WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER!

I LIKE THIS PHOTO; it says so much in a world that has so little time for the people living in it.     Just the caring aspect of the 'Father' toward his tiny son.    He has the longer legs, the stronger body providing, him with speed and endurance - things his son still has to grow into.      The son needs the exercise and the time to grow, but he also needs the patience and protection of others whilst he does so.    In the photo this little boy looks like he has a long way to go before he reaches his father's stature and strength - he also looks as if he has walked enough, BUT dad is waiting for him to catch up.    YES I like it.    We all need time to catch up with each other.

Most of us take our own time to get to where we need to be.   Some are more punctual than others which means, obviously, that some are slower whilst others more prompt and faster than others.     Prompt, time conscious people, can often be out of patience with those who take their time, and rather laid back in their attitude to life and living.     They are often unwilling to WAIT, and just run on ahead to do their thing, regardless of others, their happiness, well being, or peace of mind.
THIS IMPATIENCE is often the cause of a kind of selfishness that pushes others out of the way in order to make quicker progress and satisfaction for themselves...... I can't wait, I have not the time; I have other things to do, appointments to keep - excuse me (or more often we just push) and instead of WAITING in the queue we barge and shove our way to the front.     When I first arrived in Kenya in 1968 it was something I noticed first (with loathing) that when I joined a queue (say to buy stamps at the post office, or some other shop) I would actually be beckoned to the front in order not to wait - NOT because I was old ( I was then just 28) or crippled or ill, but because I was WHITE.   I was at times even 'manhandled' to that 'front' under protest.      I could not understand it, and could not approve of it.      I asked myself, HOW could a FREE Kenya still bow to colour?   How could she need to bow to anyone or anything over and above her own citizens.     Politeness is good, but it is NOT good when ONLY applied to a particular section of society, EXCLUSIVE  of all others; THEN it can become odious!      I felt offended on behalf of the REST of the people in the queue.        I would react in the same way wherever I am.    I was always taught to 'Wait your turn'  and to do so patiently and meekly.     It can be tiresome and even annoying BUT to show the proper care and protection of each others expectations it should be done.
I have seen people fight and even injure each other due to 'queue jumping' as it is called.

Regretfully quite a number of white people were the culprits, as well as the African citizen    They also found waiting to receive parcels and other goods through the usual channels time consuming, and would 'oil' the procedure with a few shillings (a bribe) to speed things up.     Bribery is another outworking of refusal to WAIT our turn.      I have heard people in these latter days more and more say that 'you get nowhere without a bribe."  That is SO sad.     Of course it is going two ways.     The one to impatiently do away with waiting for due process, and the other to make due process longer in order to be offered a 'bribe' to speed things up.       Evil upon evil encouraging more evil.       My own attitude to this is that I would rather do without the 'parcel' the 'favour' than pay out any INDUCEMENT other than the legal charge in order to receive.

But I am anxious not to stray to far from where I began.   In the New Testament of the Bible in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 11 v21 Paul criticises the Church saying 'For as you eat, each of you goes ahead, without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.'
Paul is specifically talking about how they celebrate the Lord's Supper.     It is difficult to say whether he sees people coming in late whilst others coming before are already eating and drinking - even to excess~ or whether they may have all sat down together, but not been served at the same time so that some have to WAIT whilst others are already eating.       Either way he finds it offensive and uncaring.     In the Amplified Bible v.21 says 'For in eating each one (hurries) to get his supper first..'
and then finally in v33 he says 'So my brethren, when you gather together to eat (the Lord's Supper) WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER.'       So that, no doubt, they can be seen to act as one family, one body, one brotherhood together.        This was apparently far from the image created on such occasions when, instead, everyone seems to have struggled noisily for themselves, even greedily and without regard to others.      No sign of CARE, or consideration for another - just get, and swallow, as much and as fast as one could.    No matter if others remain hungry, and no matter if in the process you yourself disgrace yourself in eating and drinking too much - all in front of God.      Yet it was at a time when God was supposed to be uppermost in their minds.     So much for the Christian Church in Paul's day!   Is it any better two thousand years later - and not merely in the observation of Communion or Breaking of Bread, but in all the other facets of living in love of one another; in the care of each other?     Where is the 'watcfulness toward one another to note each others need?   Where, the patient attitude that will WAIT for one to 'catch up' to where you are.?     We all need to be loving, caring fathers and elder brothers and sisters toward those younger and growing up behind us.

IN PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS he opens his heart differently but in a similar frame of mind when he writes and says to the Christians there -

BRETHREN, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort,

you who are spiritual (who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit)

should set him right, and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority

and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.

BEAR, (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults,

and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (The Messiah)

and complete what is lacking (in your obedience to it)

FOR, if any person thinks himself to be somebody (too important to condescend

to shoulder another's load)

then he is nobody (of superiority except in his own estimation),

he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO...!

