We who look to Christ for strength

When I grow up, I want to be able to write as Deanna. Today started out as a great day, but suddenly I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and all I wish to do is get up and walk and think until, am out of things to think. Or maybe walking and having a blank mind would be even greater.

 Life wears us down but thank God for Jesus Christ, He truly is a rock and refuge to anyone who calls to him. And so I have taken a moment and called to Him for strength. 

 Enjoy the read and your day! 

 http://deannadavis.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/normal-is-so-fragile-jesus-is-so-not/

Normal Is So Fragile – Jesus Is So Not

18 09 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What a difference a day makes. Less than 15 hours ago life was cruising along – at light speed to be sure…but cruising along nonetheless. Then, in a moment, life came crashing to a halt.
Most have had this happen. One moment all is fine. The next, it is not. Normal is so fragile.
Jeff has been sick for a while. We thought it was a bacterial infection, easily treatable. We kept waiting for him to get better. Turns out it was more than that. One phone call from the doctor and we were on our way to the operating room.
Fear. “What if’s”. Conversations husbands and wives sometimes never get to have. Never want to have.
Who knew our normal was so fragile?
So now we begin a journey into ‘next, into a ‘new normal’. And it is fragile too.
God makes promises to His children…but sometimes He answers them in such unexpected ways. In ways that we don’t see coming. In ways that take a while, maybe a long while, to wrap our hearts around. “Working things out for my good” sometimes isn’t anywhere near my definition of  ”good”. He promises to be near – but that doesn’t mean I’ll see Him. He says He loves me with an everlasting love – and it may be nothing like my experience with and understanding of love.
Yet…
Here are a few things I’ve learned through the years as I’ve walked with Jesus – through pain so deep I couldn’t breathe, through night so dark, I wasn’t sure the light would come on again. These are truths I have learned and earned and owned in the trenches of following Him wherever He has led. These, I lean on, cling to and cuddle up to sleep with at night:
My external circumstances are not an accurate gauge of how He loves me.  And whether He rescues or not, in the manner of my preference or not – that also is not an accurate gauge of how He loves me.
How He loves me was forever settled on the cross – not in the stuff of earth in which I so easily lose myself. How He loves me is measured in how He walks with me – into the unknown, into the full expression of my fear. In how He talks with me – when I desperately need to hear from Him. In how He tells me I am His own – even when logic tries to scream the contrary. And His presence is never nearer, His voice is never clearer than when He has my fullest attention. Pain has a beautiful way of focusing things. Of sifting and shifting what I thought  was so solid – and now realize is so sift-able and shift-able.
Normal may be fragile.
But Jesus is not. He lodges Himself inextricably, permanently in my heart, in my pain, in my experience. As I get knocked around and absorb the blows life throws, He holds me. Hugs me. Grabs my face with both hands and speaks love to me until I hear Him. He may not prevent the bruises and wounds. But He heals them. Blesses them. He makes them more than what they appear. He makes them a doorway – to more of Him. To more of what truly comforts. To a place where my feet stand solid in His presence. To a place where my heart rests.
He is where I eventually land in a free fall. And I am thankful that as I crash into Him, He is not fragile.

Sad tales of the never happily ever after

Mbugua banks hope on Wambui’s will

PHOTO | DANIEL IRUNGU Mr.Peter Mbugua, widower of the late Wambui Otieno at his one room house at Kitengela on 1st September 2012, after he was forced out of their Karen home.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

 

By BILLY MUIRURI bmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, September 8  2012 at  23:30

In Summary

• According to the will seen by the Sunday Nation, Wambui wanted Mbugua to own at least one car to enable him “move around in his day-to-day endeavours”
• In the detailed will signed on June 19, 2011, Wambui distributed all her movable and immovable property and cash held in bank among her 10 children and eight grand children
• Wambui directed that expenses for her burial were to be paid out of her estate

The late controversial Kajiado North politician, Wambui Otieno, wanted her second husband, Peter Mbugua, to own two developed plots and a car, the Sunday Nation can reveal.

A will she wrote 72 days before her death shows the two plots are registered as Kitengela Kajiado Kaputei/13546 and Kajiado/Kitengela/ 2811, which she says she “holds together with my husband Peter Mbugua Nyambura”.

According to the will seen by the Sunday Nation, Wambui wanted Mbugua to own at least one car to enable him “move around in his day-to-day endeavours”.

In the detailed will signed on June 19, 2011, Wambui distributed all her movable and immovable property and cash held in bank among her 10 children and eight grand children. (Read: Mbugua thrown out of Wambui’s home)

It is witnessed by Wambui’s lastborn sister who lives in Canada, Esther Waiyaki, and a friend, Elizabeth Njeri Gichimu, and is certified by lawyer R.K Ng’ethe.

