Israel Houghtony

The room lit up as he entered the arena. Every soul present was in incredible anticipation of the move of God in the place. There was no doubt that God was there….all that remained, was the manifestation of His presence. Houghtony entered the room amidst a chorus of thunderous claps and quickly took his place at the front of the team on stage. He gestured to the instrumentalists and they skilfully reduced the volume of their instruments. The vocalists hummed gently in unison at the back of the stage and Houghtony approached his designated microphone.

He lifted up his eyes to heaven and seemed to pray without audible words coming from his mouth. His gaze was fixed completely upwards and his hands soon followed…he was in the building, yet he was not in the building. He strummed his guitar gently and started speaking from the Psalms….the Lord is my Shepherd…..

As he spoke the psalm, hysterical cries started emanating from the hall as the Spirit of God moved in the building. Shouts of joy were intermingled with the cries of desperation as various miracles happened in the room. Houghtony never spoke directly to anyone’s situation, he just kept worshipping on stage as the musicians and singers backed him up and the Lord did the rest.

That night, as had happened for the last one and a half months, revival pressed on…and Isaiah 61:1-3 was fulfilled……

Alter Egos - Episode Two: Tonistar

He is the poster boy for many young ladies, but his image can also be located on the hearts of many older women’s hearts. They scream out for him, and some silently wish they could have him, if only for a brief moment, a brief moment of bliss.

He is always willing to offer interviews and appear on talk shows. His smile is charming and disarming and he keeps his well-toned body hidden under very fashion-sensible clothing. All fathers want their sons to become like him and all mothers want their daughters to be married to him.

His voice is a melodious descent from heaven itself and he can sing even the birds to sleep. Whenever he plays the guitar, one feels as if he doesn’t even have to sing, until he sings. His lyrics carry the human emotions to every imaginable place and back, and then off to another wonderful and almost magical adventure.

He never gets any key wrong and has no pitch issues. He always keeps the beat and performs as if he can predict even the freestyle moments that the accompanying musicians cook up as the show goes on.

He…..will be followed soon by Israel Houghtony……to be continued

Alter Egos - Episode One: Oumario

He is the best footballer to ever grace the surface of this planet. Some wonder if he is really human, because his skills are out of this world! He never wastes a single pass, and is never caught in possession. He never complains although his team mates let him down so many times. Whenever his team loses a match, he is completely innocent of any wrongdoing; he is, after all, the greatest footballer in the world.

Oumario is hard to understand because he is so complex. He relaxed during some moments of the match and it is easy to assume that he is somehow out of the game. The defenders who have shared this thought all have the same sentiments after the match, and the sentiments go like this: ‘it was like a dream! He just took the ball and passed us as if he was a ghost! I have never seen such skill, such bravery, such sheer determination.’ Of course, Oumario himself would never be found saying such things about himself. He is the consummate professional and will always be found lavishing praise on his manager and team mates whenever he accepts a rare interview. His interviews are so few and far between because, in his own words, ‘it is the team view that matters and we have the manager who does the talking for us. We do our talking on the pitch, with our feet’.

How Oumario has escaped the notice of the big clubs all over the world is a sign of the cruel twist of fate that is his story in life. He had the chance to play in the big leagues, but corruption and mismanagement of local football put paid to his professional ambitions. So now he concentrates on his team, doing all he can for them, realizing that age cannot allow him to pursue the ambitions that many would describe as being too lofty for one so advanced in age. He sits alone at times, pondering on how he can help the next generation to enjoy what he never could…..the dream of playing in the big leagues…….

next…..Tonistar….

Alter Egos - The Series

Alter Egos is a series that tells the lives of the people that live inside of me. Don’t get me wrong, I am not possessed and I am not suffering from multiple personality disorder. I just feel like there are some other characters in me that I think exist and yet they may not be a reality, perhaps they are merely figments of my very active imagination.

Each blog will deal with its own character, and as you read, you may find yourself noticing that you either have similar characters dwelling within you, or you have different characters from mine. Either way, you are likely to discover some kind of personality that you have hidden very well from your normal pleasant self.

