The Love-Seeker

We all desire some kind of affection in life. Some of us will pay for someone’s time and attention and call it a date, others will do all kinds of things (some of these things being quite strange) to get the coveted response.  Some girls will sleep with a man to earn his affection, whereas a man could give all his affection to a girl in order to get her to sleep with him. In a family setting, a woman may put up with a man’s violent and/or adulterous ways in order to keep him, or to save face. Some women prefer the beatings and verbal abuse over the ignominy of divorce or separation. Other women prefer to consider their children’s well-being over their own, especially where the man is the provider.

We live in a society with so many broken-hearted people that it is a miracle we don’t fall apart. So many people have horrendous testimonies of hostile growing conditions and ungodly goings-on in their homes that we wonder if there is still hope for this aptly named wicked and wounded generation. Wicked because Christianity has become something to be peddled in a get-rich quick scheme and the church leaders cannot muster enough spiritual muscle to effect the changes we would want as a ‘Christian nation’. It is embarrassing to note that the church leaders in Kenya have lost the power they once wielded and are these days considered to only provide an opinion rather than direction. We are wounded in the sense that we are walking emotional zombies, dead inside but beautifully made up on the exterior. We are a case study of white-washed tombs, looking presentable on the outside but reeking of death and decay on the inside. So many failed relationships, broken promises, embarrassing moments and the like have turned us into people who will accept anyone and anything since we have lost the true measure of our value in the eyes of God.

So we find a situation where we are all seeking for some kind of affection, and those who don’t care anymore try their best to live in emotional isolation, never letting people come too close for fear of being hurt. Building up walls does help in keeping enemies away, but it keeps incredibly valuable people away too. We run the risk of developing one system that caters to all categories of people thereby throwing out the baby with the bath water. The love-seeker has to turn to the Perfect Lover. He is the One who loves with an everlasting love, and will never leave us nor forsake us. His love goes straight to our foulest and most secret catacombs resurrecting the deadness of our emotions and restoring lifeless hope. He went through what we go through and can identify with more pain than we could ever suffer. He knows, He understands and He is willing. He is Jesus. He is the Lover of the love-seeker.

The Diguna Champions League

This league started in 2008, in February and ran for only five Sunday afternoons. There were only six teams and the players were all aged 12 and under. Naturally, a few older kids sneaked through the system due to their frail bodies, but the league was generally a success, especially as a pilot project for days to come. Most of our expenses came during the prize giving time, when we dished out uniforms to the winning team.
A few years later, the league has grown by leaps and bounds and where we had about 50 kids on our compound every Sunday afternoon, we now host 200 players and many more spectators on game days. We enjoy a good working relationship with our security men here at the Diguna Mbagathi station and we have formed many healthy friendships with the kids from our neighborhood and the greater Ongata Rongai area.

It is an amazing thing to have an event which attracts young people faithfully every weekend, something that even church can’t accomplish without making most people feel guilty. For some of the kids who come to play at our league, we are the only contact they make with anything close to church, even though our sharing is limited to the pre-game talk and to one-on-one sharing. We do more friendship evangelism than anything else and we trust God for changed lives. We also teach integrity because we strive to stick to the rules we set for the matches. Sometimes, a team may feel wronged by the officials but we normally try to find an amicable solution to their grievances. Perhaps the lesson most have learnt from us is that we genuinely care about them and we want to see them grow. They also know that anyone who is found out to be overage causes his team to lose points and goals and risks being disqualified from the league.

This August, we are planning to host a two-day girls/ ladies’ football tournament and we look forward to the opportunity to also give them a sporting chance. This will also be a unique opportunity for anyone or any organization that believes in our ladies to partner with us to make this event a success. The tournament will be held at our sports field and will be on a six-a-side format, since this is what we are best known for.

The journey goes on, who knows; we might even end up with a football academy here. We are doing everything we can and trusting in God’s timing and in His plan.

RECONNECTED

It is amazing how God puts things together in our lives. One moment could hold so much pain and distrust and the next is loaded with blessings far beyond our capacity for storage. I have had a bittersweet week and my analysis of the past few days’ events leaves me wondering just how God works things out.

