Re Thinking it all.

I stop and see the confusion of the world and wonder…is the confusion of the church a better substitute.

In the last months as I have battled depression, failure and all manner of personal demons I have heard to think hard about some of the moments that have defined my past year.

I have had to rethink politics. Will all my friends shouting and campaigning under the Black Monday Movements actually cause change? Is it a passion filled tirade with about as much future as the white rhino and the life span of a fly? What are my views about politics anyway?  I have had to answer these questions and still refine those answers.

I have had to rethink church. Right now there seem to be several factions split between the traditional churches and here we have all those Anglican protestant and other traditional denominations. There is the “born again” faction characterized by wild gesticulations and noisy overnight services. Then there is what I call the alternative style churches. There are mostly new and tech savvy for the most part. This is where you find the bohemian crowd and the others who found their traditional churches too…well traditional and the born again churches I guess too noisy. Please note I said church and not faith.

I have had to rethink dreams. Anyone who has followed this blog or read any of my pieces on Facebook has come across the Chasing your dreams series . I have had to rethink this whole concept. I have accepted that time is a greater ally and the straightest path is not always straight and that sometimes I need to stop and camp a whiles on this journey. I have learned that when you smile, make sure you fangs show but like a gentle she wolf, never bare them in anger, malice or hate. Just let them know you have them as well and yours Is a choice not to use them…unless they provoke you.

I have rethought money and poverty. These two seem to be the yin and yang of my existence. Money is not what I work for but it’s a just recompense for the expenditure of my talent. The journey out of poverty is not that easy. Stop reading get rich quick scheme books, work hard, save as much as you can, give as much as you can and be content. The last bit is playing me.

I have rethought friendship. This is the one year that most of my friendships seem to have imploded or just gone into some sort of coma. I will not lie, I am not all torn up about all of them. In fact these days are am not as quick to save friendships. I believe they should develop organically and just go where they may of course with a little trimming and such here and there. I am not trying to grow a bonsai tree but a radiant flourishing bush or tree. I do my part or what I can cause at the end of the day no amount of water or manure makes trees or bushes grow faster…perhaps a little better.

I am still rethinking…perhaps soon we shall share deeper exactly what I have been thinking on some of these topics.

Work out your own salvation a.k.a Twakowa sausage

Today is Monday May 20^th 2013. For many of you out there you have a very detailed plan for your career and perhaps hope for your relationships by 2018.

You have read all the right books, joined all the networks online and groups on Facebook. You have signed up for all the newsletters and follow the  right people on twitter and are current with all that pertains to your field of interest all in a bid to stay on top of the game career wise.

You mouth all the mantras and live all the principles. You have Steve Jobs biography on you shelf. A copy of Richard Bransons “breaking my virginity” book has dog ears from over use while Kiyosaki's “Rich dad poor dad” has been underlined to the point of illegibility.

You subscribe to this newsletter, attend that weekly ‘millionaires’ meeting, seek mentoring and leadership from the business persons you admire and have invested in several businesses. All because in ten years you have this picture of financial stability, independence and more.

But I wonder how many of us actually put the same amount of effort into growing our faith. What are our spiritual targets for the next 5-10 years? Who are the men of faith we have submitted to in mentorship and discipleship to get to where we want to be? Which books that build our faith have we bought and totally worn out from reading and rereading. How many select groups do we attend to both encourage and find encouragement? How much have we invested in both time and money and more into this venture called our spiritual life? How many of us actually spend time training our spirits in the ways of the master.

When you read scripture a lot of the analogy for spiritual disciplines was connected to work. It was a sort of apprenticeship with us as the novice and God as the master. Those days and even in apprenticeship today it was mostly learned by doing. But there were other skills needed.

Because apprenticeship was long and hard and often took year’s commitment was foremost. Others I imagine was teach-ability, faith that your master would teach you all he knew, humility as learn and ask questions, grace under rebuke and failure, respect for your time and that of the master as well as keen eyes and hands cause after all that was the basic mode of skill transfer. You watched and did and watched and did till you were as God as the master. It was only then that you could work on your own.

So let’s all let go of these excuses we give, mbu church has failed us (this is my personal favourite) oba there is no longer preaching of the right gospel, true gospel or full gospel. Stop using the failing of other Christians to justify your actions; they were never your example to follow in the first place. Let us abandon the self-righteous internal neo judgment peppered with false humility that Christians lately are wont to do.

Instead let’s put out hand to the mill and follow that age old advice contained in the scriptures

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

Philippians 2:12

New International Version (NIV)

God knows we all need to.

Chasing your dreams III: Hello Fear (one more round)

I was quite miffed that I was. Seated in a friend’s Spartan living room, I was wracking my brain for the answer(s) to the question she just asked. “What would you do if you had one million dollars?” How do i explain this fire in my heart.

