LIONS & KINGS

Kiara didn’t want the responsibility of being queen. It was a heavy burden for her to bear, or so her young
mind thought. She wanted to be herself. To run wild and free. The kingdom was the last thing on her mind.
But the words that her father had just shared with her still rung in her head. “It’s who you are. As long as
you live here it’s your destiny”
She could choose to run away and escape the responsibility of the kingdom but you see it’s in her blood.
She couldn’t escape it. It was written in her DNA. She was her father’s daughter, the daughter of a king.
And it didn’t matter the distance that she could put between herself and her home. She was who she was.
I love Lion King the animation. It takes a true fan to notice that I just quoted the 2nd movie in the trilogy.
I’ve always shared with my friends that the 1st and 2nd movies in the Lion King series carry a lot of spiritual
truths. I could go on and on about it but I challenge you to go watch the trilogy.
Anyway, like I was saying, Kiara had a huge responsibility that she would eventually take on after her
father, Simba. Yet this is the reality for most of us who are called children of God. Our Father, the King is
giving us the kingdom alongside all the resources that come with it. Our response? Run away.
Often times we become overwhelmed by what it means to run a kingdom and we would rather turn the
other way and seek our own conveniences. Fear can be crippling. Fear of what lies ahead. I once read a
quote that say “The problem with us is not that we are afraid of being inadequate, but that we are more
powerful beyond measure” paraphrasing of course.
But why do we let fear cripple us? I would like to submit that it isn’t because we are afraid of failure but
because we are afraid that our success will be huge. This level of success translates into renewed
responsibility. And just like Kiara, we would rather have the freedom to run around and be “ourselves”
The problem with that is that we lose out on true life as God intended it. As much as we may want to deny
it or escape it, we are our Father’s sons. The kingdom is ours and we need to be concerned about its goingson.
Self has always been the biggest enemy of real dominion as God intended it for us. But thank God
there is a remedy for it. Jesus Christ.
Are you suffering from self-righteousness? Jesus is the remedy. Self-esteem issues? Jesus is the remedy.
Selfishness? Jesus is the remedy. Self-absorption? Self-abasement? Any adjective that has self before it?
Jesus is the remedy. He makes us co-heirs with Him and gives us the power to reign with Him. The kingdom
is now ours and that shouldn’t scare us. It should empower us. It’s an opportunity to really matter, to make
a difference and impact millions of lives.
So what’s stopping you? Are you afraid? Don’t worry, you are a king. Will people criticize you, it’s ok, a lion
never lost sleep over the opinion of bleating sheep. Do you feel like you don’t have the resources? All the
resources needed are found within the kingdom. And guess who holds the kingdom? You guessed it.
So I charge you again. Get up and take the rulership. It is far sweeter to be a king than to be a slave. Ooh,
and if you are worried about finding yourself, believe me you will come to the conclusion that you are a
king.

Satisfying Single-hood: Why is staying single so hard?

A thought crossed my mind this morning. How comes living single is so hard? Is it designed to be that way. Was it a way for God to make life difficult for us as men (yes...both men and women) and at the same time get a chuckle out of it. I don't think that was the intention. How do I know this? Well, Jer. 29:11 says it all.
So then with that in mind, why is it so hard. Why would God, who has great plans for us, let us go through such adversity and still expect us to enjoy the process.

Probably the answer to tho this lies somewhere else. Somewhere we ain't looking. Shift your focus away from God and place it where it truly needs to be. On us. both ourselves as individuals and the people around us. You see, God has given us all we need in life, so that when He says we should enjoy every situation and praise Him in it, He knows we are able to do it because He didn't leave us in lack. Paul had a very good grasp of this concept when he said, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:12-13).

Now, for arguments sake let's say being in lack is being single and having plenty is having that someone (and trust me it is plenty...of everything). Whichever situation you find yourself in, the strength of Christ in you is sufficient to help you be content in that situation. So now having absolved God from any blame thereof (not that El Gibbor ever needed a lawyer), let's look at the real issue. Man.

