The Best of Times & the...... 4.02.08

A great day yesterday:

Gave my first dryland workout to the senior boys at Transition House, which is part of City Ministries, the group with which I am working. Doing some training with these boys once a week while they are on holiday from school. Later visited the Univ. of Jos and may have a chance to do a little teaching there. Also visited JETS, Jos Evangelical Theo. Seminary, and have some leads of possibly doing some work with youth in that area. Later that same day visited with the Archbishop of Nigeria Ben Kwashi (a good friend of my former next door neighbor in San Antonio and his pastor) and have the opportunity to teach at St. John's College, a secondary school for Nigerian kids here in Jos. And earlier a great lunch meeting with lots of fellowship. Plus got in a good three mile walk. That evening, a terrific meeting with Jay and Phil, my accountability partners, with whom I meet each Tuesday.

And the day before, I heard from a good friend from SMU days with whom I visited MOMA in NYC this past summer. She recently visited Israel and while there, accepted Christ and was baptized in the Jordan River! Very cool stuff. Yea, Amy!

A rough day yesterday:

A host of personal setbacks, big and small. Broken bedroom ceiling fan. No water at the compound. Malfunctioning apartment door locks. Lots of smoke from cooking fires in the city. Heavy pollution. Electricity...sometimes. Literally tons of dust blowing in from the Sahara. Stomach problems. Nausea. No food. And a host of other little hassles and aggravations, most based upon my sheer ignorance, that have a cumulative effect of wearing one down and dredging up:

Doubts. Insecurities. Personal embarrasments. Past failures.

But our Lord is there. And everything here forces you back to Him...again and again.

Please keep praying for wisdom and discernment in knowing what I should and should not do with my time and abilites...and even after only two weeks, pray for my endurance!

Still not sure how long I will be here--at rate I am going, it could be a month. But it might be three months or maybe even a little longer, depending on some issues going on with my visa...and of course my ability, by His grace, to cope with life here and see if I can help.

Currently reading Psalms, if you are interested or want to join along. (From back to front this time, for reasons not entirely clear to me. :) Read 108-110 this AM. And doing lots of praying, of course!

Thanks so much to all of you who have written. Very encouraging--more than you know. Sorry I can't write all of you back individually.