S.O.S.?

HOPE & FAITH

Hope is the prerequisite for faith. I am presently in a perpetual state of hope. Let me briefly explain.

Here in the U.S. we are in the process of opening a free clinic for bikers and their families. This process has been going on for a little over a year. It is partially operational now but we are HOPING to be fully operational by the end of the year. The physical structure has been converted for the clinic, staff has volunteered their time, some supplies are in place the 501 3c is pending. The insurance is the only hold up. HOPEFULLY we will have that worked out in the next few weeks. HOPE, HOPE, HOPE!

In Kenya the home for orphaned and abandoned boys, named in honor and memory of my youngest brother, still needs some work and through our support we HOPE to have it completed soon. The school we built last year and are now furnishing, we HOPE to have our first students in May of 2013.

In August of this year (2012) I had some heart attacks and had to have a quadruple bypass and a pacemaker. I am HOPING my recovery is much quicker than the health care professionals are telling me.

I am HOPING to get back to Kenya around the first of the year. I HOPE the doctors will release me to travel out of the country.

I am beginning to see evidence of the things I’ve hoped for, and that my friend is faith. And that is what it takes to please God and I HOPE to please God more than anything or anyone on this planet. 

Babu Lonnie

Just Thinking, Scary Ain’t It?

As I sat this morning pondering all the things I have on my schedule today, I have again been reminded how I am bound by my use of time. It makes me homesick for Kenya. Time is so uncertain in Kenya so not many are bound by it restraints. The first several years I went to Kenya it drove me crazy. I thought the Kenyans were not bound by appointment times, work schedules and all the time expectations we “Americans” hold in such high regard. Then I noticed all the really important things of life were being taken care of. Their life consisted trying to provide food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their families.

Most Kenyans don’t have to be concerned with doctor and dentist appoints since they can’t afford the consultation fee much less the treatment that may need. No time used to make the weekly grocery list because they live day to day. The thing that finally got my attention was the fact they were the most joyous people, full of faith and some of the hardest workers I had ever seen. All the things I believe God wants me to be. And they do it all without becoming a slave to time.

Time is the stuff life is made of. I think I have finally come to the knowledge of one of the great mysteries of life. Some days I don’t enjoy life. But when you realize time can be a task master or something that can set you free. Let me explain. First of all time is “NOT” money! Time is a gift of God that we are to use to live, love and listen for “HIS” voice. Money is just money, don’t misunderstand money is a necessary evil the we use as a survival tool. What has happened to me and many Americans we have made the tool greater than the job.

I think it would be great if we went back to the barter system. It would make us more aware of what God said, “if a man doesn’t work…he doesn’t eat”. No product or service provided we’d have nothing to barter. God gives each person a measure of time, (not sure what that measure is), but do you think God would give us such a precious gift as time/life that “HE” doesn’t want us to take and use it for “His” presence to be seen on earth?

What a rambling mess, I don’t have anymore time for this. I have an “American” week ahead of me. I’m not a lazy man but all these restraints are killing me. Sorry got a 10:30 appointment and I have to be on time.

Oh to be in a place where time/life as we no it is no more! Just thinking!

Homesick i am,
Babu Lonnie 

WHAT’S UP?

There have been those who have wondered where I’ve been and what I’ve been up too…none ya business! Just kidding.

I am still here at my humble home in good old KY. I returned from Kenya the middle of June and have been sick ever since. Been in the hospital, ER, bedridden and had a birthday. But all is well with my soul, body don’t seem to be worth a crap but the spirit and my mind, (well my spirit anyway), is fine.

Due to the U.S. and world economy I haven’t been able to accomplish all I had dreamed for the summer and fall but things are beginning to look up!

I am eight days away from doing my FINAL wedding for my National boss’s son Steven and his wife to be Regina. I get to travel to TX. to be a part of their festivities.

I am seventeen days away from having the construction done on our first KY. Free Bikers Clinics. The first one will be here in Beaver Dam and will be named after one of our brothers who has one on to be with the Lord. “The Charles “Bulldog” Alexander Free Bikers Clinic will be unveiled on Jan. 7th, 2012 at a meeting of the KY. Confederation of Club and some special invited guests.

