The Donald or The American President

I have made it a point of staying away from the hullabaloo going on in Trump’s America. After all, which one be my own. However, something in the news this morning caught my attention on the issue of President Trump’s first international trip.

“….political analysts say if the president can return home from this with even minor achievements but more importantly, no major gaffes, the White House can consider it a win.”

Since Trump’s presidency started and given the amount of excuses that have been provided to explain his behaviour, I had always feared that by the time Trump is done with America, we would have forgotten what ‘The American President’ is meant to be. Based on what was said in the  news this morning, I am beginning to think I might be right.

Having your fears confirmed isn’t a good thing. FYI.

Now, not that I worry for present day Americans, after all, some of them put him there. But I worry for our children. Not just American children, but children all over the world. See, United States of America being a world leader is being watched critically. Yet, America is compromising on ideals regarding the highest office, the most sacred seat, and political analysts are hoping for ‘minor achievements’. Is that what he was elected to deliver? Minor achievements….

 

So I ask, given that history is watching, what type of America are we going to leave our children? How do we teach our children the values of not compromising or settling for less? The Founding Fathers fought for a deliberate type of America. Is this it?

 

Which is better? Trying to pass or trying not to fail

For some weird reason, that question popped into my head and it begged/beseeched/harassed/cajoled me for answer. Won’t let me be until I started tuning the squeaky bolts and screws of my brain. The two sides are quite similar right, shouldn’t they be the same? I really hoped they were. After a lot of cranial sweating, it came to me.

In trying to pass a course for example, you might do things like go for all your lectures, pay tuition in time to avoid being sent out of classes, reading well ahead of exam period, feeding properly and sleeping well. Everything going on here is positive, yeah. Trying not to fail on the other hand, appears to have an  element of negativity. Before you consider the option of not failing, it means failure is becoming a major possibility. You would have seen it in the horizon, weighed the options of the results of failing and you realize, you really can’t afford to fail and then you start working on not failing. And this might entail things like doing crash studying at exam period, getting exam past questions, paying a lecturer to get favors etc. With trying to not do something, there is an element of desperation in play, clouding our better judgement.

Did anyone hear that rumor that Obama might be the antichrist? What followed the rumor was the frenzy of critically watching every move of the dude, so that if he does anything  that remotely appears antichrist-ey, we might go ‘yup, we knew it!’ It was years ago and for some reason that rumor popped into my head today. While watching the guy who was going about his own business, we forget to watch ourselves, we forget to be vigilant, to ‘work out our own salvation with fear and trembling’. Got me thinking, what is the difference between trying to pass and trying not to fail? or trying to be rich and trying not to be poor? Trying to get to heaven and trying not to go to hell?

Moral of all my rambling: We need to concern ourselves with the right mission. Otherwise, we will just be wasting time and resources on missions that profit nothing, running errands no one sent us. Pick your battles, take the right paths and there will be no anxiety.

 

I GOT FOUND

Hey beautiful people of the earth, glad you stopped by. FYI, I got hopelessly, miserably, unbelievable lost in a strange city. Not lost like mentally lost but actual, physical getting lost. Like, where on the surface of the earth am I, which direction is home and ‘I want my mommy!’ kinda lost.

See, here’s what happened. I went to the supermarket which is like 10 minutes’ walk from home. We all know how chilly the weather has been in recent times yeah, so I decided to take the bus home instead of walking. And I hopped into the first bus that came along. What are the chances that the bus won’t take me straight home right? I should have jejely respected myself and shown some respect for the rules of the city. So, the bus took me on a merry ride in a different direction. At first, I was like no ish, I’ll just use this opportunity to get to know the city, after all I am not rushing anywhere. The bus got to some place and turned, starting on another route. After about 15 minutes of riding, we got to a mall I recognized and I figured I should be able to find my way home from here and promptly jumped down from the bus. Waited like 5 minutes in the said chill for the next bus and as soon as it came I hopped on.

Now, this one decided to take me to some fancy residential area that I’m sure I wasn’t meant to visit on this entire trip. At that point, I stopped enjoying myself. Okay, what’s going on here? And as if the driver knew I was JJC, he decided to announce he had reached his last stop. Wait. What does that mean?? Seriously! I believe saying I got panicky here is quite justified. And that time, I knew a wandering spirit was in charge, not me. Residential areas usually don’t have lots of buses come and go so I was in for either a long trek or a long wait. So, I had no choice but to embark on both.

So, there I was trudging in the cold I was posing and saying ‘hell to the no, I ain’t walking in this’. This wasn’t supposed to happen, at least not today of all days that I feel so close to God. I had an amazing quiet time in the morning, I read my Bible a lot earlier and I have been singing nothing but gospel songs all day. If this had happened on one of those days I couldn’t stop humming Jason Derulo’s Trumpets, I would say it’s some higher power getting me. But not today of all days! Why would my loving Father let this happen to me?

After trudging for about 15 minutes, a bus came along and as usual, I hopped on. This took me further away again *sobs*. And when the driver got to the last stop, I swallowed my babe-ness *huge, huge lump* and went to ask the driver for help. And the help wasn’t coming for another 27 minutes. So I had to wait cutely in the cold. If there’s any way you can be cute in a chilly weather. The bus finally came and I raced for it like the hounds of hell were at my heels (PS: I was in a competition against myself). I had lost every ounce of chickness in me, I just wanted to get home so there’s no way I’m missing this bus. I almost knocked a gentleman over in my haste, the guy briskly and respectfully stepped outta my way. I got into the bus, found me a comfy seat, ensconced myself in it and proceeded to have a Father-daughter talk right away. I need to know the sin I committed to deserve this sufferhead. You know how everything a great Man does is never random?

Who remembers the story of the chick cracking the egg to get out of the shell? If you pity the chick as it struggles to get out and you decide to break the shell to help it out, you have succeeded in killing that chick. Struggling to get out of that shell is what enables it acquire the strength to survive the world. That’s the story God reminded me of that day.

That you are a good person doesn’t mean bad things can’t happen to you. That God loves us to death doesn’t mean life won’t happen to us. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to really amazing people. And when God allows it, it’s so that we can receive strength to live this earth and not die with it. That’s how we get strengthened, that’s how our faith gets built. That’s how we can say we won, we made it. That’s how God designed it to be. It doesn’t mean He stopped loving us for that period. It’s just the way it is supposed to be. We don’t know what tomorrow holds but He that holds tomorrow is saying ‘trust Me, I have a plan’.

No matter what life might be hurling at you, calm down and chin up, God is in the boat with you, holding your hand through it all.