Confidently Confirm

How is your faith? Your personal faith, not your out loud faith, your church faith, your so your neighbor can see you faith. You’re own, individual, just with God Himself faith? My next few months will be spent in I & II Timothy during my quiet time. Doing what we do at ACO and what I’ve done since starting ministry these two book direct a lot of my actions. You know it, you’ve read it; chapter 1 of 1st Tim jumps straight into the fact that there are some people who’s faith is not really faith, but rather an explained way of thinking. Paul clears up any misunderstanding in Timothy’s mind quickly in verse 4, “God’s work…is by faith”. Simply to Tom that reads, if I’m not living by faith then I’m not doing God’s work. My faith needs to lead out. If something isn’t working, my faith needs to lead out. If my wife feels like life is falling apart around us, my faith needs to lead out. If my kid is having trouble with a friend at school or failing math, my faith needs to lead out. If my own relationship with the Lord seems stale, my faith needs to lead out. If….then my faith needs to lead out. HOW? How does my faith lead out in life’s circumstances? For me, I must remember that God is in control and my faith in Him begins my thinking, my obedience, my loyalty, my steps are ordered by His example. Yes, I know, its not rocket science, but when has faith ever been? Later in verse 7, “They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so CONFIDENTLY confirm”. So how is your faith? You only really know what you’re talking about when you’ve lived it. A friend on Facebook asked what wisdom was yesterday. Several of the responses dealt with experiences that created knowledge that could be passed on. Do you know what you so “confidently confirm”? Is your faith something that you’ve learned from your Sunday school teacher, your pastor, your small group leader, your parents or the daily devotional you read each day? Or is it yours? Is it warn into your skin, do you have callouses all over your body from living out your faith? I don’t! So many times I think, figure and scheme my way through life and use faith as my banner, not my baseline. (Your Sunday school teacher, Pastor, small group leader, parents and devotional are guides to shape your faith, but they cannot replace your own one-on-one relationship with your Father, the One whom your faith lies in. All of these are instrumental in helping you live out your faith, understand your faith, lead and encourage you in your faith. You need to be plugged into a Bible believing, solid teaching, life on life church.)

In this life we must know....RIP Jacob Logan

My heart aches again this morning as I learned of another young person I knew during our ministry in Coppell entered heaven. The count now runs to 3 of former students gone to be with the Lord and all too soon in my human way of thinking. My heart doesn't hurt for the young man, Jacob, because I am thankful to know that He knew his Father in Heaven, but it hurts for those he leaves behind. As a parent, my heart breaks for his family. As a former youth pastor my heart aches for the young men I know that have bonded together and committed to holding each other accountable through the ups and downs of middle & high school. They now have to walk through a messy part of life with more questions than answers. All of who knew him personally, casually or from a distance will ask the every pressing question of "why?". My whole being wants to jump on a plane and join them, walk through the valley with them, sift through the desperate desire to say one last thing or do one thing different before he leaves. Oh how I hurt for these young people that face a grown-up world all too soon. We say the right things, "he's with Jesus, he's home, its God's plan", and although true, these words don't comfort our minds and souls, only take a little of the sting away. They should, we know the Truth, but our humanity doesn't allow it. We know as Followers of Christ that our end is in His presence and our ultimate desire is to and should be to be with Him. But with a life to live and so much potential our hearts strain to feel a peace and in some sense we feel cheated. It makes us feel incomplete as believers, at least is does me, to not be satisfied with God's plan for Jacob's life. I still live in that lie that I really have a say in my life once I have given it to God. You think after teaching students, living it and doing something crazy like moving to Africa that I would of clued into it. But I haven't. That is what I sit here and struggle with this morning half a world away from the people I hurt for. It scares me all over again to be reminded that Faith isn't Faith until its all you are holding onto. But in a strange way I find comfort in my faith at the same time. I count myself lucky because a friend of mine and I stood on the sidelines at Coppell stadium just two weeks ago during a short trip to Dallas from Nairobi that I had to make. My friend was able to help get me on the sidelines, where selfishly I wanted to be able to focus on the game, and watch a group of young men I've known since middle school play without the distractions of talking to people in the stands. Little did I know that as I stood there and marveled at how those little boys I first met were now on the verge of becoming full blown men, it would be the last time I would see Jacob alive and that an innocence would be taken from his brothers that played on the field with him and others that cheered for him from the stands. However, I will live today with hope because it returns me to one Truth that I know. I know, that I know, that I know that Jacob Logan is in heaven. Jacob would probably say several things to his brothers and the rest of us. No doubt some funny. But I'm convinced at some point he'd remind us to know that we know that those around us are introduced to the only answer to the though questions of death.... A living, alive, daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ as we continue to make Him our Savior and Lord. Rest in peace Mr. Jacob Logan, I will walk in peace that passes human understanding knowing you are with our Savior.