To begin with, I haven’t had the excitement of being in ministry for a while now, even though there have been many things that have occupied my time. It is amazing how one can become so accustomed to doing ministry that the work could actually get done without the minister being wholly involved in the actual activities. What I am trying to say is that I discovered that I had been doing ministry for the last few weeks because I could, not because I was compelled by my desire for the work of the Lord in the lives of those I was ministering to. It has been a saddening experience to discover that the work can go on in a physical sense without my spirit and His Spirit being involved, and this is the very real danger that many ministers and ministries could find themselves in.

I went for school ministry to Mwingi last week and what transpired brought me back to my knees. I had agreed to preach for the whole weekend challenge at a school, yet I hadn’t experienced a real breakthrough of the Word of God that week and was operating mostly on my previous sermon preparation abilities. Thankfully, we had a car accident and this jolted me to the reality of my low spiritual levels. It was a great opportunity to get right in my spirit with God and He sorted me out wonderfully. I was able to share for the weekend and also for the week that followed. It was an amazing transformation for me and I learnt a lot as I prepared the sermons and also as I delivered them.

I had another opportunity to teach at a schools’ rally in Nairobi and the response from the students wasn’t too enthusiastic. I returned home wondering if I had delivered the message as properly as I should have. I was also annoyed that the guitar I had borrowed refused to work and I thus couldn’t sing for those in attendance. I seriously need to get a good concert guitar, because it was not the first time I had been failed on stage by a guitar. I left that particular meeting with mixed feelings and was grateful for a traffic jam on the way back to Diguna. I slept for most of the journey home and was back on time for the Bible study group. I rested a little in my room then joined in the Bible study and 1 Peter 4 was up for a very interesting discussion. We raised money for milk and biscuits and then Floice and I prepared tea for the group. This Floice is one amazing lady, so young yet such a gifted leader and an awesome person to have around. She makes my work so much easier, it’s somehow as if she is another me.

I had been invited to sing on Sunday at the ACK St. Faith Ongata Rongai during their worship afternoon and I was there on time. They graciously allowed me to sing early so that I could leave to attend to my duties at the Diguna Champions League. Only one match had been played before the heavens opened and put an end to the day’s fixtures. Now we have to source for an extra day to have all those matches played. No complaining though, because we need the rain and we thank God for it. Now back to the normalcy of life, but also to the absolute unpredictability of my forthcoming events, now that I am RE-CONNECTED.

Changing Yourself

Scripture Reference: John 1:43-51 (emphasis on v.46)

What can the world expect from you? Try for a moment and think beyond your immediate circle of friends, your parents and siblings or the people you live with and relate with closely. Try and think CNN, BBC or Al-Jazeera. Try and think Jeff Koinange and the Bench on Capital Talk. Think headline news. Think Mohammed Ali doing a special feature on you, albeit this time for all the right reasons. Could you visualize yourself getting a Nobel Prize for anything other than being the fastest runner when a challenging situation arises in your life?

We are so preoccupied with the little things in life that we sometimes fail to get the bigger picture. We are not supposed to overlook or disregard small matters, because the Bible warns us against despising the days of humble beginnings.  This, however, should not lead us to lose sight of the big picture. There is so much more to life than your obsession with the instant gratifications your body craves. You should not end this life without imparting some measure of your genius to the next generation. Leave us with a reason to miss and celebrate you when your time is up. As one Christian rapper asks, ‘are you living, or slowly breathing to death?’

Jesus lived His life far beyond the expectations of His surroundings or the family business. He was more interested in Kingdom business. Barrack Obama came from very mixed situations in life to become the most powerful man on the planet. There are so many people who have come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds to become world changers. Such people have certain characteristics and for you to become a world changer, you should give some consideration to these characteristics.

1.       Know your place in God and your purpose on this earth. Sort out your eternal destiny before you embark on any other destiny. Sometimes we are so busy doing things we are sure will fulfil us and yet are so far from the plan of God. Proverbs 16:25, there is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is death. Jesus knew His place and His purpose on the earth. What on earth are you here for?

2.       Know where you are. The Chinese saying states, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I am inclined to believe that before you take that first step, you should undertake a proper analysis of your situation.

a.       What are you presently involved in?

b.      How well are you carrying out your current occupation?

c.       What could you do better?

d.      What should you stop doing and what should you start doing?

