Big bird, Oscar the grouch and Cookie monster

Bobby and Rachel are team mates in Soroti who spend quite a bit of their time working with runaways, homeless children and street kids in town. I got this from Bobby the other day and want to share his prayer request with you. 

Hey Team, 

I don't often talk about the street kids ministry much but I wanted to write  to simply ask for prayer.

I have a picture that I took last Monday of a street boy named Omojel George William.  I took the picture because of the t-shirt that he was wearing.  It was faded and dirty but the picture on the shirt was of Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the rest of the Sesame Street characters with the words written "I was raised on the street".  Initially I laughed at the shirt and thought that it was quite intuitive.  I thought, how ironic is it that a 'street kid' in Soroti would be wearing such a shirt.  Coincidence or not, as time has gone on my heart breaks at the thought that so many boys, and girls, for that matter, are raised on the streets.  For whatever reason, they seek shelter, belonging, family, and 'life' on the streets.  The truth is, the streets are a place where they receive no love, no affection, no food, and no guidance. 

Denis and I spent the morning today praying together at the TECDEFO house for each of the street kids.  We were led to a passage in Lamentations that spoke directly to us.Lamentations 2:19 says, "Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin: pour out your heart like water in the presence of the LORD. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street."

Would you lift up your hands and cry out in prayer with us for these boys by name?  (These are the names of the boys that have come to the TECDEFO house since Denis and I have been back in Soroti)  

Olinga Abdu Razak

Ocumar Moses

Odongo Steven

Omalet Joel

Omojel George William

Orianga Joseph

Okello Joseph

Emmanuel

Ogwel Juma

Oteka Patrick

Odiamo Brian

Musana John Michael

Osweu Shida

Elungat Joseph

Ibrahim Saidi

Opio Emmanuel

Otim Solomon

Otwao Vincent

Mahmad Adam

Eriaku Moses

Grace and Peace,

bobby kolb

What people think

Woe to you when all people think well of you.
Luke 6:26

Muslim

Five times a day 1/5 of the world hears a call to prayer....

Surrender

One of the first things that God told me this weekend was I needed to surrender....again. I think He needed to get me to a place that I would be ready to listen. So here is more of my mental wandering because I suspect God wants the same of you.

sur*ren*der [suh-ren-der]- verb

1.	to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress:

2.	to give (oneself) up as in to some influence, course, emotion, etc.

3.	to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.).

4.	to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another.

So I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

God says I need to surrender:

My plans. "But God! I have these because of you!" "Yes, but you are very attached to them. Are you willing to give them up if I ask something else?"

My hopes and dreams. "Give these up too?! Why?" "You are very focused on the future. What about what I'm doing right here and now?"

My fears and worries. "Sure that is easy Lord. They are all yours." "Really? You seem to say you are laying them down but then you pick that burden right back up. I want you to REALLY yield them to me. You have nothing to fear."

My money and my time. "Oh, boy. This too?" "I gave you all that you have. Technically they are already mine. Sometimes I'm not happy about how you spend either. If I ask you to give them back to me it will be for something better!"

My pride "Do we really need to go there?" "Yes. You are pretty full of yourself at times. I would rather you be full of me."

I have some things to work on....

Chicago

Oh my... where to even begin about this weekend....

God is so ______________
....good doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.
.... big is far, far too small of a word.
... extravagant is just too limited.

My heart and soul are so filled with God's joy that tears are welling up! (I am NOT an emotional person!- What is this about!?!) This weekend was so affirming!

From meeting with Mark friday afternoon and setting a concrete timeline with a green light...
To the spiritual reassurances saturday and sunday that I'm NOT out of my mind....
From encouragement to be bold, to remain in God's will, to surrender, to be disciplined...
To the meeting late sunday night here in GR that fit in so well with where we go from here...

I have so many different things running through my head that I want to write about but I need to do more processing and mulling. STAY TUNED!

God's love

I started to title this "Simple Thoughts" but as I have been pondering I don't really believe this is simple. If it was it wouldn't be as hard to accept.

God loves us SO much just the way
we are.... and... He loves us TOO much to leave
us the way we are.

Read it again. True isn't it? Then why do we worry so much? Why do we let ourselves think we are inadequate or not up to the challenges placed in front of us? How can we embrace this "simple thought"?

Haven't posed in a while....not much to write about....life has been pretty status quo....

But this weekend Beckie and I head to Chicago to meet with the International Teams people!!!

I'm pretty excited about this step forward if you can't tell. I have no idea what God has in store for us but that is part of the excitement!

Urgent care

So it was inevitable.... I was worried about it but it was bound to happen. It is actually nice that it is over. The hardest one, the first one, is behind us. A patient in labor came in to urgent care. We have had heart attacks, significant chainsaw injuries, strokes and now, one more emergency that is far from appropriate to come to urgent care. The good news, for me at least, is this story does not end with a baby. She delivered without issues but it was after we got her downtown with time to spare. A quick set of vitals and fetal heart tones, cervix check and IV placed, and a call to AMR and she was off to somewhere there were people who know what they are doing. It is still going to happen... we will deliver one out in urgent care and we will be ready, everything will be fine and it will be a good story but hopefully not in the near future....

Am I a good nurse?

"People don't remember much about our medicine. But they do remember how we make them feel." -Thom Dick


Eval season at the hospital. I know I'll be evaluated on things that the managers think are important.... but how am I doing about the things that my patients think are important? And how about the things that my ultimate boss think are important? How am I doing in those departments?