Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Chapter 91

Log on to thetrueanswers.blogspot.com

Friday, February 8, 2008

Chapter 90

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 90

CONCLUSION

I have found my missing ‘something’.

When I embarked on my quest to find what I was missing in my life, I called myself a floater. Someone who just went with the flow not knowing how I had ended up where I was in life and not well …………. somewhere else.

My quest for my missing something is now clear to me. What I was missing in my life is simple - CONTROL. I did not know who was responsible for my life. I did not feel responsible for how my life had turned out because I thought that the unpredictable things that had got me to where I was were more than those I had planned.

Now I know the truth. I know that I am fully responsible for everything in my life. Life is about only one thing - control. I control my life because I and only I can choose whether to follow passion or selfishness.

I have learned that I can control the outcome of my life if I control my thoughts and feelings towards the people, things and situations in my life. Passion plays a vital role in my life by helping me overcome my humanity and pursue my spirituality.

Consciously or subconsciously, I am the one who has always controlled my thoughts and feelings and therefore my actions in creating the life that I am living. I cannot blame anyone but myself for my failures and I cannot credit anyone but myself for my successes.

Life is truly what you make of it and until you know Love, you are NOTHING. The knowledge of God, is indeed the beginning of all understanding.

I am beginning to understand my life.

I am erasing all preconditioned thoughts and feelings in my mind.

I am starting anew.

I am letting Passion guide my thoughts, feelings and actions and lead me to Love.

I am learning to know God; learning to live a Godly life believing with confidence that if I seek first the Kingdom of God by letting God rule my life, all my hearts desires will be added unto me and I will live the life that I was born to live as a child of God to whom success is inevitable.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Chapter 89

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 89

Money, money, money, money. Can temptation get any better than this?

I was not thinking about myself and what I could do for myself with that money; although there is a lot that I could think of. I was thinking about how much I could do for the victims of the post election violence especially the orphaned children who cannot be re-settled. I have always wanted to start a children’s home coz I just love kids and I think that the best way to make the world a better place is to start with the children.

I could sign the agreement, take the money then break the agreement and see what the guy would do to me. If he saw that I spent the money setting up a children’s home for orphaned kids, would he really sue me for the money back?! I have absolutely no idea who the guy is so I am completely unable to speculate about what he can and cannot do to me, including getting me killed.

So I did what I knew I had to do. I took time out and thought deeply about the situation I was in and in a surprisingly short time, I thought myself out of the situation. At first, I thought that the choice I had boiled down to two things:-

Money or Knowledge.

99.99999999% of the people in the world will tell you that money is what we all need to get what we want. I say that what we need is knowledge, not money.

I say this because, and you will agree, money is not an end in itself. Money consists of pieces of paper which you cannot eat, you cannot wear, you cannot live in and which cannot give you any information about anything. Money is a means to an end and not an end in itself. So when you have money, you have to use that money to get what you want. Hopefully there will be someone who wants your money and has something you want so you can exchange the money for what you want. In the absence of someone who wants your money, you and your money are worthless.

Knowledge, like money, is also not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. Knowledge enables you to understand yourself and your environment and to find what it is you are looking for in life. Knowledge is an invisible thing. You cannot eat it, wear it or live in it but it will educate you.

Like a choice between a train ticket and a bus ticket to get you somewhere, choosing between money and knowledge is a choice between two means of getting you something. Of the two, which should you focus on when aiming for your goal? Money or knowledge?

The primary difference between money and knowledge is that whereas there are some things that money cannot get you, knowledge will get you EVERYTHING you want.

What I want is to find my missing something. Since the time I started looking for it, all the progress I have made and all the knowledge I have acquired did not cost me any money. But I have come so far as to attract the attention of someone who is willing to spend an obscene amount of money on me albeit on conditions that I cannot accept.

What do I need in my life? Mr. X’s money or to know Love? I think that what I need is to know Love. The money will follow if I need it. There is a time for everything and now is not the time to be starting my children’s home. It’s time to be getting to know who I am and to know Love.

Following this line of thought, I finally decided that I had to tell Mr. X the truth and I should not allow his offer to provoke me into a thoughtless act. So I turned down Mr. X’s offer and gave him back the cheque and the unsigned agreement. When handing back the cheque, I suggested to him that since he was willing to just give the money to me, he should donate it to a good cause. His answer was that he does not believe in good causes and I am a fool to have turned down his offer for the sake of some wild dream I have about some place called Heaven which he knows does not exist. According to him, I should be making the best of the life I have now and not wasting it in planning for an imaginary life I am not assured of. I simply told him that the fool is one who thinks that money can buy thoughts and beliefs. He then got up, shook my hand, turned around and left.

I am without the slightest doubt in my mind that the choice I made was the right one for two reasons:-

FIRST, if I accepted his money, what kind of a relationship would I have had with a person like Mr. X who wanted to control what I think, what I believe and what I can and cannot talk about? If this is the start of our relationship, how much more would he expect of or from me? Would he then offer me some money to divorce my husband or give my daughter up for adoption? How could I show him that there are some things I cannot sell after selling my thoughts and beliefs to him? Most importantly, how could I prevent him from imposing himself into my life after taking his money in exchange for something that required him to supervise my every step to ensure that he got what he paid for?

SECOND, the Bible tells me that GOD IS LOVE. The Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and earth and all that is in it including Njeri and Mr. X and all of Mr. X’s money is Love. So, if I get to know God, WHOM SHALL I FEAR and WHAT CAN'T I HAVE?

I concluded that my real choice was this:

Should I let God or Mr. X control my life? I chose God. Who would you choose?

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Chapter 88

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Chapter 88

The other day, after I wrote chapter 87, I received a mysterious visitor in my office. My receptionist said that he was a new client. I cannot remember who he said had referred him to me, if he had said it.