I don’t yet know all the characters so I may not be able to mention them all at once in this post, but the few I have in mind will have the honour, or dishonour of appearing in the alter ego list. They are as follows:

1.       Oumario – the greatest footballer who never lived

2.       Tonistar – the rock star who every girl had dreams about until marriage temporarily brought them to their senses

3.       Israel Houghtony – the greatest worship leader of all time…….to be continued…

Right off the bat, I can assure you that these characters are all fictional and no one should start detecting signs of madness on the part of the author (me). I am very sane (I hope) and I am in total control of all my senses (naughty laughter)…………..to be continued

Bragging Rights

So my favourite team won the Kenyan football derby. That doesn’t mean that we are going to win the Kenyan premier league, but beating the rival team was just as satisfying. I know I have been writing about football a lot lately, but it has been a focal part of my life growing up and the last few weeks have been full of the game for me. So now I get to brag to all my friends from the rival team, and it will be quite a number of weeks before they get the chance to redeem themselves, and woe unto them if we beat them again.

What is it about sports that makes even the sanest of men (and women) go crazy? It is not unusual these days for someone who lives a relatively simple lifestyle to spend vast amounts, in comparison to his income, to follow his favourite team?

As Christians, we have bragging rights too. Jesus Christ won the fight for us. By His resurrection, He confirmed His power over death, hell and the grave and we who believe in Him are assured of His return some day. True, we still have to live this life, in this world and to influence this world on His behalf, but not in His absence, for He ever lives to make intercession for us. He didn’t leave us alone, but sent us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who shows us how to live and is the integral part of our walk with Him on this world.

Sometimes, life beats us down but we hold on knowing that it will get better in the end. We continually realize that the life that awaits us far outweighs the pain we must endure for the moment. Sometimes we, like the Apostle Paul, feel that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and we wish this. However, we realize that it is also important that we remain for a while on this side of heaven, if only to be agents of change and a source of hope to a world running scared and amok like a headless chicken. Stay the course, influence your environment, and reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Blessed week.

Kill the Ref!!!!

That was probably the thought going through some teenage minds yesterday afternoon as one team lost 3-2 to another during our second Diguna Champions League semi-final. One team led twice but ended up losing with the aforementioned score line, to goals they concluded were all dubious. I was the referee and had two very able assistant referees, so I never doubted their decisions. The first goal was a penalty; the second was a goal in which the ball went through the net, literally. The ball tore into the net and went through the net. I saw it as a goal, as did my closest assistant ref, but the team that conceded the goal claimed that it went in. For the third goal, there was a fifty-fifty collision between the goal keeper and the opposing striker. The assistant referee was in a very good position to see the event and claimed that the striker got to the ball before touching the goalkeeper, although contact was made. In all cases, there was contention but in every case, we made firm decisions and stuck to them.

The team that lost was feeling bitterly aggrieved, but some of them came later to greet us and to chat with us. This was very encouraging, because the same team caused a fight last year when results didn’t go their way. Their captain could even afford a smile, and his good-natured approach to the whole thing prompted me to buy him a big cold soda. That helped cool him down even more. Undoubtedly, some of them will never want to see me or my fellow match officials, but these are things that we all have to cope with in life.

The league ends this coming Sunday and I cannot wait for it to be over. As much as I have enjoyed it, it has also been quite challenging especially when I have to rush back from church or a school Sunday service to be there on time. Nevertheless, I will have some fond memories of the league and it will be great meeting with the kids along the way as I do my rounds in the neighbourhood. The last thought as the game ended might have been for my demise, but I truly hope and pray that their thoughts about fairness and God will be gracious as they continue in their development.

Dying to Stop

How does one get better at something when it hurts so much to do that same thing at a normal level? What happens when the pain becomes more than the joy found in doing something? How much must one sacrifice in the name of excellence?

