As Bushie's World Turns (The Update Thread)

[BushKenya]

Wow, 1000 replies on this thread!!  Thanks, guys!!

Anyway, I have now completed 2 straight days of work and I am feeling much better.  I still have occasional flare ups, especially the past 30 hours, but I am not missing any work and will not miss any work.  I started getting a headache about 11:00 am today, but I took some medicine and asked the Lord to take it away because I could not afford to have a headache interfere with my work.  Wouldn't you know, that by 11:30, it was gone.

Tomorrow night, I am having church with my fellow Kenya missionaries that went with us last month.  I am also meeting with them at the Maisha headquarters in Downtown Oklahoma City on Saturday, 5 May along with the next team that is going, I believe, in June.  I have 10 3/4 months until I return home for a visit and see my kids!!

[BushKenya]

I can't help myself - NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT! - In 34 days on Monday, 21 May 2012, I will be beginning to do some Christmas Decoration Shopping. Hobby Lobby in Midwest City will start dedicating a half an aisle to Christmas Decorations in late May right before Memorial Day. I am about 3 months away from breaking out the Christmas Carols and just 6 months from this Thursday, 19 April 2012 from full house decorating!! Face it, I am already starting to think in that direction. Mr. Christmas is back!! 251 days!

[BushKenya]

I had a really good day at work again today, now my 3rd day back at work.

I was in training for most of the day and only took 4 calls, but it was a nice change of pace.  I've got two more days of work this week and seven more until my 30th birthday!

This evening I had the privilege of seeing my Kenya team members for a little while and worship with them.  We had a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing to the church the stories of how God blessed us while we were down there.  I met up with the Kenya Team Coordinator and told her, for the first time face to face, what God has called me to do in 3 years by moving to Kenya.  She had read it in emails, but this is the first time I've seen her since we got home.  She wants me to come to her office in Downtown OKlahoma City after my birthday and talk with her and her assistant face to face where we can discuss at length and pray about it and brainstorm and get a game plan and a prayer plan together for the eventual move to Kenya.  From just the 5 minutes I was able to speak with her this evening, she is very excited about it and since she is a native of Kisumu, Kenya, she will be able to give me great insight as to the logistics of the move and stuff like that.

I left that church building this evening very encouraged.

God sometimes calls us to do radical things, and this is no different.  In the Bible, He told Moses' successor Joshua to march around the city of Jericho six times and on the seventh trip around the city to shout at the top of their lungs and the walls of the city fell and the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, conquered Jericho.  In more "recent" terms, He told George Washington to break away from the King of England and start a revolution to gain independence for 13 little, insignificant colonies detached from the rest of the word by copious amounts of water, which he knew if it failed, it would be his neck, literally.  That was a bold initiative directed and orchestrated and planned by none other than God Himself.  True, a lot of the founding fathers were Deists, such as Thomas Jefferson, who did not believe in the resurrection, but God still used them to give birth to this nation we call the United States of America.  Those are just two examples of how God occasionally calls people to do crazy things.  I'm not saying my calling is to conquer a city or to give birth to a nation, but it doesn't make it any less important.  Even if I just give a cup of cold water to my neighbor, that has the same importance in the Kingdom of Heaven as starting a nation or conquering a city.

[bullmoose88]

Leaving aside the other comedic gold you just dumped there, the fact you, and your team plan on doing something other than use the three gray cells between you first is mind boggling.

You're using "God" as a crutch to shield you from dealing with any criticism over the sheer stupidity of your plans. No matter how dumb or impulsive or short sighted the idea if you convince yourself the Almighty has commanded you, you can get the people in your life to back off.

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

Consider that. Nevertheless we can't, nor should we, protect you from YOURSELF.

[WalterMitty]

bushie you cant plan your life based on parables and fairy tales.

[Grumps]

bushie you cant plan your life based on parables and fairy tales.

Does your head hurt from beating it on a brick wall, mitty?  

I'd be glad to see him move to Kenya in 2012 and be with his children.

[Simfan34]

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

As a potential student of Northwestern University I am deeply offended.

[Grumps]

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

As a potential student of Northwestern University I am deeply offended.

Neh, don't be.  Northwestern isn't in the northwest, so bm has it right    

[Simfan34]

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

As a potential student of Northwestern University I am deeply offended.

Neh, don't be.  Northwestern isn't in the northwest, so bm has it right    

So I should be offended if I was going to Northeastern?

[Grumps]

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

As a potential student of Northwestern University I am deeply offended.

Neh, don't be.  Northwestern isn't in the northwest, so bm has it right    

So I should be offended if I was going to Northeastern?

Correct   Or just don't be offended...... 

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

God sometimes calls us to do radical things, and this is no different.  In the Bible, He told Moses' successor Joshua

if you would stop for 2 seconds and simply contrast your "call" to Joshua's (or any other character in the bible whom God called), you would realize the bible is saying that God actually spoke to them.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Bushie,

Don't misunderstand me - I have no problem with you going to Africa and spreading the Gospel.  That's simply fulfilling the Great Commission.

