We have arrived safely!

Hello there everybody,

Truly this has been a very smooth trip. With people coming from Oregon, California, and Amsterdam, it is amazing that we all got on board the same plane in Amsterdam that was to take us to Nairobi.  There was no luggage lost, all passports were in order, and with prayer and Miriam's silver tongue we got through customs without having to pay a bribe.  Basically, they were too confused to stop all of us when we were starting to leave the customs area, so suddenly most of us were outside and then it was too late to do something about it.  

Richard, and not Wachira, was waiting for us to take us and our luggage to the FPFK Guest House where all of us are staying for the night.  Wachira has had to give up his driving business because tourism is way down. People stay away because of the Somalian terrorist threat. We will miss him. Tomorrow all of us are "packing pills" for Bob's medical team. Then we pack up and all of us go to the airport to fly out to Eldoret.

I will try to write something tomorrow, but for now good night from Nairobi,

Hans 

Postscript and Thank Yous from 2014 Kenya Trip

Hello there everyone,

This will be my last writing about my short term mission trip to Kenya. It has been a wild ride yet we certainly have been blessed by the responses from the people we reached out to. And it is clear to me that you as my sponsors deserve much of the credit for this, since without your support I could not have traveled there. So thank you again for your prayers and financial support that made my trip possible.

Our team has talked at length among itself as to how well the pastors in Eldoret and the students and faculty of New Dawn responded to the themes of our teaching. These themes were voiced so convincingly by Miriam even last December that we chose to run with them. These themes were about a healing ministry through the arts and scripture. The education team, under the leadership of Maggie, Judy, Lance, and Ann, chose to work by reaching out to the students at New Dawn through painting, drama, song, and poetry. I tried to address woman’s issues, especially sexual abuse, through lessons based on stories from the Old and New Testaments.

We were all amazed how well the students and faculty at New Dawn and the Pastors and workers from the Rescue Center in Eldoret responded. Clearly this was because abuse of women in every possible form is endemic in the slums of Eldoret and Nairobi, yet training of social workers, pastors and teachers to help victims is woefully inadequate. The tragic consequence of this is that young people of every age who are being or have been victimized do not get the professional help they need. This is why I am so happy that at least in Eldoret, the Rescue Center is now going to write material that will educate Pastors in the region on how to deal with sexual abuse. At New Dawn, Pastor Sammy confessed that he had been radically transformed by the teachings on sexual abuse and women’s issues. From now on he said his dealings would certainly be based on how to express compassion to its victims.

So once again thank you for your faithful support,

Hans

Below are transcripts of just a few of the thank you notes received from students in Eldoret and Nairobi:



Thank you Hans and Lois,

You really portray a genuine self, your warmth has a certain healing touch that chases away all the gloom. Lois thank you for allowing Hans to be a blessing to us even when you needed him most by your side especially now.

You inspire my life so much and my heart loves you all.

Thank you very much,

From Milly and my family (Milicent is, I believe, the director of the Rescue Center in Eldoret.)



Dear Hans,

You have no idea how I was looking forward to your teachings. I have learnt so much even more than I expected. I have been challenged to be careful not to sin in my thought world, as God sees my evil thoughts as sin. I have also been challenged not to be judgmental, but to accept others as God accepts (them) with compassion and love.

May God give you all the wisdom and strength to continue sharing God’s word with others both for the Christian and non Christian.

God bless you mightily!!

Leah



Hi Hans,

I may not have enough words to express my gratitude of love to you. I want to let you know that I am totally transformed (in reference to women’s issues) by the words of your teaching. My attitude towards those who may look downcast (is that) through the teachings of the Bible I feel I have been created to always provide a shoulder for them to cry on. You have been a blessing to me, and (even) more a blessing to our church by the sermon you brought to us last Sunday.

God bless you Hans, may his face always shine on you and your family!

