Positive Quote For Today

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


The Christian Life

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from a blog called Spiritual Cleansing. All rights reserved worldwide.

As I wrote in my previous story on this blog, I used to religiously attend church at All Saints' Cathedral in Nairobi when I was at the university in JKUAT in the years 2007 and 2008. Not only did I play the organ at the cathedral, I also enrolled for an evangelism course that sparked in me an interest to read the Bible. And reading the Bible made me more religious.

A friend of mine at JKUAT named Mulinge Ndambuki must have sensed my religious nature because he commented one evening in 2008 on how nice a guy I was. While we chatted that evening, Mulinge said to me in Sheng, "Sisi wacha tuponde raha; tutaokoka tukikaribia kukufa. (Leave us to enjoy life; we will get saved when we are nearing death.)"

Even though I was deeply religious back in 2008, I was not the kind of person to demonize and sermonize Mulinge for telling me he would get saved when nearing death. I just took his remarks in good humour and continued minding my own business.

Coming to think of those remarks Mulinge said to me in 2008, I infer that he perceived Christian life as being very boring. Maybe he thought that allowing God in our lives makes us lose all the fun of living.

But is Christian life really boring? I don't think so. On the contrary:
  1. Christian life is full of joy: This joy springs from a deep faith that there is a God in heaven who cares about our affairs more than any loving parent could. Because of that faith in God, we Christians worry less. And one thing I have discovered about worrying is that it is very addictive. If we start worrying about little things, we end up worrying about everything. Such kind of worrying drains joy from our lives. Hence why we God-believing Christians are more joyful.
  2. Christian life is full of peace: This peace emanates from living an upright life that is congruent with Biblical teachings such as forgiving others, confessing our sins, communicating with honesty and labouring for our daily bread. As a result of living such a life, we don't suffer from the guilt that afflicts wicked people.
  3. Chritian life is full of courage: This courage comes from understanding and internalizing the Word of God. Throughout the Bible, we Christians are encouraged to live boldly and be ready to say "no". And courage is one of the key ingredients of successful living. If we lack courage, we attract in our lives all that is dehumanizing, such as poverty, oppression and manipulation.
  4. Christian life is full of hope: This hope comes from a belief that God is working out everything in our favour. We Christians also have this hope that a better life awaits us in heaven after we die. And this hope helps us to cope with the worries and frustrations that litter our every day living. It also makes us optimistic. And optimism, in turn, makes us have a sunny disposition.
To summarize my point, Christian life isn't as boring as some people suppose. It is full of joy, peace, courage and hope. We Christians are saved from much of the worry, guilt, timidity and hopelessness that characterize the lives of the wicked.

Don't get me wrong: I don't mean to say that a Christian life is a constant high. We Christians also have our low moments when God seems to desert us. There are times we feel perplexed and overwhelmed by what is happening to us. As for me, whenever I have faced those low moments, God has always restored me to the path of peace and joy. I believe He will continue doing so in the future. After all, He is my redeemer.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on the Christian life, you might also enjoy another one I wrote last year on "My Redeemer Liveth". Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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The Church Where I Belong

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Jul 12, 2020
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
This is All Saints' Cathedral in Nairobi. More about it in the story below.

Sometimes when I listen to hymns on my laptop, I find myself remembering the times I used to worship at All Saints' Cathedral in Nairobi. I became a member of the cathedral around April 2007, about a month before I matriculated at the university in JKUAT. What glued me to the cathedral was its friendly congregation as well as its modern facilities such as video screens and a majestic organ.

I particularly enjoyed being part of the cathedral's 9:30 a.m. English service choir which used to meet on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons for practice. So much did I enjoy being part of the choir that on some weekdays in 2007 while I was at JKUAT, I would look forward to the weekends when I would be reunited with the choir for singing practice and fellowship sessions.

And I must have been a handsome young man given the way some ladies in the choir took an interest in me. One chorister called Betty escorted me to a matatu station in Nairobi on a rainy Thursday evening during my first days in the choir. Another chorister named Janet Hazlehurst invited me to performances of the Nairobi Orchestra on two occasions. And another chorister called Ruth Wangire occasionally sent me messages about upcoming fellowship activities of a cell group of which she was the leader.

Being part of the choir was however not all moonlight and roses for me. There were some choristers who, out of hatred and jealousy, became suspicious that I could have been pilfering things from the cathedral. In the past few years, I have at times been embittered by the way those choristers treated me with contempt and suspicion. But I am now consoling myself with the truth that they were just reacting to the kind of person I was. Back in 2007, I was painfully shy, socially inept and sometimes confused.

Owing to my shyness, I stayed on probation in the choir for quite a long time - something that seemed to bother some choristers. Imagine after I became part of the choir in April 2007, I didn't robe and sing in the pews until late December of that year. So I stayed on probation for more than seven months. I didn't mind staying on probation for such a long time since I wasn't such a great tenor singer. And that wasn't the first or last time when something which seemed to bother others didn't concern me at all.

In December 2007 when I started robing and singing in the pews on Sundays, some choristers were quick to encourage me to play the organ as well. I did accompany the choir on the organ during several Sunday services in 2008 - an experience that deepened my love of hymns. And I am sure I would have played more hymns if I had a piano keyboard on which to practise the hymns in the comfort of my room.

As the year 2008 wore on, I appeared to be on the right track to becoming one of the cathedral's organists after my name started appearing on an organists' roster. What's more, I was given a key to the cathedral's majestic organ by a church cleaner named Mutua. While Mutua was handing me the key to the organ, he encouraged me to work hard as an organist, citing that the cathedral's organists are very much respected.

But guess what! Come August 2008 when I started going astray at the university in JKUAT, I lost interest in attending church at All Saints' Cathedral. A few choristers tried reaching me via phone to find out what was happening to me. When I informed them that I had been taken ill, they were sympathetic with me. But I did not disclose to them what exactly had happened to me.

Since I went astray at JKUAT in August 2008, I have never managed to be a consistent churchgoer. But the All Saints' Cathedral 9:30 a.m. English service choir came to occupy a big space in my heart. There were times in 2009 when I feared the choristers could go to JKUAT to find out what had transpired to me. Of course they never did that.

Then beginning the year 2011, I began sending emails to the choristers in the course of which I opened up to them on the circumstances that befell me in JKUAT. I enjoyed sending them those emails. And what I find impressive about the choristers is the way they tolerated my many emails, some of which were silly and vulgar.

Although I no longer go to All Saints' Cathedral or email its choristers, the cathedral's 9:30 a.m. choir still occupies a big space in my heart. Hardly a day ever passes by without me thinking about the choristers. That's why I consider All Saints' Cathedral to be the church where I belong.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on the church where I belong, you might also enjoy another one on "People Need the Lord" which I wrote sometime back. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Nationality: Kenyan
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just For Laughs

There was this drunkard named Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination. So I am trying to enjoy each day as I anticipate to fulfill my dreams especially meeting my soulmate and traveling abroad. Tomorrow may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tip

So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help to give you that greatest blessing of all - good health.


Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

Great Example for Politicians

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Computers & Radios
  6. Anesthetics
  7. The atom bomb

My Supreme Desire

Although I'd like to be rich and famous, my supreme desire is to be radiant: to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without hate, guilt, worry, jealousy, cynicism and envy. I wish to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so and to treat all men with kindness - to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)