You Were Made For More!

It was a few months to the KCPE exams. The obligatory family prayers were organized to solicit divine assistance for the beloved candidate. At some point during the event, the grizzled, wise grandpa pulled aside the young student for a chat. He asked him what he was planning to do after he passed his exams. The bright, young boy answered without hesitation, ‘I want to get accepted into a prestigious national school’.

‘And then what?’ asked grandpa. ‘Well, then I’ll work hard in high school, pass all my exams and go to a prestigious college for a business degree. After that I’ll start a business and make a lot of money!’

Undeterred, grandpa asked again; ‘and then what?’ ‘Well, I’ll buy a good house, drive a brand new German car and get married to a beautiful lady. We’ll have three children, and we’ll take them to the best schools so that they can also be successful’.

As more gathered to listen in on the conversation, grandpa asked yet again, ‘and then what?’ ‘Hmmm, and then I’ll make a lot of money and become very famous. I’ll win many awards and recognitions. I’ll be on TV all the time. And then my wife and I will retire, play golf every day and see the world. Once in a while, we’ll visit our children and their families and they can also visit us in our big house when we’re old’

With a twinkle in his eye, grandpa persisted, ‘and then what?’ ‘What else is there to do?’ the flustered boy asked. ‘We’ll grow old together with my wife and one day we’ll die!’

‘And then what?’, asked grandpa smiling gently. This time the young man scratched his head and was silent. He really didn’t have an answer.

The old man’s point of course was that there is more to life than being born, making money, having a family and then dying. As an old preacher said, ‘we were not just created to be hatched, matched and dispatched’! There is much more to life – there is a God-designed purpose in each of us that we were created for.

Your passions, personality, abilities and experiences, both good and bad, are clues about what you are uniquely gifted to accomplish. Your purpose is not just to make you comfortable but to impact others and to leave this world a better place than you found it.

As Paul of Tarsus wrote almost 2000 years ago, ‘we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago’ (Ephesians 2:10)

So by all means, be ambitious. Excel at what you do. Aim for the stars! But in the process, don’t loose sight of the fact that your life is not a random accident. There’s a unique role you were created for. And you owe it to yourself to discover what it is.

Trusting In God’s Silence

I recently spent some time encouraging a friend who has felt extremely abandoned by God in a very tough time for his business. In the process, I shared some of my own difficult experiences from the tough year that 2014 has been. I was thinking about that when I came across a story by psychologist and author Larry Crabb, describing the faith of his 79 year old dad.

Larry was driving him home after his dad had spent two weeks admitted in hospital recuperating from open-heart surgery. Lying in the backseat, his dad broke the silence by saying, ‘You know, I had many visitors during my difficult hospital stay, and I appreciated every one. But the one visitor I most wanted to come never showed up’.

‘Who?’ Larry asked? ‘God!’ his dad answered. ‘I prayed every day that I would feel his presence. I never did. And I’m so grateful!’

When Larry prodded further for what he meant, he answered, ‘God counted me worth to trust what he said in his word in the absence of His felt presence in my experience. And His Spirit enabled me to do just that, not without struggle of course. But I never turned away from Him. I think that made Him really happy.’

I’m not sure I would respond that way to the challenges I face! Which makes me think that much of my faith, like that of many today, is based a lot on experiencing God’s favor and goodness. It’s based on loving and following God for what He can do for me.

But that’s not true faith! True faith never values experience in God above hope in God. As Hebrews 11 says, ‘faith is being sure of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see’.

12th century mystic, Bernard of Clairvaux (who began the Benedictine order of monks) talked about the four levels of love…

1. Loving myself for my sake – the ‘normal’ human condition
2. Loving God for my sake – when I ‘discover’ God and follow Him to make me happy
3. Loving God for God’s sake – when I begin to understand how much God has forgiven and loved me and stop feeling like He owes me
4. Loving myself for God’s sake – when everything in my life (joys & sorrows) becomes an eagerly received opportunity to bring Him pleasure by trusting in His goodness and leaning on His word, with my one goal being to delight Him.

Are you in a tough spot? Don’t allow your pain to lead you to give up on God. Instead hold on in trust to Him, and let the pain, anger, disappointment or fear fan the realization of your need and hunger for Him. See it as an opportunity to grow deeper in your love for God.

Lord, please help me to move from loving You for my sake to loving myself for Your sake. AMEN.

Why Marriage May Not Be For You!

After 20 years of marriage, I’m convinced that marriage isn’t for me! Before you jump to conclusions, please read on.

