MANSION 2026: THE HOUSE OF TREASURES

 MANSION 2026: THE HOUSE OF TREASURES 

A fresh new start begets all of us. A fresh new beginning in life. New thoughts, new hopes and new dreams. Hurray!!!! Happy new year to every one of us. Let's call it the year of the Lord 2026. And maybe we start with a prolonged pause........then ask. Did all of us make it to this big house? The house of treasures. Beautiful mansion. Mansion 2026. The house that holds many of the treasures that we seek and if the treasures of our desire are missing in the house, Mansion 2026 holds all the keys to these treasures. The emeralds, topaz and pearls in the glass display cabinet as you enter the front door and yet, many sets of labeled keys. In the same way stand blue, red and green glass cabinets with precious stones of different shapes, sizes, forms and colours. All the cabinets are properly arranged in different rooms as well as along the walls on the way to the many rooms. As per everyone's desires, so are opals, diamonds, Rubies and sapphire. And of course, the keys. And now that we all fill the living room, it's time to go through the house to cherry pick the treasures of our desires or the keys to the treasures because, Mansion 2026 has all we need. But first, let's all check whether all our family and friends have made it to come to the mansion. 'I can't see Jane. Are you behind there?' 'And where is Nyabuto? Thanks to you Nyabuto for raising your hand. I can see you. We thank God that you made it. The sickness that you had looked like it would leave you behind in that old house 2025. But here you are. Meaning that the treasures you desire are also here' ‘Thanks Nyabuto and all. Let's get down to picking what we want.’  But wait a minute though. This house has some rules which we follow first before we begin to pick. It seems to ride on God's will which we need to discern first. The house rule book in Romans 12:2 says that the only way to discern God's will is to renew our minds. So, shall we renew our minds first, good people? Our reserve therefore becomes what the rule book also says in Philippians 4:8, 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.' What shall we say then? If something fits these rules, let's go around Mansion 2026 and pick it for ourselves. Be it as big as a tour around the world or as little as new underpants. Be it a new friend or new leisure spots. Be it new hobbies or recipes in the kitchen. I guess that a new set of clothes in the wardrobe or new sets of shoes on the rack would do us no harm. New music genres, new reads or new social voluntary work could also be the magic that we need for the year 2026. And also, let us not forget to try something outrageous like replacing your khaki trousers with a few knickerbockers. All will be a breath of fresh air away from your boring old ways. And why not. Just go around mansion 2026 and pick that which will bring magic to your life. From my desk I say, Happy happy happy new year 2026 my good people. 

@Stephen Mungai

REASON FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON

REASON FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON

The day is here with us again; it's Christmas day and probably all your plans for the day are in place. Have you planned to do something different this Christmas? Do you have plans to try out new recipes? Are you invited to celebrate with different people as before? Have you invited someone to celebrate with your family? A different run of this day may be what is needed for good memories. Important though is the reason for the season and by that, Christ stands at the center of it. The lesson worth remembering is to give to the world just as Christ gave Himself for us. Do you have plans to give? It may be as simple as cooking extra for passersby or inviting someone who has no plans. It may be gifting and spending time with the old or orphans. It may be knocking at your neighbor’s door and offering something. It may be calling or texting someone that may be in need of a word of encouragement. Whatever extra we choose to do, let us choose to be a blessing to someone today and this season, especially the weak and poor amongst us. 

This is the lesson that Christ the master taught us, to be like Him. That is why He had so much to give, including Himself as a living sacrifice. Let’s talk of His view of which we are encouraged to have in Philippians 2:5-6. ‘In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!’ Yes!!! The Master Himself showed us the way. He did not consider all that He had so important but left all to give Himself for mankind. Learning from Him needs us to look out for chances to give both things and ourselves. May this Christmas remind us to be givers just as Christ gave because this is the reason for the season. From my desk, I wish you all and your families a happy Christmas day and season. God bless you.

@Stephen Mungai

 

SEBULENI SOFTWARE SYSTEM

 SEBULENI SOFTWARE SYSTEM 

David had since completed his KCSE exams and did well to earn admission to KU for a bachelor’s degree in IT. The close to one year break between clearing form 4 and joining university presented experiences which David found very interesting. For him, it was pure fun. He got so involved in business in many ways. Sometimes he would travel with Mike or the dad in the many rides they did in sourcing supplies for the business. He got a chance to visit many towns around Nairobi and beyond. He had always loved to travel even in his childhood days. Whenever he did not want to travel, he sat home observing how various home gadgets worked or playing with the desktop computer that he had been given by one of his uncles, Mwangi, in one of the many visits he made with the dad to the uncle's place in Kitisuru. In his uncle's place, while he was still in primary school, he usually met and spent time with Eric. Eric was the uncle's last-born son who was then a student of IT at JKUAT. Eric would be working on several hardware gadgets in their home or developing some programs either as college assignments or just for the fun of it. David would get very fascinated by what Eric was doing. David developed a big interest in IT and by then, he made up his mind of the wish to study IT in future. 

David was now in second year at KU but was always round and about. Anytime he did not have classes, he travelled with Mike or the dad to different rural areas. Sometimes he would visit Eric on the weekends or on weekdays in his new small office in Nairobi’s westlands area. Eric had started an IT solutions company and had a few customers, especially small SME firms. With no ability to employ IT personnel in their firms, Eric handled many firms' IT needs. His new company was picking up quite well. David always created time to be with Eric at the office in westlands. The two had become too close. They were not only cousins but friends. In Eric's office, David would help with the work. With time, he had learnt practical programming and would help develop operational software for the SME firms. He also learnt much about fixing hardware issues and setting up IT infrastructure for the firms. This also made his course in KU much simpler because, the many things he learnt in class, he also experienced them practically in Eric's office. David became so good that Eric would sometimes allow him to develop software alone, small less complicated systems for smaller clients. 

The most exciting project for David was development of a software system for Sebuleni restaurants. It began when he and Eric planned a meeting with Sebuleni stakeholders including David's dad Joshua, his brothers Mike and Daniel, as well as the sisters Hellen and Tabitha. Present also were the managers of all the branches. They all discussed the extent abilities that the system would handle and after the meeting, there was a plan for the software.

So began the development of the Sebuleni software system and David began working on it.

@Stephen Mungai

A BROKEN GLASS

 

A BROKEN GLASS

How joyous does it get when you finally have a child, especially at an advanced 30 something age? Not that you had any problem, but your career had to be fixed first before this family thing. But the baby girl is a new direction in life. A new commitment. A renewal of soul, mind and energy. Your close relatives and friends are equally happy for you, and you receive immense support from every corner that makes you, a new parent, have an easier life. The sum of the benefits that the little one has brought are of course greater than the straining you undergo, especially many times at night when you must be up to calm the crying baby. Imagine this baby growing up to 18 years and rebelling against you? Let’s call her Anita. At 16 years, Anita gets into a relationship with a boy in the neighborhood, whose character and engagements are very questionable. The boy, Danson, is son of a noisy couple who have been in the neighborhood for a long time. It was always noise and quarrels from their home. The interesting thing was, one would hear quarrels sometimes in the early morning but later in the afternoon see the couple holding hands walking down the neighborhood paths. Their boy had initially a disturbed outlook and as he grew up, grapevine had it that the boy was into drugs. The boy had completed form 4 but even after a year, he never seemed to be progressing to college. You try to talk your daughter out of the relationship, but she comes up with stories to hide her whereabouts so that she can be with the boy up and about. As she starts her form 4, she elopes and does not even wait for exam registration. She, however, sends someone with a letter saying that she should not be looked for, that she’s happy where she was and that she hated her parents and does not want to meet them again. She makes her threats come true because afterwards, you only hear that she has been seen but you never get to see her. Of course you tried everything. Professional counselling, your close friends and relatives talking to her, prayers and all sorts of ideas but none seemed to work. What do you do? Not fiction but true story that happened to someone. What can man possibly do? The mystery of life is that it has a way of playing us. How many have invested a lot in some courses hoping for a promotion only to end up in the same position years after? How many have loans taken to invest in a business only to have the money lost in totality? Then you pay back the loan many years to come with nothing to show for it. How many hoped that their influential relatives would help them get jobs only to be disappointed because those people had no intention of helping? How many hoped that their friends would come through during their lowest moment, but their friends were no-show? Only realizing too late that no one really cares for them? How many have been left by their partners for other people? How many have lost jobs in which they worked passionately like they owned the company? How many have been duped by close relatives, who they trusted above all other people? Life gives us many shocking disappointments which deal us painful blows. But so is that life and the unexpected shocks will keep coming. The most difficult lesson that I took too long to learn is that disappointments only require someone to rise again as quickly as possible, wipe out the dust, re-plan your life immediately and begin to follow the new plans. Dwelling too long on the disappointments of yesterday steals the joys of today and the energy we need to face tomorrow. Brooding over setbacks develops diseases that unnecessarily make us suffer or even lose life. The child glass analogy can be a good guide. When your child breaks a glass, you don’t throw the child. You guide the child so that they’ll be careful next time and you throw away the glass. In the same way, we should throw away all those disappointments of life or else, we will throw away our health and life, which is not a very wise thing to do.