New Journeys Begin

It was cold and rainy day in Njoro, just outside of Nakuru, this past week as I traveled up from Nairobi to join our staff and key student leaders at Egerton University. The group was gathered in small one room apartment going over the Gospel presentation using the Bridge Illustration and verses. Excited and nervous we reminded ourselves to "simplify" & not use "christianize" when we talked to students in their rooms. I prayed over our group, asked God to use our words, our bodies to further His Kingdom. We split into our groups and packed 17 people into the 4runner, so we didn't all have to walk to dorms in the rain. My partner was Kennedy. Kennedy, is a young man who just graduated from Egerton this past May with his degree in electrical engineering, but set aside the work force to spend a year training with ACO as an intern. Kennedy spent the month of June with our US college students doing the cross-cultural discipleship/hands-on ministry experience that Kerry & I lead each year. He stands about 6'6" and might weight 120 pounds, soft spoken and we joke with him that he's a study Bible... he knows the references, but forgets what the verses say. He's way ahead of me in his scripture memory and in his reference remembering. Kennedy and I were assigned to work through block 37, knocking on each door and seeing if we could talk to whomever was inside. The fist door was a bunch of guys about to head to the kitchen to cook. All believers and all interested in finding a Bible study to attend. Kennedy took their names and numbers and will begin a study on their hall next week. The second door had four guys all laying on their beds and listening to their phones. Invited in, actually Kennedy just knocks and walks in (reminds me a the Roossien house during my high school days in Plano), we start talking to the young men. This room was my turn to share the Gospel, so i jumped in with a question..."if someone asked you how to get to heaven or how to get to hell, what would you say?" I loved the first young man's response, "for hell, just sin a lot". Hadn't thought of it that way, but pretty much thats a great way to explain it. After the other 3 responded and I was able to get all of their names and majors I asked if I could share how I'd answer the question. Looking into their faces, keeping the mood light, asking them to read some verses as I talked through my explanation, we made it through the Gospel. I had encouraged and reminded the group in the small apartment during training that at some point in each room they would have to present the challenge, have to be confrontational. The young man sitting to my right was from Kissi, a Maissi area. The young man is probably to only one from his village at University. When I asked what he thought, he said that Romans 10:8-10 was something he wanted todo right then. The other 3 needed to think through things a little more. In front of 3 guys he'd known for two day the young man prayed repeating after me to accept Christ as his personal savior! Talk about brave, not falling into peer pressure, not worrying or being ashamed of the Gospel! Kennedy will follow up with him in the weeks and months to come. I'm looking forward to seeing him grow in his faith. That night 9 students accepted Christ (a young man in the next room prayed with Kennedy). 12 in the first two nights of one on one or small group presentations of the Good News. We choose as a ministry to share the gospel this way because its what works for our ministry. It takes longer because our group has to literally knock on each door and share 4 or 5 times each night, but we've seen its an effective approach. This next week I join our staff on the coast to encourage them and knock on doors with them..... I can't wait to see what God will do through us there. As we were sitting on the stairs outside the student center that night after the group was done someone said, "you know it fun to faithful, even when its terrifying". I know you're circumstances might not allow you the freedom to knock on an office door today or a neighbors door, march in and share the Gospel. But I want to encourage you to be faithful, "even when its terrifying", even when its outside your comfort zone. You weren't left here after you accepted Him as your Savior to be decoration. Blessings, Tom

