Maintaning A Spiritual High

It is very common to be a christian who experiences a spiritual high every Sunday and then dwindles down as the week goes. On Monday you are still energized by the Sunday's sermon, on Tuesday you are okay, on Wednesday you start forgetting what it means to walk with God daily and by Thursday you start getting drained and you can't wait for the weekend so that you take a break from the draining dragging week and then on Sunday you can go for a service, just like you take a car to the garage for service.

But is that how we are supposed to live?

It is very challenging to main a spiritual high throughout the week without being overly 'spiri'. Many Christians are struggling with this issue. But how do you maintain a spiritual high?

1. Stop compartmentalizing you life. There is only one life that you live. Don't look at yourself from the different aspects of your life. E.g. spiritual life, financial life, emotional life, work life and home life. It is one life. So focus on living a balanced whole life. When you look at your life as a whole block then it will be easy to work around all aspects and allow each element to create harmony and rhythm.
2. Don't focus on a formula, focus on a system. Look at what works for you and develop a structure and a system that will work for you to achieve the goals that you are focusing on.
3. Be deliberate. Understand that many things are fighting for your attention. Be deliberate on desiring to spend time in prayer, in the word and in worship. Create the time don't wait to have the time
4. Be creative. Break monotony and use creative ways of getting to connect with God. Reflect on your day some time, recite a psalm the other day, have a bible study the other day. listen to music the other, revise your notes, teach a friend a principle you learnt. ETC
5. Enjoy being in God and your salvation. Don't get familiar with prayer or with worship and stop it if you find you are just being casual about it. Enjoy the moments and make them personal and intense.

How else do you maintain a spiritual high? Share with us.

Accounting For Life - IFRS 99

Someone said that we live life forward but understand it backward. And I must say that statement has some element of truth. When I was thinking about this I realized life is more like an accounting profession.

The other day my friends and I went to some pricey restaurant to devour some international cuisine. It was one of those things you do once in a year because for sure we don't work for the stomach but for other things as well. The meal was orgasmic as much as the pleasure was short lived once the bill was presented.

Then we started discussing about giving a tip. My friends are all trained accountants. So obviously no one was willing to give a tip. So I asked how come accountants are that mean they are not willing to give a tip? It's at that point I was corrected. Accountants are not mean; it is just that they have to match each expense to a budget line. Unfortunately in the accounting system, they don’t have an entry for tips. 

The dilemma is, how do you account for a tip? The amazing thing is even when you are on official duty and you have been given some money to use, if you give tips to those who serve you, when you go back to the office, you are not reimbursed the tips you gave. The principle is, match all your expenses to a budget line and provide documentation for the same.

That is a stressing life.

Lucky are the accountants, for when we get to heaven it will be easy for them. The bible says, and each one of us shall give an account for their lives. And all those of you who think matching your expenses to a budget line and providing documentation is a lot of work, woe unto you. How will you account for your life?

So, I have come up with an International Financial Reporting Standard IFRS 99 – Accounting for Life as a guideline for you as you prepare your books when your financial year finally ends and you life stops being a going concern or is liquidated.

·         Create your budget lines – Love, forgiveness, kindness, faithfulness, integrity, stewardship, fruitfulness among others

·         Match your expenses to a budget line –For example, when you incur hatred, show love, when you are wronged, forgive.

·         Finally, provide documentation – Let your life be a testimony!

The Prayer of UPGRADING

Lord I come to you, an older version of me

The version that is outdated
The version that you have declared obsolete

The version that cannot accomplish what you desire

And I ask that you may upgrade me

Give me a new processor,with higher speeds and bigger RAM

So that I can be swift to carry out your commands

And a capacity to do more than I have been doing

Increase my hard drive, that I may store more of your values

In built in me a bluetooth that I may discern the sorrounding

And have the capacity to connect with those with similar values

Put a webcam that I may be able to relate better with others

Put some inbuilt speakers

So that I may be able to communicate with you

Dont forget to give me a nice finish

That I may reflect your beauty and character

Make my battery last longer

That I may have the strength to walk my salvation in strength

And not just rely on corporate power

Upgrade me oh Lord

That I may influence those around me

That when they look at me

They will desire what they see

They will come to seek out what I have

And they will find JESUS INSIDE

I pray also that you may provide the best softwares

A clean heart as my motherboard

Your word as my operating system

Your spirit as the internet connection

Your people as my networking system

And with that upgrading,

I will not miss out on being serviced

And I will take care my new version

The upgraded ME

Thank you Lord for you have done it

In Jesus Name

AMEN

Make My Day

You know those days when something special happens in your day and you go... this just made my day. Sometimes it’s just an act of kindness, a funny joke or a gesture of humanness.

Life can be so ordinary that we find ourselves going through the motions.

As the year starts, I was asking myself what do I do that everyday I will have that moment of .. this or that made my day.What do I do?

Then I remember the verse that say, This is the day that the Lord has MADE, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This means that, my day is already made J

At the end of it all the lesson is to look at the ordinary with a special eye.

