Love: About The Other Person

A couple months ago, August to be more precise, my friend and I were having a chat, at the Agricultural Show, about a girl he really liked. He told me that of all the girls he has ever seen or liked, he liked her most, infact he was pretty sure that he loved her.

This friend of mine and I are members of the same church and have grown up together literally. I just thought I should put that into perspective. Of course I would sooner cut my left arm than mention his name!

Well, things didn't quite work out between him and his "love" and he told me that the whole thing really hit him badly. I asked him if he still loved her and he answered in the affirmative. Well "love" is a pretty strong word.

I believe if a man loves a woman, he wants to see her happy because true love is about the other person. So I asked my friend, "Suppose you knew that this lady you love so much would be happier without you and with someone else instead, would you let her go?" My friend was very honest and told me he would not! So I rephrased the question, this time eliminating him from the picture. This time, I asked,” Guys A & B, realise that the women they love would be happier with other men; guy A lets his love go while guy B does not. Which of the two guys loves his lady the most?" As my dad says, "no prize for guessing", he settled for guy A.

I told my friend that I did not think he really loved her because love is about the other person, their needs, their wants, their happiness, all above yours. Seeing them happy makes you happy. Your happiness is made complete by theirs.

This issue of my love for a person being about the other person and not about me is lacking even in the church. A young lady joins the church and within 2 months she has been approached by seven separate men! There's something wrong there because if any of those seven men really loved this new lady, they would first want to get to know her a little, if you ask me two months is not a valid time frame.

Ok, that example is a bit far fetched but here is one closer to home. I have had the privilege of being close to some ladies who are my older sisters in the Lord and one in particular has told me she is uninterested in relationships largely due to her past. She had never grown up with her parents and has always been on the move from relative to relative. She is passionate about working towards independence, then and only then, will she consider getting into a relationship. She is not ready to get into a relationship and get married in a year and a half and be a dependant of her husband, she wants time to complete her tertiary studies and have the satisfaction of being nobodies dependant but completely independent.

This particular lady has been approached by brothers in the Lord on multiple occasions and some other brothers have begun dropping hints. Do any of those brothers really love her? I doubt it. If they did they would be more interested in her as a person because love is about the other person. Her background, her likes, her dislikes, her hobbies e.t.c. Knowing her name would be good too!

A friend of mine asked a girl to be his girlfriend. Her reply totally embarrassed him! She responded with a question. She asked, "Brother, what is my surname?" He had no clue what her surname was, no clue! He did not love her because love is about the other person. When you love someone there should be no rush.

If any of those brothers really loved my older sister in the Lord, who I have spoken about, they would know that she is not interested in a relationship through interaction with her and getting to know her better. True love is about the other person.

Mwindula.

P.S: I do not advocate nor encourage, I hope(!), relationships between people who are two young to be in them for example, my two friends who I have mentioned above.

Read More

Outside Looking In

This is the first of a series of "posts" which I have been planning to write for quite a while.



Most of what I write here is "brewed". In other words, the posts you see here are a result of probably weeks of brewing in my heart and this is one I have been brewing for quite a while. I have a lot of ideas of stuff to write. The thing that holds me back is both time and mood. If I am upset over anything, I just can't write. Anyway, I have been brewing a series of posts which I can generally entitle, "Things I learnt in the two years I spent away from home". This is the first of the series:

I spent the last two years in South Africa where I lived with my Uncle and his family. They were very welcoming to me. They embraced me as family! I hate being away from home. I hate being in unfamiliar territory with people I don't know and so, adjusting to my new surrounding was exciting at first but very hard later. After getting accustomed to everybody at home, I really became part of the family. If you re-read my last statement, you will notice that I called my Uncles place in SA, "home". That is really how I feel about it. It will always be home and I don't see myself ever being uncomfortable there.



The first thing I'd like to share that I learnt away from home, is the fact that I found myself on the "outside looking in".



What is the difference between looking at a room, in a house, from inside it and looking at it from the outside i.e. through a window? Well from the inside you can only see sections of the room at any given time. The span of your eyes is limited. You can not see the entire picture but only parts of it. Looking at the same room from the outside in, adds a whole new dimension! You get to have a holistic view. I got to look in from the outside when I lived as a dependant rather than as an heir.