Anyway, this guy came into my office and introduced himself and gave me his card. He told me that he was an avid reader of my blog and was intrigued by my writing. He had decided that he had to meet me and understand whether I am truly the person I portray myself to be. I told him that getting to know someone is not about an office appointment and I was not sure that I wanted to be his friend.

He said that he did not need to be my friend. He had already devised a method by which to obtain the information he needed in the shortest time possible and with certainty. He then handed me an envelope which he had been carrying with me and asked me to take out the contents.

I almost collapsed when I saw a banker’s cheque drawn in my name for a copious amount of money. A figure I cannot reveal. I can only say that its enough for me to adopt the title millionaire in dollar terms.

With the cheque was a one page printed document and this is what was written on it (Mr. X is the guy):-

THIS AGREEMENT is made this ……………….. day of …………………. Between NJERI MUCHERU-OYATTA of P. O. Box …………….. and Mr. X

IT IS HEREBY AGREED AS FOLLOWS:-

1. Mr. X will pay to Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta a sum of ………………………. receipt of which Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta hereby acknowledges.

2. In consideration for the above payment, Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta hereby undertakes:-

(a) To immediately cease the writing of her book entitled MIND BOGGLING and published at njeri-nm.blogspot.com and to refrain from writing any books at all during her life time.

(b) To immediately abandon her belief in God and cease her quest to know love and to know herself.

(c) Not to ever share her thoughts and feelings about life and the meaning of life with anyone at all during her life time.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties have set their hands hereto the day and year herein before written.

After reading the above document and then looking at the cheque again, I just laughed assuming it was some kind of joke. After I had finished laughing, the man told me that he would give me 7 days to make my decision then he got up and left. He left the cheque with me.

Since then, I have not been able to think about anything else but: should I take the money?! Clearly the guy just wants to know who I am. If I sign, then he knows am a pretender. He probably has no interest in ever enforcing the contract. Which makes me wonder how much money he must be having if he can spend this amount just to satisfy some curiosity!!!!! Maybe if I don’t take the money, there will be much more in store for me than what is on offer now? But what if there isn’t? I will have given up a chance of a lifetime!!!

I know what I should do. How can I let money control my life? Love does not seek its own. Yah right! Maybe the fact that I even have to think about the man’s offer reflects badly on me!!

I need help, NOW!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Chapter 87

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 87

Human beings place value on money and power or influence. The more money you have and the more influence or power you have, the more valuable you are.

What about spiritual beings? What qualities make a spiritual being valuable? Only one thing makes me valuable as a spiritual being and that is: LOVE. My money, my car, my house, my clothes, all my material possessions are meaningless to me as a spiritual being. They are of no consequence to who I am. The only thing that matters to me as a spiritual being is Love. If I know love and I have love in me, then I am the most valuable being.

In other words, to get to Heaven, what matters is whether I know love and have love in me, full stop. Nothing more.

As human beings, we are taught that what matters in life is to get a good education, get a good job, make lots of money, amass wealth, settle down into family life, have kids, retire, then wait to die. All meaningless things because once you die, the education, the job, the money, the wealth, the family, the kids, all cease to exist and all that is left is you.

The only thing you take with you when you die is your knowledge of God or lack thereof. If you know God, welcome to Heaven. If not, welcome to Hell. Simple. How much easier can it be?

What is so hard about following Jesus and getting to know God? You don’t need money, you don’t need a house, you don’t need a car, you don’t need anyone, you don’t need anything. You just need to think. Use your God given mind to think. Simple. How much easier can it be?

And if you follow Jesus and get to know God, you will NEVER FAIL. Love never fails. So in the process of following Jesus and getting to know God, all your humanly needs satisfy themselves. I wrote that the pursuit of the things that money can never buy generates money. See?

Poverty as far as spiritual beings are concerned has nothing to do with money. It has to do with the knowledge one has of Love. A poor spirit is one who is fearful, anxious, apprehensive, worried and uncertain. A strong spirit is one who is confident, firm, unwavering and sure. The difference between the two spirits is the knowledge they have of who God is. A poor spirit is focused on worldly pursuits while a strong spirit is focused on Heavenly pursuits.

I asked myself a funny question: In all honesty Njeri, without kidding yourself, which is easier to pursue, money or love? I had to laugh at how simple the answer to that question is yet its taken me so many years of living to get here.

I think the difficulty we experience as human beings is our parallel existence as spiritual beings. Separating your human self from your spiritual self is no easy task. But I think that it is the essence of our being alive. Learning how to control your mind and train it to focus on what matters and what doesn’t is the means by which we get to know who we are and who God is.

There is a lot that does not matter in our lives but it has been packaged to appear more important than what actually matters. In this world, making money is a much more valued achievement than learning how to control your anger. There are so many angry bosses out there whose money making abilities keep them wealthy and so many polite employees whose kindness keeps them from being promoted.

I have found that life is much more exciting when I focus my mind on what I feel and think about the situations I find myself in and train my mind to respond in a way that corresponds with love. Every such experience brings with it a feeling of enlightenment and satisfaction that making money has never given me because the outcome of my actions is always a pleasant unexpected surprise.

I am convinced that becoming a person who: suffers long and is kind, does not envy, does not parade herself and is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek her own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things - a person who never fails, is what gives my life meaning.

Truly, without love, I am nothing.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Chapter 86

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 86

An easy life is a life of certainty. A life that is predictable. Whether there is danger or not is not the issue because anticipated danger can be prepared for and averted. Knowing what the future holds for us makes life easy.

Human beings are creatures of routine. We like to organize our lives in such a way that we know what tomorrow will bring yet no-one really knows what tomorrow will bring. Every tomorrow has something new, sometimes the new thing can transform your life or change it for worse or for better. Life in general is unpredictable.

