Hard Times

It is hard to see God when we are going through tough situations yet that is when we need to. It's not easy to praise God when things are rough and the waves batter while the wind banters. In the night it is hardest to believe that a "morning" will come. It is very easy to pray and praise and laugh and thank God when things are smooth sailing but when in hopeless, in despair, in loneliness, we feel that God is so inaccessible.

Inadequacy makes me weak and fearful and my ghosts become giants, my fears become fierce. In my addiction, I feel I am powerless, helpless and hopeless, and a fix will be my only solution. God is most necessary in these times yet that is when we walk far from Him.
This sermon has been preached before but it never makes sense until it happens to one. We think we are strong when under a warm sun then suddenly we become weak when the rain comes.

I do not like the rain at all, in fact I would rather God help me get through life with no problems but I find myself the cause of my rain and if not for God, I would forever be hopeless.



I have found out trusting God is hardest in tough times but when one manages it, glorious new days ahead. I am depending on God to bring me through my dark times because unfortunately He alone is my hope. There is no one else to run to. Ultimately I find myself crying out His name and "Whoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."

I am trusting that He is faithful when He says He will perfect that which concerns me for my only hope is He, God my Abba Father.

Pronounce it right.

I feel like KJ 52 right now. People assume since the 5 and 2 are next to each other, it should be read fifty two! On the contrary, It is pronounced KJ five- two.

This has happened to me as well on many occasions of first encounters, sometimes virtual, other times physical. Someone reads my nick name and assumes I meant never ender... banange, have mercy on my self baptised nick name!! C'est ne pas never ender.

Follow with me.

1. What in heaven would never ender mean?
Never ender... A thing or person that ends the possibility of impossibility?
Or something that never ends perhaps?

2. Why would someone call themselves never ender? Perhaps he is never ending? Kinda like God...kinda like blasphemous? Huh?
3. It sounds so un cool, kinda like Lil Wayne, or Rihanna, or Prince, or Marilyn Manson..(yes I do not like those people..and note, I said like.

Stand corrected all ye who have made the error of calling yours truly never ender. That is not what it is. It is Take note. Okay?!!


Onto other matters.

I am still feeling wretched...yet I am much better off than those who perished in the quake of Pakistan, much better than the relatives of those in fated accidents in Ug of recent, much better than the women from Karamoja whose occupation is handy. Yet these comaprisons offer me no consolation, no real anchor, nothing to set me to tears.

Depression is a disease.

I need a doctor.

God I kinda need you to usurp this feeling. Help. I guess I need divine intervention.


Even October has ended!!! Sincerely...been too long in comfort zones.

Lamentation

Inadequacy flows like an enzyme in my system. Triggered by periods of happiness and purpose, it rises and pollutes every area of determination within.

Horton hears a Who!

Now me and animations are like this; tight. I love animations, especially the ones from Pixar. I am a fan of the Madagascar penguins, Tom and his friend Jerry, Dexter and his sister, etc etc, the list is endless.

The thing with animations is that they are free from the evils of that old liar- PG13!
Imagine you're watching a PG13 and then there: Someone decided it was a great time to "feel their boobies". Oops!

Not that animations are totally holy. No. I love the story telling that is in animations. The themes covered are social issues. Remember the Incredibles? About this man's mid-life crisis?

Anyway, yesterday I finally watched Horton Hears a Who and to be honest with you, I think I will resume writing for children. There are some things so childlike but so truthful that sometimes we miss them. Horton the main character hears a voice screaming out from a tiny speck and for some reason, he becomes devoted to the speck discovering it is a world of its own with real people called Whos and its survival very much depends on Horton.



There is the evil Sour Kangaroo who learning of this and afraid that what he is saying will poison the children's minds plots to destroy the speck... I would not love to spoil the story if you haven't watched it but please watch it.

I picked out one thing from the story : A person's a person, no matter how small.

One may say, oh well, that is obvious; but did you know that the number of persons daily lost in this senseless thing called abortion are 115,000; amounting to 42 million Whos per year? Stats here

Dr Seuss may have been writing a children's story and some may think that is a silly place to start an anti abortion campaign on the contrary. children are affected by what they hear when growing up, and those things are what shape them into the men and women we see today.

I love animations, I love children's stories. They speak the truth to a heart that will listen.

(Can you believe non of this was premeditated?) Well, people have a nice week.

I have a zib tho. I am not properly employed yet have to attend two wedding meetings per week. Any advice?

UG blogcabulary and thoughts

1. Firsties
2. Sitokisi
3.


Bloggers, help me understand these Ugblogcabulary to me!