I am the first born in my family. Its not something I often think about, there's no bell in my head that constantly rings reminding me that I am the first born. I am now aware that there's a bell that rings in the heads of all those who have lived with my family for an extended period of time but are not my siblings. When they looked at me, they could not help but realise that I was the first born.



I know this because I, for the last two years, walked in their shoes. I was no longer a prince but I was now a mere dependant. My Uncle, Aunt and their family really made me feel part of the family but there was this bell in my head that kept ringing. I was not a child of my guardians, I was a dependant. Every time I saw their two children, I thought,"They are what this is all about, this food I'm eating, this t.v am watching, its all theirs, am not involved in this. I am insignificant."



I was no longer free to hold on to the T.V remote and change channels at will, I now watched what the members of the family I found, preferred, something I have never known. I could nolonger play my music as loud as I wanted to, I could not go to the fridge and prepare me a snack any time I felt like, I could not ask for money anytime I wanted to. There was no one to run to when I had a headache or stomach ache. No mom, no dad. I could not rearrange the room to fit my preference, I couldn't visit any room I felt like. I now understood what a "master bedroom" was. I now know that a master bedroom is a room you have never and will never enter! I nolonger had the freedom to scream or shout or do things which are silly or put my feet up or sit on the carpet, it was all gone.



I had to make sharp adjustments. At first all these things did not occur to me. I was still enjoying South Africa, still looking around, still exploring but when my feet finally touched the ground, the fact that I was a dependant really fell heavy on me. It was hard-nolonger first born, no longer the centre, no longer on the inside but rather on the "outside-looking in".



Thankfully, God had blest me with a loving, family. By the time I began my second year in SA, I was able to do all the things I couldn't. But for quite a long time, those things I took for granted, I nolonger had.



When I left home, I was about 18 years old, and also a man so, I had enough ballast to handle the whole thing but it was still very, very hard. I can only imagine what those dependants who've lived in our home have had to go through especially with my selfishness. I recall times when I was so unwelcoming, insisting on having the remote, sleeping on the bed alone so my brother would have to share with the dependant, or even sleeping in the sitting room if things were not going my way. How unwelcome they must have felt! Thank God he saved me!



Letting dependants know that you are the first born of the family is the most unwelcoming thing you can ever do. Believe me, they know you are first born, they know that the bread winners are your parents-don't rub it in!



The other thing I missed on the other side was the love and care. Not that I didn't get any but that I didn't get the 101% I am accustomed to. Obviously my SA parents could not give me that, they had two children of their own! They really balanced things and made me feel cared for but I missed the 24 hour attention, 7 days a week for sure!



The thing I learnt is that God had given me a family so that I can share it with others, especially those dependants who come to stay with us. I should do everything in my power to share the privileges and make them feel welcome and ask them what they need and show them love.



One thing is for sure, at home you will now find me making the most of my privilege of being part of the nuclear family, I spread myself everywhere and anywhere. I especially like the carpet just infront of the t.v with a cushion beneath my head! My parent obviously wonder whats wrong with this boy sleeping around the floor like that at the age 20, its just that I've missed being a kid in the house I guess. I've missed the freedom to be a child. At home, I don't have to prove anything, I can let go of the child in me alittle. I hope I will never forget this lesson and forever remember to use the place God had given me to make others feel at home away from home.



Mwindula.

Read More

Running A Home

6am this morning, marked exactly 2 weeks since I last saw my parents in the flesh, thanks to skype! Skype is just great! You can talk to anyone, anywhere as long as you both have computers with an Internet connection and even be able to see them as you talk! It would probly have to be high speed though. Dad and Mom left the house for the airport enroute to Brazil the week before last.

There were some mixed feelings. Dad and Mom were obviously alittle anxious because for the first time they left us all by ourselves as "children" for a considerable period of time, half a month! We as children had some mixed feelings about it too.

On Sunday evening, Mom gave me a talk on responsibility and all that.

Things have gone pretty well, the house is still standing, so are its members. All members of the house who were present after the parents departure are still staying in the house although we came very close to losing one. Don't worry, the story is too interesting for me not to tell!

During the parents absence alot has happened, there has definitely been a whole lot of drama. I, unfortunatley, was at the centre of all the problems.

Our first night alone, I remember distinctly that power went, and I upset my young brother. Alittle further on and I upset my young sister. The beginning of the second week saw my sister leave the house, literally, because I had upset her, again. Yes, its been a memorable week alright!