Life in Kenya today is as unpredictable as life can get. Everyday brings something new. In the last few weeks since 30th December 2007, our lives have been transformed. Insecurity is as high as can be. Most Kenyans today are worried, concerned, anxious, apprehensive and uncertain. I was also suffering from the same emotions until I sat myself down and thought deeply about what the future could hold for me and my family. As always, I picked up my Bible to find some guidance for my thoughts.

I turned to the story of Jesus in Mathew 8:23-26 and read about a time when Jesus got into a boat and His disciples followed Him. Suddenly there was a great storm and the boat was covered with the waves and all the time Jesus was asleep. His disciples went to Him and woke Him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” On reading this, I immediately pictured Kenya as a boat out at sea and I likened the situation we are in to a great storm with huge waves rising and slapping down on our country every time there is an outbreak of violence somewhere or other. The most recent wave was the shooting to death early this morning of a newly elected opposition Member of Parliament. Many waves have hit our country and if the waves keep coming, pretty soon, the boat will capsize and take us all to the deep dark sea with it. I too, like the disciples of Jesus, would be quick to call on God to save us.

The response that Jesus gave to His disciples when they woke Him up is a powerful message. He said, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”

From this question, I picked out two important things: fear and faith. Little faith breeds fear. If God is truly who I believe Him to be, why do I fear anything including the killings going on in my country? Obviously my faith in God is not what it should be. If you have faith in God, if you believe that God is all mighty, all powerful, all knowing and all loving, how can you be afraid of anything? I could not answer this question. I felt that that question was unjustified. I experienced a paralysis of thought because I could not explain my fear.

Jesus said that we should not fear those who kill the body and cannot kill the soul. We should fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. In this life, the difference between a death which destroys only the body and one which destroys both the soul and body in hell is blurred. Can there really be a difference in the deaths of two people who are burned to death in their houses or cut up with pangas? Is it possible to confront a man with a panga confidently believing that God is all mighty, all powerful, all knowing and all loving? A ridiculous thought I know. But as a Christian, why should I fear being cut up with a panga?

As soon as I posed these questions, I understood what my problem is. My problem is my imagination. I am seeing and reading about heinous crimes being committed against my fellow Kenyans and although I believe in a God who is all mighty, all powerful, all knowing and all loving, I imagine that something similar is likely to happen to me. The question I should be asking myself is whether God would allow something bad to happen to me. The answer to that is no. My God would not. If something bad has happened to some other people, too bad for them. They should have seen it coming. Here I am busying myself in learning who God is and trying to live a life guided by Passion. Trying to understand who I am and what my purpose for living is. How many people are on such a quest? I only know myself actually. So why am I likening myself to others and putting my faith in what has happened to them expecting it to happen to me? Should I not be putting my faith in God and expecting nothing of that sort to happen to me?

Jesus promised us an easy life. He said, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The moment I decided that:

1. I will not liken myself to anyone;
2. I will follow my own path;
3. I will live my life to know God;
4. I will let Passion guide me;
5. I will put my faith, not in what I see and hear but in what I know is happening in my life;

the fear left me.

I am not afraid any more. There may be danger around me but my God will protect me and my family from it. He is all mighty, all powerful, all knowing and all loving. Imagining that anything can happen to me is a lack of faith in God. I will stand firm in my faith and believe that with God my security is guaranteed. I cannot begin to tell you how much easier my life has become.

If you are in fear, my advise to you is this: Do not liken yourself to anyone. Decide to follow Jesus and put your faith in God. Embark on the quest to know Love and thus eliminate fear from your life.

Choose the easy life.


Sunday, January 27, 2008

Chapter 85

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 85

What is the meaning of my new motto? How does it apply to my life in practical terms? Am I to be alert and careful with what I think, say and do every minute of every day to ensure that my thoughts, words and deeds are in accordance with my new motto?

When I asked myself the above questions, I almost gave up on this new motto. It is impossible to expect myself to calculate every thought word and deed. It would be like counting calories, something I cannot understand how anyone manages to do. In spite of my doubts, I had a strong feeling that I was on the right track and must find a way out of this puzzling moment to move onto the next step.

As I sat and pondered about how I could possibly start my new life of becoming a loving person, I remembered that the Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no-one comes to the Father except by Him (Jesus). In my quest for love, I temporarily forgot about Passion which is the only means by which I can get to know Love.

I have found that in order to live by my new motto, I have to pay attention to my feelings. When I feel strongly about something, that strong feeling is a signal showing me that the situation I am in requires me to pay attention to the lesson which the situation is meant to impart. At such a time, I need to think deeply about what feeling I am getting from the situation and if that feeling does not reflect the qualities of love, then I must consult my mind and change the way I think about the situation so that I can change my feeling toward the situation to reflect a quality of love. This is vital because my thoughts are what invoke me into action. By changing the way I think of any given situation and thus change my feeling toward the situation to reflect a quality of love, my actions in that situation will determine how my life unfolds. During this process, my character will be moulded to reflect the qualities of love and more importantly, my destiny will be directed towards the life I was born to live.

When I reached that conclusion, I was excited about my new life and could now see that what I thought an impossible task was very possible. This process of discovering how to live a life driven by Passion to find Love in itself showed me how Passion works. It helped me change despair into hope.

The important thing is to pay attention to any strong feeling I get. In the absence of a strong feeling, I can get on with my life normally. In time, I expect that with each moment of Passion, and with each lesson learned, my normal life will begin to change as a natural consequence of my changing character.

My destination is to become a person who: suffers long and is kind, does not envy, does not parade herself and is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek her own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things - a person who NEVER FAILS.

