God Is Our Life-Building Facilitator

I am a team building facilitator. My job requires me to coordinate experiential learning processes for teams. My role as the facilitator is to provide a safe (physically and psychologically), supportive, non-judgmental atmosphere, in which participants try to accomplish tasks beyond their self-imposed limitations.

So when a team contacts me, we do a need assessment that guides me in formulating activities and a program for them. These needs are the things that are hindering the team from performing as a team and achieving more. The activities are supposed to produce learning points in line with the needs identified. 

So as I set those challenges for the team, I have in mind what the team needs are, I have in mind what this activity seeks to achieve and I have the confidence that the team process as they do the activities, will produce the required lessons for them. The only way to assimilate the lessons from an activity is through what we call a debrief. The team sits back and starts reflecting on their process, analyzing their feelings, analyzing their actions and their responses and articulating their learning points.

When I was thinking about my work, I started thinking about how God is our life building facilitator. He know the things that are hindering us from achieving our purpose and call. And so everyday he sets challenges for us, knowing that our processes will produce learning points that if assimilated will make us a better people, able to do life as He wishes. And as much as we might feel as if a challenge is impossible, (just like my teams do all the time), when I engage with him and allow him to facilitate me, He guides me through my processes until I manage. He also knows our self-imposed limitations and He wishes we could break those limiting barriers and be the people He created us to be.

Unfortunately, we don't see it that way. Some of us shun away from challenges, some of us are not focusing on becoming better and others are prisoned by their self imposed limitations they can hardly do a thing. They are slaves.

But God is our Life Building Facilitator. Let us learn how to allow him to guide us through life, to teach us thing through our process and to trust him that though he sets ahead of us challenging things, he know that we can surely do it. 

And yeah, you must make it a habit to always do a debrief with God. Take time everyday to reflect on your learning points and allow those lessons to become part of you.

Change Me Oh Lord!

We have prayed this prayer over and over again. That God may change us. 

Then just as I was changing my son's diaper it hit me... what kind of change do I want?

You see, when a child has pooped on themselves, they are desperate for a change. They scream to express the desperation. Even if they are hungry, they will not be comfortable to suckle. As you come near them, as you hold them, they are desperately wishing you could just figure it, that they need change.

How many times have we desperately cried out to God for change. A change of diapers? When we poop on ourselves and the discomfort of sin is eating us up alive. Our hearts are so burned we are developing a rash? When our immaturity has blinded us up not to see the greatness of our God. We cry and wail, showing how desperately we need a clean slate... and God in His faithfulness, changes us or should I say changes our diaper... and as we indulge in our usual delicacies... we poop again and the cycle continues. We are ever crying to God for change.. a change of diaper!

But how beautiful would it be when God matures me up.. the kind of change that will teach me how not to poop on myself. The kind of change that matures me. The kind of change that brings me to a higher and deeper level in Him.

And just like a child, we start by pooping on ourselves and God changes our diapers, but He expects us to grow up and mature. He expects us to desire a better change, a deeper change, a renewing change.. something permanent.

And so as I lift my hands and ask God to change me, I focus on getting into a transforming process, the kind of change that makes me more like him.

Change Me Oh Lord!

More Questions

In life, it is okay to have more questions than answers. But it's until you learn to ask the right questions, that you are good to go.


For example instead of asking why me? ask what's next?


When you feel stuck and not sure of what to do, don't close yourself down, rather discern the right questions to ask. Ask questions for clarification and not because of doubt.


Living life with a spirit of enquiry brings more clarity and helps maintain life's freshness. Approach life as a student and be open to new challenges. And as you keep asking the right questions, you will find your path and your place in life.


Keep asking

Simplify your life

It is very unfortunate that as human beings we have made life very complicated. Just check how many of your friends on facebook have their status as it's complicated and you will understand what I mean. The issue is not even relationships but generally life has become complicated.

I was sharing with a friend who was looking for closure on the issue of his dad. His dad left them when they were young and he has never forgiven him or even understood why God allowed that. And he has been carrying very heavy burdens, hurts and pains of the past. He has lived his life from the past. Looking at himself as a victim of circumstances and as a reject of life. The worst past was that he actually hated the other children who his father got from a relationship with another woman because he believes they stole from him what was rightful his.

I must say, such situations are tough and painful. When you ask yourself what it could have been had your dad been there for you. Painting all the pictures in the mind of what you missed and how you could have been a better person had your dad been there. And such mental pictures on add agony to life making the burden of the past just more unbearable.