An 8 year-old

Today we celebrate Nathan-Raegan's 8th birthday. Actually we've been celebrating all weekend, no all month. Someone in our family decided we have birthday months instead of days. So Happy Birthday Day Rae-Rae! Last night Kerry and I were going through old pictures of the little man, it was fun and sad to trace his life up to this point with photos. One of my favorite was taken when I had just returned from my first trip back to Kenya. He was too young to remember me being gone and yet a little shocked to see me in person. Another, one that I will cherish for a lifetime, is of Dad (Allen) and him devouring a bag of popcorn together. I didn't realize when I took the picture that it would be the last time they would be together. Funny, Reagan still to this day can put a bag of popcorn away faster than any 8 year-old I know. His grandfather would be proud. It got me thinking....will heaven be this way. Will we sit before our Maker, our Judge and revisit old photos that captured our lives journey? I think I remember some revival speaker somewhere in my teen years using this as a scare tactic to make me walk the straight and narrow, or come up front and rededicate my dedication. But in a not scary way, in a peaceful, thank you for the blessings, thank you for the grace, thank you for the saving times of You Father God. I wonder if it we'll have that with Him? If you know me I'm not a big theological thinker. I choose to "trust God and do the next thing", as my father used to say. So I won't be pondering this long or diving into scripture for the next week looking for answers. It just struck me, how will I celebrate life with my Jesus? If I do or if I don't is ok by me, but it does remind me to stop and look at the picture of my life today, yesterday, last week. Stop and thank Him for making life so much fun even in the face of the trials of life, because where else would I rather be than with my 8 year-old, his sister and mother?! Be blessed today as you think of the photos of your life.

An Interns View

This past June we had 6 US College students live with us in Nairobi. They were joined by 7 Kenyan students that ACO has been working with on their campuses across the country. The group spent the mornings in training and the afternoons doing hands on ministry. God moved, students on campuses who encountered the team were changed for eternity,and each of the interns left a little of themselves in Kenya and a sliver of their hearts always wanting to return. The article below is from one of those US students recalling when she first shared her faith. My first time sharing the gospel in Kenya was quite the experience.. I have shared the gospel to students before with an illustration called The Bridge which focus’ on the verse Romans 6:23 but getting thrown into a 3rd world country sharing with a new nation is a little intimidating. Let’s just say I was a bottle of nerves with so many expectations yet at the same time not at all knowing what to expect. We were thrown in the middle of Kenyatta University and told just to find our own ministry to focus on because this was called Discovery Ministry. As my heart is literally about to beat out of my chest I get paired up with two of the Kenyan interns apart of the ACO internship which made me feel more comfortable and we were on our way. To be honest though I had no idea what was in store for these next two hours I just knew we were going to see like 45 students accept Christ… (I mean afterall I came all the way to Africa, right?) We walk up to our first guy who actually turns out to be a professor at the University. We tried to bring up spiritual conversation just to see how he would react or if he was interested at all but really the only thing he could focus on was that there was a white person who has a really weird accent and talks fast trying to speak to him. I would bet big money (not really) that he probably didn’t hear one word that we said. A few minutes later as frustration is starting to build we see another girl just sitting on a bench alone. “Yay, a girl” I thought! So I go up to her and start talking and explain why I’m in Kenya and that I am apart of African Christian Outreach and she is quick to say … “Oh….. so you are born again?” and so out of excitement I tell her that yes I am thinking awesome she’s interested maybe I can go into my testimony…. Wrong. Funny how God has his own plan that’s completely different when I try to interpret it on my own. Thankfully the Lord’s will is powerful and he is mighty and didn’t let little, over eager Cambry force something that wasn’t meant to happen. Humility is a huge thing I learned in my month interning with Tom and Kerry and the other interns. It’s a quality I really admire and the Lord showed me I was lacking ☺. At this point time was running out and it is now time to head back to meet the rest of the team. Honestly I was really bummed because I had all of these high hopes about awesome spiritual conversations that were going to occur and they were all just squished in a matter of minutes.. Thankfully I serve a God of compassion so with this frustration I was experiencing the Lord brought these 5 little children of the ages of 5-7 to come play with us. Our God never fails to amaze me and I never fail to underestimate his ability to have power over every single instance of life. Still feeling a little down in the dumps and a little irritated the Lord literally smacked me in the face with Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything. By prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” So if you can imagine at this point I feel about the size of an ant. Not only has the Lord told me not to be anxious, he has commanded it. So by me being anxious I realized that I did not trust the Lord’s plan and that he has control yet I was trying to be the driver and wanting God to be in the passengers seat. How twisted is that? I’m trying to drive with absolutely no idea where I’m going. So with a little help from the big man I realized I needed to hand over the steering wheel because obviously without trust there is no faith and without faith there is nothing. So right then and there I gave the Lord complete control and I know now that I am nothing but a vessel and should be obedient.. Also I kept thinking I need to share with these students because I want them to know Jesus and I want to do this and I want to do that… Again, how silly. Nothing I say is going to change someone; nothing I say will cause someone to accept Christ. Only by the power of the gospel and the Lord speaking through me and being obedient can someone see the gospel! Yay! After God teaching me a much needed lesson and learning some incredible wisdom from Tom and Kerry daily I ended up getting to share with two different girls who ultimately made the decision to accept Jesus as their savior. Not to mention my team saw 5 girls total accept Christ just the short month we were there. 5 Kenyan students who get to spend eternity with God because of the gospel. Now if that’s not the epitome of joy I don’t know what is. It’s hard to express in one post what I learned in Kenya and from ACO but it was nothing short of incredible. Kenya is a beautiful country with even more beautiful people who are just hungry for truth but it’s no exaggeration to say the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. I will be back to Kenya hopefully sooner rather than later and I can’t express how blessed I have been to get the opportunity to go and realize that’s where my heart belongs! Happy happy joy joy! I can honestly say I have never learned more about myself, my faith and the characteristics of God than I have in the 4 weeks I was in Kenya with ACO. Being on this internship pushed me, challenged me, and even made me cry (tears of joy, of course) but it was nothing short of incredible. Blessed beyond belief is an understatement.