3.       Know where you want to go. Without vision, people perish. A visionless life is laden with mishaps, accidents and regrets. You not only end up confused, you also compromise the lives of others. A son or daughter who is a drug addict eats into the finances and mental peace of the entire family. Those who have such a family member, relative or friend understand the anguish that a family goes through when they have an addict around. Jesus could see the cross; it was an unpleasant vision, but a vision nonetheless. He wasn’t too excited about it, but He was sure it was His path and He took it. When Peter tried to dissuade Him, He rebuked the devil out of him. That’s how passionate Jesus was about His purpose. The means was painful, but the reward is eternally worth every wince.

4.       Have a plan to take you from where you are to where you want to go. Stop acting as if you will die tomorrow. It is true that no one knows the day of their death unless some Old Testament prophet has been sent to tell you. Meanwhile, live full out for God, honouring Him with your time, your resources and your affection. Let all your worship be consumed by Him. As you do this, write out a plan as if you will never die. Have a monthly, yearly even decade long plan. Some people have plans for the day to the week to the month to the quarter to the year to the fifth year and so on. What are the goals you intend to achieve by the end of this session for example? Why are you in this place listening? Why are you taking notes, or why are you not taking notes? Do you have such a brilliant memory? If you have never thought this through, make sure you begin today. Take stock of your life and write down what you feel your priorities are. Talk to older reasonable people who will assist you in drafting an initial action plan for your life. Pilots don’t go asking advice from farmers, and farmers don’t go asking for advice from mathematics professors, so ask the relevant people relevant questions.

5.       Evaluate your progress from time to time. Having written goals is awesome but meaningless if regular evaluation is not done. Goals are set to be met, not merely to be aimed at. Some people prefer realistic and achievable goals while some argue that goals should be much bigger than us so that we have something to always work towards. As a football player, I prefer a goal I can aim at, shoot at and score into. I desire targeted results being met and this is what I would personally recommend. If God wants to show off, then He will give you goals only He can accomplish. Otherwise, He never calls us into what He will not accomplish through us. If your goals are not being met, then you should check whether the goals you have set are too high for you or whether you are not doing enough to reach them. There may be other reasons for this failure to meet set targets, but you will find that most of us fail to reach our targets because we are basically lazy. If you are regularly meeting your goals before the set time, then you should probably up the level of your targets. Don’t rest on your laurels; as long as you are alive, there is something you are supposed to be doing. By the way, I am not suggesting that you never rest, just don’t allow cobwebs to be built on you.

6.       Thank God regularly. It is God who gives us life and the ability to set, work towards and achieve our goals. Have a healthy reverence for Him and pride will not get a foothold in your life. He will reveal the dangers lurking around corners and will make a way of escape for you. You can do this through prayer, regular study of His word and fellowship with other brethren. No man is an island and whoever is an island has nothing growing on him or her for that matter.

7.       Get Godly Company. Stop hanging out with chickens if you are an eagle. Don’t look down on people but don’t emulate the wrong people either. You can always learn from anyone, but this doesn’t mean that everyone has to be your teacher. Be selective with those you get counsel from. Learn to differentiate between a doctor and a quack, a professional and a con-artist, the real deal and a real hustler. You will make decisions based on the advice you receive from people so make sure it is the right advice. Don’t throw your life away, it is far too precious. Don’t allow good advice to be wasted on you. Implement proper principles learnt from people. Don’t ever let anyone regret sharing their expertise with you. Instead, give them a reason to boast, let them tell anyone who will hear that they are the ones who taught you. When you make it to your goal, give them proper credit and pass on the good advice to those who will be looking up to you.

Conclusion

Nathanael wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth. This has to be the greatest understatement in all of history, for the Master and Creator of the universe was the person he was referring to. Nazareth was not that well known for greatness, and maybe your neighbourhood or circle of friends or school or organization may not be known for greatness, but you can be the turning point. Jesus is referred to as Jesus of NAZARETH! You can be the one to put your hood on the map of the world. Barrack Obama put Kogelo on the map. Can anything good come out of you?