Luckily for me when we were having our meeting, another friend of mine came and joined in the fellowship. And as we were sharing he happened to be a child of another woman. (I hope you get the picture). This guy was raised by a man who neglected his rural family and got a new wife in the city and got children and life continued. I thank God because he is a God of purpose.

And as we were fellowship, now having a deeper sight into life, we realized that there are so many things in life that we have no control of.  There are things that were done to you, that hurt you and brought much pain, but that is past and you know it was beyond you then. But now that you are here what are you doing about it?

It is so easy to carry heavy loads with us all our lives, blaming circumstances, blaming people and wishing it was better. But wisdom dictates we lay our past down and decided to live our lives all a new; to start all over again, to be grateful that we are here and that we have the power to change our future. To focus on what we can do now with what we have than to keep complaining of things we didn’t have.

Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, that He came to give us a new life, an abundant life. And as we focus on the plans He has for us it will be easy to let go of our burdens, of our hurts and of our pains and to allow Him to breath in us a new life and a new ability to forget the past and focus on the future.

And that is how to simplify your life. To understand that today is the first day of your life, that today you can start all over again, that today you can write a different story out of your life. It is not easy but it is possible to live a simple life.

Let go of the past and its burdens and press on to your place of glory in God.

Walking on High Hills

Life is not always smooth. Sometimes we have to go through tough situations and moments where we have no clue what to do. In such instances, we have to develop a new capacity so that we can navigate through. Sometimes such capacity comes after we have made a mistake and burnt our fingers. And that should not discourage us. Just becasuse we have burnt our fingers or made mistakes should not kill the enthusiasm towards life.

They say it is how you respond to life that determine what happens to you. And I agree. Whether you are wallowing in success or stuck in a quagmire, how you respond to where you are determines how far you go. Always remember the past has past and we have the present to prepare for the future.

The best attitude is the attitude of I can do it. It is the joy of walking in high hills and climbing great mountains. Wherever you are keep moving forward.

Cowards

Does it scare you that cowards will not inherit the kingdom of God?

This means if you do everything else right; either being driven by fear and after all accomplishment still remain a coward, then you do not have a place in the Kingdom of God.

What is it that you are afraid of? Is it the fear to succeed? Is it the fear to fail? Is it the fear of making mistakes? Is it the fear to try out your idea? Is it the fear to love? Is it the fear to let go? 

Unless you learn to face your fears, you should know your fate by now. We have not been given the spirit of fear or timid, but the spirit of boldness and good courage.

Be strong and of good courage. Start doing that which you are afraid. There is nothing that beats fear than faith. Exercise your faith by taking the first step.

Suddenly.... takes a long time

Have you ever seen a tree?

With big ripe fruits?

Ready to eat?

What did you think?

Oh! What a nice tree!

Offering something

For the stomach

Certainly not this!

Once a seed

Had to grow

Mature,

Give birth, and

Nurture

So,

The next time you see a tree, 

With big ripe fruits, 

Ready to eat,

Suddenly…takes a long time

What Am I?

While editing my life a few weeks ago, I thought about my childhood dreams. The kind of life I had dreamt I would live. I asked myself a lot of questions. One of the major question was 'what would I tell God about my life if I died and went to heaven?. This question disturbed me a lot. What is it that would be of interest to God? What is it that would tickle him on a Saturday afternoon beside the river of life as I narrate my life on earth? I then realized my life would be boring, without major events to celebrate about as such, or even with anything worthy telling Him, but just that which concerns me, myself and I. And I decided to change that, and shifted my focus on who I was becoming. I wanted to write a different story with my life. The kind of story that would catch God's attention. The kind that would be recorded in the chronicles. That’s the kind of life I want to live. The kind that would be a great story to tell my kids. The kind of story that my wife would enjoy telling of the fifty years or more of living with me. The kind of story that would make me as a grandfather make sense among my grandkids in years to come. My story of becoming.

And as I write the story of my life, I dedicate it to my generation. To the people who are struggling to become better. To the people who believe in making this world a better place. A people who are not afraid to pursue personal development. A people who believe in finishing the course and keeping on the track, and maintaining faith. A people who rise up after falling. A people whose dreams do not die. Who believe in dying empty. Who believe in immortalizing their lives. That as they look at me, they get hope and inspiration, and an example.

I believe it's not where you have been that matters, neither is it where you are, nor what you are doing, but what you are BECOMING.

And so, this is my life story, the story of BECOMING.