These are the questions I have been asking myself all week long. I haven’t failed to play football for a single day this week. Starting Monday, I have been faithfully on the football field, sometimes arriving before others have even changed into their playing gear. It has been tough encouraging myself to do the mandatory warm-up laps around the field. It has taken even more energy to get others to participate in a common goal.

We have played two friendly matches and gotten only one out of a possible six points. We scored three goals and conceded six goals. Our goalkeepers haven’t been the best, but so has our erratic behaviour in front of goal. My feet have lost power so passing and shooting are more agony than art. My decision making capability has been severely hindered by playing with people who don’t challenge my thinking as far as football is concerned. I cannot blame them for I can always choose where to play my football.

One thing that I have realized is that it can be very easy to adjust to the environment around us to the extent that we are unable to challenge ourselves to become better at whatever it is that we desire to do. I hate losing, and I especially hate losing a game I feel we could have won. I am embarrassed when it is a game that was completely out of our hands, situations where we are outplayed and outscored. This weekend, like all other weekends, will be full of activity for me, and for many of us involved in Christian ministry. I have to somehow find time to think through the past week and focus on the week ahead. The weekend ends so fast, and the next week already has a full plate. Perhaps, some of us will truly rest when we go home to the Father. This earthly rest is never complete due to the pending items our minds are busy juggling.

Help me Lord, to be still and know that You are God- Psalm 46:10

The Bible Speaks - Biblia Husema

‘We had the initial plan of visiting the same places where we had shared the Gospel every three years. These days, we can return even to places we have never been, for 24 hours every day’. 

‘The spoken word will never return empty’.

These are some of the heavy-hitting statements shared yesterday evening in our Diguna Wednesday fellowship by Martin Mischnick. He is the technical director of the radio ministry team in Diguna and he has been in Africa for a long time. He has seen it all, wars, uprisings, new arrivals, marriage, kids, departures, the passing on of his wife and of his long-serving co-worker in the ministry, Victor Jonathan Paul (fondly referred to as Uncle Vic).

It was amazing to hear of the scope of the work they do as far as the radio ministry is concerned. They can cross borders without immigration procedures and can enter into homesteads without knocking on doors or planning evangelistic outreaches. The only drawback is that there is no fully tangible way of measuring the effect their work has on people. Apparently, Biblia Husema Broadcasting has 26% of the market share in radio listenership in Kenya. And they don’t even spend so much time tooting their own horn. To quote one famous preacher, ‘do good, let God worry about the results’.

They have recently launched a website so that people as far away as YOU can access them. Simply log on to www.bibliahusema.org and begin to experience the impacting work of this ministry. Since you are reading this blog, it means you have some knowledge of navigating around websites. So, knock yourself out, have a wonderful time. Jeremiah 22:29

Pride and Restoration

Last week was super strange for me. I had the privilege of sharing at our fellowship here in Diguna on Wednesday evening. On the Monday before that, I was playing football with some friends, as usual, and was having a very nice time doing it. As we were playing, I got the ball from a team mate and made a super pass to another team mate who went on to score. Everyone was busy congratulating me on the pass, it was a really good one….and then an opponent took the ball and started running towards our goal. He is also good at football and especially at scoring from a distance. He shot towards our goal and I stretched out my foot to block the ball and inadvertently guided the ball into our own goal! I was more embarrassed than shocked, and my team mates were very gentle with me, no one scolded me at all.

This was not usual for me because I am used to scolding people when they make a mistake on the football field. I realized that I mostly scold those who are not very good at playing, or when I feel that I could have done better in the same situation. That’s when I realized that I had a problem that affected those who played on my team as much as it affected me. Pride. I realized that I cannot rate someone’s effectiveness in a matter unless I feel I could do it better myself. On the one hand, it may be argued that leaders have to gauge the performance of those under them, but on the other hand, the same leaders cannot afford to feel that they are much better than their juniors.

