INSPIRATION 

Am curious to ask public speakers like priests, pastors, trainers and motivatiinal speakers just how they are ready with new messages every other time. Are there times they need to prepare a sermon and there is practically no inspiration? What does someone do in such a case? 

This article was hard to come by due to un-inspiration until the very end. Can someone just do it without inspiration? 

The idea of ‘Quiet time’ is an important idea for any human who needs to connect with the supernatural. As is said, man always needs a power bigger than themselves and the need is always so strong so that, man always, naturally identifies with the supernatural beings. Every time there is a disconnect between our lives and the supernatural, life becomes sort of drab and meaningless and we seem to start going round in circles with lack of a clear direction. It is thus mandatory to stay tapped to the supernatural, (read God), if we are to keep our energy levels high. 

In his book, the science of being well, wattle D wattle argues that the universe and all therein consists of one living substance from which all things are made. This Living Substance permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. It is in and through all things, like very refined and diffusible ether. All life comes from it—its life is all the life there is. The Christian I am, I tend to believe him simply because the bible says that all things were made by God and without Him, nothing was made that was made. Remember that God created by speaking, meaning that the breadth of God flows through all living and non living substances. It is this same breadth that God breathed to man so he became alive. After God finished creation, the bible says that He looked at everything he had made and it was very good. The meaning is that the universe by God’s design ought to be very good and so should man, without disease and the troubles that beget him all his short days.

All wisdom is also contained in the breadth of God and if we need wisdom, we need to fear God and stay connected to the Supernatural. That is the only way to live inspired and to get the gusto and enthusiasm we need to face and know the life we ought to live. Otherwise, we will live a pale life and then die of ignorance.

This was so for one prophet send by God from Judah to prophecy as chronicled in 1 Kings 13. After delivering the word as God had sent him, he saddled his donkey to return from whence he had come. An important command God had given Him was that he was not supposed to eat and drink among the people he’d been sent to. On his way back after the prophecy, another prophet came and invited him back to eat and drink with him. Being a prophet, he lied to him and the Prophet from Judah accepted to go back with him against the very word he himself had received from God. After the disobedience, God used the prophet who’d lied to inform him that he’d be punished for disobedience. He was later to be mauled by lions and that was the end for him because he listened to other people other than to God.

In the same vein, we ought to always listen to the Supernatural God in all we do and in all our ways. Him only should we believe but not other human beings. In that way, all our days shall be full of energy and inspiration and thence we shall live a perfect life like God intended. So that when He looks at us he’d say, ‘’ It is very good’’ like He did after a perfect creation.

And therefore dear friends, we should maintain a good connection with God. Won’t we?

@Stephen Mungai 

 DUTY OF CARE

There was drama a few days ago when Anti-corruption officials went to the home of Trans-Nzoia county governor, George Natembeya, to arrest him for corruption related charges. What drawed my attention was not how the locals came out in drones to defend their county chief, but how vehicles allegedly belonging to the anti-corruption crew were vandalized. Actually, one vehicle was clearly beaten to a write-off damage. I asked myself the question why a simple expression of dissatisfaction or a protest by us Kenyans must always end in destruction of property. I wondered exactly what was in the mind of every person that raised his hand to destroy the vehicles and whether they would react differently if they knew the owner to be their friend or relative. Or was it because they never knew the owner? Or was it because it belonged to the government and they had a claim to ownership?  And if so, did they consider that more money from taxation would be used to replace or fix the vehicles instead of being put to better use?

As a people, we have developed very bad habits of destruction of property especially when we are angry or are protesting about something. High school and University strikes for instance have historically been accompanied by destruction of school and public property including arson that has sometimes resulted in death of fellow students. The destroyed property is later evaluated and charged back to the students and parents are forced to cater for resultant damage charges.

What do we think of wives or husbands that express their anger by picking TVs, plates, cups, glasses and throwing them to the floor to protest against their partners? Some have been seen using stones or hammers to destroy windows of their partner’s vehicles in protest. What about the child who gets angry, throws their food to the floor and breaks the plate at the same time. What should a parent do to that child? Maybe that is where the destructive behavior begins.

As we grew up, there was a famous Swahili saying, children of our days were using, ‘Cha kuokota si cha kuiba’, which simply meant that you had not stolen, that which you picked somewhere, unattended. Was that right to do? You get a pen somewhere, pick it and own it. What if the owner was on the way coming, looking for it? You would have completely ruined his prospects of finding it by picking it before they got to it. Maybe the right thing would have been to leave that which does not belong to you or?