The night power went, my brother asked my sister (I should do a post on my family so that I can begin addressing my siblings by name instead of by their relationship to me!) for a candle so he could study because he was going to write an exam the next day. For some reason he didn't get his candle and so he asked me to intervene. Well, I told him that it is important to "make hay while the Sun shines" and not at night when the power might go. Well, he did not take that too well! After clarifying what I actually meant cause it looked like he had missed my point, he told me firstly, that he was infact ready for his paper but simply wanted to go through some past papers and secondly, that he did not spend his day watching t.v as accused (by myself) but had actually spent his day studying taking regular breaks to refresh his mind by turning on the television for a few minutes each time. Well after I concluded, our public dispute (our audience being our two sisters), my brother was still quite upset and muttered a few words as he walked away in rage.

The power came back and went again. My brother came back from his room and confronted me in the dark, we couldn't see each other. Basically, he told me that he had a couple problems with my behaviour towards him especially infront of others, namely, our sisters, my friends and his friends. I plead "not guilty" to all charges and quickly became my on advocate. He wasn't absolutely happy after I was done but I suppose took comfort in the fact that he had voiced out his grievances. We haven't really argued since.

It was not a very good start to my reign as "man of the house". Little did I that I had not seen anything yet! I do not even remember what caused the dispute between my sister and I. My best guess is that it all began when she got her plate for supper from the kitchen, sat in the sitting room and without waiting for the others, started eating. I told her to be patient next time, so we can pray and eat together. Maybe that sparked something, I'm not really sure. Well, I did something wrong, she (my sister) was quick to correct me, I refused to bend-pride but after she left, I yielded. Then she came back to again tell me that I was in the wrong still, which I was, sorry I am beating about the bush here-deliberately so.

Anyway, my sister and I even stopped talking to each other, literally. I remembered that at a certain point, I would have to begin leading the family devotions and obviously, I couldn't lead devotions well, if I was not on speaking terms with a member of the house. With that in mind, on Friday night, the first Friday night with out the parents, I got home and asked my sister, Mwape, if she could come into my room so we could talk. I then went to my room, started playing the guitar while waiting for her. Just when it seemed that I would have to go call her again, she arrived. I acknowledged that I was wrong the day I had refused to listen to her correction and apologised for it. I then asked her to tell me what I needed to work on and I would simply listen.

It was like giving her a belt and telling her to whip away! She shot me down! "Mwindula, you are rude, unaffectionate, arrogant, argumentative..." and so on she went. When she gave me her list, my reaction (in my mind ofcourse) was, "yeah, right." I didn't agree with a word she said! That was until she gave me example after example for each item on her list. And she was having so much fun doing it! I mean, we were called for supper and she immediately asked that we be given a couple more minutes. After emptying the last of the bullets in her gun, she was done. I promised her that I would work on the things she had mentioned. After that things were good as new, infact, they were better! You'd never had known that we had argued.

The biggest challenge came on the first Sunday evening since my parents departure. This time, my sister was being funny. Over lunch she had acted really silly to me infront of her friends, I won't go into details. Anyway, she lost the battle and had thus gotten upset with me. That evening she walked out of the house at night without my consent or anyone else's to go to my other sisters place. She returned the next day. Monday evening, she again, walked out of the house, but this time instead of watching her leave,I ran after her. Our conversation was pretty intense:

Mwindula: Where you going?

Sister: To ask the guards to get me something next door.

Mwindula: That's not what you told [our brother] when he asked you where you were off to as you walked out the door a second ago.

She thought I was now trying to interrogate her and began walking away. I continued talking and she continued walking. I grasped her arm to stop her walking and she exploded! "Don't squeeze my arm like that! Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah." We exchanged words, not screaming or anything but she was definitely on fire!

I'll bet the guards, who were watching the whole thing, were getting some real life stage entertainment!

I apologised for being rough with her:

"Sorry I didn't mean to be rough but what else could I have done? I was trying to stop you from walking away while I was talking to you. Look, is there a problem? (No response, and she wasn't looking at me either.) Whatever you want, you should not have to leave the house, with two brothers within its walls, to go ask the guards outside to get it. The reason why dad left me as the oldest man in the house is because he expected that whatever you need, requiring a mans strength or help, you could get from me. If you don't feel comfortable with me helping you or you don't want to talk to me, we can get another person who you would rather, handles your needs. (Still no response, no eye contact either.) Who should we call who you would be more comfortable speaking with? One of the elders maybe? Even yesterday, when you walked out at night, if anything happened to you, what would I tell dad? Dad, "she walked out and I failed to stop her?" Whatever you need, I am here to meet it."