Our SFC chapter has been instrumental in the construction and C.O.C. members have footed most of the bill for the clinic. None of this would be possible without God and Pastor Ron Baptiste and the example he’s set with the TN. Free Bikers Clinic. God, Pastor Ron and KY. C.O.C. thank you for your direction and help with this needed ministry. See Covenant Confirmers web site for more information about Pastor Ron and the TN. Clinic.

Well it’s 6:30am on Wed. the 21st of Dec., it’s 57 degrees already this morning…just may do some ridin’ today!

By the way I will be returning to Kenya as soon as possible, please continue to support the work there. If there are businesses or individuals who need a charitable deduction here at the end of the year please consider “The Kenya fund” it has a tax exempt 501 3c covering and I guarantee 100% of your donation goes directly to the work in Kenya.

i  am,
Babu Lonnie aka “Heavy”, nzito

Still Kickin’

As most of you know i returned from Africa in the middle of June. It seems i have not been well since i came back to the states. Today is Sept. 19th and I think I’m finally seeing a turn around with my health issues. Thanks to those of you who have been praying for or about me.

As I had dinner tonight with Patti and my youngest son his wife and four children i think perhaps i got a little insight into why my health has been as it has.

We are in the process of starting a free bikers medical clinic here in western Kentucky. It is being endorsed by the Kentucky Confederation of Clubs. The longer i stay sick the longer it takes to complete the project. Patti and I NEED to be in Africa but God has given me a task with this clinic and the enemy of our mind, body and spirit has tried to impede the progress of this very needed ministry.

Now that I have spotted and caught the thief of my time the clinic project will, as of tonight, go full steam ahead. I refuse to allow an enemy that has already been defeated to stand between me and what God has created me to be. The Charles “Bulldog” Alexander Free Bikers Clinic will be done, done correctly and in a timely manner. I suppose what i’m saying is I’ve always been a fighter and i’ve just laid down and took what was being handed out but with God and His Body’s help i’m steppin’ up and gonna start kickin’ back.

A special thanks to those who allowed me to rest on “The Rock” , held up my hands as the battle was being fought. My wife and family, the doctors and my spiritual family on both sides of the Atlantic.

When i was younger i used to tell people i never wanted to live a life of defeat but rather every morning when my feet hit the floor that all of hell would scream “OH NO, HE’S UP”! I’ve learned a few things since those younger days i just got out of practicing the attack…well with God’s help the retreat is over and the attack begins anew. I may not be able to kick as high and as hard as I did in my youth but now my kicks will be more precise and deadly. I’m up, I’m armed and still kickin’!

Mt 16:18b “upon this rock (The rock of revelation of who Jesus is!) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.

i am,
Babu lonnie

Did Ya Hear About This?

Date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 9:02 AM

More people died in the recent Iowa floods then from
Katrina...how come the media doesn't report that?!!!!! There must
be one hell of a big difference between the value of the people of
Iowa and value of the people of Louisiana

(Kind of makes  you wonder, hmmm?)
After Katrina, the media blamed the lack
of response on the Bush administration's dislike of black  people.
Can we then conclude from the lack of media  coverage and response

by the Obama administration that Obama  doesn't like white people?
See Below:

Where are  the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in
restoring Iowa and North Dakota and helping the folks affected by
the floods? Where is good old Michael Moore?

Why is the media NOT asking the tough questions  about  why the federal government                        hasn't solved  this  problem? ......Asking  where  the FEMA
trucks and trailers and  food services are?


Why isn't the Federal government moving Iowa  people into free hotels

in Chicago and Minneapolis ?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal 

Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines

Where are Sean Penn, Bono, and the Dixie  Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing high-end  tennis shoes, cases of beer and television sets?



When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that  he wants to rebuild a

vanilla' Iowa ... because that's what God  wants?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media  coverage complete with reports of shootings

at rescuers, of rapes   and murder?

Where are all the people screaming that Obama   hates white, rural people?

My God, where are  Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Oprah, and Ray Coniff Jr?

How come you will never hear about the Iowa  flooding ever again?  Where are

the gov't. bail out vouchers? The  government debit cards?

More people died in these floods then from   Katrina...how come the media doesn't report that?!!!!! There must   be one hell of a big difference between the value of the people of
Iowa and value of the people of Louisiana .