When it comes to restoration, we are warned against slipping into the dangerous pitfall of pride. We are cautioned to restore those who fall in gentleness knowing that we could also fall into the same situations in life. If someone is caught in a sin, we who are spiritual should restore them in gentleness and humility. We need to esteem others more highly than ourselves. We should have the restoration of the fallen brother or sister as our prime focus, and not our self-gratification at having helped someone through a tough patch in life. We should handle people just as graciously as we would like to be handled if we were the ones going through that situation.

Some of us are so harsh in our critique that no one feels safe telling us what they are going through. We are similar to hard rocks, and you will rarely find someone going to a rock to shed their tears. We need to be like soft cushions that can massage the head and absorb the tears that fall. We should be cities of refuge rather than critics of refugees. Are you a rock, or a cushion? Are you a city of refuge, or a critic of refugees? Just in case you were wondering, the scriptures referred to are: Romans 12:3; Galatians 6:1-4.

Mind-Settings

How would you define ‘a set mind’?

How would you define ‘a mind-set’?

Computers, cell phones and other electronic devices have settings. Do human beings have settings too? I would say, yes. We respond to certain conditions in certain premeditated ways. We are (mostly) happy about weddings, new born babies and news of promotion at work. We are (mostly) saddened by death, murder and being dumped by people we would have given up our hobbies for.

We also have settings as far as material things are concerned. Most people in school dream of success in their fields of training with wealth being the measure of success. You will be hard pressed to find someone in school training with the aim of improving someone else’s living conditions, especially if this means giving up their own comforts in life.

The prevailing mind-set in many people reads as follows: get born, go to school, get born-again (perhaps), get a job, get promoted, get married, get kids, get retired, get grand-kids, get to heaven (read die). In the book of Colossians, chapter 3, we are encouraged to set eternal rather than finite priorities. We are invited to set our minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Matters in heaven are largely out of our hands, and this is not the way we like affairs to run. We desire control, even if to a limited degree….after all, little is better than nothing.

A friend of mine gives reference to a quote he read from a book, ‘instead of asking God to bless your work, find out what God is doing and join Him, for it is already blessed’. Supposing you knew the exact nature of proceedings at the stock market next week, wouldn’t you have an advantage as far as your investments would go? Realizing that things on earth perish with age and use and that things in heaven are preserved in His awesome presence, wouldn’t we be better advised to invest our energies on the goings on in heaven?

So now, how does your mind’s setting need to change, to be more heavenly?

End of the Road?

Something very scary is happening in my life. I am trying my best to convince myself that this is not true, but the signs are very unquestionable. My mind is telling me one thing and my body is telling me another, and I am at a very unpleasant place, where I have to make some drastic decisions that will affect me in future.

There is something that has been part of me since I was very small, so long ago that I cannot even remember exactly when it started. I have been participating in it for long, and I got so used to it, that it has influenced a very great part of my life. In case you have not guessed it by now, I am talking about……football.

My legs ache so badly after training every day, and almost every joint has its own kind of pain. I have purposed to visit the doctor so many times and yet my citizenship in the nation of procrasti-NATION has hindered me so far. I am seriously thinking about quitting playing football and this thought is becoming more and more enticing every time I entertain it. I know that I gain weight quickly due to age and genes, but I guess I will have to find new ways of keeping the fat away as the days progress.

Oh, if only scrabble and FIFA games could keep the bulge away! Could this be, the end of the road?

Fasting Lions

I tried to read through the Biblical book of Daniel and all went well until I came to that prophecy part so I am a bit stuck at the moment. I then decided to re-read certain portions as I gathered courage to read prophecy and something caught my eye.

This guy couldn’t be caught committing a crime unless the ‘crime’ had something to do with his worship of God. Some guys tricked the king into passing a decree that had dangerous implications for someone who wouldn’t stop praying to God. I think most of us don’t need much incentive to avoid prayer. Prayerlessness is the default setting for so many Christians these days.

