Rage of Love

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This weekend, i went to the country side( i just love saying that) after a long while. I travelled with a few of my friends from the band in which i belong. Yes… i sing too. 🙂

It was one heck of an experience. We get to the bus park about 5pm and got on to a bus that was supposed to be leaving in an hour. We set off a little after 8pm. Three hours we waited!!!!! As we set off, it dawned on me that public transport can have a close relationship with hell. This dude comes and sits right in the middle of the passage way and removes his shirt … because he was hot and the rest of us were not. He sat right between me and my friend Abby(poor girl). He reeked of a God forsaken putrid stench and was sleepy. So all through the trip at least for the first three hours, he made subconscious passes at my friend by sleeping on her as many times as he could. We eventually found a way to stop it all.  we stopped worrying and waited for him to get out. In the mean time, Abby and i exchanged seats.

We got to Rukungiri about 3am and slept. We got up after three hours to a busy but beautiful saturday. You see, the purpose for this trip was to have a different kind of experience for me and the band. We wanted to meet some people whose lives we could impact with ours and bring some sort of hope. It would be worth all the hassle we experienced.

In the deep of the village in Kitimaba, we met a girl. Patience! She run up to us as we arrived into their little green compound and hugged each one of us and greeted in her language. She was full of energy and bright with a smile. Her torn up skin and dry mouth told a different story though. we were informed that their Parents abandoned them and left them with their grand parents. About two weeks before we had arrived, their grand mother passed away. killed by rabies from a cat. (yeah, apparently, they too have rabies). She died and left their unable grandfather to take care of them .

Though she (Patience) is brilliant and charismatic, there is a sense of loss… a deep, deep seated despair that she long learnt to conceal. As we got to know her and talk to her grandfather, it was revealed that she and her brother were born HIV positive. Their wretched father was all over town collecting it and later gave it to their mother who passed it on to them and then passed away after a while.

It’s a funny thing this life. How we on the other end of the rope, wake up everyday, take in all the air we could, take a hot bath, smell good, talk good and live the good life, while right where we were standing stared at us a vivid and malignant state of affairs. One that would change the very fabrics of our purpose, our hope,  our priorities and our aspirations. All these seemed benign in the midst of a conundrum of  such epic proportions.

My heart went out to these little ones who, in some ways, were born with less than “nothing”. Life dealt them a blow such as they couldn’t fathom. They were victims of a raw deal that screwed their lives over for what would seem forever. With no where to turn and no one to love them, what would become of them? where would they turn for hope?
Would patience find a man that would love her? All of her? Will she ever get out of the rat race of bear survival? Will her brother Amon ever find purpose in being a man? Would he ever know that its ok to live positive? Will they blame themselves for being born because everyone considers them outcasts? Would they find redemption in the midst of a war against their very existence?

It was these questions that sank my heart and filled it with rage. A rage i would forever share with the world. Whoever would listen. A rage that seeks Justice. A rage that searches the depths of the heart for compassion beyond pity. A rage against our puny little discomforts. A rage that propels us to do greater than our own imaginings. To change a life.

A rage that gives hope and purpose to a fallen spirit.

I will never forget the glow in their faces as they realized, there is life after all. There is someone that cares beyond words.
This will be my gospel to them. To all those for whom life was unjust… Love!. It was and has always been the ultimate and incomprehensible facet of mankind that reins it all in.
This is my gospel, my moto, my life line, my purpose.
LOVE.

Upright Love

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900love2

I have done a great many things in this life of mine. None ever so grave… Much less as dire… And even less as obsolete! I have changed course, made known my failings and forwarded my imaginings. I have neither shone nor lit a light in the darkness past. I move to a hope I see ahead. I see a light from a far. One I can hope in. one that comes not from me.
I live in no shame of what is before me… coz that I can change. I see no fear in change b’coz in fear, I see no change. None at all! I see the same old drab and take to the same old patterns where I find no comfort there in. I have non to tell of the greatness there is…because fear…
oh the wretched fear that takes my hope…my light…my all.
Therefore, in what is before me… a yonder, ahead, I have no shame, for in it, I create all I want or destroy all I don’t.

For the light that comes from a source without, I take no pleasure in its defiance. In fact, I loathe its abuse. For all its brightness and purity, there is no comparison.