To the furthest

Life is like a sling shot

The furthest you stretch from

The furthest you are likely to go

Watokao mbali

Huenda furthest!

I Give Myself to You

This song by William McDowell I give myself away has been playing in my head over and over again. And the more I think what it means to give myself to God the more scaring it gets. I know my life is not my own and that I belong to God, but there is the tendency to want to hold on to myself. How do you lose all control and let God rule every aspect of your life? How do you accept that God want you the way you are, to create something beautiful out of you?

If you grew up in the rural area or you reared chicken, maybe you have seen a hen behaving helpless, especially when you have layers and you don’t have a cock. It gets to a time when you chase a hen, it gives itself so easily. And when you are chasing it especially if you want to slaughter it, you get offended when the hen gives an indication of wanting a cock, and you are not one.

And as I was thinking about giving myself to God, that is the picture that comes to mind. That there should be an innate need within me that just loses control and submits to God, getting to the point of being a slave of righteousness. But who wants to be a slave? I mean, having nothing of your own in a capitalistic society means you are nothing! But the encouraging thing is realizing that his burden is easy and his yoke is smooth, so we should delight in giving yourself away all in the name of pleasing the master..

We were discussing with some friends on the seed that fell on the thorny grounds from the parable of the sower. You realized the seed does not bear fruits because it is choked by the thorns. The interpretation of that word is a representation of those people who hear the word of God and the worries of this world choke that word.

And many of us are victims of worry. We worry too much, that even when God says I have good plans for you, worry cuts you off from the reality of that word. One of the things that really amazed me is when I realized worry is not just about tomorrow but about us. We worry because we don’t believe in our capability to become or achieve the things that we desire and the things that God wants accomplished. It’s like when God declares that you are a mighty warrior, and instead of embracing that word and running with it, you look at where you are and assume that word. We despise ourselves and worry that we can never be the mighty warrior as declared. That process in the mind of doubting ourselves mixed with fear and unbelief chokes the word of God bit by bit and over time, we do not achieve that which was intended. We miss our destiny and our inheritance.

You can never get to your destiny without pursuing it. You have to become by doing something that propels you forward. As the body of Christ, our destiny is to be transformed until we acquire the full nature of Christ. So, we must keep pursuing that. When we look at ourselves, we often cut ourselves off from some of the things that God declare not believing that indeed we are supposed to be the partakers. We are the ones.

We should allow the word of God to define us and to transform us until we become that which God declares in His word. We should mature up into knowing God and His nature and His power. When God created the earth and everything in it, He only took six days and when he looked at his creation he said it was good.

Now, God has taken more than six days to create us, I mean we are am still work in progress. This shows us how patient God is with us, and better still if in six days he made everything good, how much more glorious is He turning us to be having taken all this time?

Let us partner with God in what he is doing, let us pursue his word and his declarations. For we are all but just Work In Progress, and when He is done with us, it will be something beautiful, something heavenly, and something glorious. Give yourself to Him so that He can use you.

Finding Rhythm

I don’t believe in formulas because they never work for me. I don’t know whether it’s because of the predictability or the rigidity part of the formula that repels me. And when I am talking about formulas, don’t mistake them with principles. I believe we can never bend a principle; we can only bend ourselves against them. But today am talking about formulas.

You have heard people talking about the seven steps to spiritual maturity, or six ways to the top, or ten things to do to spice your marriage, or four things that will blow your mind.. I kind of always tend to disagree with that way of living. I aint saying that those things can’t work, they do but not for me.

I have come to think of life as a great orchestra band. Each one of the things I do is a voice to this song; each activity is like playing an instrument that adds a sound to this band called my life. To make great music, the voices and the instruments must be in harmony. They are totally different, yet when arranged well, they create a rhythm and a flow that can be danced to, enjoyed and consumed to bring out freshness and relief.

And that is how I look at my life. I don’t need formulas, rather I seek to get harmony and create a flow out of my life to make great music. I look at all the activities and people that I get to be involved with in my life, as either a voice or an instrument that I need to tune and keep in rhythm as I create my music. 

Have you noticed how everything that is part of us is melodious? Look at the eye, they blink together, look at the hands, they swing in rhythm, listen to your breath, your pulse; they all have a flow, a rhythm.

That explain the need to create a flow from the things I do. Like I will take time to pray and meditate on God’s word because it tunes me to keep in rhythm spiritually. I will eat healthy, rest and exercise because I want to tune my body and keep the rhythm. I will take time to develop my relationship with my wife, because I want our lives to be synchronized. And so it is with most of the things I do. I want to keep a flow.

