His Own

The other day I was in the village and someone was screaming during the day. That is the only alarm system available for the village folks. The best thing about these people is their willingness to indulge in such occasions. They all come to either help or just watch depending on the happening. The watching part is the favorite for most.

When I was growing up, I was not spared. Our homestead was a shoot location for a drama series. It’s not once or twice we had villagers coming to spectate as we washed our dirty linen outside our yard. I think I only survived the shame because most of it happened at night and also the following episodes would be shot at a neighbor before it gets back to ours. The funny part is how people behave the next day as if nothing happened. Unless your face still carries the evidence.

There is this one night my folks were fighting and my brother and I were really pissed. Occasionally, I would avoid taking sides because I had discovered I needed both my parents the same way. But this night, I needed to say something. I am actually not the one who started; I am more of a coward, my bro did.

He ferociously tried to tell off our dad, mumbling a few words as his 5 year old mind would allow. Then when he ran out of what to say, the moment fell awkwardly silent. I raised my voice, still hiding among the spectators and yelled at our dad; “hey, just allow me into the house I pick up my stuff I go. I don’t belong here”.

And in that awkwardness our dad answered back laughing, “If you want to leave, go ahead, but first come here and remove the cloths you are wearing, everything you have here is mine”. And the crowd laughed at me hilariously. I was 6 yrs old and I had never felt that helplessly cornered and owned. Clearly there was no way I could detach myself from the circus.

That statement has never left me, more so when I think about our father in heaven. He owns us and everything we have. Yet many a times we want to excuse ourselves from his affairs, especially when we feel inconvenienced and disadvantaged. And unlike our earthly dads, his ownership is bound with such a deep amazing love that we can’t comprehend. Even when things are ugly, when things are tough, when things are not making much sense, he is just but crafting something beautiful out of us.

The call of God on your life may be taxing you. Loving your neighbor may seem an impossible task. Being a peacemaker may not be a thought in your mind. And yet that is your call; to uphold the values of God and to walk in his principles. And I know how now or then we get the feeling that we should back off and give up on God, that we don’t belong.

Or maybe the show is on your yard. Neighbors spectating your struggles and enjoying the drama in your life. But it’s not for you to respond in bitterness, depression, shame or by running away. No. Just know that you belong to him. Everything you are and everything you have is his. And so you have nowhere to go. Stick through the process.

The Hiding People

One thing I miss about my childhood is the playing part. When I think about it now, I see how creative we would get and how sometimes a game would turn out to be frustrating, especially when you can’t agree on the rules or when other kids outdo your creativity.

 When we were younger we would play hide and seek with my brother and at times it would be boring when we ran out of hiding places. But I remember the first time my brother hid in the cupboard and I could not find him. How did he think of replacing the sack of flour with himself?  The competitive me was very frustrated. How can my younger brother outdo me in hiding? Then the day our friend hid by climb a tree just above where we were counting, and I could not find him yet all the other children could see him. I opted out of the game when finally I announce the imaginary cup ‘trophy’ was his. Ooh, and the days we would start a new game within a old one just to eliminate some kids we don’t like.

Now when I think about life, there seems to be a continuation of the hide and seek game. Listen to teenagers and their folks hiding from each other on Fb, or the tout and the dere checking out for the cops, or guy who is on the phone in town checking out kanju. It’s hide and seek all over. Have you noticed how Kenyans are always way ahead of themselves? Just listen to them on the phone while in the bus. Niko Valley Road and at that time you haven’t reached yaya yet on your way to town. Anyho that the hide and seek game I am talking about. Have you listen to or watched programs like busted or cheaters? It’s just a partner seeking their hiding partner… the game continues.

Then we have those who hide in God. They are known so well because of their consistency in bible study and prayer meetings. They preach, lead worship and they are baptized. And we can’t touch them because they are in God. But wait until you find them, they are just the same old sinner; having no sense of fear of God, but just using God as a cover to do all that they are doing. What happened to being real? I know we are not perfect but don’t project what you are not, just be yourself. A time comes when we run out places to hide, or we get caught, and everything comes shattering down.