I must say that in as much as I understand what is required of me, I know it will not be easy. I have already experienced how difficult it is. Somehow, I am beginning to see that my driving is an ideal stage for learning. Going by my new motto, this is what I must do.

In traffic jam, no matter what kind of a hurry I am in, I must embrace the suffering and still be kind to my fellow drivers, even if I have a throbbing headache! I cannot allow myself to be rude by refusing to give way to anyone trying to cut into my lane no matter how rudely they cut in. I cannot allow myself to be provoked by the actions or abuses of any driver or pedestrian or police officer. Provocation leads to feelings of anger, fear, pride etc which are not qualities of love and which will distract me from my goal. I should not focus only on myself and how late I am for my appointment; I cannot seek my own; I must be considerate and selfless. Worst of all, I must take responsibility for my fellow road users and ensure their safety and help them as they try to get to where they are going. This is what ‘bears all things’ means to me. And even though in ensuring that I act with Love I find that I am getting very late for my appointment, I must believe that I will not fail in my goal. When the person I am meeting calls me, I should not be rude and refuse to pick up, I should stop my car, if necessary, and truthfully explain my predicament. In this endurance and hope, I will find that actions motivated by passion and love will always succeed in achieving the real goal which is to teach me who I am. How can being late ever impress my new client?

Anything is possible with God. He will ensure that my interests are fulfilled so that I learn my spiritual lesson and I achieve my humanly purpose. God works in mysterious ways. Where my actions dictate failure from a human perspective, from a spiritual perspective, my success is inevitable if I am acting with love. Previously, I was looking at life from a human perspective. Now, I am looking at life from a spiritual perspective.

The change will not be easy but I think that the change will make my life much easier. And an easy life is truly, what I am looking for. Who doesn’t want an easy life?

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Chapter 84

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 84

I have been thinking about death quite a lot lately. It is difficult not to seeing as everyday so many people are dying. If it’s not from what is now termed ‘post election violence’ then it’s from a gruesome road accident. But the death I was thinking about is my own death.

Am I ready to die? What does preparing for death require? My answer to these questions was no, I am not ready to die because I have not discovered my purpose for living.

Are you on track to finding out your purpose for living? My answer to this question was yes. The fact that I asked myself that question meant that I was still alive to the fact that life is an illusion.

Why do you say that life is an illusion? My answer to this question was that life is a school. Just like any school in life. What happens to us in school, is not considered real life. It is real life in the sense that the events that take place affect what kind of life you have thereafter but after school, life takes on a whole new meaning. In the same way, after death, life takes on a whole new meaning. The life I am living now is for the purpose of preparing me for the real life - the life I will be born into after my death.

If life is a school, how do I learn how to prepare myself for death? My answer to this question was to read the Bible. Which I did and this is what I found.

The Bible says that God is love. God identifies Himself as WHO I AM. From these words, I figured that my life’s purpose is to get to know God; it is to get to know who I am. If God is love, how can I get to know who love is?

I read 1 Corinthians 13 and found a description of love which I summarized as follows:-

Without LOVE I am nothing.

Love: suffers long and is kind;

Love: does not envy;

Love: does not parade itself, and is not puffed up;

Love: does not behave rudely;

Love: does not seek its own;

Love: is not provoked;

Love: thinks no evil;

Love: does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth;

Love: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

My conclusion on reading the above was that my life’s purpose is to know God, to know love. To know love, I need to develop the qualities of love which are described above. I need to use the events occurring in my life to help me cultivate the qualities of God. Once I develop a character that embodies the qualities of God, then I will know God and then I will be ready to be born into death.

The first thing that I need to do is change my attitude towards life. I need to stop letting myself be controlled by what I see and what people do or say to me. I mean that I must not allow myself to react to the things of this world as if they are real. I must remember that the things of this world will cease to exist when I die and all that will be left is me. The things of this world, are an illusion. I must not attach myself to them as if they will follow me into death. We all know that we die with nothing.

I need to understand that the things of this world are there only now while I am alive to help me become the real me who is a spiritual being. I need to resist the urge to be a human being: the urge to get angry, to behave rudely, to envy, to boast, to be pompous, to be selfish, to be provoked, to think evil, to rejoice in iniquity, to be irresponsible, to doubt, to despair and to give up.

This is my life’s challenge and it starts with memorizing the qualities of love and applying them in my life ALL the time.

What a challenge! Am I up to it? Why else was I born?

Monday, January 14, 2008

Chapter 83

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 83

In a situation like the one Kenya is experiencing today, text messages are both an asset and a liability. Everyone is thirsting for information about what the media are not telling us. Text messages help in providing hidden information but at the same time, the information is not reassuring, it is scary.

We live in fear. Our future is uncertain no matter all the reassurances we get from our leaders telling us that ‘things are back to normal’. No agreement has been reached between the enemy camps of President Kibaki and Honourable Raila Odinga. The ODM Party has called on Kenyans to engage in mass protests from Wednesday to Friday this week throughout the country. In the absence of an agreement between these two groups, peace is a dream and soon it might become a fantasy.

People in Nyanza province fear, as stated in a text message, that President Museveni of Uganda is organizing to send his army into the province to revenge for the Kikuyu blood that has been poured because he supports President Kibaki.

I met a friend of mine who told me that the Kikuyu business people are fund raising for an army of ‘mungiki’ (a predominantly Kikuyu gang of murderous rogues) to fight against their enemy tribes. As if to prove my friend right, I saw a text message that read as follows:- “House of Mumbi (the Kikuyu), they killed hundreds of our people, we didn’t retaliate, we knew they were very angry. But their new call to mass action means kill more Kikuyus in Rift and Nyanza. If Kibaki stole votes, he was not with us so why are we being killed? We say, no more innocent Kikuyu blood will be shed. We will slaughter them right here in the capital city. For justice, compile a list of all luos and kaleos you know at work, your estate, anywhere in Nairobi, plus where and how their children go to school. We will give you numbers to text this info. If they don’t kill our people anymore, there will be peace but any more Kikuyu blood will be avenged, drop for drop, in the name of Dedan Kimathi.”

