One day at a time

We all worry about the future. Rich people don’t feel rich enough and keep trying to earn more. Poor people long for the day when they will be as rich as the people they work for, or richer. Some people have given up on a better life and so decide that nothing will ever change for them. They see opportunities but are chained by indifference to their status. Their status is never updated, except on social media. Some who live in the slums leave their beds every morning in search of just enough. They have given up on abundance, they have succumbed to the reality of hand-to-mouth. Meanwhile, their teens are busy giving out their few shillings to operators of computer game shops. Their children have weird long names and their dressing is inspired by Jamaican musicians and dancers. The churches around them tell them about heaven, that it will definitely be a better place. They serve God gladly and wait for the next project to start so they can leave the slum for a while.

Most of us would be happy to have a sneak peek into the unknowns of tomorrow. I would love to know where I will be in the next 2-5 years. I would love it if God would appear vividly in a dream and do those burning bush things. Or better still, as we worship in church, God just pauses everything and I am the only one still within my senses, and then he speaks. But I also realize something scary. The people who receive such clear communication from God, receive extremely heavy assignments. So I am learning to be wise in my asking. I am not asking God for things that would cripple me. He knows my limits anyway. He knows how far I can go and what I can accomplish. And he knows the type of mission or location that would destroy me. He knows when to move me and when to keep me hemmed in.

So as I prayed, I made no promises. I didn’t offer my life as a martyr. I asked for wisdom. I asked that I would be able to discern God moments and to obey in small things. As I prayed, I started thinking about how far my mind travels. I need to stop living in the future. It will be greatly shaped by today’s decisions. But how can I make wise decisions if I am not living in the present. So I have decided to live in the present. I cannot do anything about the past. It already happened. But I can do a lot in the present, and I can be faithful with my present assignments. This will allow me to enjoy the daily benefits sent my way. One day at a time. I am living in the present, one day at a time, but I am doing so with the knowledge that I am shaping the future one day at a time.

STINKING FEET

In Kenya, many feet stink. Perhaps it has something to do with the heat, the dust and the fact that some people sweat a lot. Some people just have medical conditions that cause their feet to sweat more and thus stink more.

My football playing friends don't wash their socks often. Socks are used many times before they are washed. Because of the conditions of the football fields, there is always some mixture of soil, sweat and skin in those socks. Feet stink. And then there are some people who just don't care about socks at all. So they wear closed shoes in hot weather without socks and the result is a catastrophe.

Whenever I invite people to my house, I ask them to keep their shoes on. No matter how clean the house is. You can always clean a floor, but cleaning the air is something else.

At some point I lived in a place near Nairobi called Ongata Rongai. This place still has donkeys, goats, sheep, cows, stray dogs, chicken, open sewage flowing and lots of dust. There's also smoke from the really old cars, people burning plastic in the open, the smell of fries and chicken from nearby shops and the smell of dust all over.

When it rains, all these things come together in the mud and people walk through this.

So I have a rough idea of what it was like to live in Jesus' days. They mostly had open shoes and they walked through such conditions, or worse (definitely without the cars). At the end of their journey, they would get into somebody's house and the custom was that the lowest of the slaves was supposed to wash the feet of the people there.

For Jesus to wash such feet, he had to overcome not only the conditions that made the feet stink, he also had to overcome the idea that He, the master, was doing the job that the lowest slave was supposed to do. If the disciples were alone with Jesus, which of them would have washed his feet? We are told elsewhere in the bible that they were busy fighting for positions of power in the coming kingdom. Mothers even got involved trying to find good positions for their sons. Jesus did what no one else would have willingly done. No wonder Peter didn't want it to happen.

And Jesus did this already knowing that Judas was going to betray him. Judas spent time with the master, and yet left his presence to go do something evil. Being in the presence of God doesn't guarantee holiness. There are still decisions to be made in life. Transfigurations nd miracles are not the highlight of a Christian's life; transformation is.

Looking at the current generation of Christian leaders, I see many who genuinely want to serve God and also many who love to be served, to have the best seats, the best suits and to be treated like royalty. I pray that we would all take the attitude of Jesus and instead of turning away our noses, we would stoop down to wash stinking feet.  