HERE'S THE REAL TRUTH:

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE MEDIA, AND SOON TO
BE GOV'T. CONTROL OF INTERNET, CELL PHONES, RADIO AND ALL  COMMUNICATION                     AS WELL AS THE PRESENT NETWORK NEWS ON TV. 
WAKE UP, AMERICANS... WHOMEVER CONTROLS THE MEDIA CONTROLS
THE COUNTRY! THIS IS ONLY ONE OF THE "ARMS" THAT IS NOW IN  PLACE TO

ACCOMPLISH THE TAKE OVER OF YOUR COUNTRY!

i am,
Babu Lonnie

Happy Mothers Day 2011

From Nakuru Kenya East Africa to all you who make it possible for “A Future and A Hope” do what we do, we (Johnny & Kate, Ben & Pauline, Ali & Virginia and Patti & i) want to wish all the mothers who read our blogs and those prayerfully and financially support the work here a Happy Mothers Day.

You have made the food, clothing, shelter and education for nine girls in the original home and six boys in “Christopher’s House” possible. The homes for these orphaned and abandoned children are more than your typical warehouse type orphanages, we do our best to provide what children need most, love and a family.

Along with the above mentioned fifteen children Johnny & Kate have five children, Ben and Pauline have two children and Ali and Virginia have two children. Our immediate care and concern is for those twenty two children and six adults. They need 24/7 love and we try to introduce them to a variety of food and life experiences to broaden their scope of life.

The first term of school in January 2012 will add new responsibility for the team. SonShine Inn Nursery School will be open. We will offer the best foundation for life we possibly can for sixty student. Our vision is to provide not only a good intellectual foundation through a prayerfully selected academic curriculum but a good physical foundation with good nutrition and plenty of activities on our well equipped playground. And finally we want to provide a spiritual foundation second to none by letting the children experience more than just hearing Bible stories but seeing the living God in our staff along with lesson plans that point the children toward the God that lives in us.

Finally there is the community work. Ben does 99.9% of all what i call the real work of this area of ministry. He is usually up and out in the slums visiting or taking someone to the hospital, bringing them meds or giving  guidance before the rest of us get up a good head of steam. I have lost count of the number of the “People Living With Aids” (PLWA) support groups Ben has assembled. Last count i had was about a three hundred individuals in these groups. They meet twice each month in a rented space for a few hours. When funds are available some basic foods, medical and hygiene supplies are given at these meetings along with the encouragement of guests  and testimonies by the group members.

The groups are made up of children from newborns to men and women who, some have reached the ripe old age of thirty five or forty. Most are younger since the average life expectancy in Kenya is somewhere around forty seven. That’s one of the reasons i’m called Babu which means grandfather in Swahili. At fifty eight years old i am considered an old man. But just holding or feeding a baby or child that you don’t know if the next time you come for a visit they will even be alive makes being even a momentary Babu worth any and everything. As a boy i remember the special touch of my grandparents hands, i hope there is the same healing in my hands.

I believe this total ministry is good soil if you are considering sowing into a ministry living out Pure Christianity by “working out their salvation”. I highly recommend “A Future and A Hope”. When making your tax deductible gifts make checks payable to the Kenya Fund and mail it to 713 West First Street Beaver Dam, KY. 42320 If you have a  specific or designated area of ministry you want your gift to assitt please note in the memo or send a note stating where you would like it applied. Girls Home, Boys Home, School, Community Outreach or PLWA. 100% of your gift will go where it is designated. All non designated funds will be used where most needed at the time of receipt.

Please keep in mind that we will be needing sponsors for the students enrolled in SonShine Inn Nursery School. All the students will need some assistance to ensure no one will not be turned away for lack of funds. Some will need full sponsorship and some partial sponsorship. When we determine the costs per student sponsorships will be averaged to keep all sponsorships at the same amount. We will ask for one year commitments for the twenty in the “Top Class”, a two year commitment for the twenty children in the “Middle Class” and a three year commitment for the “Baby Class”. Pictures and info on the student supported will be provided.

