The Tsavo Maneaters

Has anyone ever gone to the Field Museum in Chicago and seen the display of the Tsavo Man-eaters? A movie was made in ’96 called “The Ghost and the Darkness”, staring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, perhaps you have seen it? Evidently, back in the 1800s when railway workers were building a railway in Kenya, some of the workers started to go missing. Later it was discovered that two lions, which generally do not eat people, tag team hunted for people apparently due to drought, provoking their literal thirst for blood. Together the two lions ate 135 people between the railway workers and locals in the surrounding region.

Eventually the Ghost and the Darkness, as they were named, were shot and killed by Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson. Years later the skins were sold to the Field Museum in Chicago, and are currently on display. Fascinating story, especially considering the first one that was shot was over 9 feet long from nose to tail. Rumor has it that if you look directly into the eyes of the stuffed lions in the Field Museum, great terror will come over you. I don’t know if I buy that, but I’d love to be the guinea pig who finds out for sure. I’ll let you know what my discovery is as soon as I get a chance to check it out.    

Reflecting

Today I am propping my feet up after a satisfactorily busy day. I have to my right a window overlooking the back yard, which displays the greening trees and backdrop of a sunset. I’m reflecting a little and looking forward to the coming year. I graduate next week. Yes, for those of you who still read this, I am a student. Four years ago I picked up and moved to Kansas City to be a student at the Forerunner School of Ministry, and what I found was something far greater than a few classes on the Bible. Being at the International House of Prayer is something of an enigma. People from all kinds of backgrounds come to this little place in the heart of the heartland for all kinds of reasons, but for me it was my desire to know the Scriptures and to figure out how to do this ministry thing.

 

So… four years of theological training. What have I learned? (Provided I am a slow processor and am sure to realize more of what I have learned years down the road) I think I know only one particular thing: I love Jesus. The sub-categories to that statement are important, I know, but for all intents and purposes, I have found that regardless of how hard I study and search and ask and wrestle, it is Jesus I care to know.

He is the First and the Last; the Slain Lamb; the Great High Priest; He is the Branch of the Lord; the Beginning and the End; the Door; the Way, the Truth, and the Life; He is the Resurrection; He is the express image of the glory of the Father; He is the firstborn from the dead; He is the Alpha and Omega; the Shepherd; the Son of Man; the Root and Offspring of David; the Bread of the Life; the Word Made Flesh; the Servant of the Lord; the Captain of the Armies; He is Wonder[ful] Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; the Messiah; the Elect One; the Servant of Rulers; the Christ, the Son of the Living God; He is the Great ‘I AM’; the King of Israel; the Last Adam, the Second Man; the Chief among Ten Thousand; the Bridegroom; the Mediator; the Beloved Son in whom the Father is well-pleased; He is the firstborn among many brethren; He is the perfect sacrifice; He is the Redeemer and Savior. He is a Man.   …Jesus is God.   

…And I love Him.