Following your dreams. Part…I forget.

Being the social media fan in the first stages of addiction that I am, the first thing that I reach for when I wake up is my phone. I turn it on, hit refresh and see the notifications come pouring in. this morning was no different except for the fact that I was sneezing like Capra aegagrus hircus which for all the rest of you is a goat.

So I came upon this copied text attributed to Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs, one of my favourite Shows when I have access to DStv.

”Stop looking for the “right” career, and start looking for a job. Any job. Forget about what you like. Focus on what’s available. Get yourself hired. Show up early. Stay late. Volunteer for the scut work. Become indispensable. You can always quit later, and be no worse off than you are today. But don’t waste another year looking for a career that doesn’t exist. And most of all, stop worrying about your happiness. Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.
Many people today resent the suggestion that they’re in charge of the way the feel. But trust me, Parker. Those people are mistaken. That was a big lesson from Dirty Jobs, and I learned it several hundred times before it stuck. What you do, who you’re with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you”

I was like ouch. The truth of the statement hit me. This was me mostly any ways. But then I also hated on the person who posted it because they had it all together and seriously it sounded like some self-righteous drivel. That and many other thoughts and feelings races through my mental synapses in like the older brothers of a nano second known as minutes.

But I stopped myself. I brushed it aside. I would think about it later.

The funny things about social media and the internet, actually the media as a whole, they show only part of the picture. For every story, post, tweet, angle, there are several more to choose from, the story in the story, behind the story besides the story. As a journalist I should know.

The same is true for this brief excerpt of words of wisdom that Mike shared with us. This brings me to the crux of this article. Call it lessons I have learned from those around me as I chase my dream.

Do not judge yourself by the stories of the successful. Even in their most “candid” biographies the difficulties are skimmed over the successes glorified. I have read my share of these and they all seem to imbue the subject with special skill and what not. There are exceptions to these rules but many of them will leave you feeling…well feeling.

Don’t pace yourself like these people either. Different country. Different time, Different circumstance. Okay so person x started early in business by selling lemonade and from these early seeds a company was born…highly unlikely. There are all those years In between no one is telling us about. It’s like the dark ages or Jesus, no one knows what he was doing between ages 12 to 30. Set rigorous goals for yourself based on your knowledge of yourself with one notable exception, they should always even if ever so slightly exceed your limit. That way you shall keep growing.

Ask questions. Better a stupid question than a stupid mistake. Read all you can. I believe that the simple act of reading, anything and everything lends value in itself. Try these for a start. Immerse yourself in the field one way or another and shimmy up to people within your reach that can teach you. This last point is key. One thing I have found about Uganda’s so called successful is that their attitudes and manner to people who were where they used to be is lacking. So actually find someone who will teach you not just use you as a tool…

Embrace failure. Why you ask? It will happen and sometimes it’s the best evaluation of our whole selves. Failure is my greatest enemy and my greatest ally. However do not start an affair with it. Keep it close but not too close.

Be curious, always. Perhaps you could add be brave and be adventurous. Sometimes as you try to knock down a wall on one side, a door might open on the other. Take the side paths and the detours. Sometimes they have benefit in themselves. The best route to your destination is not always a straight line. We all start from somewhere.

Seize opportunity, any opportunity that affords you the chance to learn.

Follow the rules, break the rules, and toss out the rules. Key is, sometimes there are no rules. Make some along the way. In all you do, the only way to get to where you need or want to be is to stay aware of your destination and whatever the road is, keep walking.

P.S> here is the whole link to that Mike Rowe article. When you read the whole thing it puts that little excerpt in perspective. Here is to your dreams coming true. Keep walking.

I AM AFRAID OF BEING SPIRITUAL (probably this is part 1)

I know weird right?

In my senior four vacation, I attended every almost every overnight (all night prayer). Those that know my church know this was no ordinary feat. There used to be on a good day 10 people in a cavernous cathedral with only one drum and two hoarse and sometimes off key worship song leaders and the endless hours of the night ahead.

In my senior years of my secondary education I was at church every evening. My school was a walking distance away and so this was not particularly hard. But I was there literally every evening even on days when I was doing my final papers.

I volunteered for every mission and outreach program or activity I could. I was part of the youth team responsible for camp prayer and boy did we pray. I prophesied, dreamt dreams and saw visions. There were words of knowledge and works of faith. I prayed for hours and read books by the spiritually mighty, every biography or text about anointing, spiritual warfare, gifts, prophecy, prayer, miracles and more was my daily reading diet. I was in the mix. But I don’t do that any more.

