This week, I present to you the “The Harvest Academy Series” – a child’s view of a school very dear to my heart. Hunter Tumusiime is now 7 years old and is currently completing Grade 1. He loves soccer, basketball, running and acrobatics. It is said “One picture is worth ten thousand words.” This picture by drawn Hunter when he was 6 years is one of those.
#HarnessingGreatness.Raising Leaders.
#www.harvestacademy.ac.ug
Today I present to you Netanyahu: The Poet. Netanyahu Benjamin Ajiri is 11 years and in Grade 7. He loves rap and rhyming words. He writes;
If I were to go away
My last words would simply say
Or if I were to journey far
My brethren this is what I would say
I hope you prosper in this way
BE successful everyday
And when you don’t
May you remember He is the potter and you are the clay
May He lead you-not astray
And may He answer when you pray
May He guide you in your life
And on your deathbed where you lay
May you be alright, ‘I say’
May the sick get well ‘n’ okay
May no one have broken bones
Or fractures in their vertebrae
May the hurt go through today
Forget the sorrows of yesterday
Long for a better tomorrow
Humble their hearts and start to pray
May the LORD be your host
Fill your cup and plate and tray
Restore your heart with your desire
What you cannot ever pay
And for the wise whose heads are gray
May your robes-with scent and spray
Signature the LORD of night and day
Who made the sun and stars with say
And for the weak ‘n’ weary
Whom to their enemies are prey
May He lift you on eagle’s wings
Strong and straight as a mathematical ray
And for the captains at the bay
May you have good sailors, winds
A boat, cargo that is in good weigh
And an attitude that tells a captain, ‘Aye’
The last words I’ve really said
In memory of a song I did play
Remember me! Oh my brethren!
For the last line I choose to say!
#HarnessingGreatness.Raising Leaders.
#www.harvestacademy.ac.ug
This week, I present to you Desiree: The Motivator.
Desiree Kainembabazi is 14 years old and in Grade 8. She is an incredible singer and loves to write songs, poems and to bake. She writes;
A Giant I am
A Giant I will be
Overcoming temptations
Overcoming intimidations
Going through the mountains
Going through a wall of Jericho
Going through a Goliath in life
Building an ark to conquer that flood
And a winner I come out
An achiever I become and live as
Yippeeeeee!!!!!
Success is my middle name
I call to the LORD
And a giant I become the more
Death, failure, witchcraft and possessions
Are not in my vocabulary and life
Because of Jehovan Jireh
Jehovah Nissi
And all glorious names
I am a giant when I face my battles
With only the beginning of my life
He shall forever always be.
#HarnessingGreatness.Raising Leaders.
#www.harvestacademy.ac.ug
When Chris and I decided to homeschool our children in 2010, I had no idea the kind of journey I had just subscribed to by saying yes to that call. With all the doubts and fears, I took the leap of faith to instruct two precious ones at home with an understanding that I was committing to two children for the next 12-15 years of my life. How wrong!
Warning signs began to show when I had friends express interest in entrusting their children with us in the homeschool. As you can imagine, I would not hear of it. At the time, I felt like two children were ENOUGH! Four hours a day of questions, energy, life and exploration with a two year and a five year old daily was enough to make me break sweat without a jog! Lemuel is always experimeting with anything ranging from collecting insects, creating mixtures of harpic, jik, dissolvved soap, perfume, omo, and baking powder, small time hiome made bombs from the black substance on a matchstick, electrical experments and anything else he can land his hands on. And he has managed to recruit his meticulous and organised sister into the mix. To imagine that I can multiply that by 20, 50, 100, 200 or more students with time was not a welcome idea. At all!
But God has this incredible sense of humor. Being heavily involved on leadership team, I was very aware that Worship Harvest had a plan to start a school in response to the fifth global giant: Illiteracy. Every time our Lead Pastor Moses talked about it, I got extremely agitated with conviction to step up to the challenge: Lead the education part of the church vision. As if that was not enough, for about a year every time I arrived at Worship Harvest Naalya for garage, a swarm of children run to me automatically. If they arrived later than I did, they came to me to say hello before they settled in their seat. Well, eventually I said yes and the journey began.
