Africans Deserve Credit Too

I read the article on ‘Giving Double Blessings at Christmas’ on the Semi (A Fuller Theological Seminary student Magazine)  and loved the concept and thoughtfulness portrayed by the writer of the article. The only thing I really could not agree with her on was her idea of what delights God, which was alluded to in the article.

As a native of Kenya my heart always rejoices when I hear of people giving monetary and other kinds of gifts to the people of Kenya, whether it be the Maasai or Kikuyu, we are all sons and daughters of Kenya. What pains me sometimes is hearing how those who are priviledged to give from the Western world speak of how delighted God must be because they have chosen to give generously to the poor in Africa. Yes, God delights in cheerful givers but at the same time it is a command from God to those he has given much to give much more in return.

In other words, we are expected to give. Giving is a priviledge it is not something to boast about.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48)

Those in the west and in the east (including Africa) should also remember God has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor (2 Corinthians 9:9).

Read the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 9

Africa has been a hurting continent, but so have all the other continents, we just hurt in different ways.

And Africans are more than capable of coming up with solutions to their own problems too, we don’t need to always be reminded of how helpless we are when in fact, there are orphans and widows all around the world in need of help.

Having said all that, I hope this in no way detracts from what all the selfless westerners and non-westerners are doing to help the continent of Africa. All I hope to add to your efforts is our own voice, because we deserve credit too. For we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Love Begins With Friendship

What will it take for me to find a friend i can trust completely. someone i can call when i need some encouragement. What will it take for someone to completely trust me?

There are some things i wish i could take back but this year would not be one of them.

2009 has been a great learning curve for me as pertains to matters of the heart.

After meeting some well meaning people across two continents I can honestly say labels are not enough when it comes to choosing who your real friends are.

I can not count the number of relationships I have had to end or have been ended this year due to a lack of trust or whatever else (maybe it was my funny accent, or uncontrollable anger???, or my lack of knowledge on American pop culture, or my pride/arrogance according to some, or lack of ‘Benjamins’, or it could very well be my sensitive or insensitive nature).

The other day someone posted a comment saying, I shouldn’t feel lonely after I posted on my facebook status thing I was alone in my apartment on christmas day, because according to them God was there in the apartment.

And so I ask myself, who should dictate how I feel-is it my friend on facebook, is it me, or is it God?

If i feel lonely is that a sin?

As a Kenyan male from the kikuyu tribe, I did go through the traditional male initiation rite into adulthood where one is circumcised at the age of thirteen. And for me to be really considered a man I had to make sure I did not cry when going through this painful exercise.

Men are not supposed to cry! at least according to my culture.

To show weak emotions is not something I am accustomed to.

But after years of living in denial, i realize the only way for me to find healing when I am in pain is by being honest about how I feel.

Sermons can inspire one to change but  a preacher who only gives good sermons and is not willing to risk everything for the sake of the gospel is only fooling him/herself.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I hate seeing myself and other christians living a double life.

Where we say one thing but live out our lives in a totally different way from what we preach. Nobody is perfect but it is equally true to say, nobody has the right to be misleading either.

It is Jesus who is quoted as saying, ‘But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’ (Mathew 18:6)

I have to admit I don’t wake up everyday willing to die for my ‘friends’ or my ‘church buddies’

But I want to.

I want to be able to call someone I like, a friend.  Someone I can feel comfortable sharing my troubles with and vice versa.

From my observations in the five years I have been living here in America I am becoming even more aware of what it is people look for when they want to be your friend.

It is sometimes an unconscious thing but as time goes by it becomes obvious to both parties what it is their so called friendship is lacking or is good for.

The funny thing is most people seem to underestimate what others who are different from them have to offer. And by different, I mean someone who is not accustomed to your way of life or culture.

It never hurts to learn something new but it does hurt to admit you are wrong.

But thats what following Christ is all about, admitting we are wrong. We have to admit we are wrong before we can truly learn from Him.

I am wrong for not admiting this in the first place, that I need the Jesus in me and the Jesus in you to be friends so he can fill my loneliness.