CHURCH OWNERS

Judging from the success of prosperity preachers, the zeal for land, the mass following of the recently deceased Dr. Myles Munroe and many self-help ideas, it is evident that most people are looking for a sense of financial security. There is a lot of emphasis on upward financial mobility. We admire people who have “made it” and we also want to belong to that category or at least to get closer to owning our own home. Everyone wants to keep their families safe. Jesus did say that the poor would always be among us though. Most rich people would want the poor to be better off if only to delete their fear of being robbed. There are two classes of thieves though: those who steal to survive and those who steal to thrive.

Most churches that specialize in casting out demons and in planting seed satisfy a need. That is the best way to go about business. Identify a need and satisfy it. If that need doesn’t exist then some business models go ahead and create that need. The world has suffered many wars and in a way is war-fatigued. But the world is always at war in a spiritual sense. Those who belong to Christ see the war at play in their lives as they seek to execute God’s kingdom agenda. Those who do not belong to Christ seek to serve his purposes, although most of them do not know that they are serving him.

Everyone wants to be free, and yet again everyone wants to belong. We all want a freedom that is defined by us. We want to define who we relate with, how often, how long those relational meetings last, the depth of relationship and we would rather be the ones to cut off those relationships when things go sour.

The church in Kenya is generally full of American prosperity doctrine, Nigerian opulence, South African worship, tribal political affiliation and semi-demonic activity. How else would you explain people who attend church on Sunday and then visit witchdoctors, brothels, mistresses, affairs, nightclubs, wild parties and such during the other days? How would you fail to defend someone who spends all week stealing from work and participating in corrupt deals, when this person is your church’s highest contributor and a member of your elder’s court?

The recent exposure of a Kenyan preacher portrayed the church in a bad light. There seemed to be enough evidence to show that the church really cannot be trusted. But the editors weren’t totally biased. They did speak with the bishop of a family of churches and gave him a fair hearing. It is sad when such things happen but the bishop did make a valid point. He insinuated that if the people who gave the money did not exist then the con artists would not succeed. At the heart of the prosperity gospel is greed. Those who give desire money they didn’t work for, from a god who they expect to work for them. They trust the middleman who is the pastor. They see the middleman as the sign of things to come. He seems to be living the life they are all aspiring towards and so they do not complain when he gets richer. He slowly moves from their pockets to their hearts and by the time he is done with them, he is called dad and they gladly support their father from their pockets.

Those who do not follow Christ shouldn’t throw stones at the church in my opinion. If you don’t belong to that society then allow them to sort their own mess. If anyone has to interfere, the government should be that person, and only in the event that other mediators (church councils and affiliations) have failed. Those who belong to Christ should stop worshipping men. Blind obedience to a human being is never healthy. You will be used and discarded at the end. I believe that if your pastor really wants you to prosper then they will have a great interest in social justice. They will not spend lavishly while you attempt to sleep hungry. They will not send their children to overpriced schools as yours are sent home for lack of school fees. They will not fly first class while you walk home in the rain through dangerous alleyways. They will not wear designer suits that cost the same amount as three months’ rent in your neighborhood. They will not desire a special parking place but will instead park at the worst place to allow you to park at the best place. They will not be served by kneeling women, but will instead serve women brought low by shame and the circumstances of their existence. They will not prey on the wounded, promising them healing when they should simply take them to the hospital and have the church assist with the expenses, care and follow up. They will not eulogize criminals but will instead offer solace to the bereaved while giving admonition to the living. They will not tolerate habitual sin but will instead restore such people in a spirit of love, taking care so that they are also not absorbed into this vicious cycle. They will lead their people without fear, but with great humility, not lording their authority. It is after all, delegated authority, and the church ultimately belongs to Christ. No one owns a church, we are only members, and Christ owns the church.