Today, I look back on 2014 in amazement at how far we have come. I did respond to the call to think beyond our two-student homeschool and chose to believe that God indeed knows the end from the beginning. For the next three weeks, I will be giving you a sneak peak into the world through the eyes of some of our students who make me absolutely proud. I am forever thankful that I said yes to the call to Harness the Greatness in every child and raise them to be leaders that transform their communities.
To begin with, I would like to celebrate the amazing laides and one young man who literally gave their lives, time, resources, sweat, tears, homes, name it to set this ball rolling. They were there in the beginning when we ferried saucepans, plates, cups, buckets, and all kinds of kitchen equipment to keep in the office because the kitchen itself was not ready. They were there in the beginning when all of us did everything-recieve children, go to the bank, go to the market fo shopping, cook the children’s meals, wash dishes, take them swimming (all of us apart from the chef went along), cleaning our three calssrooms and so many other activities involved in setting up a new school. We have weathered all kinds of storms together and we have shared intense joys together as well (I will never forget the kitagururo dance we had in the office on the last day of the first year!)
Rebecca, Angella, Doreen, Cathy, Diana, and Johnny: You are my superwomen and superman. It would have not been the same without you. I am absolutely proud of you. You have made Harvest Academy shine and this story can never be told without your names being printed on the very first pages because you were there….. In the beginning!
#HarnessingGreatness.RaisingLeaders
#www.harvestacademy.ac.ug
Today I celebrate 24 years of an active vibrant relationship with the lover of my soul, my best friend: Jesus Christ.
It was one afternoon in the Bweranyangi G. S.S.S Old Dining Hall (ODH as we dearly referred to it) when I could not deny the tenderly strong urgency in my heart to walk forward in response to the call to nearly 600 girls to give our lives to Christ. A group of born again boys from Ntare School were concluding a play about Jesus with the actor walking to the edge of the stage with arms stretched out towards the audience. They had excellently displayed the sacrifice Jesus went through on the cross just so we could be reconciled to God. The image that stays with me to date is the scars of the nails that were driven through His hands.
I knew in that moment that I needed to walk forward. There was a witness deep within that truly “Jesus Loves Me!” My response to the call was not one of the fear of hell, but rather one of the beloved who suddenly comes fact to face with the magnetic power of love. Like the Shulamite, I could hear His voice drawing me to Himself, inviting me to come away with Him and I was totally taken.
“The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
My beloved spoke, and said to me.
‘Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.’
My beloved is mine and I am his.
He feeds his flock among the lilies”
Song of Solomon 2:8, 10, 16
24 years later, the first words I heard from the lover of my soul this morning were;
“Remember throughout today that I love you. Meditate on it. Think about it. Reflect on it. I love you.
So if you meet me today, chances are rather high that I will be singing the old powerful Sunday school song:
Yes! Jesus loves me!
Yes! Jesus loves me!
Yes! Jesus loves.
The bible tells me so.
A lot has been said and written about wealth and financial resource but I find one story in Genesis chapter 41 quite intriguing. This young guy named Joseph has been through hell on earth and back. He thought he had a glimpse of his bright future but the dreams disappear in thin air when his brothers sell him off into slavery. A glimmer of hope – gaining favor while working for Potiphar for whom he had interpreted a dream – is cut off when Potiphar’s wife accuses him of attempted rape.
To cut the long story short, Joseph winds up before Pharoah from yet another prison; again to interprete a dream. God honors him with an opportunity to speak incredible wisdom to Pharoah, the kind which eventually saved the nation. By what I believe was God’s ordaining, Pharoah appoints Joseph second in command to himself ensuring that he in charge of implementing this directive.
What follows is nothing short amazing!
47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48 So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.
Genesis 41:47-49 (NKJV)
Can you imagine that scenario?