Back in the day, finding a spouse was not a complex proposition. Your folks shortlisted the suitable candidates and chose the one who’s family was most complimentary to theirs. Complex terms like love and personal choice were not part of the equation! But in our very different world, many people struggle with the question of how to locate the One. “What if I end up with someone who makes me miserable?” The result? Commitment phobic people who are mortally afraid of entering marriage because of the misery they fear it might cause them. And subsequently after marriage when the going gets tough, many end up convinced that their unhappiness is because they made a mistake and married the wrong person!

Recently, I read an article by author Seth Adam Smith who made the same discovery I made when I faced the same fears, years ago. His commitment-phobia came to a head as he was planning his engagement to his high school sweetheart and best friend. Was he ready? Was this the right person to marry? Would she make him happy?

In his confusion, he decided to confide in his dad about his fears. His dad’s response floored him. Instead of empathizing with him, he told him that he was being totally selfish because marriage was not for him. “You don’t marry to make yourself happy; you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn’t for yourself, you’re marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn’t for you. It’s not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”

Seth’s blog post received 2 million views in 36 hours and when I last looked, that had jumped to 24 million. As countercultural as his message was in our culture today, it evidently struck a cord. You can read his original article here.

One of the biggest problems in our lives today is caused by our expectation that the people around us are there to make us happy. Life is after all, the pursuit of happiness. Whether it’s our spouse, our friends, our boss, or our workmates, we only want to hang out only with people who contribute to our personal bliss. But this is a selfish extractive approach that is based on not on what I give to others but on what I can get from them. It turns us into net consumers and not net contributors.

So the next time you find yourself wondering if you married the right person, turn the question round and ask ‘how can I be the right person for the person I married?’

Escaping The Debt Trap

The grim faced men stormed past our front door and up the stairs. I heard them knocking loudly. After a few minutes, they descended again, this time carrying household items; fridge, TV, microwave and sofa sets. ‘I didn’t know our upstairs neighbors were moving!’ I remarked to my next-door neighbor. ‘I don’t think they are’, he replied. ‘Those are not movers, they’re auctioneers!’

Being repossessed or otherwise harassed because of failure to pay a debt is one of the most humiliating experiences you can ever go through! Many people discover too late that debt is often a path not to quick wealth but to humiliation and poverty. Debt is also one of the surest ways the enemy uses to destroy people’s  purpose and destiny today!

So what if you’re already heavily in debt? How can you escape the debt trap?

The richest man of his time once gave this advice to people in debt – “Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter” (Proverbs 6:5). This is not a cute little metaphor! When a gazelle catches wind of a predator, it takes off with all its might. . Even a cheetah, the fastest animal in the world, has a kill rate of only 5% when it comes to gazelles. Is it because the gazelle is faster? No! It’s because it is focused. The lesson from King Solomon is that you’ll only escape the debt trap if you have gazelle-like intensity!

In my book ‘Financial Fitness’, I explain the following four steps to get out of debt. STEP ONE is to take a deep hard look inside to discover what led to your situation. Constant indebtedness is often a symptom of underlying fear, pride, or a get-rich-quick mentality.  You need to be able to face the truth and ask God’s help to think and act differently. You need to ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:2). This may also mean forgiving others who may have let you down. True repentance may mean cutting up your credit cards and making a commitment; ‘I will never borrow again’. As the saying goes, if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you want to do is stop digging! Then ask God for wisdom to build wealth the right way (see James 1:5)

STEP TWO is to create a survivor budget, which includes only absolute necessities; basic food, shelter, utilities, clothing and transport. You may need to sell your furniture or car, move back to your parent’s home or cheaper house, or look for a second job. I know it sounds crazy but when you’re on a cheetah’s breakfast menu, only gazelle-focused intensity will save you!

Remember, if all the Joneses (the cool looking broke people) still think you’re cool, you’re probably not focused enough. You have to get passionate about it. Your destiny is at stake… This is war!

STEP THREE is to make a plan to pay off all your creditors, starting with the smallest debt first. Paying off the smallest first creates quick wins, which increases your motivation. Plan to negotiate with the rest of your creditors to make a minimum payment on each of your debts except the smallest. Every extra shilling you can squeeze from your survival budget goes towards the smallest debt until it’s paid. Once done, turn attention to the next smallest one and then the next. Every time you pay off one, the amount available for payments gets larger and your momentum increases.

STEP FOUR is talk to all your creditors. Show them that you have a plan and intend to pay something each month until you do. The worst thing you can do is go quiet on them. Ask God to help them see your sincerity and extend grace to you.