Blessings to you from yours in the Lord’s service,

Pastor Sammy

Amboseli Photo Safari

This weekend was our R&R time, and having been very involved with teaching for 12 days in a row, I was ready for it. This year again we went to the Amboseli Park where we stayed at the Serena lodge. To get to the lodge from the main road you have to take a dirt road, which is the worst kind of washboard you can imagine. The worst thing is that it takes almost an hour of the most incredible shaking, as if you are sitting in a giant vibrator. The closer you get to the Lodge the more wildlife you see, so I was really peering intensely among and into the bushes that dot the landscape when I saw what I knew to be a gerenuk. This is a very rare gazelle which I somehow remembered from seeing pictures of in a book. So I looked twice and was sure I had seen it but believed they were not present in this dry Savannah land. After a minute or so I thought I should ask Washira if it was indeed possible I had seen a gerenuk. Well he just about dropped his teeth, and said, "Why didn't you yell stop, I have been on the lookout for one ever since we hit this dirt road." But by then it was too late. We could not go back and try to find it among all dense bushes.

This lodge is incredible. It is designed to look like the ranch of an early settler and was built with rough hewn logs. It is very attractively decorated all with African and perhaps mostly with Masai motifs. This is truly a luxury resort, which Kizimani gets at a huge discount negotiated I believe by Washira's wife who does that sort of thing for her husband. The luxury impression starts when you arrive and a servant (they seem to stand around every 20 ft) presents you with a warm wet towel to wipe the dust from face and hands, and believe me, you are really dusty because you drive in a virtual dust storm if you drive behind the lead micro bus. Then another servant takes your bag and brings it inside, where it is stored while our team goes for lunch, because we are ravenous and thirsty.

The lunch is buffet-style and we can hardly believe our eyes seeing all the choices we have to face. You can make an incredible salad using lettuce, sundried and regular tomatoes, capers,olives, chopped onions, cut pickled beets, pickled mango, pork and chicken pieces mixed in a macaroni salad, wonderful breads, all kinds of fresh fruits--there is no end to it. It is incredible! You may also choose to eat a wonderful hot lunch, with just as many ingredients as from the salad bar, and finally, one may choose to have a lunch made up from multiple stir fried ingredients. Of course there is a long bar with dessert items that won't quit, so basically we all overate. And finally there was that wonderful cold Tusker Beer to wash everything down. Then it was time for an afternoon nap and all I can say is that I was out before my head hit the pillow.

We were going to go on a late afternoon photo safari at 4:00 PM, and fortunately I woke up from Lance, with whom I roomed, who made a some noise when he left our room and so I was up in time to catch one of our micro buses. The wildlife we saw was amazing, from many different antelopes, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, and even a few cheetahs. When we returned we took a shower and changed, because the dust makes your hair stand out and causes your teeth to grind.

Afterward, I returned to the main Lodge building with most of the rest of the team where we enjoyed a few drinks before we had dinner. Dinner too is an indescribable experience there at the Lodge. Everything is set up in a big open space which is lined with tables all around and with a big rectangular table in the center. Each table is covered with all kinds of meats, vegetables, condiments, fruits, breads, desserts, you name it. So once again I--rather we--overate.

After dinner we sat with coffee on the terrace to wait for the Masai to show up and perform their unique dances. The Masai men are dressed in their traditional red blanket and a stick for a spear, while the women are dressed in their own red blanket but also are adorned with their beaded neck shields and arm bands. Both the men and the women form one long line with the men on the left when facing the audience, and the women on the right. The men begin the performance by singing and dancing in place while the women shake their torsos covered by the beaded shields around their neck. Then suddenly one of the men steps forward and jumps vertically straight into the air, at times reaching a height of about four feet. Like last year some of our women filled out the line of Masai women shaking their torsos with the best of them. Since we had few young men in our team this year, only Lance was willing to join the line of Masai men. I am happy to report that he did not embarrass West Hills, though he did not reach the height Tim Pham reached last year when he basically beat the Masai at their own game. After the Masai performance was over most of us went to bed simply because we were exhausted. I can't remember anything after I hit my pillow.

