Cute kiddos in a Malaysian airport..

I was waiting in Coffee Bean at LCCT (airport for low-cost airlines in KL) for my uncle. A little boy (around age 6) tries to enter the cafe but finds the door I am sitting opposite stiff. One of the airport staff helps him open the door. He lingers by a table opposite me and then draws a chair and sits on it. The cafe was playing a few catchy tunes. The kid then starts grooving to a Beyonce song - moving his shoulders and neck - pretty slick moves for a six-year-old while looking at me. I get a little paranoid trying to see if he is accompanied by parents or is up to some mischief.

A pretty little girl then comes through the door. She looks at him, then at me. She comes to my table and stands by my bags,looks at them and turns her big eyes towards me. I am trying to figure all this out (maybe they thought I was running away from home and thought I was lonely?) - or were the kids genuinely drawn to me (you know like kids being drawn to Jesus :)) or were they up to something? They then got a bit bored with me as I sat with a puzzled look but did not say anything. The boy then leaves, soon followed by the girl whom I think was his sister. They go to a family sitting nearby on the chairs outside. A man whom I would guess is the dad looks towards me in a bemused manner. The whole family then walks off.

I found the whole episode quite funny and a little unusual. Malaysian kids aren't usually that friendly towards strangers nor are parents that willing to let their children wander off that far unaccompanied. Maybe they were from a neighbouring country. The boy's dance moves still make me laugh when I think about him. But maybe the moves only come second to a boy who is around six years old and in the habit of somersaulting in our church foyer towards a friend of mine and ends the somersault by telling her his five-year old best friend fancies her and would like to marry her. She is in her twenties. Kids are cute and intriguing....and fun!

I dey good

It has been wet, wet, wet in Londres. I was in such a good mood after work this evening though, humming the song "Majesty" by Delirious as I was leaving the office and after having chatted with Miriam, who has promised to teach me some French and possibly Malinke, the language she speaks in Ivory Coast. The words, "forever I am changed by your love, in the presence of your majesty, your grace has found me just as I am, empty handed but alive in your hands, the greatest love of all is mine" resonated within me. I felt light, at peace. A bus sped by and in the process sprayed water on my trousers - I was wet from the knees down on my right side. But it was all cool. I got splashed again by a car when I was near my home. My shoes were wet too. But it was good. I had been not as at peace in the morning thinking about how London can sometimes get just a little too busy. And did I mention the group of guys who came up to me on the underground on my way home, one guy with a hip hop swagger and the other who stood in front of me, did a body roll (like what you'd do when you are "street-locking") and then walked off. Funny. Oh and they were South Asians - isn't hip hop so international? *Wink.

Woodstock and a guy called Timo

I thought most lawyers in the city were super-focused on their careers. I then met Timo - a really intelligent lawyer who was fun and who listened to his music in his firm while doing his work, causing partners to tell him that he was not at Woodstock. He had lovely curls, he just did not look like your typical corporate/finance lawyer. He looked like a trendy arty type who as really at home liming in a bar in Shoreditch. I thought he was a musician. He was at a top international law firm, still quite young, with a very fresh outlook on life. And he was just going for it in life, being himself, giving everything his best, with a great sense of humour - he was real, down-to-earth and knew what he was about. He made me sit up and re-align my sometime inaccurate generalisations of lawyers in the city. I am glad I met him - just proves time and time again how sometimes we can get it wrong with easy-to-make (and easy-to-hold on-to)generalisations.

ah to be loved, it is so sweet..:)

My chale ms candy once told me God loves us through people as well....my french meal a few days ago cooked by my beautiful french friend was evidence of it...
the menu:
Oeufs mimosas
poulet sauce moutarde avec son riz
banane et fruits rouge sur son chocolat fondut

I love God, I love her, I love life.

Merci merci merci.

My Soul Magnifies The Lord

Words from a couple of Chris Tomlin's songs :)

Come and worship
Do not be afraid

My soul magnifies the Lord
He has done great things for (in) me

His goodness knows no ends
He establishes with his righteousness
His name shall be
Wonderful Counsellor
Everlasting Father

Love so amazing
Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

All our hope is in you
All glory to you
The light of the world

On a separate note, a new single titled "Nothing On You" by Bob (featuring Bruno Mars) is a pretty cool song, reminds me of good party times/days in Accra at The Rhap, Champs, Tantra - what a chilled out season in my life. I loved it- taught me so much. And such lovely weather, food and lifestyle. Beautiful people too. Medasi Nyame.