The one common thread in all financial literacy programs is the need to set aside a portion of one’s income for investment. This recommended percentage usually varies on average between 10-20% which allows one to have room for meeting daily needs. Three things stand out for me in Joseph’s story;
34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years.
35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
36 Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.”
I do believe with all my heart that there is a place of such abundance that it is no longer necessary to count. However, we need to recognize that there are years of counting behind the scenes. Years of faithfulness with the resources God gives us, whether a little or much. It is true that there are fundamental disciplines we need to observe in order to reap the best, disciplines like tithe, first fruits and giving. That said, there is a place of faithfulness, consistency, and sheer discipline with our finances. Many of us will listen to teachings on finances and get quite excited. We will go for that seminar, read the book, listen to the preacher, play like cash flow with friends, etc. We leave determined to put into practice whatever it is that we learnt from the experience. Then after a few days, weeks and months, we lose the gusto for different reasons.
Here are a few questions to ponder on from Joseph’s story;
# Do I have a specific percentage you are setting aside for saving?
#Do I have a specific period during which I am going to be saving?
# Are my reasons for saving very clear?
# Do I have systems (however basic in place which I am following? Who am I accountable to? Who is overseeing this project (accountability), where does the money go (bank account?) and how often?
22 Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain,
Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks,
And attend to your herds;
24 For riches are not forever,
Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
25 When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
26 The lambs will provide your clothing,
And the goats the price of a field;
27 You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food,
For the food of your household,
And the nourishment of your maidservants.
Proverbs 27:22-27
Over the years I have grown to love attending wedding services because every time I do, I get a refresher on an element concerning marriage. Last Saturday, July 1, 2017 I attended the wedding service of one of the young girls Chris and I have been discipling closely for the last six months. Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi both officiated and preached at the service. He is one of those personalities whose demeanor calls for attention even before he opens his mouth so needless to say, I was all ears.
He spoke about five attributes of love from the famous 1 Corinthians 13 but what struck me hard was a reference he made to the story of creation of man in the book of Genesis. He brought to our attention the fact that Eve was brought to Adam, literally on a silver plate. This was after God declared in verse 18 of chapter 2;
“It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.“
The quotation threw my mind on a journey of reflection over my role as a helper. Unfortunately the word helper has become synonymous with a “less than” connotation and yet there is such power in the role. Something else we seem to skip over is the fact that following closely is the little yet powerful word “comparable”. The dictionary meaning of the word “comparable” is a person or thing able to be likened to another; similar. This implies that the woman is likened, akin to, equivalent, similar to the man. In their creator’s view, the women are in no way less than the men. That said, at the point of her creation the woman’s role was crystal clear! To be a helper.
What does this mean for you and I? What does that even look like in real life? A good place to start is to examine your husband’s life purpose. Then find ways in which you can compliment and support him in order to make him shine in his purpose.
“The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.” Proverbs 31:11
I find that when I embrace my role as a helper to my husband (aide, teammate, coworker, associate, colleague, partner, right hand woman), there is an indescribable surge of power in the home! My husband is gifted with thinking big picture while I automatically think details. I cannot begin to tell you how many times we have frustrated each other in conversation because as he is painting the big picture I am busy interrupting with the details which disrupt his trail of thought. And then I end up being angry because in my world, I am thinking he is being irrational by not putting all the details into consideration before he goes off into his dream world! However, on the times I have chosen to think of myself as a helper, it has been so peaceful and productive I wonder why I do not stay in that mode all the time! In such a case I would listen to his incredible ideas without interrupting, give it a few hours and then get back to him with the same idea put under the microscope of my excel tendencies. It always works. I am more pleasant and he is willing to listen!
“Her husband is known in gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.” Proverbs 31:23
Being your husband’s helper does not make you less than him. On the contrary, in this role lies the real power of womanhood. Just imagine your husband shining bright and deep joy knowing that even when they may not acknowledge it, you contributed heavily to the product the world is experiencing. And the beauty is you too will shine in the process.
HELPER! The Power of Womanhood.
