There is a prayer that prompts more questions than answers for me whenever I hear it. The prayer goes something like this ‘God we thank you for the gift of life, there are those who wished to be alive but are not’. Others would be about thanking God for health because there are those in hospital beds who are unwell or thanking God for waking up in the morning because there are others who did not wake up.
I believe that most people say these prayers from their hearts and not to exude an inflated sense of self-importance. It is said innocently, not putting much thought to the other side of the coin. But for some reason, I can’t help but think about that person who died, that person who was not able to wake up or the one who is sick. Does it mean that they are on the wrong side of God?
And then it makes me think about the different kinds of suffering that people go through in this world; accidents, natural disasters, wars, sickness and others. There are those who survive and those who Continue reading When Christians Lose to Pain and Suffering→
The Friday night when President Uhuru Kenyatta was announced the winner of the presidential election was a conflicting night for me. Even before the certificate was given, I heard screams and cheers of celebration on the street outside our apartment. The celebration became louder once the final announcement was made. I went to the gate to witness the celebration and it was intense.
I have never seen so many people on our street at night, most of them in red. They shouted, screamed, sang, made all kinds of noises to make sure the message was heard, that their candidate had won. Motorbikes, lorries, matatus hooted as they were driven up and down the street. I did not realize that I live in a Continue reading Kenyan or Christian first?→
‘I’m just wondering why this is happening to us, what did we do wrong? Didn’t we pray enough?’ Those were the words of one of the members of our small church group after we were kicked out of a public park as we were having our picnic. I will tell you how that happened.
As part of our activities we decided as a group to go outdoors to have fun, discuss some topics and just bond. So we went for a picnic in one of the parks in Nairobi. It was a beautiful sunny day and we found ourselves a good shade to enjoy the day. As we relaxed and got comfortable after our lunch, a guard came by and he asked if we had paid for parking fees (one of us had a car). We showed him the receipt and he went his way.
‘I’m just wondering why this is happening to us, what did we do wrong? Didn’t we pray enough?’ Those were the words of one of the members of our small church group after we were kicked out of a public park as we were having our picnic. I will tell you how that happened.