The character of Daniel was so exemplary that the king denied himself food and entertainment, yet so many of our prayers are full of feasting and entertainment in the name of worship. So concerned was the king about Daniel, that sleep left him. I dare say that many of us, like Jesus, could sleep through the greatest of storms. The king left early in the morning to check if Daniel’s God had saved him, and Daniel calmly called out from the den of lions that God had shut the lion’s mouths. It seems the lions had also been forced into a Daniel fast!

How many of us are so invaluable to others that they would be so distressed if we were in jeopardy? How many of us would still worship God if our lives depended on not doing so? Are we likely to say what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego said, that even if God doesn’t deliver us then we still will not let go of Him? Truly, these four guys had a glimpse of the New Testament where it is said, that to be absent in this body, is to be present with the Lord.

If they, in such life-threatening circumstances still chose to worship the true and living God, how much more we, who are pampered by soft-padded cushions in well-lit churches? Could we give up our mattresses for the floor that welcomes our knees in prayer, could we give up the fattening food we so enjoy, to remind the body of its true master?

The Plan

Have you ever felt like you needed twenty more of you to accomplish the plans you had for your life? That’s somehow how I feel at the moment, and I have felt this way before. When I had these feelings earlier, I brushed them off as flights of fancy and embarked on a ‘realistic’ approach to life. Don’t get me wrong, reality has its place…it helps most of us from living for the day at the expense of the morrow. But there has to be more than what we see or are programmed to see. There has to be more to life than this earthly existence. This can’t be IT, for if it were, then we would never be craving for more all the time.

What are your plans for yourself? What do you have in mind? Are some of your plans bigger than you? Do you have ideas that would need a genius mind, a sheikh’s wallet and the earth’s lifespan to accomplish? Good! You are in good company. Jesus began work here with the simple men He selected for Himself and the world hasn’t ceased to change since then. His band of men turned the very nature of history around and history is being rewritten even as we speak. However, he also had some specific goals. Get born, grow up, be baptized, be filled with the Holy Ghost, change everything, die on the cross, resurrect, ascend to heaven….leave the rest of the work to the Spirit-led disciples and us. Nice plan huh? Except for the cross part…..I could live with the rest.

That was His plan, and it works perfectly…..what’s your plan?

Things to Come

A friend of mine tells me that she thinks that I am favoured, highly favoured. Favour has to do with doors being opened for you without your effort, or even at times without you asking for them to be opened. It can also refer to a situation where certain harmful paths are blocked on your behalf so that you don’t go through stuff that would hurt you. A favour is something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or for remuneration. Looking at my life over the past few months, I guess I AM truly favoured. There are opportunities that I would not have dreamt of a year ago, that are now an approaching reality. There are certain things that I was kept from, because I know I would have gone for them if it was up to me.

I don’t know how you look at life in general or your life in particular. Some of us have had a rough time growing up, and some of us still experience great hardship just getting through the day. Perhaps you live in a household where everything is provided for materially but the love you crave is absent. Maybe you get all the love you could ever need but still sleep hungry, or partially satisfied. We all have things in our lives that we wish we could change, and we can be sure that God knows these things.

Reading through Hebrews, we see a High Priest who is familiar with our weaknesses and who knows what it’s like to be tempted, abused, mocked, cheered, jeered and deserted. In spite of all He went through, He still stands as the Mediator between us and the Father. In spite of all we have done, are doing, or will do, He is still faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn’t it strange that considering the vastness of the fellowship we could have with Him, that we are satisfied with small bits of Him? We could have such a banquet, yet we are sated by spoonfulls. I would love to experience what the Apostles had, and I know that they put in the work. As much as there was grace, they also prayed, fasted and waited on God. They didn’t just claim promises, they went after the Promise-Giver. What would happen if the church as we know it today would abandon the material things we so crave to seek hard after God? I believe that in so doing, we would be seeking His kingdom and His righteousness and all those other things we thought were so important would gain their right perspective; mere add-onns in a very temporal state of existence.

See you at the foot of the King, there is much prayer to be done.

