His Voice

Hearing God's voice is not something you can write a how-to book about. Its no more use writing a book about how to understand your wife. There is no way anyone will ever explain the intricacies and complexities of my wife because of the way they understand theirs. Its the same thing with the intricacies and complexities of following the voice of Jesus. He's out Jesus, all of ours, but just as richly and purely, he is my Jesus and His and my relationship is unique. Its funny how often we try to get hints from other people about how they heard God speak. Then we try to apply it to our situation and it never works out very well. "Pray every night before you go to bed! That's the best time." "Pray in the morning. Right when you wake up. Give God the first fruits of your day." "God's voice comes through quiet meditation." "God's voice comes from the voice of other people." These last few weeks, Heidi and I have been seeking the Lord. We have been wanting more and more of His wisdom, wanting His direction, wanting what He wants. But instead of trusting, listening and waiting, it has been so tempting to look at what others are doing, the way other people are serving the Lord and following Him and try to mimic that. Hey, if it worked for them, well then it will work for me. Its even more tempting to trust God's past works instead of His voice when people are so quick to be approving of ways God has worked in the past. New ways are scary for more than just you and me, but they are scary for pastors, neighbors, co-workers, bosses, supporters... But beyond all of that, there is this strange, exciting, comforting and peaceful quality to the voice of God that overcomes every uncertainty. Somehow, someway, when you hear God's voice its crazy, scary, but clear and it just seems right. Sure, you can find support or opposition for almost anything you want in the Bible, but when God speaks His words just seem...right.
God has been leading us all our lives. Sometimes the decisions we make are simple, sometimes hard and scary, but the more often we trust the quiet and clear voice Jesus, the more we see how incredible and beautiful He is and how sweet His plans are.
"the word of the Lord is right and true...the plans of the Lord stand forever" ps 33

I am here

"I am here. I am here." How many times does Jesus remind me and how often do I forget that I am not alone, I do not do the work that I do in vane, I do not walk through my life aimlessly and without purpose? These last few weeks I look around and see all of the needs, the least of which sometimes is monetary. The little tiny sliver of ministry that I awkwardly shuffle through seems like such a small drop in a vast ocean of dry religion, poverty, sickness, abuse, misunderstandings of God's character...
Then God opens my eyes and turns my head, He whispers in my ears, "I am here".

Yesterday a group of 22 maasai women graduated from a sowing and tailoring class. They were proud of themselves! They saw that they were worth the time and energy to be educated. They saw that they were smart. They saw that they were able to make a product, a profit, a difference. That was awesome!
But more awesome still, I saw something I haven't seen before. Some of the womens' husbands came. And for the first time, I saw pride in the eyes of husbands for their wives! I saw men stand up in front of a group of their peers in support of their wives in their accomplishments. I saw men clap their hands for their wives. I saw men stretch out their hands in prayer for women. I'm afraid I feel the need to quote 90's Christian rap music, "you know who's doin' it? God is doin' a new thang".
Isaiah says, "watch, I will do something new; now it will sprouts up, won't you see it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, I will make rivers in the desert."
God opened my eyes yesterday, turned my head to see new things sprouting up, and whispered in my ear, "I am making a way...through you" (and because the English language is limited, I need to note that this "you" is plural, "through y'all")

Learning Maasai

I have been working with several different tutors and it is coming slowly but surely.  It is really fun talking with the men.  They always laugh which is right up my alley because as far as I'm concerned any attention is good attention.  Which is where I found myself today.  The maasai sometimes refer to themselves not as their first name, but as the father of their children.  The word for Father is, "Menye".  So, I was trying to tell a man I had just met, in front of a whole bunch of Maasai young men, "I am Menye Hannah."  Instead, I said, "I am Mwenye Hannah."  You know how sometimes people have a huge gap in between their teeth if their teeth come in funny?  Well, the Maasai have a word for this.  It is ironically close to the word for Father.  So, I told all the maasai men my name is "the gap inbetween your front two teeth - Hannah". 

They can read!!!

It has begun! After years of preparation, work, prayer, and patience, last week we finally began our literacy class? I have spent the last few weeks going from Boma to boma inviting every man I could find to come and learn how to read. Over 20 men, young and old, signed up to attend Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week we have had 5 students coming and it is awesome. I expected to have about this many to start and we am really excited. One old man, a well respected elder named Mrefu (translation: the tall guy)is 78 years old and has been early to class so far. Also an 18 year old named Omega comes so it is an interesting mix of men.
Week one: so far we have been learning how to open up our books and how to hold a pencil. The second half of the week, we learned how to write on the lines and then where to go when the current line is full...to the next line. It is awesome! I can't wait for each class to begin!
Every time we meet, I have been praying and preparing for little bits of the bible to share about the importance of reading and writing. We talked one day about how God created the entire universe using words. Then, another day we read about the Word. How God calls Himself the Word. They have been so encouraged by those things. Sooooo, now I'm asking for help!!
If anyone has come across a place in the Bible where there is some kind of importance placed on words, reading, writing, education through books, etc I would really love some references.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. "He who began a good work in you will continue until it is fully completed."