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


My Bible Repaired; Yay!

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
This is me holding my treasured NIV Bible.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am a foodie. I love eating so much that I always look forward to my next meal, especially when it's ugali with cabbages or chapatis with lentils stew. And when we have visitors here at home, I worry that their visit might delay my meals. That clearly shows how love food, doesn't it?

I also love the Bible. Its wisdom provides healthy food for my mind and soul. And how lucky I am to have seven English versions of the Bible here in my room!

The version I regularly use is New International Version (NIV) which I bought in 2010. I read the whole of it in a span of eight years while underlining the verses that spoke to my heart.

A few years ago, the cover of my treasured NIV Bible came out. Then the Bible started losing its first blank pages, one piece at a time, as I continued using it. Seeing the Bible deteriorate made me fear the pages with important information would also come out.

Recently, I decided to replace the NIV Bible with the Revised Standard Version (RSV) as my most referenced Bible. My RSV Bible, which I bought in 2018, looked cute with its colorful hardcover binding.

While attempting to highlight verses in the RSV Bible, I discovered the NIV Bible expressed biblical messages in better English than the RSV Bible does. For instance, the RSV Bible says "to know someone" instead of hitting the nail on the head by saying "to have sex with someone" like the NIV Bible does.

That's why I decided to revert to my old NIV Bible and have it repaired. At first, I thought of taking it to a certain bookshop in my hometown of Kiserian for repair. Then it hit me that a cobbler was best suited for the job. So I took it to one cobbler in Kiserian last Thursday.

The cobbler I went to was a pretty woman who turned out to be as skilled as she was beautiful. She did a fantastic job of enclosing my NIV Bible with a black cover that has a zipper. Her craftsmanship impressed me.

Now that my NIV Bible has been repaired, I can't seem to get enough of it. Just two days ago, I memorized the enlightening Philippians 4:8 which says:
...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
That verse has encouraged me to fill my mind with thoughts of hope, love, faith and courage. It has also encouraged me to get rid of energy-sapping thoughts that breed feelings of guilt, worry, jealousy and bitterness in my soul.

The Bible is indeed a treasure trove of wisdom and encouragement. If all people were as passionate about it as they are about eating - never going a day without studying it - this world would be a paradise to live in. We wouldn't be having cases of theft, murder and wife-battering that I read all too often in the newspapers.

My beloved reader, I urge you to get a Bible if you don't own one because, as someone pointed out, somewhere in its pages is a verse that was written especially for you. Find the verse, believe it, act upon it, and God will help you live it out to enrich yourself, bless others and bring glory to Him. Adieu!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on how glad I am to have my Bible repaired, you might also enjoy another one on "Insights From the Bible" that I wrote two years ago. Just click that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Being Patient With People

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Mar 3, 2023
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from Enki Quotes. All rights reserved worldwide.

When I got into fourth form in January 2005, I became position 27 in the 'index' exams we had sat for at the end of the previous year. Becoming position 27 in the index exams was the best performance I had hitherto attained since I began my high school education at Starehe Boys' Centre in 2002.

As my fourth form days wore on, I was determined to do even better in the exams that were to follow. I especially wanted to emerge the top candidate nationally in the 2005 KCSE exams.

In order to achieve my goal, I read a lot. Really a lot. Not a day passed in my entire fourth form year without me reading something related to schoolwork. In spite of my heavy reading, I didn't make it in the list of top 100 candidates nationally in the 2005 KCSE exams.

Later on, it dawned on me that only those Starehe fourth formers who were among the top 10 in index exams managed to appear in the list of top 10 students nationally in KCSE exams. Mark you, the Starehe index exams were done a year before KCSE exams, meaning that no amount of reading in a whole year could make one leapfrog from position 27 in index exams to position 1 in KCSE exams.

The 2006 KCSE exams, however, had an abnormality that I noted. In the results of those exams, there was little difference in marks among the top 100 students nationally. If a candidate who was number 99 nationally could have improved by only 8 marks, he would have emerged top. Those results didn't follow a normal distribution curve, the sign of a fair and well-set exam.

I also noted that some 2006 Starehe fourth formers who were among the top ten in index exams didn't make it in the list of top 100 students nationally in their KCSE exams. One of them was Paul Byatta who was accepted at Harvard. I don't understand how Byatta, who was index 6 or 7, failed to appear among the top 100 students in KCSE exams. Surely, there was something amiss with the 2006 KCSE exams.

Anyway, coming back to the impossibility of Starehe's index 27 topping KCSE exams, there is an important lesson we can draw from that fact. And it is that we shouldn't expect sudden improvements from our spouses, children, parents, workmates and church colleagues. We should therefore be patient with people, something I have learnt while dealing with my father.

Well, Dad is a hard-working person but orderliness is not one of his strengths. His home office is full of books, newspapers and other paraphernalia that are strewn higgedly-piggedly on the floor. The same goes for his bedroom which he shares with Mum.

Some of my brothers have criticized Dad for his lack of organizational skills. But I think they are being unfair to him. Since Dad has been disorganized for years, expecting him to be orderly within a month is like expecting a Starehe index 27 to emerge top in KCSE exams. It's impossible!

I have also been guilty of expecting much from Dad. A couple of years ago while walking in a certain mall in Nairobi, I saw a book whose front cover had a photo of a 74-year old man. The man, who was the author of the book, was in fine fettle with his six-pack and well-toned muscles. And his book was about staying alert and vibrant despite advancing years.

After I saw the book, I thought of buying it and showing it to Dad who sometimes attributes his age to his tendency to doze and forget things. I imagined telling Dad, in the presence of my brothers, that here was a man older than him who was still alert and vibrant at 74 years.

Come to think of it, I am glad that I never bought the book and compared its 74-year old author with Dad. Why? Because he is different from Dad. Maybe the author didn't hail from a humble background like Dad. So expecting Dad to suddenly become alert and vibrant like him is a superhuman feat tantamount to expecting a Starehe index 27 to emerge top in KCSE exams.

I have therefore resolved to be patient with Dad and all the people in my life, a way of living I beseech you to adopt as well. Refrain from being critical of the people in your life who are below par. Be patient with them and allow them room to be themselves. As for teens and children, give them time to grow. That's all I am saying.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on being patient with people, you might also enjoy another one on "Gaining Wisdom in Pain" that I wrote a few years ago. Just click 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
Marital status: Single
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 striving to enjoy each moment even 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."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

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. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and 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)