I was driving back from Nakuru with a staff member of mine. At that point it hadn't rained for several months in Kenya and the rift valley floor was dry and dusty. When the rains cease it pushes the animals closer to the highway to graze, so we saw impala, gazelle, and zebras along the road side. It always amazes me how two different worlds can collide so easily in Africa. I guess it should be the same when I'm driving up I-30 through Arkansas in the early evening and see deer on the side of the road, but for some reason its different in Kenya. As we drove south back to Nairobi we talked about raising children, marriage, dating, the original sin of Adam and Eve, frustration with God, and other faith topics. I love getting time alone with our staff in moments like these. It reminds me the people that God has placed around us that are so deep in their faith. It makes me thank HIM for how he continues to bless ACO and reminds me that the bar might be set a little low sometimes. Maybe we need to trust Him with some bigger things in Kenya and East Africa. One thing stood out from the conversation that just floored me when I heard it and made me think....Are we thinking GOD sized? I was sharing about a couple Kerry and I had been helping wade through some issues and I gave him my uneducated concultion that all relationships hinge on communication. In fact 99% of all issues in marriages, dating relationships, shoot relationships of all kinds break because people won’t communicate. What followed my babble was one of the most thought provoking statements that I’ve ever heard on relationships, mind you from a guy that’s never been married and is not currently dating (or at least isn't owning up to it). “You started by being irresponsible and now you’re responsible”, he said. When you began dating your now wife/husband or soon to be whatever, you laid all responsibility to the side. Think about it, you blew money you didn’t have or time you should have been spending doing something else to be with that person. You might of stayed up all night on the phone because you didn’t want to say goodbye, talking about the silliest things, the following day suffering in misery from lack of sleep. You threw caution to the wind when it came to doing everything in your power to spend every second with the person you were in-love with. You were just plain irresponsible. Now that you’ve landed the love of you life, what do you do? All the sudden you’ve turned into a logical thinking adult. Sleep now proceeds the need for small talk before you go to sleep. Your finances and time now follow a structured plan that you’re sticking to as a couple. Seeing your mate is a priority mixed in with all the other priotities of your now complicated life. When he wasn’t yours, when you couldn’t get her off your mind you’d drop anything to spend a second or just a minute with them. But now, you are responsible. Its the very nature of the world around you that says you're in a very mature relationship based on a deep love that can only be described as BORING! Are our lives in Christ the same? I'm wondering if playing it the same and being responsible is God's way or resembles anything todo with the word Faith. Isn't Faith, believing in something that isn't seen, isn't heard, isn't really known? My old friend used to say, "faith isn't faith until its all you're holding onto". Am I a RESPONSIBLE CHRISTIAN? Yikes, thats not exciting, that's not life changing. Peter. Was Peter responsible? Saul, sorry Paul. Was he responsible? Jesus. Was Jesus responsible? I'm really asking, I really do need your input here. Were the those mentioned in Hebrews 11 irresponsible and thus men of Faith? I think I want to be an irresponsible Follower of Christ. I think I want to throw caution to the wind, step out of the boat and try and walk on water, feed 5,000 with a package of crackers and cheese whiz. Irreverent....NO. Irresponsible.....????