Like Solomon, the wisest King, once wrote,

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! (Ecclesiastes 4:10)

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)

Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man’s friend deserts him. (Proverbs 19:4)

Key lesson to learn: Never underestimate anyone, not even your ‘friend’.

I pray I can find my blessing in you.

Lets put our love in a friendship and not just in a love song!

Dying For Deeper Meaningful Friendships in 2010

my cell number: 626 376 0807 (looking for friendship-not casual dating

“In the journey of life just find someone as normal as you, if not a whole bunch.”

Christmas Feelings Come and Go

You can shed tears without it really affecting your heart. But even though you find yourself in a cold indifferent atmosphere it doesn’t mean God isn’t appealing to your emotions.

What we know in the mind comes through sense perception according to science.

“Reason always follows the state of the heart and what your heart is that is your reason.” – William Law

That is why we need a revival today. An atmosphere in which emotions can be expressed. Right emotion, not just cheap sentiment.

Because many today are turning away for they are in an atmosphere where hearts are becoming hardened. Yet, God appeals to our emotions and sense perceptions.

It was Huxley Miller that made this statement, “History looks back, science looks around, philosophy looks in but only faith can look up and beyond horizons of this present life to the mansions of God and eternity to the everlasting kingdom of heaven, which is as invocable as it is invisible.”

Faith is confidence in God.

Faith is not contrary to reason.

God appeals to the mind of man, he doesn’t ask us to take a leap in the dark.

God directs the gospel to all parts of man. The intellectual, emotional and volitional.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Faith is more than mental ascent or shedding tears, it is something we act upon.

Prayer

I know and accept your presence in my life God but my heart needs a revival. Financial insecurity and loneliness continue to plague my short existence here as reality hits in, mostly on Mondays!

So, I plead for your forgiveness and grace for my heart is wicked. And may you also please grant me the strength and courage to live and act by faith. Amen

MERRY CHRISTMAS

What Would You Say If I Offered You The Greatest Gift This Christmas

what would you say if i told you the only way for you to live an abundant life is by giving up your life-giving up your possessions and sharing everything you have. (understand nothing belongs to you)

what would you say if i told you people will be healed today by the name of Jesus of Nazareth!

and Salvation is found in no one else!!!!!!!

what would you say if i told you those who pray without ceasing and speak the word of God boldly will leave the world shaken

what would you say if I told you God listens to our prayers and will perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of His holy servant Jesus, we just need to live like He asks us to

what would you say if I offered you the greatest gift this Christmas?

Please Read ACTS 4

¹The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. ²They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. ³They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.⁴But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

⁵The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹He is
” ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.^[a]‘^{[b] 12}Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

¹³When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.¹⁶“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. ²²For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

The Believers’ Prayer

²³On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
” ‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.^[c]‘^{[d] 27}Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people^[e] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. ²⁸They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. ²⁹Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

The Believers Share Their Possessions

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), ³⁷sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Tell Dem Straight, stop entertaining!

Honor, Its Your Decision!

Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or a mistake, but you’re not supposed to question adults or your coach or your teacher because they make the rules. Maybe they know best but maybe they don’t. It all depends on who you are, where you come from.

(Didn’t at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up and joining with the other side? I mean valley of death, thats pretty salty stuff.) [This is referring to the poem below]

Thats why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you’re doing something, I mean any fool can have courage.

But Honor, thats the real reason you either do something or you don’t. It’s who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important then you have both Honor and Courage, and thats pretty good.

I think thats what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some too. (from the movie, ‘Blind Side’)

The Charge Of The Light Brigade

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns’ he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d ?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“The Charge of the Light Brigade” was first published in the December 9, 1854, issue of the London Examiner and was later included in Tennyson‘s collection Maud, and Other Poems, in 1855. In 1850, Tennyson was appointed by Queen Victoria to succeed Wordsworth as poet laureate of England. Although Victoria‘s reign is associated with the Enlightenment, a time when logic and reason were the celebrated ideals, this poem celebrates the native dignity of the uneducated cavalrymen, of whom Tennyson says, “Theirs was not to reason why.” Perhaps because it celebrates the common man at a time of social change that generally favored the intellectual, the poem was tremendously popular in its day, although generations that followed have remembered it, usually negatively, as a celebration of war’s glory. In Tennyson’s time, though, the poem had such all-around popularity that the poet was induced years later to return to the same battle, in a poem examining a much more successful assault by the British troops: “The Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava,” published in 1885’s Tiresias and Other Poems.