Secondly,

the blogs this Friday are quite long and in depth. I love this. Naye I am so busy I may not read them now, but I will read them.

Anyone heard of this : the sin that so easily besets. Oh! How that sin besets me. I was reading Ugandan Insomniac, at least the first bits of it and this struck me: Every man has a secret. That’s what Batman says.

Although men like to act inspirational at times, there are some things rather left in the dark. I have those things. Things that tug at me once in a while, things I would rather not talk about. That is the sin that so easily besets me.

What does a man do in such a situation but hang on to God with their last strength? Isn't He Jehovah MACCADDESHEM, my sanctification; Jehovah ROHI, my shepherd; Jehovah TSIDKENU, my righteousness ! Isn't He my comforter, my deliverer, my door,my Father?!

Oh that I would know more of His grace; to see less of myself, to know more of Him. Oh that this would become truer of me, day by day ... Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Heb 12:1 )

I thank God for His son because of this promise My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And He is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the sins of all the world. (1Jn 2:1-2)

To know the LORD, to know more.

Egyptian legend

Awo olwatuuka...

Herodotus's legend

Menkaure was allegedly a much more benevolent Pharaoh than his predecessors according to legends related by Herodotus he wrote the following:

"This Prince (Mycerinus) disapproved of the conduct of his father, reopened the temples and allowed the people, who were ground down to the lowest point of misery, to return to their occupations and to resume the practice of sacrifice. His justice in the decision of causes was beyond that of all the former kings. The Egyptians praise him in this respect more highly than any other monarchs, declaring that he not only gave his judgements with fairness, but also, when anyone was dissatisfied with his sentence, made compensation to him out of his own purse and thus pacified his anger."

The Gods however ordained that Egypt should suffer tyrannical rulers for a hundred and fifty years according to this legend, Herodotus goes on:

"An oracle reached him from the town of Buto, which said 'six years only shalt thou live upon this earth, and in the seventh thou shalt end thy days'. Mycerinus, indignant, sent an angry message to the oracle, reproaching the god with his injustice -'My father and uncle,' he said 'though they shut up the temples, took no thought of the gods and destroyed multitudes of men, nevertheless enjoyed a long life; I, who am pious , am to die soon!' There came in reply a second message from the oracle - 'for this very reason is thy life brought so quickly to a close - thou hast not done as it behoved thee. Egypt was fated to suffer affliction one hundred and fifty years - the two kings who preceded thee upon the throne understood this - thou hast not understood it' Mycerinus, when this answer reached him, perceiving that his doom was fixed, had lamps prepared, which he lighted every day at evening time, and feasted and enjoyed himself unceasingly both day and night, moving about in the marsh-country and the woods, and visiting all the places he heard were agreeable sojourns. His wish was to prove the oracle false, by turning night into days and so living twelve years in the space of six"

Ab'o'luganda ng'otulabira.

What is your view of this man?

Free for all!!

I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him. (Hosea 14:4)

That was one of the first things I read today and has it blessed my day! The idea of a maker who will "love us freely" is amazing. There are no conditions, no red tape, no procurement orders, no meetings, no committees, no paper work. He does not demand something for Him to love us freely. He just loves. But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Amazing grace, my friends, is free for all! Not only for the wise, or the rich, the educated, the handsome, the beautiful, the mighty, the strong! No, it is for fools, for the poor, for the illiterate, for the ugly, for the weak, it does not discriminate.

It is free for all. He will love us freely. Oh, who would resist such love and omit such goodness?

Be blessed.

Love

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

Escapism

I would like to apologise first to Carlo for using the same title.

Escapism

/ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[i-skey-piz-uhm]
–noun
the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc.
[Origin: 1930–35; escape + -ism]

A man who answers questions with questions is either wise or embarrassingly stupid. And there was one, who prefers to defend their "normalcy" with a rational statement: " that does not make me less human" .

Sometimes what is good for the goose is bad for the gander.

Then there are other words like the one below.

Rationalise
ra·tion·al·ize /ˈræʃənlˌaɪz, ˈræʃnlˌaɪz/ Pronunciation Key - Pronunciation[rash-uh-nl-ahyz, rash-nl-ahyz] , -ized, -iz·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to ascribe (one's acts, opinions, etc.) to causes that superficially seem reasonable and valid but that actually are unrelated to the true, possibly unconscious and often less creditable or agreeable causes.
2. to remove unreasonable elements from.
3. to make rational or conformable to reason.
4. to treat or explain in a rational or rationalistic manner.
5. Mathematics. to eliminate radicals from (an equation or expression): to rationalize the denominator of a fraction.
6. Chiefly British. to reorganize and integrate (an industry).
–verb (used without object)
7. to invent plausible explanations for acts, opinions, etc., that are actually based on other causes: He tried to prove that he was not at fault, but he was obviously rationalizing.


