A True Hero of Faith

“Simiyu Machani is my name… Shall I have the pleasure of knowing your name”

I told him my name. He said some words and gave his characteristic laughter. I smiled sheepishly as he did this. Collecting himself together and, in a rather lower composed tone he asked, “so you are a first year?”

“No, I am a second year”

He looked at me with that look, and asked, “Really! But how come…? Anyway, we will talk about this later”

That was early May 2010, I was just from upper chambers for the very first time in my life. I met him at the balcony just above the foyer. We were praying for a WESET (Western Student Empowerment Team) mission that was to start the next day. The reason he told me we would talk about it later was because at the time he was the treasurer of the group and they were running up and down just to see to it that everything was in place for the mission. To date, I don’t think I know what the question he asked was. But if what we’ve shared in the short period we’ve interacted is anything to go by, then I believe that somehow, we have talked about what we were to talk about in this entire span of time.

That is a snippet of the few instances that ushered me into the service of Christ. More specifically, he was introducing me to the WESO family. 2 days later, he was giving me one of the greatest challenges in my life at the time. He was asking me to share in a morning devotion, something I had never imagined could ever happen. At the time, I didn’t even have a bible, leave alone having a preaching experience. I remember having a sleepless night trying to figure out what I was going to share before these about 15 men, whom I believed were all more “spiritually superior” than me. Somehow, I remembered a sermon someone had shared in a home-cell meeting back at home and I replicated the same that morning, because I at least remembered the major verses he had quoted that day.

That is how my journey with him began. Later on, we would joke about the fact that he holds several titles in relation to me i.e. he was a father, son, neighbor, village-mate etc. and sure enough, he has had an immense contribution to my life. Just like the aforementioned challenge, on several occasions he has challenged me into doing things that I sincerely felt I was inadequate to do. Notably, handing over to me the docket of the WESET treasurer, seemed a joke to me. You see, he was a CPA K, and I had never smelled the door of a business class. The highest amount of money I had ever handled was my HELB loan, and here was someone asking me to handle hundreds of thousands. With his encouragement and promise of support, I agreed and I did it, not one term, but two.

For the time we served with him in WESET, his remarkable leadership qualities couldn’t go unnoticed. He always had this way of making us buy the vision and move with him. His ability to blend with all people and interact with them at their level was awesome. His conflict resolution skills were just out of the box. I admired the meticulous approach to work that left us in awe each time. Even when some of us fell behind with deadlines, we realized that he had already factored in a way to handle the same. The man was very organized. So organized that to date, I am yet to see anyone with folders neatly arranged in their laptop as his were (Numbered and hierarchical).  

Most importantly, he taught me how to live by faith. I recall those times, when we spent time toiling and raising funds for a WESET mission budgeted at over 200K, yet on the material date we had barely enough to take the members to the grounds. He would encourage us on, and we would take the team to the mission ground trusting God to provide in His own ways. I still remember the late night meetings we would have long after everyone else had slept. These were meant to be crisis meetings, but most of the times they turned out to be a celebration of God’s goodness and provision for the day. What was amazing was his ability to shield the members from what was happening, and many of them didn’t even think anything could go wrong at any time. At the same time, even though most of these times we were discouraged, he always gave us hope, and our meetings were always lively. My friend Silas and I discovered that his favorite phrase was “way forward” and we used to give one another a knowing look and chuckle whenever he mentioned it. Of course, with his smartness, he soon figured this out. But most important, we discovered that he did not pick the word carelessly, and he always had a way forward.

As a personal friend, we shared so much of our lives. I appreciated his approachability and humility. He had no qualm of learning something from someone his “inferior”. He was always willing to create time for anyone, no matter how tight his schedule was… yet, at the same time, he remained effective in everything he did. His charming personality and sense of humor could not be avoided. I was so much encouraged to be vulnerable to him, as he also openly shared his life to me. He greatly encouraged me in my spiritual growth, and lovingly rebuked me when necessary. One of the areas I will always accredit to him is helping me out of my religiosity and “holier than thou” attitude that was growing in me at some point.

His sermons were always well prepared and hit on the core. They always left one truly refreshed. One of the most notable one was “Skeletons in the Closet” which left many people reflecting in their lives, and a large number of students made decisions for Christ on that day. I remember urging the executive committee that he was best suited for that topic (because I had recently had a similar discussion with him on the same), and sure enough, he didn’t disappoint.