Although the will is clear on who should inherit what, a contest is likely to emerge over the ownership of a Toyota Harrier with registration number KBA.

In the will, the vehicle is supposed to be inherited by Wambui’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth Sophie Wairimu Otieno, even though official documents show it was registered in the name of Mr Mbugua.

The same will offers Mr Mbugua another vehicle, a Toyota G-Touring insured with AIG Kenya Insurance Company. This is the vehicle Wambui and Mbugua used for the better part of their life together.

However, it was sold and the proceeds plus an additional amount used to buy the Harrier, according to sources in the family.

A lawyer who declined to be dragged into the family’s affairs says a person cannot will what one does not legally own.

“I can see the car is registered in Mbugua’s name. Legally speaking, this ownership supersedes whatever else the will is saying about the car,” says the matrimonial law expert.

The division

The matrimonial home located at Forest Edge estate in Karen where the couple lived until March last year was inherited by her daughters Gladwell Otieno and sons Jairus Ougo and Fredrick Munyua.

The will also shows that the Upper Matasia home where she is buried and had wanted her first husband SM Otieno buried, “according to his wishes”, will be the property of Jane Nunga and Lewis Waiyaki.

A family cemetery is also to be carved out of the Upper Matasia home and will be held in trust by Gladwell, Sophie and Lewis. A prime plot in Ukunda in the South Coast will belong to her son Jairus Ougo.

Wambui further said the money in her current and savings account should be spent in the education of her grandchildren and great grandchildren and insisted that such children’s parents should otherwise be those who cannot afford to educate them.

In the will, Wambui directed that expenses for her burial were to be paid out of her estate.

wishing to out beat the legal system

 This is what happens when you think you are more smarter than the legal system.

Advertising firm loses Sh36m suit over prime space

By RICHARD MUNGUTI rmunguti@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, September 9  2012 at  19:19

In Summary

• Bid by Alliance Media to have Magnate Ventures pull down its structures near Museum Hill fails

An outdoor advertising company has lost a Sh36 million suit it had filed against a competitor.

Alliance Media (Kenya) Ltd, which was a tenant in a property associated with businessman Kamlesh Pattni, had urged the High Court to direct Magnate Ventures Ltd to pull down structures it had erected near the International Casino, Nairobi.

The company claimed that it had the sole right to place its adverts on the land since it had leased it, and had put up advertisements for clients from Azarel Investments.

As a result, the two companies urged the court to order Magnate Ventures and City Council of Nairobi (NCC) to pay Sh36 million in damages for loss of business.

But in a swift turn of events, Justice Majanja struck out the case, saying there was a duplication of suits.

He ruled that the two companies failed to disclose that “they had lodged similar suits seeking similar action — an abuse of the court process.”

The judge said Alliance Media had failed to disclose fully it had started earlier cases seeking similar action.

“An analysis of the facts of the cases filed in the surbordinate court and the present cases filed in the High Court revolve around the construction of advertising billboards by Magnate Ventures near Museum Hill,” said Judge Majanja.

He said Magnate Ventures had been permitted to put up its billboards by the ministry of Roads on February 12, 2010. The City Council approved the same. Therefore, the judge said, Alliance Media was not entitled to agitate for the same.

Litigated before

The judge agreed with lawyers Nelson Havi for Magnate Ventures and Titus Koceyo for NCC that “the case had been litigated before, involving the same parties.

In their case, Azarel and Alliance alleged they were incurring a monthly loss of Sh3 million and a compound annual loss of Sh36 million.

The plaintiff companies (Alliance/Azarel) had stated that Magnate Ventures had erected advertisement billboards on land belonging to Azarel without its authority.

Azarel stated that it had leased its premises to Alliance for purposes of putting up wall wraps and billboards.

Justice Majanja ordered Azarel and Alliance to pay costs of the case to Magnate Ventures and NCC.

Judge Majanja said he was informed by the plaintiffs lawyer M T Adala “ they were bound suffer damages, loss and expenses due to threatened and possible cancellations of advertisement contracts.”

Azarel, the judge heard would loose substantial revenue and rent as a result of illegal actions by Magnate and NCC.

Azarel and Alliance urged the court to order the defendants (Magnate and NCC) to remove the all the structures constructed infront of the International Casino situate around the former Musseum Hill Roundabout.

After finding that the same issues had been canvassed before the judge did not hesitate but “struck out the case lodged by Azarel and Alliance against Magnate and NCC. He dismissed it with costs.”

Justice Majanja ordered plaintiffs to pay costs of the case to the defendants.