I think that as a country, we generally use a lot of resources to fix the damages caused especially during demonstrations and considering that many demonstrations are against the government, we use a good part of our taxes to fix what was destroyed as people were expressing anger in a demonstration. This is a backward behavior that should be condemned in both public and private conversations. We should also teach our children not only to be good stewards of that which they own, but also to respect and take care of other people’s properties. They should not be quick to destroy just because it does not belong to them, whether they are found out or not.

Kenyan law obliges every citizen to follow the "duty of care" laws. This is a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to avoid harming others or damaging their property in any situation.  It is therefore important that people learn to take care of other people’s properties just as well as they would take care of their own. The golden rule could be of help to us here, ‘So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.’ Mathew 7:14.

May we all learn to exercise the duty of care and respect other people’s properties, shall we?

 

@ Stephen Mungai

 HEADS OR TAILS

In a span of 24 hours of a single day; a pastor drives a point home aimed at encouraging his congregants to live holy lives worth the calling to sepation from a stained universe. Elsewhere, a lady is working tirelessly to feed the orphans she’s dedicated her life to and by choice, she does. A father rushes home early after work and spends the rest of the day playing with his kids. A president signs a deal with a foreign state to have them finance a major infrastructural project. A man quits the brown bottle to be able to spend more time with the family and better perform his family responsibilities. And good and good, the blessed sons and daughters of the universe rise and rise to perform good deeds to make the world a better place.

On another corner of the world; a man breaks into someone’s car within town centre and does away with valuables including laptops and phones. A sixty year old man has a new catch, a 21 year old university student to spend good times with. Members of parliament collude to award themselves hefty allowance packages or a car grant for every member. Within the same fraction of a lifetime; some bank employees collude with some hooligans to defraud big time cash from their employer. Somewhere in a remote upcountry village, men are drinking themselves silly and neglecting their duties to provide for their families and make love to their hardworking wives. The heinous yet; some guy runs his car off the road into a crowd killing several on the spot. The driver is completely drunk. Another woman torches her hut killing herself and her four children. Their will or not to do evil, the ugly deeds goes on unabated so to speak.

A Christian is called for higher purpose which is to affect the world positively by the good deeds that would drive away the darkness from our beautiful world. The good works from Christian circles ought to overshadow the ugly acts in the world as men and women of faith work to bring the world to know Christ who’s the savior of the world.

Sadly though, Christians are more often than not caught up in the very acts of the sinful nature which they ought to work against. The reason why this happens is because the Holy Spirit has not worked through the dough that is our bodies so we could be even enough to represent God. A simple truth is that we manifest what is stored up in our hearts be it bad or be it good. That means that if we assess our tendencies for good or evil, it reflects what is stored up within us, good or evil and that's why we are encouraged to store up God's word in our hearts to defeat evil.

Another interesting portion of the scripture, Rev 22:11-12, encourages people to continue to do what they have committed to do, good or bad. It says, "Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy. Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done."

The biggest power that God bestowed on human kind is the power of choice. He doesn't force anyone but He advises us in Deut 30:19, "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."

So, the choice is always 2 sides of a coin. Heads or tails. Good or evil. Life or death. Blessings or curses.

But we are already advised to choose what is right. Shall we?

@Stephen Mungai

 MATOKE FOR DINNER

Colonial period in Kenya were hard times but every community in Kenya had heroes that led the resistance. Dedan Kimathi is the best-known person for leading the Mau-Mau rebellion. Moraa wa Ng’iti  was for the the Abagisii community in Kenya, what Muthoni wa Kirima was for Agikuyu, or even more. Moraa wa Ng’iti is a documented heroine of the Abagusii people and a review of the heroic stories of Moraa makes for an interesting read.  Sotries are told that Moraa Wa Ng’iti belonged to the great Kitutu clan. She was married to Ng’iti, a highly regarded traditional healer in colonial times. She was a different kind of woman because, while women in those days were only required to bear, take care of children and tend farms, Moraa was very outspoken against colonial rule in Abagusii land at a time when women were not supposed to speak before men. At the height of political resistance and when some Kisii chiefs were giving in to pressure to collaborate with the British, Moraa wa Ng'iti continuously incited her people to revolt. The worst time is said to have been in 1905 when the colonial army, driven by vengeance against the Abagusii rebellion, killed so many people, burning their homesteads, seizing livestock and destroying their crops.

One leader of the colonial army was Geoffrey Northcote who was one of the Britons most hated person by the Kisii people for his heartless killings of locals. Moraa burnt with anger for what Northcote was doing to her people. She incited the entire community, telling them that Northcote was a sick man because only very sick people were yellow or white in colour.