I have a feeling this word is what keeps many men from God's goodness.

You will find, I occasionally post here Nevonic

Femignly* tricked??- re-explained.

Seeing not so many understood the post, I will make it short and simple.

This girl, known her for more than a year now. I always liked her, and I guess I showed it. So on Friday we exchanged series of texts that pretty much brought to the surface my care for her. This girl scares me; when I send her poetry, she simply says, "oh that is nice"; without much ado.

In the communication, I ended up doing most of the saying how i feel while her on the other hand, received and made no appropriate feedback. Anyway, her text got me thinking. Was she saying she was being in love with me, or she really was just being a nice Christian girl. "Jesus is in love with me who in turn is in love with you."

I made up my mind that day, I knew she felt the same. So I would go to her the next day and confirm that what she felt I too felt. I bought a rose on my way to her place. (She is a campuser).

When I reached she wasn't at her place so had to in the meanwhile talk with her room-mate as well as keep the room-mate from knowing I had a rose. When she finally came, I was of course happy to see her and deep in my heart I knew she felt the same. So in the interest of time, because this was around 7:30pm, I asked her to give me a push and then told her we would take a walk around campus.

So we first talked about stuff, godly stuff, then when I sensed the time was right, I told her how I felt. To my surprise, she feigned dismay!! Why do I say that? Coz the texts I had sent her before that were clear enough and the way I talked with her should have been obvious for a girl.

My brother cum best friend cum cousin tells me she was playing on my head. And I was too silly to notice. That she is just being a woman, setting up situations and leading me to the hunt.

She said she would pray about it. All the while, my red rose remained unrevealed upto this day where it darkens on my window. It is not drying up, just becoming redder, and smelling fouler.

I am in suspense.

So, friends. What say ye noble men and women

For God ?

For God ...and my country.

Really For God?

To live in the beautiful fortress of His love; to live as the Sons He created; at work, at school, in the taxi, wherever, whenever!

To shun dishonesty and embrace truth,
To reject hatred and embrace love,
To be reviled by sin and pursue righteousness,
To forget pride and exalt humility,
To know God, to love God, to accept God.

Ugandan blogsphere reminds me of hiphop, oh and a line in Kanye West's "Jesus walks": They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?

I wonder, is there any blogger who hasn't heard of Jesus? And since basically our nation is Christian, where is that coming out in the posts of bloggers?

I've seen the secular drown out the righteous; making claims to freedom and shunning the righteous. Jesus is a lesson in Social Studies, oh, you can call on him when you are in serious zibs, and make sure you do that when everything else has failed!



The blogs I read today just upset me, except of course Semakeddie's

I need some inspirational blogging. Can someone do me that favour?

For God?

Can you believe this guy??

Democrat Barack Obama claimed the (financial) crisis was the "final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years" that President Bush pursued and were "supported by Sen. McCain," a charge he has made before.

Reminds me of a hammer. I am beset by presidential candidates who instead of offering solutions, start blaming others.

Noise

I wrote this awhile ago.

In an environment so loud, how can one keep alert?

I am trying to write an intellectual piece but unfortunately there is that blaring sound coming from a nearby disco hall. The beats are loud enough as it is, but the MC or is it the DJ, seems to be an excited radio commentator-he is literally cheering on the songs. I try to focus, and then the sound of a cricket becomes distinct and clear. It pierces through the heavy music and injures my ear with its high tone.

Concentrating has never been as trying as this- but it takes more than a disco hall and a cricket's song to knock me off intellectual balance. So I proceed writing my piece.

I seem to be entranced by the hustle and bustle of life these days. The manufacture of noise is becoming very predominant. Everyone seems to be speaking and none is listening. Everywhere, there is noise.

Picture this: a six year old wakes up each morning and looks for a metal tin. After getting one, he picks a stick and starts hitting it very strongly. The sound is pounding but he is all the while nodding his head in enjoyment.

Well, this maybe a bit of hyperbole but when I look around, this is exactly what I see. Noise, which is too harmful for our health, has become a lifestyle. I pray you do not take on the presumption of thinking I mean noise which is otherwise referred to as "disorganised sound".

Every time I scroll through t.v channels, I am always met with a show of more flesh than I would like. As if that is not enough,the accompanying words are embarrassing to say. More than that, these words and images publish numerous ideas and emotions in the minds of many. The ideas and emotions go on to create new routines and ways of life.

