Thought 18: Next Stop-Everlasting

Just how serious are we ?




Have you ever sat on a bus without knowing your destination ? 
Even if you had never been to your destination before, you had some idea of where you are headed, surely?

Sometimes as Christians, we lose focus of our goal, right?

We have been consumed in a world that says "Live for now, and now only"
We have forgotten about our preparations for heaven and as time goes, they become less and less important, do they not ?
Even the very idea of heaven seems...well, too surreal to us now, does it not?

What does this mean exactly ?
Is this the time for the separation of those who actually want to go heaven and those who have a need of heaven?
Is it the time where the 'tares are separated from the wheat' as the Bible says?

What are we doing to secure our place in Heaven?
Or is the 'glory' of the world just too much to resist?
Is the temptation, not a temptation anymore but actually part of a daily routine?

I'm reminded of a close friend. 
This girl, I will not expose her name because of the nature of the topic.
You see, she's one of the 'good church girls'. The ones that organise everything in church, dress perfectly, sing in the choir sort of thing. The one that everyone admires for their admiration for God and for church. The one that you never ever expect to 'rebel' and join the rest of us, not doing what we KNOW is right.
When I did find out she was clubbing underage(not a crime to some people, but as a saintly church girl..completely out of character for her)..she told me she was basically tired of who she is..she just wanted to 'try' things. Not like she was going to carry on.

I recently found an incriminating photograph of her basically being groped by a male in a nightclub, of which she is underage to be in.
A part of me felt to spread it around(cruel as it is) as if to say "Ha! Look at the good girl now" but I realised, there's nothing to gain from it except a nasty feeling on unnecessary 'revenge' when she never actually did anything to me. She is actually a nice person. At church, she still the same. Preaching at other people in fact, about their 'bad habits'..

You may wonder why I have included her under this...but it just shows the extent we go to cover up our real wants. 

"We want the world..but we know we need Heaven"
Even though we know we know we need God, we want to go to Heaven..but the effort its just too much isn't it?

Jesus being picked on, spit on, beaten, bleeding, pinned down on the cross...was just too little effort just so that me and you could get a chance to be in a world that is perfect. So perfect that we fail to imagine what it is actually like. We have been programmed to imagine things don't last, which they don't. Not in this world anyway. Why can't heaven be a place for you and me to actually want to KILL for ?
Just like that celebrity's life you would KILL to live like ?
Heaven is open.
Are we ?

Thought 17: Unsecured Insecurities

This is not personal in any way. This is just voicing out the fears that surround us. Those feelings that most don't voice out. Have and open mind and enjoy :)

Why am I not lovable?
Why can't I make anyone stay ?
Why is it always me that gets left anyway?

Why can't I get a boy to like me?
Why can't I get a girl to like me?
Why am I not pretty enough?
Why am I not handsome enough?

Will anyone ever accept me as I am?
Will anyone ever stay to see who I really am?
Does anyone care about who I really am?
Does anyone want to care ?

Why can't have a little attention?
Why do I have to be an attention seeker?
I just want to be fancied, liked, appreciated, wanted, maybe even loved?
Is it too much that I'm asking for ?

Why can't I find that one person that all their care, attention, is on me?
Is that a selfish thing to ask for?
Is that an unreasonable want ?
Is this something I can voice out loud ?

Is there ever a person for everyone?
Or are those petty reassurances to prevent one sinking into the depths of depression?
Is there ever a friend for me and just me?
Or is that just an illusion we lead ourselves to believe?

Am I going to ever find that happiness with that boy/girl?
Should I be looking for this happiness?
Will it cure my sadness?
Will it cure my wants?

I would like a friend.
Not a lover.
Just a friend.
Just for me.
And me only.
I guess there's only me.

Thought 16: Africa is a Bad Country

'I'm going to try and make this as unbiased as possible...but seriously where do people get their views about other countries/continents from ?! '
They often say that "get to know someone before you can judge them"..surely this applies to countries/continents!
First and also irrelevant:
Why is it OK to call someone who is from any country within Africa, an African yet in England most refuse to be referred to as European ?
What if some preferred to be referred to be from their country of origin as well like the English?
What then ?

This picture was sent to me and I thought to use this as a test as part of my investigation and the results were in fact funny. Most people could not find the 4th person, and they tended to be more Westernised than those who did find him. Some found it funny yet most found it quite offensive, and ,considered it racism. But that is for another blog!

To the main course:

At this moment in time for a piece of coursework I have decided to investigate about Africa in the media. The things I'm coming up with actually make me want to cry. No joke.
Instead of google searching, I decided to ask real people as I see them, what their opinions on Africa were.
One person said "I would love to go South Africa, but it is such a dangerous place"
This may trigger anger within people from this area but it made me think.
What does it mean ?
Why are there still so many negative views of continents such as Africa and Asia?
How much of that negativity is true ?
I, myself come from Zimbabwe and I am very proud of that fact.
I hear all sorts of horrible and nasty stuff about my home country but it has never made it love it less.
Yet a fellow Zimbabwean commented saying "Africa is behind in time" when asked to elaborate, they said "As much as I love being African, I'm not proud of it. They need to become more modern, get up to date and move away from the past" I was puzzled about the way one could feel this, having left Zimbabwe at a much older age than I did. I realised that the length of time that one got accustomed to another culture, didn't actually make a difference. The mentality that a person has about their own culture is cultivated from what they actually know about that culture.
As I got deeper into discussion with this person, they showed me a view of Africa from a fellow African, I had personally not experienced before. I have met people not so proud to be African but I had never met a person who love being African yet not proud about the vast amount of culture that comes along with it. It was sad to note just how much this person almost detested being linked to Africa and its 'ancient ways'. Wow!

I guess I could turn into a psychological thing, to say that depending on how much time a person from Africa had spent here and been accustomed to the ways of the Western culture, they would either recognise the extremely dark person next to the first white boy, or not.
But as I asked around. That is pretty much the response I got.
The more exposure one has about Africa, the more they obviously learn about it.
So is it essential that people learn more about a culture, if yes, then who is more qualified to teach about the real Africa ?
Would you go to Dentist for heart problems?
So why are people being taught about Africa by people who not only have textbook knowledge but have no experience of what it is like to be from there?!
By viewing adverts of 'poor children' starving in several parts of the world, why do many assume that Africa is the first place to find such horror?
Is it not true, however that there is a great deal amount of starvation and disease in Africa?
Is it also not true that there many people orphaned and left young particularly in Africa?
If I can add a personal thought, I suppose it is difficult for a person like me to hear any negative opinions about Zimbabwe or Africa because if I'm honest, I never saw what I see on TV here. I never experienced a person dying in front of my eyes and felt helpless.
To me, yes, Africa is 'behind' modern wise, but I never knew there was anything 'wrong' with it till when I came here. Does this mean, I am naive ? Does this mean that maybe I am the one who needs educating about my country/continent?
The subject of Africa in the Media is a very controversial one. Yet what I personally find most upsetting is that fellow Africans whether by birth, origin, parents or grandparents, have no idea about the richness that Africa has without the need for it being the same 'moderness' as the Western countries.
If one not from the UK said anything negative about UK they would be told to go back to their own country, yet the amount of people that slave away, go into debt to go to these peoples countries is unimaginable!
I guess the most common thing that some people mistake often is how Africa is a continent and not a country. I wonder out of all my readers, who would have noticed the title of this blog was incorrect?
If Africa is a country, so is Europe.