Even the reality is scary.

One of my staff could not report back to work last week because she had traveled upcountry and passenger vehicles require police escort for fear of attack by thugs who may want to kill some of the passengers or even the driver or just rob them. Driving out of Nairobi has become a dare devil stunt.

I have been told by a reliable source that leaflets are being circulated in certain areas directing Kikuyus and their related tribes (Merus, Embus and Kambas) to leave within a certain period or face death.

Our police heads tell us everything is alright. That we should not listen to claims about the revival of the ‘mungiki’ and we should not believe any text messages we receive.

I don’t feel reassured by the words of our police heads but what choice have I got? If I don’t ignore these threats, how can I get on with my life?

Our leaders are completely out of touch with the reality on the ground. It is time that Kenyans by and large come to a realization that our leaders are not part of us. The only real division that exists in Kenya is between THE LEADERS AND THE LED. What Kenyans need to protest against and take to the streets against is irresponsible leadership.

I am experiencing a true test of my faith in God. I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control and God knows my needs and He will take care of me and mine.

Dear God, if ever Kenya needed a miracle, now is the time. Please Lord, HELP US.

Chapter 82

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 82

On the same day that I published my peace message, I received an email from someone who rubbished the message because in his view, my message was biased. My name is Njeri so of course, I favour Kibaki! On reading his email, which was not all bad I must say, it dawned on me what has actually been happening to Kikuyus around the country.

Immediately after President Kibaki’s ‘victory’ was declared, the criteria on which his enemies determined who his supporters were was a name, an accent or a tribe. There I was, an ODM supporter to death and someone just assumed that I was a PNU supporter because of my name. Thank goodness the guy was writing an email and not at my home armed with a panga and a box of matches!

I imagine that there must be some Kenyans who lost their lives and property and did not support either Kibaki or Raila as presumed by their assailants and probably did not even vote! How very sad! Even more saddening is that children, who did not vote and were as innocent as innocence itself lost their lives, homes and/or parents.

Do you see why I say that Kenyans are dining with the devil? The ability to victimize or kill someone solely because of his/her SUSPECTED political affiliation on the basis of a name, an accent or a tribe is not even human. Common sense is too good for that. Such an ability requires a blindness that only the devil can inflict. And going by the number of people in Kenya who have developed this ability, there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that somewhere, in a leadership position in Kenya, the devil is sitting on a throne.

Oh God, the devil is in Kenya. May God use this country as an example of how the devil can be defeated.

Chapter 81

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 81

I published a peace message to my fellow Kenyans in one of the daily newspapers on Saturday. What led me to do that is the fact that I, like many of my fellow Kenyans, feel trapped; held hostage by our leaders. We do not feel understood by our leaders.

I think that what Kenyans desperately need is something to unite them. I thought my message might arouse some sense of unity where there was none.

Below is the message I published:-

A PEACE MESSAGE TO MY FELLOW KENYANS

Before PNU and ODM came into our lives and cut a bloody line across our country, most of us believed that we were a united Nation. We thought that political parties are just that, parties. The bloodbath and looting of the last few weeks have however made it clear that political parties are not parties; they are dangerous associations. They have caused us to behave like savages and they have bred hatred and animosity in our communities.

They have also caused us to forget the one thing that has always united us as Kenyans: our belief in God.

Dear Kenyans, it is time that we all remember that there is a God and that we will be held accountable for our actions when we die. With or without the blood letting, death is a certainty for us all. We all, including our president, vice president, the newly appointed ministers and the opposition leaders, live by the grace of God. After death, there are no titles like president, minister for this or that, MP, leader of opposition, PNU supporter, ODM supporter, Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin, etc. We will all be judged by the same standards. And those standards are the commandments of God.

Honourable Raila Odinga reminded us during his campaign of one extremely important commandment: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. Another important one is: THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Jesus said that the first great commandment is: YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND and the second great commandment is: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.

These commandments are clearly not in the minds of our leaders who call themselves Christians. The actions of our leaders are completely devoid of love for God or for each other or for the citizens of this country. The actions of Kenyans by and large are completely devoid of love for God and for each other. We have invited the devil into our country and given him a place of recognition. Kenyans have made selfishness the guiding factor in what they say and do.

My dear Kenyans, we cannot afford to underestimate the consequences of breaking God’s commandments and dining with the devil. The Bible has told us of the capabilities of God when He is brought to anger by His people. We are children of God, all of us, regardless of our tribe. God will destroy this country with all manner of natural disasters that we cannot even imagine. Last year, our country was threatened with earth tremors and even a tsunami at our coast. At that time, none of us cared about the political affiliations or tribe of our neighbours who were running out of their houses and office buildings with us. Is this what it will take for us to remember God’s commandments and start to love God first, love our neighbours and stop the killing and stealing?

The Bible says: SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. I appeal to all our leaders, in particular President Kibaki and Honourable Odinga and their advisers to immediately change their strategies in dealing with the calamity that has hit our country. This country is in urgent need of healing and your strategies must be aimed at uniting our nation with Love for one another. Selfishness must be stamped out of all negotiations taking place between your two groups and you must stop assuming that the Kenya you so want to rule will still be standing if you continue to break God’s commandments with impunity. You must also remember that nobody lives forever, death takes a second and I repeat that we all live by the Grace of God.

All Kenyans should know that whatever it is we are yearning for will be added unto us if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must all do the righteous thing by obeying God’s commandments if our country is to be saved. With God, anything is possible.