We got up at 5:40 AM to dress and rush out to get a cup of coffee before we drove away in our micro buses for the morning photo safari. In some respects the morning outing was not as spectacular as last year, since lions had not been spotted in two days and so nobody knew where to look for them. We too never saw them, and so we just observed the many other species of wildlife. Basically the only additional species we saw were hippos. They are impressive animals for sure, and surely to be feared.

After the morning photo safari we ate once again an incredible lunch and left after quickly packing our stuff. The plan was to be back at the guest house at around 3:00 PM. Well, the traffic on the only major east-west highway is a mess and one really learns to appreciate Washira's driving skills as he drives his micro bus ferociously through that traffic, passing endless streams of big Mercedes diesel trucks that haul freight from Mombasa on the coast of the Indian ocean to inland Africa. He is truly an artist at work as he passes truck after truck with inches to spare. Because of his driving we arrived back at the guest house an hour before the other two buses arrived.

Then we went to the mall to buy souvenirs at the Masai market where I got the last few things I needed, which was good, as I seriously dislike the haggling experience. However, it is what it is, and the Masai actually produce many beautiful things besides cheap trinkets. After we returned from the market, and a Skype session with Lois, we had dinner and now I am finishing this last report. Tomorrow we will pack while some of us will still have to buy a few more souvenirs. But then finally we take to our buses and rush to the airport to fly home via Amsterdam.

It has been truly a wonderful two weeks, I do believe this has been the best trip of the five I have made.  This was perhaps mainly because with a little direction from Miriam last December,  both Maggie, Judy, Sanna, and Lance's team, and I by myself, put together a teaching program that really resonated with the people here. Theirs was referred to as the "Healing Arts", while I chose and prepared a number of lessons that would foster a biblical discussion about violence to women and women's issues.  The result has simply been outstanding. We really saw how the high school kids at New Dawn were helped by the Healing Arts and also how the pastors in Eldoret and the teachers of New Dawn in Nairobi were really helped to begin a new focus on women's ministries and especially how to begin training for and practicing how to deal with women who have been traumatized in one way or another.

Well it has been great. I just hope the flight home is uneventful and that we will arrive on time on the 19th at around 11:30 AM. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support.

God bless you,

Hans

Nairobi: New Dawn #7

Hello there everyone,

Today Richard took me back to New Dawn where I arrived at about 8:30 AM. to teach about the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4:1-38). No teachers were there yet so I could spend time writing some phrases and thoughts on the white board that I could use to reinforce the teaching of the day before. It was then that I had tried to teach them what the term "living water" meant in Jewish/Samaritan culture. Living water normally means water from a flowing stream or spring in contrast to water from a well, like Jacob's well in the story, which is not free flowing but stagnant. They as well as we would actually prefer water from a spring. Now Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The kind of water Jesus is talking about here is spiritual living water. The woman, not understanding that yet, rightfully says, "You have nothing to draw water with. And in any case, where would you get 'living water' (that is free flowing spring water) since there are no springs nearby. Besides, are you thinking that you are greater than our forefather Jacob who dug this well and whose family and flocks drank from this well, that you can refuse to accept water from his well?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks from this well will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the (spiritual) living water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, that water will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman, now kind of kidding and not quite being serious, says, "Sir, give me this (living) water so that I won't get thirsty and will not have to keep coming here to Jacob's well to draw water." She says this, because though she probably understands at this point that Jesus is offering her spiritual "living water," she does not really want to buy into that, and keeps talking as if Jesus is offering her living spring water, which he can't give her.

So Jesus decides to change tactics, and says to her, "Go call your husband, and come back." To this she replies, "I have no husband." To this Jesus responds, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. What you have said is quite true."

