Flashes of Thought.

I grew up at a time when Mexican and Philipine telenovelas were the thing in town. It was an era when two or three families, mostly women and children, would gather in one neighbour's house, usually the one with a television, to immerse themselves in the messy love lifes of Alejandro and Miguel😉. Those were also the days when many a dinner was ruined because a mother or house help became so engrossed in the unfolding drama that she forgot the food simmering on the stove😫. Growing up as a child wholly devoted to these dramas was not without consequence. First, I lost my good eyesight from sitting far too close to the television(so I could get the story wa kwanza😂). Second, I inherited a distorted view of love and relationships. I carried visions of romance so detached from reality that the only place they could truly exist was on a television screen. But immature as I was, how was I to know that ground vitu ni different? I proudly nurtured these ideas with the kind of...

Contrary to what many believe, the heart , and not the voice, is the true worshipper’s greatest asset. It is from the altar of the heart that either profane or acceptable worship is lifted up to God. In its first mention in scripture, the word worship as used in Genesis 22:5 was used to signify obedience , surrender and sacrifice, all of which are heart matters. Scripture rightly puts it when it speaks of the heart as being the wellspring from which the issues of life flow (Proverbs 4:23). Is this to discredit the place of skill and excellence in voice and musicality? Not at all. The Bible itself exhorts us to “play skillfully unto the Lord” (Psalm 33:3). Yet from God’s perspective, the heart is primary, while voice and musicality are ancillary. It is from this vantage that the Lord contended with the children of Israel, declaring: “ These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). As long as their...

A sublime wonder walked upon the earth. God looked upon it and was pleased. The Holy Spirit watched it with delight. The angels meditated upon it with awe. What was this wonder? That a woman carried God in her womb. Pure, simple, holy and graceful Mary. The vessel through whom the ultimate salvation and redemption was born into the world. A woman so zealous to fulfill her role in the Grand Redemption Plan that when the angel Gabriel came to her with the news that Christ would be born through her, she completely yielded her entire being to the agenda of God. “I am the Lord’s handmaiden,” she said. “Be it unto me according to your word.” In her simple words is revealed the posture of any woman that would carry God in her generation. By acknowledging herself as God's handmaiden, Mary was in effect saying that she did not belong to herself. Rather, she belonged to God, to do as He pleased with her. This sentence reveals a woman who was dead to herself and alive to God. She ...

The session was intense, the atmosphere electric, and our mother was in her element. Gone was the soft and gracious voice of the nurturer. Here was the roar of a lioness among her cubs, teaching them how to roar like herself. The message that day was simple: “ Daughters, know how to carry your God.” The lesson was drawn from the Book of  1Kings 11:1–4, concerning the foreign women whom Solomon loved. “ But King Solomon loved many strange women… of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, ‘Ye shall not go in to them… for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’… And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.” (1 Kings 11:1–4) Not much is said about these women except that when they came to Israel and to Solomon, they came with their own gods. The influence they carried was so strong that even Solomon—the wisest king in Israel—was turned away from the Lord. These women carrie...

“ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” — 1 John 2:27 Scripture in 1 John 2:27 gives a wonderful assurance to the believer: in this maze called the world where we find ourselves, we do not have to get lost for lack of a guide. We are assured that there is a Teacher within us who teaches us all things. His specialization is in all things. He can teach you business, psychology, relationships, mathematics you name it. His reserve of knowledge and counsel is wide and inexhaustible. Such is the nature of the Holy Spirit, our Teacher. He knows all things, and He teaches all things. But there is a caveat. That the Teacher knows all things does not automatically mean He will teach the student all things. No. While the Teacher is capable and willing, the posture of the student determines how and what will be taught. How we posture ourselves toward thi...

Solomon is a striking example of what Scripture means by a city set on a hill. Far from being a mere illustration, he reveals the vast capacity of the human heart and soul to accommodate many influences, for the Bible records that he loved many foreign women, a thousand in number. Many ancient biblical cities accommodated such populations.  The man possessed by Legion is another witness to this immense capacity of the human heart to sustain myriads of distraction and destruction. A legion was an ancient Rome military unit of about three to six thousand soldiers. It is therefore no wonder that when the demons were driven out of the Gadarene demoniac, they entered two thousand swine and drove them violently into the sea! Pause and consider for a moment the nature of this man. Scripture in Mark 5:1-13 shows he was unsubdued and unhinged. Attempts were often made to restrain him with chains, yet none could hold him down. He was given to self-harm, cutting himself with stone...