God and jogging

I have been going for morning jogging again lately. I guess that it's a trend that keeps repeating itself. I get the psyche to start running, then I get somehow lazy and I eventually give up altogether. It is not easy motivating oneself to wake up early in the morning when you would rather sleep for a few more minutes. I have had varying degrees of success with my previous efforts at morning runs, and I have also had myriad reasons for my efforts. Invariably, the main reason in the past has been to stay in shape and to keep the ever-increasing stomach at bay, but there is  better and deeper reason this time.

I realized that it was not easy for me to do my quiet time in the morning, as I normally woke up when it was time for breakfast and work. I also realized that I wasn’t very diligent in catching up on my Bible study later in the day, and especially not in the evening. So I figured that the best way to get up and read my Bible would be to wake up early enough for jogging and a refreshing showed and then to sit down and have my quiet time. So far, so good.

It gets harder as the days go by, especially since I am also more involved and active in playing football at our grounds here in Diguna in the evenings and the body is not as fresh as it used to be. It takes more energy to move around and keep up with the small children who we now contend for first team football with. The best part is that you actually feel better, since the activity keeps you sharp and as for the Bible study, it gets better each morning. Do you have a goal that you find hard to reach? Perhaps you should begin with another activity that will lead you to that goal. You now know mine and how I am going about it. What will you do about yours?

Go to hell

This was definitely the kind of day one wishes was a bad dream, not exactly a nightmare but a bad dream nonetheless. I didn’t feel like waking up this morning, but I did look forward to going to church. It was a wonderful service and the worship team set us off on a journey that was interesting, uplifting and encouraging. I left church to prepare for the afternoon Diguna champions league which is our football league for the neighbourhood kids.

We began by pouring several layers of sawdust on our muddy and waterlogged lower pitch so that it could be playable. The fixture list was ready but the teams were not so it took us quite a bit of time before we could have the first match. The kids’ teams were okay but the teens were not ready, with only some of the teams nearing their full squad. We were supposed to start at 2pm as we always do, but we kicked the first under 13 matches off at 3pm and the first under 19 matches at 4pm thereabouts.

Some teams came late and still insisted on being given priority but we were unwilling to budge. We ended up having only three out of a possible four matches with the last match being a walkover that happened in near darkness. One of the kids from the team that walked out called my colleague a nasty name and it was all we could do to stay saved and not give him the thumping he had coming. His sentiments are what make up the title of this blog. After a not so good end to last night, this day didn’t end so well either. What do we learn from all this? There are good days and bad days. Thank God for the good days, and make sure you learn from the bad days.

The Forbidden Leaf

We had our football league on Sunday as usual and one young man was intent on breaking one of the rules that govern all activities on our compound. He was busy chewing khat, which is a locally produced drug that is considered legal in the country. It is commonly known as miraa and is a frequently exported leaf especially to the northern parts of the country and to Somalia. It is mostly used to keep one alert, although it has many known side effects.

As soon as I noticed him chewing on the stuff, I diplomatically informed him that use of the substance was banned on the compound and he good-naturedly told me that he was on the last leaf after which he would quit. To my dismay, he was still putting more of the leaves into his mouth the next time I saw him. I reminded him of the warning and he promised that that was the very last leaf. I came across him a third time and he was still putting the stuff into his mouth. This time, I felt like an idiot, and promptly asked him to leave the compound and take his stuff with him. I think my desire to show some leniency was interpreted as powerlessness and he became arrogant.

I went to our security man at the gate and pointed out the man to him. He immediately went to the offender and spoke with him for about five minutes then returned. I didn't know the nature of their discussion so I kept my peace and later asked him what had transpired. He informed me that the young leaf-chewer had been 'convinced' to spit out what he was chewing, and those who know about this stuff know that the chewing is the interesting part.

I later asked myself if I could have handled the matter differently, if I had lost the opportunity to share Jesus with the man. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that some people need to be shown love and some need to be shown tough love. We may not have had fellowship with one another, but at least some standards were introduced into his life and I hope that he can gradually realize the unpleasantness of a life without Jesus and come to Him. One thing is certain, he will still come to watch the matches this Sunday afternoon.

How do I handle him next time?

