CHRISTMASES THAT WERE!

This Christmas I did something I normally do not do on a Christmas day afternoon: make my resolutions. It is not that I was bored or plot-less, but because if the rest of my Christmases don’t get different I might have to simply faint on every Christmas morning.

Despite a few friends having sent me Christmassy messages such as… Christ to be born in my heart…I celebrate Christ and not the day…I get to look like baby Jesus…. I tried, I tried really much to even for a few minutes focus on God and what He would be speaking into my life on such a day as Christmas, but the hustle and bustle of the day took the better of me so I resolved to sit back and just thank God that Christmas exists.

The earliest Christmas I can remember involves must-be-new –Christmas-clothes. (Santa never happened for me…I heard about him much later, on TV). Then came the Christmases I was responsible for house decorations, back then when I used to be daddy’s darling girl (that has since ceased, now he looks at me as if he suspects the hero in my life is another man, and treats me thus!). Thereafter came the Christmases I was in the kitchen up to mid afternoon making one dish after another and before we set the food on the table I would be too exhausted to enjoy the meal, and three quarters of Christmas day would be over.

Now I have with me Christmases when I go out with my family. This works out perfectly since doing Christmas decorations is surprisingly not in my list of hobbies, and staying in the kitchen halfway of Christmas day is not so up-to-date. The only bad thing with going out is that I am now so tired of it I cannot picture myself towing along anymore.

This sounds bizarre, I know, and would want to clarify that mum and dad and siblings are a rare blessing that not everyone gets to enjoy, celebrating Christmas together is unheard of in so many families, and even having the cash to lavishly spend on such a day is a privilege from God. I understand all that, and thank God.

However, the only thing I would want to retain about the Christmases that were is the bit of having to go to church. Otherwise, I would appreciate having Christmas with different people now (read person). Besides that, a time in my life has come that I do not enjoy looking up the dance stage to see kids dancing to funny -yucky music. This Christmas as I sipped my drink I watched my small brother dancing his bones dry over songs with lyrics such as “give it to me” and “the way you do me do me do me …” and felt all so fed up. Perhaps I never worried about it in the past because I never followed to the theme that the music in every other festivity site carries. Now I think of what young kids are shaking their bodies to and cant help hissing out a “Shindwo/Shindwe”.

Worse, I look at the parts of the body these kids concentrate on shaking and I wish I owned all the clubs and restaurants and gardens and villages…as in all the entertainment centers…and I would regulate if not dictate what goes on inside there! I look at the waiters who carry several soda bottles and a couple of beers for daddy and mummy and wonder how on this earth such parents will be able to tell their children not to drink alcohol in a few years time, and trust me that is a sermon they will need to preach. I try to figure out where else such families would be and I lack alternatives.

Whether we admit it or not, the culture of spending Christmas indoors is slowly facing out and more and more families are opting to go out for festivities. That is precisely where we are spoiling the festive season, since the places we go to do us more harm than good.
Now if we cannot keep our families indoors, then we better make the outdoors better. I picture myself very few years down the line with kids that I will need to take out. I picture them surrounded by “drinking “ families and I hate the sight. I imagine the blaring immoral music and instantly get bored. Let me not talk of seeing one of my own on the dancing floor shaking their small bodies to lyrics like “obsession…” because what I might do to them might make them develop permanent phobia for dance stages.

Every of my readers who is not a Christian might not so much like me after I ask this but I will ask it anyway: Why is it that almost all entertainment centers are owned by non-Christians (tell me one which is a Christian’s)? Do Christians concentrate on building prayer centers and imagine that that is where we will take our families for Christmas? Is it that we will have no alternative than to listen to “Nasinsinzia nikikuwaza…Chuki ndio nahisi….Am falling for a bad boy…” all the days that we shall want entertainment outside our homes? Is it that we do not realize we have a chance of exposing our children to stuff that builds them and glorifies Christ …Christ of Christmas?

Hey Christmas-celebrating-Christian, next time you are coming up with an idea, think of how we can make Christmas more Christian.Do not think of telling us to cuddle up in our houses and avoid the perversion outside, it is the perversion outside that we need to work on, each one of us in our small ways. Perhaps all I have is an idea. Perhaps all you have is a dream to build an entertainment center, make it Christian, this time round!

PICKY PICKY PONKIE

You must have sang that nursery rhyme…it was meant to determine who amongst us was to do a task or get the first chance in playing a game or even participate in an “exclusives” thing. (Ok, it’s what you now refer to as Random Sampling). Surprisingly, Picky Picky Ponkie seems to be the sole determinant of what ladies in my generation choose to wear. How else do we explain away the unbelievable tights, ever increasing low-cuts and the unimaginable brevity of our skirts? It is as if we go out for shopping and since we cannot make up our minds, we decide upfront that we shall buy the fourth item that lands on our hands (read even fourteenth). As such, no thought on modesty ever crosses our minds when buying clothes, and men thus ask for too much when they expect modesty to come in at the point of choosing what to wear…this problem ought to be solved at the buying point.

I learnt this when I was leading some group and on a day we were to have a presentation for a varied audience, I requested the ladies to wear skirts since I knew trousers would arouse questions of “how tight is too tight?” As you can probably guess, a good number of them had no skirts so I requested them to make a careful choice of a modest trouser from their wardrobes. I asked for too much (just like men often do), because what I saw on the material date was a perfect mismatch of Picky Picky Ponkie results. As complaints of “this all I gat” came my way all so naturally, I realized the dress code problem is one we should solve at the buying points, not in our bedrooms.

I speak as a lady, and insist that ladies must dress sensibly in lieu of the current competition we seem to be waging with prostitutes. Aish! That sounds pretty harsh I know (we have tried requesting, urging, coercing and awarding to no avail) but let me go by it because most of our most loving men will not tell us that our wardrobe choice needs more attention. I gather from reliable sources that men feel afraid to ask women to cover themselves up; they’re scared we’ll think they’re judging us in self-righteousness. They’re scared we won’t like them anymore or that we’ll blame them and say that it’s their problem, not ours.

A Christian man is quoted saying
“It’s difficult for men to find a good way to say that they’re offended when women dress immodestly at church. It’s difficult because if he says it, he sounds like a member of Sexaholics Anonymous. There is no standard way in evangelical circles for Christian men politely to ask Christian women to be more modest.”

Ladies, for politeness sake, let us give more attention to the non-verbal messages that our dress codes scream out. Adopt a modest dressing style. I am not seeking to say that you never buy a trouser, for even in the stringiest Christian circles we well know that our God is not a God of skirts versus trousers. Neither do I imply that east or west skirts save the day (I can figure out a few skirts that should never again be in my wardrobe). Simply put, let us dress modestly.

