Those Peculiar Johnsons

I Would Rather Kill My Dogs

Don’t get me wrong. I like my dogs very much. They are loyal, playful and they offer genuine friendship as well as protection. It is because of this, that I have developed a genuine emotional tie with both of them. I feed them good nutritious food, bathe them in clean water with doggie shampoo, make sure they are immunized, and protected from ticks, fleas and other vermin that get under their fur. However, I would rather kill my dogs than allow them to live in the slums of Nairobi.

The infamous slums of Nairobi reportedly contain over 50-70 percent of the 3-4 million souls who inhabit this capital city of East Africa’s most economically prosperous nation. Personally I am inclined to think twice about taking my dogs to the slums, lest they see some of the frightening scenes and living conditions. I am not sure they could handle it. It might offend their sensibilities.

There are scenes like five foot high garbage heaps of rotten food mixed with plastic bags, broken bottles, and empty cans. The children who live here have great imagination and ingenuity. To them, these are not really garbage heaps. These are playgrounds and places to hunt for hidden treasure. Treasure is where you find it and how you name it.

Some of the treasures are things like food. Well, my dogs would not eat it. However, these children are not as picky. They are much hungrier than my dogs and quite frankly, they are used to eating from this putrid pile of other peoples’ refuse.

There are some convenient things such as the pit latrine which is within walking distance. That is convenient for you and the other two to three hundred people sharing the outhouse. Don’t fall in. It may be hours, or even days before they find you. On a rainy night, many people have been known to resort to the ‘flying toilet’ which consists of wrapping your waste in paper or plastic and tossing it on to the path outside your door or window. Well, it beats getting rained on, robbed or raped in the dark.

The houses are not quite the caliber of my dog’s abode either. Even the chicken we got as a gift recently has cleaner and, safer living conditions. The houses in which these families live are made of pieces of rough hewn board, mud walls and tin roofs. There is no electricity, except that from a charged car battery at the home of the more prosperous neighbor. He is the one with the radio and television, which provide him with a source of income as he charges people to watch football games, black market videos and DVD’s the latest soap operas and of course everyone’s favorite; ‘Oprah’s on!’

Going inside one of the houses is a lot like entering into a cave, or coal mine. There is a small tin can with a cloth wick saturated in kerosene giving off smoke, fumes and even a small amount of light. This light is just enough to keep you from tripping over the pieces of rudimentary furniture, pieced together from discarded wood and twice used nails. You can’t read by this small lantern, but many of the people here don’t read anyway, if they had something to read. It is very important if you are trying to read, to not let the paper or your clothes, or the curtains get too close to the lantern. The curtains act as walls separating the 10 feet by 10 feet room into kitchen, and bedroom. Privacy is a luxury a man and his wife and five children don’t have here.

Fire in the slums notoriously destroys homes and displaces hundreds of people at regular intervals, much like urban renewal, or better yet, innovative renovation. There is plenty more mud, sticks, and tin to re-render its splendor. So be careful where you place that lantern. If one house catches fire, well, there goes the neighborhood! My dogs like to lie on the rugs near the fire place, not in the fire place.

If a fire does erupt, it will be near impossible to extinguish as the few watering points have one faucet for every 500 people and you have to wait your turn with your own bucket and walk the five to ten minutes back to your house with the 20 liters (25 pounds) of water without spilling too much of it. There are no roads big enough for the city’s very few fire trucks and even if they could make it down the tortuous mud and stone paths, they would have to push people aside for water too.

You could dip from the generous flow of sewage flowing a few feet outside of your front door. However the particulate matter would stain the very clothes and other valuables you are trying to salvage.

Amidst this ambience of sewage effluent, there is the wreaking ambivalent affluence of the landlords who collect rental fees at regular intervals. They have no problem evicting those who cannot afford the equivalent $10 or $15 per month rental fees and will do so without the slightest notion of nicety. No pay, no stay is the order of the day.

Yes, I truly would rather kill my dogs than have them live in the slums of Nairobi. I think that even their fleas would flee from this down side of life.

He was naked, She was hungry

As I was driving home last night from dinner at a friends house, the rain was pouring down in sheets like...., well like sheets!

As I passed by Wilson airport, a small airport just near our home, I noticed a person who looked like a very thin tree, for the size of the body. In the middle of the night, about 11:00 pm, cold, wet and completely naked, walking along the road. I could not tell if it was a man or woman. I had already whizzed by this person and I felt a twinge of pain as I splashed cold muddy water on this already naked body from the $150 tires of the van.