@Stephen Mungai

UNREQUITED LOVE

UNREQUITED LOVE

Until recently, I had avoided online shopping for obvious reasons. Good thing is that Internet orders are a fit better today than before due to standardization of features and regionalization of the features. To make it clear, a size S in USA for example could be XXXL in Kunming kingdom of the little people. That means that a better understanding of feature region stories makes online shopping more pleasant. Increasingly also are online orders for love, some of which have found fitting deliveries. For lack of experience in this regard, I cannot recommend online shopping for a partner, but I don't think it harms to try especially if, a better fit has not been found in local shops. Enough already spoken about online stuff, let's talk a little about real love, real people and suitable fitting features. Let's call her Eddah. She was tall and beautiful. I was already working for a year or two after college and she seemed to tick all the boxes of a girl of my dreams. I used to call her many times every week. We went to several fun events that I recommended together. She had graduated from college and was doing her probation in a district Hospital in what is now Murang'a county. Alas!!!! The things that the boychild goes through in this country in an effort to bring the queen home!!!... are simply unbelievable! These love stories are sometimes a scandal. Imagine the calls, the dates and even doing visits to Murang'a!! .. That was okay but the effort was unnoticed to her, and the favours were not being returned. She even called me very rarely. Texts or calls should have been easy, so I thought. Good thing is that I gave up before giving it too much painful effort. I let her go. So that was where I began to learn to respect myself a little bit more. I learnt that in all relationships, a give must always be followed by a take. You can't just be the giver throughout when the other person is a perpetual taker. Don't be a fool. Stop giving if you are not receiving. It cannot be that you are always the one calling, always the one inviting, always the one visiting them. You can't always be the one to check on them. If you have being in a one-sided friendship or relationship, please stop to see if they will return the favour. If they don’t, then wait until it happens even if it is forever. Respect yourself. Even at a couple's happy place, an attempt by only one party to make love ends up not enjoyable for both. And worse still, the unhoneyed unwilling party may later feel aggrieved and could win a case against the partner for forced honey eating escapade. Law has absurd tendencies but that is how grave unreciprocated love can get. I won't talk of ladies who are always giving their men money, opening businesses for them, taking loans for them....and the men seem not to be doing anything in return.... let’s not talk about that today.

The practice of reciprocity frees someone’s life and saves time that is usually wasted on people who we waste time and other resources on. There is no better person to learn reciprocity from than God in Proverbs 8:17 that says, 'I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.' Need I say more?

@ Stephen Mungai

THE JOSHUA'S UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH

 THE JOSHUA'S UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH

The next three years presented unprecedented success for Sebuleni restaurants. The first two branches had grown in all aspects. More customers, higher profits, more employees and improved business outlook. Sebuleni had included qualified Chefs as part of their team which improved the overall quality and variety of the foods on offer. Tabitha had graduated like two years ago and with her knowledge in Food processing, she brought new ideas that increased variety of food offers consequently reducing costs, as well as increased profits. Notable was milk products like Joghurts, ice cream, maziwa Mala, soups and fresh juices. They were an instant hit with customers and typical of Sebuleni restaurants. In the same period of time, the business had opened four more branches, in Makutano, Thika, Kiambu and Ngara, bringing the total number of branches to six. The business had also bought a Mitsubishi Canter to handle the supplies and both Mike and the dad would source supplies directly from rural farms to distribute to the branches. Another line of business opened up unexpectedly. Both father and son begun to get orders for supply of foodstuffs especially from hotels or foodstores near where their branches were. This line proved to be very profitable as orders increased with time. The orders increased to a point where their Canter could not handle. They would be forced to hire other lorries to satisfy the demand. Joshua's family fortunes increased to assume unprecedented levels of growth. For the restaurants, the family would eventually decide to employ branch managers to oversee the operations. Hellen would now help to oversee all the branches with the help from the managers. Daniel had completed his postgraduate diploma in law and was in his third year of law practice at one of the fastest growing middle sized law firms in Nairobi. Over a year ago, he had helped to officially register the restaurant helping Sebuleni aquire all the necessary registration documents as well as required business permits. Joshua's wife however had decided to get less involved and would stay home, mostly taking care of her last born Ruth, who was now 13 years in class 7. Her grandchildren Nyakio and Brian would come to visit over the weekends and during school holidays for longer stays. The senior Nyakio enjoyed staying and taking care of the little ones. When not in their Kitengela home, she would go to their upcountry farm in Kirinyaga to enjoy the country side fresh air. Walking through the crops gave her joy as did taking care of her cows and goats. She had since employed a farm worker who took care of the farm in her absence. So grew the businesses and family of Joshua, unprecedented growth. Amazing both for him and onlookers. 

 @Stephen Mungai

HALF A LIFE

 HALF A LIFE

Half bread from the local shop would still do the magic. So it was for kids when mother had not enough money. Half kilo of sugar and half KG meat were a joy anytime extra coins were available. That was before college days when quarter bread became buyable. Those were days when many youngsters were half students because the other half required them to be involved to provide for their parents and younger siblings. The half-life was reflected in school results and also earlier in teachers’ comments like the famous, ‘Average Student’ (Read, Half Student). Then pap into the job market and the reality of Halfhearted government visited a come-on slap on the faces of high school/college graduates. On one half, the government cared only for the leadership class while on the other, for the people. Some jobs would come and most of the time half jobs for some time before what fitted best came up in the future. Some jobs were unrelated to what the graduates studied. They took the jobs anyway and lasted more than one minute man, so opposed to what they had thought. Better half a loaf than no bread, so said the English man. But the problem was the memory of wasted time in college days especially with half friends and half lovers. Many girls still hung over the boys that left. Three or four years in college with someone, then they go mute after graduation!!! It was a sad reality. Some boys, however, came clear from the half-truths and told their then lovers the whole truth. ‘There was nothing serious there. I was just enjoying college life. Of course I can’t marry a graduate’. And the girls’ hearts would be broken into two or more halves. But that is then the full truth about life. Childhood, youth, school, college and adulthood. All through must we beware of half-friends. They disappear as quickly as they come, especially when heavy problems befall you. The reality of halves never actually leaves us and as humans with the many limitations that bedevil us, we have a tendency of accepting half the bargain out of life or to give half of ourselves to life. The sad result then becomes living sometimes through to old age, but half a life. So speaks the voice of reason from the other half side of the universe. Do not accept half love. Why is he or she loving another person while with you? Why accept it when you know that half his love would belong to another person? Do not begin a journey and leave halfway through. The journey of goals, of plans, of studies, of contracts, of dreams and of hopes. Half a journey will not get you to the desired destination. Do not attach or give it half effort because your partner, colleague or friend is giving it half effort. Give every project you sign into your full effort then wait for the result. If your person is not willing to go the full length of the project, then do not silence yourself in convincing them why going the full journey has prospects of full benefits. If they won’t go further, let them go so you can begin another full attempt. That means that the tasks for today be completed today. The people you interact with today should enjoy every moment with you because no day is to be lived half. Why would someone leave something for tomorrow? Tomorrow doesn’t belong to us and so must we live full lives today. And when you die, please die fully. Half death where half your body refuses to function is a sad painful state of the body that we should make every effort to avoid. And so shall we try, please help us God.Won’t we avoid half-life and live fully from today?

