Joe is my son. Yesterday, the 29th, we celebrated his 18th birthday. Everyone was so happy for Joe to be finally initiated into adulthood.
But we celebrated something else also, which was of far greater value and significance to us as a family. Joe had just brought in a trophy! Joe had just finished his secondary education and, during the graduation ceremony at the school where he had been studying, he was presented with an award for the best-disciplined student for the year 2016.
I was not even aware that such an award existed. In the days when we went to school, such awards were unnecessary simply because indiscipline was the exception rather than the rule. But today, it is all a different story. This is a fact which everyone is aware of today – which made the award all the more remarkable.
In his closing remarks, the school headmaster nailed the proverbial final nail in the coffin by stating, “In this school, we do not regard academic performance over discipline.” By inference, this meant that Joe was the top performer in the class of 2016!
(The presentation)
I am so proud of Joe! And I thought… since I have so many friends in the blogging world, I might as well share my joy with them!
(Joe with a friend…)
(… and with a very proud dad)
By the way, we wanted Joe to select a song among the many that we listen to, to celebrate his accomplishment. Joe is a deeply God-fearing young man and we all thought he would choose a gospel song. Instead, he chose this song. We asked him the reason for choosing this song. He told us, “You will find it in the song.”
Two events occurred this week that mark a milestone in my life. In the first place, WordPress informed me on Monday, the 2nd of December, was my second anniversary at WordPress. That means I have been blogging for two years!
I was like, “Wow! Two years!!” To me it appeared as if I only began yesterday.
But I also had a secret which WordPress (nor, in all probability, any of my readers) would never have guessed in their wildest dreams. The classified fact is that this blog was actually born 29 years ago. I remember clearly the day in 1985 when I felt in my heart that I wanted to write. The thought was completely new – but clear as day. At that time I was not saved. But God knows the future and, although I did not know it at the time, the Lord had just planted a seed in my heart. It was a seed that He would cause to germinate in His own good time.
Eventually, I got saved, but still I did not write. In forcing me to wait, the Lord had a far more perfect plan for me. This became clear to me when I began writing only after I had begun receiving the gospel of the revelation of the cross and of grace in my heart. Had I began writing before that, I would not have been writing the clear revelation of the cross of Christ that has been revealed to me through the epistles of the Apostle Paul, as I do today. The Lord took an incredibly long time to finally open a door for me to begin writing, and I know now that this was so I wouldn’t just write anything except the clear message of the cross. In this I have seen and known God’s love for me and for His people who read this blog.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank WordPress for affording me the opportunity to fulfill a dream – the dream to write.
But two years ago, I had not even heard of the word ‘blog’! But one day my dear friend Louise Echstein calls me from Mauritius and asks, “Mwita, do you know what a blog is?”
I told her no.
She then proceeded to tell me about WordPress – “and how you can be a blessing to many people there”, she said. She and my beloved brother Gilbert Grant introduced me to WordPress and encouraged me to begin blogging, and thus this blog was started. I am deeply appreciative of their efforts – and their friendship.
My greatest debt, though, is to Brother Miki Hardy of Church Team Ministries International (www.ctmi.org) through whom I became aware of the revelation of the gospel of the cross. I am eternally grateful to this man of God for the revelation of the gospel that he carries in his heart, and which he brought to us. Through this revelation, I have discovered the foundation of the gospel. And the message of the cross is the central message of this blog.
Lastly, of course, I am heavily – I mean heavily – indebted to my fellow bloggers and my readers who are the real reason for the existence of this blog. These wonderful folks have become an unexpected part of my life. I have friends from literally every corner of the world! Some have even become “closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24).
I am so blessed and humbled at the same time. And I extend my heart to each one of you, praying that our Lord Jesus Christ may bless you with all the riches of His heavenly Kingdom.
Another event that makes this week a special one is that yesterday, the 3rd of December, my wife Flo and I celebrated our 20th marriage anniversary. On this very day in 1994 Flo and I exchanged our marriage vows and the Lord has blessed and protected our marriage up till this day.
Naturally, I travelled to Dar es Salaam to be with my wife. We did not throw much of a party; being together was really all the ‘party’ we needed! But Flo did prepare a huge jug of juice – and a very ordinary dinner.
We spent the evening singing and listening to our favorite songs. “Come What May” won over our hearts and we listened over and over to different versions of the song, at least two of them by Patti Labelle. The ‘party’ finally broke up at 2 a.m.
This has indeed been an incredible week for me and my family.
On my journey to Dar es Salaam I took some photos along the way. You can view them on my Facebook page, just type Zakaria Mwita.
[Below: Throughout the years the kitchen has been an integral part of our lives. Here Flo and I prepare some fruit juice for the evening…]
Cross of Christ 