ON PAGE 30 (Africa News) of December 8th Daily Nation a small article from Kampala was included in which a minor Presidential candidate for next years Election was reported as saying - I WILL RETURN AMIN'S REMAINS.

Well let me say right away ALL mankind are made in the likeness of their Creator, God.    This does not mean we LOOK like God or that we are like him in shape or texture. No but we are like (similar to) HIM spiritually, and in our ability to imagine in our mind, and then bring into existence what we have imagined.    We can create.    We can perceive what is godly, pure and holy - and we are able also to discern EVIL, understanding, that it is not like God, and not to be pursued.      But I can appreciate the worth of the sinner, the evil man or woman;   I can love him or her. as a person made to BE like God - but I do not have to agree with the EVIL that he or she might do.    I will not support that evil. It is against all that God IS, and to support it I must become the Enemy of God.      Well I think we should all, regardless of who we are, or where we originated,  think twice before making ourselves enemies of the God Who made us to be like HIM, loving, compassionate, merciful and just.  a Forgiving God.     This is my God.     There are other gods in our world who are NOT like this in practice, and we should remember that it matters that our words are fully backed up by our actions when talking about God, or OUR likeness to Him.

The man who made the promise to Return Idi Amin's remains to the land of his fathers suggests that this would please those people - maybe even MORE of the people than those of Amin's own clan or tribe. After all it often said of a man ' he is not all bad '.    TRUE, but it is only the evil that men do that lives after them -(THE GOOD is oft interred with their bones.    how much good can we remember of this monumental figure of a president? Is it MORE than the evil?    What will this man in Uganda, want to put in his Amin Museum?   And who will want to travel there to SEE what is there?     Shall we make yet another shrine to the errors of men and women.    A place to come without sorrow or regret?


One of the Anglican Bishops in Uganda during Amin's Presidency wrote a book entitled "I love Idi Amin".   His name was Festo Kivengere, and he wrote in order to declare to all the Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness of God Almighty.     He loves us all, the good AND the bad!     BUT he does not love the EVIL that we do - and we all commit evil to some extent.      God LOVES what He has made, but he cannot and will not CONDONE the evil that we do. Kivengere once told a story of a little girl who asked her mummy, saying "Mummy what does God do all day long?"   Her mother, a little surprised by the question, none the less immediately responded, and said "Darling, He spends His whole time mending broken things."    Yes he spends His whole compassionate time on ALL of us, both great and small, to see who will be mended.      BUT God will not leave us gummed up and dirtied by the grime of SIN in our lives - that must be removed and washed away before we can sit down with Him in Heaven.     God loves you, and longs to have you with Him where He is, but He will not welcome the EVIL that is with you in our life and living.    That must be left behind, and washed away in the atoning blood of Christ.

The people, if only some of them, might welcome the idea of their son coming home to be buried in his ancestral land - but will they also welcome the memory of the EVIL that he did as the Ugandan Butcher, the murderer of almost an entire Tribe, as well as many others come to roost there with them?      He made Uganda to be NOTORIOUS for its brutality.     He also made himself and his Country to be humiliated.    YET there were many that stood with him; he was even elected Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity in 1975 whilst at the height of his power in Uganda.   Yet all his power stood on an evil base and practice.     To REMEMBER such a life might surely relight a fire once more; and rather than any good he may have done, a revival of that EVIL instead flare up again.   The Nazi Party is now reviving in Europe as Hitler is being remembered and even re-instated as a 'good' Leader in certain areas!    Some people like to remember him, and even hang his picture in their home.   BUT it is hard to bring the man to mind without the EVIL that surrounded his life.      To put up portraits, and notable memorials of an EVIL person or celebrity might lead to idol worship of a most ungodly kind.    Worship that might turn us into a copy of the very evil we should avoid.

To let Amin's body lay in the earth from which he was taken is one thing.     To make a mound over it, and draw undue attention to it may be more than unwise.     It is interesting to note that even when he was buried in Jeddah his family made no fanfare, nor built any ornate memorial.     There Idi lies almost forgotten, invisible and alone.     Yes, we might all do best, as Bishop Kivengere encourages us, to love the man without letting the evil he did cling to us or to our memory.         When the Day comes and all the DEAD arise, it matters little where we might have been buried, or how we was interred. This Earth is not my home or yours - we are just passing through - on the way to our true home or other designated end.    Nothing that I might have, clinging to me here, of earth or stone will accompany my spirit, or be allowed to be part of that NEW body we all hope for.     For me I would leave Idi Amin where he is in the hallowed ground of Ruwais Cemetary, in Jeddah.   Pray for his soul!  Ask the Living God to be merciful to him - and to you - when the Great Day Comes - as it will, and that very soon.

=========================    

MARRY IN GOD'S SIGHT, AND DO NOT DEVALUE IT IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

MARRIAGE IS NOT FOR 

      EVERYONE, Thank you!!

I found this minor Article in the NATION of 30th November - the DN2 Relationships supplement.     No sign of who may have written it.

Whilst grudgingly admitting that Marriage may have recommendable qualities, the writer then says " I think human marriage (is there any other kind?) has been an ongoing symbol of oppression, and brought a lot of misery to a lot of women."

I cannot disagree with him entirely on that. But many cultures traditionally (without any help from the Christianised and other nations) have seemingly taken it for granted that the woman is there to be used as a servant, if not slave.     Perhaps because it is assumed that women are 'weaker' sex, emotionally and temperamentally, men have taken advantage of her.    The REAL oppression I feel has come from the chauvinistic spirit and the natural disposition in men to rule and take a superior position.     Certainly many women, even today, suffer a life of drudgery and tyranny. I don't think Religion (except when incorrectly and even ignorantly) interpreted, has had anything to do with it.      The Bible does not teach such a view of women that devalues or degrades them.   JESUS did not teach this.

The Writer continues to point out (again quite rightly) that 'close to 40 per cent of women are murdered by their partners, and close to a third of women report sexual violence from their partners.'     And he goes on to suggest that those married in Kenya ran the risk of contracting HIV from their spouses!      However to use these facts to suggest we should be wary of, and even to keep away from Marriage, is not a strong enough argument for us to do so.        After 44 years of marriage I feel I can say this for sure, and even to add that it has done us both good as husband and wife.     But no doubt part of this has been that I am not addicted to alcohol, nor spending my nights with other women! Faithfulness had to be in a Marriage; both sides learning to trust each other's faithfulness to each other.      Additionally Esther and I have been able to converse and share our life and thought together on an equal basis, honouring each others intellect and giving place to each others opinion and ideas.    The Writer of the Article rightly points out that this is not always the case.   WHY?
We have grown to value each other, and not to desire the other's hurt or injury in any way.    In the doing of all this we have generally accepted that Marriage has been good for us, and that we can strongly recommend it to everyone - provided they are willing to honour each other as equals.   We are not special people, as people go.  We have tried to be sensible, caring, understanding, and appreciable of each other's person, willing to suffer and forgive each other in love.

Jesus said in the Gospel of Mathew, chapter 19 verse 12 - 'There are some eunuchs (men unable to perform sexual intercourse) which were so born from their mother's womb (born impotent or with some other physical complication); and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake...'
SOME may not be able to take on Marriage, for the simple fact of physical deformity, physical injury or mutilation by others, and even because they have felt in their spirit that they need to give up the entire idea of sexual intercourse and matrimonial responsibility in order to devote all their time and energy to serving God.        From this aspect and point of view I have to be willing to see, with the writer of the Nation article, that Marriage may NOT be for everyone.   But I cannot but think that the first two reasons given for being a eunuch generally result in a deep sense of sadness that marriage is out of the question for them sexually.        I think many others in the third category, who have decided to remain unmarried as part of their entire dedication and giving of themselves to God, may also end up regretting that decision, leading them into temptations some cannot resist.     They are to be pitied.     But they also tend to make me feel that even they, many of them if they were permitted, would Marry rather burn in their hidden lusts.      They made their choice, no doubt sincerely and purely - but not always because GOD wanted them to do so...........HE does not need  that everyone who wants to serve and please Him should be alone.     It has never been GOOD for a man to be alone, and it was for THIS reason that God performed the miracle of giving Man a 'purpose made companion' to fulfil his every need physically and spiritually as his equal.      Marriage IS GOOD for all, but it must be one man + one woman only.      There is NO scriptural or any other evidence that there is any other kind of marriage that can work as intended by the Inventor and Creator.       Do not be tempted  to use the words of Jesus against Him / or me;     Gay men and women are NOT born gay!     This is a misnomer repudiated by the best and most accepted of this world's Geneticists.     Jesus was talking, in Matthew 19, of Marriage, relative to the matter of physical intercourse within that marriage.       He was not referring to those who can only be comfortable with the same sex.     He NEVER did reverse any statement or previous Biblical commentary relative to being homosexual or to the homosexual persuasion.

Of course I am not referring to loose connections or relationships of the old 'Come we Stay' category; such do not constitute a true 'marriage' done in the sight of, and with the Blessing of God.  Take care that you understand what you do, and what you approve of.       But it is written in the Book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4 - 'Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled....'    The Amplified Translation of this verse puts it plainer and in full -

Let MARRIAGE be held in honour

(esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things.

And so let the marriage bed be undefiled

(kept undishonoured)

For God will judge and punish the unchaste

(all guilty of sexual vice) and adulterous'