Are They Worth It?

Are They Worth It?

A terrible and curious question… are they worth it? 

Just because they live in the slums and don’t have food everyday … does that make them worth it? 

Just because they live with disease, drunks, death, devastating disappointments and constant injustice … does that make them worth it? 

If we leave our closest friends, our hard earned security, our comforts and ease…. are they really worth doing so?

Should we forfeit our rest and retirement, the reward of our life long hard work … just because they need us?

 If we leave our children and grandchildren and suffer them our absence … are they still worth it? Should we just accept the terrible ache of missing the wonderful hugs, their precious smiles and the joy of being able to watch them grow up… is that even right?

Is it right that because of our absence, we should cause those at home such longing, such pain… such hardships…, whom we love so much? Are they worth it? 

Is it just us that we forsake the country of our birth, the family we love, the culture we are familiar with, to live in such poverty… such dangerous, unfamiliar, insecure, threatening circumstances … just for them?

Are they worth it?

Should I watch my wife, in her ‘golden years’, give up her strength, vigour… her very life, to the never ending flow of needy people who are constantly before us? 

Do we have to be there, when their fathers and mothers abandon them…

when they become pregnant… contaminated with fatal diseases… ravished and abused by those they should have been able to trust?

Do we owe them some sort of debt, because we have been so blessed by God? Why must we be here?

The answer of course is yes… because... if not us … then who? If not now … then when?

The answer to why is found in this…

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel “ (God is with us). Isaiah 7:14 

We didn’t need a new teaching, tract or book on discipleship, we didn’t need a new religion… we needed … Oh, how we needed … a presence… someone to be with us… someone to stay with us! 

Are they worth it? He seemed to think so. That’s why He came... and that's why we are here.

This Christmas remember … The gift our beloved King brought us… was Himself. We needed His presence, we needed Him. May all of us who call ourselves Immanuel’s disciples, follow in His footsteps. This Christmas take the time to give your family, friends and the needy around you … the very best gift you can give them … give them you. And remember to pray for missionaries all around this world who must answer these questions every single day. 

 Have a spiritually blessed Christmas and a Kingdom advancing New Year… from Dave and Cyndy Taylor and the entire StoneHouse Family.

R.I.P. ... dear Peugeot!

R.I.P. … dear Peugeot. 

This is a story about a faithful servant of God who has given her all to the work of the Kingdom. Rising above each challenging occasion she went above and beyond the call of duty… not caring for herself but sacrificially giving … all that she had. At only 28 years old she had attained, in our hearts and minds, the prestigious title of … ‘Indispensable’ . 

Now … let it be known that we understand that in Kenya, servants of her kind must be able to ‘take a licking and keep on ticking’ . They must be able to bear burdens they were not ‘designed’ to bear. 

Be that as it may… with trepidation and deep-felt gratitude…we offer this story of our dear old car … the  ‘amazing french workhorse’ … the Peugeot. 

This is the picture of what she looked like when she was first created…

And this is how she looked when she came to be with us…

Alas.... this is how she looked after only 6 months. 

But how she threw herself into the work… she heroically carried speakers and chairs to our churches…

Motorcycles from Masai Mara..

Tons and tons of bags full of sand to our construction site…

Along with hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water…

Scores of twenty foot hardwood poles…

Well over a 200 ten foot fence post…

A mile of water pipes that small trucks couldn’t carry up our driveway…

Multitudes of needy people…

And even a baby cow! 

She traveled roads that four wheel drives feared to go…

She got stuck in many exotic places ...

Sometimes she over heated, bless her over worked heart, forcing us to seek water in deserts, crocodile infested waters…

All the while, listening to my encouragement for her to press on just a little bit further…

And she listened… even while losing mufflers,

Gas tanks and other internal parts. 

Always bravely moving on… as we bandaged her up to complete the journey!

She has been in emergency rooms all over Eastern Kenya… as they too pieced her back together, enabling her to carry us safely all the way home.  

And though we are eternally grateful for her service and sacrifice… our readiness to lay her down and let her enter into her final rest… has become evident... which you can see so clearly on my wife’s face.

Thank you dear Peugeot .. and may someone rise up soon and replace you…bless you and may you ever so quickly enter your so well deserved rest.

May all who read these solemn words, find it in your hearts to help give this ever so faithful servant... rest. Much love  ... the StoneHouse Family.