@ Stephen Mungai

OF BIG THINGS AND SMALL PEOPLE

 OF BIG THINGS AND SMALL PEOPLE

It has taken me more than a quarter of my life to learn how to eat with a fork and knife. A few important meetings that I attended were pure stress. A plate of rice, beef stew and salad accompaniment that would normally take me 7 minutes 34 seconds to finish ended up taking me close to a painful one hour. They called it table etiquette. Etiquette....My foot!!! I never got to understand how eating faster with a spoon made someone a smaller human being. My close friends who took the pain to train me said that eating so fast was uncouth and uncivilised. Maybe that is why i ended up not privilleged to attend many of those high end meetings. Poor me!!. But of eating, why would someone be keen on how I pick food off a plate, move my jaws to chew or swallow? Why won't these people concentrate on their food instead? Those my trainers always told me that I was making funny sounds while chewing and that got me upset a few many times. I eventually decided to please these peoole. I now use these forks and knives comfortably and faster during the only few times I am out with other people. At least am at my default settings when back to my house. Thanks God I don't eat out alot. I am privy to a few 'small issues' problems involving acquaintances, colleagues, family and roommates. For instance, I have received complaints about pressing the toothpaste tube near the opening rather than at the extreme end. How about a roommate with smelling feet who removes the shoes and the whole room smells? Annoying or? The perfectionist brigade and their wannabes cause the human race the most problems. Why did you not clear the table after breakfast? This bucket is not supposed to be put here but there. You ironed the shirt yes, but the left arm has more than one iron box folds. You were at work the whole day and didn't find a minute to call me? You didn't go to the toilet? You couldn't spare a minute to write me a text? You are not a caring husband. How do you dip bread into tea like a child? Really??!! How could you forget my birthday? How does salt get used up without your knowledge? What kind of a wife are you? How do you bring me to Mombasa for honeymoon? All those your working years? You couldn't save for Dubai or even Zanzibar? Really!!!?. The questions and surprises are spoken again and again. And so, are friendships, relationships and marriages broken. For small things. For the mole hills that are made into mountains. And those small things are made too much of a big deal, even beyond the person of interest. Friends, relatives, colleagues, fiancé's or even partners are belittled. They are made small people in view of the small issues made into mountains. What to do now? Maybe pray to the God of Songs 2:15 so He can 'Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.' Shouldn’t we ask of God's help? What thinks you?

@Stephen Mungai

LIKE PRECIOUS OIL

 LIKE PRECIOUS OIL

About Three years after Sebuleni Restaurant opened it's doors, the family of Joshua had seen a transformation of their lives well beyond their imagination. But for occasional visits to Kibera to see friends of old especially by Mike and the parents, all the family members had moved away from the vast slum. The family had established a branch of Sebuleni restaurant in Gikomba area, which had now 6 employees. This branch was being managed by Hellen and picking up very well. On it's establiment, Hellen was straight from one year maternity pause. Shortly before the birth of her son Brian, she had a painful break-up with her 2 year long boyfriend Jack. If it were not the support she received from her family all through the most painful season of her life, she came close to loosing herself in stress and regrets. She was living in Lang'ata for quite some time now. Through this period, she received immense support through visits and late night calls from her entire family, which was the main source of healing for her at the time. Specifically, Tabitha her younger sister came many times for sleep overs and weekends to keep her company. Tabitha was now a 3rd year student at JKUAT uni taking a degree course in Food Science and Technology. Joshua had since built a 5 bedroom maisonette on a half acre peace of land he had bought in the upcoming Kitengela residential area. David was living with the parents but only at home during school holidays. He was now a Form 4 student at Upper Hill School Nairobi. It was only Ruth, their last born, who was always with Joshua and the wife at home. Ruth was now 10 years and in class 4. Mike on the other hand was still working to ensure that the 2 Sebuleni restaurant had enough supplies for daily operations. He had even found ways to get supplies from upcountry areas, which worked well to increase business earnings. Mike had also settled down with his long time girlfriend Janice and the couple were blessed with a baby girl, Nyakio, named after Mike's mother. They were living in a 2 bedroom apartment in Nyayo high-rise estate along Mbagathi way. Daniel on the other hand was almost complete with his postgraduate diploma at the Kenya school of law. The family had sort of scattered with everyone leading their lives but they would check on each other from time to time. Like they used to be together on Sundays from earlier days to enjoy special meals, the culture never quite died. Many weekends would find many of them at their Kitengela home where they would story away the weekend trying out new recipes together. Every first Sunday of the month however, they had an official family gathering where they enjoyed time together, cooked together, ate together and had family Chama which involved monthly contributions, Merry-go-round and savings. They had a family account where excesses after borrowing and contributions would be banked for future helpings. 

It was like good precious oil poured on Aaron's head, running down his beards, down to the tips of his garments. So clinged the Joshua's together. 

@Stephen Mungai.

HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS

 HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS 

The talk on dead man walking epidemic reopened a can of warms as regards the subject of death.  Death is a subject many of us would rather avoid but we never really get to run away from it because, it's always around us. And just as I thought that I would do a column or two on the subject and end it, then alas!! The People's President, Raila Amolo Odinga died and we were back to the subject of death. Of course I had to do a tribute article dedicated to him because,  I still think he is a great man. But death has no manners, it took him away. Then as I was putting down my pen after writing Raila's tribute,  I remembered that I only had a few days to rush to the shops to buy Halloween costumes before the day comes on 31st October. And that brings us to another death related episode.  Halloween day is much connected to all saints day which is celebrated across the world on 1st November to remember known and unknown saints. There is unconfirmed belief that one of the two days helped to develop the other especially Halloween which may have come up because many if not all of the celebrated saints are already dead. Halloween is also attributed to the celtic people as celebration of the dead. Celtics are said to have believed that on 31st October,  the spirits of the dead returned to the earth. As sign of the dead among the living on that day therefore,  costumes like the grim reaper developed over the years and since then, they are used to mark Halloween.  We already talked of the walking dead, people in modern times who are exhibiting characteristics of the dead although they are alive. Let's now talk about other death status. One of us talked about the dead dead, that is a dead burried dead. There is also the living dead, people who we know very well, have had living experiences with us but they died and we burried them. This category of the dead still influence our lives one way or another. Then of course we have ancestors, the dead that we only hear about but have never met. If these guys still affect our lives is a debate that may never end but is still alive even in our churches with some pastors helping to break real or imaginable ancestral curses and so on. Some people are of the belief that it does not help anyone to remember or celebrate the dead and that the dead should be left to rest in peace.  This category of people want to forget a burried person immediately. They don't do memorial services for the dead. Some go to an extent of throwing or giving away things that remind them of the dead person. Some don't even do photos or videos in the burials. They simply want no association with the dead. Apart from memorial services, Halloween provides more experience in bringing the dead closer to the living and the costumes demystify the whole subject of death. Should someone celebrate Halloween or be like those who have nothing to do with the dead? What do you think? 

Could the later category be right as per Jesus in Matthew 8:22, "Follow me and let the dead burry their dead"? Or Mathew 22:32 that says that God is not the God of the dead but of the living?

What do you think?

@ Stephen Mungai

A TRIBUTE TO RAILA AMOLO ODINGA

 A TRIBUTE TO RAILA AMOLO ODINGA 

Raila Amolo Odinga, the Man, the Myth, the legend. It is difficult to pick my pen to write this because it feels heavy under the dark crowd of RAOs passing. The thought of you and what you stood for forces us back to the drawing board, to assess how well we lead our lives. It is difficult to write about a person of your societal standing because there would be so much to say and not enough words to say the much. The best way would be to highlight a few lessons we can pick from your exemplary bigger than life life. Before the lessons though, it is important to say that as per our constitution on presidency, a President is a symbol of National unity. In all your life, Raila, you worked towards a united Kenya. For that reason, you will remain the best President that Kenya had, yes, the People's President. You were the King maker per excellence and apart from the first President, Jomo Kenyatta, all the other four could not make it in their presidency without you. You either made them or could break them to take over if you wished to. But you chose peace over your personal gain. You chose harmony over a discordant Nation. You chose Kenya over yourself. For that reason, none of the presidents could reach the level of influence you commanded or the power that you wielded. Most times, the presidents or their cronies called you names, talked ill of you but you were above the insults, they meant nothing to you and could not deter your mission to realize a better, united Kenya. Above all, you extended an olive branch to them, reconciled with them because to you, Kenya was greater. That is why you remain greater than Jomo, Moi, Kibaki, Uhuru or Ruto; maybe greater than all of them combined. You are therefore the greatest President that Kenya will ever have, yes, the People's President. 

There are many lessons to learn from you, Raila, but I pick just a few below;

Lesson 1: It doesn't profit to hate. Life is too short for that luxury. We need to reach out to our enemies or competitors to make peace. If they are not willing, then we forgive them and do not harbour hatred. In line with biblical command, we need to love and pray for those who hate us.

Lesson 2: All humans are children of the same God. No one is better than the other regardless of tribe. Raila worked with people from all regions, treating them with respect and dignity. His family was made up of mixed tribes marriages which he had no problem with. Raila taught us that thinking tribe is a backward way of thinking. 

Lesson 3: Family is key. Raila honoured his wife all his days and supported his children in all difficulties of life. Hoping it does not happen now, we never heard stories of the other women. Ida the wife was the woman in his life.

Lesson 4: Life is short, so live fully everyday. Raila never seemed to stop. He was active to his last day. The day he died for instance, he got up from the hospital bed for a walk. He was not the kind to sit sad mourning of missed goals or crying over spilt milk. He always put his best effort and when it failed to work, he came up with new plans. How good if we would learn to live full lives everyday. 

I wish not to say more because Raila can never die. He is a thousand winds that blow to inspire us to live better full lives. And full lives we ought to live. Won't we?

@Stephen Mungai

CURE FOR WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

 CURE FOR WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

Marie is not the kind of ladies who lead a boring life. Not the kind to get married and be tied down to a man. Then get one, two, three kids. Mess up their shape with baby fat thing; then be doing dishes, make family meals, wash clean and feed kids....then move around the house humbly serving the man(read Lord) of the house who is always on the couch watching TV or reading newspapers!!!......excuse me!!!....Marie could not agree to such a drab boring life. She left that kind of sh*t life to her sister Marty, whose only myopic dream, according to her, was find a God fearing man to marry her and make a family. On the contrary, she is living the life. And after all, you only live once. And why not. She considers herself a woman of class and only had time to interact with them of her kind. Any time they met for a drink in one of the high end clubs in the rich Nairobi suburbs, it was either soft hugs or sounds of hi-fives and hearty laughter. The beauties are of all shapes, sizes and endowment. Talk of colourful figure-hugging dresses, swinging gaits, chick handbags, fragrance from expensive sprays, clinking stilettos, perfectly done make-ups and expensive beautiful flowing human hairs. The splendid meet-ups of pomp and beauty is where any man worth their salt only wishes to be dropped in their midst, to feed their eyes on the perfect shaped daughters of Eve. Marie's circle of friends is only of ladies who understand their worth. Of them also, Marie is beautiful with a shape to die for. Talk of the right curves on the right places. She is the kind that makes men break their necks looking behind, anytime she passes by. Let's not talk of the drinks that Marie and co. imbibe. They have no worry in the world filling their round table with innumerable bottles of Macallan No. 6 though one costs 0.75 fraction of a million bob. That is Marie for you but if you ask me where she gets the money from, I cannot honestly say because there is not a good known source of her income. What we know is that she is on endless holiday travels across the world anytime she is not visiting her expensive joints. Let's talk a little about her bro Azzy. Growing up with the girls made him like one of them. He is always seen hanging out with the sisters and their friends.  A few months ago however, he was rushed to Aga khan hospital with undisclosed but serious illness. The expert specialist who was to attend to him was out of the country for specialized surgery and could not make it on time. Everyone came to comfort the family when he died. Their leafy neighbourhood was filled with a gloomy cloud of sadness. One grieving day, the most important Man in town was around and also shed a tear for Azzy. Both his hands and feet were wrapped in strips of linen and cloth when he walked out of deadness. Hallelujah!!!...the Master had called him. It did not matter that he was stinking. Because there is hope for the sufferers of the walking dead pandemic, if they look up to Jesus, they will rise again. Marie had also come out of her deadness, sinful life in repentance as she poured oil worth a year's wages on Jesus feet, wiping her with her hair. And so runs the story of Marie, Marty and Azzy in John 11:1-44; call them Mary, Martha and Lazarus if you wish. 

@Stephen Mungai

WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

 WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

MJs Thriller album is said to be the best selling music album of all time hitting the highs of 120 million copies. Any music lover of especially pop or classic oldies has some favourite tracks in the album. Billie Jean, Beat it and thriller tracks have sometimes done the magic for me, everytime my ears ich for some old masterpiece tracks. The thriller music video has not stopped to amaze me to date. The 1983 production was a wonder that successfully intertwined music, MJs signature dance moves and horror movie concept into the 14 minutes mark of creativity. Be as it were, criticism came in all forms. Positive was for artistry and cinematic innovation that came into it. Negative was the association with occult and satanism. Foreseen, the producers were keep to place a disclaimer as the video begins, dissociating it from any connection with occultism. Towards the end of the video are the controversial scenes of zombies kicking open their graves to surround MJ and the scared girlfriend before MJ joins them for a dance. As creatures of timeless mythology, zombies are always presented as clumsy, dirty with torn unorderly clothes, deformed faces and crooked body structures that make systematic unstable foward steps towards their destructive targets. Sometimes, the zombies just move around destructively without a particular target. With a target though, the paths towards their targets are usually dealt serious collateral damage and in the case of MJ, the target person is reached through breakages into the wooden door but finally, the target is not destroyed but awakened as from a bad dream. It was only a movie after all. 

The waiting room is almost full but you had booked your appointment online and got in well before the appointment time. After the nurses thing, you are sitting before the doctor waiting for examination but first, need to talk about the symptoms. So you begin explaining, "My alarm is set for 6:00 but I switch it off many times before I wake up. To make it to work on time, I have to run to bathe, make breakfast and run out to catch bus. Many times I get to work late." "I've had endless lateness talks with the boss" "Honestly, many times i don't feel like going to work at all but i have to. I need the money" "I take too long to complete a small task" "I feel like am 120 Kilos though am only 65" "I have no appetite for food. Nothing seems to wake up my taste buds" "I don't like to be with people or people dislike my presence as though i stink and am also scared to be alone" "A day seems like three days combined dragging lazily not seeming to end". The doctor recommends further tests but the symptoms seem like of the new pandemi or so said the doc. 'Walking dead pandemic.' Before the next tests, he recommends Job 14:7 tablets thrice as day, "At least there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail."

@Stephen Mungai

GOD'S MERCIFUL EYES

 GOD'S MERCIFUL EYES 

Eight months into the business and things were looking up. The family became even more busy as demand for food kept growing.  Mike had since stopped doing the casual jobs that he used to do and was now involved with sourcing supplies for the food business. He would go to Nyamakima almost thrice a week to collect cereals as well as a foodstuffs wholesaler that was near their home. He became quite busy but liked it because the arrangement of the family was that all of them were like employees earning more than a fair day's earning.  So was Hellen and their mother, who were doing all the cooking. By now they had added one employee to help with the cooking.  Joshua was already thinking of doing away with the cakes and sodas to concentrate on hot dishes but the idea of the family transporting food daily through public means had been a headache for the eight months of business. In good time though,  lady luck once again knocked on their door. As promised, Marcus,  one of his regular customers had a talk with his boss. He worked in a warehouse nearby, which had a large empty unused space outside the warehouse buildings. Marcus connected Joshua with his boss, who agreed to lease a space of 40 by 60 feet to run his food business. The space was at one corner of the whole land and the entrance would be separated from the warehouse entrance. The space owner was to do the construction with metal frames and iron sheet walls and roof. That would be done in the next 2 months.  So was a 10 year lease plan agreed and officially documented.  Joshua felt a sigh of relief because the daily hussles especially to transport food would now come to an end.  The 2 months went by very fast with the land owner keeping his end of the bargain. He did a good building, which was one big hall only partitioned to provide space for the kitchen area. In the third month, Joshua would source for the seats, tables and additional utensils and by the end of the third month, they were ready to move in to the new building. And so they did. Hellen,  Mike,  the mother and Joshua would thereafter religiously report to work daily in the morning to prepare lunch for the customers.  Business boomed as more and more customers came on learning of the new food point.  Joshua was forced to close down the initial joint and everything moved into the new building. The family would then begin making breakfast as the requests for the same grew. 

