In the US for a couple of weeks… very interesting to hear the campaign rhetoric here and compare it with our own from a few months ago. And am struck by an amazing fact… Americans are just as tribalistic as we are! One of the people I’ve really enjoyed getting to know here said in a conversation that Barrack Obama is the closest thing there is to the anti-Christ. Another person, a good friend of his who goes to the same church and that I also greatly enjoyed getting acquainted to, confided that the last president America needs right now is another rich white guy or another Clinton. Sounds so familiar! I was struck by how much alike we all are … day-to-day decent, ordinary people, yet deep down driven by suspicion & ethnocentricity to self-protective stereotyping; ‘us verses them’.
Reminded me of back in the day when I made another startling discovery. Although California highways are extremely clean & orderly compared to ours, I stumbled upon a hidden, out of the way section where it seemed people littered at will. Shock on me! Also, many had radar-detectors in their cars, which detect police radar guns so that you can slow down before they catch you! And then later, Enron and Arthur Andersen as well as Watergate and Irangate before that helped me understand that American’s are not closer to the God-side of the corruption scale than us; with our Goldenburg, Anglo Leasing and Francis Thuo (stock brokerage firm that recently went under after underhand dealings with investor funds)
If Americans are just as tribalistic, dirty and corrupt as we are, then why aren’t they grabbing ‘machetes’ and killing their neighbors, drowning in dirt and being labeled as corrupt? I think the answer is simple. The law here works. In Cali, you could be charged up to 1000$ for littering on the highway. Ouch! Even though not perfect, the system here ensures that evil-doers are brought to the book - mostly. And like the much-beloved-and-mourned-for Michuki Rules taught us, even matatu drivers comply when there’s a consistent and firm message against bad driving.
Romans 13:4 defines the primary role of government as God’s agents for our (citizens) good, to execute wrath on those who practice evil. A good sign that government is working, is that evil doers (even though still present) are restrained by their fear of the consequences from doing evil!
That’s why I think one of the priorities of our coalition government needs to be setting up independent institutions that work. Let’s begin with the judiciary and police-force. Let’s overhaul our constitution so that the presidency, parliament and judiciary have clearly defined roles that regulate each other. Let’s also figure out the roles that the media and civil society should play. Entrenching tribal equations in our government and civil service is not a real solution. It’s dealing with the short-term symptoms and ignoring the genuine long-term issues.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Rest
Just had a really great weekend! I tried to make sense of what made it so good. Sure, many things worked out well. We got to spend some quality time with both sets of parents. I also got to hang out & have fun with my bambinos. And to watch a really gripping Sunday-afternoon movie (Will Smith in ‘I Am Legend’ – warning – not for the faint hearted!). And as usual, we had a great time at Mavuno. But as good as that all was, it wasn’t all there was to it. There’s a certain energy in my step and more psyche and zeal for the week. Then it struck me. The weeks when I feel this way are when I actually take the time to truly rest and unwind after the hectic weekend!
So amazing how much our bodies need real rest (not just a change of activity!). We live in a frantic, fast-paced and noisy world. Too much to do, too little time, too many meetings, too many responsibilities, too many friends, too many books on our shelf we plan to read one day. We are addicted to coffee/Red Bull and adrenaline to help us get through our day. Email, sms, instant messaging, face-book and now Google-Talk have only made life more frantic. Many of us are expected to work Sundays and public holidays. The worst thing is - we’ve started to see this as normal!! We live to work, instead of work to live. We have become human doings, not human beings…
And yet the bible tells us that God himself rested on the 6th day after some strenuous creative work. And that He commands (not suggests) that we do the same, not for His but for our benefit (actually that’s probably true of all His commands). Must be the most disobeyed law in the book! We need time for rest, reflection and refuelling. And it’s not going to just happen unless we diarize it and insist on it.
One of the reasons I so often struggle with this is because I sometimes think the world depends on me. And yet when I drop dead, I have this sneaky suspicion that life will - after an appropriate pause and some minor adjustments of course – continue on as before!
So… say it with me… ‘there’s only one God, and it's certainly not me!’
