Kenya 2023- Day 6

My friend Dereck sent me this text before I left last week before I left for Kenya: “This past Sunday our pastor preached a sermon about the gift of ‘outsiders’ and how they help us understand God’s work in our lives. All over scripture God uses those from outside our normal surroundings to speak truth, show us things we often miss and engage and understand the heart of God. I’m thrilled that you’re heading to Kenya as an outsider called to remind those you’re speaking to about their identity in God and the image they bear. I’m also prayerful that you will listen to the voice of those who are outside of your common circle when they remind you that you’re enough….” 

Robert and Philemon - such great running buddies each morning for a short run in their neighborhood 

I asked Patrick what his favorite part of the banquet on Saturday was, and he said that he loved this verse from Psalm 147. :) 

with Nathan Kaaleng 

with Philip and Sylvia (another couple who both graduated from Children of the Kingdom) 

David Loreng, Mercy, Larry and Laurel at their home 

David in 1994 (and his son Laurel below) 

like father, like son 

dinner at Agnes and Joshua's house on Monday evening 

Joshua and Agnes have a home that always has an abundance of children. They have 5 biological children and also have over 20 others they are caring for. What an extraordinary example of love in action.... 

family devotions at Joshua's 

We set up my computer and showed pictures of Anna and Mercy and other fun memories through the years. It was so much fun!! 

Emily, Agnes, Mercy and Anna in 2008 

with Joshua and Veronica's mother on Monday night above and 

picture of me and Veronica with our moms in 2008 below 

We are on the lookout for a fuller expression and a wider frame within which to view things. Allow the extravagant tenderness of God to wash over us. Permit the lavishing of such love to surround and fill us, then go into the world and speak the “whole language.”

-Gregory Boyle, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness

“None of us are well until all of us are well.” This was plastered on billboards and buses all over Los Angeles. It was a campaign for the LA County Department of Mental Health, but it is also a quintessential and hugely Christian message. It’s about health and about bringing others along as we all grow into greater wholeness and integration. -Gregory Boyle, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness

That’s what we do now. Our own awakened sense of lovability within us moves us out to the other. We rest in the abundant acceptance we feel, and it propels us forward. Jesus always thought that the root cause of oppression was our lack of compassion.  We receive the tender glance, then we become it. Compassionate and fluent in the whole language. We all belong to each other. We begin there.

--Gregory Boyle, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness