hol - ee - day

Christmas, that so called wonderful time of the year.  A time to make merry around the Christmas tree or is it mugumo tree, i get confused sometimes with this white man known as St. Nick, with traditions imported straight from TV land without the cultural understanding of their origins.  I don't think I love Christmas as a holiday though i do love what it represents to me.  The day that Jesus Christ my lord and Savior was born.  The day that the world would be gifted with the greatest man ever to live.  For those who don't believe that He is the son of God, well, those are your own problems, you cannot however deny that his words were and will forever continue to be not only be relevant then but today and tomorrow. 

 

How then do i as a Kenyan celebrate this day and at the same time maintain the Christmas spirit that often goes hand in hand with gift giving?  How do i lessen the importance of the gift giving and concentrate on the core of the principle behind it? I propose a new (or is it old) idea to make it a part of the Christmas culture.  Christ the lord was/is a gift to mankind, not in the Christ himself but in what he brought through his birth, Salvation. Through him we may learn more about the father, through him we should realize that though we are created in the image of God, we are not God.  That only through knowing Christ can we then begin to understand who our true father is, and what the true nature of Love is.

 

Love, that this is what Christmas is about.  True love is sacrifice.  That God sacrificed his son and that Christ went to the cross, sacrificing himself so that we could learn this very important truth.  How then do we as mere mortals continue to love?  How then do we continue to impact those around us through sacrifice?  Some people would say that buying someone or a family gifts is sacrificing your money.  True, when this purchase has been well thought out, truly planned and managed at a sincere level then this can act as an expression of Love.  But its not enough.  A sacrifice as defined in the online webster dictionary is:

 

Main Entry: sac·ri·fice

Pronunciation: \ˈsa-krə-ˌfīs, also -fəs or -ˌfīz\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin sacrificium, from sacr-, sacer + facere to make — more at do

Date: 13th century

1 : an act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar
2 : something offered in sacrifice
3 a : destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b : something given up or lost <the sacrifices made by parents>

 

So does the gift you buy have any of the above representations?  What then can be done over and above to draw it closer to the true idea of sacrifice.  That question can only be answered by yourself as only you know how far you would go to truly sacrifice yourself to another.  At the heart of it all by our actions we pay homage to God, we say we remember, we say we care and in the words of Nickleback, i sing Amen, Im alive:

If Everyone Cared lyrics

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing Amen

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...

[Chorus]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

Nephilim

Intro.......
Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Gen 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Will you be a son of God or a daughter of man. Will you walk with righteousness and live forever or will you walk in sin and live for only 120years. The choice is yours.

Get a little painted

Intellectual Stupidity

I accept that i do not know everything, that there are so many things out there that are still not clear to me, that the pursuit of knowledge is in fact never ending and that true intellectuals accept this.

I am however meeting a group of persons who constantly display what i have come to define as intellectual stupidity. This means that the persons are smart, are learned, are able to offer arguments in a smart and concise manner, yet for whatever reasons have convinced themselves that everyone else is wrong and they are the only ones who are right. They then further confirm their stupidity by being jack of all trades and masters of none. In their conversations, they continuously quote from various forums carelessly and without comprehension, as evidence of their knowledge in the matter, yet when you probe into their statements they then jump on to the next statement as further proof of your ignorance. You just cant pin them down, they wont let you. When you do grab their attention they are after all smart, i see them process what you say and then they immediately reject not on the fact that you have presented, but based on the fact that they reject the idea of you presenting a smarter argument than them.

Jesus said let those who have ears listen. I never understood what that meant until now. I understand that many times we hear the message but do we really listen to what is being said. Moving along this train of thought, my questions then morphs to ask, why is it we are so resistant to learning new things. When we were young, all we wanted was to learn, how does the grass grow, where did babies come from, why is the ocean blue. Soo many questions with so many different possible answers, there was no wrong answer, there were only possible answers.
Let us reclaim our ability to listen, to be like children, to learn, to laugh, to grow........


Get a little painted

rainbow

Wooooo, I have had a very turbulent week emotionally. What with my Friend involved in a near fatal "adventure" and the total emotional breakdown that i had, resulting from the pending gloom day commonly referred to as a birthday, I am very glad, at the moment, to say Yes I am. I am here and I am here.

I complained to a friend that this event known as my birthday is getting harder and harder to bear as it means that i am getting older and older. She then turned to me and said, would you rather it ended? would that not mean that you are no longer here and i thought &***^%$"!
So my new attitude to my birthday is I am here. Its a celebration of my life, of the milestone of each day that i grace this earth. Its an opportunity to laugh at the past and give myself the opportunity to paint a new colour for the moment. I marvel at the fact that i am human, that i have the ability to bear new colours at any time to survive, to live, to be

So here I am

Get a little painted

violet

I said that human beings have the power to plug the hole. Here I mean all human beings, even me. There are those who recognise this power very early in their lives and sometimes (as is commonly human) manipulate it to their advantage. The irony of the situation is that for a spiritual connection to be made, both parties must give in. The guy/girl who manipulates is then in turn manipulated by the very power they are using.

for every action there is a reaction

After years of manipulation, the manipulator finds that they are empty. They thought that they were taking when in actual fact they were giving. They lost the ability to receive for the pure joy of receiving. All the faceless encounters were actually in a better position than him because they went into the act with sole purpose of enjoying themselves, the manipulator went in to the act with the sole purpose of dominating. They dominated the game and lost the war
Too much of a good thing is bad, its like looking at the sun for too long. You eventually go blind


Get a little painted

.....

test

Red

Q- what do you do when someone consistently hurts you but you keep going back for more?