God looked at man and saw that it wasn't good for him to be alone. So He mad him a helper. There was a purpose. God saw a need and He sought to fill it. Over the years, man has evolved. And I don't mean the Darwinian kind of evolution. I'm talking about Psycho-social evolution, What was relevant a few centuries ago isn't anymore. This shows a great deviation from what God originally intended. He meant for a woman to be a helper to a man and together they would create an intimacy that completes both of them. Over the year that has changed. A wife has morphed from a helper to property to a baby carrier and most recently a status symbol. A married man is highly esteemed for all the wrong reasons. Now I'm not saying that a man should not be esteemed for having a wife but it should be as an acknowledgement of the blessing that the wife brings.

This "negative" aspects of marriage cause society to put pressure on those who aren't in relationship. They feel like they are missing out on something that they absolutely MUST have. The picture of marriage painted by couple doesn't do much to help. It's a rosy picture that was once described to me as "sun, sand and sex" when the reality on the ground is "thunderstorms, weeds on the beach and obligation".

I feel like I should stop there for today. I think I've said enough. On the next post I will give you my views on what around us other than ourselves makes it hard to stay single and content.

Satisfying Single-hood: The Truth about Single-hood

Single-hood is a gift. Anything from the Father is good. Therefore, single-hood is a good gift from the Father of lights. He is the only one who can give good gifts. I know many people have wrestled with this concept, myself included. How can being lonely when everyone else is in a relationship be a gift? Well, in light of the kind of energy and sacrifice it takes to sustain a relationship and by extension , a marriage, believe me single-hood is a huge present from someone who truly loves you. Don't get me wrong marriage is also a beautiful thing. I don't intend to downplay its importance. However, Paul says that whoever is single, let them remain single.It will save them a lot of trouble.

Being single gives you the opportunity to pursue a lot of things that you wouldn't be able to do if you were in a relationship. It's easier for a single guy to pack his bags and leave for an undisclosed location than it is for his counterpart in a relationship. The guy with a chic would have to consider the time that he will be spending away from his significant other. Worst still if he is married, he isn't going anywhere without his wife signing off on it.

I once saw a post on Facebook. It was two parallel pictures that looked the same yet had a fundamental difference. The first had a guy with a chic, empty wallet and one satisfied chic. The next had guy without a chic, still an empty wallet but one pimped up car. Well the analogy is messed up but you get the picture. Maintaining a relationship can be an expensive affair sometimes. You don't ALWAYS get to do what you want with your money and other resources. You always have to wager between that nice suit you want to buy or giving your chic cash to go to the salon (for those guys who see nothing wrong with that). Going on holiday to coasto or dinner date with the Ms. It more often than not comes do what you would like to do vs what you need to do.

Now this is in no way saying that being in a relationship is a drag. Far from it. It's a beautiful thing. If it weren't the number of people who desire to be in one would be far much less than it is currently.  Sometimes the beauty of being in a relationship might overwhelm a single person. You might feel the pressure around you when everyone you know is either in a relationship or getting married. You might even feel more pressured when couples ask you when you are getting into one or what you are waiting for. I have experienced all this and believe me when I tell you it ain't fun. It can take you to the points of jealousy when you see the least likely people hooking up with someone.

But there's good news. Single-hood is the normal. Everyone is born single. So this shouldn't cause us to fret. We are normal when we are single. Its the original state.Another thing worth noting and probably the most important bit is that you aren't alone. You might feel lonely but you are never alone. There's a Friend who sticks closer than a brother and He knows what you are going through. In fact He's the one who gave you that gift. When someone gives you a present, its usually for a purpose. If the "gifter" saw you misuse his gift he would be disappointed and regret even giving it to you in the first place. Similarly if someone gave you a present that took a lot of thought and energy and all you did was say "wow, this present is nice, but what I really want is that one" they would be crushed. It means you don't value the present at all.

Single-hood is for a period, a season. For those who are destined for marriage, a time will come when you will leave it and head toward marriage, In the same way, when a child is young he outgrows certain toys and starts looking forward to other. Eventually when he grows to be a man, he starts to play with "big boy toys", Ducatis and BMWs as it were. What I think we should consider in our single phase is how to make the best of it. Really use it to full potential. In so doing that we should always aim to please God in our single lives and not live abhorrently thinking that we will live a satisfying life when when we get into a relationship. 

Introducing...Satisfying Singlehood

I haven't written in a while.I mean i haven't done prose in a long time. I am a poet/spoken word artiste too, and apart from playing with similes and rhyme schemes I can't remember the last time I did this. This is not an excuse to give you have baked goods. That having been said, I have decided to get back on the horse and start writing, again.