Fellow Kenyans, let us humble ourselves before God. Let us forget all political affiliations and tribal divisions. Let us obey God’s commandments and fear only God; not Raila or Kibaki or the killers and looters among us. God is almighty and all powerful. He is the giver of life and taker of it.

God bless you all and keep you safe.

With love,
Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
An extremely concerned Kenyan
The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
nm@chunguza.com
njeri-nm.blogspot.com

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Chapter 80

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 80

Dear Kenyans,

Allow me this opportunity to add my voice to all those received from various corners of our nation and the world about what we need to do to restore peace to our nation.

I believe that our country is great; I believe that Kenyans are peace loving people; I believe that Kenyans are God fearing people; I believe that Kenyans are people who love people and I believe that God loves Kenyans.

Those of our Kenyan brothers and sisters who have been wreaking havoc in our country and causing untold suffering to hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters are only a few bad elements in our community. We can all agree that Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins and all other tribes in Kenya are generally good people. Only some and in fact very few are bad. There is therefore no reason whatsoever for us to capitalize on the bad instead of appreciating the good of our fellow Kenyans. Killing is wrong no matter the reason for it. Stealing is wrong, no matter the reason for it. Honourable Raila Odinga reminded us during his campaign that God has commanded us as follows: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL and THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

The 2007 general election was ridden with irregularities, all Kenyans whether supporters of PNU, ODM, ODM-K or any other party will agree with this position. The presidential race was between President Kibaki who won the election and Honourable Raila Odinga who lost the election according to the Electoral Commission of Kenya. Dubious as the win may have been, it has been declared and a president has been sworn in. Where do we go from here? These are my suggestions:

First, we must face the truth about the irregularities of the general election. The truth is this: that fairness, justice and truth were crucified during the general election. Save for the voters who faithfully turned up in large numbers to exercise their right, the crucifixion of fairness, justice and truth was done by all others who participated in the election regardless of their affiliations. In the circumstances, PNU claiming to have gained victory can be likened to those who crucified Jesus (who stood for fairness, justice and truth) claiming to have gained victory. No doubt the crucifiers of Jesus felt victorious after the crucifixion but in time, they came to realize that they had actually lost. ODM claiming to have been treated unfairly despite allegations of rigging on their side can be likened to Jacob who tricked his generous host and uncle Laban by quietly stealing from Laban and feigning surprise when Laban’s sons became hostile towards him forcing him to flee. There was no victory in the past general election. Kenyans are disillusioned about the democracy of this country and are looking to their leaders to restore unity among them. I humbly appeal to our government to urgently look into ways of assuring Kenyans that the 2012 election will be a free and fair one. To this end, ECK must undergo an emergency purge and new laws must be passed to regulate campaigns and seal the loop holes that enable rigging to be done.

Second, ODM and its supporters, of whom I was one during the general election, must, no matter how difficult that may be, accept defeat for the sake of restoring peace in our country. It is not that I do not support ODM any more. It is that the current political climate we are in does not permit taking of sides against my fellow Kenyans. It requires a spirited search for anything that can unite us. Our leader, Honourable Raila Odinga said that he is a Christian and at this time, we ought to put our political interests second to our spiritual interests and follow God's direction to SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. The righteous thing to do in my view is to accept defeat and by accepting defeat, ODM and its supporters will have shown an unmatched ability to forgive. Something we can all be proud of. Like Esau when he forgave his brother Jacob for stealing his blessings. Something Jacob could never reverse. We must remember that leadership is God given and if it was God’s will that Honourable Raila should be our president after the 2007 general election, it would have been so no matter the irregularities. It is not so. Why? God Knows. And we should thank God that the recent deaths and suffering have not occurred during an ODM presidency. There is a time for everything, God is fair and just and therefore, ODM’s time will come. When that time comes, which I believe will be soon if we do the righteous thing, it will be a time to celebrate a real victory. At this time, there can never be any real victory even in unseating President Kibaki. Any more fighting will only add salt to the gaping wounds that have been inflicted in our country. The Bible is riddled with numerous Kings who committed heinous crimes, yet God allowed them to rule but they all met their fate in the fullness of time. If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, God has promised that all these things (including the presidency) shall be added unto us. Let us not underestimate the power of God and what He can do in a situation like the one we are in. We must remember that all of us live by the Grace of God and in death, there are no such titles as president or minister for this and minister for that. There are also no motorcades and all the privileges that come with power. At the door of Heaven, God will want to know whether we chose the righteous victory of forgiveness and reconciliation and peace or the human victory of the presidency.

Third, each and every Kenyan must accept that tribalism and poverty are the primary causes of the anarchy and mayhem that our country has suffered. And in doing so, we must all immediately stop engaging in any discussions that encourage tribal divisions. Don’t allow yourself to say anything negative about your fellow Kenyans. You may condemn those who are perpetrating violence but it is wrong to blame an entire tribe for the wrong doings of only a few. Any change starts with an individual. Let us all shun tribalism. I humbly appeal to our government to urgently put in place measures to counter poverty and divert the attentions of the poor away from criminality. On the part of the rich, I urge you to reach out to our poor and if possible direct your investments to ventures that will create jobs not fat offshore bank accounts.

Fourth, we must all remember to fear God and in so doing, we must obey God’s commandments the most important of which is to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF. I urge our leaders to take the lead and I humbly appeal to President Kibaki and Honourable Raila to shake hands on national television or even better, jointly call a rally to condemn the violence and preach peace to their fellow Kenyans.

Fifth, let us all pray for our country and for our leaders and let God be the president of each of us.

Sixth, know that each and every one of us can be a leader in his/her own way and let us all take the lead in bringing peace to our country the best way we know how.