Calming the Storm

Mark 4:35-41

And on that day, when the evening had come, he said to them, Let us go over to the other side. And going away from the people, they took him with them, as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind came up, and the waves came into the boat, so that the boat was now becoming full. And he himself was in the back of the boat, sleeping on the cushion: and they, awaking him, said, Master, is it nothing to you that we are in danger of destruction? And he came out of his sleep, and gave strong orders to the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be at rest. And the wind went down, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you full of fear? have you still no faith? And their fear was great, and they said one to another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea do his orders? 

The storm was furious. Jesus was asleep.

The Creator of the universe wasn’t troubled by a consequence of His creation. Seasoned seamen developed wobbly knees and powerless legs, too stressed to notice their abilities under such circumstances in the past. Or else they were simply overwhelmed by the suddenness and magnitude of the storm.

I enjoy sleeping inside a cosy bed in a warm room inside a well-constructed house as a storm rages outside. These guys were out at sea and a furious storm arose. They were probably used to such events at sea, but could not foresee a good outcome with regard to this level of storm.

They called out to Jesus. Jesus was a carpenter’s son, a teacher and a leader but not a sea-man or a fisherman. Strange, though, that seasoned fishermen would hinge their salvation on one who was not of their profession. Nevertheless, Jesus calmed the storm without much fanfare. He did not just reduce it, he completely quieted it. You could almost visualize the boat’s other passengers breathing heavily, at nothing! No more storm.

Jesus is well able to hush the storm that rages in your life, even now. He can quieten whatever storm you find yourself in, whether you brought it on yourself or if it was beyond your control. Instead of grappling with the steering wheel, why don’t you let Him take control?

Fear and Trust

Ps. 56:3-4

In the time of my fear, I will have faith in you. In God will I give praise to his word; in God have I put my hope; I will have no fear of what flesh may do to me. 

Ps. 57:1-2

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me; for the hope of my soul is in you: I will keep myself safely under the shade of your wings, till these troubles are past. I will send up my cry to the Most High God; to God who does all things for me.

It is normal to get scared during unclear moments in life. It is also normal to feel weak and defeated during these times in our lives. In these moments, we are more likely to be bent because of shame than to bow down to God in worship.

There are people who desire to see us fail and ashamed. Some of these people may even do things they would normally not do, just to achieve what they want to see in our lives. They may even be people who are very close to us such as colleagues at work, friends or family members. When you feel like you cannot take it anymore and you want to give up, this is the right time to run to God. As a mother hen protects her chicks under her wings, so does God protect us under the shadow of His wings. He keeps us there until the worst of the situation has passed over.

For some people, running to God when we have problems may be seen as an attempt to avoid dealing with hard situations in our lives, yet what sense does it make to fight a battle you cannot win when there is someone who is sure to win it and is more than ready to fight for you? In other words, stay under His wings when trouble comes and allow Him to fight it out for you. When it is safe to go out again, He will let you know.

Migration

After quite a few years on another blogging site, I thought it was time to relocate, time for a fresh page. So I decided to give some life to this dormant blog on wordpress. The site address is http://tonyouma.wordpress.com  

So many things have happened in the previous year and I have not been able to write as much as I would have normally wished to. I hope to be able to post more this year, especially since there's some stuff I have been working on. 

Stay tuned and stay blessed. 

Dreaming Dreams

A dream will set you on your way. Practice will prepare you for the stage ahead. Favor will open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Skill will allow you to play at your very best. Maturity will keep your nerves from failing you under the pressure of the big stage. Character will keep you among the great.

Most of us have some goal we would like to achieve. The goal may be so distant at the moment that it seems crazy to imagine that the dream would ever become a reality. Yet the dream must be nurtured, fed, fueled and prepared for. A man with just a dream is only at the beginning of his journey. He must put in the hours of practice needed and invest as many resources as possible to the achievement of that dream. Nothing good comes easy.

It is a tragedy to see so many start so well on the faith journey and eventually get trapped in sin when they are in the limelight. There is a better way, a long and sometimes hard journey to character-based longevity on the big stage. As the well-worn saying goes, "skill will get you there, but character will keep you there". As you prepare for your big dream, what is it that you are not yet doing that will prepare you for the day your dream comes true?