Thoughts and Other Things

I was going through the famous story of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath recently and got stuck on a verse. “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” 1 Kings 17:9 In case you’re not familiar with the story, Elijah had been in hiding after he had told the king that he was cutting off the rain for the next few years. The place where he was hiding had a brook from which he drank and it had now dried up. God then speaks the words of verse 9. What caught my attention was the word “commanded”. I thought it was a bit harsh of God to ‘command’ someone of this kind. Widows were people who had tasted the painful side of life, having lost a partner, protector and provider (because in essence, that’s what a husband is. It’s someone you can relate with and go through life with; someone who protects you from all hurt and danger; someone who meets your needs, whatever their nature). Being a widow meant you were going throu...

I have a very wise bestie who once said something that I was reminded of yesterday. I was waiting in line to be called into the consultation room. The doctor read out my name and I stepped in. Once inside, he greeted warmly, “Good morning pastor”. It kinda bothered me, why didn’t he just use my first name like he did when he called me out? But ironically, I returned the greeting with “Good morning doctor”. It was weird, referring to each other by our titles as though they were all we were. Back to my wise bestie. She once said she didn’t like people randomly calling me ‘pastor’ outside of the church setting (she only calls me ‘pastor mngani’ when we’re at church). I reasoned that I wasn’t only a pastor when I was within the four walls of the church, and besides, it’s just a manner of showing respect. She explained that she understood that, but that her concern was that that is all people would see me as, never as a person with a personality, with needs, with weaknesses, but a flawles...

One of the harsh realities I’m having to deal with as I ‘adult’ is the fact that I can’t do life alone. I can try, as I do every other day when I lock myself up in my room and pretend I’m on another planet, but sooner or later, I’m gonna have to step out and deal with the fact that life aint ‘livable’ all by yourself. And it’s not because I’m weak or dependent (I’m definitely not the latter), but it’s because that’s just the way we’re built up. We’re made to exist and flourish in a relationship or community context. When God created mankind, he made them male and female from on start. Sure the one came before the other when it came to their formation, but point is, we were aware when Adam was formed that there was one missing. And it’s good that Adam came first. Besides getting the garden in order and figuring out how to do life there, he would learn to appreciate the other when she came because he would know there were things he just couldn’t do without her (I hope the brothers are ...