And so what does it mean to dress modestly with decency and propriety? Whatever your cultural background or generation, modesty never is universal. Modesty may take different looks but it will always be modest, no matter what generation we are in or what the current fashion may be. Modest clothes do not exploit a woman’s body or features. They will not display body parts for the purpose of drawing attention to them. Not only does modesty require that certain body parts should be completely covered, but also that the shape of our bodies should not be unnecessarily and immodestly emphasized with tight fitting clothes.

Dressing with propriety means dressing appropriately. It means there is a difference in the way we dress for a sports activity, for a casual event, and for more structured, formal occasions, such as worship. But all occasions call for modesty in our dress, whether we’re on the beach or sitting in church. Modest dress will not say “sex” or “pride” or “money.” But it certainly can say “good taste,” “attractive,” and “pretty.” They should quietly say “modest,” “appropriate,” “carefully chosen.”

Next time you are buying an outfit, do not choose one at random. Buying clothes is not a game of chance. Especially if you are a Christian woman, do not embarrass us, remember our true beauty comes from the radiance within and seek to dress in a way that directs other lady friends on what a lady of integrity ought to look like. Trust me, even though they do not want to be preached at, they want to look as if they have as much integrity as we do! When you get married and have children, please begin when they are very young to teach them to dress modestly. Men, we hope you know that fathers can have a strong influence on how their daughters dress by taking an interest, complimenting them on appropriate clothes, and setting clear guidelines and boundaries.

If Apostle Paul had a Computer ....................

The top 10 things the Apostle Paul would have done if he had a PC:

10. Download MP3s of the Righteous Brothers for entertainment while on those long and tedious missionary journeys.

9. Visit WebMD.com about that persistent pain in his flesh.

8. Include virus protection software in his list of spiritual armor.

7. Proclaim, "To live is Christ, to die is to have a 28K modem."

6. Book boat tickets using Priceline.com.

5. E-mail pictures of Peter eating pork to the gang back in Jerusalem.

4. Assign church officers: pastor, elder, deacon, system administrator.

3. Use decryption software to interpret tongues.

2. Describe conversion experience as the "Divine Reboot."

1. Add spam to list of cardinal sins.

The Truth

The difference between Christianity and Religion:
Well today I choose to share some truths that have really revitalized my life and given meaning to my existence. These are in reference to my faith and believe in the idea that God had when He created me. More often than not, we are all encouraged to be open minded in the quest for political correctness. When it comes to religious faith, is it possible that all faiths are valid and lead to God. Absolutely no! Ironically the very people who claim to be ‘open minded’ are usually the most closed when it comes to accepting absolute truths and the most intolerant when it comes to tolerating those they claim to be intolerant.
I am not becoming a religious fundamentalist but am speaking nothing but the truth. Some of us deny the truth with the premise that truth exists only when we can see it. However, personal perception isn’t doesn’t change truth since truth doesn’t change because we don’t like it or understand what we see.
You see, Christianity is unique in the fact that it is the ONLY faith which is not a religion- as a 'religion'- by definition means "to be bound" by rules and regulations and rituals in order that one MAY attain salvation. (whatever their definition of salvation may be)
This is in stark contrast to the teachings of THE most anti-religious person there ever lived- Jesus the Christ.
Jesus taught that the truth would SET YOU FREE and that it would be faith ALONE in His sacrificial death and resurrection for our sins which would save us and NOT our good deeds.
"For it is by God's grace that you have been saved, through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's GIFT, so that no one can boast about it." (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
This means that (although good in themselves and recommended) it is NOT by attending 'church', being baptised or even believing in God! (Satan himself believes in the existence of God)
To put it plainly: We are saved by faith and DEMONSTRATED by good works- but it isn't the works themselves that actually save us.
"His choice is based on His grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice was based on what people do, then His grace would not be real grace." (Romans 11:6)

You see, religion is humanity trying to reach God by their own efforts whilst Christianity is God paying the price Himself- in essence- reaching down to us it is a RELATIONSHIP with our creator.
Consider Isaiah 64:6: "ALL of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags."
Did you note that it isn't just our sins that are filthy to God, but even our RIGHTOUSNESS? You see, Gods standard is HIMSELF, who is THE epitome of Holiness and purity.
"God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1John 1:5) So, to a pure a Holy and perfect God, ANY sin/darkness would naturally be alien and repugnant to Him so, humanly speaking, it IS impossible for us to be saved. THAT is why God demonstrated His love for us by coming down in human form as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The 10 commandments and other laws were designed to show us that we are sinners there is NO way any human could keep all of them-
For example: How many things do you have to steal (regardless of value) in order to be a thief?
-Just one.
How many lies do you have to tell (no matter how ‘big’ or ‘small’ it is) to be a liar?
- Just one.
So how many sins does it take for us to be a sinner?
-Just one.
These were just two of the Ten Commandments and every one of us has broken them all!
Furthermore "For whoever shall keep the whole law and stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)
Therefore, if you are trying to live by the law and fail just once you shall die by it- for it is humanly impossible to keep. That is the very reason the Jews had to continuously offer sacrifices as substitution for their own lives. But the blood of bulls and goats weren’t sufficient to take sin away entirely.
Since every single person is a sinner, that is, we have all rebelled against God's wishes, so, every single person is doomed to an eternity in hell- separated from light and love- forever.
It doesn't have to be this way though- God loves us so much that He supplied a solution.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23)
Men die because they sin. If one was perfect they would not then die. The very fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead (this is a historical fact) proves that all our sins were paid for. Romans 4:25 tells us that if just one sin wasn’t taken care of, Christ would still be in the grave for all to see.
Jesus, being God AND man, was the ONLY one who could be perfect and keep the commandments- and since He did- He satisfied The Law and then on the cross He bore the punishment of our sins- ALL OF THEM, past, present and future, died and then rose again to show that He had conquered death for us and as a promise to all those who trust in His sacrifice for our sins- that they too will rise from the dead and into eternity with God. This is the gospel truthl.

Truth is true, even if no one knows it.(It existed even before the missionaries came to tell us about it
Truth is true, even if no one admits it.
Truth is true, even if no one believes it.
Truth is true, even if no one follows it.
Truth is true, even if it isn't popular. (Don’t follow the masses
Truth is true, even when others attempt to distort it.(False preachers and the antichrist
Truth is true, even if no one but God understands it fully. (But he reveals it to us if we could only listen
In life you have to be ready to stand up for what you believe in. truth and morality cannot be relative. If one believes that 'truth is relative' then to them it is a truth- and in being so, would have to be relative. Therefore, in being relative, it can't always be true that 'truth is relative.'
So, if some truths are not relative then they must be ABSOLUTE.
..Therefore the mind-set "truth is relative" is false because it is self-contradictory. Q.E.D. similarly as concerns morality;
1. If morality is relative to culture, then there is no independent basis for criticizing action.
2. If there is no independent basis for criticizing action, then we must be tolerant.
3. Morality is in fact relative to culture the relativist will say.
4. Therefore, we must be tolerant.
5. To say that we must be tolerant is a moral stipulation.
6. Therefore, #3 cannot be true.
So logically, if truth and morals can only be absolute, then there are no real grey areas in life (except for the lukewarm undecided people who would rather be politically correct and avoid offending anyone by making a factually correct choice. As Revelation 3: 15-22 says “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”).So there IS only good or bad- right and wrong- truth or lie...
Jesus Christ said in John 14:6; "I am the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE, NO man comes to the Father but through ME.*" As truth cannot be relative, Jesus was either lying, or He was telling the truth- that decision is YOURS to make- but make it on the evidence, and not on what your friends and associates think. Perhaps you feel God calling to you now as you read this so please do not ignore Him- for your own sake make the decision while you are able...
In the search for truth, you also need to beware of any organization which make the claim of being "the truth" or the "one true church"- these kind of monopolistic statements make Christ a liar or at the very least incapable to save any INDIVIDUALS who come to Him for their salvation!
The need to mak the decision now can only be best expressed in the following words, "When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else--something it never entered your head to conceive -- comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it."
-C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity'
To be saved, you need to make a genuine confession to God Himself. No priests or any other 'holy men' are needed.(you may be guided by someone but the confession has to be from within you after your realization of your sinful nature and revelation of God’s saving grace You must confess that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself and that you believe that Jesus did in fact die for your sins then came to life again. Then ask Jesus into your heart to change you into the sort of person God wants you to be.
You need to be TRULY repentant, that is, genuinely willing to turn completely away from the life you used to live and allow yourself to be led by Jesus instead.
If you have done this, you are what the Bible describes as being "born-again" (John 3:3) you ARE saved. You MAY not feel any different, but that doesn't matter- you have Gods promise now that you are saved.
The road won’t be smooth and easy all the way. You will still stumble on your path but God says "If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."
You are now a child of God! So do not forget who you are now, and act like one. Read the Bible as often and as thoughtfully as you can- if you cannot understand something ask the Holy Spirit (whom now dwells in you) to reveal it. It is recommended that you are baptized by immersion and attend a Bible believing church for fellowship and learning, but always compare what is being said with what the Bible says- for when it comes down to it- it is the Bible which is the final authority.
Don't forget to talk to God, use your own words as though you are talking to a friend sitting right next to you- because you are

FORGIVEN

ACCEPTING FORGIVENESS

Have you ever done something wrong and felt guilty and miserable about it afterwards? A feeling of guilt can lead to all sorts of interesting situations. For instance, when a certain wife asked her husband, "John, do you know what day this is?" he did not, but to play it safe, on the way home from the office he bought her a dozen of roses. His wife said with surprise, "Why dear, you shouldn't have. But this will be the best Groundhog DayI've ever had!" 

That is exactly what a guilty conscience do to a person. It causes us to see and believe in things that are not even there. I say this from experience because I have been a victim.

Guilty consciences cause people to do destructive things. It leads to depression and a feeling of hopelessness. You may feel useless. One can only wonder how many people became helpless alcoholics, or tried to fix themselves with drugs, simply because they did not know what to do with a guilty conscience. Guilt takes a toll on mind and body. It causes us to imagine problems that we may not even have. It shatters our sense of self-esteem. Those in its grip live in the service of a cruel, sadistic master. It makes us feel that we deserve the pain we are going through. That it is because of our evil that we failed that exam or we were ‘dumped’. Have you ever experienced the agony that guilt can cause? How do we rid ourselves of this monster?

To be forgiven and to forgive are basic teachings of the Christian faith. One cannot pretend to be a follower of Jesus Christ without facing and dealing with the realities of the brokenness of so many human relationships in our own lives. One cannot avoid the reality of the brokenness of our own personal relationship with God. The Lord’s Prayer defines God’s terms in this regard. You, yourself has some sincere forgiving to do before you can truly expect forgiveness and the restoration of your relationship with God.

The author of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament puts it this way: “And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.” "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more,"

Forgiveness begins at the foot of the cross of Jesus! In Christ, we believe that this is the one place where complete forgiveness takes place. This is the address where we go for atonement. When we have the assurance of forgiveness, we also want people whom we might have wronged to forgive us. Wonderful healing and restoration of precious relationships can take place if we are only willing to reach out to others in the spirit of Christ.

But what about those situations where it is impossible to seek out the victims of our wrongdoing? What if other people will be hurt if we confess to our wrong behavior? What then? Then we have a challenge. Tranquilizers will not help! Many people on tranquilizers are there because of a guilty conscience. Positive thinking is not the answer. The brain knows when the nose is leading it. Not all the good thoughts in the world will take away the stain of guilt from the human soul. Forgiveness and restoration take place at the foot of the cross. There is something about the cross of Jesus that forever changed the relationship between God and humankind. The power of the forces of darkness to wreck our lives was destroyed when the Lord of Life died on a cross, long ago. Since the tremendous beginnings of the Christian faith theologians and students have tried to explain how the Jewish Carpenter of Nazareth, so long ago, in such a backward land, changed our experience and understanding of guilt forever. It happened on Calvary. In Jesus God established a link with you and me! An early Christian said, "I am not afraid of the cross. I know that men used to come there to die, but since Jesus died, they come there to live. "

True forgiveness is rooted in the grace of God. I cherish the illustration about an accident between two cars. The young woman driver of one of the cars was in tears. She admitted that it was all her fault. Besides, she was driving a brand new car, less than two days from the showroom. How was she ever going to face her husband? The other driver was sympathetic but explained that they must note each other's license number and automobile registration. The woman reached into the glove compartment of her car to retrieve the documents in an envelope. On the first paper, she found, in her husband’s handwriting, “In case of accident, remember, darling, it's you I love, not the car!"

Those could be God's words to us. “It is you I love; I want you to be free of guilt.”

Because God loves us, Because God knows how miserable we are about our guilt; God showed us the way to get rid of guilt forever!

A man owned a Rolls Royce. While traveling on vacation, there was a mechanical failure. The man called the company from which he had bought the car, and they flew in a mechanic from England to repair it. After waiting a number of weeks for a bill for the repair job, the man wrote to the company in England and asked for a bill. He received a telex. It read, "We have no record of a Rolls Royce with a mechanical failure."

The Apostle John writes, "If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  God would rightly tell us, "I don't have any record of your ever having done wrong."

Do you believe that? Do you believe that God has taken away your sin forever?