Given chance, there’s so much I can say about this man… but this platform may not allow me to do all that. He was a talented actor and orator among many other things, but what inspired me most about his life is his devotion to the service of Christ. Having been with him, I knew very well Simiyu’s passion for Electrical Engineering, Heavy current option. He was so passionate that he could never afford to miss a single class. In fact, he was so noted in the department that some lecturers preferred him to be their personal class representative, even though there was the official class representative. So his decision to join FOCUS for the 1 year, STEM program was a little unexpected. But this was not as shocking as when after serving for one year he opted to do a second term, and this time it was in form of an exchange program in Norway. Yet still, I gasped when I learnt that after his second term he had considered another 3 years in service as the FOCUS assistant missions coordinator.

This to me, portrayed an individual living a life of total surrender, willing to shelf his ambitions for the purpose of God’s kingdom. And within the short time he has been out of campus, he has influence many more than during his times in campus. I believe, hundreds of individuals out there can relate similar personal experiences with Simiyu.

Receiving the phone call two days ago, about his demise, I refused to believe it. I thought it was a joke. My mind literary went blank. Later on, as I was coming to terms with it, I didn’t know how to respond to God about it. For one, I felt that it was quite unfair for him to go at such a time, especially when he was just 5 days shy of his 3^rd month wedding anniversary. Yet, at the same time I felt that God could be justified to take him, because, to be honest, in my entire lifetime, I don’t think my service is half what I have seen this man do in the five years that God allowed me into his life. As I was reflecting on this, I again remembered the fact that all of us have assignments to accomplish… and God is faithful enough to take us home only when our assignment has been accomplished. Again, it brings me down to one point, how much of stewards are we to the time that God has given us? This is the same thing that Simiyu posted in one of his blog articles, “The discipline of time”.

I believe Simiyu has been faithful in dispensing that which God had given him to do in this short period. And sure enough, he has joined the cloud of witnesses encouraging us on, in our service. He truly walked like Christ, and is a true hero of faith… I believe I am one of the fruits of Simiyu’s, Work and consequently, by extension, Jesus’ work. Let’s assess our lives… 50 years or 100 years from now, should Christ tarry, will you be in a position to say that so and so is a disciple of Christ on account of what you did while still on earth? A question to ponder… 

Lord Deliver Me from My Dreams!

I have had an opportunity to ride in a Range Rover Vogue on a number of occasions, and man, don’t I want to own this metal! Yes, I mean exactly that, I am so fascinated with this car that if you asked me what my dream car is, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you it is the Range Rover Vogue… maybe metallic-black in color (someone told us if you want a car, especially if you’re making your request known to God you need to be specific… and color matters in this case J) Everything about the car stuns me, starting with the just right touch of masculinity expressed in its body shape and stylish finish, the power, it’s performance, the engine sound, its luxury and comfort… just to name but a few… am not a car expert… so I may not be in a position to describe all the nitty-gritties with the accurate automobile jargon… but I believe my description makes you understand why for me that would count as my ultimate choice for a car… and I qualify as one of its aficionados.

Well… that said, I doubt if I will ever come to a point of owning one in my entire life… that is the sad truth… well, am not saying I will not… am just saying I doubt if I will ever own one… and here is my reasoning, based on my convictions… you have the liberty not to agree with what I say, but I hope you will see some sense in what I say…

The first thing I ask myself (or ought to ask myself, considering that there are times when I forget this altogether) before deciding to acquire something is the question, “why do I need this?”… Many a times, I have found myself going to a large extent acquiring stuff that I later on realized I didn’t need or that I would have done better with another simple, cheaper alternative… The other point is about my priorities at the time of making the decision to acquire that something. Is there something else that is more important, which would require my attention as I am considering this particular item? And… yes! You guessed right… this inevitably brings me to the point of Christian stewardship… which is at the very core of my heart. In other words, how do my daily decisions demonstrate Christian stewardship in my life? By saying it is at the core of my heart, I don’t mean I am already there, I only intend to say, I desire to be there… it’s a journey.