Godless madness

Just looking at the images on Google in response to the keyword 'swaggerific' made my stomach churn. I was about to vomit on my friend's computer so I closed that tab on Mozilla Firefox. I had heard about what happened but had not gotten to the point of seeing it for myself. Some may call it freedom of choice, but it is important to remember that we don't own our bodies, we are only stewards.

Granted, there is none without sin so casting of stones should be limited to Gor Mahia losses but we would be doing ourselves and the Lord Jesus a great disservice by not speaking out when we see evil thriving.
The loss of decency has become so attractive that we allow all manner of filth to present itself to us and to the generations we are nurturing in preparation for our future. Do we desire a nation of people so lost
in their decrepit cesspits that they no longer see evil as evil? What has numbed us so much that things we would shun in ages past have become the norm?

How can a parent watch a soap opera with her daughter even though the characters are always intent on ruining other people's relationships and playing the harlot? When did love become purely an emotional thing with no concerns for commitment and the preservation of the family unit? Is it any wonder that more and more families are being torn apart and so many women are opting to raise their children without a father?
It breaks my heart to see the country that has a prayer for a national anthem turn its back on the God it claims created all things, no longer asking for His blessing, but like Israel in the time of the Prophet Samuel
preferring the rule of a fellow incompetent mortal over the Lord of Hosts. Utterly heart rending. God help us!

One Week Devotional - Walking With God - Love

I have had the idea of putting together a devotional guide that would handle one topic every week. I must admit that virus attacks on my computer and inconsistency have been my greatest enemies of late, but I finally finished week one. I decided to put it on this blog and on my facebook profile under my notes so that you could go through it in the seven days recommended and then give me feedback on the same. Please tell me your experiences after doing the week of study, not only on the content but also on the language and the Bible verses. Please also feel free to send me more Bible verses and suggestions for topics you would like covered. The general goal is to eventually have a full month study followed by a full year devotional guide. You can either send me an email on facebook or on anthonyouma@gmail.com. God bless you as you enjoy this time with Him.

DAY ONE (Unconditional Love)

Genesis 25:28; 27:4, 9, 14

 Isaac loved Esau because of what he could do; he loved the meat Esau cooked. This made it easy to deceive him because his love was not in the person of Esau, but in what he could get out of him. Rebekah loved Jacob, pure and simple. Her love for him was not dependent on what he could do so it was difficult to replace him with something else or to take his place in her heart. Could it be that you are loved because of what you offer, or simply for whom you are, with your strengths and defects? Real uncontaminated love seeks the very essence of a person, looking beyond both the obvious and hidden defects present in the person, and accepting that person for who they are, rather than for what they seem to represent or are able to offer.

 Thought for the day: what steps can you take to make this unconditional love a reality in your life?

DAY TWO (Expressing Love)

Genesis 29: 15-30

Jacob loved Rachel and worked 14 years for her. The first seven years seemed as just a few days to him because of his great love for her. After being tricked by his uncle into marrying Rachel’s sister instead of her, he worked another seven years and was finally given his intended wife. It is amazing that a man can love a woman so intensely that all the work he has to put in and all the time he has to wait seems as nothing to him. This is especially strange in our current fast-paced culture with its demands of instant gratification. How awesome it would be if a man would wait patiently for his woman, not giving up on his pursuit of her even in the face of time constraints and intensive amounts of work needed before he can get her. How patient was this girl to wait for the man as he worked for her, and how amazing the fact that once she knows he is the one she desires, she accepts him when the time is right without fuss.

Thought for the day: How do you express your love for the person you desire to make happy?

 

DAY THREE (God’s love towards us)

John 3:16-17; Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 4:7-8

The love God has for us is demonstrated by His giving. He gives His very best with no guarantee of returns on this investment. He gives with the prime intention of our benefit. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22). God loves us with an everlasting love and has great plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11-12; 31:3). We are told that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us. He loved us before we even knew Him and He gave up his life for us, he became a curse so that we could be blessed for ‘cursed is he who hangs upon a tree’. Jesus gave up everything and became nothing so that we who were nothing could have everything. It is well said that ‘to have everything without Him is to have nothing, and to have him without anything else is to have everything.’