You can rid yourself of it through the power and the grace that only God can give. You can experience that forgiveness today! Call unto him today in true repentance and experience true forgiveness and freedom. God is calling unto us to lay our burdens at the cross, accept His forgiveness and live in freedom joy and happiness. The words of the following hymn put this message in the best perspective.

 

There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work is in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.

Do not ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend, who,

If you ask [forgiveness] for knowledge, will never fail to lend.

There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

 

 

Hacked by Stout

The stout virus removal process

You can manually remove the stout/sasha virus in three major steps. The process will also work for any other variant of this virus (Script) e.g. hacked by Sam, Man etc

STEP I (disabling sasha from running as a process during system startup)

• Click start – run then type Msconfig
  
• Choose the startup tab to display programs that run during system startup
  
• Un-tick the check box for sasha so that it does not run during the next system startup.
  
• Click apply
  
• Restart the computer
  

STEP II (Deleting sasha.vbs script and autorun.inf files from system drives)

Login into the system after system startup.

• beware not to double click any drive otherwise the autorun file will run sasha so during this process always right -click and chose explore to open drive C or any other drives.
  
• Show hidden files by
  
• Clicking tools-folder options-view
  
• Choose show hidden files option
  
• Un-tick hide extensions for known file types and hide protected operating system files options.
  
• Click apply
  
• Right click C drive choose explore
  
• Locate sasha.vbs and autorun.inf files and delete them
  
• Open c:\windows folder and delete only sasha.vbs (this is the file that runs at system startup). If you are not able to delete this file then it means that sasha is still running as a process therefore repeat step I
  
• Search for sasha.vbs and autorun.inf in flash disks and any other drives (D,e etc) even in the system recovery drives for those using the current hp computers . Empty the recycle bin.
  
• Remember to restore folder option defaults to hide hidden files and operating system files you exposed above.
  

 

NB: ensure you delete the autorun.inf file that executes the sasha.vbs .

Be careful not to delete a genuine file for other programs.

Ascertain that it's the right file by right-clicking the autorun file then open in notepad.

The content of the file should read shellexecute ......=sasha.vbs.

STEP III (editing the system registry)

• Click start-run and type regedit to open the registry
  
• Expand the following keys
  
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/Microsoft/Internet explorer/main.
  
• While in this key delete the window title key (sasha has edited it to read
  
• Hacked by stout lord kingz)
  
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/Microsoft/Internet explorer/TypedUrls
  
• Delete all the keys registered in this hive and leave only (ab) default
  

 

You can further restrict editing of the two keys above (Main and typeUrls) by changing permissions for all the users and system to read (i.e. remove full control option from all the users). This step prevents any further editing of this explorer option by any variant of this virus (Script) however this step is optional.

Restart the computer for the last time

Your computer is now clean

Energy Efficiency

I have been following the discussions on elctricity with a keen interest. As the discussions on energy availability, cost and the vision 2030 progress, energy focus has mainly been on supply. However, with the high electricity bills we have been receiving we realize that people don’t want barrels of oil or kilowatt-hours of electricity per se; they want the services that energy ultimately provides, such as hot showers, cold beer(na soda pia), comfortable buildings, light, torque and mobility at affordable cost. Focusing on these desired services, delivered by the end-use application of energy, allows consideration of a broader range of options than simply the energy supplied by the national grid. Considered from the demand as well as the supply side of the equation, what is the cheapest, cleanest way to deliver each of these services?

With the emergence of smatter technologies, we need to find better, more cost-effective way of achieving this and thus using less energy more productively. Efficient end-use can thus compete with new supply as an energy resource.

Kenya needs to harness market forces and use widely demonstrated synergistic design, technology and management techniques to deliver the high quality of life available in Western economies at much lower financial and environmental cost. We need to shift focus from the idea of selling bulk electricity as a cheap commodity. Electricity generating companies (Independent Power Producers) together with KPLC should find ways of cutting customers’ bills rather than ways of selling them more energy. In this way, we will be able to gain from competitive generation in a way that does not sacrifice the lager benefits of efficient end use. Power producers need to compete based on how best they help customers gain more from each kilowatt-hour.

I believe with current technological advancements we can find applicable efficiency improvements that will cost even less than the cost of operating a thermal power station, even of its construction. Efficient use becomes even more powerful when synergistically combined with decentralized, modular electricity production at a scale of kilowatts and megawatts, renewable resources in particular, and local energy storage.

Apart from energy saving and reduced comodity cost, enduse effeciency could result in very quality service delivery. For instance, a good percentage of labor productivity gains in efficient buildings—due to their superior visual, acoustic and thermal comfort—are typically worth much more than the energy savings themselves. It is from this understanding that I have a feeling that the reduction in taxes might not be the perfect solution to High Electricity bills.

What do you think??

The Joy of Finishing School

They Went to say Goodbye to JKML

This is man Kebeya who couldnt hide his joy!

Silas couldnt believe in Himself

After writting all they knew

With the current arguments about the various commissions being constituted to find out the causes of evils in our society am sure many of my fellow Kenya citizens are disgusted with lapses in leadership integrity. Are you finding it hard to trust many of today's high profile leaders? To help us decide how leaders should behave and how to judge them, we need a clear understanding of what we should expect of them.

Senior business, religious and political leaders must be people of integrity because we grant them so much power over our social and economic well being. We feel let down by integrity lapses in leaders because we expect so much of them: we want them to improve the fundamental quality of our lives.

The people we allow to lead us must be competent enough if we are to trust them and not just honest. To be a credible candidate for any job, a person needs the skills and personal qualities to be effective in the role. Integrity is also broader than honesty. In addition to being honest, leaders with integrity must behave ethically. A criminal could be honest while breaking the law. Leaders with integrity must have an unwavering commitment to culturally accepted values and be willing to defend them. This requires them to do the right thing even if it is not in their personal interest. Leaders with integrity are responsible and consistent.

As the bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, I can say with certainty that virtually no one is completely honest. Who has not, for example, failed to stop at traffic lights, cheated on exams, lied in the loan application form or exaggerated achievements to look good in a job interview? Many of us have what we might call "convenient values." We live up to them only when they don't prevent us from doing what we want.

There are varied reasons why we are dishonest but they include the feelings of being entitled to something and being able to get away with it. People in high places feel that their power makes them untouchable. Also, because there is so much more to gain by bending the rules in high places, the temptation must be enormous. Because high profile leaders are so driven to stay in power, only the rarest of leaders can put principles ahead of personal interest when they are threatened with losing their exalted status.

When we notice these failures in our leaders we more often get are angry and disappointed, but, because we also envy people in high places, we are secretly pleased to see that they are only human after all. These reaction is also related to the strength of our expectations. When we expect little of people, their failures don't surprise or matter much to us. When we feel hugely let down at the news of a flawed leader, therefore, we should ask ourselves why we expected so much of this person in the first place. In any case, our reaction to moral lapses in leaders is without doubt partly determined by our own attitudes, values and current mental state.

