Looking back, Imagining the future!

Exactly a year ago today I went down to my knees in my then usual quiet prayer spot in my small room in Bury. There we had a lengthy time of reflection and conversation with my Heavenly Father. I had just travelled back the previous evening from Peterborough where I had been offered a Youth Minister position with the Werrington Parish Church. I was so delighted for the Lord had answered my prayers and those of my employer to be. My joy was not without a deep feeling of anxiety for I knew there would be a big transition in waiting. On one hand was the parting with the amazing people of Bury (my first ever British home and friends for 3 years) and on the other hand was the eagerness of joining the really awesome and enthusiastic people of Peterborough. Joining the people of Werrington for the Holiday Club 2014 and being able to stay with the so kind Colin and Jan was a thing that made a Mega positive impact to my transition especially when I stood at the front of the hall and got 'pied.' The height of my emotional transition however, happened when I stood in front of the Seedfield Family to bid them farewell... They say African men don't cry and so I had to shed my tears ensuring that I wasn’t crying.

There were many boxes to be ticked and many hurdles to be jumped before the job was to start and I humbly sought the Lord to see me through them all. I had travel to Kenya and propose to the most amazing girl I’ve ever known, I had to go and apply for a visa... and the list goes on and on. God was and still is faithful for by his amazing grace I was able to start my new job in September. The shoes I was to fit in felt really big but I was and still I’m confident that it is possible only with the help of the Lord and his people. It has been a year of a lot at the Lord's service and equally much other busyness all of which I remain thankful for. The youth work and the entire life experience at Peterborough continues to be tremendously awesome and I thank the Lord for every single interactions, conversations, walks, talks, fishing, fun, food and fellowships we continue to share. The support, the love, the prayers, the understanding and the acceptance has been like a sweet cake to me and the presence of passionate volunteers & superb young people has always formed the icing. 

This first year in Werrington, Peterborough has been mainly one of learning the place, the people and the task plus laying a foundation and I now know how much and big the potential is for even greater things with the help of the Lord. It has not just been all smooth and fine going for there has been challenging times too. Having to combine work, distance learning and distance courting as well as wedding planning hasn't been the easiest of things. There are moments though rare, when fatigue has been written all over my face and times when I’ve felt like my body is being dragged along by my other self.  Despite the normal fatigue and busyness it has been a fruitful year and one worth celebrating. I'm really glad that this far the Lord has transformed and sustained me. It has taken a God loving and caring people for me to be able to keep standing, it has taken a godly church to be so well supported, a true family to understand my times long absences and honestly a special and a godly girl to be truly in love with me to cherish and support each other though many miles apart. The list is long and it can only get longer of the many people whose input in my life over last year and indeed all my close to four years of mission work sum up what I have been able to achieve and the person who I have become in the Lord’s army.

There is so much in store and the Lord will lead us through it all here in Werrington. When I look back to this day a year ago I remain so humbled and I thank the Lord for his gracious providence. I rejoice for his many blessings and for the many people I have met and we have become great friends. I count it such a big blessing to serve him here in Werrington. When I look ahead to the years coming I'm filled with hope and I trust God for his everlasting promises never fail. I believe there will be even more growth and glory ahead. I believe God has called me to serve him amongst his people and even so has he called me with my soon to be family life with Irene. His love for the young people is what I have been communicating, sharing, and living and that shall I continue to do till he is known to the ends of the other. Join me in knowing him, sharing him and living him just as our resolve is here in Werrington Parish Church.

I wish you God’s Shalom over the summer holiday and beyond,

With much love;

Newton Gatambia Kibiringi

Youth Minister @ WPC

A Perpetual Journey!

A Perpetual Journey! 

I long to hear you all the time

To be near you and within you

Till we’re blue in the face

I long to be able to listen 

To your absence and to your silence

To feel the resonance 

Of the deep joy of our true love

I long to be able to read your book 

From both the cover

And in between its lines

To be able to tell who you are

Where you are and how you are 

Every moment of this journey of oneness

To be aware of your case

By just looking at your face

To see the core of your soul

While at each other we serenely gaze

I long to know your heart's depth

To know your fears and your delights

To know all of you is my plain desire

For truly I want to love all of you

To embrace your fineness and flaws

That's why all my doors stand unlocked

For to you alone all of my heart I’ve unclad

That you may come in and know all of me

For true love is not a random thrust

Into one another’s life

But a perpetual journey 

Of endowing each other with honest trust

I want myself to be all yours, 

I want you to be all mine

I want the two of us to be one

The British Values Dilemma!

Premise! 