I have been on a long road of finding my purpose in life. There is a funny saying I heard someone mention. "If a Toyota wants to know why it was made it can't go to D.T Dobie. It has to go to Toyota Kenya". Similarly I'm on a path to find out my purpose and the first place I can think to look is the One who made me. My Creator. My Father. My God.

I can't say I have reached the end of my journey. I'm still pursuing my purpose. So I have to say off the cuff that the stuff I share in my subsequent posts are purely based on personal experience and I'm picking up as I go along. So feel free to interject. It's a welcome reaction. In fact it's the expected reaction.

I once attended a conference called Shift and someone said if you are unclear about the next step God is calling you to, follow the last command He gave you. For a long time now I have been feeling as though I cant hear God's next command, especially with regard to my purpose. This has led me to take a step back and examine what His last command was. It's found in a number of verses but most predominantly in 1 Thessalonians 4:3,7. Click here to read the text

I should probably mention that I am a single guy in my mid 20s. This very fact qualifies me to be up against some really highly stacked odds as far as holiness & purity are concerned. And this is the area that my posts will be focused on. How to honor God in my single-hood, with my singleness as I pursue holiness and purity.

A friend of mine called Ernest when quoting a certain preacher said "when you pursue purity, purpose will haunt you." That's exactly what I intend to do. Pursue purity and holiness, and in the process share it with the people who will read these posts. Like I said, I'm no expert. I haven't made it yet. So this is a pretty raw account of a journey to discovering self. And I'm quite excited about it.

Old tales, new books and philosophy

I love those stories that are set in a quaint little village somewhere beyond the forest and the hills. You know, those villages where everyone knows everyone and the latest news in town, or should I say in village, is baba boyi’s (not real name) goat giving birth.

In this village everyone looks forward to the market day because it comes once a week. There’s always a village dance at the end of the month or perhaps at the end of the harvest where Kinoti, the village black sheep (again not real name), is sure to cause a scandal that involves one of Kibonge’s 9 daughters (he also has 15 sons. I’m sure the name gave him away)

In this village, girls don’t know about their marriage day until it arrives and everyone else knows about it when they see her carried off shoulder high and screaming by a group of burly young men, straight from the river where she was fetching water to her new matrimonial home. The only person who knows about the impending nuptials is the girl’s aunt, who was sent ahead of time as a scout to see what kind of family the boy hails from.

These are just subtle pointers of the literary brilliance that we were exposed to at an early age growing up. The things that pass for literature in this day and age makes me wonder what ever happened to the great minds that used to pen down great stories that inspired most of us to even dare to dream to become writers.

In an age where Kindle, Apple and Barnes & Noble eBook readers are the norm, I must say I am still a sucker for good old paperback. The smell of a new book is just divine, only rivaled by the smell of the first drops of rain kissing the dry earth. I don’t know what it is but there’s something about flipping through the pages that just causes my heart (and mind) to leap in joy like a calf that just saw its mother at the end of a long day.

 I digress, back to my story. These kinds of tales make me ponder over my current situation. You see, we recently moved from my childhood hood, easich, (and not the one that is frequented by unruly no. 9 matatus and characterized by rivers of sewage in the middle of the road, but the saner Sec. 3 complete with street names and all). We now live in the more relaxed Mwiki area of Kasarani. Nothing ever happens here. Needless to say I have been the object of jokes from my friends with taglines such as “unaenda diaspora” “usisahau kununua yoghurt na maindi choma njiani” “I hope umeshabook ticket ya kuenda home” and my personal favorite “umepita ile board imeandikwa ‘you are now leaving Nairobi’” which I used to pull on my boy Kafera who live in Juja. (It had a better effect when it was him).

Well, funny thing is I have come to appreciate my current residence with its serene ambience. I like to think of it as a leafy suburb by virtue of all the evergreen banana stalks (did I mention I love bananas) and poorly but existent manicured hedges. However, the one thing that gets about this place is how everyone knows everyone (reminiscent of our village tale, eeh) and is privy to the goings on of other people’s lives. This is courtesy of the numerous housewives that are left behind as their dutiful husbands go off to make a living. I heard it said sometime back that Umoja is the estate of single mothers and divorcees (not my words), that must make Mwiki the estate of housewives; you can quote me on this.