What happened?

Did I backslide?

Have I lost something?

I don’t know?

I guess something snapped, broke, or shattered into too many pieces to put back together. I don’t know. I just know that the things that I used to do and feel so proud of I no longer do and care little for. According to some I am less spiritual.

Do I still read my Bible? Yes. A little less religiously but I peruse through it from time to time. It’s still difficult now as it was back then. Do I still pray for hours? Yeah….if you combine all the minutes and seconds that I fire questions and mumbles and random thoughts at God, they do come to a couple of hours. I don’t do much of the outside gymnastics though.

So this morning I woke up early and decided to pray, asking God that I would be closer to him and such and the moment a picture of that earlier spiritual lifestyle flashed into my head I recoiled. I don’t want to be spiritual like that. Instead what I am now suits me. And what is that?  I will tell you.

I am broken. I am fed up. I am tired and I am real. Why do I prefer it this way? Well it’s easier to live life. I don’t have to prove anything to God or man. I don’t have to have it all together all the time. I don’t have to know all the answers. Prayer is simplified. Faith is simplified. Life is simplified. I don’t have to rack up "spiri" points to qualify or do the "spiri" stuff to fit in. I don’t have to walk the walk and talk the talk of the church simply that of the faith I have chosen.

I sin a lot. I repent a lot. I am committed a lot. I walk, I stumble, I fall and I crawl but ever forward is my motion. I am unsure and uncertain most of the time but my next step is assured and illuminated and that’s all that matters. I have no success; I need no success…well not in the common understanding anyways.

I am hungry but I am full. I am weak, constantly but aware that there is a power assigned to me. I don’t like going to church or attending services except perhaps for the fellowship that follows the religious gyrations of the service. I am steadfast but always changing, evolving growing.

I know where I want to be, need to be but I am content with where I am knowing that I am always a traveller, constantly pack and ready even though the sojourn last a while. I am content with the house but always looking out the window to the distance, waiting for the call, the urging. Then I will gather my things, sweep my abode and walk, looking back no further on towards what is real and truly spiritual…whatever God reveals that to be.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.(why mega churches are wrong)

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If there was one sentence that would personify my sentiment it would read simply “I am tired”

Before you scroll on expecting another rant…hmmm…I guess you should scroll on because this is indeed another rant but one worth reading…I hope.

I shall start with the title of this piece. Wikipedia refers to The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as “a monument in dedication to the services of an unidentified soldier” and were first suggested during the First World War. The tomb normally contains the body of a fallen soldier deemed unidentifiable and this representative of the many heroes that fought to defend their nations and freedoms.

The stories of soldiers of yore who even as history considered confined them to the wrong side of the conflict still fought for the same reasons the good guys did, and died defending those ideals. To give the ultimate sacrifice takes courage and humility. Many a soldier will get a medal but even more will die unknown deaths and therein is my conundrum.

So here lies the start of my rant. I am tired of mega churches and super star pastors. I am tired of the Hollywood style pulpit sets and the media tweaked TV spots, programs and promotions combined with the well-oiled social media machine. I am just simply tired of the self-conscious self centered churches of my day and age.

Jesus was famous but he never advertised. I highly doubt he would have built mega synagogues. I am sure of these because Jerusalem probably had some big ones out there and he could have taken ownership and turned them around. But he did not. He actually seemed to not care too much about what people said about him except when it was to push The Gospel.

So why do we do all these things. Being a journalist I understand the need to get our message out. In fact I think with all this tech is just silly not to do so. But who is at the center of these publicity spots, is it Jesus or the “man of God”?

Let’s take those mega budgets and actually turn them to helping the communities in which we live and in which our churches are located. Build a school, open a home for vulnerable teens, run a soup kitchen, start an adult literacy programme, initiate crisis pregnancy centers, start a carpentry workshop, fix a road, drill a borehole, for goodness sake do something that actually benefits the community long after your church building will be long and gone.

When I get to heaven I shall look down in shame because we spent millions of beautification while at the same time cutting down outreach budgets, we bought stronger locks for our doors just to keep unwanted people out and promoted a brand of Christianity that placed the building and the service men above the heart and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe like that soldier we are called to give of our lives daily for our family, friends, nations, continents and the world in general and like that soldier the only fame we should be is that we have been given and not that we seek.

Here ends my rant.

Thanks be to God.