What I do have a problem with is you saying God is leading you to do this and that based on the direction of the wind, when, in fact, God hasn't spoken to you.  I've met many people who are just like you - who attempt to find God's direction for their lives by becoming a soothsayer and reading tea leaves.

I am almost tempted to drive to OK this weekend to sit down with you and your pastor and discuss the history of everything you've stated God has "led" you into.  I am certain the path is riddled with one disaster after another. 

If you keep this up, you'll probably end up burned out and blaming God for everything that has happened, when, in fact, it's not God's fault at all.

[BushKenya]

Bushie,

Don't misunderstand me - I have no problem with you going to Africa and spreading the Gospel.  That's simply fulfilling the Great Commission.

Bingo, and that's all I want to do is fulfill the Great Commission.

[bullmoose88]

But perhaps the Almighty is speaking to you through us, a group of people with IQs over 75 and degrees from institutions that don't use ordinal directions in their names.

As a potential student of Northwestern University I am deeply offended.

Neh, don't be.  Northwestern isn't in the northwest, so bm has it right    

I should have been more precise. Mea culpa. Gramps knows what I'm getting at and it's clearly not a criticism against those respected schools.

So I should be offended if I was going to Northeastern?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Bushie,

Don't misunderstand me - I have no problem with you going to Africa and spreading the Gospel.  That's simply fulfilling the Great Commission.

Bingo, and that's all I want to do is fulfill the Great Commission.

doesn't "go into all the world" also include OK, or is OK separated from the world?

[BushKenya]

Bushie,

Don't misunderstand me - I have no problem with you going to Africa and spreading the Gospel.  That's simply fulfilling the Great Commission.

Bingo, and that's all I want to do is fulfill the Great Commission.

doesn't "go into all the world" also include OK, or is OK separated from the world?

It includes Oklahoma, but it doesn't mean I am limited to Oklahoma.  God can take me anywhere He wants, whether it be Oklahoma, Florida, Europe, Australia, China, Kenya, or elsewhere in Africa or the World.  I really do feel led to move to Kenya in early 2015 to be an aide to the men working at Maisha.  Right now they have 3 men to serve 450 orphans and widows plus 2 million people in the slums.  One young man there is probably going to go back to school in the near future, so that leaves pretty much 2 full time men and this young man as the part time.  That's one thing that was said very early on in the trip, and in the meetings before hand that they are in desperate need of men to help in the overseeing and the administration of the Orphanage.  That is what I'm going down there to do, is to be an aide to the men down there whom I have formed a good relationship with.

I am going to meet with the Kenya Team Coordinator and Maisha Int'l Orphanage Founder, a native of Kisumu, on Wednesday, 2 May 2012 at 17:30.

[Prez Duke]

Has anyone noticed the subtle things BushKE has done to show us he's transforming? Using the world clock and formatting his dates in a different manner?

[© Tweed the Younger]

I am almost tempted to drive to OK this weekend to sit down with you and your pastor and discuss the history of everything you've stated God has "led" you into.  I am certain the path is riddled with one disaster after another.  

video, please.


best scene since the Karamazovs wandered into Father Zossima's cell back in the 1870s.

[Simfan34]

I'm just pulling your leg. Just pointing out a little... error.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

I started getting a headache about 11:00 am today, but I took some medicine and asked the Lord to take it away because I could not afford to have a headache interfere with my work.  Wouldn't you know, that by 11:30, it was gone.

That's what happens when you take medicine...  You act like prayer fixes all of your problems.  Sometimes (most of the time) God let's things work out on their own.  In this case, God let the Tylenol take away your headache.

[King]

It's quite obvious that Dave has chosen not to renew this thread for another season and this storyline is heading towards the ultimate closure.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

It's quite obvious that Dave has chosen not to renew this thread for another season and this storyline is heading towards the ultimate closure.

O ye, of little faith.

[Grumps]

It's quite obvious that Dave has chosen not to renew this thread for another season and this storyline is heading towards the ultimate closure.

O ye, of little faith.

Exactly, the kids' granny is gonna come into crisis soon and Bushie will be jetting over to Kenya to rescue his kids.

[Big DaddyTX]

Speaking of granny, didn't he get mad once because his stole the thunder of his birthday or something.

[BushKenya]

Speaking of granny, didn't he get mad once because his stole the thunder of his birthday or something.

That was last year and I was being selfish.  I fully realize and fully admit that.  I definitely don't think that this year.  I have had many experiences in my 30th year (age 29) that have gone to grow me and mature me.  I feel a lot more mature heading to my 30th birthday in 9 days than I did heading to my 29th birthday.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but by God's grace and with His direction, I am getting there.  I will not get there entirely until I get home to heaven, to be perfectly honest.  I can get closer and closer, though!