Wild yet valid thoughts

These keep popping up in my (our) minds, if we can really, honestly review our thoughts;

Perhaps due to different cultures and our mysterious yet almighty God, whom–Biblically– we should always ‘see’ in our fellow human beings, the issues of life and death keep pestering our minds.

For instance and despite biological and medicine explanations, it is still mysterious how one single sperm swims so very fast– in the woman’s birth canal– defeating millions of others and hooks up with an ovum to form a fetus and start a brand new life.

It is also equally mysterious why the rest of the millions of the other sperms (defeated in their race– also perhaps a game and fight) do not try to snatch the ovum from its first mate…

Those definitely are things of God almighty.

The life of the two friends (the sperms & ovum) remains in God’s hands for 9 months in the womb and beyond for scores of years as per God’s plans, purposes and protection.

Then the two friends now manifesting as a human being reach a point when they have to depart our world and death happens bringing much sorrow and anguish to kin, relatives and friends.

In some African communities, and especially among the Agikuyu, death had & has always been a taboo subject, much feared and equally not much discussed. It is still much feared and very incomprehensible.

Death is feared so much to an extent that people who dream about the dead wake up afraid that death could be stalking them.

Though we can not control dreams, they still happen.

Some spiritual principles (with all due respect to our church leaders) tend to castigate such dreams and still fortunately offer solutions including saying prayers immediately after the dreams or later and this is positive seeing that it offers solace and hope to the dreamers that nothing bad shall happen.

This is despite the fact that God’s word also tells us that it is Our God almighty who gives life and also kills…

And that is just a little bit of the extent to which our God’s mysteries go…

Some spiritual teachings also tend to caution people against thinking about their departed (deceased) relatives and friends yet it is almost impossible to stop people from thinking about different life topics and realities.

Some even advise people not to honors their deceased’s graves and even to hide the departed photos from easy reach… So confusing this life and its attendant issues can become….

may God’s Holy Spirit continue guiding us in this labyrinth of life and even in the eventual path of death that confronts all.. .

But for believers in God almighty and His Holy Trinity, there is still hope that answers to some of these and other troubling life issues will one day (in eternity) be provided if at all it shall be necessary to do so.

Writing about death is also feared and someone reading this post could start wondering why I am writing about the taboo subject.. But, as I indicated  earlier, I often try not to escape from my thoughts even the wild ones.

Definitely and reasonably, each one of us has memories some good and some bad   about life and the times we have spent with family, friends, colleagues and even acquaintances. We cannot possibly erase such memories and we shall live in denial thinking that we can stop thoughts and memories flooding our minds once in a while.

So even as I at times recall the times I had with departed friends and relatives, I dare declare that I shall live and not die to tell of God almighty’s love and faithfulness.

For instance, one of my departed best friends was my late father’s younger brother. I beg not to mention his name so that I am not in breach of data privacy regulations and rules and also to protect the family’s privacy.

We had somethings in common including having gone to the same secondary school many years ago and him having passed through the school many years before i had gained secondary school age . I am privileged to have and still be holding some of his papers and and I can attest that he was a brilliant man who ended up as a machinist or machine engineer with some reputable firms in the country.

 Some of my fond memories of him (my junior daddy) were when as kids, he and a friend would give us rides in a pick up van of one of the first firms he worked with and we would end up visiting his, (almost an age mate) brother’s house (they were still unmarried).

The brother who was also very friendly and kind (Vava wa thogoto was our fond name for him) would serve us with delicious meals and drinks and we would spend time playing in that beautiful compound, some kilometers from our home, until late in the evening when  he (junior dad) would return us home but not before buying us sodas in the scenic shopping centre near his brother’s residence.(Soda was during the times a ‘delicacy’ drink  which we, like other children of the time, would greatly cherish.

Junior dad was not only friendly but also a very social and unassuming person. He loved his wife very much and used to refer to her as ‘my friend’. He was very faithful to his friend and he is the only person I never saw (even in my tender age & later in teenage and young adulthood ) joking around with women in social places. Indeed, I would accompany junior dad to many places including to bars & restaurants near his home town.

On such visits, the butchery would be our first stop for boiled ‘cow’s tongue’ delicacy and soup. Later we would visit his best bar & restaurant joint where he would order two bottles of the tusker beer brand and a soda for me. We would talk and socialize with few friends as he sipped his beer. I never saw him tipsy or taking more than two beers.

Even in Nairobi CBD, we would visit places such as ‘Karumando’ near ambassador hotel not for anything else but two beers and my soda.

Those days, young girls and bar maids would swirl around and he would greet them and mildly socialize them then explain to me that they were walking and hanging there to attract our attention, a thing they never succeeded in for as soon as he was done with his two beers and I with my two sodas, we would quietly leave and head home.

When his Nairobi industrial area employer (the firm was as expert aluminum & steel doors manufacturer) decided to relocate to the coastal region, junior dad opted to stay put in Nairobi so that he could be close to his family.

After the relocation, he decided to try his hand in poultry and later joined hands with a friend to launch a construction firm and they took various contracts.

During this period, I had just joined a publishing firm with offices in Nairobi CBD and in one of my lowest moments, he one day visited me at my place of work requesting for a soft loan. I guess he had secured an urgent project but sadly I was unable to give him the support at a time i felt he needed my support most. I felt very sad that I could no support him then and to date still feel sad & dismayed when I recall that day.

Months later, junior dad got unwell and got admitted in a Nairobi hospital where I and other family members would visit him almost daily. He was quite social even with nurses.

“This is my son and friend and a journalist too,” he at one time introduced me to a young nurse whom he had evidently befriended.

Junior dad was also quite outspoken and  would demand to have his rights. At the hospital, for instance, he would point out some anomalies including dirt in washrooms telling the nurses to ensure that the ablution areas were properly cleaned.

A few months later, junior dad surprisingly rested despite the fact that he was not really critically sick and I personally accepted the loss of one of my best relative friends…

And may God almighty continue resting his soul in peace and continue comforting and strengthening the family and friends .

This reflection is part of my wild thoughts in a topic treated as taboo..

I have done it in junior dad’s honour and as I stated earlier i pray to God almighty daily for a long life in which i will do His will, glorify His name and also accomplish my mission in this life which He had graciously given me .