The Crazy Adventures of an American Mzungu

I get the privilege of home schooling this shining star! He struggles in school because he has such a hard time concentrating. He needs more one-on-one teaching, and I am so blessed to be his teacher. He enjoys it too, and loves to call me “Teacher Mary”. His name is Trevor, and many days he teaches me more than I teach him! With him home and the other kids at school, he does miss out on some of the things the other children get. The other day, the children went to pick up their report cards from the school. When they came back, they all were showing off their reports. Some were happy with the results, while I encouraged others to work harder on the next term. Trevor came up to me with crocodile sized tears in his eyes. He declared he had failed school, as he came crashing into my arms. I tried reassuring him he had not failed, but he was convinced he failed. “Trevor,” I made him look at me as I spoke these words, “I am your teacher. I would say if you failed or not. And you worke...

Easter. The day of victory! My Savior defeated the most undefeated force of all time. In all the stories, death cannot be undone. It is forever, and nothing can change that. I am a fan of the show Once Upon A Time, which uses all the classic fairytales. Every time someone dies and someone else tries to bring them back to life, they fail. No amount of magic will bring someone back from the dead. Death is permanent. In other stories, if a character dies and then come back to life, we usually call it a cop-out ending, and toss it to the side. I read one that was fantastic! I got so into it that when the child died in it, I cried. Then, he magically came back to life. I only had three more pages, and I could not finish the story. I was so mad that the author could not use the death to bring a lesson or just close it out after the death, that it ruined the entire book. Many people cannot wrap their head around Jesus being alive because of what we have always known about death. We know the...

Most of us know the quote, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that is why they call it 'the present'”. We use it to remind ourselves that today is what counts. We must focus on what is in front of us, and cherish today for what it brings us. This is so critical. When we begin focusing our thoughts and energy on the past or the future, we miss out on the blessings God is prepared to give us today. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow “because today has enough trouble of it's own”. We cannot dwell on our pasts because Jesus came to free us from the troubles of our pasts. Yet, we must have a healthy dose of both past and future if we are going to make the most of our present. I have a tendency to dwell on the future, especially right now. I want to know what the next big adventure God will allow me to experience. I want to start preparing now so I do not have to wait another five years before, and then finding out I am suppose to be halfway...