Yours in fairness, justice and truth,
Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
An extremely concerned Kenyan

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Chapter 79

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 79

Prayer is a powerful thing.

After a long session of prayer and meditation, I was reminded of the letter I had reproduced in chapter 41. The one I received from the guy who advised me to vote for Kibaki so that I can be closer to God. I marveled at how right that guy was. The beginning of Kibaki’s second term in office is probably the most prayerful time for Kenya since independence. We have seen barbaric killings, mindless hooliganism, displacement of thousands from their homes and our freedom of movement has been greatly curtailed. Tomorrow has been dedicated as a prayer day for the country. I have been praying for our country every day and have come to understand the meaning of the words “praying without ceasing”. I pray just before I sleep, I pray when I wake up, I pray when having my meals, I pray when carrying out household chores, I pray while driving, I pray while writing, ……… I am finding myself praying 24/7 just like that guy predicted!

As for Kibaki not knowing what love is, that has been proved without a shadow of a doubt from the time he was sworn into office until now. Despite being the president of all Kenyans, he has not left State House even once to go and visit the devastated parts of the country and join with his citizens in mourning.

I had thought that I cannot accept Kibaki as my president but I have changed my mind on that. I think that Kibaki is the best president any opposition supporter can have. If my faith in the democracy of our country was a glass, Kibaki went and smashed it to smitherines against a brick wall. And that is actually a very good thing for him to have done. I have learnt that being exposed to evil is a good thing. This is because, as I had earlier concluded, attaching ourselves to the things of this world will distract us from finding our purpose in life. But when one is exposed to evil, s/he is repulsed by the world and thus prevented from attaching himself/herself to the things of this world.

I have discovered that I was so attached to the political situation in my country that I had forgotten about finding my missing ‘something’. I was busy analyzing the actions of our politicians and dreaming of a perfect Kenya and what I needed to do to attain it. My goal in life had shifted from being the perfect daughter in God’s eyes to making for myself a perfect home in this world. I am extremely grateful to Kibaki for helping me realize that my destination is not Canaan; it is Heaven. Previously I was imagining that if Kenya became Canaan, I would be at home. I had not realized that Canaan is not Heaven and Heaven is unattainable on earth since everything in this world, good or bad, must come to an end when we die.

That simple prayer I recommended for all Kenyans has reminded me that I cannot change people. Something I seem to have forgotten somewhere along the way. I cannot change Kibaki and his friends and God has granted me the serenity to accept that. I can however change my understanding of their actions and instead of being resentful and angry at what they have done, I have understood the lesson that their actions were meant to reveal to me.

I repeat that everything happens for a reason and I can now confidently add that everything, good or bad, happens for a good reason. Changing my attitude towards Kibaki and his friends was a very difficult task. I was basking in the anger, disappointment, resentment, disgust and all related emotions that their actions had invoked in me. I thoroughly enjoyed all criticism of their actions and revelations of how they reeked of amateurism. God granted me the courage to change my attitude and now, to my surprise, I can actually appreciate the role of Kibaki in my life. I am a little wiser now on how to tell the difference between the things I can and cannot change. God granted me that wisdom. I once saw a sticker with the words: “If you cannot change something, change the way you think about it.” How true!

No-one in Kenya is happy with the situation we are in. The happiness that those who voted for Kibaki expected to feel when he won the election was completely obliterated by the agony and pain of the repercussions.

Let us all endeavour to find ways and means of accepting what has happened, learning from it, helping each other rebuild what has been damaged and getting on with our lives. Love will save the day. Let us try as much as possible to love each other and dismiss all tendencies to judge each other.

Oh God of all creation, bless this our land and nation, justice be our shield and defender, may we dwell in unity, peace and liberty, plenty be found within our borders.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Chapter 78

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 78

A friend of mine once bought me a plaque containing a prayer which I highly recommend for all Kenyans:-

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.”

Let us all join together and pray that God will guide us on what actions can and cannot solve the crisis we are in and prevent it from turning into a catastrophe.

Chapter 77

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Chapter 77

Letting go of power is an extremely difficult thing as has been very ably demonstrated by our president. Kenya is in chaos and our president has not uttered even one word about what is going on. The last we heard from him was a new year message assuring us that he is the president of us all. Is he really? Not even a condolence message surely?

The point which everyone I listen to on tv and radio are missing is that both those who are fighting as well as the victims of the fighting are united by one thing. Our president. Yet, our president is nowhere to be seen! He is speaking to us through supporters of his political party some of whom were voted out during the last general election. Why can he not just come out and talk to his people and listen to what their grievances are? For those who are crying for Raila, he should ask them what it is they think Raila can do for them that Kibaki cant and assure them that he can do it. For those who are supporting him, assure them of their safety. Our president cannot think of such a simple thing because he is in reality not the president of Kenyans. As is clear from what his agents are saying, those who are causing mayhem are supporters of the opposition party and therefore the leaders of the opposition party are the ones responsible for the actions of those people. How can this be when we have a president in power? The supporters of the opposition party are Kenyans and their president is Kibaki not Raila or Kalonzo or Ruto.

I hear people saying that the youth are being misused by politicians to cause mayhem. This to me is based on an erroneous presumption that those youths have something better to do than be involved in the protests.