Thanks for reading this extremely long blog and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.

i am, 
Babu Lonnie

Looking Back

Twenty five years ago today my wife and two small sons began an adventure that has brought us to our present destinations. Patti and i have now been married for over thirty six years and those small boys have grown up and given us two wonderful daughter in laws that have mothered ten grand children. Our oldest son is on staff a t a church in a  town near where we have our home and our youngest son serves as our administrator for the U.S. child care ministry.

The adventure i  referred too was my first senior pastorate. It was May 1st, 1986. While i was still serving as a full time chaplain at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, a handful of people hungry and thirsty for more than they were receiving decided to meet in a storefront in Eddyville, KY. They asked me to serve as their pastor. i think the goal was to set out on a quest for more knowledge of God, but as in most of our endeavors undertaken in these bodies of flesh we get sidetracked. The major tool for sidetracking me as a pastor was competition with other pastors and what they were doing as opposed to what God wanted me to do.  Today in place of the little eight hundred square foot storefront stands a 10,000 square foot colonial structure that God permitted us to construct before we moved on to our next adventure. By the way buildings, budgets, boards, programs and numbers or as a friend put it nickels and noses are some very common distractions in the work of Gods Kingdom.

i  have discovered over the years my moving from one adventure to the next is due in part to my examination of self. Like one of the prophets of old when I would take time to examine myself i would see my inadequacies and cry “ send me”! i think it was more wanting to escape from the present situations than anything. If  i could have only started out old and had grown younger because I know so much less now but also have less physical strength and would probably do less damage. It has always been MY knowledge that has lead me wrong. i can say that with confidence because He will never lead you anywhere but to Himself.

i appreciate and love my family so much, the support they have given in the past years of ministry has been second to none. Through the valleys and ditches, on the mountain tops and the plains of everyday life i have been, (and am) a blessed man. One of my favorite singer/songwriters is Jimmy Buffet, (don’t look you most likely won’t find him in the hymnal), has a line in a song that is talking about life and says,”some of it’s magic and some of it’s tragic but it’s been a good life all the way”.

Patti, Jeremy & Joshua i'm sorry for all the times i ‘ve disappointed you but i always loved you and tried to do all i knew to do to be what i'd been taught to be. Thank you and the families you’ve started for making this life worth living.

i am,
Lon, dad, paw paw & babu

Are We Hiding Our Eyes?

Easter has been reduced to celebrating new life with bunnies and egg hunts. i discovered the real meaning of “New Life” today as i spent the day with Ben, one of our team members from “A future and A Hope”.

First of all i slept about 30 min. last night. I was anxious all night, not in a nervous way but an expectant way. i left with Ben early this morning to get directions to a local church. By the time i ran a couple errands i decided to forego the “Traditional Easter Sunday Service”. We located the church for future reference but my day really began in one of the slums of Nakuru where Ben ministers everyday. Here are a couple of pictures to let you see the main thoroughfare and the typical apartments available. One of the apartments are usually about 10’x10’. One of the households we visited had a widowed mother and her 6 children living there. When we arrived mom wasn’t there and the oldest child said their mom had gone to “find some foods”.

Ben had been made aware of a hideous case of child abuse and we went to check on a certain little 7 yr. old girl who had been raped multiple times. I found out this morning while talking with Ben he had rescued her 3 yr. old sister about 2 yrs. ago from the same circumstances.

After earlier medical consultation she was taken to a very good home for children in situations such as this. It is also where she was reunited with her sister after a 2 yr. separation. Now they both reside at “Springs of Hope” home for orphans, abandoned and abused children. Joseph and Molly Bail who operate “Springs of Hope” have become good friends and a great resource for cases like these.

As God would have it they were having a Resurrection Celebration with their staff and the over 35 children they have rescued. Ben and i were invited to be guests and of course with choma (roasted) buzi (goat), kacumbari (a pico de gieo) and ugali (stuff) on the menu how could we refuse. So we checked in with the sisters, played with all the children and celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus with them.

Here are a few pictures of the celebration at “Springs of Hope”.

Left to right TOP: Joe & Molly Bail, “Springs of Hope”. Ben either taking candy from a baby or unwrapping it. MIDDLE: Molly passing out marshmallows. Ben surrounded by children as usual. BOTTOM: Springs of Hope dining area and last but by no means least, our first plates of the celebration meal.