“Right at the center of the word obedience is the word die: OBE-DIE-NCE.
Doris Mayoli
#FearlessSummit2017
God is calling us to radical obedience. This is a call to die. Dead people have no will, no thoughts, no preferences, no rights, no opinions to offer in an argument, no nothing! To say yes to this Call to die is To give up my own life that He will live His through me.
What does this look like in real life? This looks like giving up my own preconceived ideas of what my life ought to look like and embracing His plan for my life. After all, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
The beauty with saying yes to this call to die is a simple yet rather powerful factor called multiplication. Every seed knows that left alone in a beautiful center piece basket is not to maximize it’s already inherent potential. A farmer knows it is insanity to celebrate the kilograms or tonnes of seed he owns years in, years out! He must plant to get double, triple, times 30, 60 and sometimes 100 fold!!!
Is the call to die a risk? Oh yes it is!!! What if the rains do not come? What if the sun shines too hard? What if the pests come and wipe out my garden? What if the thieves come and harvest my yield in the middle of the night? What if the markets are not giving me the appropriate price for my harvest? What if? What if? What if?
But what if it the opposite? What if you succeed? What if the rains are just enough? What if the sun shines only when it should? What if you have the best season ever? What if He rebukes the devourer from your gardens? What if you get a bumper harvest? What if your seed yields 100 fold? What if the market gives you a ridiculous price for your yield? What if? What if? What if? You see, you will never know until your plant that seed!
This is a call to radical obedience, a call to die! To say yes to this call is to yield to the possibility of Multiplying yourself 10 fold, 20 fold, 30, 60 or even 100 fold. What would it look like to have a million people just like you? On this discipleship journey, we are called first to Come and see, then we graduate to Come and follow. Friends, we are no longer babes. The time has come. It is now time to COME AND DIE.
Let Go and Let God! Take a risk. Take a step of faith. Take that leap. Take that jump. It will be worth it. Yours will be one of those referred to as A life well lived.
I had been told that when the time came, I needed to be walking to and fro as much as possible. Being quite literal, that’s exactly what I did. On that morning, my husband Chris and I went for the routine morning walk in preparation for delivery. A pain kept presenting after every ten minutes but I ignored it. After all, it felt like the usual crumps accompanying the monthly cycle every woman goes through. This was not new at all! Of course Chris wanted us to go to the hospital immediately but I reminded him rather firmly that the experts said first pregnancy labor took hours, sometimes up to 48 hours. I was not willing to go spend my precious time in a hospital for all that time.
I paced the whole day up until about 5pm when I thought it a good idea to go to our good friends’ house and play piano as a way of distracting myself from the discomfort. (Laughable in retrospect!) Just before we left the house, my waters broke! Just like that. No words can appropriately describe the 4 hours that followed. The baby was coming out, hook or crook. My husband drove like a madman through the traffic and I still wanted him to speed up. On arrival at the hospital, the nurse announced that I was going through what is called precipitated labor, the kind that progresses real fast from 0 to 10 cm dilation. With every birth pang, the strength that was going through my body is the kind Chris says could move a stuck truck! I remember during the delivery of our second child, I carried Chris and the doctor with both my hands off the floor!
On both occasions, after much sweat, screams, broken toilet seats, no more covering for privacy, midwife pressing my upper tummy to aid the child’s delivery, doctor’s orders, lots of blood, stitches, name it, the ordeal ended. Thankfully, it ended with a child in arms, joy indescribable from relief that it was finally over and looking forward to the fact that now I could sleep comfortably through the night. Well, details of what happens after in the next episode.
Every one of us has a dream, never mind that our gestation periods are quite varied. Irrespective of how long you have nursed this idea, when it is time for the dream to be delivered, that’s it. A couple of things in my experience giving birth to children seem to be a direct parallel to the process of birthing dreams. Let’s draw some comparisons.
Do you feel agitated? Do you feel dissatisfied? Do you feel like it is time to jump? Maybe it is time to birth that dream. You have brooded over the matter, prayed, perhaps even fasted and now, it is time to push it out!
