Feeling rather blue today and questioning those in power and their ability to lead. Hence this brief poem.

Are the minds of men like those of kings?

Or the minds of kings like those of men?

Why do some rule and others subjugate?

Can the world be just without rule?

and in this world of rules why still unjust?

Or does mankind forever seek

To be subdued, to be forever restrained, and to a point- to be oppressed?

By Caroline N. Ofulah. 

For The Love of Travel: Thailand

So here I am, in Chachoengsao, Thailand, a woman of Kenyan decent,  educated in the US and eyes wide open to the anomaly that  I am in this land of smiles. Everywhere I go, people stare. I am here to teach English. How I managed to attain this position, on a Kenyan passport, in a land where most people assume Africa is an undeveloped wasteland where nobody speaks English, is a matter of friends and connections.  I'm sure all my friends from the mother land are wondering, "How on earth did she end up going to Thailand and why leave the US for some random place in South East Asia?"

Well, it is a long story. For now, all I shall say is that I have been plagued by culture shock. I shall be updating you on everything from the difference in toilet hygiene styles, the problem of color, the crazy soi dogs, and my desperate search for an ultrasonic dog repellent and a phone technician.

Before I left Atlanta, I spent endless nights reading about racism, religion, hair salons, Korea Towns, anything and everything that would prepare me before my move to Thailand. As a black woman with natural hair, my first question when I travel is always: Where I'm I going to get my hair done? I have yet to find a solution here in Chachoengsao, but the internet rumor mill has it that there is a thriving Africa Town down in Bangkok that I intend to visit sometime soon. Everyone who knows me, knows I'm all about diversity and equality. I love world travel but, not at the expense of being treated half-human because of my race. I have heard horror stories,but I'm yet to experience any discrimination here. I thank God.I also love Korean everything-food, food, karaoke, food, cosmetics, food...and food! So yes!That's why I search for the local Korea Towns.

This is just a brief introduction to my Thai Travels. I will be writing in depth about some of my experiences. I hope you shall enjoy the ride with me. Feel free to email me with questions and topics you'd like me to cover.

Sincerely,
The Traveler.

Sooo what kind of church do you attend?

Yes, I'm sure many of you have encountered the question. I'm here to dispel the myth that Christ is only present in your church.....sorry. Where two or three and gathered in his name he is present.

You might benefit from knowing that the Acts 2 church, the first church ever, wasn't Methodist, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Seventh Day, Anglican,Episcopal  it wasn't Orthodox either. It wasn't protestant nor was it hesitant, it wasn't denominational nor was it non denominational. No it was just CHURCH!It was just the CHURCH, the BRIDE of CHRIST and if anybody spoke about the church no one would ask, "Excuse me Agrippa are you talking about the Methodists down the street or the Baptists by the river?" 

Christ didn't die for just the Methodists or just the Catholics, he died for his church. Matthew 16:18 Jesus says to Peter, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The gates of hell shall not prevail against us Anglicans?No against his church!

Men are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

He paid too high a price for us to bicker and blab about who teaches what in which way and baptizes like how!Get your grip on church, our division and confusion is a stumbling stone to those who are looking from the outside in who want Jesus but, don't know where exactly in the 10001 variations he is found. We have to focus on the goal. The goal is Christ. The message is Christ. The way is Christ, yes Christ, not your denomination. Not the pope or the bishop either. Did I shock you? I bet! If you should have a denomination let it be Christ!Thus the word Christian.

If you trust in your denomination more than you trust in the word of God, who then is your God?

Acts 2:40-47 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Post inspired by pastor Loiue Giglio.

There is a Lie by Caroline N. Ofulah

There is a lie that has blinded my friends dear lord

that there is life in the darkness,
they avoid you dear lord because to them you offer no more than ashes
Your way to them dear lord
looks like rules upon rules, the wagging fingers of an angry God too far removed from the worlds patches.
They think you allow much to much suffering and pain, 

don’t really want any part in your justice
See Lord they would rather have fun, have life, have pleasure
Only there is no life in the darkness
Even germinating seeds need light.

I wish they knew dear Lord how much love you have for them
To create them in your image and likeness
to give them free will, though you knew how much destruction they would bring to the world you so love
nearly burning it down to ashes.

I wish they knew dear Lord, that you could bring an end to it all if only we would let you
If the murderer turned his heart towards you, then there would be no murdered
If the thief turned his heart to you , then there would be no stolen
If the racist turned his heart to you, then there would be no racism
If in the search for peace we would turn to you, then there would be no war.
If mother and fathers turned to you there would be no abandoned children
No fatherless generation, no misconception of what it means to be a family.
But we have all chosen our way and instead chosen to blame you
I wish dear lord they would see that the seduction of pleasure
would only lead them to emptiness without measure
when they finally get to the top of the mountain, there will be nothing there.
Only a wasted life and a fountain of regrets, tears too much and  a heart that aches for another chance.