And right there is the heart of my quandary. When I was growing up choosing “full time” ministry was like the loftiest goal a Christian would have. Our scripture union heroes were those that had quit or passed over “lucrative” chances to serve God instead. That was true denial to self and true answering of the call of God.

Today it’s a different story. Men who chose the “ministry” are scrutinized more and those that blindly walk into a profession are only questioned if the number of zeros to their salary is requisite and if they are what figure is at the beginning. I do not know how many times I have been asked to make sure that ministry is really the path God has set for me.

I feel like a man stuck in a time warp of sorts. Here I was, in the prime of my life, in a game whose rules had been changed. I feel like I am taking part in a game with an outdated rule book as my guide and being given a thorough butt whooping.

The world and the church by extension applaud winners. Nobody remembers who comes second they say. If two people walk the same path and one succeeds and the other fails, well the one who succeeds is revolutionary while the loser was probably 'delusionary'…this was not his true calling.

You see failure(s) is no longer well received in today’s church either. It’s either condemned or soothed away with the message of grace. And as far as I saw it I was a failure. I was quitting a good job for ministry.

The response of the faithful to my decision to leave a “big” job in one of the leading corporations in town was nothing but confusing. I think part one of chasing your dream goes into detail of my fears and more but the one comment that stood out for me and today still rings in my ears was one made my a close friend. He said I was being lazy and did not want to work hard and was using church and ministry as an excuse.

That left me reeling both from the meaning of the statement and the person who had spoken. I am not sure I have truly fully recovered from that. It was the seed that I am now constantly fighting to uproot. It is the doubt that has become my proverbial thorn in the flesh.

You see if your dream was to be at the top of this or that corporation then today’s game is for you. But if your dream was “mother Theresa” in shape or form, you have  your work cut out for you because nothing about today’s world or church, in so much as I have experience it, is rarely rooting for you Unless of course you win.

When they do listen they want you to present them a clear “ministry plan” of how this is going to produce dividends (saved souls) at the end so their money can be well spent and every time this comes up, well how do you explain a desire to give yourself towards the discipling of people, the provision of a home, a place of comfort and refuge where the weak, tired, worn can come and receive some “chicken soup for their souls”.

Every time these issues come I say. “Hello fear, I have two fist, faith and a promise let’s do this cause backing down and backing out are not an option.”

Ding! Ding! Ding! I’m ready for one more round.

Chasing your dreams II: waking up to the dream

Now here I stood fresh out of my corporate job and absolutely no plan, except to trust God and see where that road led. 

I was excited. I felt liberated. This was one rat that had made it out of the rat race alive and in one peace. I felt like a prisoner who had just made a successful escape from a super max high security prison.

I had quit to follow my heart and do ministry. That right was the first obstacle. What was this ministry I wanted to do? You see I had made this move at a time when “ministry” had been demystified and so even you work was ministry. It was all about going out to the market place and living the gospel. Taking the Gospel to the people so to speak. And here I was doing the exact opposite.

I was undaunted. I chose to volunteer at my home church All Saints Cathedral Kampala while figured that out. I also started raising support which in this case was asking people for their hard earned cash to facilitate this ministry.

Nga Christians do not give, especially to ministries that cannot be quantified or where they have not benefitted or witnessed the “power” first hand. And here I was, green and bleak, a newbie, a fresher in this whole “ministry” business.

That was just one of my problems. I wondered what I would tell people when they asked why I had left the job the God had “blessed” me with as a reward for my years of faithful service. I honestly did not have an answer. All I knew was that like Jeremiah I had a fire in my bones. I thought that perhaps a scriptural analogy would suffice but nga Christians really carry out due diligence when it comes to separating them from their money.

So I went back to God, remember the advice of a good friend who was doing something similar to what I wanted to do. He told me, before you leave make sure you have promises from God about these things. In other words, get a promise from scripture to back up your call and ministry.

SO I went back to God.in the months leading up to my notice period elapsing I asked and asked and asked.

HE sent me to the story of Abraham.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him….

One thing that really stood out was the portion “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. There are no assurance Just the command to leave all that was familiar and go “to the land I will show you” it does not get any more vague than that and scary.

Many people think that following God is about him showing you the whole map and telling you this is what will happen and how. But often it’s the command and the promise that keeps you.

The other thing I asked is God what shall I tell them. How shall I qualify all the crazy things I am sure you are going to make me do? I need some back up here.

He took me to the story of Moses.

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them? “God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Two things happen here. God asserts Himself and He deputises his servant. Well here I am, God has sent me and God is who he is. Hey I don’t make the rules I just follow them.

He also reminded me of some instance in the past where I vowed to expend myself in doing his work and in return that He would expend himself making sure I was covered because poverty and I had parted ways and I was not going back.

So armed with nothing but A COMMAND and A PROMISE I set out to the ‘land’ He was sending me to. I an still Journeying.