I left it at that and she went to talk to the guards. I thank God he gave me grace to handle that confrontation. She was a little upset from that day but as the days rolled by she came around and before long things were all good again. During the time she was upset after the confrontation, the words "love her like Jesus" kept coming to me. Its actually a song by "Casting Crowns". Everytime we called her to eat and she didn't want to, I thought, let me allow to cool off, let me love her like Jesus.

Overall God has been great to us. He has kept us and has kept sanity. One thing is for sure, I am not interested in running a home at all. Juice given to Dad and Mom who deal with radical teens like us "children" in their home. The taste of running a home has really made me appreciate my parents and what they do for me and my siblings. They are coming home tomorrow and I can't wait!!

Read More

Update on __________

The little guy is gone. I took the kitten in because I thought it had a better chance of survival with me than out there. I read, on the Internet that kittens are not to be given cow milk let alone milk with sugar in it as they end up with a running tummy. As for cow milk, it does not have all the nutrients necessary for kitten's growth. I couldn't feed the little guy anything, so I reasoned alittle. If I kept it, it would probably end up malnourished or dead, therefore, it would have a better chance of survival staying where I found it in the first place i.e. where its mother could easily find it. I took it back on the street in the morning. When I checked on it the next day, it was gone. The whole thing was really out of my hands, I left the situation in God's.

Read More

What have I done now?!

I just had to do it. I couldn't leave the poor thing out there on the street. It was so small and it kept on crying, so far from any home, obviously lost by its mother.

Yesterday, or was it the day before? I was escorting my friends, Edwin and Henry, and as we walked along, we came across a little kitten. It was so tiny, about the size of my hand. It was walking, staggering actually, aimlessly in circles, crying or whatever that was. It was obviously born not too long ago to a homeless cat.

Well, what were we going to do about this?

Edwin stated from onset that he was not at all interested in the little animal and wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole!

Oh no, its crying right now, its in my room, I don't know what to do, it won't eat and I bet its going to starve pretty soon.**slips out**

Back!

No worries, it kept crying because it messed its cage and I am so happy! It seemed to be eating so little but apparently not! If it didn't have anything in its little stomach, well then, there wouldn't be any mess, so for me, a mess is an excellent sign!

Alright, where was I?

Oh yes, Edwin made it crystal clear he wasn't interested in the little thing. He is one of those people who don't fancy animals-like my mom. I tried to persuade him:

Myself: Ed, take it home with you...

Edwin: Ah! I can't! I don't like these things!

Myself: Come on! It will be fun, you can play with it, it will jump on you everytime you get home, it will sleep next to you in bed...

Edwin then explained that he simply couldn't, he liked sleeping with the bed all to himself!

I tried one last time.

I threatened to tell all the sisters in the lord about his lack of compassion for the helpless creature. It didn't work! He took it as a compliment!

Henry also refused to take it home with him, although not as elaborately as Ed!

Well, the ball was in my court. I asked Henry to help me find something to carry it in. Henry could not believe I was actually going to take it home. Well, I couldn't leave it out there. It would be equivalent to killing it. Infact, I suggested we smash it with a large boulder when both guys refused. I mean, if none of us were going to care for it, and just leave it out there, it would die of starvation or be killed by someone or something. Why not put it out of its inevitable misery?

It was so tiny and it kept shivering. I carried it home. I'm trying hard to feed it but it won't eat. Its probly too young for solid food, I'm giving it milk. I think its searching for its mother's breast when it keeps searching the sole of my foot with its mouth. I give it milk on a plate but I think it doesn't know how to lick yet, but hey, who or what needs to learn how to lick milk off a plate?!

I am looking for a baby feeding bottle now.

Mom and Dad arrive on Tuesday. I'll bet as soon as they find out about the little cat, its gone! Well, I couldn't leave it on the streets, I just couldn't.

What will I name it? Let me sleep over it. Next update on the little fellow and he will have a name-promise! Infact the title of the post will be: Update on __________.

