Deja Vu

I froze like a deer in the headlights. Alright, there are no deer in Kenya: I froze like a sheep in the headlights. It had been a while before I felt genuinely liked by a girl. 

Maybe your reading of this blog has not made it obvious that I am cynical when it comes to the ladies. I've been repeatedly burnt in a formulaic manner by the species from Venus, thus with them my shields are front-loaded and held high. So when Rehema comes along manifesting all the symptoms of a girl smitten, giggly, jumpy, accompanying me everywhere and telling me everything about herself in high speed, and smiling like sunrise whenever we meet, I'm standing there wondering what's the catch. Plus I tend to shrink from fuss and attention, which seems to be all she's got, and that in abundance. 

Well eventually her animated energy and unbounded spirit draws my attention and she soon manages to get me talking freely. Her gestures and poise suggest she's a bit of a tomboy. And her eyes are an open book - I can see right through her and into her very sharp brain. So eventually I calm down and decide to disillusion her romantic notions slowly, but she'd make a good friend, because I do like her. All too soon we are close confidantes jabbering away at every half chance. So now there's nobody else around I can hold a comparative conversation with.

The shields came down. I've been here before...

Grace in the Mirror

Did I post late last year and say I felt change coming my way? It was a false alarm triggered by a bout of optimism for the end of 2015. I imagined that 2016 bore bags of new things for me, some parcels stashed in its armpits because its hands are loaded with goodies for me, and the backpack strapped to its back is bursting at the seams with loot for me.

Problem is, 2015 came and went, but 2016 found the same old me.

The fact of the matter is I am an insignificant, largely forgotten guy: I have alienated many, made terrible blunders at a vast spectrum of things, and gotten significant parts of the remaining things upside down. A change of calendar can not transform deeds already done.

Still, even with that record, I have got to become the person I have got to become. There's no Plan B with life, you just move forward from where you're at - wherever that is - just making sure your map is held upright, your bearings are right and forward is really forward. That's what the rest of life is for - to figure out and achieve one's divinely ordained purpose. Yes, GOD has a plan in store for good and not for evil. But that plan only comes into play if I conform myself to its terms and conditions, while abandoning competing plans of my own and others' devising (and others, many others, certainly have plans for us, you'd best believe!). GOD's good plan will not be rammed down my throat as I kick and scream.

I don't even believe in myself any more. But, for reasons I can not fathom, GOD believes in me despite my own unbelief in my own self worth.

And how dare I presume to believe that GOD believes in me? The Bible tells me so. Also, because I am still alive - in spite of the train wreck that fills my rear view mirror.

Let us pray for our leaders

1 Tim 2:1-2

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (2) For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

The trend nowadays is to cuss out the president or the governor or the Member of County Assembly for perceived failures, shortcomings, incompetency, even bad looks. However this is contrary to true Christian conduct. In a spiritual sense they are in the front line of society, they are the ones who, when Satan wants to rip communities apart, he targets these ones, because "to kill a snake you cut off its head". His targets are the leaders of families, churches and communities. But when we pray for them they are blessed and then through them we in turn can be blessed when our countries are peaceful, our churches are Spirit-filled and our families are stable. The current barrage of criticism towards our leaders (of which I myself have been guilty) is actually us undermining our own prosperity in all its aspects. The devil would take away our spiritual, social, economic and emotional well being but he would make us the agents of our own destruction. Instead, let us pray for the peace and prosperity of our leaders. Only thus, and not by insurrection, may the outlook improve.