So amazing how much our bodies need real rest (not just a change of activity!). We live in a frantic, fast-paced and noisy world. Too much to do, too little time, too many meetings, too many responsibilities, too many friends, too many books on our shelf we plan to read one day. We are addicted to coffee/Red Bull and adrenaline to help us get through our day. Email, sms, instant messaging, face-book and now Google-Talk have only made life more frantic. Many of us are expected to work Sundays and public holidays. The worst thing is - we’ve started to see this as normal!! We live to work, instead of work to live. We have become human doings, not human beings…
And yet the bible tells us that God himself rested on the 6th day after some strenuous creative work. And that He commands (not suggests) that we do the same, not for His but for our benefit (actually that’s probably true of all His commands). Must be the most disobeyed law in the book! We need time for rest, reflection and refuelling. And it’s not going to just happen unless we diarize it and insist on it.
One of the reasons I so often struggle with this is because I sometimes think the world depends on me. And yet when I drop dead, I have this sneaky suspicion that life will - after an appropriate pause and some minor adjustments of course – continue on as before!
So… say it with me… ‘there’s only one God, and it's certainly not me!’
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Leaders on Leadership
Had a wonderful Leader’s Day at Mavuno last weekend (5th April)... The most incredible feeling in life is to have a passion worth dying for, and the best friends in life are those who share that passion. Maybe that’s why 300 is one of my movie favorites! And - speaking of leaders, I find the following quotes by leaders about leadership quite inspiring…
*To accomplish big things, I am convinced you must first dream big dreams(Conrad Hilton)
*Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)
*Our aspirations are our possibilities (Robert Browning)
*The secret of success is consistence of purpose (Benjamin Disraeli)
*Leaders articulate and define what has previously remained implicit or unsaid; then they invent images, metaphors and models that provide a focus for new attention. (Warren Bennis and Burt Wanus)
And, my favorite…
*The only institutions that have enough resources to perform their tasks are those with small visions (David Allen Hubbard)
Here are fun pictures from our team building time:
*To accomplish big things, I am convinced you must first dream big dreams(Conrad Hilton)
*Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)
*Our aspirations are our possibilities (Robert Browning)
*The secret of success is consistence of purpose (Benjamin Disraeli)
*Leaders articulate and define what has previously remained implicit or unsaid; then they invent images, metaphors and models that provide a focus for new attention. (Warren Bennis and Burt Wanus)
And, my favorite…
*The only institutions that have enough resources to perform their tasks are those with small visions (David Allen Hubbard)
Here are fun pictures from our team building time:
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Your Love Has Set Me Free
Here's the latest single from the Mavuno Worship Project. And of course I should add ~ available at all leading book and media stores :-)
Monday, March 31, 2008
National Cake – Lessons From Sunday School
As our leaders struggle for the best formulae to distribute power, I wonder if what is needed is not some esoteric political knowledge but simple, homely wisdom. I heard of a book entitled, ‘the most important lessons in life I learnt in Sunday School’. Here are a couple of growing up, Sunday School lessons that may be of help in our national impasse…
1. How to ensure a cake is divided fairly – when we needed to share a piece of cake with a sibling, the easiest way to do it was to get the first child to break it into two pieces, and then to ask the other one to pick first which piece they wanted. It ensured the person dividing was extremely fair!
2. How to ensure you don’t run out of cake –Mom was an equal opportunity parent who taught her children, both sons and daughters, that the best way to deal with cake limitation is to learn to bake cake! That cake is not a fixed resource but a renewable one.
Our support of our politician’s obsession with sharing national positions comes from the mistaken belief that once politicians/technocrats from our tribal group are in charge of certain positions, then our people’s problems will end. In a country of 30 million, this is short-sighted thinking at best. My fear is that this squabbling may obscure our focus from cake baking. Crafting our national vision together and ensuring that it creates new opportunities for the generations to come. Asking what processes we need to put in place that will give us good leadership long after we’re dead and gone.
In the globalized, flat world we live in, our child’s competition is not Nyanza or Central province, but in Egypt and China. We need to learn to bake cake!
1. How to ensure a cake is divided fairly – when we needed to share a piece of cake with a sibling, the easiest way to do it was to get the first child to break it into two pieces, and then to ask the other one to pick first which piece they wanted. It ensured the person dividing was extremely fair!
2. How to ensure you don’t run out of cake –Mom was an equal opportunity parent who taught her children, both sons and daughters, that the best way to deal with cake limitation is to learn to bake cake! That cake is not a fixed resource but a renewable one.