It becomes pertinent for the young 19 year old to look fleshy and sexy. The taxi driver is not reluctant to dish out an insult to the my car gentleman who responds too slowly to the traffic lights for his liking. The young man then decides he is not a man until he has tasted of the secret called sex.

Corruption, insincerity, strife, indecency become a new noise that stifles the quietness and simplicity of truth, honesty, courtesy and decency. Suddenly worms come out of people's mouths; free porn is offered in the dressing of stylish young ladies without remorse; violence becomes a pass-time.

Noise. I cannot breathe easy because someone's smoking, or worse; someone's mouth is pungent with a cocktail of alcohol odour. Noise; that lady's cleavage is half-exposed; this old man is telling a friend of a sexual encounter he had with the neighbour's wife.

Everything seems to be dying. And no one seems to care. Culture is rotting away, replaced by rationalism, open-mindedness, freedoms and rights. Can I say that gays should not marry? No! I would be politically incorrect, even if I am also being open minded. Noise. I can't hear the quiet beat of my heart.

The piece I began is ending; unfortunately the noise isn't. It seems there are two disco halls competing now. Or is it DJ's?

The cricket fell quiet a while ago. I cannot escape the noise, so I must find the peace in the Nazarene.

Hunger pangs and cows.

My tummy is a pot of boiling porridge. Silence is its taboo when I am very hungry.

Today I saw a cow at the post office. A well formed cow, on its way to its address box I suppose.

Who do you think had sent it a letter? Or perhaps it was on it's way to send one? I think if it had gone to receive one, it would be from a relative in China. This is what I think would be in the letter, and oh, the cow must have a cow-ish name so maybe Sameer.


Dear Sameer,

I hope you are well and lactating with ease. Here in China, the milk has gone poisonous. They are saying something about a woman called melanin. She seems to be the one who put the poison in the milk. And can you imagine where she put it? Babies' milk!

At least this time they will not decide to murder us all off like with the "disease".
Do you know, uncle Pequin and his entire family were killed? That was very sad for us.
But I hope you are fine.

Greeting from China.
Nido.

I imagine if the cow was sending a letter it would be like this.

Dear Nido,

I am sorry to tell you that your 7th distant cousins lost all their lives last month.
Do you know what killed them? Lightning! At least that's what they told us in the papers. I was shocked to see all of them, with their wives lying motionless on the ground.

I once saw a tree struck by lightning, and by God was it black! Nido, I am not very clever like you, but what kind of lighting doesn't make on black?...

I have to go now, I am making a scene. These people think it is strange for cows to send each other mail.

Bye,
Sameer.

And then my brain goes back to wishing the lunch lady would come!!!

It wasn't me!!

The two men faced the crowd as if besieged by fierce horror! The crowds however remained exhilarated and shouted praises their praises.
"These men are gods", the crowd chanted while the "gods" broke into them almost shedding tears!

What had happened was simple: there was a man these two "gods" had found who was suffering from Bulbar polio. They deemed him as having the thing Christians call "faith" and told him to stand up! In no less than three seconds, this man was up jumping and rejoicing!! And then it was official, these two men were gods come in the likeness of men! In fact these men were given new names "Jupiter and Mercury the God men".

As if that was not enough, a privileged member of that town ordered oxen and bouquets to be brought so that a feast was thrown for these new super heroes.

However the din of the crowd could not drown out the voices of these two men, in fact this crowd needed a visual aid to get the point! They rend their clothes and shouted
"Homies, we're just men like you come to preach the word of God who made heaven and earth and sea and all that's in it. Back in the day He was easy with your downplaying him yet he always gave rain and seed and bread."

But that was not going to help at all. In fact some quick thinking PRs came and took advantage of the situation. With the excitement of the crowd, they easily made them look like criminals and soon our celebs were no longer basking in mistaken identity, "Mercury was annointed with stones and left for dead.

What kind of men could these have been? To shun public adoration for truth? Words of praise are like kind words: they taste like honey, sweet to the taste and good for your health yet these men did not want this sort of adoration!! Wow!

Would you do the same? Rend your clothes, deny you're just human and redirect the glory to God? Well Paul and Barnabas did and almost paid a huge price for it. But that was not among their fears. I think they were more concerned about ending up like a famed King Herod who was eaten up by worms for thinking he was actually a superhero! For them the glory was God's.

How many of our good citizens act likewise, claiming to be the best of the best, "slicker than your average" when it was God who put them there?

This simple adaptation of Acts 14:8-18 is just a reminder. When God does the big things and the small things and (okay He does everything for your good.) remember, you are not to blame, God is.