The 4th of July

 

Today's date is a significant watershed in my life. 19 years ago in a campus room at the University of Nairobi, I got a new lease of life after my first one almost ended. So in many ways i tell my closet friends that i am living my second life

Its amazing that whilst i don't mark this day in my calendar or call it up but in every single year when this day comes, it springs into my mind and i recall and run through the events of that day, just like it was yesterday.

This is the source of my drive and zest for life: a desire to live and not just exist, to leave a legacy, a lasting impact, to live for a cause greater than myself. The words of Dr Charles Blair still ring in my heart and mind many years after I first heart them from him at a Morris Cerullo Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya

The greatness of a man is determined by the cause he lives for and the price he is willing to pay for that cause - Dr. Charles Blair

This recall of a cataclysmic event embedded deep in my conscious is a pointer to how strong the human instinct for survival is, conscious and subconscious...maybe this explains why even whilst asleep we can still breathe and dont stop to breath when we slip into deep sleep...

It is a beautiful day in Central London, as a contrast to that dark day 19 years ago, and whilst the English Summer has failed to manifest for the upteempth time but I am glad to be alive. Its been an epic 91 days so far in London and through the adversity I am learning to thrive, and thrive I am.

Over the weekend I went to Richmond park and whilst it is summer and i enjoyed walking through the grass and woods with Keith and Kyle, yet i stopped for a moment to consider how gloomy the same place would be deep in teh heart of the British winter. In spite of the winter that is coming the grass seem to thrive and the tree sway in teh wind without a single care in the world, fully cognisant that winter is coming and they may need to shed their leaves and go into a state of dormancy

Richmond Park sits right under the flightpath of planes landing and taking off at London's Heathrow. there was no one moment where the sky was free of any plane. literally evey miute a plane appeared from the horizon whilst another one was halfway through. statistics show that Heathrow is the the third businest airport in the world and the number 1 in handling international passengers. The moral of this part of the story is that amongst all the many flights that zoomed by was the Pride of Africa, Kenya Airways, the national carrier for the Republic of Kenya. we had moments of national pride and waved, nay, saluted the carrier for their fortitude in making it where many other african carriers have not made it.

So as another 4th of July rolls my for me, i am once again grateful for a second chance at life and go through it celebrating the goodness and favor of God, thinking about the things I would not have got to see and do if my life ended in that decrepit campus room in Kabete.