Your system is ready. You can feel a surge of energy flowing through you. It feels like there is no mountain insurmountable. All the blocks in the path appear conquerable! Suddenly, there is an inner courage that you have not experienced before. Everything around you fades. Both eyes are on the prize: The birth of the dream!
When it is time for your dream to be birthed, there are people who suddenly come to your service. They will stop their own programs, short and long term, to attend to you personally in whichever way they are able to at the moment. Some of them will do things they have never done before but they will do it anyway. Some people you will know personally and others not! Whichever way, the helping hands will be available.
God has put in place professional people in to assist the delivery process of your dream. These are the people who know the ins and outs of what it is you have been dreaming of. They know what you are about to go through and they walk you through the process. On both occasions, I had a midwife literally push over my upper tummy as I gave my final push to have the baby out! They are there to push that dream out with you and clean up whichever messes may come along with it!
The dream has been born. You are excited! What you visualized has finally become reality. You have registered the company. The office is open. Word is out there. You wrote the music, went to studio, and now the album is out. You started that business, church, school, farming project, etc. You posted on face book and friends congratulated you. You are confident this is going to work out! Then suddenly, you are faced with the reality of nurturing this baby crying for everything ranging from hunger, heat, cold, and soiled diapers. It cries for everything! And you are thinking, how did I get myself here? You have mixed feelings because on one hand you are happy and on the other, you are so overwhelmed with the responsibility!
Can you imagine this is just the beginning? We are only at the point of birthing the dream and yet there are still years ahead of us to nurture the dream to maturity!
# Embrace your WHO
To live a life that counts is to live a life of significance. A significant life is one that focuses on investing in others rather than in oneself. Houses, financial wealth, degrees, PHDs, accolades, awards, investments, and all sorts of achievements are for us all to attain. That said, it is important to note that we carry none of the above to our graves. What remains after we are long after we are gone are the lives we touch while we live.
I believe that we have all been given the grace to reach a specific group of people. Who are you assigned to?
“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Ephesians 3:8
“(For He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles.) Galatians 2:8
Paul was over qualified for the Gentiles. He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law a Pharisee and blameless concerning the law. Yet all these things did not carry weight to the Gentiles to whom he was sent. On the other hand, Peter was under qualified for the Jews. He was an uneducated, unschooled, uncouth former fisherman whose mouth went off way before his mind processed his words and God sent him to people who highly valued being learned. Inspite of Paul’s over qualification and Peter’s under qualification, God worked EFFECTIVELY in both of them to reach the people they were assigned to. They each received grace for the assignment.
Do you know your WHO? WHO have you been given grace for? Not so long ago I realized that I have been given extra ordinary grace for children. Interestingly, many adults found me unapproachable (I have have come a long way in changing this story) yet children literally flock to me and it doesn’t matter the age. I know that I can reach all people- men and women in all sorts of fora but I know that in this period of my life, I am most effective as far as children are concerned. It is no wonder Harvest Academy is growing at breakneck speed from 22 students in our first year to 110 students in our third year! I carry a special grace for the assignment. Embrace your WHO. Whether you are under qualified or over qualified, God will work effectively in you for your assignment among your WHO.
The 4-process path to embracing your WHO: Know your WHO. Love your WHO. Invest in your WHO. Celebrate your WHO.
Know your WHO. WHO have you been assigned to? Check the trends of your life. There are some cues.
Love your WHO. Paul would have preferred to be sent to the Jews because he was qualified for them bulungi but he was sent elsewhere. And he had to make that adjustment by coming down to their intellectual level, which was way lower than his in order to effectively reach them. Love your WHO.
Invest in your WHO. Invest time, money and resources in your WHO. It is the most rewarding feeling ever. It will take you miles.
Celebrate your WHO. What you celebrate grows. They will flock to you in droves if you celebrate them.
Remember: # You have one life to live. Make it count!
Lynnet K. Nsubuga 