Things were changing so fast for the family  and becoming better. Joshua was amazed at how fast things could change.He kept telling his wife that God had looked at their family with merciful eyes.  And so believed in his heart. 

@Stephen Mungai

CHANGING FORTUNES

 CHANGING FORTUNES

Years frog leaped so fast like they had been invited to a feast. Joshua's life had not changed much three years on. Daniel had performed well in KCSE and had just begun his studies at University of Nairobi school of law. He was so focused and kept the parents hopes high that they could some day come out of the shack, out of their impoverished lives.On a particular day as he was serving his customers came Ogada, one of Joshua's regular customers. "Mimi niletee Ugali na Omena" he ordered. "Hapa sio dunga beach Kisumu bwana Ogada. Hapa ni city ya keki na soda" replied Joshua with a wide smile that signalled the camaraderie which the two had built over the years. Ogada had been ordering ugali for a long time now but today, ogada's voice kept coming to Joshua's mind even after he had closed shop. 'Why not make ugali for Ogada?' , 'How many other people would be interested in hot dishes?' 'Should I give it a try?' Questions kept coming to his mind. Joshua couldn't sleep that night and eventually, he promised himself to give it a try one day. When he shared the experience and the idea with his wife, she was very positive about it. She promised to make food at home and transport to Joshua's place a few minutes before lunch hour if that idea would materialise. It looked like they had a plan. But first, Joshua took the next few weeks getting his main customer's opinions on whether they would love hot dishes instead of the usual sodas and cakes. Many were for the idea and Joshua felt like time was ripe to give it a try. So, the day was set and the number of interested customers were noted. Around 20 people were. To make it simple, only one menu was on offer, Ugali, kales and some beef. With help from her daughter Hellen, Mrs Joshua arrived on time and found some customers already waiting. They were all served, all of them that had ordered. They enjoyed their lunch better than before to an extent that some placed daily standing orders. That day, Joshua's family made twice as much money as they would make on any good business day. It looked like the business was set to take a new direction. The order increased and so did the variety of offers on the menu. Weekends became even busier for the family. They would sit together to clean up cereals that would be cooked in the coming week. Mike, Hellen and the little ones, all got involved. Daniel would most weekends come by from campus to help because work became more and more as days crawled by. The family earnings also begun to go up and so, quite drastically. Around 4 months into the business, Joshua rented two more single rooms within their Line Saba area, just a stone throw distance away from their home. One room was where they did the cooking while the other was their store for dry foodstuffs. For the reason that there were no food joints near his work place, Joshua's new venture boomed and family fortunes begun to change. ' Ogada was a messenger from God' Joshua concluded in his mind but also told him so many times after.

@Stephen Mungai

AND SO, JOSHUA WORKS

 AND SO, JOSHUA WORKS 

Doors can be heard opening from different places in the area. Joshua King'ori looks at his watch again. It's 4.30 am in the morning, the usual time he leaves the house for work. Dutifully, the wife was already up earlier and prepared breakfast for him, black tea with sweet potatoes. He walks out the street and the wife locks the door behind him. Mondays are relatively harder than the other days. Considering that he doesn't work on Sundays, meant that Saturday earnings needed to take care of Sunday and Monday. Sometimes, the couple made Sundays special for the children. Talk of eggs, bread and milk tea. The kids always looked forward for Sundays. Mondays were thus hard and troubled. No milk. No sugar sometimes and most times, No bus fare to the place of work. The wooden door of their house faced a walk path and so they could hear footsteps outside the whole day which only reduced into the deep hours of the night. They occupied 2 of the six one roomed plot. One room was for the bigger Kids. Their first born Mike was already 22 years and already going to industrial area to get casual jobs. Tabitha, the second born was 19, already completed form 4 looking out at what to do but many times helping the parents run their businesses. Daniel, the third born was 17 in form 2 at Kianyaga high school in Kirinyaga county. He was rarely home. Most of the times when schools closed, he went to visit the grandparents who were a walking distance away. Hellen, their fourth born was then in class eight waiting to sit her KCPE examination at the end of the year. David was the 5th born. Then in class 5. The last born, Ruth was only 3 years. Their home was in Kibera line saba and this Monday, Joshua had to walk to his place of work. He had a small stand near Nyayo stadium where he used to sell mostly sodas, cigarettes, cakes and snacks. His place was very popular for lunch hour bites and smokers on short smoking breaks. The business was doing as well as to afford to pay rent for the 2 rooms and to pay school fees for all the kids. The wife also gave him a hand from her grocery shop near their home. The family was close knit and would spend long hours into the night talking especially on weekends. They would also talk about their challenges, assist each other with ideas or just laugh off their otherwise economic challenged life. So, Joshua walks towards the railway line along which he must walk to Mbagathi way then downwards towards Nyayo stadium. There are already many men walking the same direction. Along the way he hears screams and arguments of probably a couple fighting. This was very common in the area. Joshua would more than once find a woman in the streets with bags and small kids this early morning, probably sent out of their house by the husband and father. After an hour's walk. Joshua opens business, the early cigarette customers begin tripping in. His prayer was always that he would have a better day than yesterday. And so, Joshua works. 

@Stephen Mungai

SARAH KAVOI'S NEW STATUS: A blessing or a trap?

 SARAH KAVOI'S NEW STATUS: A blessing or a trap?

Sarah Kavoi performed well enough in her KCSE exams to get an admission place in KU. Her bachelors degree in Education would definitely get her a teaching job, hopefully by TSC so she could be of help to her parents and siblings, considering she came from a very remote area in Kitui county. By luck, she was getting the set maximum amount of HELB loan and additional bursary every semester. She managed the money so well that she had enough to send some to support her parents and siblings. As she begun her 3rd year, she fell in love with David King'ori, who was beginning his 4th year IT degree. David came from a rich family and Sarah thought he had excess of what he needed. Though he had a rented one bedroom apartment in Kahawa Sukari all for himself, he was rarely there. Either he slept over at her parents place in Kitisuru or elsewhere while on one of the many trips he made for different reasons. David was her first love. He treated her well. They had many conversations in person or over the phone sometimes running into late hours of the night. She met many of David's friends in endless parties he held or was invited to. She also met his parents and siblings on a few visits to their home. David gave Sarah a life she had only seen on social media. Talk of weekend getaways to Naivasha, Nanyuki or Arusha. Talk of late night parties or night club experiences in the best clubs in Nairobi. Talk of flights to mombasa for week-long holidays......Honestly, she was having a time of her life. David also made it normal to give her money or send her via MPesa for all sorts of reasons. "That is for making your hair", "Buy yourself a nice dress", "I thought you would need some cash for manicure and pedicure" David would say. And money kept coming. Many of her friends of old dropped away not being able to keep with her new lifestyle but Joyce stayed on. She would take Joyce along to many places she went. Joyce was happy for her but kept telling her to be cautious especially not to get pregnant and also attend lectures, many of which she now was missing. Joyce also guided her to the birth control method she was now using. Everything was good even after a year into the relationship with David. David had already graduated and running one of the Dad's clearing and forwarding business. Sarah was now in fourth year and all going smooth as earlier before something unexpected happened. Birth control backfired and she got pregnant. She got so stressed not knowing what to do. She didn’t know whether to tell him or not. He had already said he was not yet ready for a family. Nonetheless, she told David that she had a surprise for him and organized a hot date at Sportsview hotel in Kasarani. They had had their favourite meals and were sipping their wine when she broke the news to him. He couldn't believe it. He sprang up jubilant, gave her a warm hug and kissed her glowing lips. His reaction confused her a little considering he was always against settling down as yet. Was David's reaction genuine? Would they marry some day? Would they bring up the child together? Would she manage the remaining part of her studies? Should she share the news with her parents and her friend Joyce? Questions kept coming. Would the pregnancy be a blessing or trap that would end the blissful relationship with David? What should she actually do going foward?