Mwindula.

Read More

Courtship...(PART 2)

In my last courtship post, I discussed the pre-courtship stage and the importance of interacting with the opposite sex in all purity. I wish to add alittle more to what should happen during the pre-courtship stage and touch alittle bit on the right time for courtship. These are my personal thoughts on the matter.

First and foremost, in my last post on this subject I mentioned and tried to explain why relationships are such a big issue for youths today. My buddies and I, admitted to the fact that most of us were under serious pressure to be in relationships. This was a serious concern for me, especially since we are, mostly, too young to be in relationships. I asked the question, where is all this pressure coming from?

The largest source of pressure, to be in a relationship, eluded me but upon further thought, eureka, I think I’ve got it!

It’s the world! Relationships are all over the media, celebrities, magazines, newspapers, internet, television from movies to soap operas, music, they all preach relationships. It’s all about who is seeing who, who “broke up” with who, who cheated on who, who got dumped by who… The source of pressure is indeed the world, God help this generation which is bombarded by the world constantly!

Well, I urge you to read the first post on courtship, simply check the left of this page and click the courtship link.

The period during which we relate to girls as sisters and enjoy their sweet company, it is indeed sweet(!), is meant to help us spur one another and help us learn how to relate to them properly. It should help us get to know them better and therefore appreciate them and vice versa. This is discussed in detail in PART 1.

There is a most important duty each young Christian guy or girl, man or woman should begin to work on. We all have character flaws. As we relate to our friends, guys or girls, we begin to see our flaws more clearly as our friends point them out and as friction begins to occur. The importance of interaction between sexes is that certain flaws are best noticed by individuals of the opposite sex.

For a guy, for example, fellow males will not see the roughness in you because guys are somewhat rough in the way they relate, pushing and shoving each other as they walk along, tossing each other all over the place, etc. Your lady friends on the other hand will tell you, “Brother, you need to be more gentle, the way you pushed sister Jane yesterday was not nice, or the way you handled that child wasn’t nice”.

A character flaw which may be found in a lady is that of gossip. As interaction between the opposite sexes occurs, fellow sisters may fail to see that another sister is too much of a gossip. The guys might pick up on that more easily and will quickly correct their sister, “Now sister, there you go again, no gossiping today, lets change the subject.”

Another example is “skitting”. The word “skitting” is not English, it’s colloquial. It means someone who is sort of prideful. It’s the kind of thing a popular girl at school would do when guys are talking to her or when a guy is talking to her. She knows she’s on demand and that is clear in the way she speaks to others. Well, a sister in the Lord might be a “skit”, knowingly or unknowingly. Guys can ‘spot a “skit”’ miles away! They will personally see to it that the sister is put back in the straight and narrow.

Character flaws vary and are plenty. I will mention a couple of mine. I tend to be rude, heartless, argumentative, emotionless, arrogant, someone who sometimes embarrasses others…let me end there before someone stops reading my blog permanently because they discover that a total wretch owns it! I’ll be honest with you. 90% of the flaws on that list have been exposed to me by my sisters in the Lord. They tell me, “brother, you were very rude to that sister, go and apologise.” It’s really helped me to have sisters in the Lord!

Why is all this important? When I get into a relationship, I should not enter it with baggage upon baggage of garbage! In other words, relationships are not the place for fixing flaws. Sure, ones partner helps with character deficiencies but, you shouldn’t enter without any work done on your character! If everyone concentrated on working on their character flaws during the pre-courtship period when sisters in the Lord help brothers in the Lord and vice versa, courtships and marriages in the church would be much happier today!

Read More

Guitar

I foundound this brilliant, little picture of a guitar and since I love guitar so much, I thought I should post it. As usual I sincerely hope I don’t get sued on copyrighting charges!

_______________%%
______________%%%
_____________%%
____________ %%%
____________%%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%
_____________%%%__
_____________%%%___
_____________%%%___
_____________%%%___
_______%%___%%%__ %%
______%__%__%%%%%%_%
______%___%%_____%____%
_______%____%%%%%__%%
________%___________%%
_________%___________%%
_________%%_________%%
________%%________%%%
_______%%___________%%%
______%%________________%%
_____%%_________________%%
_____%%__________________%%
_____%%%________________%%
______%%____ :-) __ %%%
_______%%%___________%%%
_________%%%%_______%%%
___________%%%%%%%%/

Read More

My "once upon a time" unusual fears...

