The ‘modern family’

The world continues to drown in a moral state of decay everyday. Every time we turn on the news we see some heart breaking incident and terrible crime. Slowly we have become immune to the saturation of lying, cheating, stealing, murder, adultery and much more in our society;  forcing the media to become more graphic to keep us enthralled and dare I say it, entertained! While I am sure I could write an entire blog just on the influence of media, that is not where I am going today. What I want to get stuck into is – what is going on in society today? Why are we seeing a general decay of morality?

ON HOLIDAY!!!

Hey guys I am on holiday until Sunday 02/06. I am off to a tiny island off the Kenyan coast called Lamu. So no post today just some food for thought.

A couple of days ago the pope said that all will be redeemed by Christ’s blood. EVERYBODY! Have a think about what that means if it was indeed true. The next post will be on his quote, what support it has from scripture (if any!) and why is there an ever increasing movement towards this kind of theology.

Cool have a good week ahead! Keep bringing the kingdom to Earth with your actions and deeds!

Cheers!

The watering down of righteousness

In 1 Peter 5:8 the bible describes sin as a roaring lion ready to devour you, in. Scripture also says sin crouches at the door in Genesis 4:7. So effectively, sin is like a lion ready to devour me, that is crouching at my door. Just imagine there was a lion waiting on your front doorstep, hungry and angry. Now I want to ask you a very simple question, would you open the door? What about if you opened it just a crack so you can have a little sneaky peak? Somehow I think you would be on the phone to animal rescue while cowering away in some dark corner of the house.

Alex Ferguson, Narayanan Krishnan and the top of the world.

Sir Alex Ferguson, arguably the greatest football manager of all time, retires at the end of the season. Fifty trophies as a manager of different clubs and twenty six years of service to just one, Manchester United. As coaches go he can’t be matched. Yes we all know good old Sir Alex but who is Narayanan Krishnan? Who is this guy who shares the title of this article with famous Sir Alex and what do they have in common? Well to be honest, not a lot. However before I get into why these two men are the subject of my article, I would like you to watch the video below.

Rethinking Reality

So I realise posts have not been shall we say, the most frequent lately! I have been doing a lot of thinking about a few different things recently and as a result I decided to take a break from writing. Apologies for not letting all of you in on that from the beginning, however I am back writing now and that is what matters! One of the things I have been thinking about, is the site itself. I have decided it is unrealistic for me to do three good posts a week and a job at the same time. Being a teacher means there are periods of intense work around reports and exams time. During such times everything else pretty much grinds to a halt and posting three times a week on a blog is tough to say the least. It is fair to say I bit off more than I can chew here! The bottom line is, I will do one post a week from now on a Friday and it may be a miniseries on a theme or just my thoughts on a specific subject that week. Simple but meaningful. Along with this I will occasionally do a reviews of books, music albums and movies. I will also be building in some static pages over time of my favourite books, bands and movies. In time I hope to move the site to a more versatile webpage that will encompass a few more plans up my sleeve! For now though look forward to some more ramblings from me this Friday!

Week of March 4th – A series on Ephesians (Chapter 3)

Today is Kenya’s elections day. As I write this, I sit a few hundred meters away from where the violence mostly happened in the last elections. I live in a British school compound, well protected by electric fences, guard dogs and armed personnel. Completely separated from the poverty stricken reality that exists outside our gates. However I am all too aware of what has caused friction in the past and what could potentially cause it now. People in Kenya are divided by their tribal heritage. The locals belong to different tribes and as a result are mostly loyal to the person from their tribe who is running for president. Now I am sure you are thinking why I have I brought this up when we are meant to be talking about Ephesians 3? Well if you have read it you should be able to connect at least some of the dots!

