Another Weekend in Kinshasa ... Looking forward to a weekend in California

Another weekend in Kinshasa




Saturday was a good day with the Greene family. Matteus was happy to be in their moto-car again

My hamstring has healed remarkably in the last week by God’s grace, but my wife will be glad to hear I didn’t play softball this Saturday. We managed to keep Matteus from taking a nap for the first time in 3 days and his evening meltdown was much more short-lived as the tired fella ran out of energy while crying and fell asleep on my shoulder a little after 7:00. He was so tired he slept through the thunder storm and didn’t move positions for more than an hour!

Sunday morning this week we had church with the Greene’s, which for now meets in their house. The hard rain from the night before and morning kept a lot of people away so the numbers were much lower this morning as all the people walk to church. A few still walked to church this morning through the rain (none of them have cars – puts the Lord’s Day in a bit of global perspective for me). Matteus was fussy and ended up falling asleep on my shoulder at 11:30, 2nd week in a row he’s fallen asleep in church! After his 1-hour power nap, he was pretty happy most of rest of the day and is now zonked out on my lap as I type this in the evening. Trying to keep him from sleeping too late in the day and eating plenty of carbs and bananas (3 today!) seems to be helping. Food seems to be a comfort and calming influence for him – makes me think he didn’t have a lot of it before. We’ll have to adjust that a little in the States at some point so he doesn’t become too chubby, but that’s not a big danger at this point.

This afternoon Mike Greene asked me to lead the devotional for the street boys that meet at their house in the afternoon. I spoke from Romans 8 with the boys.


1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.


I talked about how those who are truly in Christ by grace through faith will never know the condemnation or judgment or wrath of God as judge, but God relates to those in Christ as Father.


14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”


At this point I shared about my adoption of Matteus and asked him in French who I was and he cried out “Papa!” It was a great illustration for the boys that though he’s not my son naturally, he has been adopted and he cries out to me as his papa / abba. I explained how it is the same with God, He has children who are American as well as African, but He loves them all the same and treats them all as His children equally and enables them to equally relate to Him as Papa.


16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ …


Just as Matteus will share everything with my natural children, God amazingly makes us heirs of everything His only begotten Son Jesus Christ is heir to!


28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.


I explained to the boys how I had adopted another son from Congo who died 6 ½ weeks ago, but I trusted this promise though I couldn’t understand it at the time, I didn’t curse God. I explained I have seen some of the good already that God has worked through this situation that is not good in and of itself from human perspective. I also explained that the death of Jesus was not a good thing, it was a horrible murder and God the Father was not happy to see His own Son die, but God worked that greatest tragedy together for our greatest good, so that we could be adopted and be given every blessing that God promised to His beloved Son!


32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

… 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.


What a precious reality that is, I explained, to have our Elder Brother in heaven defending us and praying for us and interceding for us before the Father we share with Him.



35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

… 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.



That verse speaks for itself. I said “Alleluia, ah?” (a Congolese church thing) And Matteus said “Amen!”