here in Tanzania, is the absence of our family and friends. We do make new friends and have our “mission family”, but it is indeed a treat when our own family comes for a visit!! Sara and Phil (our colleagues at the Village) will have their daughter, Lydia, here also. Lydia is attending college at the Univ of Washington at St. Louis, MO but was raised for the last 7 years here. She is indeed coming HOME for Christmas. 

As I sit at the computer this morning typing and watching a glorious sunrise with Mount Kilimanjaro in view from top to bottom, I again realize the magnificence of God’s creation and am so grateful He includes us in the work here. Our days are short in which to do the Master’s will so we hope to make the most of them.