Week of Feb 25th – A series on Ephesians (Chapter 2)

Hey guys! Sorry for the poor posting rate lately. Combination of factors really! The main one being, at the moment I have no internet at home. Safaricom in all their wisdom have cut off anybody who does not have registered sim cards. This means that virtually the entire campus has lost all internet and phone connectivity if you are with Safaricom. Not sure this is the greatest move from a business perspective, but then again I am not sure a monopoly like Safaricom in Africa even cares! In any case, I am on duty tonight in the boarding house and I have a chance to put my thoughts down about Ephesians chapter 2, using the school internet. So without further a due, let’s get stuck into it!

Chapter 2 is  no mickey mouse chapter here guys. There is a lot in it and I am sure I will never do Paul justice in trying to comment on it, but I am going to try anyway! When I read through this chapter, the one thing that stands out to me more than anything else is how much God is in control of salvation. Notice how the chapter starts out, with Paul describing us as dead, he paints a vivid picture of what that looks like. Gratifying the cravings of the flesh, following the ways of the world and so on. Then it is as if there is a complete reversal of fates! BUT GOD…..

Homosexuality – The truth in a nutshell

Firstly a note of apology for not being on top form with my posts lately. Work has just been manic to say the least and I am only now beginning to breath! I will be back to top form from Monday after some much needed relax time in a game reserve this weekend! Anyway enough about me. Lately there has been quite a lot of talk about homosexuality in the church and for the allowance of gay marriage. Government officials are more outspoken about it and there are people all over fighting for what seems like a good cause. Homosexuals apparently should now have the right to be married and therefore the right to adopt and carry on as any other married couple.

Sermon: John Piper on ‘Don’t waste your life’

You have one shot. When you are dead there are no comebacks, there are no second chances. What you do in this life will echo in eternity. Take a good long hard look at your life, are you limited by mundane repetitive actions, day by day? Do you  wonder what you are doing here on this Earth, waking up just to go to work to pay the bills? When you look at the need in this world do you feel like you are Christ’s hands and feet or do you feel like you are out for number one?

Keep it real for Christ.

Week of Jan 28 – A series on Ephesians (Chapter 1)

For the next few weeks we move into a series on Ephesians. I am really looking forward to tucking into this letter, as it is full of meaty verses that make you think hard! In chapter 1, Paul has a really strong emphasis on the will of God. He even starts out by saying that he is an apostle by the will of God, which really sets the tone for the rest of the letter. Then in verses 5-6 we learn that God has chosen us before the beginning of time, and that it was through His Love, that we were predestined. It is clear from this chapter that we are chosen by God, and for a specific purpose.

While this chapter is one of the main pieces of scripture used as a defence for the theology of predestination, and while I might agree with it in that light, it is not my purpose to talk about that today. Rather, I want to ask you a few questions. Do you believe God has chosen you? If you call yourself a Christian, then according to what Paul is saying in this letter, you should! If you do, then what exactly has He chosen you for? Hopefully not to sit in a job, day by day, doing nothing for the kingdom! You see this is where I think Paul is going here. He really builds up what it means to be in Christ, using words like, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, that we should be holy and blameless or that the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened.

For me, there is this sense, that now that God has chosen me, to be His representative on Earth, I can not shy away from the task at hand. Read through Chapter 1 again and tell me you do not go, “Wow! The God of all this chose me!”. Surely when we read chapter 1 we should be in awe. Think of the big prizes in this world, the Nobel peace prize, Oscars, Footballer of the year and so on. When people win these prizes they are in shock and so excited! Now think about this, the God who created everything, died on a cross for you, so you could join Him forever, and then chose you to represent Him (GOD!!) while you are still here on Earth! How do you feel when you read Chapter 1? Do you feel like you just want to carry on with the mundane, day to day routine of life? Or do you feel like you need to step up to what God really wants you to be? Should you not feel a billion times more excited than best actor for the oscars? Added to which, what should the result of that extatic feeling be?

Challenge for the week:

1. If I am chosen by God, should I be living my life any differently to the way I am now?

Memory verse:

Ehphesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”