Out of Town from July 30 to August 1

Drew, Allison, Kristin and I are going to be out of town for 3 days. We will be staying at a resort here in Mombasa resting, debriefing and just a time of fun before heading for Busia to for a week.

Ps 113:3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

Allison is here - has been for the last 48 hours!

I am so happy and praising the Lord that Allison is here in Mombasa in person. Please join us in praising the Lord that we can now relate not over the phone but in person - face to face!

She is thinking of writing our story on her blog when she does I will let you know. Girls are just better at that stuff that we are; I as usual will gladly step aside and let the experts handle the job!:)

These flowers were in my house waiting to welcome her to Mombasa. I did not know we had flower shops in Mombasa til July 27th!:) She loved them so much and that made the search for the flowers worth every minute that was invested in the flower hunting odeal!

Drew thanks for your help that morning - you were a good brother then and now as well. I really praise God for your being here at this time in my life. Thanks bro.

My Hall of Fame Pt. 1

I would like to post pictures of the greatest men I ever met in my life so you can see them. and if you are great man and want your picture to be posted on my blog hurry and lets meet:) hahahahaha!

The first of them is Jesus but unfortunately I dont have a picture of him but hopefully you can see Him in my life because He is alive and well in me!

The first man that I actually consider great apart after Jesus that I met in my life is Chris B. Chris and I met sometime between 1995 and 1996 and he poured so much in me as far as Bible is concerned. He gave me my first ever Bible (which I gave to a good friend of mine as a weeding present) and my first NIV study Bible (which I still own to date and plan to give to my wife when I get married).

Chris is married to Bekka and they have three little boys!

It was Chris who injected in me the desire to study God's word and teach it without fear - a passion that I have to date! Chris introduced me to my next "hero" - Tom Nelson. Coming soon!

Wide Awake?????

It is 4:45am and I have been awake for almost an hour and my Alarm did not even go off - Mmmm I wonder why?

James in Sudan

My friend and former ministry partner James Muthee got a job transfer recently to Nairobi aka Nairobbery:). Part of his work will be to travel back and forth between Kenya and Sudan. He works for a satellite installation and maitenance firm at an administrative level.

He leaves Kenya this afternoon to go to Sudan on his first job assignment there and will be there for few weeks to a month. Please pray for James as he adjusts to this new job and new country and working conditions.

Those of you who know James you can email him, I know he would really appreciate it.

Allison's Departure:

Allison left America a few hours ago to come to Kenya. She met with another girl from Denton in Detroit - Kristin - who is also coming to serve with the college girls here in Kenya. Please keep them in prayers that they will have a good and safe Journey. I cannot wait for Allison to be here!

Drew's Health:

Drew is doing much better and is now just taking it easy and trying to get as much rest as possible. Thanks for your prayers and please pray too for his family for peace that God is in control and is taking care of us here in Mombasa. They are concerned about his health and rightfully so.

Now I can Relax!

Drew woke up this morning feeling the same – a migraine like headache that won’t go away and feelings of dizziness when he stood up. So we decided to pay a visit to the Aga Khan Hospital and crossed our fingers that whatever it was that was eating him was not malaria! And Praise God it was not! So now we can relax, Drew does not have the dreaded malaria! It ended up being a viral infection so they gave him some antibiotics for it! You know you are sick when you get four injections in one doctors visit!

I think all Americans think that the number one killer in the world is Jack Bauer (those of you who are funs of 24 you know what I am saying! The rest of you just ignore this paragraph) and number 2 Malaria…so we know that Drew is going to live longer because he is Jack Bauer’s friend and does not have Malaria, Yeah!

I wish I could say that breT has decided to extend his time here but nope he has not so he still leaving this afternoon to go to Nairobi and later on tonight to America via Amsterdam!

Urgent Prayer Request:

Drew (in white t-shirt):

Drew came home from the beach last night not feeling very well. He had sun burn on his back that made him very uncomfortable. This morning he woke up tired and with a slight fever and is at the moment in bed not feeling very well. Please pray for Drew that he will get some rest and get well soon!

BreT (In the background -green t-shirt):
BreT is leaving tomorrow afternoon having completed his term here well and raising the bar so high on what service means and just being a blessing to the field and not a burden. BreT was truly a brother and not a bother to Drew and I as we lived and served with him here in Mombasa and we truly are going to miss him. Pray for him as he prepares to leave tomorrow – Monday July 24^th.