When I was younger, I remember that there were three unusual things that scared me alot. Ofcourse I had the typical phobia of the the dark etc, but only three unusual fears. I nolonger "fear" them anymore but I must admit, they still make me alittle uncomfortable!

First, I was afraid of women in wedding dresses, I recall when I was on a wedding line up, when I once looked cute on pictures, well I'd like to believe I once did(!), I had a tough time posing for pictures next to the bride. It made me totally uncomfortable. Even today, there is a list of places I'd really not want to be found in, one which tops the list is a place next to a woman in a wedding dress, unless ofcourse, I am the groom!

I was afraid, secondly of pregnant women. Each time I came across a pregnant woman, I felt kind of... guilty! I repeat, KIND OF!! I really felt like something was terribly wrong and abnormal and that made me very uncomfortable! How a human can grow within another is a mystery that will never cease to amaze me, I mean how?? God could have made humans lay eggs as well but he chose to have it done otherwise, its really amazing. Today, the phobia is gone but sadly, it has been replaced by a uncomfortability.

The last unusual thing I feared when I was young and still makes me uncomfortable today is, a lady who is crying. I am not really a comforter, maybe that's the problem, the whole give a hug thing... doesn't really appeal to me. I mean, a crying baby is pretty easy, you gather the little child into your arms and gently sway from side to side and talk to the baby and before long, tadah! It isn't crying anymore. A lady, now that's a different story!

Well, those are my top three, only three actually, unusual fears!

Mwindula.

Read More

Words I really wanna hear.

What words do you really wish to hear the most? You are promoted? Or maybe, you are fired! :D Well, what words do young people, Christian or not, wish to hear the most, these days?



Probably for young men, it isn’t words; it is actually a single word-- “Yes!” For young women its, “will you be…” I know that this is true.

If you want to prove it, sneak near a group of young Christian men or women or both (!) after church, they will be talking about the thing closest to their heart--relationships. Sneak near a group of young non-Christian men, the story is the same, a little more graphic but definitely the same.

I don’t want to sound more spiritual than I really am but honestly, for me, the words I wish to hear the most are found in Acts 16:30- “What must I do to be saved?”

When I’m sharing the gospel with my buddies the words we love to hear, the words we long for from the time we wake up on the day we have agreed to go out and evangelise is, “What must I do to be saved?” Ofcourse it comes in many forms but it is the same thing.

If you are getting alittle agitated reading this, I mean no harm. I too will probly want to hear the word “Yes!” so very, very much but I hope it will never overtake my longing to hear those sweet words, “What must I do to be saved?” One thing is definitely for sure, youths today need to get their priorities right. Unfortunately, Christian youths, too, need to get their priorities right, do you?

Mwindula.

Read More

Preaching & Fixing

The past two days have been fantastic!

Thursday

I mentioned in my last post I think, that I was to preach at a school nearby, DK. I also mentioned that it was a long story. Well, it’s a long page! I preached on Thursday, a 3 week old sermon.

I got home Thursday evening at about 20.30hrs. I met my dad at the door, found my mom in the sitting room. She looked at me with eyes which asked, so… how did it go? I read her mind and said, “Mom, I am lots of things but I am no preacher!”

About a month and a half ago I asked my buddy if he could let me come preach at his school where he is a leader of the youth meeting there every Thursday evening. He was much obliged. The guys at the school already know me because I sing quite a lot over there. They appreciate my singing there but obviously didn’t think of me as a preacher. Anyways, my buddy told me I was on about 2 or so weeks later to preach an evangelistic message on the topic, “The joys of becoming a Christian.” I had a problem with that, read about it on the post titled, “Where you really repentant”. A week before I was to preach, my buddy tells me, “Look man, there’s been a mix up in the schedule, you are to preach after this coming Thursday instead of the Thursday itself, sorry.” I’m like, “Cool bro, I’ll be ready.” Well, I thought, “It’s just a mix up, everything is fine.” The next week comes through and it’s a holiday on the day I am to preach. In the morning my buddy tells me that, the numbers might be low because people might travel home for the long weekend but if not I’ll preach, if they travel he’ll push me to the next week.