We can improve the integrity in high places through the education system and by implementing more transparent monitoring processes, but our culture must also reward it as much as it does the pursuit of selfish interests. We need to depend less on leaders to meet so many of our needs and, because they are only human, expect less of them.

Below is a video you will enjoy and get challenged.

A Little Humor

Are computers Male or Female? Decide for yourself!
Reasons to believe computers are Female:		Reasons to believe computers are Male:
1. No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.		1. They have a lot of data, but are still clueless.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.		2. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem.
3. The message "Bad command or file name" is about as informative as, "If you don't know why I'm mad at you, then I'm certainly not going to tell you".		3. As soon as you commit to one you realize that, if you had waited a little longer, you could have obtained a better model.
4. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.		4. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
5. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.		5. Big power surges knock them out for the rest of the night.

Computer Help

Basic Computer Maintenance

IT support can be quite expensive to some people. I have however found that a lot of the "problems" people encounter are common place and could be avoided. To save yourself from spending a lot of money on computer repairs (that could with time exceed the actual cost of your assembled computer), here are a few basic guidelines required to help keep your PC out of the shop:

• Always use a surge protector! Power surges, spikes, lightning and blackouts are all things that can literally burn up your computer & its peripherals. Save yourself lots of money in repairs by buying a decent surge protector (AKA power strip) for your computer and use it. A good UPS (uninterruptible power supply), though slightly more expensive, is even better. Also, realize that these power strips can only take so much. Once they get hit with a large spike of voltage, they can lose their protective capabilities.
  
• Always use up-to-date virus protection! Everyone should know about this by now, but we often see computers with either no virus protection at all, or anti-virus software that's badly out-of-date. Nothing can wreck your computer faster than a virus (except for maybe electricity, like I mentioned above), but with a small investment in good anti-virus software and making sure you set it to update itself daily or incase you don't have internet connection, ensure you download its updates weekly, you can easily protect your computer and your critical data from being trashed. Norton, Kerspersky & McAfee are the most popular brands, but there are others. Some are even free for personal use. Here are some links you can visit for more information:
  
  McAfee Anti-virus - http://us.mcafee.com/
  
  Norton Anti-virus - http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/
  
  AVG Free Anti-Virus(for home users only
  

  http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/ww
  

• Be careful what you install on your computer! This is another thing many people overlook. A good rule of thumb is "if you don't need, don't install it". This is especially true when you surf the web. You will likely get bombarded with pop-up ads trying to get you to install all kinds of free utilities they claim your computer can't live without. Most of these are spy ware, ad ware and junk. These little programs can slow down your system, collect personal information without your permission and sometimes even cause your computer to crash. Rather than pay a technician to clean up your computer when it's a mess, it's a better idea to keep it clean from the start.
  

 

Important Stuff:

• Always plug your computer into a surge suppresser, or better yet, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
  
• Always have virus protection software installed, and make sure it stays up-to-date.
  
• Always have a firewall in place between your computer and the Internet, especially if you have a high-speed connection.
  

 

Regularly Scheduled Maintenance:

Daily

• -Run a virus scan on the memory and hard drive
  
• -Back up the important files on your hard drive
  

Weekly

• - Update your virus protection software's virus definitions
  
• - Check the Microsoft web site for updates and service releases for your operating system
  

Monthly

• -Run Scandisk/Check Disk on your hard drive
  
• -Clean out unnecessary -Clean out unnecessary & temp files on your hard drive
  
• -Run Disk Defragmenter on your hard drive
  
• -Dust -Dust & clean: case, keyboard, mouse, monitor & printer
  

Yearly

• Upgrade your system BIOS.
  
• Spray out the inside of your computer (blowing out the dust).
  
• Consider possible upgrades: more RAM, a larger hard drive, a newer version of the Windows operating system, etc.
  

Here are some tips and tricks everyone needs when they get started helping end users.

Many of the service calls I get end up being training sessions rather than repair jobs. That's because beginners often have problems because of their inexperience and immediately jump to the conclusion that the computer is "broken."

Here are a few of the most common ones, which we generally handle over the phone during the initial consultation rather than making a trip out to the site:

• "The taskbar is gone." The user has accidentally resized the taskbar so small that it's just a thin bar across the bottom of the screen. We explain how to resize it.
  
• "My program is gone." The user has deleted a shortcut from the desktop, and doesn't realize that he can start the program using the Start menu. Alternatively, the user has accidentally deleted the program's shortcut from the Start menu.
  
• "My documents are gone." The user is in an application program, such as Word, and has always stored his files in the Documents folder. Someone has changed the file location that appears in the Open dialog box, and the user doesn't know how to change folders. We give the user a quick tutorial on file and folder locations.
  
• "I can't find the files I unzipped." The user has used WinZip or some other unzip utility to extract files from an archive, but didn't pay attention to the folder name where the files would be extracted. We either have them unzip again and this type note the location, or use the Search (or Find) command to locate the files if their names are known.
  

If a Device Doesn't Work, Try Updating Its Driver

When installing a new device and it doesn't work, don't automatically assume that the device is defective. The problem is more likely to be a driver issue, especially if you are running a different Windows version than the driver was specifically written for.

Visit the device manufacturer's Web site and download any updated drivers or patches and install them. Only after you have installed the most recent driver and software versions should you seriously suspect a physical problem with the hardware.

Try Safe Mode and step-by-step Confirmation to Troubleshoot Windows Start-up Issues

Suppose you get video, and can get into the BIOS, but Windows won't start.

• If it doesn't even attempt to start -- for example, if a hard disk error crops up before you see the Windows splash screen -- then you're probably looking at a hard disk problem.
  
• But if the Windows start-up process begins and then aborts, a faulty or conflicting device driver is probably the cause. This can occur because of a FAT error, or after upgrading to a new Windows version, after installing a new driver for an existing device, or after installing an entirely new device.
  
• If Windows locks up during start-up, the next time you start it, a Windows Start-up menu appears offering to allow you to start in Safe Mode.
  

(You can also call up this Windows Start-up menu by pressing F8 when you see the message "Starting Windows.") Safe Mode loads only a minimal set of drivers, so it will probably exclude the driver that is causing you problems and allows Windows to load. If you can get into Windows through Safe Mode but not through a normal boot, it means that the problem is software-related -- more specifically, that it's related to a driver or program that is loading at start-up.

The most common driver to cause problems is the video driver.