I turned the van around at the next available opportunity and went back to see if I could find him/her. By this time the naked person had hidden themselves in the high grass surrounding the airport fence. I tried twice more, in vain to find him/her. I could not. I was tempted to get out of the van and go look, but I felt it was too dangerous at this time of night and instead just went home. I was intending to give him the sweater I was wearing as I was riding in a comfortable, dry van, with a warm dry shirt, heading to a nice warm bath, then to a nice warm bed.

Earlier that evening I was buying a phone card. As I stood at the counter to pay for it, a young woman was counting out a few coins to purchase a small loaf of bread. She wore a very dirty shirt, with lots of holes in it. She stood there, embarrassed as the clerk at the counter told her she did not have the 30 shillings (about 40 US cents) to afford the bread. It was a very small loaf. The clerk handed the bread back to the stock boy who went and put it back on the shelf.

I was a bit oblivious to what was happening and would have remained so, if the Holy Spirit had not shaken me from my self absorbed state. I was thinking how much I miss my wife and family and how lonely it felt, trying to get a phone card, just to communicate. It is easy for me to get self absorbed. I could have bought a bar of chocolate!

I only noticed it as the clerk handed the bread back and the woman got ready to leave the store.

I handed her 50 shillings and clerk had the stock boy bring back the bread. She then handed me the 20 shillings change. I gave it to the woman with the torn and dirty shirt. I never even looked her in the face. I was afraid that I would make a connection and I preferred the gift be anonymous without undue embarrassment to her.

Every single day I encounter people who have tremendous needs and for the most part, I am sure I am oblivious to much of it.

From not seeing the woman who needed bread, to splashing the naked person on the road side, I wonder how often it is I am so concerned about me, myself, my needs and desires and completely unaware of what is going on around me.

People are in great need around each of us every day.

We need to learn to live our lives through the eyes of the Savior.

We need to ask Him to give us His sight, His senses, His extra supernatural feelings of what is going on around us.

I notice too little, and often too late, the hurting person who needs a hug, a smile, a word of encouragement, a warm sweater or a loaf of bread.

What about you?

Mt 25:35-36 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Gums Mints or Condoms: Safer Sex Season

It used to be I would buy a pack of gum or mints to impress a girl. Nowadays, boys and girls impress each other not with fresh mints in their mouth, but with condoms in their wallets and purses. Condoms outnumber the gum and candy at the grocery counters here in Kenya. I can’t figure it out. Since when did sex become something like food, an item we could not do without?

As I search for a pack of Double Mint gum, I have to look beyond the half nude pictures of men and women in suggestive poses. Is this what God intended?

The Bible never even hints at God saying that any of His creation was safe. He only stated that it was very good.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Sex is not meant to be practiced in a safe manner. It is meant to be enjoyed in a manner that brings glory to God by how He has allowed us to experience the pleasures of the human body He created.

Any relationship that does not mirror God’s intention for sexual intercourse, that is male and female intimacy within the bonds of marriage, may protect from disease and pregnancy, but it brings death to the spirit and the body.

1Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

It is only safe sex for a season. With the Creator’s blessing, it is very good!

Avoiding Defeat: The Modern Christian Era

The enemy must be identified and totally annihilated. There can be no room for negotiation, treaties, or retreat. We are meant to conquer not to concede. We are in the midst of a war for the hearts, minds, and most importantly, the souls of mankind. No general ever won a war by seeking to avoid defeat.

It is because of this clear mandate that we would rather seek to avoid defeat than to meet the enemy head on. We are afraid of the consequences of victory. Victory means we will have to change our own personal lifestyles. Our choices for what we eat, wear, drink, buy, watch, and listen to will have to change if we are to seek true victory. Hence, we as Christian soldiers just seek to avoid outright defeat.

It is because of this fear that we don’t witness to the lost. We are afraid of what it will personally cost us if we claim to be in the Christian army. Hence, rather than fight, we just seek to avoid defeat. Who wants to be embarrassed calling themselves a Christian?

We wear the armor, the uniform, carry the ammunition, but we are careful never to truly engage the enemy. The enemy comes into our homes, our personal lives and we accommodate him, and make him feel very comfortable. We never fire a shot. We never open our Bible, never memorize a scripture, never witness to anyone. We just want to avoid defeat.

We entertain the enemy. We listen to his music, watch his movies, read his books, and even engage in the activities. We call it harmless fun. Everyone is doing it.

We avoid use the armor of holiness, righteousness, godliness, and purity.

Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his Might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

No one wants to use such words as it will chase the enemy from our homes and we need him there in order to feel that we are trendy, open minded and free thinking. The problem with open minded free thinking is usually our brains fall out.

Let us engage the enemy and defeat him completely. Ask the Holy Ghost to help completely eliminate the enemy in your own life. We are meant to conquer, not concede.

Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.