Looking at life generally, and the decisions we make, one realizes that sometimes the very essence of scripture escapes our practical living as Christians… and I can attempt to delve into at least one root cause of our problem today. For one, many of us have been brought up in this competitive generation, where our success is not necessarily determined by how much we achieve, but rather, how better we perform in comparison to others… If I am lying, one should just look at our education system. This may not be the case, but in my country, all the way from kindergarten a child understands that true success is when he or she beats all pupils in her class, and of course, the top pupil will be rewarded, and the bottom pupil will be encouraged to pull up their socks. This leaves no room to appreciate diversity in the sense that one pupil could be good in one area, or even subject area, but poor in another, and hence the need to appreciate his achievement as well. I am not a curriculum specialist, so I should not be quoted, I know some who are good at it. But maybe very much honored and appreciated “prof D.N.W” can agree with me on this, being an expert in this field.  Unfortunately, we carry along with us this competitive spirit in life way after school without knowing it.

Now what am I saying? What I am saying is that, when you realize that you want to realize certain milestones in life, in most cases, you are doing this because you have seen others doing it and you want to be like them if not better. Huh! And so, back to my illustration of my dream Range Rover Vogue… the thing is good to have, but what motive informs my desire for the car? If it is to serve a specific purpose that another car wouldn’t serve, I would gladly go for it… And sure enough, I believe, and I know that there could be some occasions in future, when the Range Rover would come in handy for me. However, if acquiring the car is just meant for me to achieve a certain status, then I am certainly headed down the drain.

To begin with, in this society we live in, where everyone is in competition, you will never outmatch anyone… that’s a hard lesson I have come to learn. Everything is dynamically changing. I am a computer engineer, and I recently just realized that I am way behind technology and at the moment I am trying my best to be abreast with the latest developments. Every single day technological advancement is exponentially growing. In fact, this morning (yes this morning) I just dreamt that I was somewhere and some friends were installing Visual Studio 2018 (doesn’t exist) on their computers and I felt I needed to upgrade, but I couldn’t get a copy of the software… you should have seen my frustration then. FYI, the very Range Rover that I am talking about is also evolving… by the time I get to the point of getting one, the one trending will be a totally different model. I really have to work hard if I am to get there…

In light of all I have discussed above, below are 3 points that will help us live and operate with biblical stewardship in mind: 

1. Acknowledge that all things belong to God, and we’re just but managers

Psalms 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein

Everything belongs to God, and that includes my body, my family, my money, my talents my work, my environment, my country, animals, vegetation, rocks, seas… anything humanly imaginable. Once we understand this, we realize that we own nothing, including the packet of salt you just bought this morning. When it is in your hand, it only means God has seen it fit for you to be its manager at the present time. So next time before you claim that anything is yours, first acknowledge that it belongs to God. He is therefore the one to determine how you are going to use it. If you have money, before spending it, it is important for you to ask yourself what God would want you to do with it. If he tells you to buy those latest Air Jordan 5 Low Alternate 90 sneakers, we praise God! You will be doing it in obedience.

2.  The need to take good care of what God has given us and ensure its sustainability

1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful

One question that many Christians are not able to answer is when they are asked why they do neither take alcohol nor smoke. I personally thank God that He helped me understand why I should not take alcohol, as an act of stewardship. Having learnt that everything belongs to God, including my body and that I should be faithful in taking good care of it, I have no choice but to keep my body healthy at all times. This means eating well, doing plenty of exercise and avoiding by all means deliberately exposing my body to anything that will harm it. The harmful effects of alcohol and cigarettes are public knowledge, and it only takes common sense to keep them at bay. In the same way, we would not want to expose anything divinely apportioned to us for His noble use to anything that would compromise its value. Hence using our resources extravagantly with no concern for the future is an act of disobedience to God. This calls us to invest wisely and avoid mismanaging God’s property.

The spirit of the age today is that of impulsive buying, and the ads around us make us believe that we need what we do not need. We thus end up spending God’s money and resources on what we don’t need, consequently misusing what would have gone into something more constructive. So, next time you send that text that deducts KES 25 or something from your phone to enter into that lottery game, ask yourself how that KES 25, however small to you it is, would put food on the table of a poor widow in a remote village somewhere in Kenya and bring glory to God.