All this is certainly not easy and it may take several months or even years, but the result is freedom to start again. So are you ready to start? Remember, it will take gazelle-like focus and intensity to escape the debt trap!

This weekend, catch Pst Oscar at Mavuno Church as he continues with the counter-cultural and transformative series, ‘The Four Horsemen Of Financial Ruin’

Dangers Of Debt

She was excited when her friend told her about the opportunity to start a ‘side-hassle’. It seemed such a sure thing! So she applied for a bank loan and invested it all in the business. That was six months ago. Today, she’s full of regrets. The business proved to be a lot more work than she had been led to believe and has picked up very slowly. Worse still, her company is going through an unexpected financial crunch and she’s not been paid for the last two months. She even ended up borrowing from a loan shark just to pay last month’s rent. And she’s terrified at the thought of what will happen if this month’s salary doesn’t come through on time!

Welcome to the realities behind ‘easy credit’!

Some people get into debt because of reasons beyond their control; a major illness or accident, or somebody died and they inherited a debt. But most people get there because they don’t know any better! The conventional wisdom today is that debt is leverage: That it’s normal to live in debt and that you will never succeed unless you borrow; whether it’s to start a business, buy shares, pay school fees or pay for some new dresses from the lady who comes round at the office.

Even though the good book doesn’t call debt a sin, it repeatedly points out the dangers of debt. Debt is enslaving. As the richest man of his time, King Solomon, wrote in the book of Proverbs, ‘The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is a servant to the lender’. Once you borrow, the lender literally ‘owns’ you! Their actions affect your mental health and how well you sleep. For example, when banks revise their interest rates upwards, you might get a note in the mail informing you about the new rate. But they certainly won’t ask what you think about it!

Debt is also expensive. Again, Solomon counsels, ‘Do not be a person who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you’. When you’re in debt, the principle of compound interest works against you and you end up paying far more for the things you buy than if you saved up and paid for them.

And as our friend found out, debt is presumptuous. It’s based on the assumption that we can control our ability to pay in the future. Solomon warned, ‘Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth’.

Ultimately, easy access to credit can promote a culture of consumption rather than a culture of savings. It can destroy the ability to learn to live and invest within our means. Paradoxically, that’s an almost sure path not to quick wealth but to poverty!

This week, Pst Oscar continues the awesome series at Mavuno Church – The 4 Horsemen Of Financial Ruin.

Things I Wish I’d Known About Money

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to give a talk about managing money to a group of mainly young adults going through the Mizizi experience. As I answered their different questions, I realized once again how poorly our education system trains us to manage this critical resource!  And I reflected on some of the things I wish I knew about money when I graduated from college.

Critical lesson numero uno: it’s not how much you earn that counts but how much you save. The work of a job is not to make you wealthy! It only provides the raw material for growing and multiplying wealth i.e. your salary. It is what you do with the salary you earn from your job that determines if you will grow wealthy or remain poor! The book of Proverbs (6:6) tells us that even with their little brains, ants are smart enough to put aside food for to ensure they survive future droughts. Years of observation have convinced me that it’s not the people who get big salaries that attain financial security but it is those who learn to live within their means, save something every month and invest when opportunities present themselves!

Speaking of opportunities, number two critical lesson is regularly increase your financial wisdom. This comes through reading books about money management as well as spending time with and asking the right questions to wise investors. The truth is that money flows from the well salaried to the wise.  I have gained amazing insights and opportunities by spending time with people wiser than myself. Here again, the book of Proverbs has something to benefit us when it challenges us to ‘get wisdom at any cost’ and counsels us that wisdom is better than silver or gold (I know, you thought Bob Marley came up with that, didn’t you!).

A third important lesson is understand the dangers of debt. It’s all the rage nowadays to borrow money, whether it’s to fund your business startup or to buy new furniture. But the wisdom of the Proverbs warns us that ‘the borrower is a slave to the lender’. I’ve found that for most of us, the easy availability of credit short-circuits the development of creativity and patience, as well as wisdom gained from slow growth. Coupled with which the Swahili saying ‘kukopa harusi, kulipa matanga’ (to borrow is like a wedding, to pay back like a funeral) is extremely true!

Lesson number four is live for more than money. Money is simply a tool. At the end of the day, the reason you want more is so you can have time to enjoy peace, health and good relationships with the ones you love. What the good book refers to as ‘shalom’. Never sacrifice your relationship with your loved ones because of the pursuit of money. That’s putting the cart before the horse!