He will carry you

Sometimes we feel so tired and worn out, helpless even. Looking around, there may be no person capable of helping us along the way on our journey to restoration. At times, we feel lonely and misunderstood, and we wonder why the people around us can’t seem to find the right words to say to us. Other times, we are given more responsibilities and work on top of our already crowded schedules. Deadlines give birth to more deadlines and new tasks pop up as soon as the older ones are taken care of. It is easy to get into the habit of compromise in such situations. When we have too much on our plate, we tend to give less and less attention to detail and we end up mediocre in our output.

I was listening to Mark Schultz’s song ‘He will carry me’ and I got to thinking about my life. There are so many times when I am physically tired. I have also been emotionally, or even spiritually tired at times. The body needs rest and so does the mind. We have not been created to go nonstop, God instituted the Sabbath day for us to rest. The human being needs a day at the end of the seven day cycle to rest and we would be well advised to take the opportunity to rest.

The best part about serving God, whether in a congregation or in a workplace setting is that He is the one who refreshes us. We are able to rise up again when we fall because we know that the Creator of the universe is the wind beneath our sails, our strength and comfort. Isn’t it a great security to know that the most powerful God is the source of our strength? In your weakness, His strength is made perfect so please allow Him to show Himself strong on your behalf. He will carry you.

Faint Not

Are you almost giving up? Are you at the verge of letting go at the final hurdle to your desired end? We shall reap eventually if we don’t give up hope. Some of us break down when we are on the brink of breaking through. What is that thing that you have toiled so much in prayer for and does not seem likely to materialize any time soon? What are you trusting God for and yet seems so distant and unrealistic?

Have you been doing good stuff for other people only for them to disappoint you and use you? Do you feel let down by those you have sacrificed so much for? Have the people you have struggled so much to protect hang you out to dry? Have you been forsaken by those you lost time, finance and energy protecting? Does your investment in someone seem like a bad move?

Galatians 6:9 encourages us to stay fresh in well doing, or to quote it right, to not be weary of well doing. We are told that if we don’t faint, we shall reap the reward in due season. We have this promise of reward and it is a good incentive to keep us going. Sometimes, the people we spend so much investment on seem like failed projects and it is in these circumstances that we can get to experience what God goes through with us. He invests so much in us, only for us to waste ourselves on passing fancies. He invested His only begotten Son so that we would not perish, but instead have everlasting life; yet so many people reject Him and go to the grave unforgiven and unrepentant.

In spite of all that we do, or fail to do, God doesn’t give up on us. He is true to Himself for He is faithful even when we are faithless. He overlooks our failed attempts at self-fulfilment, to show us that true achievement is found in our being in Him. God doesn’t give up on us, so we shouldn’t give up on ourselves, and we should not give up on those who God has given to us. Faint not. Keep the dream alive.

Strange Week

The past week was as eventful as a week could ever be. First there was the sharp sharing at the Makuti devotion that we have on Mondays at our station. There was a question posed: do you know your calling? The speaker then went on to challenge us to identify our calling and to do that which is expected of us with or without supervision. We had our sleepover on Friday 1^st of July and it was an awesome event. Just before the sleepover, we had attended the graduation of the second class of Form Four Leavers Challenge students, some of whom are part of our Bible Study group.

Once the ceremony was over, we gathered at the games room in Diguna Mbagathi where some people were already half-way through a movie and others were more occupied with the pool table and the kicker table. One of us had outdone himself, baking a delicious chocolate cake for us. The other person went ahead and got a bonfire going, as yet another person followed up the previous movie with a fresh one. All the time, the kicker table was occupied as was the pool table. Those of us who preferred chatting could be found under a tree warming ourselves with the fire outside. At around one in the morning, we went off to bed.

Saturday kicked off with breakfast at 8, after which we watched a preaching video entitled ‘Image Breakers’ by an American pastor called Jentezen Franklin. We then took some time to pray for those of us who desired to cast away the false images in their lives. It was an awesome and inspiring message which was followed by beverages and mandazis as we continued with kicker and pool. Some of the people who preferred more mind boggling games played scrabble and draughts while others sang and played guitars. This went on until lunch time when a typical Kenyan meal, githeri (mixture of maize and beans) was served. After lunch, members were at liberty to depart at their own pleasure.

