Lake Naivasha

Yesterday was one of the best days of my entire life. I didn’t know it was going to be. I didn’t expect it to be. But, it was.

At ten o’clock, a group of RVA staff, including the Holts, Carpenters, Harteminks, Melise, Annie, and I ventured one hour away from RVA’s campus to enjoy the calm and quiet of Lake Naivasha. Alisha, our chaffeur, graciously drove all of us out there and stayed at the Lake all day until we were ready to leave around 5:30pm. He is a local Kenyan man who attends the AIC Church that we attend on the first Sunday of every month. It was fun getting to know him and hear him express his love for his family and the Lord. But, I’m side-tracking…

Upon our arrival to the Lake Naivasha Country Club, we spent a little while walking the beautiful grounds. The Club basically serves as a local retreat center and hotel, so there were all sorts of lounge rooms where people were picking up the live Soccer games, and also Christian groups playing jump-rope and other games out in the grassy backyard areas. After talking some pictures out on the pier (which is horribly dry due to drought right now), we came back to eat lunch, which was an elaborate buffet of Kenyan and Indian cuisine, and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. One of my highlights was the cheese and crackers! I haven’t had crackers or corn chips or pretzels or any other type of carb munchie in over 6 weeks, so they tasted quite delicious. Also, the freshly squeezed Passion Juice was to-die-for.

Then, we made our way back down to the Pier, where we boarded small motor-boats that took us across the Lake over to Crescent Island, which is a wildlife sanctuary. Here, we conducted a two-hour walking tour and safari, accompanied by Simon, our guide.

Yes, that’s right. A walking safari! No jeeps needed, like in Jurassic Park. All the animals that live on Crescent Island are tame and safe, so we got as close as fifty feet from some of them! Hippos. Wildabeast. Gazelle. Giraffe. Zebra. Egyptian Geese. Pythons. It was quite an adventure. Simon explained to us how this island, (which is really a Peninsula that you can also access by car), was established in the 1970’s. Isak Dinesan, author of “Out of Africa,” actually invested into it in the early 1980’s when she returned to East Kenya for some time. In fact, parts of the movie, “Out of Africa,” was filmed on Crescent Island, along with “Gorillas in the Mist” and “Tomb Raider.” (Simon proudly smiled with his big white teeth at this point in the history lesson and told us that he himself was a movie extra for these!)

I couldn’t believe it. The book I so loved…the woman who inspired me in part to move to Kenya…the land that so beautifully is portrayed in the movie…I was standing in a place that tied all these things so beautifully together. And, I wasn’t dreaming. I was living my dream. As we ascended the hill and reached the crest, I threw my head back, laughed, and breathed a deep breath of utter satisfaction and delight. Melise and Annie and I kept looking at each other and giggling as if we were little tikes waking up on Christmas morning.

For the next two hours, we proceeded to walk the island, seeing the various herds and family-groups of different animals. Melise and I chuckled at this one particular Giraffe. He was such a poser! He kept staring straight at us, as if he knew that he was the center of attention. We stared straight back, and then laughed because we realized that we were having a staring contest with a Giraffe in the middle of Africa! It was quite humorous to say the least.

When we reached a different shore point, I was walking along the water and saw this smooth, round white rock glimmering in the sun…as I stooped down to pick it up, the word, “Ebenezer” suddenly came to mind. It comes from a line in the song, “Come Thou Fount,” one of my favorite hymns:

“Here I raise my Ebenezer,
Hither by Thy help I come,
And I hope by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.”

Ebenezer didn’t originate with Ebenezer Scrooge. No, no. It originated in the Bible, in the book of 1 Samuel. The passage says,

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen[1] and called its name Ebenezer;[2] for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

Ebenezer. Stone of help.

What a dear reminder of God’s power, strength, and solid reliability. He has been my stone of help for the past 6 weeks, and will continue to be! I brought the stone home with me and put it in my living room as a daily reminder that ‘till now, the Lord has helped me,’ and I can entirely trust Him that He will not stop helping me now.

Around 5:30pm, we boarded back onto the motor-boats and made our way across the Lake back to the mainland. After a nice spot of tea on the veranda, we hopped back into our vans and came home to RVA. It was a beautiful day—with new friends, new sights, new sounds, new memories…and one that I will never forget as long as I live.