@Stephen Mungai

TECH KID LIMITS

 TECH KID LIMITS

In Kenya, Television set in houses where Kids grew up in the 80's and early 90's was a privilege of very few kids. From an early age, kids hardly spent time indoors but were ever out with neibouring kids playing throughout the day when not in school. This were times when people lived together as communities before the fear of neighbours became a reality forcing parents to prefer locking their kids indoors. Alot has changed over the years that changed the way neighbours and their kids interact. Parents are more cautious to an extent of sanctioning the friends their kids have, and these must just be a handful. Of course that is important for development of good mannerism. Kids are also kept indoors watching TV programmes and playing with their phones, comps or ipads. It helps develop the kid's tech knowhow and sometimes, parents end up consulting their kids when they hit tech hitches, which is a positive development. On the flipside and if not well regulated by parents, the kids may flop in academic performance or fat up for lack of outdoor activities that sometimes may cause health problems. The exposure may be bad especially for kids under long hours care by househelps, who sometimes have too much to do to care about what kids in the house are doing. 

Our society may not be as organised as other societies in the world like Europe where extra curriculum activities begin at very early age with parents being forced by the systems to accompany their kids and assist their development in non academic activities. That is why kids join football academies as early as 5 years and begin to earn from professional football as eary as with 15 years. However, the good observation is that many such academies have come up in many areas around the country which should challenge parents to take advantage to develop their kids outdoor abilities. If not for professional sporting life, the kids remain physically and mentally active. In this way, we can assist affirm the school CBC curriculum to open up more opportunities for future our generations. 

The kids will eventually be happy with the choices their parents made for them in line with Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it."

@Stephen Mungai

A MOMENT WITH NATURE

 A MOMENT WITH NATURE

The city dwellers interact with nature comparatively rarely. Most city settlement areas have completely replaced trees and natural plantation with concrete and mortar. As a result, the air is usually stuffy and acrid. Up-market residences are a little different because of proper planning that ensures fair interaction between nature and concrete making the air a little more fresh. For this reason and if someone's pockets allow, people tend to move to the outskirts of the city where the degree of freshness increases as one heads towards up-country areas.

Some people who can afford have up-country farms where they go once in a while to enjoy interaction with plant and animal life. This can be a refreshing experience away from city life. However, anyone can have an interaction with nature and so add value to the simple moments of life. Just a thought. When was the last time you sat along the river to listen to the sound of waters down the stream? Or left the house for a walk early night to observe the arrangement of stars on the sky? What of picking flowers along the roads in your home area? What of going to sleep under a tree in Uhuru Park, City Park or a tree in rural areas? Or is that only for jobless Kenyans? I bet that a gaze at nature can give us a pose to enjoy simple moments of our lives. Planting in pots, tending kitchen gardens or keeping domestic animals are good experiences to those with the space to do so. Probably, doing these things more intentionally may add more value to our lives since our living days are not many and quickly fly away.

Sometimes, our days are filled with pressure that makes us not to enjoy easy moments of our days. With tomorrow not belonging to us, the greatest blessing God gives us is today and the now. The past is gone and the future exists only in our imaginations. Our duty is to do God’s will today; make a difference in the lives of the human race today and enjoy the many blessings God has granted to us today, greatest of which is breadth of life and nature around us. This is the reason David prays in Psalm 90:12, ‘’ Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.’’ In Psalm 103:2-5, David decides to pause and marvel at what God had done to him and he says, ‘’ Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’’

Let us not live in the past or be controlled by the future that only exists in our imagination. Let us enjoy every moment of the day because this is what the Lord has done to us.

@Stephen Mungai

FREEWILL OR DONE DESTINY?

 FREEWILL OR DONE DESTINY?

A lesson about counting the cost suggests that man has a freewill to become in Life as they would Wish to. This looks like true over all the generations because human beings who work towards goals,  undistracted, seem to end up achieving them. The bible is also not short of scriptures that confirm the freewill gift given by God to man. Galatians 5:13 says, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love."  So also was the idea in the garden of Eden where freewill was given, but also was an advice not to eat fruits of the tree of knowledge. 

Career path is also a personal choice. While God's word indicates special and differing gifts or abilities to different people, emphasis is placed on need of personal effort to fan the given gifts meaning that personal  strive towards goals to become. Skilled men in different trades were appointed by God to work in biblical constructions like the tabernacle or temple.  

The idea of destiny is however a biblical mystery that is sometimes frightening.  It goes like this....every human being has an exact life plan  pre-determined by God, with a specific purpose or end. On the good side of it, God says that He has good plans for us to give us a future and hope meaning a good ending. The story of Judas is a good example planned,  prophesied and foreknown by Jesus that Judas would betray Him. Judas had been particularly chosen for the role, which rules out the idea of freewill or free choice about his destiny.  Imagine God choosing you for an evil role and a destructive ending meaning there is nothing you can do but must fulfil the evil role. On the destiny lessons of the bible is Proverbs 19:21 which says that, "Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails." A more scary verse is Proverbs 16:4 which says that, "The LORD has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster." 

Does man have control over his life? Were our lives pre-determined by God removing our ability of control? Fully or to a certain percentage? Or should we just forget these arguments and just live our lives the best way we know how? Maybe we should.  Or?

@Stephen Mungai

COUNTING THE COST

 *COUNTING THE COST* 

Nothing just happens but things are made to happen. The saying rules out the possibility of coincidence in life. Is it true that there is nothing like coincidence in life? Let’s think of a lady who suddenly, along the streets, meets a handsome man whose looks are exactly as per the man of her dreams. They pick a conversation and for a 30 minutes’ walk down the street, all the talk fits the lady’s bill of ideal man. Down the corner, the man needs to make a turn, but the lady needs to walk ahead. The Man asks if he could have the lady’s contact but the stubborn monster in her pops up and says No, explaining that they just met. Of course she doesn’t want to appear cheap. They then part ways but lady walks questioning herself regarding what she just did. Could she have just allowed her dream man slip off her fingers? ‘Why do I have to always be so stubborn?’ ‘Could the idea of that man be a messenger of the devil who I was lucky to escape from?’ ‘Did I do the right thing?’. The questions keep coming to her mind till late into the night but none of them can she answer confidently. Thinking of coincidences, was it a good or bad coincidence that she met the man? Could she have rejected Mr. right sent to her by God?

Believers of no coincidences try to make meaning of everything that happens to their lives. Many passages of the bible bring out the idea that everything in life happens according to God’s plans. Talk of John 1:3 that says that without Him, nothing was made that was made. Think of Luke 21:18 that says that not a hair from his head will perish. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for the good of those called according to His purpose.

On the other hand, God’s word implies that for things to happen in our lives, we need to first consider what we want, sit down and calculate the cost we must pay to make it happen, much before we begin any of the projects that we want to engage in. This implies also that nothing will happen in our lives by coincidence or luck, but we must pay the cost equivalent to what we want to happen for us. Luke 14: 28-30, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and cannot finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

It looks like there are no coincidences in life. Maybe there is also nothing like luck. Rather, we need to consider what we want and pay the equivalent cost for it. So, what do you want? What is the cost? Are you ready to pay?

@Stephen Mungai

CHRISTIANITY AND DEVELOPMENT

 CHRISTIANITY AND DEVELOPMENT 

Discussion about Christianity and culture was an interesting conversation.  It took another twist to the relationship between Christianity and development.  How do the two sit together? Does the level of Christianity, if there be such a concept,  affect how developed a person or a country becomes. Are there persons in the forbes billionaires club list who owe their riches to Christianity? Is Development of any of the countries in G7 attributed to Christianity? Is this kind of measuring development applicable to assess the influence Christianity has on our world today? Is that influence important or Christians don't belong to this world and therefore need not such influence? 

