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 "Amazing Grace" Hymn

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This is me , playing on my Yamaha piano keyboard the wonderful old hymn "Amazing Grace".

As I pen this story, I am listening to Amazing Grace hymn which I played and recorded on my Yamaha piano keyboard. I played it using a harmony I was taught in December 2004 by my friend Francis Kariuki, or Karis as some fondly called him. Somehow, I have managed to remember the harmony over the years.

Allow me, my beloved reader, to briefly tell you about me and Karis and how we became friends.

I first started learning piano in 1997 when I was nine at my hometown Catholic church. (That was the year Mother Teresa - the much adored nun who helped the poor in Calcutta, India - passed on at a good old age of 87.) I continued honing my skills on the instrument in the Catholic church over the next several years, for I had no access to a piano at home or at school.

In the year 2000, Karis joined me as part of the group of youngsters that were receiving piano lessons in the church. That's when we met and became friends. By then, I had already had about three years of experience in playing the piano, or to be more precise, an electric piano keyboard.

Karis and I grew to be close friends because we were pretty much on the same wavelength; we both valued discipline and academic excellence. It was our growing friendship that made me introduce him to Prof. Charles Nyamiti, a priest with a passion for music who was then stationed at Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi.

Sometime in 2002 when I was away at Starehe Boys' Centre for my high school education, Karis became a piano student of Prof. Nyamiti. During some of his piano lessons, Prof. Nyamiti taught Karis how to play Amazing Grace hymn on the piano.

In December 2004 when I was on a school holiday, Karis showed off to me how he could play Amazing Grace hymn as Prof. Nyamiti had taught him. I instantly loved its harmony and pleaded with him to teach me how to play it. He obliged.

As you can see from my story so far, I introduced Karis to Prof. Nyamiti in the year 2000 and he in turn taught me in December 2004 how to play Amazing Grace hymn on the piano as he had been taught by Prof. Nyamiti. That was a good exchange.

When I was in fourth form at Starehe Boys' Centre in 2005, I showed off the harmony of Amazing Grace that Karis had taught me to Mr. Matthew Brooks - a talented young man from England who was then volunteering as a music teacher in the school. After Mr. Brooks listened to it, I lied to him that I had come up with the harmony, to which he remarked, "That's a good harmony!"

Now, Amazing Grace is an old hymn. It was composed in 1779 by John Newton. A very old hymn indeed. Very old. Yet ever new. Let's look at its first verse which goes as follows:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
I came to like that verse in 2008 when I was a young man of 20 years; I even quoted it in an essay I was asked to write by one of my teachers in the evangelism course I pursued at All Saints' Cathedral in Nairobi - an excellent church I joined after I left Starehe in 2007.

But imagine I have lately been realizing how lost I became upon graduating from the evangelism course! I, for instance, went astray at the university in JKUAT where I ignominiously dropped out in 2008 and rebelled against my family when I was a first year student at the University of Nairobi in 2011.

Besides becoming rebellious, there are several other ways I have been lost and wretched as the Amazing Grace hymn puts it. Such ways as being timid on many occasions, hanging out with the wrong fellows and offering free services as if I didn't need money to meet my needs.

Realizing how lost I have been is why I have said Amazing Grace is ever new even though it's an old hymn. I beseech you to also examine your life. And don't feel guilty and ashamed if you become thunderstruck by how lost and wretched you have been. Chalk it up to experience!

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Remembering Dr. Griffin

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This is Dr. Geoffrey W. Griffin, the legend who made a lasting contribution to Kenya's educational history by founding Starehe Boys' Centre & School - a prestigious institution in Nairobi where I had my high school and college education.

That evening of January 17th 2002 as I sat in the assembly hall of Starehe Boys' Centre, I was impressed to hear Dr. Griffin address us. He spoke with such intensity and confidence that I wished several weeks later that he would live to see me complete my studies in the school.

I joined Starehe at a time when Dr. Griffin had advanced in years. Not surprisingly, he never got to know my name even though I stood out by giving speeches as well as accompanying hymns on the piano during evening assemblies. But I at least found him encouraging and understanding in the few instances I caught his attention.

On one assembly in 2002 for instance, he gently requested Miss Church - a talented young lady from England who was volunteering as a music teacher in the school - to help me out on the piano after I became horribly nervous while accompanying a hymn. I was in Form 1 that year.

About two years later when I developed the chutzpah to play the piano in front of the whole school, Dr. Griffin congratulated me on one or two occasions on his way out of the assembly hall. I am not sure if he recalled how nervous I had been two years earlier when I was in Form 1 but it must have been heartening for me to hear his "well done" compliment.

And when it came to giving speeches of which I sometimes volunteered during my years in the school, Dr. Griffin was accepting of me even when I didn't do it that excellently. One speech I gave in 2003 comes to mind.

While delivering that speech, the students I was addressing started clapping their hands in a manner that suggested I wind up whatever I was saying. But Dr. Griffin came to my rescue by silencing the catcall with this command to the students: "Let him finish!" He must have understood it was proper for a boy to hone his public speaking skills while still in school.

There was one special assembly we had in 2002 when I was in Form 1 that I beg to mention here, for I did speak during it. The assembly was special in that it was held in the morning after Dr. Griffin interrupted all lessons to address the rising cases of theft in the school. It must have perturbed him that the school he had diligently established was turning into a den of thieves.

When Dr. Griffin asked us to offer suggestions on how we could curb the increasing cases of theft, I went to the podium and boldly suggested that visitors be barred from going beyond the school canteen area. Dr. Griffin listened to my suggestion but for reasons best known to him, it was never implemented.

For those who knew Starehe as a centre of excellence during the Griffin era, don't be surprised to hear from me that the school had cases of theft because, as the Englishmen say, there is always a rotten apple in a basket of good ones. Even among the famous twelve apostles of Christ, there was Judas Iscariot who accepted a bribe for betraying Jesus.

Like I have pointed out, I wished in my first weeks at Starehe in 2002 that Dr. Griffin would live to see me complete my studies in the school. It was a wish that didn't come true, for God called him home in my final year in high school in 2005. And his last words to me were "good luck in your exams" when we met on a highway in Starehe as I carried my desk to the assembly hall in readiness for a major exam, a few months before he passed on.

I was fortunate to play the piano during his funeral service that was graced by such distinguished dignitaries as Mwai Kibaki, the widely respected third president of our country Kenya. And I had the honour of playing on an electric organ the melodious theme of Mozart's "Sonata in A" as Dr. Griffin's casket was being lowered in his grave inside the school chapel.

All told, Dr. Griffin was an eloquent and dutiful leader of Starehe. I feel privileged to have interacted with him. As he now reposes in heaven with Moses, David and other heroes of faith, I will strive to make him proud of me by excelling in my blogging career. So help me God.

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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)