This Island Is Shrinking

Yesterday as I was driving Sydney and Raegan to school it was raining. It had been raining for a few days and some of the roads were flooding. Raegan (7 yrs. old), who is always thinking, said “Dad, I thought God promised not to flood the earth again? You know the rainbow tells us so.” I responded by telling him that God promised not to destroy the whole earth by flood again, but it still happens in places where there is too much rain or a bad storm. His response was priceless, “Well, he’s shrinking the Island today!”
I guess the United States is just a really big island. Raegan’s comments always make us laugh, but along with him funny statements he has a lot of deep thoughts that keep me thinking long after he’s moved on. I’ve been chewing on what he decided to give up for Lent. Kerry and I never really knew about the Lent season until we moved to Coppell, Texas. Our church, along with some dear Catholic friends, introduced us to the forty day time period leading up to Easter. Since then we’ve tried to practice the art of giving up to remember. This year we decided to tell the kids about it and ask if they wanted to participate. When we told them what Mom and Dad were setting aside for the 40 days, Raegan jumped in with no Star Wars on TV. Now if you’ve been around the kid lately, you know that he lives, breaths, plays and watches Star Wars more than he eats. In fact giving up food would rival his sacrifice of no Yoda, Anikan Skywalker and The Force. Seconds after his proclamation he jumped down from the counter and headed off to ride his bike around the neighborhood looking for his friends. Just like that, he made a decision to walk away from his ever present Star Wars world and continue on with life. Needless to say my motivation to stick to my commitment is a little stronger because of him.
Simple Faith really de-clutters our walk with Christ. My children continually remind me in their approach to a life with Christ that I really do complicate a simple response. My response to Him should take seconds, not days, months, years or a lifetime. I should be willing to give up the most important things, jump of the seat and head out into the world to find my friends. But that “something” keeps me stuck in my response. I can explain those “somethings” away with greater and deeper adult issues and a deeper, richer, more dominoes will fall with this decision excuses. But in the end they are excuses. I can’t find in scripture where it tells me to have a childlike faith, in fact during my searching, acting like a child is whole lot more negative when scripture describes it; but Jesus teachings weren’t complicated. Matthew 4:19 starts, “Come, follow me”; 28:19 says pretty simply, “Therefore go”. In Mark chapter 1, the next page over in my Bible, he is driving out an evil spirit and tells it, “Be quiet!”(25) As I spend time in the red letter portions of scripture, things are pretty simple.
Pray with me that our lives in Christ are simple steps of obedience, as simple as walking away from whatever it is and going onto the next adventure in life. And pray that this shirking island thing takes awhile to get to Arkansas.

A canopy of Stars

When Kerry and I first moved to Kenya we couldn't understand why the stars weren't visible at night from our porch in Nakuru. We thought being in "Africa Dark" (its not like US Dark believe me) would bring out a canopy of lights we'd never seen before. What memorized us even more was when we picked up and moved to a city of 6 million people that the stars then came out in force.
Last night I was playing washers with a couple of friends here in Nairobi and the stars were out in force. Orion's Belt was so clear I felt like I could reach up and touch it. I almost got hit in the head a few times as I lost track of the game because my eyes were focused on what was above me.
It made me realize.... God knows the desires of my heart, but I think sometimes I have to get into His plan for me to realize some of desires. Stars is tiny thing, a silly thing really. I think Kerry and I both could of gone without seeing the stars, but isn't our God big enough to give us the silliest of things? I don't think this falls into the health and wealth gospel that is preached around the world. I think its that I've realized that God has a plan for my life and when I'm in it He reminds me in the subtlest of ways. I know that most of you could tell me why I couldn't see stars in Nakuru and why they were visible in Nairobi. There's a good scientific/geographical explanation. Its still God; he created that explanation when he formed the earth.
Have you ever really seen God give you, grant you, confirm you in the smallest of ways? I pray you have or you begin to look a little harder. Don't we all just want to be in His will, walking in His plan for our lives?
Here's a can of worms that I'd not want to open in the discussion of how God speaks to us or not. Some might say He'd just tell you, instead of show you. Or the stars are just your way of comforting yourself in a makeshift gospel that you've created. That "someone" who's worried about deep theology can go on about explaining faith and I commend you. You know me (or if you don't), I stick to Jesus died on the cross, He's the only way to eternal life, TOSHA (swahilli=enough). Everything after that is a discussion that we will all be right and wrong on when we get to heaven. Allow me to have a simple faith please, I promise I will allow you to continue to dig and explain.
My hope is that you've seen little signs that you're in the right place in your relationship/mission with our Savior.
What I'm excited about is that when I get home to Little Rock in a few days and walk out into my back yard a canopy of Stars will stretch from horizon to horizon....
As my father used to say, "trust God and do the next thing".... a canopy of stars might be waiting for you.