And now into the fray: Religious Freedoms?

(this is a loooong one)

I have finished reading an article online in which a University Professor asked his students to “stomp on Jesus” or more accurately write the name Jesus on a piece of paper and place it on the floor and then stomp on it as part of a lesson on intercultural Communications. This particular exercise was from a teachers handbook that accompanied the text book “ Inter-cultural Communications: A Contextual Approach, 5^th edition”

Even as i read this i am reminded of the uproar that surrounded particular incidences where the Prophet Muhammad was made fun of either in speech or at that time caricature. At that time i really thought that perhaps Muslims needed to loosen up and not be too uptight. In fact i was really annoyed that people seemed to walk on eggshells when it came to Islamic issues. I was like, “ how come Christianity or other faiths don’t inspire such uproar from their follower” and i also wondered as to why, when it did, most people just brushed off the other faiths with the response, “get with the programme” and many times these other faiths were beaten into submission with big words like bigoted, narrow-minded, backward etc. etc. Basically they were about as in touch with modern society as dinosaurs and so had no right to speak or at least that is what it seemed.

I came to the conclusion that such “respect” from the secular world depended on how you used machetes in relation to human heads and your prowess with stones and said human heads. I further hypothesised that perhaps it was high time Christian demanded respect for their Faith minus the ‘pangas’ and the like.

But Muslims have been over taken as the number one indignant lyrical waxing inducing topic by homosexuality. I bet the best situation for anyone seeking asylum in a “western” forward looking society would be for one to not only me homosexual, but also Muslim, persecuted by Bible waving Christians and Governments in the a certain third world country. But this is just a stereo type. Oh and i digress.

So reading the above mentioned article plus the many debates i have followed on Facebook between apologist of Christian faith and apologists of the atheist “faith” i have noticed that perhaps the “open minded” people are not as open minded as they claim to be.

The article clearly states how being “different” from the main stream, in this case Christianity vs. liberal whateverism (i term coined to represent the apparent lack of any sort of belief system among today’s youth), means you get to be “mistreated” legally. Some of the words used by “secularists” vs. “faithists” really leave me dismayed and i wonder if they actually are as liberal or open minded as they claim. Words like bigoted, ignorant, small minded or narrow minded are bandied around freely. Sometimes threads descend into needless provocation and veiled insult. Mark you, both sides are not innocent, but perhaps more is expected of the liberal forward looking open minded folk than sheer gutter talk and underhandedness.

Why did this professor have to pick on Jesus of all religious figures? According to a friend who i once asked a similar question, it’s because Christians are the ones who proselytize the most.

I was confused because i thought their aversion was to all faiths that rejected the forward march of science and the crystalline “truths” it embodied. It seems there is some bias coming from both sides of the isle…oops sorry...road.

I am a Christian and my faith informs a lot of the decisions i make and it’s from that stand point i write this article. I may not know all there is to know and i don’t claim to do so. Something don’t make sense still others make total sense but i also know that salvation is both and event and a journey and to borrow the word s of Paul the apostle, we know in part but then we shall know in full.

And this is my take on some of the controversy:

I believe that Atheist need to show some respect even for those things that they do not agree with. There is no difference between what you do and what the roman church did back then. You both operate from a pedestal of superiority, one stemming from the fact that they felt they were called of God and another from their intellectualism.

Both of you have persecuted in one way or another those that do not see as you see. The church did it with inquisition and burning but the scathing attacks launched from blogs, post, comments and dialogues is just the same but without the physical flames.

Perhaps it would be prudent for the secularists to realise all that they do is simply because they hold the popular opinion just as most of the people then were behind the church’s actions.

Of course secularism claims to be more educated and enlightened and progressive now but don’t forget the same could be said of the church at that time. Who knows, should this world tarry for some more trillion years, our knowledge would look just as archaic to people in the future as stone tools seem to us today.

Isn’t the amount of abuse heaped on those that have tradition Christian views towards certain subjects not be compared to the abuse that those with alternative lifestyles have suffered? Granted fewer traditional Christians are beaten or maimed or killed by radical secularist however the ostracism they face is probably as damaging.

If you are truly open minded and liberal dear secularist, perhaps the old adage would work perfectly, live and let live.

A word to the Christian

Much of what i have said above applies even to us.

Treat all divergent views with respect and learn that you can disagree without being at war. Do not resort to abuse or maligning of any sort in the name of defending the faith. Remember, the faith we now practice has been here for year and has faced even greater more focused opposition. God is capable of defending himself. That’s why we believe he is supreme.

I sharing your faith, remember that God did not ask you to seek converts but to speak Truth. Stand for it whenever possible and speak up when needed. Do not argue, or use fear tactics or such other tools of “public speaking” Instead share, simply what you know, what you believe and why.