Last week's discussion pointed out that Africa has most Christians but is at the same time full of poor people and countries.  Is the bible against wealth? Why is Material progress promised in the bible not realised by the Christians today inspite of endless church services and prayer encounters? 

I think the bible has specific principles regarding all the guidance we need for proper godly living. A good word like, 'Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.' in Proverbs 12:11 is one of such principles. Many of our pastors and priests may plead guilty of guiding their congregants to chase fantasies. They require them say 'amen' to all the wishful thinking pushed through congregants' ears.....,'you will receive your blessings ' , 'your suffering will end' , 'you shall be the head and not the tail'. Many of these prophecies never materialise because they are only an end in themselves. In reality they ought to be the first steps to achievement of the promises. The second step should be the works in the faith which many of our preachers don't guide us on. They should guide us to plant our farms, start selling merchandise,  begin manufacturing business,  learn a trade, enroll for a technical course,  begin to do value addition to our farm produce, develop a software that solves an imminent societal problem. This will be equivalent to Christians activating their faith. Perhaps, the world can begin to take Christians seriously. Then will christianity influence begin to be felt. Or don't we see a gap in the sermons we listen to? We are always told that it will happen but not how to have it happen. Shouldn't our pastors and priests begin the second part of the sermons on how exactly we will receive the blessings as promised? I suggest they should because, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” according to James 2:26.

Need i say more?

@Stephen Mungai

CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE

 CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE 

The idea of most African countries having several ethnic groups is a blessing because of the rich cultural diversity that comes with it. The ethnic groups seem to be fast disappearing in a new generation of young people who dissociate themselves with their ethnic backgrounds on one side, and on the other, through embracing modernisation as well as westernisation, both ideals that think the cultures as backward. 

In many African countries the cultures have gone to the background and save for a few cultural exhibition events or museums displays, real life cultural experiences are as good as gone. 

Good or bad, cultural association is for anyone to judge. To respect the cultures or not is a choice people must make. 

Tribe is the biggest symbol of the ethnic groups and sometimes define the groups themselves. In Kenya for example the word Kamba refers to both the ethnic group and the language the group speaks. Can we speak our languages well. Can our children?

Christianity, modernisation and culture interactions have left many people without clear identity as to where they stand, what to follow, to avoid or just where to draw the line. The winners are the clans that require you to pay dowry before you can marry their girl. Those old men have helped to keep that culture alive to that particular extent. Traditions help us understand our origin but to what extent should we practice them? What of attires, artefacts, celebration seasons and our heroes. Can we rightfully say we know ourselves when we choose the cultures to follow and what not to? The good thing that happened is the way Africans were able to borrow from Traditions in practice of Christianity especially traditional musical instruments like drums for early church.

Save for Maasai, whose Traditions are a great cultural export for Kenya, someone fails to point our strong cultural identifies for other groupings.

Theologians teach that the bible was written within Hebrew and Jewish traditions set-up making the narratives like passover feast key features. 

Christian identity in God does not necessarily disapprove our traditions to the extent of them not being against God's word and no darkness involves. 1 Peter 2:9 says 'But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.'

So, what traditions are to keep and what should we throw away?

@Stephen Mungai

THE MYTH OF SELF DEFENSE

 THE MYTH OF SELF DEFENSE

You spot a stone throne at you coming from far, you automatically move your body away from it and if it is not possible, you protect your eyes to rather be hit on your hand. You act the same way when your significant others or property is at risk. This is natural instinctive self-defensive response for survival. When someone attacks you, you become aggressive in defense and sometimes, the attacker ends up as the loser or the casualty. Humans as opposed to animals can foresee a danger coming even months or years earlier and begin to plan for defense. A good example is how many countries are strengthening their armies for a possible WW3 in view of ongoing conflicts like Ukraine-Russia or Israel-Palestine. Humans also work to protect not only themselves but their vital interests like land, property, families and territories. Another interesting angle to defense is the suggestion where humans respond to warnings from people suggesting to them that they are in danger. That is why if you start running frightened in a congested city pointing behind you saying that they are coming, the street will be chaotic with people running for their lives out of the suggested danger.

The suggested dangers have caused many troubles in the world we live in. How many of us have cut out communication with people just because someone told us how evil that person was? How much suggestion did we receive about a certain tribe as far as being warned not to marry from there?  Ever heard of vote against someone in our politics? It is said that Mount Kenya people do not historically vote and when they do, it is more about voting against rather than voting for. As a result of the suggested danger, for example, those people have voted many times against Raila. Suggested danger also makes people coalesce together to strengthen their defense. This is what has always made us grouped as tribes and regions. The bright politician then always suggests that our tribe or region is in danger and once they have all of us together, they take us with them to the negotiating table to get positions and resources for themselves and their families.

Suggested danger is the power of many politicians and world leaders. That was also a factor for Trumps win with weird statements like that foreigners were eating citizen’s cats and dogs. The holocaust that left over 6 million Jews dead began by the Nazi regime suggesting to its citizen that Jews were a dangerous people. The historical conflicts in our country like post-election violence came about the same way. We must therefore stay wary of people suggesting to us that a particular people are dangerous rather, we must treat every human being as an individual because that is the essence of love as taught by the bible.

Proverbs 28:1 says, ‘The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.’  Does it mean that someone is wicked when they respond to warned danger and that righteousness will make us bolder?

 

@Stephen Mungai

ADDICTIONS

ADDICTIONS

I was once taught by teacher Rebecca in one of the many classes I have in my adulthood attended. Her hobbies were travelling and music. Once in a while she would come to class with a guitar and play very good music borrowed from one culture of the many places on earth that she had visited. What was however very interesting with her is that by choice and in this age of smartphones, she never owned a phone. Her mode of communication was email or home telephone. On asking her why, she simply said she did not need it.  

Many of our lives today are centred on smartphones and many cannot imagine life without it. It has simplified our lives completely be it keeping contacts, learning and news. On the flipside a smartphone is for some a curse for their lives with many hours lost everyday scrolling. At one time someone is reading news sites, then one social media platform to the other seeing photos, watching videos, chatting , searching and on and on. All is okay if someone has already completed their work and responsibilities but if that is making it difficult for someone to fulfil their duties, then we can rightfully say that this person who is lost on doom scrolling, has a phone addiction. 

Are you a phone addict? 

There are many addictions destroying our people; talk of alcoholism of people who abandon everything to drink every day, talk of betting that keeps people hoping to win one day as they all along lose close to all their cash, talk of Religion of people who spend all their time daily in churches praying or listening to preachings, addictions come in all manner of ways. I think that many of these activities are positive but the sin may be doing them without moderation. That explains why alcohol was a normal part of a meal during Jesus days and the same is practiced in many western cultures but coming home, alcohol became a sin because we have never been able to take it in moderation. 

Coming back to phone addiction, I think it could be more dangerous than alcoholism and sometimes it comes with other addictions like betting, flattering, pornography, cyber bulling, hacking and so on. Probably we could cut down on 80% of addictions by Overcoming phone addiction. So how can we do so. What about catching your 9 o'clock news instead of reading on phone? How about uninstalling betting and social media apps? How about replacing smart phones with a 'Mulika mwizi'? Maybe it can help someone overcome their addiction. 

Anyone suffering from phone addiction? What is your personal addiction? Do you have friends and relatives suffering from addictions? How do we help ourselves and others in addiction?

Maybe reading a bible verse prayerfully would help. So we read 1 Corinthians 6:12

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

May God help us to do only the helpful things and not to be dominated by the vices.