This doesn’t mean that my life is flowing so well, no. As a matter of fact many are the times am out of rhythm and off beat. But I start looking at which voice or instrument that needs to be tuned, and as I work on the part that is making the wrong sound, I find myself getting back to rhythm. 

Are you out of tune? I am sorry I don’t have a formula for you; I guess you just need to look keenly at the people and activities in your life and see how you can create a melodically harmonized life out of the existing chaos and noise.

Check John 7:38

³⁸ He who believes in Me (Jesus), as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” NKJV

What Do You See?

If there is one thing I have learnt is to create myself. Life is not about discovering yourself, life is about creating yourself. Who are you? and who do you want to be? We have been defined by many things, which is ok, but let me assure you, you won’t fit in most of these definitions. And since almost everyone is trying to fit us into one universal standard, the reality is, we can never be the same. Our sameness is that we are all unique. That is why it is important to create yourself, uniquely.

What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? The funny thing is we can never run away from who we are. We are kind stuck with ourselves. But there is hope, they say the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. So do something. Don’t just accept a life sentence from an unqualified judge. Protest, go on riot and demand haki yako. Start doing something about the person you want to be.

Lets flash forward your life to an hour before your death. What do you would want to be FEEL? That is assuming you will know you have an hour to go.

Last Saturday, someone challenged me to write my eulogy. And I took up her challenge and started writing it. And honestly, I would that in case I lost my breath, or I walk with God and be no more like Enoch, what I have written down won’t be edited, but rather, new stories to fill in what I would have missed will be said. Of people whose life were reformed and of lives that my light shone unto, of warmth that I brought and of love that I gave.

And I want to challenge you also. Write down your own eulogy. Write it the way you want it to be, the way your story should and will be. And then start living your story. Start creating the character in your story, the starring in this great movie. And always remember, the starring in the movies never dies, most often than not s/he has to overcome a challenge to get what he wants.

So, regardless of who you see every day you look in the mirror, challenge the main character to do something to make the story of your life flow. It is never too late to start all over. Remember the past cannot be edited, but you can choose to write a different story from now henceforth. Start creating the person you want to become and let your eulogy come to life.

Beat the System, not Yourself

We are socialized to think that life is a linear affair. There is a set way we raise our kids and expect them to do certain things so that they can become something better. This is true especially when it comes to education. Here in Kenya you are expected to go through the 8-4-4 system in hope to get a good job after graduation.

From my experience, the system loses so many people in between who are left figuring what to do with themselves. There are no proper provisions for those who are cut off from the system. And as usual, they ‘hassle’ their way into life. Some make it while others find themselves stuck in the mess.

Though this is a sad situation, there is still hope for those who find themselves cut off from the system. And the way to survive is by learning how to beat the system at its own game; by developing something that cannot be ignored and by creating one own niche. But since most people believe so much in the system, once they get cut off they imagine that is the end for them and live like losers the rest of their lives.

I have observed people who are cut from the system at class eight and by learning how to do things with their hands, they earn a livelihood. I have also observed great minds that go to high school and come out as hooligans. Yet I have observed form four leavers who do not manage to go on and they learn a trade that becomes Business Empire. Yet again, some great minds join campus and lose focus and direction, to go back to the village and live the same life the class 8 drop out has been living.

Then we have those who graduate and get good jobs and then they just get lost in the system. Attending a burial of such a person, you don’t hear anything significant that came out of their lives.

My point is in one way or another, the system may not accommodate everyone. But when we are cut off the system, we shouldn’t beat ourselves. We need to learn how to maximize the minimum resources we have to reap the maximum benefits. At the end of the day, it’s not the strongest or the wisest that survives, it’s those who learnt to keep adapting to the changing circumstances of life that finish strong and better.

It so easy to live life miserably, beating ourselves because we didn’t make it to campus or because we didn’t get our dream job or something of such sort. It is also so easy to deceive ourselves that since we are in the system we are safe, but nothing is sure these days, you could lose your job, your business can go bankrupt, your husband can die, anything can happen. But that should not worry you as much as the inability to adapt to the unexpected.

The system may cut you off, don’t beat yourself. Beat the system. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how glorious the beginning was if you don’t get to the finish. And when it becomes hard to continue, never hesitate to turn to God for renewed conviction, courage, and strength. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” – Philippians1:6 NIV

Let’s be friends.

