Have you ever experienced the confusion of a seemingly senseless configuration on a poster that appears to be random shapes and dots? As you continue to stare at it, and tilt your head one way or the other, a word or picture suddenly leaps out from that cluttered pattern. We call it a cryptogram.

Something fascinating happens once you have seen that the dots or shading were just masking the real message. You start tilting your head in various positions in an attempt to lose the ordered pattern and to regain the initial disorder. The latter exercise comes into play only because you start wondering how it was possible in the first place to miss the word or picture. When the eye has captured the image, it interprets the message for what it is. But when the eye loses the message, disarray dominates.

I suggest that the challenge of ministry was to be able us to see the message so that the picture can be understood. Life is a kind of cryptogram.  We either see the need to love others as unmistaken in life’s experiences, at times in spite of the chaos, or we allow confusion to dominate. Your view of the world depends largely on whether you’ve seen the need to love in the disarray and confusion.

When there is disorder and that is all we are willing to see, then we have a tendency to focus on ourselves and our own needs. C.S. Lewis described those who see in the midst of disorder as those who can “do what we cannot and to become what we are not.”

It can be very difficult for us to look beyond our own walls. Isolation is the counter point dynamic to the mandate to be involved.  God says, “Go, Give, Love.” The message of the chaotic dots of life says, “Stay, Keep, Hate.” The walls of isolation can take many forms. They can be nationalistic, cultural, individual, and even religious. There is a reason why the pronouns “I” and “We” are called the “first person” in grammatical books. People like us, who act like we do, believe like we do seem to be the most deserving of our love. Why should I care about someone I’ve never met? Why should I give so that someone completely different from me benefits? It doesn’t make sense! Not until the image in the cryptogram becomes clear and we realize that life is not about us, it is about Jesus. Life doesn’t consist in the abundance of my own possessions and hording as much as I can; it is about sharing, giving and trusting the one in the image to provide for me. It means that the Kikuyu and the Tutsi people are as valued in the kingdom of God as Anglo-Saxons.  And it is only when we are willing to keep seeing the image in the midst of the chaos that we will be willing to look beyond our self oriented walls and reach out.

In September of 2003, a container of medical equipment arrived in Kisumu. 40 feet of blessings! Someone, an ocean away had looked over the walls and reached out. The recipients of these equipments were to be three local hospitals. The list of items included everything from Two X-ray machines, a sonogram, operating theatre lights and table, dental chairs, infant monitors, gurneys, wheelchairs, one hundred mattresses, anesthesia equipment and much much more. Another Rotarian from the Kisumu Club, one Joram Oluchiri assisted in the distribution of the equipment. But the one who saw the image in the cryptogram and was moved to give was Mike Keckler of Keckler Medical in Modesto, California.

While I know Mike would prefer that God get the glory for this, I have to mention that this donation is a shining example to the entire community of Kisumu that Christians care. They care about their fellow Christians but they also care about the Muslim, Hindu and Hare Krishna in the world. This kind of vision, generosity and love is precisely what God had in mind when he said to Israel: “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles.”

One of the wonderful by products of this gift is that the hospitals are reciprocating. They have generously offered to treat all 106 of our boys as well as the 32 staff members and their families for free. In this part of the world, where malaria kills when it goes untreated, typhoid is a common occurrence among the nationals and skin infections are frequent, quality medical care is very valuable. We estimate that this offer by the hospitals will save Agape’s budget upwards of $4,000. And each of the boys at Agape now has a new hospital mattress to sleep on as well.  Needless to say, we are praising God for this good work that has found it’s way across an ocean and two continents (past some very corrupt customs officials as well—but that’s another story).

A big thank you to Mike and all those who assisted in loading the container in Modesto. To Jim Whitworth, Mike’s right hand man in container shipment, Mercy Corp, Southern Cross and a host of other’s I am forgetting. Thanks as well to the Downtown Modesto Rotary Club, where Mike is a member and the Kisumu Rotary Club who leant their assistance and expertise on this end.

>During the last two weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to visit the three hospitals who have almost all of the equipment in use. As Kenya operates on 240volt and not 110, some equipment is still awaiting a transformer, but the great majority is already being used to treat the people of Kisumu and soon our 106 boys at Agape as well. The three supervising doctors want me to extend their thanks along with the boards of each of the hospitals.

One particular moment was especially touching and rewarding. In visiting Kima Mission Hospital in Maseno, I enjoyed a lunch of “mandazi" (African doughnuts), soda and tea. During this meeting, the board profusely thanked the donors for this gift. Dr. Fred who is the attending physician even said that people started coming to the hospital even before the equipment was set in place. “They had confidence in us just because they saw all these pieces of equipment coming in.”

Kima is a rural hospital about 45 kilometers north of Kisumu. In the rural areas, the confidence of the people means everything. “Now,” Dr. Fred says, “we are the busiest hospital in the entire area.”

Each of these doctors wants to shake your hand Mike and thank you personally. You’ve made a difference. You’ve seen a clear image of Jesus in your work and ministry. And because of your love for Him, many in Kisumu and surrounding environs will enjoy good health. God bless you.

Prayer List

1. Pray for Susan, one of our teachers who is expecting any day now.

2. Pray for our Form One students (Freshman) as they begin high school

3. Pray for Dennis and Steven who recently lost their mother. They returned from her funeral this week

>4. Pray for Tom and Marg Tucker who are traveling in the US and Canada until May

5. Pray that our land issue is resolved. We are in process of negotiating over an additional acre of land adjacent to our current site in Kisumu.

6. Pray for continued peace in Kenya

7. Pray for all those teams in process of planning for trips here in April, June, July, August and next Jan.

8. Pray for our staff in the US: Blake, Darla and Jennifer

9. Pray for our search for an additional guard, houseparent and cook

10. Pray for our plans to begin a clinic at Agape. We are still contemplating this move so that we will have some basic health care, a nutritionist and someone to oversee sanitation and preventative care.