Matthew 4:2 is a verse that sets the premise for one of the most momentous points in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having fasted forty days and forty nights, going without food, the Bible says that He was hungry. It was from this point of hunger that the enemy launched his first customized attack. The nature of hunger is that it creates vulnerability in us. Knowingly or unknowingly man will almost do anything to satisfy his hunger. This does not apply only to physical hunger, but also to emotional, psychological, and spiritual hungers. It is from these hunger points that the devil attempts to manipulate our lives and outcomes. Remember Esau? Hungry to the point of death, he forfeited his birthright. Remember the Egyptian servant in 1 Samuel 30, who, after receiving water and bread, revealed the secrets of his former master. What of the prodigal son who was reduced to eating pig pods because of severity of his hunger? Points of hunger make us vulnerable and susceptible ...

    Oh, Unleavened Bread of God, that I may eat of You. The children of Israel ate manna, the bread of angels. But only You, The Bread of God, will satisfy the hunger of my soul, and heal the diseases of my heart. The Showbread of God, that my eyes may feast on Thee, and be cured of all blindness. Unleavened bread of God. Sinless. Spotless. Incorruptible. In Thee may I find my fill. And my life be made whole.  Mark 14:1 [1]IT WAS now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread , and the chief priests and the scribes were all the while seeking to arrest Jesus by secrecy and deceit and put Him to death. Shilako. 

 1 Samuel 2:18  But Samuel ministered before the Lord, a   child girded with a linen ephod. A poignant verse that pierces my mother heart. We live in the days of the idolatry of children. Days where men and women are so consumed with their children, at the expense of God. Dark days when ignorantly and stubbornly, parents continue to give their children to Molech, that ancient god to whom the Israelites sacrificed their children. Through ungodly training and upbringing, many children are the trophies that are rejoiced over in the temples of Dagon, even as the Philistines rejoiced over the heads of Saul and his sons. Many parents have children that belong to them but don't belong to the Lord. A tragedy! But scripture tells us of a woman who, at the height of her desperation and consequent illumination made a vow to the Lord. She made a vow to give her child to the Lord, if only He would open up her womb. And so before conception, the child was already conse...

One of my favorite songs carries a line so gripping that it has lingered with me: “ You’ve got this way of taking away those shadows that hung around.” As I sat with those words, it dawned on me that to be human is, in many ways, to live under shadows. From the moment we are conceived in the mind of God, carried in our parents as egg and sperm, formed in the womb, born into family, and shaped within community, we are shaped by countless shadows. Some nurture us. Others wound us. And even those shadows we don't recognize or fully understand, we feel their weight all the same. Shadow, as a symbol, is deeply significant. First , shadow speaks of protection and refuge . Think of walking under the scorching sun, your body yearns for shade, the shadow of a tree or a building to offer relief. Or remember being a child, frightened by a barking dog, instinctively hiding in the shadow of your mother. Shadow was safety. Second , shadow signifies presence and closeness . You ca...

It is in God’s divine design that life is lived inside out—that the true essence of our being flows from within rather than without. Yet this truth is often lost amid the endless stimuli pulling at our senses. And so, many live outside in, allowing external measures and fleeting impressions to dictate their inner state. This inversion has given rise to countless restless wanderings among humanity. Day after day, we chase after this and that—always pursuing but never apprehending, always seeking but rarely finding. Many achieve, yet few are fulfilled. Our accomplishments multiply, but the void within only deepens. The world becomes a labyrinth of wandering souls: laughing, smiling, appearing content, yet overshadowed by an unshakable emptiness. Seldom do we pause to look inward, to heed the silent whispers of eternity echoing in our hearts. We lack the courage to dig into the dark, silent depths of our souls until light breaks forth. Intimidated by the shadows within, we shu...

We live in a world obsessed with perfect beauty—flawless skin, toned muscles, impeccable shapes. Entire industries thrive on this hunger for perfection. Scars and marks are frowned upon, often perceived as ugliness to be hidden. And so, we run to surgeries, conceal with heavy makeup, or hide behind masks, desperate to erase these evidences of imperfection. But what if we chose to see our scars differently? Not as stains to be covered, but as symbols to be embraced. Why? Because they are markers of wisdom gained. Evidences of the unique stories marked into our beings that make us who we are. I don’t know about you, but I’ve come to a sobering realization: because of the fickleness of human nature, most wisdom must be branded into us if it is to stay with us. Unfortunately, without pain and without scars, much of life’s wisdom slips away. But when etched into our bodies or our souls, it endures. It remains with us into old age, shaping who we are. Think about it. Almost every...