The theory of the addiction quest

The hole is there, that we cannot deny, however must we be consumed by the need to fill the hole? I think that the hole was put there by Him so that we never feel complete without HIM. If this is my answer then why do i consistently fill the hole with everything BUT God?

I theorise that human beings have the "touch it feel it syndrome," ie. its easier to access/process that which you can touch and feel therefore you grab that which you know/feel first.
I guess we keep going back because when we do connect as human beings its so powerful that for that moment we know what its like to have the hole plugged.

This makes sense if you realise that human beings as a part of God, have the capability [power] to give each other this sense of completeness, but it is only temporary. The moment is fleeting at best and after we have experienced it, we then keep trying to get it back.

Why then did God give man the ability to pug the hole at all? I think that he did this because he recognised people's inability to be sustained by faith, but made it fleeting so as to ensure that human contact does not ever replace God contact.
The moment was also created so that we can recognise it when it comes in a spiritual form

Blue

Q: Why are there so many religions in the world. Which is the "right" religion

The theory of the constant signal

I theorise that just like man made discoveries such as fire over different time spans, that never meant that fire did not exist, only that man had to tune into the knowledge of how to light a fire.

I think that this is the same with God. The bottom line is, he exists, is always constant and always on the same frequency. Just like there are multiple ways to light a fire, so then there must be multiple ways to know (tune into) God.

If an artist is reflected in his creations, then in his creations, God shows us that he loves diversity, loves order, loves colour, loves complex packages wrapped up in simplicity. It then does not compute that he would accept only one path to knowing him.

The understanding of God is universal, he is God. (full stop)

The future then lies not in the war of words over who is right and who is wrong, but in the reveleation of the heart as that is where God can be found.

When confronted with the choice of what is right or wrong, look to your heart (soul) for the answers, analyse, pray, meditate and the truth shall be revealed for God is a constant signal that the soul knows and is always tuned in to

green inovation in kenya

2007, Green Prize for Sustainable Literature
Kenyas' First "Net Positive" Basketball Court

Christa Morris, 14 Sep 09
In central Kenya, Architecture for Humanity (AfH) is creating a covered basketball court for the new Mahiga Hope High School. This isn't just any basketball court we're talking about, it's a net-positive Rainwater Court: the roof will have integrated rainwater collection and UV purification systems, along with solar panels to power the school. Although the project will serve primarily as a basketball court, assembly space, dining area and outdoor classroom for students, the entire community will also be able to attend farmers markets, local music and arts performances, movies and meetings in the only large, sheltered gathering place in the area.
Though the concept is complex, the design by Greg Elsner is elegant. Solar panels on the metal roof of the court will power lights for the entire school complex, while gutters will collect enough rainwater to meet the school's complete H20 needs (an estimated 90,000 liters per year with 30,000 liters of storage), and a UV purifier will make water drinkable for thirsty post-game students.

Between the two water storage tanks on the sidelines, a stage for performances has a solid back wall for movie projection and class presentations. The 500 sq meters of surface area, sheltered from the prevailing wind and the hot sun, will be ample room for school meetings and community events. view larger
To achieve their off-the-grid vision, AfH will use 100 percent local, sustainable and recycled materials during construction, such as Nike Regrind (a forgiving surface made of used tennis shoe soles) for the court floor. In keeping with their standard procedure, AfH will hire local construction workers and continue collaborating with community members to perfect the plan. To learn more about the project, watch this video of a planning meeting.
Community Meeting, June 2009
The Rainwater Court is part of a larger, ongoing endeavor sponsored by the Nobelity Project to rejuvenate St. Joseph Mahiga School. With a new computer lab, electricity, and purified rainwater, as well as a good dose of motivation, the primary school catapulted upward in quality, and now is one of the top ranked schools in the region.

That success just wasn't enough, or rather, it was enough to inspire further action. The Nobelity Project, community members, and the Kenyan Regional Education District are now collaborating to build a four-year high school to educate more than 400 boys and girls who otherwise would have nowhere to go after their eighth year. The upcoming documentary film "One Peace at a Time," features the inspiring Mahiga students.

Yellow

Q: How does the mind evolve. Is there a difference between the ancient mind (Romans, Egyptians and our forefathers) and the modern mind (circa 1700)

The theory of the inspired mind

Thought i think is what evolves the mind. When the mind is filled with mundane thoughts only linked to survival, then that is all the person shall be, a survivalist. Inspire your mind to seek, grow and it shall eventually evolve.

Meditation into who you are shall force you to think beyond your physical self and move you towards contemplation of your spiritual self.

It seems a logical conclusion that the human mind wants to understand who/what it is. Here then i theorise that all knowledge is the same (it simply is and only our understanding of it changes) and that the pursuit of this knowledge is timeless and irrespective of cultures.

purple

So many thoughts and no significant thought. Little pockets of innovation, little tid bits of God's work all around me.
Moments of love
Clarity rings her bell, believe in the moment, be free of fright, see the truth, ebrace the fight.
A confident smile, a lovers delight..... "hello my love".... ever true, ever right......NO!!
To dissapoint is your nature!
Only HE is truthful only HE is constant, only HE IS
Glory to HE that is