There is something I love about real people; the kind who just live their life honestly, with integrity and in truth. From experience, the truth can cause trouble, cause terror, humiliate, hurts or even weigh heavy on you but the truth is, it sets free. When we learn to live an open life, with no hiding, no closet, no skeleton, then we live full lives. But the big question is, where and how do you start? It’s like asking a lady who is used to wearing make up to start living without some.

An open truthful life can be hard to start living, but once you find your rhyme and sync, then you realize it was not as hard as it seemed.

Maintaining The Evens

I know you have heard about beating all odds, but today I want to talk about maintaining all evens. I have always wondered whether for a story to be a success story there must be odds to beat. I don’t get it.

Look at most of the people we know who are successful. It’s either they were abused, molested, abandoned, rejected, rebellious, divorced among other odds. It’s like a plot to a great story needs to be complicated. And it is these complications that form the odds that need to be beaten for a happy successful ending.

What happens to those who keep it even? Why is it that if a woman is successful and yet she maintained her family all through, she won’t be a great story like one who is equally successful but who could not maintain her marriage. Or why is it a pastor’s child who turns out perfect will not find any recognition like one who turns pathetic?

We live our lives not for recognition but that we may add value to the society. And therefore, we must not be lied to that successful people have very complicated lives. That is just a lie. We are a generation that does not celebrate simplicity, ordinary and normalcy. But there is much beauty in such a life. And there are successful people who have maintained the evens. It’s just that they may not be as recognized as those who beat the odds.

As a friend of mine once tweeted; try faithfulness cheating is too easy, I too would want to challenge us try maintaining the evens beyond beating the odds.

Maintaining the evens is equally challenging as beating the odds.

Would you Apply?

The most unfortunate thing about life is that we find ourselves in it. In a place we didn't ask to be, with some aspects of our lives that we may not have the capacity to change. We just find ourselves in here.


Assume we got back in time, with what you know now, would you apply to be born given a chance? Would you choose your gender? Would you choose your father? Would you choose you mother? Would you choose the place you were born?


For a long time I used to say, if I were given a chance to apply to be born on earth, I would have requested for a pass. No second thinking. I would not have chosen to be born. Period.


The fortunate thing is, I didn't have a chance to chose. But instead God chose me. He chose my gender, he chose my father, he chose my mother and he chose the place I would be born.
And now that I know that, I am at peace with life. I don't look at any aspect of my life as an accident or as an unfortunate thing, but as a design from God. The processes I went through were not hapharzard, but a crafting of God, moulding my path into who I am. Isn't that wonderful?


And now that I am empowered to make choices of the life I want to live, I have learnt to enquire from my manuacturer, because from the look of things, He is better positioned to know what I need and where I should go and what I should do than I can ever think.


Truly you don't know yourself until God tell you who you are. And that is all you need. God.

The Broken Vessel

God is looking for a broken people to use. A broken heart and a contrite spirit He won’t despise. Unfortunately we have become broken vessels.

What’s the difference you ask?

A broken vessel is the kind that leaks, the kind that cannot contain. And so when God deposits His treasure in such a vessel, within no time everything is lost. Such kind of a vessel will only waste great resources achieving nothing for God.

We need to be vessels of honor for God. Vessels that are able to hold the treasures released from God. These treasures include His word, His values, His Grace and His blessings. But never should we get familiar with God. We ought to appreciate the fact that we are only vessels and so we must always have a broken heart.

Let us be vessels of honor with a broken heart and not a broken vessel with a golden heart.

When I Look at Them

If there is one thing I have learnt from my simple complicated life is how to look at people. There are different grids through which human being view other human beings. These include tribe, nationality, religion, skin color, body type, sexuality, social class, up bring among other. There is also a tendency to view other human beings informed by the way we perceive ourselves.