• If Windows locks up at the point where the chosen video mode kicks in (that is, after the splash screen but before you see the mouse pointer), an invalid video mode has probably been chosen. Start in Safe Mode and change the video to a relatively conservative setting, such as 256-color 800x600 with Adapter Default for the refresh rate. In a situation like the one described above -- where Windows boots in Safe Mode but not in normal mode -- the obvious solution is to find the item that's causing the problem and eliminate it. This is often easier said than done, however.
  

One effective way of doing it is to use the Step-by-step Confirmation option on the Windows Start-up menu. Press F8 as the PC is booting to display it; if you see the splash screen, you've missed the F8 opportunity; reboot and try again. From that Start-up menu, choose Step-by-step Conformation. Then press the Y key to step through each line of the start-up. When the line executes that is causing the problem, the PC will lock up, and all you have to do is look at the last text that appeared on the screen to see which driver or program did it. This doesn't always work because sometimes an item that's causing a problem will not have its own separate step in Step-by-step Confirmation. However, it can catch many driver-related errors.

Use MSCONFIG To Turn Off Drivers and Applications that Load at Start-up

• If you are able to identify the driver or application that's causing a start-up problem, the obvious solution is to remove it or turn it off.
  
• Unfortunately, it is not always obvious how to do that. Programs that load at start-up can be called from Win.ini, from the Start-up program group, or directly from the Registry itself; drivers that load are called from the device's properties in the Registry, and it's not easy or safe for a beginner to edit the Registry directly.
  
• For example, suppose a user had a scanner with a driver that loaded at start-up, but then he removed the scanner and its software.
  
• However, for some reason the Registry never got the message and still tries to load the scanner driver at start-up. You could look in the Start-up folder on the Start menu, and if a utility for the scanner appears there, remove it.
  
• You could also look in Add/Remove Programs to see whether the driver can be uninstalled that way. But failing those two, the only thing left to do is edit the Registry to get rid of it. Most versions of Windows come with a utility called the System Configuration Utility, also known by the name of the executable that starts it: MSCONFIG.
  
• This is a handy, safer way of editing the start-up options in the Registry; you can turn individual items on or off freely, trying various combinations until you narrow down the problem.
  
• To run it use Start/Run and type MSCONFIG. You can access this utility from Safe Mode, so you can use it to troubleshoot problems that prevent Windows from starting normally as well.
  
• Each of the tabs enables you to deselect individual lines in the start-up routine. For example, the Start-up tab lists all the programs and utilities that are set to automatically load at start-up. You can deselect a line and then try restarting Windows again to see whether that line was the root of the problem. If it wasn't, come back to MSCONFIG, re-select it, and try deselecting something else.
  

Random Lockups Are Often Caused by FAT Problems or Overheating

One of the most frustrating problems to troubleshoot is a random one, one that doesn't seem to have one specific cause. The key to troubleshooting such problems is to remember that the symptom is not always directly indicative of the cause. The program or utility that it locks up on is not necessarily the issue.

Suppose Windows starts normally, but then starts crashing, freezing or giving serious error messages shortly afterward. Many times running Scandisk (or Check Disk in Windows 2000/XP) will solve the problem. That's because such problems are often caused by errors in the FAT or NTFS file system and this utility will fix them.

• In Windows 9x/Me, choose Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Scandisk.
  
• In Windows 2000/XP open My Computer, right-click the drive and choose Properties, and click the Check Now button on the Tools tab.
  

If checking the disk for errors turns up nothing, overheating may be the culprit.

Check the following:
Make sure the CPU fan is installed correctly and functioning.

Check for missing back plates behind expansion slots.

You would think that having more air in the case would not be an overheating cause, but it often is. That's because the case is designed to pull air in from the power supply fan and force it through the case in a certain path. If the case is open, or there are extra air holes like missing back plates, the air doesn't flow as designed.

After the PC locks up, turn it off and then touch the larger chips on the motherboard and the video card to find any that are especially hot. If you find one, try blowing compressed air on it to cool it off; if this cause the system to work again, that chip is probably the problem.

Memory Problems Usually Aren't Really Memory Problems

If you get a blue-screen error reporting a problem with a specific memory address, and it's the same every time, use a diagnostic program to check the RAM for errors.

Bad memory could cause Windows problems. However, actual physical memory programs are fairly rare. In the majority of cases, an error that references a particular memory address does not mean that there is anything wrong with the memory itself, but rather with the program or driver that happens to be loaded in that memory address at the moment.

So don't go on a wild goose chase to find a physical problem with the memory that doesn't exist; treat the situation as a problem with Windows itself.

Viruses Can Cause All Sorts of Screwy Errors

A PC that was previously healthy that starts suddenly exhibiting all kinds of serious problems such as lockups, out-of-memory errors, and refusal to install new programs has probably been infected by a virus. Some of the most recent ones, such as W32.klez.gen@mm and its variants, can actually prevent an antivirus program from being installed or run; they require a special removal tool.

If you can install and run a full antivirus program such as Norton Antivirus, do so, and keep the virus definitions updated. If an antivirus program won't install, go to a Web site for an antivirus program (such as www.symantec.com for Norton Antivirus) and download a Klez removal program. Place its icon on the desktop, and then boot into Safe Mode and run it. By the time you read this, some new virulent virus may be circulating and causing other problems; for the latest virus reports keep the Web sites for Norton Antivirus and/or McAfee Virus scan bookmarked in your browser.

Reinstalling Windows Can Save Time in the Long Run

If you're running into a brick wall troubleshooting a Windows installation, often it is more time-effective to completely reinstall Windows than to fuss for hours trying this-and-that.
The quickest way is to reinstall over the top of the existing copy; that way you don't have to reinstall any applications. However, this also keeps some of the problems, so it might not solve the problem. You can try it first if you like, but keep in mind that you will have wasted half an hour on it if it doesn't work.
A more satisfactory solution is to install Windows into a different folder, but this requires you to reinstall all applications afterwards, so it turns into a multi-hour project. For a Windows 9x/Me system, I usually boot from a start-up floppy and rename the old Windows folder to something like Winback, so I can continue to use the name Windows for the folder containing the OS files. I also try to delete everything in the root folder before installing to a new folder.

This is easier in some OS versions than others; you'll probably need to boot from a start-up disk and use the ATTRIB command to remove the read-only and hidden attributes from some of the files there.) With Windows 2000 and XP, you can't boot from a start-up floppy, but you can boot from the Windows CD-ROM, and then use the Repair Windows Installation option or reinstall completely.

A Problem with an Application Is Not Always that Application's Fault

If a problem occurs only when starting or using a specific program, it's easy to assume that the program is to blame. But the real problem might be that the application is conflicting with another application, or with a device driver. Here are some things to try, in roughly the order that I would try them:

• Verify that the shortcut you're using to start the program points to the correct file to start the program.
  