I would have loved this note to make your day, but I am glad that the Lord has made a day for you. REJOICE

For How Long?

For how long will I look at the Mirror

And see I am still the guy I dont want to be?

Like a broken glass, pieces scattered

Can I really be fixed?

For how long will I speak these awesome words

Words that  don’t match my lifestyle?

Like an ever talking radio,

Can I really become?

For how long will I keep falling and rising,

Getting dirty while still in the shower?

It feels like a just washed silly pet

Can I really get clean, for once?

For how long shall I wander

Never getting to my destination?

Like a vagabond roaming all over

Can I really arrive?

For how long shall I remain scattered

Weak and weary and never gathering?

Like a cup of spilled milk

Can i ever be collected?

I am tired of this life

I am tired of this song

I am tired of this me

I am tired of it all

I have to become,

I have to gather

I have to be fixed

I have to get it

Once and for all

I have to confluence

All They Know is Baby Jesus

Amazing how the world celebrates baby Jesus. The songs, the decor, the displays and the stories. It is all about the baby born at the manger. The magical story. The amazing couple, The sherperds and the wo la la.

The sad thing is we don’t know how to relate with a grown up Jesus. I mean, this baby Jesus grows to be commanding. He beats the crap out of guys in the temple, He even tell His mother how she doesn’t understand. He tell of those burying the dead, that only the dead should bury the dead. He calls his best friend satan. His friend is sick and goes to visit 3 days after he is dead. And when he is there, he doesn’t appreciate Martha’s effort of getting him something to eat. He commends Mary for sitting herself at his feet. This dude teaches his pals not to wash hands before eating. He talks in parables so that people may not understand. He talks harshly to the religious lot. He actualy calls them a brood of vipers. And when a multitude is waiting for him at the shore, He runs away from them and goes somewhere else. He goes to a pool with hundreds of sick people and heals only one and walks away. The guy tells his disciples to eat his body. I mean, this guy is something else!

Yeah the world likes Baby Jesus. He is easy to handle. We can sing to him, take gifts to him and all. But Jesus the adult.... He is a King we can’t easily please unless we deny ourselves and carry our cross everyday. He is so demanding that He gives us a narrow gate to his Kingdom. He wants you to be born again when you are already an adult. He want you to do only that which you see him do and all that He asks we do. Jesus the adult, He is just something the world can’t handle. 

Hurray! It is Christmas. But which Jesus are you embracing? Is it Baby Jesus or is Jesus the King of Kings? It’s you to decide.....

The Christmas I Miss

Kenyans do not have a holiday dedicated to families. What I would call a Family Get- together Day. When I become the president's advisor, I will make sure we get this holiday. A day dedicated to families. A holiday set aside (preferably a long weekend) for us to reconnect with those we love,


The lack of a family get together day has over the year made christmas the thing we all look forward to. It's in christmas you get to meet those guys you schooled with in primary school, the boys you went dufo mpararo with and such. Christmas has always been the day uncle and aunts and the cousins come home and enjoy some nyama with the grandparents. Christmas has always been our get together holiday.


Now look at what is happening. Some of us will be working on christmas, we have to take advantage of people when they are in the mood for shopping. Some of us do not have enough money for upkeep leave alone travelling and merrying.


But lucky are those who will manage to make that trip to the countryside and refresh their souls. Those who will find time to gather around their families and reconnect. Those who will take time to share with the less fortunate. Those who will not be caught up in the jargons of christmas and capture the spirit of the season.


Ooh how I miss the Kenyan christmas..

Am I that Ugly?

When I was in primary school I would feel so harassed if we met up with a classmate on weekends especially when I am with my parents. I would not even say hi to them openly; worse still if the classmate is a girl and my dad is teasing me if that is my girl. He loved doing that J and I would dread such moments.

There was this one day when I was in class one and we had parents’ day in our school. Since there was no one at home my mum decided to bring the keys to the house to me so that during lunch time I don’t get stranded, but rather I would go home and find food and sort myself.

It’s break time and as usual I am hanging out with my usual suspects in the field playing, then I see my mum approaching us. She is smartly dressed in a blue chiffon dress that had some black dots. She was looking homely yet elegant. For reasons not known to me, instead of running towards her I started running away from her. You know the kind of run you would do if you sighted a ghost? Such kind. Now the kids are running after me shouting and my mum is behind us walking.

The genius in me told me to run to our class and sit at my desk. Furiously my mum came into the class and starting pinching me shouting… “am I that ugly that you don’t want your friends to see me… why are you running away from me like I bite? Am I that ugly?” You should have seen my classmates peeping through the window and laughing at me.

Years later as we were discussing with my mum of this incident I got to understand where she was coming from and the depth of my foolishness. No parent wants to imagine that they are not good enough for their children. They do their best to make sure those little boys and girls they are raising have the best and have their needs covered. And what do they expect in return, I guess it’s just honor.

You can’t payback for what your parents did for you. All you can do is honor them and appreciate them for their efforts. But many a times just like the foolish me back then, we humiliate them with our actions. If only I knew better then.

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.