Waving and not drowning

Judi and I are back in the UK at the moment after spending most of the year in Kenya. We came back in early September for our son Tom’s graduation from Goldsmiths University (proud parent syndrome sneaking in here!) Since then we have been catching up with the rest of our family and friends and gearing ourselves up for the next nine months in Kenya starting in January 2015.

It’s very strange being back home. Life in Kosele (Kenya) is very straightforward. It’s easy to focus on what needs doing and there is so much going on every day that you don’t get too much time for introspection. Now that we are away from Kenya and preparing ourselves for some fund-raising events I am finding it a challenge managing the balance between what needs to be done immediately here and what needs preparing to take back to Kenya. To overcome this somewhat frustrating imbalance I am (between completing our Gift Aid calculations and worrying about a hundred and one other things) reading a book that my sister recommended to me called "True North". So far it has been a very rewarding read. Not being in the thick of things in Kosele does allow me the luxury of re-charging my batteries physically, emotionally and spiritually (which, when I see it written down does look a bit pretentious but is still true) and really focusing on what is really important.

Jim Wallis, one of my favourite Christian authors, took a three month “book writing sabbatical” to write his book "On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned". Judi and I will have spent four months in the UK before we next go to Kenya. I’m not planning to write a book but I am beginning to recognise the value in spending some time reflecting on what we have done this year and what we need to do in the future.

True North makes this interesting observation. “An enormous vacuum in leadership exists today - in business, politics, government, education, religion and non-profit organizations.” A similar point is made by the South African author of “Why Africa is Poor”. In keeping with an observable shift in working with young people I want to take a leadership course back to Kosele to share with the oldest students in our High School. They will be taking their KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exam at the end of next year (2015) and I believe that they need to be equipped to both recognise and demonstrate good leadership themselves. I’m working on the material at the moment.

In the spirit of sharing life experiences and becoming a better version of you (closer to the person God means you to be) I’d like to close this post with some really challenging questions from "True North" that I am wrestling with at the moment (hence the title of the blog.) The book says “Your True North is based on what is most important to you.” The following four questions, based on the book, are a great starting point for finding your True North (and thus God’s purpose for your life.)

1.What are your most cherished values?
2.What are you passionate about?
3.What motivates you?
4.What are the sources of satisfaction in your life?

If you are honest about the answers these are really tough questions. I’m hoping that the process involved in finding answers will help me to do our work in Kosele better. If you’re up for the challenge I’d be interested to know if considering these questions helps you at all.