Now because this revelation about her private life hits home deeply, and makes her understand she is washed up and running out of aces, she does a very common thing--she switches the subject. "Sir," she says, "I can see you are a prophet." Now in her culture it was understood from Dt. 18:15, that when Moses said there that, after him, "a prophet would come to whom they should listen," Moses was talking about Messiah and that no other prophets would come between the two of them. It is believed that this was also held by some in the Jewish faith. So what the woman really was saying in her belief system was that, because of what Jesus had revealed about her, he had to be Messiah. Now it is probably true that she could not quite process that in her mind yet, so she tries another tactic just like Jesus had done earlier.

She asks him, "Our fathers worshiped here on this mountain, that is Mt. Gerizim, the mountain of the blessings, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is Jerusalem."  This was a theological hot potato that she handed Jesus, really an unsolvable dispute between two countries. But Jesus deftly ducks this debate by saying, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming that you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we (the Jews) worship what we do know (by means of revelation), for salvation is from the Jews. He continues, "God the Father is Spirit and he must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth."

This revelation pushes her over the top and she says,"I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us." Remember Jesus had explained several things to her: who she really was--that is an immoral woman who had gone through five husbands, where and how to get "spiritual living water," and where and how God the Father was to be worshiped. So suddenly she gets it: he is the prophet who explains everything to her, so he truly is the Messiah. To this, seeing her faith, Jesus responds by saying, "I who speak to you am he!"

What this means that the first time Jesus reveals himself to a person as Messiah, it is to a Samaritan gentile who is an immoral woman living in sin. And this is why I spent so much time to make this clear. He does not reveal himself first to a VIP in Jerusalem.

There is much more to be said about this story, chief of which is that it is Jesus' personal evangelism that reconciles a Samaritan village and the twelve Jewish disciples to God and to each other. They actually spent two days together.

The other story I did is the one I preached on in Sammy's church last Sunday, where Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman (Lk. 7-36-50). This was incredibly well received by the teachers and I wish I could attach my sermon to this e-mail, but this computer does not allow me to get into my home files. Maybe Karen can. (Note from Karen: Nope--I'll have to post this another time.)

After I was through with this lesson we had a long prayer time wherein each teacher expressed why he or she was thankful for this week of teaching, which was very moving. Then they handed me a huge card with a personal thank you note from each teacher, which was truly very nice indeed. After this we had lunch together. It has been wonderful how special and kind they have been to me this week and how sincerely they prayed for Lois every day. They were just wonderful. Then after lunch we took pictures and said goodbyes till it was time to to leave because Richard my driver arrived.

So now I am here in the Guest house writing my last report on my teaching experience here in Kenya. Tomorrow we will go to the Amboseli game park where we will stay till after lunch on Sunday, when we will return to Nairobi to pack and buy souvenirs at the Masai market on Monday morning. Then late that afternoon we fly home.

God bless you all,

Hans

Nairobi: New Dawn #6

Hello there everyone,

Today was quite a day. This was mostly because it was the last day of the special education team with Maggie, Judy, Sanna, Ken, Lance, Ann, and Nina. They had been at New Dawn since Tuesday morning and had split up in 4 groups to work with New Dawn students who specially returned from vacation for this. The four areas they were going to cover were Art/Painting, Drama, Poetry, and Singing. The first reports I heard were that each team was somewhat slow to start in their particular area, but judging by the end result they were truly incredible as they performed for the special education team and for the teachers. Truly every area they presented was exceptionally well done, but for me one girl stood out, Her song was based on what happened to her during the election 6 or 7 years ago, when her mother was hacked to death before her eyes in the election violence. Her father apparently had died when she was about three years old. In any case, she survived and was lovingly taken in by an aunt and uncle in Nairobi. That lasted just long enough for the uncle to win her trust, after which he raped her. The song she had written about this was just so moving. I had tears in my eyes. The team had done an incredible job of guiding and encouraging these students; they were truly awesome. I am sure Maggie, Judy and Lance will write much more about this and share pictures, so be sure to check out their blogs. (Click on their names to link to their blog posts).