But I have learnt to see myself in other people. Regardless of whom it is, I see their struggles, their dreams and their humanness just like me. A person who has a life to live, questions to find answers to, a heart to be loved and accepted, a quest to have a good life and a hope in the future. At the point, every other aspect just wither away.

When I look at people I want feel them.

They Way I want to See Us

There is a reason why they say we should not judge a book by its cover. But I still can't help it. I judge a book by its cover and that includes the price tag. But once in a while especially if the book is not wrapped up, I peruse a few pages and check out of it's a worth read. If I am not convinced I check out online reviews just to get an opinion. Then I decide if I can afford the book. Which could either mean I start saving for it or just get cash and buy.



And I think that is the same process I use to decide who I should talk to, make friends with and keep as a friend. Not a bad strategy because we must make sure we have the right friends but again the same reason why I ignore books with dull covers always comes into play.



I have been having a desire to know how God sees people. How does He look at us?



There is no color, no skin type, no weight, no dress, no background info, no accent, no make up, no car, no house, no academic qualification, no ettiquette, no homour, no nothing that shapes the way he see us. He looks at us as His own and loves us that way.



And that is how I want to look at you, as a brother and as a sister, sharing one father and living in one amazing mansion called earth, where everything we have is our father's, we are just stewards. And that is the way I want to look at it that way. That is teh way I want to see us.

Beats

Human beings are very melodious and rhythmical.
The way the eyes blink, the way the heart beats,
The way the blood flows, the way the hands swing,
The way you breath....


So, when you find yourself out of rhythm
And you feel so out of beat,
Find something that resonate with your soul
And harmonize yourself amidst chaos.

Always keep your rhythm!

Heaven Day 1

On the waiting room, she sat and pondered, how could her husband have made it in heaven. They both had been involved in a fatal accident during the day and that was their last day on earth. And now each in a glass cubicle, they were waiting to be ushered into paradise. But her mind was bothered. She really wanted to know what had happened that gave her husband access to heaven. Having lived with him for 32 years, she doubted he would even get near anything glorious.



She was first to enter through the door that was on the far corner of the glass cubicle that lead into paradise. And Alas! She was in hell.



Not really understanding the occurences that sorrounded her, she demanded an explanation. And God being just assigned to her an angel. The angel was so heartbroken to see the agony in the woman's eyes, he broke down into tears.



''Woman, if only you loved. That was the greatest commandment. That you love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. I know while on earth you did your best, but we could not fail to notice that when you came over here and saw your husband on the other cubicle, there was no love in your heart. The transactions that went in your heart were the transactions of judgement, the transactions of giving up on people and transactions of deciding people's fate in your heart and these have denied you access to heaven. For in heaven only love abides.
_____



God is love and those who know God live in love.



Love your God with all your heart, your mind and your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the greatest commandment



People may not deserve it, but just love. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and loved us. That is the love we are called to. That while our neighbor is unlovable and undeserving, that we shall love them and wish for them what we wish for ourselves.

A Den of Robbers

Before I share my thoughts let us consider some scriptures in John 2:13-17.

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.’’ NIV

We all know that our hearts are the temple of God. We also know our life processes are transacted in our hearts. So the question is, what transactions is your heart conducting? Referring to the above scripture, I have come to realize that for a long time, I had made my heart a market place. A place where I tell God to do this so that I can do that for Him. Where the transactions of my heart are about merchandizing, losing this to gain that for my own sake. And that is what Christ refers to as a den of robbers.

Is your heart a den of robbers? Examine your heart and check out what kind of trade has been going through in your heart.

In this season of TFM we are going through different maturity transactions. These transactions have come to reconfigure our hearts. We are learning that the cross is a transaction point, where new agreements, covenants and contracts for the conduct of life in the earth. God is whipping out the trade in our hearts and replacing it with a zeal for His house. A zeal for Him. That we may be found in Him, that we may become for Him.

So, I would urge you to keep tracking, keep enquiring, don’t get familiar and don’t lose the sight of the bigger picture.