There is no such thing as random happenings or coincidences…
Things don’t just happen…
Things always happened for a reason.
That’s what people say and I am actually a firm believer of that; but the happenings of Wednesday the 16th between 7:30 pm and 10:00pm still have me asking; why in the world did I have to go through that? It’s a completely random and ridiculous incident that had me questioning. I eventually came to the conclusion that it happened so that I can write about it and share with you good people, and so this is me writing.
I was coming off of work and unusually chirpy because I had just had some great addition to my playlist and I was really excited about listening to songs. The whole day I had earphones on and my journey home was no different, little did I know that that would be the cause of the incidents that followed. I live along Ngong road just before you get to Karen and I have been taking matatus from railways for a very long time that I do it without even thinking about it; I know what the matatus look like and I am even kind of chummy with some of the conductors so you would think that I would know how to get myself home. I hopped onto a matatu and was fixated on my music…I actually remember being so happy that my earphones were so strong so I didn’t have to worry about listening to the loud annoying music on the matatu . I sat back and relaxed my trip home was set. I was startled back to reality when I looked through the window and found myself on Uhuru highway heading towards Mombasa road. Now, if you live in Nairobi then you know that the way to Ngong is definitely not via Mombasa road. A short discussion with the lady next to me confirmed that we were indeed headed to Mlolongo .
Mlolongo??? How now?
I ruffled myself off my seat and immediately asked to get off the matatu. The conductor was not willing to let me go that easy, I had to pay for that empty sit I was leaving behind because who else was going to pay for it? Then, no thanks to the music on the matatu getting the drivers attention to stop the bus took another five minutes and by the time I was getting off, I was at the Bunyala round-a-bout and I had some forty five or so minutes of walking ahead of me to get back to railways bus station.
I made it back to the bus stop got a bus, did a double check just to be sure I was on the right bus and then halfway through the drive home we hit a another car and at that point it seemed pretty obvious that this was not the bus that would take me home. It was in the middle of two bus stops so I had to take another fifteen minute walk to the previous bus stop. This is now at about 9:30pm and I am thinking how frustrated I ought to be… only I am not. I was extremely calm and now that I think about it, I am pretty sure it was the music I was listening to. I finally I reached home at about 10pm without any other snarl ups and I had amazingly restful sleep.
Now, it’s bad enough taking the wrong matatu during the day, but in the evening when all you want is to get home and rest it’s the worst thing that could possibly happen.
It’s bad enough taking the wrong matatu when you are not clear about the directions to the place you are going, but when you take the wrong matatu to your own home where you have been living for the past two years…
…that’s just borderline spooky… the stuff that twilight zone and the X-files are made of (okay fine, maybe not)
Where was my head? What was I thinking? How did I not know that the bus was going to Mlolongo? These are the questions I was asking myself during that long eerie walk along the highway between the Bunyala and Haile Selassie round-a-bouts.
I know what you are thinking now… that’s a really nice story but where are we going with this?
This is where we are going, when I decided to write about this I was thinking about many Christians out there… me included who have been about this Christian walk for a while now and know what it will take to get them home to the mansion in the kingdom with the streets of gold. Christians who know the hurdles that need to be jumped and the distractions that need to be avoided to finish the race well. I also know of some of these very same Christians who despite all they ‘know’ still manage to lose direction and end up going the opposite direction, Christians who fall and fall so badly you have to ask yourself, what in the world happened? Isn’t it also interesting how, the moment you make that one wrong turn, many wrong turns seem to always follow and picking yourself up isn’t so easy?
Is it possible to forget that the way to the Father is through the son? Have you ever found yourself veering off the right track? How did that happen? Do you fear that that could happen? How do you stop it from happening? Could you be already headed to the wrong way and not know about it?
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