Team members were deeply disturbed by the idea of meekness. That day, as we’d served in Kenya together, we’d studied, “blessed are those who mourn.” But at dinner, team members brought up the beatitude we would study the next day, already distressed by it. People proposed various definitions of “meek,” from being a doormat to…Read more An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom: The Meek
Kenya
An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom: Those Who Mourn…
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted No one chooses the path of mourning, do they? Life has its own way of thrusting each of us into the valley of tears. Who would deliberately seek it out? When my father died, his departure shocked and shook me to the core. The current…Read more An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom: Those Who Mourn…
An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom
The Beatitudes Joy of Kenya; 2013; 21" x 28 1/2"; mixed media: watercolor, pastel, charcoal. Many years ago, in 2002, I stumbled across an old, out-of-print book about the Beatitudes in a used bookstore on the outskirts of Nairobi. Starting my first day in an unfamiliar environment, displaced from my usual frame of reference, I…Read more An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom
Let It Rain
Photo by Keenan Morgan, (c) 2023 We walk their community where half a million people live in six square miles. We slip in sewage-laced mud; duck under live, pirated-electricity wires; crowd into one-room, windowless homes; gaze over a garbage clogged river. We mourn the gap between what is and what should be. In their living…Read more Let It Rain
Unspeakable Treasure, Tucked Into the Cracks
Photo used by permission. (c) 2023 Keenan Morgan, Hope's Promise Kenya Connection Trip, Mathare Valley treasure. We walked their community where half a million people live in six square miles of abject poverty. We slipped in its sewage-laced mud; ducked under its live, pirated-electricity wires; crowded into its one-room, windowless homes; gazed over its garbage…Read more Unspeakable Treasure, Tucked Into the Cracks
One Pebble… Thousands of Ripples
I wrote this entry for the Hope's Promise blog about my dear friends, Brian and Debbie Lee. Decades ago, when I was a twenty-something campus staffworker with InterVarsity, they were leading teams of students to serve in Kenya. One summer they brought back necklace gifts with little hand-carved bone pendants for all the staff. As…Read more One Pebble… Thousands of Ripples
From Their Hands to Yours… Part 2: Kumbatia
I stand with my two sons Jacob and Justin, our friend Jenny, and my mother-in-law Joann, staring out over mountains of garbage as far as we can see. The expanse is simply staggering in its immensity. In the distance, massive machines move the refuse. The stench is so thick, it's actually visible in thick haze…Read more From Their Hands to Yours… Part 2: Kumbatia
From Their Hands to Yours… Tuungane Pamoja
As an artist, I am passionate about other creative people, especially those buried in situations where they struggle to have a voice. My involvement with Pamba Toto (my friend and I founded the business in 2006) beats at the core of my heart… For these artisans buried in Nairobi slums to realize how incredibly talented…Read more From Their Hands to Yours… Tuungane Pamoja
How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017
They were just exploring the wonders of being in a family, home less than a year. Some were learning to use utensils for the first time, riding in cars for the first time, trying to figure out why it was “raining” in the house and their new parents wanted them to stand in the “rain.”…Read more How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 