Thanks to God yet again

Lord God almighty thanks again for yet another victory. The miracles you make never cease. May your name be glorified forever.

God's favour, God's mercy, God's love

Thanks Lord for making my evening. All victory comes from you. Thank you. I hope the readers will get my drift. Sing hallelujah!

Miracle at Camp Nou

I know it was a miracle by all standards - the odds were all against Chelsea FC but they knocked out Barcelona FC from the UEFA Champions League. They are in the finals. May God help Chelsea FC take this trophy for the first time this year. Blue is the colour.

12 YEARS OF HAPPY MARRIAGE

It is surely something to thank God for - today 21 August 2011 is a special date to my wife and I as it marks 12 wonderful years of our marriage. We look forward to many more by God's grace.

The Ghana Experience I: should women preach in church?

As promised in an earlier post, I share below just one of several things I experienced while in Ghana 28 May to 2 June 2008. Akwaaba! (that means 'welcome' in Twe, one of the many native languages spoken in Ghana).

I arrived in Accra on Wednesday 28 May and left on Saturday 31 May 2008 and relocated to another town, Tema, thanks to a Christian couple who are friends of mine. While in Tema, I visited many places including a progressive veterinary practice, a wonderful home (address, environment and people) and obviously a church.

I visited this Baptist church on 1 June 2008. Something worth mentioning about the church is its Sunday programme. It was unique and very interesting. I think I missed some session(s) because I got there a little late. When I got there, a guided congregation prayer session was in progress. After the prayer, the congregation split up into groups - I saw three on that Sunday: the English speaking adults, the non-English speaking adults and the kids.

I will dwell on what transpired in my group. I did, obviously, go to the English speaking adults group. In my group, a moderated discussion was held aimed at answering some questions that had been asked the previous Sunday by some members of the congregation. The questions were the familiar ones with some grey areas: How should a Christian dress? What constitutes tithe - 10% of net or 10% of gross payment? Should women preach in church?

As expected these are questions that can generate lots of debate which is capable of becoming quite heated up. Well, all I can say is that it was a lively debate that was brought to a close before ideas, opinion and Bible quotations related to those subjects were exhausted. The issue of tithe was settled much more easily and seemingly satisfactorily (my perception) than those of dress code (especially for women) and women preaching in church.

Some interesting questions were asked e.g. "If my wife came to church wearing a trouser, would she be accepted or thrown out?"; "What was Ghanaians' original dress code (men and women) - are they acceptable in the community / church today?".

After the group activities, the various categories of worshippers rejoined to form one congregation and the main service started. It was a wonderful service.

Why do I share this? It is mainly to draw your attention and hopefully interest you in thinking about the questions and giving your own position on them as you see fit or feel convicted or as told to you in your church or any other place of worship.

So, what is your position regarding the above questions?

Lango Community Thanksgiving Service, Kampala 8 Sept 2007

Theme: "....in all things, give thanks...."



Church, community and political leaders prepare to cut the cake as one of the activities during the thanksgiving interdenominational service.

"....how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity"

"....and they met .... and shared bread"

Your two cents worth makes a difference - Mother Teresa

On this day when the late Mother Teresa was born, I took a bit of time off to review and give some of her quotes a deep thought. Could you please join me in committing these two to some thought?

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

You may want to read more of Mother Teresa's quotes here.

Some information (source):

Name: Mother Teresa
Variant Name: Agnes Gonxha
Birth Date: August 27, 1910
Death Date: September 5, 1997
Place of Birth: Skopje, Yugoslavia
Place of Death: Calcutta, India
Nationality: Albanian
Gender: Female
Occupations: nun

Risk

It has been said that all successful people, especially those in business, take big risks. It is also said that those who fear to take risks (risk-averse) may achieve quite little. The latter category of people have been accused of simply attempting to deny reality because every aspect of life is a risk or involves risk-taking.

Some businessman once advised that it is good to take a risk if the possible benefit of the venture taken is several times higher than the cost of the possible loss. That way, he commits himself knowing that if he lost, it would be something relatively little compared to if he won (if he won, he would 'win big'). He however points out that from every business deal he makes (those that work and those that do not), he learns lessons hence there is no absolute loss after all.

Bishop T.D. Jakes presents an aspect of risk-taking that is so often ignored. Jakes said, “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't God and die to find out there is.”

So which risk would you rather take? To live as though God exists or to live as if He does not exist? Well, the choice is yours and yours alone.

Wedding Anniversary

Eight years ago today, a beautiful young lady and I wedded in our local church, Kampala Pentecostal Church in Uganda. It sounds so long and yet feels so short. I thank God that I personally have no regrets. I hope my wife shares the same feeling.

The eight years are full of learning experiences that have made us wiser in issues of marriage relationships.

There are several lessons to share but one that one of the elderly Pastors (who enjoys his marriage relationship) shared with us during pre-marital counselling, and that I confirm and in turn share with others, is: "do not go into a marriage relationship with a list of expectations, instead go in there, learn each other and together adapt appropriately." I find this advice invaluable. There are lots of different ways of doing things that couples learn from their spouses. One who expected their spouse to do things exactly like them would soon get disappointed but more importantly would miss a possibly better way of doing things and also miss a learning experience in the process of being 'rigid'.

I noticed that while attempting to elaborate on one aspect of the Pastor's advice, I have touched on something I would describe as patience and flexibility. Maybe not only that but also the aspect of harnessing the power of complementarity and synergy.

