On the night of December 24th in 1997, I attended my first night mass in my home-town Catholic Church. I felt strangely honoured to be in the church at night which I had hitherto only attended during the day. And I enjoyed the nativity play that was staged by the then church youth group. My favourite actor that year was a youth named Alexander who humorously guided the audience from one scene to another.

I continued attending those Christmas eve night masses in the years that followed. When I attended the one of the year 2000, I prayed for success in my KCPE exams that I was to sit for the following year in November. God answered my prayers because I scored an impressive 421 marks (out of 500) in the exams which led to my admission at Starehe Boys' Centre, Kenya's best high school back then.

And when I attended the night mass of 2004, I prayed not only for success in my KCSE exams that I was to sit for the following year but also for good health. Again, God answered my prayers because I had vibrant health throughout the year 2005. And I passed the mighty KCSE exams with flying colours. I scored A's in all eight subjects. Or to be more precise, I got six A's and two A-'s.

Yesterday as I prepared to usher 2018, I decided to pray for all that I desire just like I did in 2000 and 2004. Here's how I prayed:

Lord, my dear God - Creator of the Universe and the joy of my heart - I thank You for letting me see yet another year (2018) as a sprightly healthy young man. Thank You so much.

Lord, forgive me for all the sins I have committed in the past, especially against my parents. Let me begin the New Year as a guiltless, free young man.

Lord, help me to forgive those who have sinned against me in the past. Let me begin the New Year without any traces of hatred and ill-will toward anybody. Or as Abraham Lincoln would put it, let me begin the year "with malice toward none and charity for all".

Lord, I will strive to delight in You each day of this year. Reward my efforts by fulfilling all the desires of my heart. By the way, do You remember the desires that I have repeatedly made known to You in my prayers? Of course I know You do because You are all-knowing.

Lord apart from fulfilling those desires, fill my soul with never-fading joy, love, hope, faith, peace, courage and gratitude; my mind with wisdom, insight, knowledge and good judgement; and my body with vibrant health and youthful swagger.

Lord, throughout 2018, be my strength in my moments of weakness. And in my wanderings, be my guide. May I have good luck in all my endeavours.

Lord, I also place my wonderful parents into your able hands. They worked hard to give us a solid foundation of knowledge and discipline. Reward them for their efforts with good health and long life. May they live to see me sit among the mighty.

That's all I am praying for, Lord. And do all that and much more to my siblings (Joe, Bob, Paddy & Symo) as well as to my relatives and true friends. Amen.

There you have it: my prayer for 2018, that is. I believe God will answer all that I have mentioned in the prayer like He did for me in 2000 and 2004. But I humbly add, let His will be done.

Likewise, I urge you to not only voice your prayers to God - the supreme friend to every individual and the common inexhaustible reservoir of love - but also pen what you write so that you can track God's work in your life. Over to you!

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Yahoo, it's Christmas Day! For me, I have always loved this day since I was a young boy because I get to feast on sumptuous dishes and drink lots of juice. And as I now get older and wiser, I am also celebrating this day since it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, my best friend in whom are hidden all knowledge and wisdom.

As I prepared to usher this special day yesterday, I thought about the atom bomb and its possible potential to save the human civilization from extinction. Are you ready to hear my idea? Okay... On your mark... Get set... Read!

The creation of the atom bomb was first thought possible by a team of scientists that included the great particle physicist Albert Einstein. In a letter written in 1939, Einstein advised Franklin Roosevelt, the then President of the United States, that the United States government sets aside funds to construct the bomb. Mark you, 1939 was one of those years preceding World War 2 during which enemy nations were rising against the United States, such as Japan which in 1941 bombed the Pearl Harbour in the U.S. State of Hawaii.

Roosevelt acceded to Einstein's request and in a short time, the United States government set aside funds for the construction of the potentially lethal bomb. And in a few years, the created atom bombs were secretly tested which proved to be as lethal as Einstein had predicted.

And you know what? In 1945 when Japan continued being a pain in the [insert body part here] to the United States during World War 2, Harry Truman, the then President of the United States who had succeeded Roosevelt, ordered two atom bombs to be dropped in Japan. The effect of the bombs were so devastating that Japan quickly surrendered. And that ended World War 2.

It's interesting to note that Albert Einstein, who masterminded the construction of the atom bomb, had fled Germany, another enemy nation of the United States during World War 2, in the 1930s to avoid the injustices that were meted out to the Jews by the barbaric Nazi regime headed by Adolf Hitler. The escape of Einstein from Germany turned out to be a big blessing in disguise because had he stayed in Germany, he would have assisted the barbaric Nazi regime in creating the first atom bomb which would have made the world take an unfair dangerous turning point. God be thanked that it is the just and fair United States government, with its tenets of liberty and justice for all, that first created the atom bomb.

The United States was lucky to have been the only nation on Earth in 1945 with the intelligence and resources to create an atom bomb. So when it dropped the lethal bombs on Japan that year, no opposing nation could counter the aggression.

Today, things have changed because every major power has an arsenal of atom bombs. The Soviet Union, for instance, constructed an even more lethal Hydrogen bomb a few years after the end of World War 2. So if Washington decides to drop an atom bomb in Moscow now, ten minutes later, Chicago and New York City will be annihilated. It's now not an issue of dropping the atom on somebody; it's now an issue of dropping the atom bomb on everybody.

I think that's why in 1949, Albert Einstein quipped, "I do not know with what weapons World War 3 will be fought but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones." Of course Einstein's point, I think, was that World War 3 would involve the use of advanced atom bombs that would wipe out all civilized men on Earth, sparing only bushmen in remote areas who would use sticks and stones in World War 4.

With gratitude and profound respect, I salute all the world leaders since the end of World War 2 who laboured wisely and diligently to prevent the occurrence of another world war which would have led to a nuclear holocaust. Leaders like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell and Mikhail Gorbachev.

The atom bomb is lethal for shizzle. That's why I have listed it as one of the scientific marvels on the side bar of this blog. Once you are through with reading this story, I advise you to go through this blog's side-bar, which I modified two days ago, to see the full list of scientific marvels together with other amazing facts and words of wisdom.

Coming back to the issue of the atom bomb, I remembered yesterday reading in an old international news magazine (either Time or Newsweek), when I was in Fourth Form at Starehe Boys' Centre, of a massive celestial body that bombarded Jupiter circa 1994. Scientists estimate that the impact didn't affect Jupiter that much since the planet is gigantic. But if the same celestial body had bombarded the Earth, which is far too smaller than Jupiter, it's effect on our grand and beautiful planet would have been so catastrophic that it would probably have led to the extinction of some living species on Earth.

I therefore thought to myself as a wise man would think, "How about using the atom bomb to prevent such a catastrophe?" And from that question, I came up with what I call the Thuita Doctrine® which states as follows:

The international community should team up to create seven extremely lethal atom bombs that should be rocketed to the international space station in readiness to dismantle into dust any massive celestial body that might be detected to be on its way to bombard the Earth.

That Thuita Doctrine® could save the human civilization from the extinction that befell on dinosaurs which some scientists propound was caused by a huge meteorite that struck the Earth during the Mesozoic Era. So the atom bombs, which after World War 2 worried some world leaders that they could end the human civilization, could actually save it from extinction. See?

I have shared this Thuita Doctrine® with the White House as well as with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA). If my doctrine succeeds in stimulating a lively discussion on that possible virtuous use of the atom bomb, I shall be satisfied. If it leads, however, to the salvation of human civilization from extinction even 1000 years from now, I shall be greatly rewarded. Merry Christmas!

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