Mondays with Allee

"No matter what happens remember this: I have always loved you." Papa, The Shack “Hello?” …  “Eh?” … I couldn’t tell how long I had been asleep, but I assumed it was morning.  Almost time to wake up.  I rolled over to see who Joseph was talking to.   “My God.”  My heart started to race.   “What?” I asked, patting his arm.  My mind went to the worst.  A staff member had died.  Or family member.  Something had happened to a student.  “What?”  I asked again.  “What happened?” … “Ok.  Asante.”   He hung up and turned to me, “Magufuli is dead.”  John Magufuli, Tanzania’s fifth president, was rumored to have been in a Kenyan hospital last week, suffering from COVID, but the rumors were never confirmed by the government.  Now, at eleven thirty at night, the Vice President Samia Suluhu solemnly announced that he had indeed died in a Kenyan hospital, from heart failure at the age of 61.  “Oh ...

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,  and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart. Psalm 104: 14-15         Last Monday our school was scheduled to be inspected by various clergy and other Diocese staff members.  The Friday before, all students were given special cleaning tasks around the compound and staff members were assigned to oversee different groups.  The groundskeepers worked extra over the weekend to make sure pathways were cleared and trees were trimmed.  When Monday morning came the students picked flowers and placed them in bottles to decorate the teacher’s table in every classroom, and all staff members were reminded of the expectations they were to follow during the inspection.  But teatime came and went, then lunch, and our visitors had yet to arrive.  We received news as we were eating that...