I better stop here because it looks like the more I write the more I 'scratch' on other lessons and the higher the possibility that I will be late for a date. Maybe I will get back to the subject on a later date (either as a new post or improvement on this one - keep visiting the post / blog if you are interested in more).

I am off for a date.

KPC Gulu launch - what I saw

For some background information to this post, please refer to my earlier post of 30 July 2007.

I had to make it to Gulu Sunday 5 August 2007 to be part of the KPC Gulu launch. While I was happy that I made it, I was not happy that we got to Gulu rather late! Thanks partly to the several stoppages by traffic officials who seemed to be interested in stopping any bus they saw on the road. A journey that normally lasts 4.5 hours took us about 6 hours. The Church service at Gulu started at 10am and ended at 12pm. We got there about 15 minutes before the formal end of the service. I did not allow those unfavourable incidents to obscure me from noticing some of the highlights of the day - what I could quickly notice in the few hours I was there.

Firstly the hall was filled to capacity, the tents outside were also full so the fact that we (more than 50 people who travelled that morning as a group from Kampala) got no seats was not a problem to me.

Secondly, from the look of things - especially the order that prevailed - the organisation was good. This is typical of the KPC leadership. I also later learnt that lots of members of KPC (volunteers) travelled to Gulu 3 days earlier to get the place in order. Some were there even much earlier. A friend I travelled back with in the same car, one of the top artists in the country, was there for two weeks doing the design / art works. I am told the facility was in poor shape before the artistic touch. It was a hotel that has its own history. KPC currently rents it at a rate that the owners would definitely not complain about - in its previous state, it was quickly becoming a liability to the owners. Thank God it is now an asset. (Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, defines an asset as what brings money into your pocket; and liability as what takes money out of your pocket).

Thirdly, the community leaders were part of the function and believed in the vision of the project. The district Chairman, Hon. Norbert Mao, was there to welcome this project that is intended to work with him, other leaders and the community in meeting the people's needs - at least make a contribution towards meeting some of them. I did not get to see him but I was told he was there.

Fourthly, and this one is humbling. I was told that Justice Mrs. Julia Sebutinde was there and had travelled a day or two earlier. Interestingly she did not travel in the pomp of an international judge currently in the limelight of trying Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia. She went as a volunteer member of KPC and was seen cleaning around together with the other members of KPC who I cannot describe in the same way Sebutinde is known worldwide. Sebutinde is the presiding judge for the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone. What challenge does this give you and I? Think about it.

Fifthly, at the closure of the service, Pastor Gary Skinner made an alter call and the response was good. That is one of the things that highlights a Pentecostal Christian function - when somebody gives their life to Christ or gets born again or gets saved or becomes a Mulokole as is known here in Uganda. I believe that this is the major reason for KPC Gulu - to bring spiritual healing to the people besides meeting some physical needs.

Sixthly, I could not clearly recognise the Gulu I knew as a little boy (over 20 years ago). I had a little boy's memory of Gulu and what I saw was quite different. There was lots of positive changes in terms of physical development. A friend who gave me a lift back to Kampala asked me to meet him at Hotel Pearl Afrique and I was lost at how to begin. I could only remember Acholi Inn. Where in Gulu was Hotel Pearl Afrique? Thank God for the boda-bodas (bicycle 'taxis'). One of them 'chauffeured' me right there. It was actually a walkable distance from where I was.

One of the few things I did not get to do was to move around Gulu and see what remains for me to recognise. Some of the many places I had wished to visit were; my former school that I am told has shifted closer to Gulu university main campus, the three different addresses I once stayed in, Acholi Inn hotel, and the children's park, among others. There was no time to visit those areas. They remain the reason (or is it excuse) for me to go back soon.

KPC Gulu a.k.a. KPC Project Gulu

For anybody wherever they are, as long as they have been following news about Uganda for any section of the past 20 years, Gulu is not a new name. Well, I need to be fair to those who could have missed it. Gulu is one of the towns in Northern Uganda whose residents have suffered greatly both in the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Generals Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti and due to the effects of the war between LRA and the Uganda government forces.

Thank God for the current peace talks taking place in Juba and the ceasefire thereof. On this occasion, I will not comment directly on the talks or whatever is happening with it except to wish it the much needed outcome of total piece in the northern part of Uganda. I keep my hope alive for this.

I am interested in a local church’s (Kampala Pentecostal Church - KPC) involvement in bringing the healing of hearts and the love of Christ to the people of Gulu through what it calls 'project Gulu'. On the 5th day of August 2007, KPC Gulu will be launched in a celebration in the city of Gulu and I believe it will be graced by a cross section of the community, the local leaders in Gulu and probably some high-placed government officials. I pray I make it to Gulu again after over 27 years.

I was last in Gulu as a little boy. Besides looking forward to revisiting a town I have a beautiful child’s memory of (one of the memories is that of the air force planes doing beautiful manoeuvres over the city during training / rehearsal sessions), I would very much love to be part of the ceremony that ushers in yet another body that has already been proven to deliver hope to the community. I believe with the whole of my heart that before long, the significant contributions of KPC Gulu towards lifting up the hearts of a good proportion of the affected people of Gulu through meeting their spiritual and physical needs will become obvious to the open-minded and objective assessors both local and foreign. This is yet another contribution (by locals and foreign partners) that I will follow with great interest (for its good intentions and anticipated contributions) and hence will write quite a bit about in this space. Watch it.