We also enjoyed music, dancing and drama by the children as well as the Biblical reason for the season as told by the staff.

Today i witnessed the miracle of 2 ministries working together for the Kingdom of God. There was no competition between them only completion. What one couldn’t do the other did and vice versa. i was privileged to see with my own eyes children being given “A Future and A Hope” at “Springs of Hope”!

So simple but we hide our eyes as well as eggs during this Resurrection Season! My love, honor and respect to Johnny & Kate Brooks and their team from “A Future and A Hope” and Joe & Molly Bail and their staff from “Springs of Hope”.
Living proof that HE”S ALIVE!!!

i am,
Babu Lonnie

Good Friday…Good Day!

We are programed from our earliest memories to fear and even do our best to avoid pain and death. My early years i was told the meaning of the Easter Season but it turned out it was more about the egg hunt and prizes. As i got older i was guided by the constraints of religion and was convinced that “Good Friday” was a day to grieve the pain and death that took place on Golgotha.

But today, thousands of miles away from my biological family, i sit with the family God gave me for temporarily forsaking them. It reminds me of not just of the pain, suffering and momentary separation from His Father but the reward of what God gives.

We should celebrate the gift of God Himself formed as a man, the only gift worthy of paying the price to redeem man back to Himself. Truly without the pain, suffering, momentary separation from his own blood the reward must surely be worth it all. It has to be, an all knowing God made the decision to perpetrate His perfect and ONLY plan to bring us together, all around the world as “The Family of God”.

The blood shed that day has made this a Good Day on Good Friday for me.  
Gal. 2:20 I am (God) crucified with Christ: nevertheless (because of that) i (Babu)live; yet not i (Babu), but Christ liveth in me (Babu): and the life which i (Babu) now live in the flesh i (Babu) live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me (Babu), and gave himself for me (Babu).

Babu 2:20 God sacrificed flesh He inhabited in order to gain me (Babu) to inhabit so that i  (Babu) can be His Son also and have the same faith as His Only Begotten and accept The Fathers will, but knowing even if it’s painful to the death of me (Babu), that Father loves me (Babu) and all this was for me (Babu).)*Note: parenthetical injections, bold letters as well as my Babu 2:220 paraphrasing is for my own clarity. Feel free to interject your self into scripture anytime, it can be a Good Day on Good Friday for you too!

i am,
Babu Lonnie
Hope you will have or have had a Good Day on Good Friday 2012.      

A Good Day!

Yesterday was an extremely good day. i would have normally been bummed out because we had miscalculated on the number of “off cuts” we needed to finish the fencing. But as God would have it i had a distraction to keep my mind off the negative. i went and picked up Ben’s piki piki (motorcycle).

It was not fully or correctly assembled so i did what i could do and got it road ready and went for a ride. i rode for about 30 miles, it was refreshing and put my mind back on track. The task of teaching Ben to ride will begin as soon as i get the bugs worked out of his bike.

You may laugh but when you love to ride as much as i do well a ride is a ride no matter what it’s on. Of course i’d rather be riding my Road King or Josh’s Heritage Softail but you ride what  is available to ride. I think i’ve mentioned it on Facebook but the biggest piki piki’s that are readily available are 250cc on/off road bikes. The most common ones are 125 and 150cc models and most are Chinese made.

I had opportunity while waiting for the keys to the piki piki to talk with Tony and Job from “Springs of Hope” orphanage about God and what we felt He was saying to “The Church” today. God and motorcycles…does it get any better than that? The combination of the two can take a disastrous day and make it a good day.

All that said, if you haven’t seen it yet here is the picture of me on a 125cc Chinese Sky Go. Surprisingly it ran well over the 50mph speed limit without much struggle. I also found a trike yesterday that i am envious of. It belongs to my friends Joe and Molly from “Springs of Hope”. They did say i could use the trike if i needed it. I will most likely take them up on their offer after i teach ben to ride.

Well let’s get it over with, here is the picture of me on the piki piki and the 200cc trike i really want bad! Maybe next trip i will have money to buy it with. It would make an all around good utility vehicle, well i think so anyway.

i am,
Babu Lonnie
PS: i don’t do passengers before ya ask…no riders please, no seat available!