I wish dear lord they could see, the emptiness of chasing after wealth
For even those who have it all, realise that it is not enough to fulfill the hunger in their souls
if sin is symptomatic of what’s broken inside
Why dear lord can’t we see just how broken our world is
Why can’t we believe you have can make us whole?
Maybe dear lord they look to the Christians to show them the way,
They say only 1 reads the Bible and 99 read the Christian
and maybe dear lord we have failed in the task of wearing your coat well.
But I pray dear lord that they may come to the realization that just because we wear your coat badly
doesn’t mean you are what we do.
Please forgive us dear lord, for failing to represent you well enough here on earth
I pray dear Lord that the 99 may pick up the 66 book love letter you wrote to them 

and find out that you have been seeking them since the foundation of the world.

End of the line

Haven't written to you in quite a while

and as I sit here on my bed drowning in insomia

I wonder why the memories are so near

like the morning dew kissing the green grass

under blue skies

Summer rainbows through sunny rainy skies.

How I wish my emotions I could disguise

and forget that lane we walked as the moon

danced fiercely in our eyes.

When we were young and life was ahead of us

We dreamed dreams of having the world at the palm of our hands

We saw forever in each others eyes

and felt an unexplainable connection 

that nothing could ever take away

We flew our kites high and let the wind take us places

secret places only our hearts had passwords to.

Sing me our song again!

Remind me what it was like to dream

Sing me our song again,

tell me why tomorrow has come

but our todays are long gone.

Sing me our song again...

Just once...just once

Just once I want be in your arms again

To find myself in that never ending labyrinth

of childlike adventure in search of your heart,

a heart I thought, would always be mine.

I wrote this poem this evening. I spent a great deal of time watching Jesus movies. It suddenly hit me what a nasty little place the Messiah was born in. Imagine, a cowshed or a stable....for the king of kings!Surely even we have had better birth places.What a shame that this is all we offered him when he came into our world, His world.

Even I, when I was born

Had a clean bed upon which to lay my head

How is it that you, maker of all things

through whom all things were made

and for whom all things were made

had nothing but a manger

covered in the glory of hay,

a cacophony of animal sounds

and, the smell of animal waste:urine and faeces.

Even I when I was born

Had a nurse at my mothers beck&call

You had a room swarming with flies

You could have chosen fine linens, the best of doctors, the highest of wealth 

yet you chose the lowest of all places

smelly,ugly,equated the birthplace of beasts

to the birthplace of kings.

How many might have laughed when your mother 

mentioned her son's birth in humble pride

as the women swapped maternity stories by the fireside

"My son is a king, he was born in a manger!"

"A king?Born in a manger?!Why Mary, you must be out of your mind!"

She knew in her heart that kings honor kings

the memory she held close of the three kings who came to honor you

that night in a manger.

When I was born no stars paid me homage

But you had your own star bowing at the sight of its master

enshrined in this piteous little place

My most humble King.

There is no other God 

There is none like you.

Can Man live without Morality.

I love listening to Ravi Zacharias. He reminds me that Christianity is not illogical, though that is what many claim it to be. He reminds me that when we follow all arguments that have been leveled against Christianity through, we can find answers and defend our faith not just by saying "I believe it, that settles it." but by giving real answers that leave no other door to walk out of. Men should have no excuse as to why they dishonor God other than, "I know he exists, I just choose to disobey." I listened to one of his older debates where he tackles the question of evil. The question of the evening was;

Can an all powerful all loving God allow so much evil to flourish in the world? If Evil exists surely God doesn't exist.

Response:

To claim there is evil is to claim there is good. The claim to good and evil assumes a moral law by which one can determine what is evil and what is good. To assume a moral law, is to assume moral law giver...because if there is no moral law giver where do we get our concept of what is good or evil?

Some interesting readings he pointed out in his debate were the Atheists creed...notice the irony.

Atheist’s Creed
We believe in Marx Freud and Darwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your definition of knowledge.

We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated and
you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think some
of his morals were basically bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the ones that we read were.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.

We believe that each man must
find the truth that is right for him
and reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds.
And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

Ravi also uses a wonderful quote by G.K. Chesterton on what nihilism does to men. We become a society of double standards when we assume that life and morality are meaningless.

But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything.For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it. Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book in which he insults it himself... As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time. A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates for treating it as a lie. He calls a flag a bauble, and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble. The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.”

G K Chesterton, Orthordoxy