As I write this we are all at the Shikusa Boys Detention Center. We had a time of sharing with the staff first thing. The Lord spoke to me that I should encourage them to see themselves as Shepherds of His flock. Matthew 9:35 says; “when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into the harvest”. When I look at the 400 boys in this place I don’t just see young men who have committed crimes, I see young men who have experienced deep pain in their lives. Most of them come from extreme poverty. Many of them have been abused and rejected. They are broken, lost and helpless and need help finding their own way out of the pit.
The staff of 40, or so, corrections officers here has the opportunity to help solve their problems or contribute to them. Having said that, I have not found a more wonderful group of corrections officers anywhere. Most of them of them were assigned here by the system and it was the last place they wanted to be. I told them that they needed to make a choice. They can either pine over the fact that they drew the short straw, or they can realize that God has placed them here to make a difference in the lives of these boys. Jesus said to Peter; “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep and tend my lambs.” He follows with this exhortation in John 21:18, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.“
When you are an immature Christian you think you can dress yourself however you want, live wherever you want, do whatever your little heart desires, but when you become mature; the Lord will dress you the way He sees fit and take you places you don’t want to go.”
So my friends, when you find yourself in a place, not of your choosing, don’t whine, but rejoice! Allow God to use you wherever He places you.
We love this place! Every time we come here we find that the Lord has done something new and we are so aware that He has a passion for these boys. You can’t look at their faces without feeling a deep compassion for these lost boys.
THE HIGHLIGHT
As always the highlight of our day with the Shikusa boys was our worship and share time. Words just can’t describe the scene when these boys start singing and dancing. It is a “holy raucus”. After our worship each member of our team share a brief testimony and we were so proud of them. Everyone of them had a very special word for the boys. Fifteen year old Lucas Prendergast got up in from of the boys and gave a very moving testimony, the first one of his life. So sweet! At the end of the meeting we gave the boys an opportunity to receive Christ and more than half of them prayed the prayer. Now we’ll continue to pray that the Lord will speak to them in a language they can understand and that they will grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We came away from our day with the boys feeling like this day was the whole reason for coming to Kenya.
WHAT CAN WE DO FOR YOU?
I asked the staff what their most pressing need is and they asked us for two things: They need money to buy 10 computers to set up a computer training lab for the boys. A special room has been built and is now ready for this. By faith I went ahead and committed Worldcomp to donate the computers. The total cost of this will only be $4000. It would be a great blessing if you would consider giving to this project. Once we raise this money we will send the computers over with Meshek Lwenya, our Worldcomp Computer expert, to set up the Lab. The second thing they requested is 3 new hair clippers so the boys can get a haircut and learn barbering. Cost? $60 each!
Sorry this blog is so long, but it was a long and blessed day.
Blessings to you and yours.
Richard
