My young Pastor friends Joseph and Allen, drove us to their new home outside of Nairobi. Both claimed that G-d blessed them with this new home due to my coming as they had only just found it and had moved in the day before my arrival. Prior to that they had a cramped apartment in one of Nairobi’s bad neighborhoods unfit for me, they said.

After a very long and bumpy ride, we arrived. Their spacious home was a lovely surprise, fully furnished and boasting a garden, a garage, a shower and electricity. While Pastor Allen and his younger brother prepared our dinner, the Lord had me lovingly warn, exhort and teach Joseph who, enthralled by the Laodicean display of wealth and splendor of some American TV evangelists, desired to have a ministry like theirs. Eager and impressionable, he failed to recognize their superficiality and vanity. But blessed with a teachable spirit, he thanked me for ministering to him.

The next day we (and my luggage) set out for Nairobi, but miles of market traffic blocked the way. The intermingling of human and vehicle traffic was unimaginable. When we finally did arrive, it was too late for the meetings, which were to be a “breakfast” and a “lunch” service of 1 hour each. Many Christians in Nairobi come to church before going to work and during lunch break to hear the Word of G-d.

However, the Lord had a surprise in store, which was a meeting that proved meaningful for the agricultural/ marketing project He Himself had set into motion for my Kenyan friends in Webuye⁶. Thus, our time was well spent.

 
 
 
 

Following this meeting, my two young pastor friends, apprehensive of another traffic jam, drove me to the Jomo Kenyatta airport. With no traffic jam to impede us this time, we arrived in plenty of time, enough for me to relax with a coffee and browse through my teaching material that pastors and bishops had requested of me for discipling purposes.

At long last we were called up to board our flight to Kisumu with Kenya Airways. I sat in a single-row of seats, observing my fellow passengers and looking out the window with keen interest. During take-off I prayed Psalm 34:7, 121:3-8, and Isaiah 54:14 in personal application, as I always do when getting on the road or on a plane.

Suddenly I noticed something red near the right side propeller flapping in the wind.

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“They don’t actually have a flag out there, do they?” I wondered to myself. Looking more closely, I saw a half-rounded metal part.

“Look! Look!” I called to the other passengers, whose eyes were either focused on newspapers or shut tight. “What is this red thing flying there?”

And immediately I answered the question myself: “Dear G-d! It is the cover of the propeller motor!” I exclaimed in utter shock.

Now we were all staring at this flapping, large red metal part, calling and gesticulating to the stewardess who seemed not to notice.

I contemplated the situation and weighed the options. Should that large metal cover break loose and get caught in one of the propeller blades, the propeller would instantly disintegrate and we would all go down; and should the metal cover break loose and fly backwards, it would hit part of the tail and we would all go down.

Just then the pilot announced that we had attained 15,000 feet, a thousand feet short of our expected climb to 16,000 feet cruising altitude in our flight to Kisumu.