@ Stephen Mungai

THE POLICE FORCE

 THE POLICE FORCE

The 90's were interesting times for the young people. Youthful games were mostly outdoors and even in Nairobi, there were enough free spaces and fields of play where we enjoyed football and other creative games. The fields have been lost over the years through land grabbing including one that comes to my mind, that was illegally taken away by president Moi and given to a church which was then build on the initially marked field of play. As young high school boys those days, our biggest fear was the police whenever the dark of the night creeped in. The police used to move into estates with lorries then called 'Mariamu' and would arrest people for all manner of reasons. Every time we saw a mariamu from a distance or a group of police men approaching, we would either go back running or take the next closest corner. Facing them was dreadful. Countless times they made us sit down on the ground and that came with heavy slaps, whips or both and that, having done nothing. The only crime then was to be a young man. Many people born in late 90's may never understand this because alot of impunity by police reduced when Moi left office with the police force becoming more friendlier. Alot of reform efforts were done thereafter including establiment of IPOA to oversight and reduce excesses by the police. The police force would later become police service which meant less or no force but service to the people. 

Sadly though, the gains made over the years are being rolled back fast and furious. Under President Ruto who was a political student of Moi, the police are a new force never seen before. They can kill people at will in full view of cameras and walk out to continue working like nothing happened. That is reason why people are dying in every protest because the government has set the police against the people. It was reported that at least 19 youths were killed during saba saba protests on Monday this week. It may be argued that those killed are criminals but a good number were unarmed at the time. 

The result may be a war between citizens and police and an enmity that may cause more harm than good if nothing changes. 

Police look well instructed to stop demonstrators at all costs which in my opinion is what makes demos chaotic. Further instructions to kill is regrettable and should be condemned from all corners. 

Does someone ever ask themselves where all these lawlessness will end? Probably Christians should make more effort to pray for Kenya because, things are thick. So Christians have their work well cut out in 2 Chronicles 7:14 action, 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.' 

Or is there another way?

@ Stephen Mungai

MORALITY OF A NATION

 MORALITY OF A NATION

In the information world of today, people are close to immediately updated on the happening anywhere in the world in real time. There are thousands of media channels, websites and social media apps to keep people up to date every second. As a result TV viewership especially news content may not be as high as some years back. Of all content that we consume, entertainment seems more palatable to keep us all smiles but what about news? Has someone ever noted that many times, 50% or more of what is reported is bad news? Of poor governance, corruption, burglary, destruction and murders. I have heard many of my friends saying that they cannot stand to watch news from beginning to end because everything was too negative. 

That in mind, I sometimes ask myself whether the problem was that the media stations only focussed on negative news items or that we are simply a society where evil is unbelievably high. The later could be so true if we could sit down and reflect. Just picture the destructive behaviour we saw last week during gen-z demos. It was disheartingly extreme. Talk of the breakages to loot in shops and supermarkets and the wanton arson on buildings and vehicles. It was sad and very uninteresting. That itself exonorates the media stations from blame of negative reporting. On the other hand and though an affront on media, the government's move that stopped live coverage would have been a good move to discourage more demonstrators doing more damage. 

The question is, why are we so evil as a society? Why is there no positive change in our morality and why do things seem to get worse? I guess that is why we elect new leadership evey election cycle in hope that things would change but still end up in similar or worse conditions as a nation. So, 

who will save us as a nation? Who is currently the gatekeeper of our morals? Does the church still have the moral authority to guide the nation into new dawn of morality? Should we just resign to the fact that our moral fabric is irreparably tattered and let thing be as they would? For many Kenyans, the more we hope for better days, the more we get disappointed by the happenings. Maybe the best way to start is with ourselves by doing justice to all the people we have done injustice to in the past and restitution to those from whom we have stolen before or whose debts we have not paid. That is the same condition that Jesus gave Zacchaeus the tax collector in Luke 19:1-10. After that, then we can live without doing such evils to fellow humans and teach our children and people within our circles to focus on justice and doing good. 

Could there be a better formula to change our society or is it an impossibility? I would be interested to know.

@Stephen Mungai 

TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT

 TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT

Yesterday, many cities, towns and residential areas across the country were non functional. Literally and with close to all businesses remaining closed, the country came to a standstill. Demonstrations were meant for good, to commemorate the deaths of gen Z demonstrators who died in anti finance bill demos, same day last year. The question is why a person who is not interested in joining the demos is not able to open their shop for day's operations. Why are all demos a fight between demostrators and police? Why does it have to end in looting and destruction of property? When and how can we get to a point where police accompany demonstrators and oversee from start to finish of peaceful demos?

There are different reasons someone joins in the demos. Some good people do it for love of their country and the spirit of patriotism, and such people need a pat on their back. Some look for a chance to steal and hence vandalize and destroy private and public property, these actions must be condemned because these are the characters that make demos a bad experience for everyone.  

On the flipside, politicians are now running civilian gangs who are now beating up the demonstrators under police protection. This is a dangerous trend that if not stopped could easily turn the country into a militia state where people are free to form their own armies to fight for their own ends.

As a country, we must have gone wrong somewhere for us to have come to where we are today. We could have elected wrong leaders but even so, we have just allowed our moral fabric as a country to beak down completely. The respect of the rule of law is at its lowest and impunity is now puffed up in every corridor of power where the powers that be believe they could do anything, break all laws and get away with it. The trend is not good but we hope and pray that everything could click back to normalcy so that we could be a hopeful people in a country where the rule of law guides action by the leadership and the citizens. 

Let kenyans not break the same laws that they are angry about the government breaking because of course, two wrongs don't make a right. 

Let us all always stand for what is right,defend the weak, demand justice,

and to hold leadership accountable but within the confines of the law. Let us encourage our people and youth in particular to do the right thing and let us all pray for a better Kenya. May God help us and heal our nation. Amen.

@Stephen Mungai 

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MOTHER TO JAMES

 MOTHER TO JAMES

James Kaguri was the second child of her mother, Wairimu. James was named after the mother's father as per Kikuyu traditions. The first born was Mburu, but when James came, Mburu seemed to have been forgotten because the mother became too close to James and naturally so, he was named after her dad. The last born in the family was their sister Warigia. To date, the father has always been busy attending to his many businesses and as a result, spent very little time with his kids in their younger days. The 3 siblings are now adults and only Warigia is yet to start a family. Mburu is married with 4 kids. James, on the other hand is also married with 2 kids. At the time when he got married, James had a stable job with a local matatu Sacco that operates in the Nairobi-Thika route. This was before he got tired of the job and left to start a business. With the support of the mother, he tried his hand in buying old cars, repairing them, and reselling them at a profit. The first project, and as guided by his friend Mithamo, did not go very well, only getting a profit of 10K after 3 weeks of hard work. He was a little disappointed with it and is yet to do a second trial. He has never been worried even without much earning because, and lucky for him, the mother has never let him suffer. Every time he has financial difficulties, the mother will always give him cash to relieve him of trouble. James's wife Rachael has always had a problem with her husband about the mother because she seems to be in control of James. Rachael only realized too late that James never makes important decisions without consulting the mother. The situation has been so bad that sometimes, Rachael would be called by the mother-in-law to be told that her idea is not good, an idea which the couple had privately discussed and decided on. James reports to the mother all that the couple does and plans. This has always angered Rachael, and nowadays, she just let the mother son relationship be since she seems not to be able to get between them. Rachael became so nerved by it until she would sarcastically tell James that his mother had control over them in everything, including when and how they do it under the sheets. 

This looks like a problem with upbringing or? Is James Mum love good or too much? What should Rachael do? Can she change the man, or must she accept the status quo? Can James overcome the control and be his own man? 

Oedipus complex was named after Oedipus who in Greek mythology killed his own father and married the mother. The concept explains how boys are attracted to their mothers and while this is a natural phenomenon, it is curious to explain to ladies as to where exactly to draw the line between loving their sons and doing it too much to a level of spoiling them. So, how can mothers avoid bringing up irresponsible men in this respect? Could the problem with James also be attributed to the lack of involvement of the father? 

The problems of boys in our society today are many. Too much love from mothers is only one of the many. Irresponsible men in the society and mental health issues of men is a major problem that the society needs to address because the effects of it are far reaching.

As we keep telling our men and boys to man-up, I think it's important to find out where the problem springs from so that we could have more responsible and mentally fit men in our society. Maybe women should help in bringing up the boys better by avoiding too much love or?  The strong men on the other hand should help the struggling men up, instead of just telling them to man-up because Proverbs 27:17 is still true, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so does a man sharpen another.’

 

@ Stephen Mungai