Our avenue is love, first for one another then for the non-believer. The book of acts, so aptly named, demonstrated the faith and love the believers showed for each other and it testifies that this is what drew the people of that time. I think it’s a method we could try.

Know that God has not forbid you from questioning him both about what you understand and don’t understand. Questions do not scare God. However you cannot fling away the scriptures based on what someone said or what you read or heard because the answers you seek are in the word. You cannot find the truth about Christianity apart from Christianity. I Hope that made sense. You cannot ask a baker the secrets of plumbing.

Perhaps also it would be a good thing for you to read intensively and extensively and prayerfully ponder these things through the word of God. I shall illustrate.

Seven days is how much time scripture says God took to create the world. I believe our idea or concept of time may differ from God. So perhaps, evolution or aspects of it are also Gods method. It would also be good to note that while we may have evolved from monkeys, we don’t seem to be evolving into anything else.  That may not be the best example but i hope you get the gist of what i mean.

There are those among us who lean towards more liberal inclinations. I have seen many use their status updates to belittle and poke fun at their own faith for various reason. I think that this is bad form indeed. To those i say, be careful because you associations may be mistaken as your endorsements and while you are passionate about ridding the faith of “ignorant radicals” you still have a responsibility to speak and stand for the truth. Besides, you are also held to the same level of scrutiny as the other xtians are, so if in your crusade for reform you do something the faith considers wrong, you will be held accountable for it.

Hookers, Spies and God

Lately I have been a little enthralled my RAHAB. You can read the story in this unpopular best seller called the Bible. She was a woman of the night who saved enemies of the state in which she lived in just so she could get a cut of the state cake when the new bosses hit town.

Okay, that’s not entirely true telling of the events.

Some commentaries that I have read while researching this subject say she was an inn keeper. The little Biblical record mentions no such thing. It clearly says she was a prostitute.

In dealing with her, many of us just remember that she saved the spies and got them out of a tight spot and for that she and her household were saved…and that was that. But enter the women movement and we remember that she was the mother of Boaz and they both were part of the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth, Saviour of the world.

In this brief look at her life we miss many things. I have said before that I love the real life stories or the realities in stories and Bible stories are chocked full with them.

Rahab was probable very poor. She lived on the city wall which was reserved for the poor. In ancient times as cities grew so did their fortifications and the poor or those engaged in noxious trades took up these quarters. They were cheaper I would imagine. Sort of like modern day slum dwelling.

She was a prostitute. If it’s hard now you can imagine what it was back then. The emotional and social trauma she suffered must have been immense. It was not hard to understand why the spies chose her house, no one would be surprised to see strange men go in and out of her abode at all manner of the night.

“Rahab was a Canaanite woman who ran an “Inn” in Jericho. It was actually a house of prostitution where men could spend the night with the woman of their choice. Murray Johnson writes:

“It is very important that we understand what the text really says about Rahab. It says Rahab was a harlot. What better place for the spies to hide out than at Rahab’s house? With all the comings and goings of a whorehouse, they could blend in easily. However, these men were on a righteous mission. “

Rahab was a prostitute herself. As a Canaanite, she was also a worshipper of a great number of deities of the Canaan religion, including Baal (god of fertility), Dagon (god of the crops) and Molech (god of fire).”

She was probably a single parent unless of course when she pleaded for mercy for her and her household she meant her 100 pet cats and camel. Who was part of her family we can only guess at but she was not a prostitute for the retirement plan, health benefits of great social standing it offered.

She was a liar and a pretty good one at that. The soldiers did not even bother to check out her story but listened at once and went where she sent them; probably because they were all anxious to get out of her house lest she recognises one of them and call them by name…I don’t know.

But I also suspect she was a strong woman. To take all the stigma that came her way, and make the choices she made to feed her family was not easy feat.

She was industrious. It was probable that she used her house as lodging, with “room service” at extra cost. She was also able to recognise an opportunity to save herself when she met the spies.

She was a mother and compassionate, her batter was for her, her house hold and her mother and father. She honoured them and pleaded for their lives as well.

This for me, not just the saving of the spies are the reasons she is part of that great family tree that brought us a saviour but this also, shows me that value not something that is easily removed no matter our circumstances in life, we can still be more than what “life” hands us.

Now the sermon:

God always calls people as they are just so he can fashion then into who they really were, as he originally created them. No iron worker conjures up a sword from a heap of iron ore but through great skill and process fashions a blade that will one day slay a dragon.

Keep calm and carry on, God isn’t done with you yet.

just in case we forget...

Rahab’s confession of faith.

She declared, “…for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” – Joshua 2:11

The Bible is about real people not fantastic super heroes. Real people doing everyday things that God elevated. Don't get sucked in by the Christian Super Hero Craze, that's just hype. The "champions of faith" were just believers who lived what they believed every day simply.