Is it just me or do you find it easier to connect with strangers than people you already know, especially if they are online friends. It so easy to chat online than to chat real time with people. How come?

What happened to friendship? I mean, nowadays we have to qualify friendship with term like; real friend, true friend, long term friend, necessary friend, seasonal friend, reasonal friend and beshte. And for those who don’t know, beshte is the kind word we call people who assume we are friends yet we deeply know they are just acquaintances or convenient people in our lives. Friendship should not be qualified. It just needs to be.

Human beings are social people but so are animals. It’s just a natural thing to want other people’s company around us. The challenge nowadays is who do you keep in your circles? It’s is very difficult to have friends nowadays, and that is why we end up qualifying them.

I have never been a good friend. It’s something I have been learning over time. When I was growing up I was very competitive. And I ensured I remain on top no matter what. And if for some reason my friend defeated me in something, I would stop being their friend. And so, I never made a long term friendship. I always envy those people who have developed and kept their childhood friendship into adulthood. I don’t have such. I was never a good friend, I was a selfish friend, and I only made friends to those I could gain something from.

I was reading Luke 5: 17-20. I was amazed by the kind of friendship portrayed. The story is about a paralytic man who when his friends found that it was crowded inside the house where Jesus was, they made a way through the roof just to make sure they get in. If it were me, I would have timed Jesus when he was leaving and avoid the hassle of going up the roof. 

This story demonstrates the quality of a friend that I want to be; that I can have so much faith in Jesus to do anything to bring my friends to him, that I will not have excuses not to do that which will add value to my friends. Look at David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20, they had a pleasurable friendship that was sworn with each other in the Lord. That’s the kind I am looking for.

Jesus while talking to his disciples John 15: 14-15. You are my friends if you do what I command, I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know his master’s business. Instead, I call you friends, for everything I have learnt from the father I have made known to you.NIV Even Jesus is looking for friends. He wants to work with friends not servants.

We are need a friend or two. And as I ponder on the issue of friendship, I am encouraging myself to be the kind of friend that I am looking for. Although I am still qualifying my friends, I hope one day I will not need to do that.

The Refining Furnace

Last night I had difficulties finding sleep. And so I kept my eyes open so that I could see* sleep as it’s passed by to my brothers room. He has the technology of finding sleep quite fast. I guess it’s because he sleeps with his eyes open. And as I was waiting, I had a chance to reflect on the matters that were in my heart. I don’t know if it’s just me but its kinda life is too fast I am forever catching up.

Last Monday I woke up and decided to pay mum an impromptu visit at the countryside and spend the whole day bumming around her fireplace. It was interesting because she couldn’t understand why I was not working that day and I kept telling her sometimes you spend a whole day in the office pretending to work and at the end of the day you realize you have done nothing. And I preferred a day spent with her. I had given up trying to catch up with the rest of the working nation.

My mum is one of the few people in my life that I get to be free with. And so I had a blast talking about this and that, about him, about her, about everything. She gets to have a way with stories. I can’t get enough of them. As we were discussing a disturbing matter in my life she mentioned; am going to translate it directly ‘the best gold is tried through fire’.

Last night those were my reflecting words. Why is it that, to whom much is given, much is required? I kept wondering. And why is it that the best gold has to be tried through fire. It’s because impurities cannot withstand high standards of fire. The refining process is through fire so that the final product can impress the smith. Unless the gold knows the end product of the process, it would not appreciate the furnace.

At times in life we feel overwhelmed by responsibilities and demands. We stretch to the limits and sometimes wonder whether it’s really worth it. We are always in a rush to catch up with the rest, trying to fulfill life demands and expectations. And sometimes we want to break down or call it quit. I know it. I have been there.

But I now understand that the process is worth it. If you are keen on the end product then you will appreciate the process. Whatever you are going through, whatever difficulties and challenges you find in your way, your responses will determine the final outcome.

Keep stretching, keep burning in the furnace, and always have this in mind. The best gold is tried through fire. And if you are afraid of fire, maybe you are just wood or grass. I know what I am; and I am fixated at what I am becoming.

I WILL PRESS ON

There is a goal before me set,

Which I have not attained as yet -

But by His grace I trust to reach

And live the life His Word does teach.

Henceforth, I will press on.

How shall His will be fully known

Except through His dear Word alone?

I'll read, and read, and read again

Until the Spirit makes it plain -

I must - I will press on.

"Set heart and mind on things above,"

Is written in His Word of love.

Lord, make it true in every realm,

Be thou the Captain at the helm.

I will! - I will press on!