Reality Vs. Idealism

I was just thinking this morning of the worlds we live in and the experiences that we go through and the way they affect our lives and the way we respond to things. I thought I would jot down a few of my thoughts.
For example when I say the word roads, many pictures will come to mind, both of good and of bad roads. But the pictures will be different depending on our exposure and experience of roads.
I live in Kenya where the roads are, to say the least, a nightmare! I have two pictures of roads (Posted here. The good road I rode on earlier this year when I was in South Africa and the bad road I drive on every week going to teach BTCP/L in the village) and I have experienced both roads. So when I say Bad Roads or Good Roads these are the pictures I have in my mind. Therefore my experience and exposure affect the way I respond when hear people talking about roads or when I myself is asked to talk about roads.
I have realized that that this is the case with God as well. God comes in different shapes and sizes in the lives of professing believers; Even though God is the same yesterday, today and forever, the reality is that, He is not that to all of us believers. Our exposure and experience with God determines the way we respond to life. I have been observing and watching many believers in the last few weeks (including myself) and came up with the conclusion that most of us as believers are pious polytheist – meaning that that we have many gods in our lives without even knowing it.

Let me explain. Our mouths – I think have the biggest God in our lives! Our lives do not have the same size God that our mouths proclaim - they are two different Gods. An example would be something like the mouth saying things like how I love God and I want to honor Him with my life and then later on the same day lie to a friend, crack a course joke, talk behind someone’s back etc…I have been convicted especially in my own life that I am a Christian and my number one responsibility in life is to live for Christ – I fail many times but I have not and will not give up until the imperfect is made perfect…the litmus test is to ask oneself, where do I run when life does not go the way I want? Do I run towards the Cross or away from it...many times I find Dennis running away from the Cross to go take care of "business" and then come back when its all done!

Psalm 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

By the way just incase any of you reading this know the minister of Roads in Kenya tell him the road from Likoni Ferry to Ujamaa needs a lot of work and if the government does not do something soon it might be cheaper to build bridges over some of the potholes than to fill them up!

This sign is posted at the end of a very bad section of road between Mombasa and Nairobi! just a few meters a head there are cops there doing exactly what this Bill Board says not to do - Receiving Bribes! Mmmmm I think they can read!

College Ministry Day Out:

Yesterday was College Ministry Day out! It was so much fun and really good way of finishing the term strong. And I actually went into the water and enjoyed it. It was too cold for me! When is any thing warm for Dennis anyway?

This is how we begin and end our term in the College Ministry - was a hoot! We played silly games, ate peanut butter sandwitches, boiled maize, chips, "Typhoid Water", Peanuts, air-burgers etc.
The fun part was dividing into two teams - Usongo (Swahili for stone face) and Da Bomb Dot Com. I was of course in the winning team! Usongo - Hatucheki na watu (We are not laughing with no one). Drew and breT were on the other team. The winning game was Tug of War...The ugali eating team - Usongo - proved that ugali is still number one energy providing food in the world!
We were about 28 of us! Obama good job on the Matatu choice you did well - Mahewa Unlimited! Moses the Games were...Wacha tu!

So what does Dennis like to do? Lets see, I feel like telling you I love basket ball because I am tall or I love to run because I am Kenyan or I love to swim because I live on an island but these things - as cool as they are - don't do it for me!

I love to teach the Bible and this is when I feel most alive - when I am teaching the Word of God - I just love to do it! I am not being super spiritual or anything but I am just being REAL, after all this is the BLOG where people are real with one another, isn't it:)

And Guess where I am headed to this morning? To class! I teach the BTCP Class every Tuesday and Friday from 8am to noon and every Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. On Saturday night I teach in the College Night Live (CNL) our weekly college fellowships. Occassionally I get invited to teach in Bible Schools, Pastors conferences and church services and there is only one thing I can say about it - I love it!

Most of my students don't believe that you can preach only the Bible and be interesting without adding a little stage trick here and there. So every once in a while I would visit their churches and preach the Word - without any stage shows - so they can see that it is actually possible. This is one of those times in Pastor Ambrose Wafula's Church in Ujamaa Mombasa. Bret went with me can you spot him in the crowd? :)

Drew and I after a game of Basket Ball at the Mombasa Poly! This is outside our house in Tudor Mombasa! Drew is here til October 15th before going back to the US.