This once again confirmed the theme of my teaching, which had been to teach biblical passages that deal with violence against women and women's needs, as well as to teach passages that highlight strong and bright women in the Old as well as the New Testament. So today I finished teaching on the widow at Zarepath and Naaman. Their stories were chosen because of their incredible statements of faith they make to Elijah and Elisha respectively and in doing so they belonged in my mind to the group of characters I had already taught about: Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. All three of them were Gentiles and so were the widow at Zarepath and Naaman. Now where the last two get to be even more interesting is when Jesus, early in his ministry, reveals in the synagogue of the Gallilean town Nazareth that the Messianic passages from Isaiah he just read to them have been fulfilled in their hearing. This has just about the same effect as if Jesus had set off a bomb in that place. At first the congregation is truly excited until they realize that the one saying this is the son of Joseph, the town's carpenter. It is then that they begin to be agitated and Jesus, knowing that they are thinking"This man is crazy," responds by saying, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me, 'Physician heal your self! Do here in your hometown what we have heard you did in Capernaum.' I tell you the truth," he continued. "No prophet is accepted in his hometown. Then, (referring to our two characters the widow at Zarepath and Naaman) he says, "I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when there fell no rain in three and a half years causing a severe famine. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a gentile widow in Zarepath near Sidon. And there were many leprous in Israel (the northern kingdom wherein Nazareth was located) in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed - only Naaman the Syrian." Then the whole synagogue erupts in anger and wants to kill Jesus, not because Elijah and Elisha went to the Gentiles because of the hostilities the Jews directed at them, but rather because Jesus our Lord said that God sent them, and that they could not handle. Sadly there is very little scriptural evidence that the Jews ever wanted to be or actually were a light to the Gentiles.

Then we did the lesson about the good Samaritan, which deals with a lawyer (who is not a teacher of the Law) who loves to debate the Law. Jesus has him explain what he thinks the Law teaches about what he must do to obtain eternal life. When he answers, "Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself," Jesus tells him dryly, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live!" This makes the lawyer think for the first time perhaps what "do this" implies, and he suddenly realizes with a shock that he has no intention to accept just anybody as his neighbor. So he wants Jesus to tell him where to build his fence. This Jesus does by means of the parable of the good Samaritan, who in this parable proves to be a neighbor, whereas the Jewish priest and Levite do not. So in fact, because the Jews hated the Samaritans so much, Jesus is saying with this parable that since the hated Samaritan proves he can be a good neighbor, we can't put up a fence anywhere. This Jesus proved convincingly at the cross where he died for all who believe. See Jn. 3:16.

Finally I started to teach on the Samaritan woman at the well but since I did not finish that lesson I will teach, and write, on that tomorrow.

Tonight it was good to welcome back the medical team that went to Kangundo, so all of us are back together. Tomorrow the whole team will go back to New Dawn and be treated to a tour of the facilities there, after which they take the senior class out to the Giraffe Park. Since I have been there already and also because my teachers and I wanted to still do a morning of teaching, I will stay at New Dawn and continue to teach my class till 1:00 PM.

So I will talk to you again tomorrow, God bless you all,

Hans

Nairobi: New Dawn #5

Hello there everyone,

Today things went much better with transportation. We left on time--8:00 AM, and arrived at New Dawn at 8:40 AM, which is pretty good. Then I got a real surprise. Most of the teachers were already there, and at 9:00 AM they were all there save for two! I have never had this happen before, and after lunch they were all there 7 minutes before we were to start up again. So it appears that my somewhat stern talk yesterday has borne fruit. Anyway it was a very good beginning.

