Stormy Weather

A Mizizi-ite Perspective from the ground up, so to speak

We had stormy weather in Dar last week. Not too bad, not catastrophic like the hurricanes and tornadoes that sweep across our television channels, storms that leave destruction and carnage and news-reporters scattered in their wake, no, not that bad, but bad nevertheless. Maybe it’s because the City was unprepared – that happens you know – if you’re unprepared for storms in your life, a tiny one might uproot you, no matter how ‘strong’ you think you are. So last week the dark brooding clouds overhead were bundled and driven forward like a herd of Masaai cows into the city by a ferocious master of a wind that was howling behind it. In it’s speed and fury the masterful wind shook and rattled buildings, windows, trash (… of which there’s lots of in Dar) and trees. Unrelenting and unrepentant, the wind ripped off anything in its way that wasn’t secured and protected.  In less than 3 hours the city was covered by a heavy downpour that backed up traffic for hours. (or maybe I lie – there’s always traffic to Mbezi, especially from Shoppers Plaza…)



Ditto the pictures I took this morning of a tree with a lovely hanging branch in my-soon-to-be-manicured-garden/lawn (right now it’s just a bare and extremely dry patch of very hard ground – but I can seeee the future…)..

eeh.. moving on…

(scene 2) .. I stared at the branch. Really. Stared at it. I mean, it was lying there looking OK but something was obviously not right!  The leaves were not a rich glossy green but more like a faded lemony yellow – very pretty, nice color, but not right! My eyes followed the leaning branch and noticed that the branch had broken off from the main tree. It wasn’t attached to the main tree… it wasn’t rooted… blame it on the storm last week..

Dang! One week, one little tiny week – just a mere 7 days without the sap of life and the thing looks ok, is actually quite beautiful (I like the color lemony green and it’s a fantastic color on those new convertible VW’s) – but, the branch! Despite it’s outer beauty the thing is slowly and obviously on a declining path to decay and death. Are you a gardener or is there a Tree Whisperer in the house? Help!!! None? Sad. Guess I will have to chop it off.

Harsh hey? But that’s a reality.

If you disconnect from people around you, they’re going to retaliate sooner or later and chop you off. Before you become deadwood… man wasn’t ever meant to live alone, man is a social animal and we humans thrive on the sap of juicy relationships. Communication. How are your communications skills with those who matter to you? Do you talk to them often? Discuss ideas and thoughts, play games with them, share in the joy of being alive, join them in laughter and in meals? How are your communications skills with your God? Do you have conversations with God - talking – and more importantly listening to the Spirit Being who holds sway over your spiritual life? Do you even seek God? Disconnect means just that – a dis-connect.

Christ said the same thing: note the small print in verse 6.

   5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:5-7 (New International Version, ©2010)

So you have the responsibility of (1) having to maintain a high level of connection to those that have been placed around you and not think that you can do ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is, alone.
understanding that (2) a week without the Bible will leave you weak, and that (3) the liability of disconnection is being chucked out and dumped. (this works both ways - you can also dump those who don't reach out to you....)

Have you ever had those moments in your life when things are going so well for you that if something bad happened you’d breathe out a sigh of relief like…. Ok, that was going too good to be true?

Or you’re smiling at friends who think that mambo ni sawasawa with you just because you’re driving THE CAR, The moti, the Shinde, The Double-Cabin, The Noah, The Vitz (..ok maybe not the vitz..) or you’re wearing the YSL or D&G labels and sporting parfum or cologne and not that watered-down stuff you find at the local supermarket – or you own that business that looks likes it’s reaping in millions, or you have that perfect job/wife/children/house etc … ever felt that despite looking good on the outside that beneath all that there’s a seriously baaaad-mama weather front that’s about to blow up inside of you? Do you know someone who was all smiles and looking gorgeous and life looked ‘super-dooper’ then along comes a little wind and the whole tree just bowls over?

Ok…

That’s life.

The storms that is

… that’s life. Storms will always be there. But one thing I noticed is that branches break and trees fall during the first rain of the wet season only if they are….. dry. They could be rooted, but in very dry soil. Think drought. Undernourished. Like many of us, walking around like Ken and Barbie dolls with plastic smiles manufactured by Colgate plastered on our faces, with automated reply systems similar to those that mobile companies use where you’re  requested to [press 1] for Swahili or [press 2] for English or [press 3] to speak to Customer service  - then you’re put on hold for half an hour before you ‘get it’ – No service today dude! (sigh). I do feel like that sometimes… totally out-of-it, fragmented pieces of brain and heart floating around inside me, trying in vain to weather and ride out my storm , and, I know I have automatically whispered “I am Fine!” with a plastic smile to whatever question that has been asked of me.