3. Ask yourself how what you do will impact God’s kingdom and eternity

Luke 16:1-13: The parable of the shrewd manager, Matt 25:14-30: The parable of the talents

Lastly, as someone said, and I believe it is true… the only thing we can get with us out of this life is a soul (with regard to Christ’s words in Matt 16:26). It really doesn’t profit us to gain everything and lose our own souls. This and other scriptures encourage us to have a heavenly, eternal focus. Sadly enough, many Christians do not live their lives with an eternal perspective. For quite some time I had trouble understanding the parable of the shrewd manager… how refreshing it was to me when I came to learn its truth in entirety. This is a guy who realizes that his days with his employer are numbered, and he can neither dig nor beg, the only thing he would do out there to survive. He therefore opts for a brilliant plan, making friends with his employer’s debtors so that when he leaves his employer’s service they can make room for him. In other words, he was investing in them, thinking about the future.

Unfortunately, for many of us, we never take time to think about eternity, despite the constant reminders we are given in the bible. All we are concerned about is “our best life now” as our popular authors have encouraged us to believe. We are caught up in this misleading notion that we have a very long time to stay here on earth. Instead of investing in eternity, we are investing here on earth where moths and rats destroy, and thieves break and steal (Matt 6:19). Trust me, God will require an account of our investments.

It is not too late for us to have a paradigm shift in this area of stewardship. It is quite possible for us to invest our time, resources, skills, knowledge, money, property, talents etc in eternity. And in eternity we only invest in one thing… souls. Starting with our own souls then the souls of others. And this is not very difficult to achieve. Could you consider doing the following:

·         Instead of buying that expensive suit, buy a cheaper one of a good enough quality and use the extra cash to help that poor village-mate top up for the school fees of their child who is going to form 1, and help them understand that it is the love of Christ that made you do that.

·         Rather than only spending most of your time with your best friend discussing the highest paid footballer (nothing wrong with that), also help them understand the depth of Christ’s love for them and that He’s giving them a privilege to be part of His kingdom.

·         Instead of buying that KES 2M car, consider a cheaper alternative of, maybe, half that amount that would still serve you well and use the rest of the amount to contribute for the missionary in Marsabit to get a good off-road car that would help him move around the rough terrain as he reaches out to the scattered unreached Rendille populace.

·         With the good house that God has granted you, consider inviting your neighbors over for a cup of tea as you share with them the gospel or doing bible study together, encouraging one another on in the faith.

·         As a young man in high school, instead of taking a full loaf everyday, you can consider taking half a loaf in one day of the week and save the rest to support a missionary friend in the coastal region (you will be shocked at how much you are able to give).

·         Take of a few minutes in your day to pray for an unreached people group.

·         Purpose to set aside a portion of your income, however small for a start, to support a mission agency etc

The list above is illustrative rather than exhaustive, hence there are many other practical, creative ways to be involved in investing into eternity and winning souls for Christ.

I cannot finish this article without acknowledging, and I had purposed to do this, the inspiration I get from my brother Henry (who celebrated his 45^th birthday 2 days ago) in this area of stewardship. I honestly, though he may not know this, appreciate his love for God, his devotion to his service, and his philosophy (he knows what am talking about here, especially with regard to my dream car) of life that makes me realize am not alone…

I, personally, do struggle in this area, but my continuous prayer is that God will deliver me from my small ambitions and dreams, and replace them with greater ambitions for His kingdom… It is also my prayer for you…

Who Chooseth Me

Reading through Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” yesterday, thinking through it today in my shower (this is where I do most of my reflection) gave me some insight into biblical truths that I believe are worth sharing. Among the characters in the play is Portia, a young rich lady, whose father, prior to his death predetermined the means by which his daughter would find her suitor. Portia’s prospective husband was expected to choose from three caskets, the right one being the one that contained her portrait. One casket was golden with the inscription, “who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire”, the second one was a silver casket with the inscription, “who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves” and the last one was made of lead and had the inscription, “who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath”.

Three suitors are mentioned in the play, namely the prince of Morocco, the prince of Aragon and Bassanio. In the most “unlikely” event, Bassanio ends up choosing the right leaden casket, hence becoming Portia’s husband, and an heir to all the property her father left her. The prince of Morocco and the prince of Arragon chose the golden casket (which contained a carrion death) and the silver casket (which contained a blinking idiot) respectively.