For someone who cannot see, it might be assumed that the ultimate blessing would be having their eyes opened. Yet, scripture narrates a poignant tale of two 'blind' individuals—Adam and Eve—whose eyes were indeed opened, but only to the heartbreaking realization of their nakedness after consuming the forbidden fruit. The story of the fall offers many profound insights, but today I want to focus particularly on how knowledge influences our consciousness. We live in an age overflowing with information, where all type of knowledge multiplies by the day. Thanks to technological advancements, accessing this wealth of information has never been easier. Through mainstream media, social networks, and alternative platforms, we are bombarded with a relentless stream of data. On the other hand slogans like "knowledge is power" drive us to pursue information, often in a quest to validate our superiority. Ultimately we find ourselves in a loop of either being chased or chasing inf...

In the poem 'Nakbat Dimashq' (The Tragedy of Damascus), poet Ahmed Shawqi presents a poignant line: " And the red freedom has a door, struck by every bloodied hand." This line was echoed by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in one of his last videos before his death. As I reflected on this line and contemplated the wars currently raging in Ukraine, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and elsewhere, I realized that it is nearly impossible to separate freedom from struggle. There are three nuances to the concept of freedom: first, "freedom from," which denotes liberation from societal constraints; second, "freedom to," which signifies the ability to do what we wish; and third, "freedom to be," which extends beyond mere actions to encompass the freedom to become who we were meant to be. Yet, in all these nuances, it is evident that historically and conceptually, 'freedom' often involves overcoming obstacles, fighting against ...

In Christendom, a lot of emphasis is placed—rightly so—on knowing God. People are encouraged to go the extra mile in their pursuit of God and the knowledge of Him. One of the common themes used to motivate this pursuit is the idea that knowledge is power.  However, there’s an important caveat to this notion.  Not all knowledge is power, except for the knowledge that is retained within us. Think back to those days in the exam room when you faced your examination paper. During that test, it was only the knowledge you had retained that could help you. Any knowledge gathered but forgotten was like a lightbulb that wouldn't turn on in the darkness—useless.  So, what am I trying to say?   I am saying that it is not enough to simply gather knowledge about God; we must come to a place of understanding and retaining that which we have known about Him. Only that retained knowledge can illuminate our paths. Don't focus so much on gathering knowledge without che...

Greetings dear reader,  As we progress with the year 2025, here are a few thoughts for our consideration.  One of the inescapable realities of Christian life is that of warfare. Having been born again, we enjoy peace with God but we automatically attract enmity from the devil. He is constantly stalking and plotting against us. Like a master predator, he is always studying and marking us his targets, looking for vulnerable points through which to launch his attacks. His mission? To steal, kill and destroy. Knowing that, we cannot afford to be casual in our approach to his attacks. Rather, we need to gird up our minds and our spirits, always ready to fight back, in what the bible calls the good fight of faith. We need to settle it in our minds that we will not take the fight sitting down in our comfort zones, but that we will fight tooth and nail until we have the victory. Our mission? To possess, defend and extend. Like Jephthah, let we seek to be intentional in ...

Apart from carrying the hopes of new beginnings and better days ahead, New Years also have embedded within their depths the subtle yet powerful message of our mortality. The constant ebbing and flowing of days bear the latin tidings "Memento Mori" which translates "remember you must die." Of course most of us approach the subject of our death with foreboding. We think that thoughts on the brevity of our lives and the inevitability of our death to be too dark and dull, and can only yield frustrations and attract 'negative energy' around us.  However, I'm coming to understand that thoughts on our mortality are like the proverbial "apple a day" that keeps the doctor away. A healthy consciousness of our mortality helps to keep us on the straight and narrow path of purpose. It equips us with the wisdom to chip away at the vain phantoms and excesses that plague our existence, until all is that is left is a purposeful, meaningful and etern...

Happy New Year dear F.O.T Readers!  I hope this new year finds you well and sufficiently recalibrated, ready to take on the journey ahead of us.  For this post, I want to write about something that has been brewing in my mind about "the New Year". During this season, one of the most common phrases used is 'starting over' and 'new beginnings'... From our New Year resolution lists to church sermons and commercial postings, the motifs of "starting over" and "new beginnings" are not to be missed. Not to mention the pressure that is usually placed upon the masses to "start something new". In this 'starting over' camp there's usually that group of people who are starting over on unfinished projects, goals, and tasks that were left along the way from the previous years. Then there are those that are beginning afresh that which they've never done before, and finally, there's that curious lot who ironically 'start ...