Think Differently!

Sometimes it feels like life has already been thought out for most people. I mean, must we do things the way they have always been done? I was telling some people the other day that I am tired of using other people's quote. Not in a selfish way, but I too should start uttering fresh quotable quotes. This story of wahenga walisema... needs a fresh start. I want to be a mhenga and start speaking to my generation.


It is time we started innovating. Bringing new stuff to this world. Creating our own future and not waiting for the future to be created for us. What kind of a country do we want? Let us create it. What kind of a generation do we want to be? Let us build ourselves. I am tired of a life already dictated, by tradition that has lost meaning, by religion that has no power, by a lifestyle that is empty and by a past that is just but past. 


And am not just tired,I am doing something to challenge the status quo.


We must start to design the life we want, we must start to shape the globe. 


It is time to THINK DIFFERENTLY.

Where Do I start?

How can a big man like me... start all over again?


The dilemma of Nicodemus in John 3 was not a religious quagmire but a struggle with reality. Nicodemus was a teacher of the law and had matured in the faith of his time, yet he lacked the ability to access the next level of the kingdom. And that is why he visited Jesus at night fearing people might see him and lose faith in him. The truth was Nicodemus had lost faith in himself.


And when Jesus told him that all he needed was to be born again, he lost the battle. By the way what happened to the story? Did Jesus lead Nicodemus to himself?


The thing about getting born again is having to start all over again. Nicodemus must have done everything required by faith for him to acquire the status as the teacher of law. Yet, he still needed much more. He needed to start all over again to align his life with the current doings and speakings of God which were activated by the coming of Jesus the messiah.


Born again is not an event. It is a process. A process of starting life all over again everyday. Living by the basics and learning how to access the new daily. To access the Kingdom everyday. Not assuming you know how to do it but rather asking God to show you the way everyday. Not approaching life from a place of competence but rather obedience. Operating with the current speakings of God.


It is also a journey. A journey of accumulating values. A journey of becoming. Becoming like Him. And yeah, Nicodemus reminds me even as a teacher of the law, I too I am a seeker of Life. And so I run in a manner to win the prize. Being careful not to teach others and be disqualified. Keeping in step with the Savior.


Lord, what would have me do today? That is my posture :-)

Show Me The Way I Should Go

I wish life was a one way street.... coz people like me would not get lost. But life is like a jungle, with many trails made by those who have gone before us. Just like Robert Frost once said.. we get to a junction and wonder which way to go... and as much as we tell ourselves that if this road leads us nowhere, we shall come back and take the other road, we can never really go back there. It is never the same.

Teach a child on the way he should go and when he is old... he will not depart from it...

Thinking about this verse, I have come to learn that it is not really the path that you take or the path that you are on, on the outside, but rather, it is the path you are on within you. The journey of life is an internal journey manifested through a physical life. At the end of life, how will you describe your journey? What will you have become?

And so, as we journey through life, be it on a career path or on a business path, or on a family path, or on a leadership path, the essence of the journey is that we may not lose the path. That we may not lose ourselves.

I'm Just A Fool.

"The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1a

When I do something wrong ignoring that God is watching.... Am just a fool.

When I choose to forget what His word commands.... Am just a fool.

When I worry... Am just a fool.

When I fail to trust God through a challenging situation... Am just a fool.

When I think I can do it alone..... Am just a fool.

Have I spoken to my heart?

And what did I say?

Be wise O Yee Fool!

Are You Zero Grazing Your Children?

Sometimes when I look at some disinfectant TVC I get so angry. What do you mean there are germs everywhere? I am not saying there are no germs, but they are not everywhere. Unfortunately we have been brain washed to the benefit of these products.

I think some of our children are reared like the broiler chicken. Indoors, lots of junk food, limited space to walk, artificial lighting and modern gadgets. Those too are experiences, but we are all sure what the products are.

I am happy I was born in my generation where I was allowed to graze freely. The things we did can kill the today’s zero grazed child. We ate some gum from a tree I have no idea what is the English name. And it was such a delicacy. We dug beetles from cow dung by urinating in their holes to force them out. We fished tadpoles thinking they were fish. We made mud slides during the rainy seasons. We ate the roadside stones when it rained just because they smelt aromatic. Oh, and we didn’t die.

I know things have changed. We don’t have forests or rivers or even space to let our children, we cannot trust them to roam around and we are too busy. When was the last time you played with your children? Outdoor?

We are limited I know, but I still believe it is a parents responsibility to create moments and experiences for their children. It is so unfortunate that most of our children have never seen a cow giving birth, or even a cow being milked. They can neither make fire nor make tea. They have never seen a tadpole leave alone a frog. It is a sad thing.

With all our excuses, we are lucky as a country that we can give such experiences to our children if we made deliberate efforts. A friend of mine Emanzo is doing such a great work with his Bush Culture Programs. And I agree with his concept. That unless we do something and create some of  these experiences for our children, they will never understand why environment is such an important things and they may never ever understand life as they ought to.

So this coming holiday, do something with your children. And if you need help, you can always contact me to help you create experiences for you children, experiences that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

www.teambuildingcompany.co.ke

What Is Your Claim?

If you look at brands they have a communication tagline. This tagline is what we call a claim. Now I was musing about it and I realized human beings do have taglines too. Why do brands have taglines?


Taglines are a condensed representation of the values or attributes a brand wants to be perceived as offering to the target audience. Unfortunately some of these claims are not realistic and neither are they true. But marketers know if they feed you with a claim over and over, your mind starts to think that it is a true claim and we start as we seek to fulfill the created demand and thus we end up consuming the brand.


Let us look at two big brands in Kenya and see what they claim to offer.

OMO : This is a detergent that aggressively fights for her market share. In the recent past they claimed that Dirt is good. Obviously that is a lie if dettol is to go with. Anyway, they would show kids learning how to ride bikes or learning how to play football and as they fall, they would get a badges of honor and that is how dirt is good. In the same campaign they used footballers (Samuel Etoo) to endorse the brand. Who doesn't want their kids to succeed? According to OMO let your kid get as dirty as they can, that is the way to succeed. In my words, let your kids get as dirty as they can, you will only end up using more OMO for the meantime. By the time you realize dirt aint good and your kids cloths are something else, OMO will have come up with another claim... Fights Dried In Stains... who is laughing now?


Let us look at another brand


Coke: Always Refreshing. Life gets monotonous and boring for most of us. And as we engage with what we do we get drained and dehydrated. Knowing water is the best beverage to hydrate, Coke tells you to get refreshed always and so they model that bottle adorned with ice cold sweat that makes you crave for one. That is the claim that water no matter how healthy cannot beat so easily. And that is why it is easy to grab a cold soda over a cold glass of water. Then realizing that people are becoming more health conscious, BRRRRRR came in the picture. We want something exciting to shake us from the inside. And that campaign was a success. And before we realize there is nothing BRRRR about a cold coke, they came up with now what is here... open happiness. Now what is this? Ok, this is fantasy. And subconsciously we are looking for some open happiness... Something liberating, something beyond. Are we still talking about quenching thirst? You tell me...


In a nutshell, that is the power of a tagline, a claim.


Most human beings unfortunately do not have a conscious claim. But of yoy stick around a person you will hear something they say way too often.. Let me sample a few, life is hard, life is boring, I can't do that. I wish I was... I wish I had, If only, I will be happy when... Someday I will...


I believe your claim whether conscious or unconscious will define what you offer life and how your surrounding configure themselves for you. As earlier said, a claim may not be true, but as we consistently engage with it, it starts defining so many things for us.


Having thought about this, my claim for this season is living a great story.

So, what is your claim?

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