Theogrimage: A place to Begin

"Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay,
you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

My name is Kevin Muriithi Ndereba - other variants that my friends call me are Kevo and Ndebz. I've spent most of my life in the motherland, in East African Kenya to be specific. I have had a relatively "normal" childhood experience growing up in the 90's - playing rounders, stuck-in-the-mud, follow-the-leader and occasionally getting myself into trouble :-) I have been a quick learner especially of all sorts of sports and games, and loved to play them as well. Table Tennis and Lawn Tennis were introduced to me (and my brothers) by my father. I have had a very interesting and sweet affair with football, in addition to basketball, rugby, volleyball, although my current unfitness has pushed me to other indoor activities such as snooker, cards and board games. This passionate curiosity has colored most of my life, right through secondary school to undergrad and to my period of postgrad theological studies even beyond. Having worked with the international student organization called AIESEC in my university undergrad years, I was brought to the melting pot of cultures, ideas, leadership and humanistic ideals. As well, these formative years (19 - 23) brought philosophical and theological questions to the forefront of my life. Having been brought up in a Christian family, the core question for me towards the end of this period was how can Jesus be the only way to God? This question implied other related questions especially about reality, truth, spirituality and intellectual curiosity in light of our global village.

In the beginning month of January of 2013 after a period of restlessness with my intellectual curiosity and moral shortcomings, I came to a cross road. All along I had thought that as many thinkers in the past would have, right thinking would lead to right behavior. Having thought myself as a "good boy" growing up and most recently up to then, an "open-minded" or "spiritual" Christian, my current lifestyle did not measure up - at least to the Christian life vision espoused in the Bible. I was deep into alcohol and marijuana, "weed" use; I had stopped going to church and my lustful habits had led me into self-indulgence. On the other hand, I was searching for meaning and joy. The deep questions I had were not meaningfully attempted an answer in the Church I grew up in from my early childhood years - My father would tell me "don't worry, you seek God with a genuine heart and you will find him." Ironically, this search led me towards writers such as C. S. Lewis, nature, music and even a Buddhist temple. This search was seeming elusive yet my father's advice came to be trustworthy. During this period in January, a certain desire to honestly seek God was aroused in my heart, a conviction that I was without strength to get myself out of these predicaments. I was reading the 1st Letter of John on the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ became clearer for the first time. Upon a simple prayer, I asked God if He was there, He would show Himself and guide me. This has been a life-transforming experience to date, the point at which I believed in Jesus Christ in my heart and decided to walk in Faith, believing in the witness of God found in the scriptures. As I have come to see, the Christian life is not an all-rosy experience. Popular Christian followers and false teachers reduce the Christian teaching to prosperity - Perhaps a response to the materialism in our day. I came to learn the realism of Christianity when I lost my brother on the 1st of April, 2015. This has been a second life-transforming experience. I came to see a God who is interested in our pain, his love not a mushy mushy wishy washy "I love you" but in the words of Nicholas Wolterstorff, a suffering love. God in Jesus Christ has come to our human experience, in its messiness and promises renewal, restoration and redemption, in stages now and in full upon his future second coming. In many ways, the above two experiences shape my current interpretation and interaction with people and the world. The first has allowed me to have a sense of this renewing vision and hence a hope in the day-to-day and thereafter; the second, has taught me how loss challenges our sense of control and can be a platform for trust, as counter-intuitive as this sounds. Trust in God.

Hence, theogrimage. I know, theogrimage sounds fancy, almost smug. "Theo" means God and "grimage" is the shortened version of pilgrimage: Therefore, this blog contains reflections, critiques and rantings on my pilgrimage with God. I decided to put this blog up to share my reflections and my experience through my (need I say brief) life journey. You can expect to come across the following topics that are of some interest to me:

• African Thought.
• Apologetics.
• Theology (God, Bible, Church, Holy Spirit). 
• Culture.
• Ethical and Social Action.
• Joy.
• Leadership.
• Music. 
• Philosophy.
• Sexuality.
• Youth.

Hopefully as you enter this journey with me, you will get to see the beauty of the life of Jesus Christ and how it has bearing for all of life. If I may come off as rude, kindly accept that as part of my imperfection. In fact, the purpose of this blog would be to point to the abundant life and perfection that can be found in Jesus Christ and their bearing to living a meaningful life here in different life vocations. This is not to sound triumphalist or perfect, for I am a work in progress. We will always be in transition. Yet with Christ, our transition is sure and secure, now and even to the end of time.

Peace, Grace and Love.