He Hasn't Missed A Beat!

I really need to talk to someone out there...there's a friend of mine, who's very special to me for no particular reason, other than that sometimes, I think of myself as her big brother. But this friend of mine (let's call her lil siz) has been having a rather rough patch of life in the last few months and weeks, not because something is terribly wrong, but because...she can't wait to grow up!

My lil siz, she's stuck somewhere in life between childhood and teenage, and every week, it rankles her endless that she has to be a child, while she so desperately wants to be away from it all...but time won't work with her, for some reason!:)

I thought of my friend today as I was listening to one of my favorite songs ever - it's by Caedmon's Call, and it's called Table For Two. This song could have been written for me, and it reminds me everyday that as much as I want to be away from here, to the next place; as much as I want to grow on, and not have to be where I am anymore, God has not missed a beat. Its last verse (which actually describes a day like today for me) says:

This day's been crazy but everything's happened on schedule,
From the rain and the cold to the drink that I spilled on my shirt;
Cause you knew how you'd save me before I fell dead in the garden,
And you knew this day long before you made me out of dirt;
And you know the plans, that You have for me,
And you can't plan the end and not plan the means;
And so I suppose, I just need some peace,
To get me to sleep.

Yeah. Whoever you are, whatever you're going through, and small siz too, I want y'all to know - God hasn't missed a beat. No matter how unmoving and stagnant you feel; no matter what looks like it's not working out; no matter how hopeless and helpless things look; God hasn't missed a beat. He's right on schedule with your life.

Up There

Its been awhile since i had one of these expositions, but hey...


It has also been awhile since I climbed a really tall tree, but thankfully that has been made up for by tall buildings in Nairobi's city center, so whenever I feel like having a height (ened) experience, I simply go to the 7th floor of the Norwich union house. Works for me anyway.

The reason why I mention it is because I think it's an experience everyone should have. Standing up there looking down at the city gives you quite a different view of the usually packed street. No pollution, no litter, no people bumping into you or anything. Besides, one can see for miles in every direction...


Up there, there's such peace, such calm, such a sense of order and understanding of what's going on around you. It occurred to me that it is the same thing in my relationship with God. If I could just get up there with Him, and be able to look at my life from His perspective, above all the hustle and bustle; above the worries and uncertainties for the future; His peace will keep me.


It sure beats worrying about what's around the corner, or doing acrobatic jumps to skip all those potholes and patches in my path.

Disappointments

Life is packed with disappointing moments, days and things. I had one of those days today...

But of all things most disappointing, I must put at the top of the list...people! Think about it, look at the moments/ things/ days that totally disappointed you in the last one week...You'll find that most of them were because of people who let you down, did something they weren't supposed to do, made you cry...

But if you look further, you'll realize that the people who feature most on that list are the people closest to you -  your friends, your family. I think maybe it's because we expect so much of the people in our lives that when they fail to come through, the cut is deeper.

But my thoughts today are a bit swerved in this direction: because people have disappointed us before, is that a reason to lose faith in the human race? Because friends have proved unreliable in the past, does that mean we are never to take on new friends, so we can stay unhurt? Because we fear for our brittle hearts, are we to turn down and turn away from anyone who tries to come near us? If we never give people the chance to prove themselves, do we not risk losing an opportunity to share in some special person's life?

Perhaps I am getting soft in my old age, but this wall has come up in my face recently, and I thought I'd ramble :)...and be gone for now.

But Do I Say!

I'm on my way to the UK. I'm actually typing this article mid-air (they were so kind to allow me to use my laptop on the plane, which i think is no big deal since we're traveling first class anyway), I think it must be over the Tanganyika plains.


I'm fortunate to be on this trip, because this is a trip that will mark the future of this country. Generations to come, Kenyan children will ask their grandfathers to tell them about the day the ODM 'luminaries' contributed Sh.140,000 each to go to the UK and 'strategise' and discuss the future of their beloved country. The grandfathers will explain how paltry this sum was and that the rest of the money was being catered for by Kenyans in the UK who were interested in seeing revolution come to Kenya. they will patiently explain how important it was for the honorable leaders to go have their meeting in London because Nairobi had too much noise, and the atmosphere was not conducive for ground breaking discussion.


Those children would then be amazed at the wisdom and foresight of our esteemed leaders, who gave up a week of their hardworking lives and almost a quarter of their salaries to go to such foreign lands to give us a better life, because when they left for London, their constituents were starving, and some were fighting for land, and other small problems that were not important to address in light of greater national concern.


Which is why I don't understand why some of the honorable ODM leaders have refused to come for these discussions. This would have been a great opportunity for all of us to bond,and agree on matters of national importance that have to be discussed internationally. What more, we know that every person that wants to be president in Kenya must go to London. The late president Kenyatta started it all. Even our current president knew that, so when an opportunity arose to go to hospital there shortly before the elections, he did not hesitate. How can someone say they can't go to London because they have a campaign meeting to attend?


Anyway, to London we head, and we will meet and bond and have consensus. And when we come back, we shall tell you dear Kenyans, who shall be your next president, because we know how eagerly you're waiting for us to make up your mind for you. For those of you who intend to be presidents, I strongly urge you to make your way to London, where all Kenyan presidents are made.


And who am i, you ask? Just an innocent fly on the ODM wall. Long live Kenya, long live London!

MaFIMS

Earlier today, I was suffering from a disease I believe I'm the discoverer of - it's called morning after foot in mouth syndrome (or MaFIMS)...this is that bad feeling you have in the mouth, when you wake up on the morning after you have seriously put your foot in your mouth.

There are two variants of FIMs-deliberate and accidental. Accidental is where you unwittingly make a fool of urself in speech without knowing you're doing it-this is the variant most of our politicians suffer from...the deadlier version, deliberate FIMs is where you're talking and making a fool of yourself and you know you're making a fool of yourself, but you keep going until your foot is so in your mouth and there's no way out. Yesterday, I had a serious attack of this variant.

I got myself into a talking that I think was very stupid of me (by the way, nothing weird or unrighteous, just foolish wasn't necessary kinda thing), and all the time bells were ringing in my head - what u doing, what u doing - but no, I charged right through...and talked,and talked...

The person I was making a fool of myself in conversation with was either really nice, or didn't think I was being stupid coz they did say at the end 'thanx for 'sharin' all that' (what I heard was 'you didn't have to do that, you should have let things be')...

So anyway, I woke up this morning with my mouth feeling like there was a truckload of sand passing through, and wondering where I contracted this illness from...and then I went through the usual cycle-wanting to turn back the clock and not do it again...thinking oh, what the heck...by the time it was late afternoon, like every good syndrome, it was kinda gone, and I was even thinking, maybe it was a brave thing to do for the sake of peace of mind.

All that said, I did realize something - it is a great thing knowing God, because that way, I know I can never really go wrong. I may make mistakes, but He has a way and always will correct them for me, and show me a better way to do it next time. As long as I can listen to Him.

In any case, I'll be doing a lot of quieting in the next few days..my mouth can do without feet in it for a bit :-)