Otenyo Nyamantere was brought up by Moraa wa Ngi’ti. He was nephew to her and learnt brevity from her to become the best warrior of Abagusii people at that time. Otenyo was encouraged by Moraa to lead the rebellion against the colonizers. So, he assembled the finest Abagusii warriors and took on the British. His warriors were armed with only poisoned arrows and spears. They laid an ambush for the British who were led by Northcote.  During the attack, Otenyo is said to have speared Northcote on the right shoulder before Northcote could draw his gun in defence, leaving him for dead. That was victory that made the Abagusii to celebrate Otenyo through song and dance. He had become a superhero to them for having killed the white colonial administrator who had tormented them in the past, or so was thought. The Abagusii warriors meanwhile were so motivated by Otenyo’s bravery that they started carrying out frequent raids. Unknown to them, Northcote had not only survived being speared by Otenyo but had sent a message to Kisumu for reinforcements, which arrived in three days. Many people were killed so that Otenyo could come from hiding and be captured. Moraa Ng’iti was pressured to hand over her nephew in exchange for end to the killings. The Abagusii elders agreed to the deal and Otenyo was made the ransom. Otenyo was executed, beheaded and hung from a bridge. His head was transported to London as proof that he was dead and put into a British museum.

Abagusii people are not short of heroes. George Moseti Anyona contested the presidency in 1992 but prior to that, he had had unending trouble with the government for being outspoken against corruption and bad governance. For instance, he was arrested by the Jomo Kenyatta government in 1977 for protesting award of a tender for supply of wagons to the then East African railways. Between 1977 and 1992, he was always in trouble, in and out of prison for questioning illegalities in government at a time when people were afraid to do so. All through, he kept a reputation as principled, championing free expression of thought, democracy and a just and equal society. He lived a modest life, never seeking to enrich himself from the offices he held and hated the culture of corruption and insatiable greed for money that prevailed in the country.

Today, there is a young man called Morara Kebaso who has set himself apart as outspoken person against corruption. He has risked his life several times for assessing actual projects funded or launched by both national and county governments. He gathers information on the amounts in funding and the projects on ground and on many occasions has exposed grand corruption that happens in the governments that we elect. He has also had trouble with KRA regarding tax payments, and one cannot be quite sure whether it is genuine or witch hunt by the government. He wants to be president and whether fit, ready or not is anyone’s decision to make.

Fred Matiang’i was once e a cabinet secretary in uhuru’s government and when he held the education docket, he is credited with efficiency and just to remember, he ensured KCPE results were released like 3 weeks before Christmas and KCSE results before the new year as opposed to what was normal, February the following year. He wants to contest for presidency in the coming elections and seems to be favored as a compromise candidate by many political formations. President Ruto seems frightened by Matiang’i. I saw his tweet on X tagging world bank informing them of political activities of their employee, Matiang’i, questioning whether world bank allowed such conduct for their employees. Whether Matiang’i is fit for presidency or not is for any Kenyan to judge considering some corruption mentions especially in the 1.5B Ruaraka land saga and also a fact of being fronted by usual politicians who would later require him to pay royalties.

David Kenani Maraga was Kenyan chief justice from 2016 to 2021 and famous in his tenure was nullification of 2017 general election that was allegedly won by uhuru Kenyatta, after protests by the opposition side led by Raila Odinga. Maraga comes as a brave person who is not afraid to stand by the rule of law and is a believer that proper adherence to the rule of law would bring order to our country. Maraga seems to be fronted to run the presidency by Gen Z leaders and seems to be buying the idea. He presents himself as a person who never involved himself in any corrupt deals and at one time dared anyone with information about his involvement in corruption to come public and say so. No one has taken the challenge to date and that may mean that the man is completely clean.

In the coming elections, we ought to be wiser and first judge whoever presents themselves for elective posts to ensure we elect only clean ones. The formula for electing the most popular has only worked to hurt us. We have trusted people with questionable pasts and the results are a country sinking into more troubles in all spheres of society. What if I based my vote on a track record of integrity and not verbal promises and voted wisely even if alone?  Things would change if all of us did so.

Romans 14:2 says that ‘One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.’ It is boring to keep eating the same kind of food and a new meal works well as a relief to our sense of taste and appetite. I think our next meal just needs to be different. Fish seems a little expensive and like we have not afforded it for some time now, it seems much more difficult to come by in our next meal. What we are sure of is that we are not eating any Githeri or drinking any Mursik. Those foods have not been very good for our stomachs, especially the last glass of Mursik. What seems available and ready is Matoke and I think we should have matoke as our next meal. At worst, we should have a combination of Matoke and Mothokoi, that is an already known 7^th heaven combination. But if we must take bananas, let’s choose the best that are clean and without blemish.

So, for our country not to go bananas, we should have matoke as our next meal but only of choice clean bananas. But any food we are served should be clean and healthy, that is of utmost importance regardless of what we take.

But first, we all need to agree to take good food. So, what will that be? Or shall we have matoke for our next dinner?

 

@ Stephen Mungai