Church

I'm about to eat a Snickers Bar.  Now, normally, I wouldn't go much out of my way to buy a Snickers Bar.  I'm not a candy-bar-kind-of-guy. But this Snickers Bar came attached to a note.  It read: "Dear Ken Hensley.  You are the best.  You have been the best for 3 years.  I hope I am coming back.  Genavasie." Genavasie is one of our campers at Opportunity Camp.  After she delivered the candy bar, she hung around and we talked for about 15 minutes.  We covered a range of topics: her brother (who came last year but is getting in trouble), her new foster home, and her mom.  We talked about the Bible stories I tell everyday in assembly.  She apologized for not being able to speak well; I told her she was doing fine. Her story breaks my heart.  Here is the short version: 12 years old. 9 years…

Before travelling to Nepal, I had done a fair amount of reading about the country -- both online and offline (also known as books for those of you weened on the Internet).  At a thrift store, I stumbled upon an old Frommer's Guide to Nepal, written back when Jimmy Carter and Conway Twitty were both at the top of their games.  Most of the businesses were likely out of business by the time we arrived, but the mountains still looked the same. Nepal is an interesting country for many different reasons. The natural landscape is incredible.  At home in Colorado we talk about climbing "14'ers", which means a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet tall.  In Nepal, that is called a hill.  The Himalayas routinely top 28,000 or 30,000 feet in height.  One of my favorite memories was taking an early morning drive while we were staying Pohkara to…

It's been about two weeks since I've posted something on this blog.  Rest assured, I've not been taking a long nap nor have I spent any time in jail.  No law-breaking or slacking for me.  Simply put, I've been busy. Hannah and I spent ten days in Nepal, along with other people from our church.  We were taking an exploratory trip to see what partnership opportunities might exist between Christians and Christian organizations in Nepal and our church.  I'll write more about my experiences in another post.  Needless to say, this occupied a fair amount of time. I'm writing this current post from a coffee shop in the booming metropolis of Felton, CA.  The coffee shop is called "White Raven", meaning you can find crystals and incense alongside lattes and cappuchinos.  It's also a place where you are likely to hear someone say, "That was groovy back in 1973" (like…

It's night time here in Nepal.  Our team spent the first part of today meeting various people at Tiny Hands, the organization that we are working with this week.  They shared with us more specifics regarding their mission and vision.  After lunch we had a few free hours and I settled into a coffee shop (surprise). This one grew and roasted its own beans. The coffee was fantastic ... but I digress. Tonight we split into two teams and went to two different children's homes. I went to an all boys home.  The boys ranged in age from 4-14.  After introductions, we played a few indoor games and then went upstairs to the roof, also known as the dance floor. The "dance floor" was a piece of wood spread out over concrete.  The boys obviously practice dancing quite a bit.  After a little encouragement, I busted a few moves myself.…

Does gentleness come naturally to you?  Most likely not.  Gentleness and selfishness do not work well together.  As humans, everything about us wants to focus on self -- our needs, our wants, our desires.  We protect our interests.  We look out for number one. Selfish people are rarely gentle people. If you are a Christ-follower, did you know you've been commanded to be gentle?  It's straight from Paul's letter to the Philippian church: "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:5). Gentleness is more than kindness, though it is hard (if not impossible) to be gentle without being kind. Gentleness is more than a tone-of-voice, though it certainly includes the manner in which you address other people. In the biblical sense, gentleness is a willingness to not demand your rights in a given situation.  A gentle person does not have to go around always insisting…