Despite all the excitement that is clearly Mwiki (yes, that was sarcasm, for all the simpletons), one has to find ways of amusing himself. That’s why after this I will find myself engaged in a philosophical debate with my gold fish on the possibility of him drowning in a bathtub full of water. (We just finished the one on the sound of the left hand clapping)

Little Miracles

"Walivaa high heels ndio wafike heaven, nilibend knees nikatouch heaven"
This is what happened to me recently and Juliani's 'bahasha ya Ocampo' came to mind, emphasis on the second part of the line.
See, I found myself in a situation that had me in between a rock and a hard place. I felt like a cat that had been backed up into a corner and the first reaction was to fight back, claws out to assert my position. I mean, it's the only rational decision, right? Wrong!

This would have only deepened the wounds that were being inflicted on my ego and my psyche. It's in situations like these that a wealth of friends comes in handy to lift you out of the quagmire that you are in. I am lucky,or should I say blessed, to have this wealth of amigos that are well rooted in the WORD. After much encouragement from them, and a good selection of music that I have been listening to, I knew what I had to do. It's with this conviction that i fell to my knees(in the words of Jaci Velasquez) and called out to my Lord.

Now, I have always been told that  God has 3 ways to answer our prayers: yes, no and wait. Well let me say I received His "yes" and the urgency with which it came left me in no doubt but to be still and acknowledge that He is GOD. In less that 20 minutes I had received my answer and the predicament that I was in had been resolved.

Often we look for large astronomical signs to justify the existence of miracles and ultimately the presence and greatness of God in our lives that we forget it is the little things that happen that remind us that God indeed has a great influence in our lives. In the views of Mother Theresa and our very own Wangari Maathai, it is the little things that count.

Roadtrip to the Heart

Wow!!! I  haven't written in a while so this feeling is mildly new. But i guess they say there are somethings you never forget, it's like riding a bike (that never made any sense to me,seeing as i took a nasty fall with a bike after taking a 2 year hiatus from cycling). So where to begin...hmmmm. A friend of mine, well a recent acquaintance, told me that whenever you go on a journey, you learn something new about yourself. And indeed if the past weekend is anything to go by then I guess I totally agree with him. Who knew an innocent road trip out of town could be such a life changing experience.

So I sit here in my pair of boxers tapping away at my ancient keyboard and I can safely say to you  unless you do not want people knowing anything about you...keep your mouth shut. You see words are a window to a person's soul, a lesson i had to learn the hard way this weekend.

I found myself in the middle of nowhere (read Naivasha) with a group of oddly selected......earthlings,for lack of a better word. Throw in a little booze, testosterone and other things(take a wild guess) and this is sure to be a recipe for disaster. I was looking at this peculiar gathering of people who had weirdly enough bonded over books, overpaid writers and the smell of hay( well in this case freshly slashed grass,we are in Kenya after all) and couldn't help but think to myself  this will be one for the record books, I remember telling one Kafera...and indeed it was.Joel took record.
So you see the liquid refreshments started pouring freely and one couldn't help but let the inhibitions held previously just wash away with every sip,gulp and chug.

Anyway enough with the rants and raves(clearly I can give the ranting Swede on Sheep in the Big City a run for his mulla).Where was I...in this wilderness expedition I came to discover a lot of things about me that I didn't know before. Let it be put on record that I said girls are nothing but trouble,more on that later.
See if you will do the proverbial "kufungua roho" to a chic u like, make sure u are of sound mind and body,non of that stuff that disciples of Mututho take should be remotely detectable in your system. Having said that, it would be wise to add that the contents of this work have been edited to suit the story line of the writer (writers license,don't I just love it).

Anywho what started out as a fun weekend ended up in being the most regrettable weekend of my life. True story, or is it. See a psychologist friend of mine(names withheld to protect their insanity) told me that if u keep too much anger pent up eventually u will explode in a sudden burst of rage...did someone say Naivasha weekend. So that's my story,it aint much but i just thought I should share it seeing as everyone is going crazy on the blogging thing.

Three things I learnt from this weekend- One, I need to get mad more often. Two, alcohol and "kufungua roho" don't go well together and finally, girls are trouble...I promised you more on that but quite frankly I might get into trouble for opening my trap,it's gotten me into trouble before so let's just leave it at that