At the entrance of the unknown, I stand. The world at my feet, time on my side and the Lord at my throne…  I win! I win every time! With all of life’s demons thrown at me; with the past yanking at my hope, I WIN. I WIN. There is an eternal brightness, an unfathomable depth of pure bred, unadulterated love.  A love that searches the intents and kindles the fires of a heart wild and true!
Oh, how the weary and tiring shambles of decadence try this desolate soul of mine. As before, they raise the past from the dead, they darken the hope ahead and charge with terror from nowhere and everywhere. They are swift and thorough. Their blows bring a sudden and shuttering feeling of finality. They deplete this soul of all of life’s meaning.
This fallen shame, since the beginning of time has tormented and nearly annihilated all that was known of the power and strength of the original mankind! The Power of Love, the Light of the World…
It lingers on though, strengthening and building a remnant. One left from the rabble and ruins of a darkness fading. It charges too, with purpose and passion. With one mission, the light breaks through the darkness to restore all the glory lost in the dread of old.
I am one such as those that have survived the darkness’s terror.
So I will be steady, and I will be ready. I will be strong and I will be bold. I with the light! I will bask in the beauty of its glory, benign as it may be, deem as it may seem, I will tarry on and love the light…to light my love.

The Embrace

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The eyes slowly shut …the mind care-freely drifts into memory lane.  Back…. further back in time, When nose picking, toe nail biting and spit-recoil brought naughtiness and thrill to a young and innocent heart…. When warmth and laughter were unmistakably present in a hearty chuckle!     Back in time when evenings were filled with songs, stories and bond fires… when candle light brought beauty to a night rid of artificial light and technology…
A breath slowly nudged the mind back…. briefly enough to take in the moment, the comfort…to be conscious of how time seemed to have stopped….or been travelled through…and yet not…sooo very not!
As the wonderment of living in two times prevailed the mind, her hand gently slid across the back…
In this embrace, the mind drifted slowly back….
The scent of fried chicken, baked potatoes and tummy-boggling seasoning….
The sound of guitar and song…. little voices in chorus singing…
Yes! The mind drifted to a time when jitters filled the heart of all that caught the spirit of the moment!                                                                                                                                                Serenity and gladness filled the air as the man sang, the little ones accompanied him, the older ones giggled and laughed as they helped the lady of the house!  She, in her splendour, was painting her masterpiece…one she paints every night. The little meal, in the little kitchen of a little home with big hearts, warm laughs and powerful moments!
The mind knows no better wonder! If love exists, this is it. This must be IT!
Yes! Right now…in this moment….This is love!
As the eyes slowly open, the cheeks gently brush against each other. In the fullness of time, the eyes beheld the beauty that raced the mind through the glory of time.
 Greater meaning, deeper strength came to the heart, whose eyes beheld the beauty before them. In this embrace was all that was needed, all that was desired, all that was pure. In this embrace lay the strength of heart and a burning love that not a soul could change. In this embrace, was an encounter no lie could take a way…
And with the eyes locked in a gaze, he said….

“I love you. These words have my life in them.”

Open-Endedness

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There have been books that have never been finished, stories that have never been told and minds that have never been explored and in all this, one thing stands true…
It isn’t over. It never is. There has been such an inexplicable sense of awareness of the great beyond that it is utterly impossible to deny its existence.
The great beyond: A place where millions have ventured and none ever return. A place of myth and mystery, hope and darkness, beauty and despair… all entangled in the minds that wonder of it.
A place with a vastness beyond imaginings… A fierce terror lives in the great beyond… one that leaves those that live in pain and bewilderment. For they love those it mercilessly takes… and takes without remorse or favor.
The great beyond: A time of rest for some, a time for judgment for others…
All of humanity has sought to evade, avoid or expose this mystery. For all the suffering and pain in this the land of the living is solely a chain of reactions that start and end with this great beyond.
It creates in humanity a void. One that cannot be quenched!
Desperate and torn, humanity has plunged itself in chaos and turmoil… the great beyond  takes all hope and all that is good with the bad…and never does it return…
Philosophies have been created, songs composed, pictures painted and books written all expressing their creative imagery of what “it’s” like and yet all reveal the enormous unknown.
Legends, myths and stories have been told of all those that were taken by the great beyond… But only one stands out for many a people. One story that changed the course of history and split time in half! A story that has carried millions from a place of despair to hope! From lost-ness to purpose! A story that dealt the single greatest blow to the mysteries of the great beyond!
It is this story, of a God, a man and a cross. A story of redeeming love and undying hope, that has shaped the moral cord of every fiber in history since its telling. The story has been used to bring healing, to bring wholeness, to bring the fullness of life to a torn down, beat up and wrecked humanity.
This story began a journey for many… one without fear. A journey with purpose!
Life was and forever will be filled with meaning for as long as this story remains true in the heart of humanity.  For us all, the story about the great beyond has just begun.
“Death has lost its sting”

The Cross, The Lord & The Gateway

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I have heard and read many a people’s liturgy and tons of theories about the the end of days, the spiritual gates, the war on our lives, the battle for our souls…Everything tears against our fallible thinking and we are left more confused than when we ventured on this journey…The Journey of Love.. the Journey Of a Salvation…the Salvation.
Christianity today has lost its power, its authority in society and in individuals solely because we misunderstand what it means to grow.