My Secret Santa

You can only enjoy the rain when you can sleep under a shelter

if you are in the midst of a storm this too shall pass

for the children across the world dying of hunger

searching for a love much deeper

a love that is not afraid to sacrifice and be crucified

for the sake of peace, hope and a life beyond this one

don’t promise them love just promise them Christ

because His promises they can treasure

He alone can give them love beyond measure

In our moments of weakness we can find strength in Him

He is our shelter from the rain

but the world still doesn’t know His name

so may you continue to reveal yourself to them

as we continue to share your gift

and LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE beyond these walls

we have created out of our own insecurities.

Psalm 121

The Perfect Song To End With This Year

Brandon Heath’s I’m Not Who I Was

I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I’m not who I was
I used to be mad at you
A little on the hurt side too
But I’m not who I was

I found my way around
To forgiving you
Some time ago
But I never got to tell you so

I found us in a photograph
I saw me and I had to laugh
You know, I’m not who I was
You were there, you were right above me
And I wonder if you ever loved me
Just for who I was

When the pain came back again
Like a bitter friend
It was all that I could do
To keep myself from blaming you

I reckon it’s a funny thing
I figured out I can sing
Now I’m not who I was
I write about love and such
Maybe ’cause I want it so much
I’m not who I was

I was thinking maybe I
I should let you know
I am not the same
But I never did forget your name
Hello

Well the thing I find most amazing
In amazing grace
Is the chance to give it out
Maybe that’s what love is all about

I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I’m not who I was

World Cup 2010 “Welcome to The Greatest Dance Showcase in South Africa”

2010 can not come any sooner because finally the world will take notice of Africa and what we are capable of achieving when we pull together and support one another.

The drums will be beating harder than they ever have before as the anticipation and excitement will be raised to an astronomical level.

Old rivalries will be rekindled and new ones will be evoked as the tension promises to keep us at the edge of our seats like Micheal Jackson’s “Thriller.” (I couldn’t resist. chuckle!)

The African Spirit is much braver than the heart of a lion and far richer than gold!

Unfortunately everything that is good about Africa has been exploited and taken from us but they have never taken our Spirit away!

Africa can be the shining light again in 2010, God willing, and we can all be a part of it.

Passion, Creativity and Class are the marks of any legendary artist and dancer. Now we have the stage to produce these qualities which will provide a platform for the marginalized people of the World, especially young orphaned Africans to build on and believe in.

So I urge you to join me and millions of other Africans in praying and promoting the true spirit of unity locked inside the “Motherland.”

South Africa Here We Come

Invisible Tatoos

we all fall in love sometimes, right (at least you’ve heard the expression before) but what about staying in love and being completely loyal to our spouses, family and friends?

how can that be taught?

how can that be lived out?

can you give me something real, something i can feel!

“lust can sometimes override trust”

if my life was a song it wouldn’t be about living in denial

these words are not just mine

but writing these words keeps me going

i like to fly more than ten feet high even when i am down

ignorance is no excuse

the only thing that can change the world is you

what you believe in

because there is hope within you

don’t give up on yourself

we all have invisible tatoos

its all a part of the fight to find true love

when you find it

you will finally understand how to stay in love.

“A New Swag”

“I’m transformed not who I used to be, you should get used to me.”

Today I have “a new swag.” A new walk, a new focus.

Its amazing how darkness can turn into light.

The days I sleep wondering where will my next meal come from, or why does it seem like I have to do this alone

have sometimes led me to become angry at God and angry at people, but those days are gone now.

Not gone forever but gone for now because I choose to focus on his son, Jesus and the price he paid for my sins.

He has transformed me into a new creation and now all I want to do is dance to this song,

‘Transformers’ by Tedashii ft. Lecrae and Trip Lee

I pray we can all find ‘a new swag’ and show the world that we are transformed!

swagger: to walk or strut with a defiant or insolent air

Love is always unconditional.