Happy Little Trees

I keep remembering people to pray for from my trip to Kenya. Their faces pass before me and my heart is stirred. I remember a man named, Peter Mungai, who prayed that God would take him home (I promised I would pray for him and not forget his name). He was a patient at the Nairobi Spinal Injury Hospital. It was a hospital that looked like what I expected a third-world hospital to look like. But the patients looked far healthier than what I was expecting to see. Most of them looked like that they were strong, beautiful, young men and women, who happened to be sitting in wheelchairs.

One guy, Towd, had his Bible by his bed and said that sometimes ministers come on Saturdays and “life their hearts.” He had been in the hospital for three years. He had been through two surgeries—one just five days prior to our visit. And had not seen his family in a long time because they lived in Tanzania. He said that a lot of people in the hospital suffered from depression, and he tried to encourage those around him.

Something I was not prepared for was the tiny little hats that the nurses wore. They were about the size of a Hostess cup cake and some had tiny little bows. One of the nurses that showed us around was a very beautiful, strong, Kenyan woman, but I could not stop looking at that tiny hat on her head.

Back to real business and out of the strange workings of my mind: Please pray for Peter to realize he has a hope and a future. And pray for encouragement for Towd as he encourages others. And pray for miracles for the men and women at the Nairobi Spinal Injury Hospital. And for the nurses with the tiny hats.