My hood....:)

I love living in this area.
I love the fact I have friends who wake me up on a beautiful morning to borrow a tennis racket, who keep me enthralled by the conversations on God and life we have until the early hours of the morning, who swing by after a party to show me what they wore and tell me all about it, who come and pray for me at a moment's notice often without me asking/telling them what is on my mind and who keep me street by calling me K-dog. :)
I just love doing life with all this amazing and fun people. I love seeing God in all these people, I love seeing God in this area. I love feeling my Father's presence in my hood. And I believe it's going to get even more supernatural. :) And I believe God has placed me and all the others in the neighbourhood for a reason, for such a time as this. :)I know it sounds cliche, but I totally believe this. We are/are so going to be the new flavour of the neighbourhood - salty and all.
Have a great weekend.

The Way I Was Made

Words from the song "The Way I Was Made" by Chris Tomlin:

"I want to live like there's no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one's around
I want to sing like nobody's listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have many
I want to love like I am not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made"

"Made with your hands
Made to discover who you are
And who I am"

"All who are forgotten
Help me find
All of your promise
Let it be in my life"

Sweeping light versus flashlight

From a write-up on Spotify about Chris Tomlin, Christian songwriter/singer:

"When I write songs, I try to write in a way to reach as many people as I can, to be a lighthouse versus a flashlight. A sweeping light that sweeps over a lot of people, versus a flashlight that's very focused. I pray that. Only God can do that."

Quite profound. Chris has great vision and dreams big.Inspiring.

Thank you Father for accompanying me to work today...

I was sitting down in the train and got out my Bible to read. I noticed the guy sitting opposite me was also reading the Bible. It was funny - we were sitting in the same position, reading the same thing, directly opposite each other. I looked closely at him- I knew him. He was from my church and lived in the same area. It felt like such a blessing travelling into work feeling wrapped in God's presence and love. It just filled my heart with a wonderful feeling and there was a great feeling of peace, security and joy. The whole carriage we were sitting in just felt different as it normally does on other days. We chatted as we embarked, enquired after common friends and wished each other good weeks as we went our separate ways. It put a smile on my face. It was nice seeing God being so real in the lives around me (and in my own life) and being reminded of His love for all of us and how He is with us in everything we do. God can be in everything I do (from work to play to simply chilling out) if I let HIm...so really, I should do everything onto him, with a heart of gladness...:) I can worship Him through anything and everything I do. Something for me maybe to think about and act on on a constant basis.

Medasi Nyame...

She felt so grateful to God. It was so beautiful to be able to pray with and for family, it was such a blessing and privilege to be used by God to bless her family.

Cultural diversity

I got prayed for in Korean, Cantonese, Portuguese and Thai as I visited my church "small groups" in my area and hung out with church friends in the last couple of weeks...how amazing is that?! Different cultures (but all connected through and in God :))brought to my doorstep without me having to hop on a plane...thank you Father. God transcends languages and cultures - with him anything and everything is possible. And the cultural diversity in our world is His creation, to be enjoyed by us all.

Happy heart

Found on the box of the Clinique Happy Heart perfume:

a wealth of flowers
a hint of warmth
a deepening of emotions
wear it and have
a happy heart

Nice. :)

Weddings in the Far East

It was the second wedding she had attended in the space of a month, different countries but in same part of the world...both weddings were very comparable, same "montage" presentation of photos of the groom and bride from when they were babies, showing how they had blossomed into the beautiful newly married couple; same song playing in the background, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz; and the same Coach keyrings placed on the dinner tables by gorgeous girls in slinky dresses showing off beautiful, slim bodies - typical Far Eastern beauties.And similar speeches by the proud, beaming parents....Sweet.And the same toast to the couple, followed by a loud "yam seng" ("cheers" in Chinese), although actually she then realised the "yam seng" was only incorporated in the Malaysian wedding and not the one in Hong Kong. Perhaps the people in HK were just more well behaved! She loved weddings in the Far East...and of course, the yummy food that was served on the day (with the added bonus that it was "normal" in the Far East to over-indulge in the food at such times of festivity so one could never appear greedy when enjoying the food!).