I believe that everything that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. That reason is a lesson that needs to be learned. Whenever I am faced with a difficult challenge or a crisis in my life, I know that the only way to get out of that situation is to search for the lesson which I am required to learn. In the crisis facing our country, there are two lessons that Kenyans are required to learn:

The first lesson is that normal life in Kenya for majority of our population which is poor is not peaceful and happy. Majority of Kenyans who are the ones we are watching on our television screens protesting and killing each other are unemployed, hungry and battered people. Telling them to go back to normal life is a ridiculous request. Those of us who have jobs and enough money to put a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs should use this experience to learn what those statistics telling us how poor Kenyans are really mean. We need to appreciate that what we have always regarded to be normal life is actually a life of misery for most of our brothers and sisters. It is only once we have appreciated this fact that we can understand what the “change” that the Kenyan people are looking for really means. It means that poverty must be made a first priority by our government, something Kibaki’s government has never realized and something that the poor do not believe Kibaki will ever be able to understand. I say this because Kibaki’s government’s policies during the last five years were based on finding out what the needs of the rich are and satisfying them assuming that taking care of the needs of the rich automatically takes care of the needs of the poor. In fact, our government’s policies should be based on finding out what the needs of the poor are and satisfying them. Giving the poor spending power automatically takes care of the needs of the rich who supply the poor with what to spend on.

The fact that Kibaki, as communicated through his agents, does not regard the protesters to be his people and sees them as supporters of the opposition is sufficient evidence of why the protesters are aggrieved. How can we unite as a country if our president is perceived and behaves as a president of the rich or perceived rich? How can we unite as a people when the minority who control the resources of the country cannot understand that the anxiety and despair they are experiencing with the boredom and the inability to go to work and to leave their houses is what normal life really means for majority of Kenyans?

The second and most important lesson that Kenyans need to learn is how to tell the difference between good and evil. Everyone in our country now knows without a shadow of a doubt that the swearing in of the president was premature and illegal because the chairman of the Electoral Commission has made a damning admission that he did not know whether Kibaki actually won the election. He has also stated that the original records for the vote tallying have been tampered with making a re-tallying of the votes impossible. Once everyone agrees on that point, two divergent views then arise:

One group says that the irregular vote tallying process is now irrelevant because there is no legal provision by which a rectification of the process can be made. They advise those who are aggrieved to accept the result and if they deem it advisable, go to court to have their grievances addressed. This group is unable to see that the irregularities of the vote tallying process are the cause of the protests and killings going on. They say that the protests and killings are a result of incitement by opposition politicians.

The other group has refused to accept the president and insists on the elections being repeated. They say that the protests and killings are a result of the confirmed irregularities in the tallying of the presidential votes.

How can one tell which of these positions is the position of good and which one is the position of evil? This puzzle has been documented in the Bible when the Pharoah of Egypt was faced with the demand by Moses that he should let the children of Israel go. The only means by which Moses was able to convince the Pharaoh to accede to his demand was by performing miracles. Initially, the miracles that Moses performed could be replicated by the Pharoah’s own wise men and were therefore not convincing. It was only after the Egyptians had suffered ten plagues which left the country on its knees that the Pharoah finally acceded to Moses’ demand. When the eighth plague of locusts was unleashed on the Egyptian people, Pharoah’s advisers begged him to let the Israelites go telling him that the country was destroyed but he refused to listen. The Pharoah’s own people were plagued by: waters turning into blood and the people having to dig around the river for water, frogs, lice, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally the death of all their firstborns. The Pharoah repeatedly deceived Moses that he would let the Israelites go if Moses prayed to God to take away the plagues but once the plagues were taken away, he would renege on his promise. The amazing thing is that even after the Pharoah finally let the children of Israel go, he pursued them to the Red Sea. Good prevailed over evil and the Israelites managed to free themselves from slavery.

To me, Kibaki is in exactly the same position as the Pharoah of Egypt. The poor in Kenya are demanding that Kibaki should let them free to determine their own destinies because just like the Pharaoh of Egypt could not understand that slavery is not the destiny of the children of Israel, Kibaki cannot understand that poverty is not the destiny of the citizens of Kenya. The poor in Kenya are so poor they might as well be regarded as slaves. Labour in Kenya is so cheap its amazing how people survive on the low wages they are paid. Employment law in Kenya does very little to safeguard the interests of the employees. The Pharoah was willing to sacrifice the lives of his own people to retain the Israelites in slavery, just like Kibaki is sacrificing the lives of Kenyans to retain his position as president.

As a Kenyan, I am wondering whether I should side with the group that is asking us to accept Kibaki and get on with our lives or the one insisting that the election must be re-done. At this point in time, the president I voted for is irrelevant. I want to know how to bring peace to our country, how to unite Kenyans, how to resolve the impasse between our leaders. God is Love and Love is acting in the best interests of others and disregarding your own interests if necessary. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and to put God first in everything that we do.

Is it good for me to ignore the cries of the protesters that their right to a free and fair election has been violated? Is it good for me to ask the protesters to take their protests to court when I know so well how corrupt our courts are? Is it good for me to lie to the poor and pretend that Kibaki cares about them when I know so well that if he cared about them, he, as the president, would have at least said or done something about the protests and killings we are experiencing by now?

The choice we have now as Kenyans is not between Raila, Kibaki or Kalonzo anymore. The choice we have is whether to accept Kibaki as our president. I cannot accept him. To me, Kibaki is the reason for the crisis we are in.
In my view therefore, to resolve the crisis we are facing, we must have a fresh presidential election done as soon as possible when we can choose from the group of candidates who we are presented with.

This crisis Kenya is facing will not be resolved until such time as we can all learn the lessons it has brought to us. Perhaps the lessons are more than appreciating the plight of our poor and learning to tell the difference between good and evil. What we all need to do is to think deeply about this crisis and find ways and means of communicating with each other and finding a middle ground to stand on together as one nation.

Thankfully, nothing, whether good or bad, lasts forever. This crisis will end some day, hopefully sooner than later. Is it possible that our country will find a lasting solution to this crisis and we shall get ourselves a leader who is truly a president of all Kenyans?

If you ask me, I would say that is IMPOSSIBLE. Is anything really possible with God? I am praying that God will show me that even this is possible.