Sticks and Stones

When I was in my early teens, there was this guy (let us call him Jamal) in our neighbourhood that liked me. He was in a boarding school while I was in day school. There was a time he came home from school for holiday and bought me packed rice, perfume and a card. I appreciated it and he went back to school.

A month later, my siblings and I were having home lesson after the daily school session. My brother came and said that Jamal came home and asked a neighbour of mine to give me something. I asked how Jamal could come home and not make an effort to see me but my brother responded saying it was impromptu and he had to go back immediately. I accepted the package, in it contained what looked like another packed food and a wrapped gift. I decided to open the package after my lesson, but my brother kept insisting that I should open it right then in front of everyone because he was hungry, he even asked my lesson teacher to support his plea. He, my lesson teacher and my sister kept asking me to open it so I finally succumbed to their pleas. I opened the aluminium foil packed food first, what did I see? Sticks, stones and broken pieces of glass. The neatly wrapped pack was just a dirty, empty bottle. I took a glance at my brother, who was laughing loud and hard by now and just shook my head. I looked at my lesson teacher, his laughter was enough evidence that he had been in on the plans.

I was just thinking about my days as a child and remembered this funny incident so I thought to share it.

Showers of Blessings

I was in church on a fateful Sunday morning. It was a combined service, the kind where you spend about six straight hours in church, with longer prayer, longer praise, longer worship and finally, a very lengthy sermon since all the services are combined into one.

Some minutes into the prayer session, the pastor asked us to hold our neighbour’s hands, minding that we should find a person who is passionate about prayer. I held someone’s hands, and we flowed into prayer. While praying with my partner, I was hearing one brother at my back, seriously ‘kabashing’ and I said in my mind, that’s one fierce prayer. I was also praying very fervently but mine could not be compared to his.

Later the pastor said we should change our partners, the aforementioned brother’s partner was eager to leave him and pray with my partner but I considered this strange. I was left to pray with the brother, I assumed it to be a good match because I felt he would ‘kabash’ all the demons out of my life. So we started praying and next thing, the brother held my palms tight, shaking me vigorously, started shouting loudly into my ears, and guess what the heavens were opened.

Drops of liquid were all over me. Brother was spitting profusely, I had to look up to be sure whether the venue’s roofing had suddenly developed a fault, because this seemed to be more than saliva. The prayer lasted for about 10 minutes. I had to endure spit all over my hands and face. I managed to pray but it was quite difficult because I was seriously distracted. I kept turning my face left and right in order to dodge the liquid slaps, I was squinting and squeezing, anyone looking would think I was entering the spiritual realm and finally, the prayer ended. I took my face towel and cleaned my hands and my face. I blogged this on my phone, with the guy sitting behind me and hoping he’s not trying to see what I’m typing on my phone. Thank God for His showers of blessings.

My Inspiration

There has been so much misunderstanding surrounding my posts. In as much as a lot of people have been blessed by it, some people say that I don’t suggest solutions in some of them. The purpose of this blog is stated by on the top right side of the website. It is to shed light on real-life issues, I don’t have solutions to all the unfortunate issues that people go through but I can shed light on them. I don’t have solution to all my own problems also, all I know is that anytime I find myself in a situation too difficult for me to handle, I shift my focus from the problem and back on God and somehow, He always finds a way out for me. The fact that I don’t have a solution to such problems does not mean I should not write about them.

Also it is not every time that people are looking for someone to suggest solutions to their problems, some of them already know the solution but are still trying to find their feet. The mere fact that there is someone out there that can understand what they are going through is enough to inspire them to move on in life. Some of these people cannot even describe what how they feel. So, in my write-ups, I assume the character of any person I write about and see the world through that person’s eyes, whether good or bad character.

Furthermore, many people have started to get worried about me, wondering if I am going through a terrible phase in my life, I am sure the above paragraph has clarified that. If really I were all the characters I have written about, as portrayed, what a seriously damaged and messed up person I would be. Although, I would not deny the fact that I can relate to every blog post I have written in my own way, after all, the ideas came from my mind.

I write different kinds of posts, happy ones, funny ones and sad ones. It is the sad ones that are really getting people uncomfortable. They say even if I want to write that, then I should put a balance at the end. I wonder why people do not want to acknowledge the bad things happening in the world. If a wife batterer stumbles upon my blog and reads ‘Past Tense’, he will most likely be convicted in his mind and try to see things another way, when next he is tempted to strike her. With this, haven’t I been able to touch a life?

Finally, I started this blog because I want to voice out my own ideas, and at the same time, give all the glory back to God, so I will not allow the opinions of people determine what I write because I am not writing to please anyone but to shed light on different things that the average man goes through every day, whether happy or sad. I don’t see myself as a talented writer, my inspiration comes from God and the things I see around me every day, I will continue to focus on him so that I would not end up being like a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.