'We are superstars'

Check out this front page CNN story of the Rwandan volleyball team at the London Paralympic Games! It's awesome!

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/31/sport/london-2012-paralympics-rwanda-volleyball/index.html?hpt=hp_c1#

do less, but accomplish more

Demonstrate your Trust in Me by sitting quietly in My Presence. Put aside all that is waiting to be done, and refuse to worry about anything. This sacred time together strengthens you and prepares you to face whatever the day will bring. By waiting with Me before you begin the day's activities, you proclaim the reality of My living Presence. This act of faith--waiting before working--is noted in the spirit world, where your demonstration of trust weakens principalities and powers of darkness.

The most effective way to resist evil is to draw near Me. When you need to take action, I will guide you clearly through My Spirit and My Word. The world is so complex and overstimulating that you can easily lose your sense of direction. Doing countless unnecessary activities will dissipate your energy. When you spend time with Me, I restore your sense of direction. As you look to Me for guidance, I enable you to do less but accomplish more.

from Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Here I am, where I ought to be

"I had a farm in Africa…the equator runs across these highlands, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.

The geographical position, and the height of the land combined to create a landscape that had not its like in all the world. There was no fat on it and no luxuriance anywhere; it was Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong and refined essence of a continent. The colors were dry and burnt, like the colors in pottery….The views were immensely wide. Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequalled nobility.

The chief feature of the landscape, and of your life in it, was the air. Looking back on a sojourn in the African highlands, you are struck by your feeling of having lived for a time up in the air. The sky was rarely more than pale blue or violet, with a profusion of mighty, weightless, every-changing clouds towering up and sailing on it, but it has a blue vigor in it, and at a short distance it painted the ranges of hills and the woods a fresh deep blue. In the middle of the day the air was alive over the land, like a flame burning…

Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be."

From the opening pages of Karen Blixen's Out of Africa.

Back in action!

Hey everyone! It's been a rush of a 3 weeks since being back on African soil again! I apologize for the lack of blogging...and I promise to pick up very soon! I already have 48+ things to blog about! :) It's been a beautifully busy time back here in Kigali, with moving houses...starting school...teaching lots and lots of adventurous boys...new adoptions and new births!...a funeral and a sad goodbye...a broken toe (fine now, but just a nuisance!)...sunday school trainings...and more! whew! God is good though EVERY DAY! I am so incredibly BLESSED to be here again serving Him and His children! Looking forward to this new school year and all that He has planned! I promise to elaborate more very soon!

Thank you for your prayers! If you would like to receive an email about specific prayers requests we have here in Rwanda, and want to commit to praying for needs here, please either comment to this post or send me a short email. It would be wonderful to have many people interceding for us. I will probably send an email every other week only. Thank you!

And yes! There are still some Rwandan beaded and fabric necklaces and earrings still available for sale! You can email me if you are interested and I'll let you know who to call. I'm also trying to get more items shipped soon. Thank you for your support!

emgriggs@hotmail.com

Philippians 1: 3-4 "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now..."