We have pursued everything that is colorful and flaring at the cost of the fundamental truth of this Once Great faith. We want higher things, we seek for deeper revelations, we chant and we runt..we make proclamations and seek knowledge all the while, we loose a grip on all that is our foundation. We forget the One whose name is above all others, the giver of life, the beginning of time, from whom all knowledge comes. The very Mark of our identity!
We make remarks like “the things of the cross and salvation are milk..Lets move on to greater things..the meat”.

I am Persuaded and always will believe that at the Cross, all was laid bare. All biblical mysteries before that time were  on public display. They all started and Ended with the bloody man on the Tree.
The message of Salvation and the Cross, are NOT to be mistaken for the elementaries the Hebrew writer was talking about. They are not only fundamental to our Christianity, but they are the very embodiment of our spirituality. They are Central to all we (as Christians) believe. It is not our good works, Not our fervent prayers, or our desire for knowledge about the Mysteries that are no doubt exciting to know.

The most recent intrigue has been the 11.11.11 gate way.  To be frank, it has more about what we must do to secure the gates than it has about the The Purpose of Our faith in Christ against all these gates.The Truth is..these gate ways(if we can call them that) have been there since time began

We tried in every way to secure, sanctify and break them all on our own and in our efforts(as is depicted in the old testament). God uses the Old testament to show us what its like to live by the Law…

It nulifies any relationship we have with him..if we think we can attain his love .
Point is, whether or not they are there… our primary aim is to measure them against the standard above all others. The Covenant that erased and nullified all others… the Cross and the Lord!

Ours is to grow deeper in the knowledge of him and in the Understanding of His Word..then we can aptly apply it to the the vast mysteries of the world
A friend of mine said,  “its like they are fitting the Word into the whole idea and not the other way around”

This is what happens when we make the mistake of thinking that the cross and salvation are elementary. It is againt This Cross..salvation that all these messages and mysteries are measured. It is the Man Jesus, for whom i identify myself as a Christian. Not my prayer or my deep search for Spiritual Knowledge. In light of all this…we will find Truth.. Truth far beyond the knowledge and wisdom, far beyond the prosperity and good health we pursue. The Truth that will bring us to the very feet of all that is good and true. A culmination of perfection and power. The saving grace of Our Lord. And that is all the truth and Knowledge we need.

(Col 2:8)  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

(Col 2:9)  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

National Crisis

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It has been a talk as old as time…at least as old as my time. In a country where I have experienced one government for over 25 years (and counting) there has been a brewing of hatred not just for that one man but for his men, his advisors,. it has trickled down to his family, his wife, and his children.

For 25 years I have witnessed judgment upon the family by all that deem him as nothing more than a tyrant that has desecrated the “purity” of a nation under the disguise of bringing peace… peace to the nation. Nostrils flare, as do the tempers at the mention of this family and woe unto them that do so in his defense. Might as well be part of them. He has brought political, social and economic division in a country that was once “soo united” or so we like to think. “Corruption!” We cry… “He must GO!” We resolve… “ he is evil” we judge… “ Hope he dies soon” we condemn. He and all like him… I think I make a well-labored point.

Corruption in my opinion happened long before the era of this dispensation. It happened in Uganda as it did in Eden. It was never the leadership that lacked, it wasn’t the political line that was blurred, nor was it the decline in the economic growth. It wasn’t even the poverty line that seemed to increase, as many would have us believe! Something deeper, something stronger, something more vicious birthed, fed and grew Corruption to the limits it is. I am more convinced now more than ever that the “Office” cannot corrupt a man… He corrupts it. So no… I will not blame the position of leadership for Corruption, and I consider it narrow minded indeed to limit it to the offices of political leadership.

Corruption in its purest form started in the home; the birthplace of our communities, our societies and our nation. When fathers abandoned their sons, and defiled their daughters, where mothers drunk themselves to shame, and cheapened all they ever were, where men devalued their wives, the mothers of their children, and taught the same to the innocent and pure… The boys grew with the knowledge of violence and greed, the girls knew nothing more than to offer of themselves to get what they needed … And these, all yee that read this, are the Leaders we have and we are to have…These are the young men and women that enter into the office of leadership, corrupted by the home, the society and communities that raised them… One of my favorite quotes is from a man known to be an agent of change in this country. He says “

For our nation to be reformed, there must be a transformation in the hearts and minds of Ugandans” Godliness, a sense of goodness must return to the core understanding of every Ugandan and as a result, a restoration of proper moral conduct. If you train and educate a generation in Godlessness, u will most definitely reap a nation rooted in waywardness and total chaos. It is no wonder we are where we are.

Every passing generation taught less and less about virtue and moral uprightness, and emphasized science and technology that haven’t transformed our nation much. We still devalue our sons, our daughters and ourselves and then blame a decayed system and those in leadership. Never do we take responsibility for the demise of this our once great nation. If we are to see Reformation, “ he says, “ it starts with you and me! “

We must reckon with what our nation’s motto and anthem call us to return to:

GOD and my Country.