Flying for the first time & missing Daddy

When I promised myself I'd write more often, I forgot that 4 weeks in Kenya with spotty world wide web service was before me. I have however manage to post in the same month.
Kenya is hot right now, I mean hot hot. Much like Kerry describes Arkansas. I told her this morning (her night) that a cold front would probably hit about the time I landed since I hate cold weather.
This trip has been great though. The first week here Vic Small (Victor Otieno, National Director) and I took a trip down to the coast. It didn't hit me until the day we were leaving that this would be Vic's first real airplane ride. Later in the day a friend in Mombasa explained it well, "its so fast, you feel like you don't get your monies worth." If I had to pick a first plane ride it might be this one. 45 mins. and Mount Kilimanjaro out the window for 20 mins. of the flight. We were able to visit the 2 campuses on the coast that God laid our hearts to begin ministry on. BOTH ACCEPTED US WITH OPEN ARMS!! We're praying that we will be able to have permanent staff in place by May.
This past weekend all of our staff made it to Nairobi for our staff retreat. A great weekend of planning, praying & playing together. ACO has a great 2012 planned and with God's blessings we pray that we will be able to disciple young men and women across Kenya! More Later.... when internet allows.

New Year = New Things

Kerry and I decided a few years ago that we wouldn't make new years resolutions, I guess its the "rebel" in us. Maybe its that my resolutions didn't take after the first 15 days of that year. Anyways, now we try to make changes with some accountability. I know, same song different verse. So over the past month I've been really trying to pay attention to life and see where I can correct some habits that have taken hold in my own life, or my husbanding, or my parenting, or my ministering. The first.... blog more. I have a good friend that should of been a writer or a publisher, heck he reads in a morning than I do all year and always has great streaming thoughts. Anyways, he always encourages me to write, so I'm going to write more on this here blog.
Second, I'd like to memorize scripture with my kids each week. A family verse that we can work on together. RaeRae helped me realize this as we drove down the Interstate heading to Texas a few weeks ago listening to his AWANA CD.
Third, I want Kindness to flow from me. In my quite time I'm reading a great book that another wise man gave me. In it the writer says that "as grace is absorbed in my life, kindness begins to flow naturally and freely."
Fourth, you guessed it, show more grace.
Lastly, realize that God is in control of everything, good and bad. We have some lofty goals for 2012 as a ministry, advances into places that are scary and honestly not the safest of places to be. I've felt God leading us in these directions and yet I still have a fear of them. Funny, He leads yet I still wonder, I really give missionaries a bad name.
So I'm a day into 2012 and its started off pretty well. I've got our verse picked out, I felt like I responded well so far with grace and kindness, and I'm blogging. God in control? So far today, an early morning text informed me that a former student of mine is battling for her life after a car accident. I learning this morning as I sat down to work that a ferry and a ship collided overnight on the coast of Kenya and my first thought was, "oh, no. We have a team of students on the coast doing a mission trip." Just a few minutes ago the airline called and told me that undercharged me on my ticket later this month and need to tack on a few hundred dollars. God is in control of everything????
Yes he actually is Tom. He reminded me that life on earth is precious and not to be wasted, our students are home from the coast, and a church picked up the cost on the ticket change.