So every Sunday this month, Pst Oscar Muriu of Nairobi Chapel is speaking at Mavuno Church about ‘The Four Horsemen Of Financial Ruin’. You owe it to yourself to be there!

Celebrating Fathers

I’m not always sure I know what to do with the different imported holidays that have become fixtures on our calendar. Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and so on have gained such prominence you’d almost think they were national public holidays! Even Chinese New Year and Halloween have seem to have gained their small (and markedly elite) groups of followers here! All these are clearly indicators of the globalized world we live in. They are also great opportunities for retailers to create demand for goods we don’t really need!

All that said though, I do believe if any of these holidays would be a good candidate for global public holidays, Father’s Day would be it. Celebrated widely on the third Sunday of June, it was first declared a public holiday in the US by president Woodrow Wilson in 1972, 58 years after Mothers day became a public holiday. Clearly, fathers don’t have the same sentimental appeal that mothers do!

In today’s world, men are often seen as the villain – and it is certainly the case that men are often the cause of great pain in the lives of their spouses and children. When I visit our various prisons, I find that most inmates had a poor or no relationship with a father figure. Abusive, passive or absent fathers are the cause of much societal destruction in our nation.

Which is all the more reason we must celebrate those men who are doing their best to be good husbands and fathers! It’s much more effective to applaud good deeds and examples than to bile about or simply ignore the bad ones. Because it’s true that you get what you celebrate. Let’s celebrate even those who haven’t done as well for whatever little they did right!

It’s not easy to be a dad in today’s world. Most men have few examples of what good fatherhood should look like. My friend, pastor Simon Mbevi, runs a class called ‘Man Enough’ that teaches men their role in family and society. I’m always amazed at how valuable the experience is to the many who take it.

And so here’s to all those fathers out there who are working hard to provide for their children. Here’s to all the baby daddies who at least make an effort to visit their children regularly. Here’s to the single fathers who have chosen to faithfully bring up their children (I know quite a few remarkable ones!) Here’s to those men who are seeking to develop a relationship with their kids even though they didn’t have one with their own fathers. Here’s to those guys who take their kids to church because they want them to grow up with good morals. Here’s to those who are passionate to see their kids have what they didn’t have when they were growing up.

To all those fathers out there, I say to you, Happy Fathers Day!

True Love Is Not What We Thought!

To commemorate 20 great years since I married my college sweetheart, I took some time this week to think through some of lessons that I’ve learnt about marriage. The biggest one is that the pathway to love is not what we thought it was! Let me explain…

 Twenty plus years ago, like any typical dating couple, we did some rather unconventional things! Have you ever seen a guy outside a dress shop carrying a ladies handbag as the girl he loves looks at and even tries out different outfits? That was me. Little did she know then that I hate window-shopping! She was no different; she sat with my friends and watched the rugby games I played in. Little did I know that watching sports was not on her top one hundred favorite things!

 A big complaint in marriages today is that people no longer feel the same way about each other as they did when dating. Or do the same things. Somehow, they figure, the love must have run out along the way.

 The problem however is in our definition of love. If you ask people what love is, you’ll get definitions that have to do with feelings – like ‘love is holding her hand and feeling your heart skip a beat’, or ‘love is gazing tenderly into his eyes’. Or as one person put it, ‘love is a feeling you feel when you feel that your are about to feel a feeling that you’ve never felt before’!

But the bible’s definition is radically different! As 1 Corinthians 13 (the famous ‘love chapter’) says ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’

 Have you noticed none of these things are ‘fun’ or ‘romantic’? Love is a dramatic action of giving despite my feelings. And the only way I can offer such unconditional love is because I have experienced the same love from my heavenly Father!

 The interesting thing is that as we begin to embrace God’s definition of love – something begins to happen in our marriage. We stop trying to turn the other person into something they’re not. We accept them as flawed people who have been loved by God. And they accept us too in the same way. And true love begins to flourish, in the only atmosphere it can – one of kindness, forgiveness and acceptance.

So… you need to determine even before you begin the journey together that divorce is not an option. I like a bumper sticker I saw once that read, ‘be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!’ Don’t be fooled; every marriage faces problems. But the paradox is that it’s only as we allow God to use us to bless the other person regardless of how we feel, that we eventually find fulfillment, joint purpose and true intimacy with our partner.