Our support of our politician’s obsession with sharing national positions comes from the mistaken belief that once politicians/technocrats from our tribal group are in charge of certain positions, then our people’s problems will end. In a country of 30 million, this is short-sighted thinking at best. My fear is that this squabbling may obscure our focus from cake baking. Crafting our national vision together and ensuring that it creates new opportunities for the generations to come. Asking what processes we need to put in place that will give us good leadership long after we’re dead and gone.
In the globalized, flat world we live in, our child’s competition is not Nyanza or Central province, but in Egypt and China. We need to learn to bake cake!
Early Anniversary
Am back home after a week’s break. Resting from Msafara but also an early celebration of our 14th anniversary. Yep, it’s been that long! It certainly doesn’t feel like it. I remember when I was a college student and I met people who’d been married for ten or more years. They sounded so ancient! Well, the shoe’s on the other foot now. Our African cultures wisely celebrated the inevitable (e.g. age) while Western cultures celebrate the unattainable (capitalist wisdom: you can’t sell to someone satisfied). Aren’t I glad to be African!
Seriously though, I’m grateful to God for the many good (no great) years He has given my sweetie and I. The many incredible adventures we’ve shared. Our amazingly wonderful children... And the many lessons we’ve learnt along the way. Like the best CEO’s described in Jim Collin’s remarkable book ‘Good To Great’, the best marriages are not necessarily the flashiest. With marriage, the race does not go to the swift, but to the persistent: Those who plod on, refusing to give up, consistently giving and forgiving. Those who recognize that if the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it’s a sure sign that you need to water your own!
At the end of the day though, regardless of all we’ve put into our marriage, we know that it’s God’s grace - that mysterious ‘X factor’ - that has brought us this far: Many times despite ourselves. What a relief! Because He who began this good work in us is faithful and will help us to finish well.
Seriously though, I’m grateful to God for the many good (no great) years He has given my sweetie and I. The many incredible adventures we’ve shared. Our amazingly wonderful children... And the many lessons we’ve learnt along the way. Like the best CEO’s described in Jim Collin’s remarkable book ‘Good To Great’, the best marriages are not necessarily the flashiest. With marriage, the race does not go to the swift, but to the persistent: Those who plod on, refusing to give up, consistently giving and forgiving. Those who recognize that if the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it’s a sure sign that you need to water your own!
At the end of the day though, regardless of all we’ve put into our marriage, we know that it’s God’s grace - that mysterious ‘X factor’ - that has brought us this far: Many times despite ourselves. What a relief! Because He who began this good work in us is faithful and will help us to finish well.
Monday, March 17, 2008
What Has Msafara Accomplished?
Time will judge just how effective the Msafara was in impacting
300 Kenyans have had a chance to visit and interact with the situation on the ground firsthand. They were able to see the extent of the country’s devastation for themselves. They learnt to care for the displaced. They were forced to deal with their own prejudices and to relate closely to people of other tribes. Each of these belongs to a faith community and will return to it with a message of unity and hope. Especially powerful because many who came are the leaders of their churches…
There was heartfelt reconciliation and a resulting unity among church leaders in the various towns we visited. Many leaders confessed that by taking sides in the political events, they had reduced their ability to care for all the communities they were responsible to care for. By repenting of this short-sightedness and committing to work with leaders of other tribes, they now model the way for the churches they lead to maintain peace in their areas and to care for those affected by the violence. And for church leaders to conduct themselves differently come the next election. There is great power for good when the church is united. For instance, we were informed after we left of an initiative by church pastors in Naivasha to ensure that the communities evicted from their town could return safely.
Many churches are caring for displaced people who are housed by their members. Because these people don’t live in the camps, they are ‘under the radar’ so to speak, and little support is going to the needy families caring for them. By delivering food and humanitarian supplies to the pastor’s fellowships in the various towns, Msafara opened up new distribution channels that take care and support to many of the most needy. The Red Cross has done a great job, but they can only do so much. We hope these channels will continue to be used by different agencies that are looking for alternative relief distribution channels
The hardest to quantify may be the most significant. In each town, united church leaders were able to engage in prayer together over their communities. The bible teaches us that God answers prayers that are prayed in humility, unity and repentance. In 2Chronicles, God promises,
‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, if they seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land’.
I can’t wait to see the healing and turning around of our nation that will happen as God begins to answer the prayers that we prayed together!
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