Coming to think of it, I realized that these are the very choices that we are expected to make in our daily lives as human beings (let alone Christians), and the perspectives held by the three suitors (which made sense in their respective eyes) are ever with us.

A large percentage of humanity, like the prince of Morocco, are craving for the affluence offered by material possessions, and this has always been, and will always be there as long as Christ tarries. Most people’s greatest ambitions are based on getting good jobs, owning big houses and property, fleets of state of the art cars etcetera. Not that there is anything wrong with owning property and being rich, but when that becomes my primary pursuit in this life, I can bet my bottom dollar that I am headed down the drain… suffice to say this materialistic tendency has found its way into the church… and every time I cringe on my seat when, in a gathering I hear the shouts of “amen” and “yes” from the congregation that are supposedly meant to encourage or affirm a new age preacher lavishing them with the exact thing Paul warns in Philippians 3:18-19. Truth be told, such sermons only make us more of enemies of the cross than the one who hung on it. Holding onto material possessions is setting ourselves on a slippery ground, and many illustrations in the bible dissuade us from the same. 1 John 3:15-17 tells us that to love the world is enmity with God, echoing the words of our Lord in Matthew 6:24 that our allegiance to God and mammon is mutually exclusive.

The second lot are those, who by virtue of their considerable piety, would think they are deserving of some things more than others. Here, I am talking of committed Christians… those you will find faithfully serving in church, attending all meetings, giving their tithes and offerings and so on. To get a clue of what I am talking about, just listen to the kinds of prayers they make. You will hear them calling fire from heaven to consume their enemies (fellow human beings). All the prayers they make will always be focused on themselves and their immediate family. In most cases, they will remind God of what they have done for him (seemingly borrowing a cue from King Hezekiah – whose prayer also had some nasty repercussions). I can’t excuse myself from this list as I used to make such kinds of prayers at some point. When we get to this point, we are no different from the self-righteous Pharisee that Christ talked about in Luke 18:9-12. My point is not to deny that God cannot reward our commitment to Him with material possessions, but that our outlook is meant to be for the greater eternal reward. In fact in Mark 10:29-30, which we’ll talk about shortly, Christ promises material possessions to those who’ve left everything to follow him. However, if we make material possessions our motives for following Him, then we are missing the point. It is too small an ambition to live for. We are actually making a fool of ourselves, just as the arrogant prince of Aragon who came in with a fool’s head and left with two.

Finally, looking at Bassanio, who ended up winning, in my opinion, he was the most undeserving of this lady. He had his own myriads of peccadilloes, and his extravagance was out of this world. Yet he had the audacity to borrow money from Shylock in order to put up a show and woo Portia, with Antonio, Shylock’s arch enemy being the guarantor. To justify his actions he uses the illustration that when you lose an arrow, you shoot another arrow in the same direction watching keenly so you can recover at least the last one if not both. However, what intrigues me about Bassanio is his openness and willingness to reveal the skeletons in his closet. His attitude is that of humility, willing to expose his misdeeds even before Portia. At the time of making the choice, he is not fleeced with the outward appearance of the caskets. His choice is dictated by wise reasoning and careful consideration… and yes, his willingness to pay the cost pays him dividends… He not only gets the damsel, but her wealth as well.

“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath”… Don’t these sound like the words of Christ Himself in Matt 16:24-27, Luke 9:23-26 and other scriptural illustrations? Following Christ demands that we die of our self on a daily basis. Our ambitions should be replaced by His ambitions for His kingdom, and this will never disappoint us. He tells us to seek first His kingdom and all other things shall be added unto us. We spend so much time and exhaust ourselves chasing after things that God would have otherwise provided if only we were in His will. He has promised that a worker is worthy of His wages, but this is something we never think about, expressing our lack of faith by not trusting Him to provide. Towards the last part of Matthew 6, Christ spends a big chunk of His sermon just explaining to us why we should not trouble ourselves with earthly things. I submit to you that if we are to truly live a fruitful, fulfilled life here on earth, we should be ready to hazard all that we have, and entrust it to Christ, knowing that He has what is best for us in store. And, for your information, it is eternal. We should not live for our own desires but for Him. Let’s be in the master’s business, shan’t we?

2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (NKJV)