Thought for the day: In what ways has God demonstrated His love towards you?

DAY FOUR (A jealous God)

Exodus 20:1-6

God is jealous for you. He desires your affection and attention and will not share your heart with anyone. He is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. He promised to visit the transgression of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generations, and yet promised to show covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. In John 14:21, Jesus says that those who love Him are those who keep His commandments. It is interesting to note that the punishments are not as far reaching as the blessings are, and that goes to show that God is more interested in our prosperity than in our pain. How blessed that such a jealous God still allows His love to overshadow the jealous nature that won’t let Him share us with anyone or anything else.

Thought for the day: How does the knowledge that God won’t share you with anyone or anything else impact your life?

DAY FIVE (Loving your neighbor)

Zechariah 8:14-17; Proverbs 17:17

The commandment says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Who is your neighbor? The parable of the Good Samaritan sheds lots of light on this. My neighbor isn’t necessarily the person who I know well or who always has my best interests at heart. My neighbor is the person who is next to me, regardless of our relationship or lack thereof. We are instructed in Zechariah to speak the truth to one another and not to plan any evil in our hearts against one another. Some of us would say that this could never happen with us, but how many times have we gossiped and slandered people? How many times have we repeated things told to us in secret, in the presence of others who were not supposed to know this information? Loving others means that we desire the very best for them, sometimes even at our own expense. It means giving up our comforts so that others can have less discomfort.

Thought for the day: What are you going to do for your neighbor today?

 

DAY SIX (Do not love the world)

1 John 2:15-17

We are IN the world, and yet are not OF the world. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are instead, spiritual beings having a human experience. We do not belong to this order of things; we are created for an infinitely greater experience of life, one that this world cannot offer us. We live in perishable tents, called bodies, which will fade in glory with age and eventually grind to a halt and cease to exist. The spirit in us will be raised on the final day to meet with our Maker and to experience the fullness that He had planned for us before time began. With this in mind, can we allow ourselves to get so indulged with this present world that we lose sight of the indescribable glory that is promised to us? God forbid. We should keep our eyes on things above and not on earthly things (Col 3:1-2), for only then will our focus be fixed on eternal matters and then we can be emboldened to refrain from placing too much value on this world.

Thought for the day: What ways can you use to help you shift your focus from this world, to the eternal glory with God?

DAY SEVEN (Loving God)

Matt 22:34-40

God already loves us with an everlasting love and is slow to anger and abundant in love towards us. He overlooks so many of our failures, contrary to the opinion that He is a vengeful creator just waiting for us to slip so that He can punish us with His celestial cane. We love Him because He first loved us. He created us for Himself, for us to enjoy Him and for Him to enjoy us. We are in His own image and likeness and are supposed to like the stuff He likes and to be displeased by the things that displease Him. If we truly love Him, then we will obey His commandments (John 14:21), which means that love for Him should automatically lead to obedience to Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, therefore He will not require of us that which would be of no benefit to either Him or us. He cares for us, therefore we should cast our cares upon Him. He died for us, so that we could live with Him eternally. How else can we respond to such a loving God?

Thought for the day: In what ways can you express your love to God?

Free to Work

It is a public holiday in Kenya today and we are celebrating over 40 years of self rule, or self mismanagement according to some. Most people have the day off to relax and feel patriotic about the nation whose leaders we mostly complain about. On the Diguna mission station, we also have the day off, well at least some of us do. Our Diguna Champions League continued uninterrupted today, taking advantage of the extra day to squeeze in some extra fixtures and that meant that we had to be at work today.

The interesting this is that, we don’t really see it as work, because it is something we enjoy doing. I am mostly reminded by my body later, when I have been working. In my mind, it is something that I enjoy doing so much that it seems as if my work is an extension of my hobby. I believe that most people would find more satisfaction in life if they studied for and got employed in the careers that fulfil their life purpose and that are intertwined with their most pleasurable activities.

I have the afternoon now to sort out the league standings and the mess that is our fixture list. We have made so many alterations to the fixtures that I now have to juggle with the matches every weekend. I would have complained and made a big deal of the whole thing, if I didn’t enjoy it so much. Enjoy your week, and your work, if possible.