We were to finish just a few summarizing questions about my lesson on David and Bathsheba, like What do we learn about David from this story and why do you think that Bathsheba is mentioned in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew chapter 1? David is, of course, a very complex figure which they now are pretty much able to describe in detail. He was certainly a gifted prophetic poet who wrote incredible psalms. Then he was a gifted general, and a very charismatic leader, but clearly he was also an adulterer, murderer and an indecisive absentee father, who failed to discipline his sons Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah. Each of these sons were unfit to sit on the Davidic throne, and yet David apparently failed to heed the prophetic word that Solomon was to succeed him until Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan confronted him with that fact. Only then did he take the necessary steps to have Solomon succeed him. Then also he seemed to have had a problem controlling Joab, even after Joab killed the successor who had been appointed by David to replace him. Finally, David still did not deal with Joab after he joined Adonijah in his attempted palace coup; he instead left Joab to the judgment of Solomon. Was it because Joab had saved the letter David wrote him to have Uriah killed in battle, which he perhaps had threatened to release to the public if David would dare to come after him? It is interesting to contemplate.

The students are now clearly able to see Bathsheba as a victim of David's lust. There had really been no way that she could have refused the command of the king to come to the palace. Then she lost her husband, a God-fearing man of incredible integrity, and her firstborn son. In addition, she probably was haunted by palace gossip about her baby not being her husband's. The fact that Bathsheba mourned for her husband is enough proof that she loved him. Finally, her grandfather Ahithofel committed suicide after his sound advice to Absalom was not followed and he realized that Absalom was going to be defeated by David and Joab. He realized that perhaps he would be executed for joining Absalom's coup to take revenge on David because he had killed his granddaughter's husband and so he committed suicide. All of this was pretty interesting.

Then we did the rape of Tamar which was really very well received, and later the class shared that rape and incest are a serious problem among the girls who study at New Dawn. Last year Irene was able to open a house for a number of girls to sleep at night, supervised by one of the teachers. This was because they could not in good conscience be sent home to be subjected to abuse. So the teachers were very interested to get a biblical perspective on rape and really any form of violence against women. The rape of Tamar provides us with a very good insight into how scripture exposes the different human reactions to this sad affair that are still all too common.

There is Amnon, who is the callous rapist who thinks he can get away with it because he is the spoiled crown prince. His indifference to Tamar's frantic pleading is just beyond the pale. While the attitude of Absalom toward his sister's pain is so unbelievably and cruelly indifferent that it is just beyond words. The only way this can be explained is if he secretly delighted because it gave him a an opportunity to act as the self appointed "avenger of blood" and kill his half brother Amnon, which made him the next one in succession to the throne. And David is angry only because he now has to deal with a family scandal that leaves a blemish on the reputation of his beloved son Amnon as the current heir to the throne. Tamar is forgotten and ignored by all. Nobody cares about her needs--she is now a throw away item. Nobody wants her.

The class clearly was able to see that these attitudes are just as prevalent today as then. So often rape and incest are swept under the rug to protect important family members or leaders in the community. Especially Leah, the school's counselor, was really excited about this material and felt she could use the lessons to help victims she counsels. So basically they really are excited about the lesson material just like in Eldoret, which makes me think that perhaps Leah can give a follow up seminar to the teachers of New Dawn.

Finally, today I taught about the widow at Zarephat, and the Aramean commander Naaman who is cured from his leprosy. Both characters are important because they are gentiles who express their faith in the God of Israel in amazing statements. These two are held up as amazing people of faith by the lord Jesus when he is challenged by the Jews in the synagogue of Nazareth for proclaiming to them that he has come to fulfill Isaiah's prophecies that apply to Messiah. Then when Jesus says, "I assure you that the prophets Elijah and Elisha did not go to the gentiles because of the hostilities of the Jews in ancient Israel. No these prophets went to them because God sent them." This is when the people in the synagogue of Nazareth became enraged and tried to throw him off the cliff.

