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It is hard to believe that one year ago Living Room was but an inspired dream. Thanks to many prayers and your incredible generosity, it has become a refuge in Western Kenya for the sick and dying, the lost and forgotten. In the midst of brokenness, our guests have been welcomed and received as children of God. Together, we have laughed and cried. We have experienced the nearness of God. Lives have been celebrated, restored, and ushered into the Kingdom.
As we enter into this Christmas season, I have been remembering the first Christmas I spent in Kenya. There were no Christmas parties to attend, carols to sing, or gifts to open; but the simple celebration of Christ’s birth I experienced left a mark on me. At dusk, I found myself in a stable, sitting amongst the cows, with a few friends reading the Christmas story. Unlike the nativity scene I had created in my mind, this one was soiled and smelling. In the midst of the poorest of poor, God came near and became one of us. Brennan Manning poignantly tells that “the wailing Infant bears witness to a God whose Word is fresh and alive, who is not the defender of the old, the already settled, the well established and familiar. The God we encounter in Jesus is free from preoccupation with his own glory, free to be for us, free to be gracious, free to love and let be.” The drizzle of rain mixed with my tears that night as I sat before a manger and considered the love of God. I understood, like Henri Nouwen writes, that “our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness and hiddenness.”
Just today, I encountered Jesus as I held a malnourished child named Sulu in my arms. Looking into her eyes, I realized again that all of the hunger and thirst that Sulu had felt, Jesus had shared. The same love that caused Jesus to be born as a baby was present within her little frame. For the past month, this three-year old has been one of our honored guests at Living Room’s Kimbilio Hospice (Refuge). It is small acts of love, in the form of food and care, that have been her salvation. On behalf of Sulu and the entire Living Room team, I want to again express my great appreciation for your support of Living Room this year.
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PO Box 992094, Redding, CA 96099-2094