Okay, I need to say this…

I truly love you Carol. You are my lover, helpmate, partner, fellow dreamer, co-creator, mother of our lovely children and purpose companion. The last twenty years have been more than incredible and I’m amazed at God’s genius in giving me you. May the next 20 be even more awesome! Also, I hid this little nugget deep in the post to see if you’d read it till the end 🙂

Where was I? Oh yes, we’ve even written a couple of books together based on the lessons we’ve learnt in our relationship and marriage! ‘Ndoa’ is a ten-week course for couples preparing for marriage, or for already marrieds who want to strengthen their foundation. ‘Finders Keepers’ helps you figure out how to find and keep the love of a lifetime. You can get any of these from the bookstore at any of the Mavuno campuses.

True love was not what we thought it was; it turned out to be much harder but ultimately much sweeter. God bless!

An Easter Story

They were brought up by their mother. She worked long hours to ensure they ate well. In the evenings after a hard day at work, she pushed them to do their homework and taught them to believe in themselves. You see, their dad had abandoned her when they were young. He just took off one day and went to live with a younger woman. He never visited them. Singlehandedly and painstakingly, mom had brought them up and now they were all successful professionals.
That’s why it seemed like poetic justice when they heard that their dad was now jobless, broke and sick in hospital, abandoned by the other woman. Their reaction was ‘serves him right!’ But guess what their mom did next? She left everything in Nairobi and went where he was. There, she used her retirement money to pay the hospital bills and spent the next couple of years nursing and caring for him until he passed away.

As my friend shared about his family, I thought, ‘how unfair is that?’ It sounded completely warped to me that the one who was wronged against would end up being the one who paid to fix things up. Either there was something really messed up about this woman, or there was something extremely good and right! When I met her some time later, I confirmed the latter. She is a confident, attractive and likable woman with a kind heart and strong faith. There was not a trace of bitterness in her voice as she spoke about her husband. I greatly admired her strength and selflessness!

 

In many ways, she reminded me of the Easter story. You see, at the cross, God took on the pain of the very people who had wronged Him. Instead of demanding that humans pay for what we had done, He paid with His own life. He took the consequences of our rebellion on Himself, creating the possibility of our going back to Him, and living the life that He originally created us for.

Yep, either very messed up or extremely good and right! As the good book says ‘by his wounds, we are healed’. Easter brings the possibility of healing from rejection, abuse and pain. Because of the cross, those painful memories that have scarred us in the past can become stories of hope and inspiration. Because of what God did, we can forgive those who have wronged us. And by doing so, we free ourselves from the spiral of bitterness and revenge.

As Gandhi is thought to have said, ‘an eye will only make the whole world blind’. This Easter, I pray that you will find the grace to treat those who have wronged you the way God treated you. And that in forgiveness you will find not only find freedom from bitterness, but strength to live the life you were created to live!

Sober Love Decisions

February is the month of love. And love is such a beautiful thing! Scientists tell us that when you fall in love, chemicals called neutrophines and dopamines are released in your brain giving you a permanent high. Scientists have compared falling in love with taking heroin or having obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your ability to think straight is compromised! A haze comes over your eyes and you can only see the other person through your love-induced state.

That’s why you want to make some critical decisions before you fall in love. It’s a little like figuring out how you’ll get home before you sip that first drink. Most people already have already thought through what they absolutely can’t stand in a relationship. Ladies generally tend to have more substantial criteria, and will write off a guy who is constantly in debt, lives with his mom, or has a roving eye. Guys generally tend to focus more on what they see and have no time for a gal with bad breath, poor social poise or who doesn’t pay attention to her looks.

A major problem in relationships today though, is that we major on minor things and minor on major ones. That’s why our relationships keep blowing up over and over! Most people don’t know a real deal breaker when they see one. The dictionary defines a deal breaker as ‘any issue or factor that is significant enough to terminate a negotiation’. You need to figure out your deal breakers while you’re still sober, and not when you’re already love-high from a relationship!

Some of us have a loooong list of deal-breakers. “He must be taller than me so that I can get married in high heels.” “She must have nice long legs, and cook like my mom does”.  But in my new book ‘Finders Keepers: How To Find And Keep The One You Love’ (coming out this March), I describe the only two deal breakers that are critical if you are looking for love that lasts a lifetime.

The first is a common authority. Each one of us has something or someone that serves as our ultimate reference point. Examples are money, career, self, or God. I’m not telling you what your ultimate authority needs to be. But for love to last a lifetime, you need to hook up with someone who subscribes to the same authority.

The second critical deal breaker has to do with passion. You need to connect with someone who values the things that are the most important to you. You may be in different professions but you need to share a bigger passion e.g. to mentor young people, to help poor communities, to preserve the environment, or to advocate for justice.

Do you want a love that lasts? Make the sober decision to only hook up with a person who fits these two criteria!