DK is a boarding school. It’s a secondary school. It also has “A Level” students who are not necessarily regarded as ordinary students. The “A Level” students have an “A Level” Fellowship. It meets every Thursday evening at 18.30hrs. Only “A Level” students attend so when I say I sing at DK, what I mean is that I sing at DK to the “A Level” students who attend the meeting. The attendance tends to be very good. It’s always surprised me how that so many non-Christians attend the “A Level” Fellowship. It has since dawned on me that they attend because the only other thing they are allowed to do at that hour is study!

So, that evening as I am walking out the door to go to the meeting where I am to preach, the power goes at home. I arrive at the school only to discover that the power is gone their too! It doesn’t come back until after about an hour and a half I think it was. So I don’t get to preach. I begin to wonder what issues God seems to be having with my preaching at DK. I must mention that two of my friends where very supportive of me. When I told them I’d be preaching at DK, they totally made sure they’d be there to support me. I am quite discouraged but my buddy tells me, I’ll preach the next week.

The next Thursday, the day before yesterday, comes through and guess what, Zambia is voting, it’s a holiday! What is up with God?! My buddy tells me numbers might be low again as people will go for a long weekend. I’m not impressed. My buddy tells me to pitch just incase the numbers are good. I really doubt that they will be good so I even go play soccer that afternoon. While playing soccer my buddy sends me a message on my cell. “The numbers will be poor”. This time pushing the date will be very difficult because the rest of the Thursdays are taken. I return to my soccer game actually happy because I wouldn’t have to cut my soccer game short to go and preach. Well, after the game, I call my buddy on his cell; I tell him I want to preach to whoever’s there. He encourages me to do so.

This time my faithful friends bail out on me. I was playing soccer with them and they say they are tired and can’t support me that evening. I am pretty discouraged but I just say, “No problem fellows, I’ll let you know how it goes.”

I get to the meeting; I find the room empty, under or maybe just over 10 people. Attendance is poor. I get up there and preach.

I was really motivated to preach that night. Not that the sermon was powerful or anything, but I wasn’t at all discouraged by what was going on around me, the postponing, my friends, attendance etc, none of it really got to me. Infact it encouraged me. The postponing, attendance and my friends bailing on me was divine, I knew it was. Everything seemingly going wrong was no mistake, God knew what was happening and I thought If I preach like everything had worked out like, attendance was good, like my friends where there, like it was the original date set, in other words, if I conquered the trials, something big was going to happen, maybe someone would get saved. I was so convinced of this that I was not at all discouraged by what was going on. I almost saw it as funny. Like God was pulling my leg, or trying me.

Anyway, I preached on true repentance. We are all sinners, I worked hard to show this even going to the extent of showing examples from Romans 3 and Psalms 52:1-5 or is it Psalms 53, I forget. I then went on to show that God is Holy, A fella even started dosing! Ha, ha, it was so funny how those things were happening to pull me down! But as I said, I was so convinced something big was going to happen, maybe not immediately but definitely. I then said that God loves us despite and inspite of our sin. He puts up with us. I ended by addressing those who are saved. I urged them to preach true repentance, see my post with the same heading, last paragraph. I addressed those seeking God. I told them ask God to make you realise you are a sinner, only then will you truly be sorry. I ended by addressing those who, “[were] not even interested in what I have been saying tonight”. Like that fella who sat at the back who even had the courtesy to stick one earpiece into his ear while I was talking to listen to the radio on his phone or whatever. I said, “If you are here and you are saying, I don’t need God, am happy the way I am, happy with my wrong doing, I don’t give a damn about God. I only have this to say to you. Don’t go to God because you love him; go to him because he loves. He wants you so badly, he loves you. He loves you so much that he will still have open arms when you have been brought down to your knees, He will always love you.” Amen.

It was great to preach the good news and you know what, I want to do it again!




Friday

I’ve written so much, am so tired. But Dad is really smart. We have this display in the sitting room that is connected to a timer. Everyday, the display lights light up its contents from 19.30hrs to 21.30hrs. Dad came up with the brilliant idea of removing the timer and connecting the display to the switch for the sitting room lights so that whenever you turn the sitting room lights on, the display lights go on as well.

Dad then took the timer to the switch for the geyser and timed it to turn on certain times of the day, rather than be on at all times of the day, brilliant! I actually did all the work while dad issued commands and blamed me for the screws which went missing! It was fun, chao,

Mwindula.

Read More