• If you have upgraded to a new version of the program this is particularly an issue. The shortcut might still point to the previous version.
  
• Run Scandisk (or Check Disk, in Windows XP). Run the Disk Defragmenter. Turn off any programs running in the background, particularly antivirus programs.
  
• Before launching the program with which you are experiencing problems, use the Task Manager (or the End Program dialog box, in Windows 9x/Me) to see whether there are any programs or processes that are not responding.
  

I have run into situations before where a program that loaded at start-up would stop responding shortly after start-up but not show any evidence of it until it caused a seemingly unrelated program to crash when launched.

• Disable as many of the programs that load at start-up as possible, and then restart the computer. Then try running the application again.
  

• If that doesn't help, try running the application in Safe Mode. If it works, you at least know that the program itself is okay and that a conflict with something loading at start-up is causing the problem. If the program doesn't work in Safe Mode, try uninstalling and reinstalling it. Before you do, however, make sure you have a full set of installation disks for it and that if you have an upgrade version you also have a full previous version.
  

 

"Lost" Word Files Usually Aren't Really Lost

One of the most common application problems end-users experience is the loss of data when Microsoft Word crashes.

• Word does have an AutoRecover feature, but it isn't perfect (although Office XP's version is the best to date in this regard).
  
• When AutoRecover is enabled in Word, the recovered documents are supposed to load automatically the next time you start Word after a crash.
  
• Sometimes this doesn't happen, however. Many people assume that it's because no AutoRecovered version exists, but that's not always the case. I have often been able to find "lost" documents by using Search (or Find).
  
• To do so, search for files with ~ as the first character or .tmp as the extension that were modified within the last day. Sort them by size, and start opening them in Word, starting with the largest ones. If you find one that contains any part of the lost document, save it as a regular Word document with Save As.
  

The other problem with Word occurs less frequently, but is just as frustrating. The user tries to open a document, only to be told that it is not a valid Word document or the file is not found.

 

The file does exist, of course -- you can see it in Windows Explorer. But Word won't open it. When this happens, try opening the file in WordPad, and then using Copy and Paste to copy the content into a brand-new Word file.        

Balancing Attitude and Reality

Maintaining a positive attitude in life.

Every event in our lives can leave us with great joy or hopelessness. The events may or may not be directly related to us. At the moment everyone is predicting how there are bad financial times ahead due to the financial crisis in America. All we hear is there are tuff times ahead. These sentiments, as much as they may be true have the power to make us live in great negativity. As the analysts go through the reports, they never give us a chance to look at the brighter side of the whole bad event. It is unfortunate that there are more negative thoughts/people around us than there are positive and the few positive do not seem to exert their authority anymore.

To help us in our daily projections it is relevant if we consider the biblical verse that encourages us not to worry about tomorrow for today has enough troubles. This implies that each morning, God gives us a limited amount of energy to spend in that given day. He gave children of Israel manna enough for each day only. If we spend too much on unwarranted needs, we begin to run on stress and that's when bad things happen. Therefore, we need to keep our supply of emotional, mental and physical energy at appropriate levels. It is our duty to get enough sleep, exercise, and right food so that we replenish our bodies. And we need to laugh often, take breaks, get away, not try to be super people, understand we can't please everyone, watch out for our perfectionist tendencies–all those things are important to keeping the bank account of energy re-supplied.

On a typical day you leave home/hostel in a good mood, assuming you woke up at the right time and so had enough time to prepare well, but before you get to town where you have an appointment, there's a traffic problem or the driver in front of you is very slow or the matatu takes too long to be full or something just happens along the way. So, the blood pressure starts rising and you're spending emotional energy. You are worried that you will be late. As you get to your destination, the phone is ringing and you have to deal with an angry or desperate caller or are reminded of an assignment you haven't finished that is due that morning. You spend some more emotional energy. About mid-morning may be the computer you are using in a cyber café or workplace or in campus computer lab goes down, then you realize that work/assignment you haven't completed and you're already behind schedule, a co-worker/roommate/relative irritates you and causes you problems, you get a headache at noon, and the day goes downhill from there. You're emotionally broke by noon; the account is empty because you've spent all your emotional money on those little things. You feel as though everyone is out to get you into trouble.

This illustration points out how significant it is for us to consider how we spend our emotional energy. Consider the difference your decision or emotions are going to make in the next 24 hours. Throughout your day make yourself more aware of how you're spending that emotional energy, and keep asking, "Is it worth it?" And by God's grace with his wisdom, you will learn to be much more frugal in the way you spend your energy. We should refrain from allowing short term events determine the decisions that will affect our long term future.

I also wish to suggest that you respond to the negatives with a positive. If you have people who gripe about the job, you could point out to them, "Well, I guess there are some unemployed people out there who'd love to have our job." Say it nicely, quietly, but don't be afraid to be positive with those negative people. We allow them to intimidate us too easily. They may not like your positive response, but as long as you do it in a nice way, please don't let that stop you. You must protect your mind from their negativism, or they'll poison your thinking.

Now that we realize that there are so many negative events around us daily how then can we stay positive in this negative world? We all choose the attitude we maintain in any situation. No matter how difficult it may be to stay positive on a given day, it's still easier than being negative. When you and I choose to be negative, we are choosing the hard way. Being positive is the easy way out. Some of us choose to be negative saying that if the bad thing we fear comes true, then we won't be greatly disappointed. As such when things don't seem to work, they will say that it has always been this way for them.

I want to encourage you to really get serious about developing and maintaining a positive attitude. God created us in His image and likeness, and we have every reason to be optimistic having understood who He is and the plans He has for us. And we should demonstrate that to our worlds by maintaining a positive attitude, regardless of our circumstances. I hope you'll be willing to start that process today, and continue it for the rest of your life.

Having said this, I need also caution you against careless optimism. You may have been told that "attitude is everything". While there's no doubt about the power of a positive outlook, as I have illustrated above, attitude alone won't make you achieve your goals. By itself, attitude is unable to resurrect a doomed business plan or make up for a deficiency of knowledge. Attitude can't alter reality or reverse a dire financial or physical situation.

The "attitude is everything" doctrine becomes particularly dangerous when a person lives on hope rather than paying his or her dues for success. The mindset, "All things work together for the good," substitutes for planning and effort. As a friend once commented to me, most of us fail to achieve our potential because of poor planning in the name of having faith in God's plan for our lives. Attitude has undeniable benefit, but it's not a magic ticket that compensates for failure to perform. You cannot disconnect attitude from reality and expect to be successful. As we maintain this positive attitude we need also to face reality and take appropriate actions to avert disaster. The same God who requires our total dependence on Him has also given us the ability to plan for the events around us by giving us knowledge wisdom and power to have dominion over everything He created.