This a simple reflection of the whole idea of British values. It is not a presentation of an analysis of a survey or a creed that I have put together but a poem to get us thinking honestly and critically. Some will agree with it others will differ with it but I'm also not setting it out as a public debate per say but rather an invitation for personal reflection of what the whole idea of values is to us. Is it an alarm that has been pressed so we run to the fire exit? or is it an emergency number we have dialled to call for the ambulance? or is it just an acknowledgement of a battle long lost? I leave it to you to judge but my hope is that it does not spell doom but rather inspire hope or pursuit for hope. 

The British Values Dilemma!

We watch you Breteyne with a tear in the eye

Ours and yours there is a stain of pains
And perhaps a song of the diminishing gains
You can see for yourself
What has become of you?
And what is left of you
What has today got in store for you?
Or perhaps what have you got in store for yourself?
The pieces of your former greatness
All scattered across the globe, where is their peace?
Or the giant piece that held you all as one
Do you still cling to your former glory?
Or are you scripting for yourself a better story?
Are your values to be that you once were?
Or is to be what you’ve now become Britain?

While the majority of yours are still COMMON

The bow still goes to the minority with WEALTH
What health has any fallen empire got?
For even her values become foreign to her own
It is not a blame game I intend to set in motion
Of who let the greatness slip away from Breteyne  
For just as men sleep their life to dearth and death
So does their odorous flower and power shrivel and wither
And all dwells beneath the shackles of past tails
To surrender to history whose phases decay
But lo Breteyne; wait a minute
Did you wisely sow the seeds of greatness you held?
Did you place them rightly beneath a fertile earth?
Or did you in fog your heritages opt for spoil?
This space we’re watching will tell a succinct tale
Are your values to be that you once were?
Or is to be what you've now become Britain?

Do Not Give Up!

Though the trail be so daunting
 Keep going forth my friend
 Do not give up or look back
 For there’s the divine light so bright
 To guide you across the veneer of pain
 There’s such a kind eternal friend
 To cross the dark woods with you
 There’s a fitting portion of living hope
 To keep you forging forth in faith
 There’s what rightly lies ahead
 For you to heal and assuage
 To help you break the chains of distress
 In courage slay the haunting of past
 To help hotfoot you to your berth unique
 Do not give up or look back
 Keep going forth my friend
 Though the trail be daunting
 The future is always fresh and pure

The rife surging for life!

The rife surging for life!

The terrain of forgiveness is rough

The attitude that drives it is solid love

The road of forgiveness if tough

The spirit that kindles it is mercy

The seeds of forgiveness are biting

The fruit of forgiveness is freeing

The journey of forgiveness is wearying

The destination of forgiveness refreshes

The river of forgiveness is tumultuous 

The shores of forgiveness are serene

The price of forgiveness is onerous 

The prize of forgiveness is life

The Garissa Attack!

The cloud of sorrow hovered over Kenya

As poor lives were drowned away in agony

Death like gale had bashed into their life doors

Early in the morning the dawn saw a mourn

There was no chance to scream to safety

There were no ears to hear their cry

The ears present wanted to hear them recite

A creed they knew not nor could ever rely

See the villains were armed to their teeth

Pushing innocent souls to a grisly apex

The innocent beings facing a brutal wrath

Tears of pain flowing as their bodies were tore

Witnessing the forced baptism in their own blood

Not at the teeth of animals but them of humanity

Whatever became of the kindness of mankind?

How would man slay man in such lurid horror?

The cloud of sorrow still hovers over Kenya

Still their blood continues to cry

Still their horrid agony continues to wail

Still! as their kin and buddies we them bemoan

The scars and wounds who will truly nurse

So sad that once gone there is never return

To the heavens we gaze in hope for justice’ reign

To the Almighty we long for the truth’s rain

Though shuttered be dreams and hopes they bore

Though unexpected and unexplained gaps they've left

Though hard it is to repay the undeserved injustice

Them we must never their martyrdom forget

Each of them we must honour name and remember

With many hearts so heavy we heave them to Christ

He the risen King will soothe us in clemency

The cloud of sorrow still hovers over Kenya

© Newton G Kibiringi

An Ode to Woman!

Woman;

You are a treasured anchor,

An anchor for society to in joy dock

Your strong back an entwining rope

Bent for your kin you’re a nock

Great soul shape and space

You earnestly fit lots in your life

Faithfully bearing the noble weight

Of nature’s honour of motherhood

With relentless passion

And kind determination

Be it all’s nature to thank you

All to love you and treasure you

For your care’s beauty flourishes life

Your kind words and deeds ennoble living

Woman;

Your heart is a great well

Of sincere wellness

Wide and deep you’re a fountain of clemency

Ever overflowing with love and care

Within your warm arms

Of peace and nurture

You embrace and embellish

All of family in firmness

Within your precious womb

Awesomely forms and springs

The great mystery of human life

You are a treasured rock

A rock for society to joyfully dock