The Rains, Fellowship, and Fellowship with the Rains...

The rains have come! I love rain. I love it even more here in Mombasa, because it cools the weather down. Today the high was a refreshing 88 degrees Fahrenheit (which felt like 92 because of the 90% humidity, but that's still a break from the norm!).

The rain also makes driving more exciting. Not only does it flood the roads, but often it washes chunks of the road away! As you drive down a familiar street, for example, you can't assume it is perfectly paved and rut-free just because it was yesterday. And if you come to a puddle of water, beware: it could be two inches deep, or the standing water could be hiding a crevasse large enough to swallow your Subaru whole, never to be seen again. Finally, for some reason, wet goats are dumber than dry goats. A dry goat knows that the road is no place for livestock. A wet goat does not. A dry goat will never step into the street when it sees an approaching car. A goat that has been rained on has no qualms about doing this. Inexplicable, but true. Like I said, driving in the rainy season is exciting.

Shallow pothole, or major fissure in the earth's crust?

I've enjoyed great time with friends, old and new, this week. On Saturday I drove down the coast to spend a night with the Rains, a missionary family I've met a few times but never gotten to know well. It was really fun to be with them. They have three energetic and fun boys. The middle boy is Andrew, and at 3 years old he has already developed the middle-child habit of assuming no one will pay any attention to him. For this reason he yells everything he says, and, speaking slowly and clearly, repeats himself over and over until he gets a response. "MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND..." Despite what you might imagine, he is one of the most charming little boys I've known.

Tonight some girls stopped by to hang out at my place. My main responsibility last year was the direction of a college ministry through a local church, and many of the girls I worked with are still around. Every Sunday night I have them over to watch a few episodes of "Ugly Betty", a TV show I got off iTunes. We eat brownies and popcorn. Tonight being Monday, my theoretical "day off," I was just settling down to some filing work when I got a text from one of the girls which read, "hey jil hop ur good am fine but very hungry n brok so do u hav food at ur place i come n feast?" Now, when these girls say "broke", you've got to know, they are truly broke. They are college students - a poor sect to begin with - and some of their parents can't afford their own bills, much less meet the demands of their children. Things are even tighter this year because of the recent unrest here in Kenya. These girls know what it is to be thankful for every meal!

But I've set all this up to say that the evening took an unexpected turn. I had dinner and spent the evening with four of these girls, and we had such a sweet conversation. It was one of those talks that moves effortlessly in and out, weaving together the larger picture of God's work in our lives. Have you ever had a moment of clarity where all subjects seem to connect together into one Subject? We talked of being poor, which lead to talk about the family of God, and the Fatherhood of God, and the patience we will need to wait for Him to provide His best for us, and about our struggle to stay focused when it seems like corruption and immorality is working for everyone around us, but how glorious it is to love and be loved by God. I gave these girls a meal, but they revived my heart.