Winter is Coming
Stoke your inner fire
I still do not know what to do with my life, and I do not want to spend my whole life figuring it out. I do not know how long I will keep myself distracted from (the cold) reality.
On Your Mark … Go!
Eyob Faniel has decided to go for it. Millions of spectators watched the Italian champion push forward 11km in the 42.195km Olympic marathon. He dominated a quarter of the course. While everyone cheered him on, one fact was certain: the course was far from complete. In what was a short reign, Eyob Faniel was back in the pack — of the ordinary. Another rising king, Tamirat Tola, stoked his fire and smoked Faniel.
The Paris 2024 Olympics was a delight, but certainly not for the athletes. The uncertainty was consuming. The stage was set for all to compete, but first, they like the Apostle must bear in mind …that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. The Apostle further admonished: So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I might be disqualified — 1 Corinthians 9:224 - 27 (paraphrased).
… Run to win!
In the last minute of Faniel’s reign, the commentator noted “What happens at the end of the race is more important than the present”. True, in the sense that winning (in the end) is what matters. So run to win!
Everyone is given a talent. The great judge will enquire about what each of us did with ours. We must account for our talent, not that of others. Each to their race. So again, run to win!
He gave gifts to men. And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11). Our current spiritual decline, hiding within the walls of the church, doing the work for which we’re not called, amounts to religious boondoggling 1.
When the cold comes
One must say the cold is sudden. But no. Like a hydra, it pierces through all vital organs with its tentacles, creeping, growing and consuming everything on its path. It infects a great percentage—many, like a pandemic. Keeping warm will be one of the hardest things to do in the ‘last days’. “This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come … the love of many shall wax cold” (2 Timothy 3:1, Mathew 24:12).
Broken ribs and frozen corpses of pilgrims whose voices we once heard crying in the wilderness will litter the cold winter street. It will send many pilgrims hiding and leaving their duty posts unattended.
Howling cold wind blows its venoms into the church. Gigantic cathedrals are filled with worshipers consumed in orthodox rituals unaware of the terrors of winter. It’s a crisis the church keeps ascending — the love of many grows (wax) cold.
Our lack of unity and oneness makes the cold worse. Everyone seems engrossed in some spiritual pursuit, posing as the enlightened one and yet devoid of the very simplistic tenets of our faith; trained to possess everything but genuine love.
The embers of revival are far smothered. Awake! Awake! A cry not yet heard as it appears the church is heavily invested in liturgy and its treasury is still fat. We’re not worried yet. Why should we? There are still whispers of the name of God here and there in our homes. We could still gather in the early hours of the day for prayers, sing the good old hymns with hearts infested with worms and be strangers to genuine love for the Lord — the love for our brethren. When the cold comes, it will touch everything with its cold hands of death.
Sadly, the church has found itself in the last rung of the statement from G. Michael Hopf's post-apocalyptic novel, Those Who Remain. “Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times”. “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping”.
In hallowed halls, a lament resounds, A downward spiral, a faith profound. From strength to weakness, a tragic fall, A cautionary tale, for one and all. Strong pillars once held high the creed, Good times blossomed, and hearts were freed. But comfort's curse, a subtle snare, Lulled the faithful, and weakened their care. Now, in hard times, the church does stray, A shadow of its former, radiant day. Weak men, forged in ease, now falter and fail, And the foundations of faith begin to frail. A sobering reminder, in Hopf's solemn phrase, A cycle of strength, and weakness, in an endless daze. May the church awaken, and once more stand tall, For in strength and vigilance, faith's flame burns bright, after all.
Stoke your inner fire
How long until the end of winter? Well, till we realize we’re bedridden from the cold. How much of a mess we’re and do not realise it. How much we hear and do not understand. How much we say and do not do. We’re perhaps dead to our spiritual state and consciousness — a numbness from exposure to prolonged and intense cold. We don’t only sin, we take joy in sinning (quietly). Our necks are used to bearing the heavy yoke of the law. We’re not burdened nor seek to be freed.
We have maintained a form of godliness and give no break to superficial pious pursuits. This has only left us with a sense of false fulfilment. We have forgotten that our reward lies in doing the work we were called to do.
To resist the cold we must stoke our inner fire. We must take a break from our ‘episcopal burden’ to wait upon the Lord. All hope may seem lost ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’ Isaiah 40:31.
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Religious boondoggling refers to the mismanagement, misuse, or wasteful use of resources or efforts in the name of religion, often for purposes that are unnecessary, self-serving, or disconnected from true spiritual or moral objectives. It may involve elaborate but ineffective or frivolous religious activities, projects, or expenditures that prioritize showmanship, profit, or personal gain over genuine faith-based service or community benefit.