MY JOURNEY WITH THE LORD

PHILIP WANDAWA
The KEY RING is a monthly publication by the Kampala Baptist Church Mens Ministry that seeks to provide an avenue where men can share knowledge and understanding of the word of God, experiences, encourage one another as the older men also perform the act of paralambano to the younger men. Our prayer is that the Lord will speak to you through these publications.

Issue 8 - October 2012

Most people experience a loss of passion as they grow older, have you experienced anything like that? If yes, how do you deal with it? If not, how is that? I have heard this and used to think that way myself. But the decline in passion does not necessarily have to do with age because there are young Sorry for starting here but are you born again? people I know who have lost their passion. I think the distinction has to be made between somebody who is evidently not enthusiastic about the Yes I am (laughs out loud). Christian faith, and one whose expression of faith undergoes modification What were the circumstances surrounding because of priorities imposed by new demands and challenges as adults. Just your acceptance of Christ as your Lord and sav- as described for us by Jesus in the parable of the sower, different factors iour? affect peoples commitment to the word of God. I grew up in a Christian Anglican home so in that sense yes I was a Christian. When I got to high Are there things you have done in your walk with Christ and are proud of? school though, I started asking deep questions It is hard for me to put myself in the mind set of being proud of what I have about my faith and life. I then met balokole at done as a Christian. It would be like taking credit for whatever I may have school who preached to me and in senior 3 I done as a Christian. I am more comfortable saying that I feel privileged that walked forward in a chapel on a Sunday and I God called me, wired me the way he has, and It takes faith to accepted Christ as my personal Lord and sav- has enabled me to do what I have so far done. I realize that I ought not to take for granted iour. be a man what I ammy gifts, talents, passions, and So when did this search to know the Lord more predilections. I am often reminded that there are people that will never give begin for you? a vocation like mineChristian leadership formation, and theologya It is hard to say because from my experience, it is after one accepts Christ that the thought. At the same time, I am aware that I cannot take credit for anything past falls into perspective. It is then that you realise that God has been in work in that I am. For the truth is that if it was all up to me, I would have messed me some sense even before you became aware of it. So I can say the search was there up long ago. may be even before I joined secondary school. Any message to the men that have held firmly onto the message of the Have you had any turning points in your cross? life? The one that comes to my mind now is that it takes courage to be a man. It Oh many, obviously! takes faith to be a man, a Christian man for that matter because there are so Are there any that you would love to many images of what it means to be a man which we men are vulnerable to. share? Many men may suffer a diminished view of themselves for different reasons. Yeah, although rather than call them turnIt could be income, it could be ones looks. Whatever it is these images and ing points I prefer to refer to them as watershed moments in the sense that they self perceptions impinge on our sense of manhood both consciously and were events which led to other situations, challenges, and opportunities that unconsciously. In the end, however, to be a man is to be simply that which shaped the direction of life in ways I would never have imagined or anticipated. God has made you and called you to be. In other words, to be a man is to be The first, are those moments that happened while I was still a student: among true to what he has made you and wants to you to be. Fundamentally, this them was, becoming a member, and later chairman of the Scripture Union group at means that we have to take Jesus seriously as Masaba Secondary School in Budadiri area, in what was then Mbale district, now Sithe model of true manhood. Among other ronko district. Closely following this was becoming a member of the Christian Union things, it means a willingness to learn, to adwhen I joined Makerere University. While there I became chairman of the Christian mit ones mistakes, to be a good listener, to Union in my hall of residence: Mitchell hall. Not long after that I was elected to serve be vulnerable, and to learn to recognize on main the Christian Union Committee as Outreach Secretary. when it is that one needs advice. All this preThe second, are those moments that led to my employment and work, first as supposes faith which is the unwavering confitravelling secretary or student worker with Fellowship of Christian Unions (FOCUS), dence or assumption that God will sustain Uganda, then later with Kampala Evangelical School of Theology, KEST. And yes, it is you, that God is our or your shepherd, and beyond doubt that it is in and through my involvement as a student in the Christian therefore that he will not give you more burUnion at the University, and later with FOCUS that I met my wife Joyce! The rest is den than you can bear. It is the faith that behistory. Indeed, there would not be enough space to go into what a watershed lieves that God will always be there even moment meeting my wife has turned out to be. Suffice it to say, he who finds a wife when sometimes it feels like he is not there or that he is taking too long. finds a good thing....

if it was all up to me, I would have messed up long ago

For the full interview with Philip Wandawa, please visit this link online: www.kbcmen.blogspot.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

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