Well that was a full day, tomorrow I only have the morning to teach because the education team of Maggie, Sanna, Lance, Ken, Ann, Nina, and Judy will have their kids give a performance showcasing what they have learned the last 2 1/2 days. So my teachers and I will attend their performances. I will lose a whole afternoon I had not counted on, but it is for the best so I'd better show them my newly found flexibility.

One thing that is really fortunate is that tomorrow we will be driven by Richard and one of his drivers in two cars, rather than the bus we used the last two days. I am sure we will get home faster.

Well have a great day, and God bless,

Hans

Nairobi: New Dawn #4

Hello there everyone,

Today was my second day of teaching at New Dawn and once again it went well. We were scheduled to drive in Washira's bus which was just big enough to seat us all now that Maggie, Sanna, Judy, Lance, Ann, and Nina are back from Kangundo and will be working also at New Dawn. We did get a late start because we had to stop at a supermarket to buy water first. Then once we got to New Dawn, the person who had the key to the computer lab where I am teaching did not show up so we could not get in and we had to wait. I am really learning to be patient and take it all in stride. This is Kenya, after all. Well, finally he arrived with the key, but then it turned out that the lights were off and could not be turned on for some obscure reason, so I decided to open the curtains wide and use the natural daylight. It was darker than I wanted it to be, but it was good enough.

Today I was to finish the book of Ruth since we got only half way through it yesterday. They all loved this book which is so special since it deals with three people--Naomi, Ruth and Boaz--who are delightful and give us an opportunity to look in detail at what we can learn from them. We spent some time sharing our insights. Then I asked the men to share (most are not married) what characteristics they would expect to see in a woman of integrity. Then I asked the women what a man of integrity would be like. This spawned some interesting thoughts and good discussion.

Then we began to study David's adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. This too led to a pretty good discussion, especially between those who said that Bathsheba should just have said no and others, like me, who believe that she has no choice in the matter. Later most all of came around that at that time in that culture the wish of an absolute monarch like David would be a command that could not be ignored.

They were very interested in the little poem that Joab gave to the messenger to report to David that he had complied with David's wishes and that Uriah had been killed in the manner David had suggested. This is found in II Sam. 11:20b-21a, where Joab instructs the courier to say to David: 

     A- Why did you get so close to the city (wall) to fight?
     B- Didn't you know they should arrows from the wall?
     C- Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth?
     B'- Didn't a woman throw a millstone on him from the wall? (so that he died in Thebez)
     A'- Why did you get so close to the wall?

The Chiastic structure of this little poem is named after the Greek letter X or Chi. Joab used this poem to let David know in a very subtle way that he understood that, just like Abimelech who was killed by a woman throwing a millstone down from the wall of Thebez, Uriah was killed by an arrow shot from the wall of Rabbah because of a woman. This woman was, of course, Bathsheba who was now pregnant after David had committed adultery with her. So he decided to have Uriah killed in battle to be able to claim the baby as his own. Anyway this little poem is very interesting and clever.

We got as far as the prophet Nathan rebuking David with his little parable about how a rich man takes the pet lamb from a poor farmer to cook up a feast to impress an unexpected guest. When David says this rich man deserves to die Nathan springs the trap and says, "You are that man!" David then becomes the David of old and in the crowded court room confesses, "I have sinned against the LORD!" Then the LORD says, "Your sin will be forgiven, but there will be consequences. The sword will not depart from your house, someone close to you will lie with your wives in public (Absalom), and the baby in Bathsheba's womb will die."

That is where we left it for the day and so tomorrow we will finish this story by looking at what it is we can learn from this.

When we got home it was good to find out that Lois had been discharged from the hospital and was now back home. But then when I tried to call her we found out that somehow Lois had left the phone off the hook making it impossible to get through to her. But Jon Straalsund came to the rescue and drove over to help Lois and her friend understand what was the matter and soon we got connected and had a good talk.

So life is looking up, Lois is back home, and we can talk again by phone.

God bless you all,

Hans