Let us not avoid developing our skills and talent and focus on attitude. You need to learn to be competent in your duties even as you maintain that positive attitude. If you maintain a positive attitude at the job interview, you definitely might get hired but before long, if you are not competent for the job, you soon will be fired. Maintain a positive attitude but seek out to improve yourself.

At the same time you need to realize that it will take time and diverse experiences for us to get to the top. In our youthful ambitions, things seem to be too slow. We seek to create impact, to be recognized. When we fail we are encouraged to remain hopeful never being reminded that they are those mishaps that will help us attain our potential. Maintain a positive attitude but allow the experiences to mould you character.

As John Adams said, "Facts are stubborn things." They may be painful to accept, but they cannot be ignored. Attitude alone cannot reverse financial numbers showing a company on the verge of bankruptcy. The reality for many companies involves difficult decisions like outsourcing or layoffs to cut costs.

By itself, attitude cannot stem the tide of an evolving industry. For instance, newspapers must adjust their advertising strategies to confront the fact that consumers are flocking online for news. Without a fundamental shift in their business models, traditional newspapers face extinction-regardless of the attitudes permeating their company cultures.

Attitude fills us with hope that we might reach our dreams. However, hope divorced from action proves false. In the words of musician, Bruce Springsteen, "A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be." Never stop dreaming, but also never cease growing if you expect your dreams to come true.

In conclusion, the truth is that a positive attitude will make great difference in our lives. It the expectations we have of ourselves or the expectations we allow others to impose on us that greatly determine our performance in academic, professional or social lives. If you expect to win or succeed in whatever you are doing, you must be able to visualize the expected success. Maintaining a positive attitude will greatly help us relate well others. It will help us face challenges with optimism and courage.

We however need to be cautious and be real with ourselves as we remain positive at all times.

Who am I

As we live here on earth, we all seek to identify who we are. Most of the time we identify ourselves by what our friends say of us or by what we have achieved academically or socially. We may chose an identity that is most appropriate for a specific occasion and change once we are in another scenario. All in all we all can define who we are irrespective of whether that is true of ourselves or it only what we dream of becoming.

In this relation there are so many things in the society that happen and we all frown at the sight of them. We get angry when we see some people "misbehave" in public. One thing I've noted however is none of us ever looks within ourselves for those moments when others would have reacted in a similar manner to our actions. We wonder who they are.

I believe that we are all unique in our own ways. God created each one of us with special abilities. In the same way, he has allowed some weaknesses to be manifest in us. The bible says that His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. This does not mean that God condones mediocrity, but it simply should help us accept who we are despite the "flaws" in our attributes. At times what we feel ashamed of in ourselves turns out to be what someone else longs to have. Allow me to use this example about ladies. I have met several ladies here in Nairobi whom when I asked what they didn't like about themselves were frank enough to say they did not like their big breasts. They did everything to make them seem small. Then I met a Japanese friend who told me that in her country women struggled to have large breasts. They even go for surgery for breast enlargement. This is also true for our skin color. Most white people suffer sunburns whenever they visit our game parks yet there are so many of us using skin lighteners so that they can look "beautiful".

I would strongly encourage you to be happy with what you have for God who placed you in Kenya knew that whatever he has endowed in you will be very useful in Kenya. As someone once commented, God didn't put you in Kenya so that you can pray to win a green card to go to the USA. He however expects you to go all over the world and impact people's lives for His kingdom and that is why He will enable you get a study visa or work permit to China to be a missionary there. As much as the understanding of who we truly are will help us live in greater freedom and happiness, it also helps us live at peace with our enemies and friends.

However, there is at times the temptation to use these weaknesses to live in mediocrity. Accepting our weaknesses does not mean we ignore opportunities for self improvement. If there is anything you can do to change some aspect of your personality, you should do it immediately. For instance, it is true that there are some people who are very temperamental. These people get angry so quickly over anything that they do not approve of. However, the bible clearly instructs us that we should be slow to anger and abiding in grace and love. And so if you noticed that you are easily angered by anything and everything, then you should take the time to seek God's help in applying His word to your life so that you honor him in your life.

One basic truth is that we are not perfect. We however should work towards perfection. This does not mean despising all the "negative" aspects of our lives. My understanding of seeking perfection is focusing on what God has bestowed in me and seeking to make the best use of it. It is seeking training that will enable you apply your skills in a Godly manner for the betterment of the society. If you truly know that you were created in God's image and likeness, then we should look out who God is.

A lot of the struggles we go through about our personalities are as a result of a limited or lack of understanding of who God is. We seek truth but in the wrong places. We listen to descriptions of who we are or should be but from the wrong people. We read the wrong books. We associate with the wrong people.

As someone once commented, if you want to understand how any equipment works or how to operate it, then you go to the manufacturers' manual. If you follow the advice in the manual but the equipment still does work as expected, or in the course of use, it develops a fault, then you call their technical support for more instructions and troubleshooting and solution to the problem. And so if God is our manufacturer, why do we seek to solve the problems in our live or seek to understand ourselves by reading a different manual. God has provided His manual to us but we often refuse to read it. He has a technical support that is standby throughout and is accessible at no cost.

Things may not be working as you would wish in your life. You may have read a lot of truths about yourself in the Bible but it does not seem to apply to you. I would encourage you to seek the truth. This truth is only found in the word of God. Daily meditate on this truth and ask Him to reveal to you more truths. Ask Him to help you understand His word. He definitely will if you seek Him out of a clean and sincere heart.

There are so many "truths" being spread around us. With the emergent of many fm radio stations, people have qualified themselves to be authorities in different matters of our society. These people seek to advice us on how to make our marriages work, how to live healthy lives, how to make more money. One thing most of us never pose to ask ourselves is; what is the source of this information they are shoving to us? Who is their inspiration? What is their motivation? What are they advocating for?

If Jesus is their hero, they rely on the bible for instruction, they are motivated by the desire to glorify God and serve Him and advocate for His supremacy and reign in our lives, then they are worth listening to. One guiding principle that has really helped me to moderate my decisions is this; I believe that if you are going to believe everything you read or hear, then better not read or listen. This I have found helpful even in the church. As the Bereans in the book of Acts were commented for searching the scripture to find out the truths, I have always sought to confirm God's truth spoken on the pulpit by carefully going through whatever is preached.

Friends, we need to ask God for wisdom in living out for what He created us. Our lives will be more fulfilling when we understand the greatness of our God and the idea He had in creating us. We will be more able to appreciate the faults in others without condemning them. We will be able to accept our weaknesses without feeling inferior but rather allowing His strength to be made manifest.

And so next time you see a rather irritating behavior from someone or notice a 'flaw' in your personality or appearance, ask yourself; what was God's purpose in making them/me this way?