We’re many.

Pat yourself on the back if you’re not one of us –hongera if you haven’t been down that road.. But I was.  Or is. Or was….ok…. I  Was on very very dry soil. And I kind of knew that if I kept up with the type of serious undernourishment that was going on in my mental and spiritual life, well, it was going to kill-me-like-really-quick.

…. I needed to be like a tree,

planted by the rivers of water,

that brings forth it’s fruit in its season,

whose leaf shall also not wither

and whatever (she) does

shall prosper.

(from Psalm 1)

The Word of God lays it down so neatly...

So when I looked at the branch in my soon-to-be-gorgeous-garden/lawn it struck me that a week without sap was killing it. How long had I been sapless - I asked myself?? For me, it had been like a couple of months without Living Water and I had (last year) literally asked for a Tree-whisperer –  sing with me the Superman Theme song:…

“somebody saaaaaaaave meeeeeee!!!!!!!”

Got more than I bargained for didn’t I?
MIZIZI DAR2011!!

Mizizi is my Tree Whisperer! Leading me into accountability with a diverse group of people who by myself I would not have found, a program, an agenda, a timetable that I had to make a commitment to; with this group we are in the process of forming a strong coalition for Christ and headed towards the Still Waters where we shall plant our roots real deep and draw up the Living Water.

Listen, going to Church and shouting oh God! does not constitute having a relationship with your spiritual self and your Lord.. If you are to be fully fulfilled, it has to begin from the inside-out, not the other way around.

Wisen up. It’s not too late. Get into the Word. Get low-down and spiritual! If you’re anything like me, for the sake of accountability, team up and work in partnership with people that study The Bible instead of wandering around with plastic people eating meager junk food meals that will poison you slowly…junk in, junk out. Get some real Soul Food!

A week of any practice will develop into a habit. Try it. Negative or positive…..(lol)

…I was in a dry place in my life where I wasn’t feeding enough on the word of God - Soul Matters – so,  I could lay the blame on moving from Kiambu (20˚C) to Dar-es-Salaam, I could blame it on the weather here – it’s soooo hot (39.9˚C). I could also blame it on me not jogging any more and having a disgusting tambi, I could blame it on not having regular hours or a work schedule… I could stand on the rooftop of my house and scream blame on everything, blame it on the Storms of Life!  Ever felt like that? Being so dangerously busy and unsettled and unscheduled and having a zero timetable that you don’t have time to inspire and motivate and feed your Soul and Spirit! You know (seriously!) we’re not all pastors here, or missionaries, or monks…. able to dedicatedly wake up before the crack of dawn and put in an hour of deep sincere prayer to God plus throw in a week of fasting plus attend meetings with irate, incensed, irritated business men or demanding vicious female bosses who want to either gut your finances or drain your resources, or I can’t ‘just-get’ a quiet moment and flip a switch on my kids and expect them to not bang on my door screaming ‘mommy! Mommy! Momm! Mommy! MOOOOOM!!!’ when I lock my door and try to escape them.... but still, despite the many excuses - the Danger-Mouse-factor here was that I was in a serious spiritual drought.

The Mizizi-Dar team facilitators is a group of amazing Tree-Whisperers – an awesome, inspiring, touched-by-Christ group of missionaries (who have the time to pray J)…. from Mavuno in Nairobi, to help me and many others like me in Dar to revitalize, to focus, to strengthen our roots, to teach us how re-establish and re-build our communication links back to God – to lead us back to the Rivers of Water that our souls thirst for so desperately, to detox our spiritual bodies from the junk food that we’ve been chewing on and back to a diet of real good Soul Food.

If you’re in a good strong coalition for Christ group – Tick.

If not: start singing the Superman Theme Song. (It worked for me!….or maybe God just got so tired of my croaky crakly voice He just conceded and gave in to my request and sent this Mizizi team…)

If not: Get rooted.

You may be big and strong and intelligent and talented, or beautiful and have tons of tosh, but I repeat, if you’re unprepared for storms in your life, a tiny one might uproot you, no matter how strong or powerful or gorgeous you think you are. Uh-huh, I can hear you singing the song ‘can’t touch this!..” acha tu!

Blessed is the man ….

 whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and in His law he meditates day and night…

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

written specifically for the MiziziDar team and High Octane

Note: my mission is not targeted to the perfectly saved, but rather to the seekers of the Truth, the broken-hearted, the hurting, the ones who walk through the Shadow of the Valley of Death.  To them I say, Fear No Evil, Fear Nothing – for The Lord is with you.