Sunday morning found me at church, prayer was the topic and a healthy dose of anointing oil was plastered on my forehead as I received some pastoral prayer. Rushing back to Diguna, lunch was the usual fruit salad and mandazis and since I don’t eat pineapples, I had tea and mandazis for lunch after which I went to the sports field for the Diguna Champions League. The games went well, although some teams kept thinking that we had something against them…that’s a story for another blog post. Suffice it to say that the day had a tempestuous ending but it was all tempered by a loving goodnight hug from her…….sigh!

Vision, Passion, Opposition

Vision

Without vision people perish. What do you aspire to? In other words, what do you want to be when you are through with your education? (Hosea 4:6)

What is your driving force in life, that which keeps you motivated?

You probably have many things to choose from and may be confused at the moment as to what to do with yourself. What is the one thing you are willing to sacrifice everything else to achieve?

Opposition

How do you respond to tough times in your life?

How do you handle obstacles that come your way?

There will definitely be hard times ahead, what mechanisms are you developing to help you cope with those tough moments when they come?

Passion

What are you passionate about? What is it that would make you lose sleep so that you could accomplish? If you are not willing to forego daily comforts and matters as important as sleep and food to accomplish a certain goal, then you are not passionate enough about it. Most successful people sleep less than most of us. A student who wakes up early to study and goes the right way in her method of study is more likely to succeed than the one who depends on the bell to wake her up.

I play the guitar and you will mostly not see me playing it because I play a lot in secret. I am trying to develop my own way of playing so that I enjoy playing without comparing myself to others. I play and sing at the same time and this is my defining strength. I would like people to think of a guitar and a good voice whenever they mention my name. In addition to that, I would like them to remember the depth of the lyrics of the song and the way the song connected with their own personal lives whenever they heard it.

I am also passionate about football and I will wake up early to go jogging so that I can be fit to play. I will agree to lose sleep so that I can be fit enough to enjoy playing the game. I will also feel strange when others are out in the field playing and I am just sitted outside watching.

How to know you are passionate about something:

·         You are willing to forego daily comforts and matters as important as sleep and food to accomplish your goal

·         You are not comfortable when you see people not doing it to the standard you would recommend.

·         You find yourself talking about it or thinking about it most of the time.

·         You can see yourself doing it for a sizeable period of time.

·         You are willing to do it for free, or even at a cost to yourself.

Jesus had a passion for the world. God sent Him to save the world, and He died so that He could accomplish His task on this earth.

Paul said that he would forget everything that held him to his past and press on towards the high calling in Christ.

The tragedy of our days is that many young people are living their lives without aim or purpose. They merely exist instead of thriving. We need to slow down enough to figure out what we really want with our lives. We should look for something that we can actually achieve and would enjoy doing. We shouldn’t want things just because others have them, in other words, we should avoid the copy paste method of finding our vision.

Suggestions to finding and fulfilling our vision in life:

·         Get your life sorted with God. He is the beginning of all things and knows the beginning from the end. Ask Him, He is both in the past and in the future, He is not limited by our time constraints and our finite understanding of life.

·         Get your priorities in order. What are you supposed to be focusing on at the moment? Do not focus so much on the urgent that you lose sight of the important.

·         Find out what you like doing. What are you gifted at and what do you enjoy doing the most? Your purpose is never far from your area of gifting.

·         Get godly counsel. Surround yourself with people who will help you get to the place you are supposed to be. Doctors rarely spend the day with mechanics, unless their car is broken. Both are important professions but the mechanic needs to hang around other mechanics to be sharpened in his knowledge of his profession and the same applies for the doctor.

·         Read, study, research, look for as much information about your purpose as possible. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more you are likely to influence your environment.

·         Get off your back and get to work. Theory is useless unless it is put into practise.