My Own Little World with Lyrics - Matthew West

Home

I'm home, but my mind often wonders to Kenya. I was told before I left that once I'd seen Africa, I'd fall in love and nothing would be the same. I thought at the time how could that happen, it's just a place. But I stand corrected. Africa has a hold on me.
Everywhere you look you see poverty, and I mean everywhere. There can be a multi-million dollar building standing tall and proud, but right beside it is a wreck of a shop:  tin roof, dirt floor, garbage. But the land is free. It's so hard to explain. The people really don't have anything, yet they have more then I do. They have a freedom that I long to have. Social stigma is almost non-existent. Everyone is on the same level; all long for clean bodies, more food to eat, money for education, shoes and clothes that don't have holes in them and the opportunity to choose a future. Yet they're happy. The children play, dream, and share what little they have.
Can I say the same for myself? Am I happy with what I have. Am I willing to share the 'lots' that I have. No, I worry. Worry about the 'Jonses'. Worry about money. Worry about the future.
When I arrived in Kenya I felt sorry for the people I seen, even had my nose out of joint thinking my life was better then theirs. I leave Kenya jealous of their faith. Every day they rely on God for everything. The gap between them and God is so small, sometime you feel like you could reach out and touch Him. I long for that. I  have insulated myself with money, education, things, self-fulfillment and the mind set that I don't need anyone. That to 'need' someone is what failures do when they're weak. I have learned that it takes more strength to need someone then to try and do it all on my own.
I thank God for grace. Grace that allows me to screw up, yet still feel loved. I think the grace of God is what keeps us going in life. The children of Kenya live 'by the grace of God' everyday.
There is a song on the radio that says:

Take a look at the mountains
Stretching a mile high
Take a look at the ocean
Far as your eye can see
And think of Me

Take a look at the desert
Do you feel like a grain of sand?
I am with you wherever
Where you go is where I am

And I'm always thinking of you
Take a look around you
I'm spelling it out one by one

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to Me

And I want you to know
That I'm not letting go
Even when you come undone

(Mathew West)


PS Jesus, if I haven't said it recently,... thank you.

 Notice Victoria's t-shirt!! I think she would be happy to know they are clothing children that have very little.

 Compass School, around 300 total. Assembly they did for us the last day we were there. This room is a total of 3 classrooms.

 Lunch at the school. Stickers were a huge success.

 A boy that didn't get enough to eat. He asked the other boy for some and he shared the little that he did have.

 My favorite boy from Somalia. He spoke 3 languages and helped us interpret for the other Somalian refugees that were new at the school. Most of the Somalian kids that came to the school had escaped the genocide in their home land. When asked about their family, many replied they were all dead.

 Masai women lined up to receive food: some kind of green vegetable,  millet flour, lard, something else I can't remember.

 Beautiful baby girl in a Lamu school. She is too young for school but notice the colouring job. I can't colour in the lines as good as she can!

Lunch simmering on the stove: beans, beans, beans.