#SpreadTheGospel

Darling hold my hand….

How are you doing children of the Most High God?

If you can’t relate to the first sentence of this article, then it’s safe to say that you may be living under a rock (and I am not talking about Christ) or you are completely social media-free. If your case is the latter then good for you.

I had one of the most spectacular weekends yet, celebrating a dear friend who had her traditional ceremony called “Nyombo”, according to the Luo community’s marriage rites.

Side note: I tend to attract fine Luo men. I thought you should know 😉 .

To my international readers, the Luo community are part of the River-Lake Nilotes that dwell in the western side of Kenya, in an area referred to as Luo Nyanza. The people go by the colloquial moniker, ‘Luopean’, given their great command of English and are also referred to as the ‘Nigerians of Kenya’ given their relatively loud nature, grandeur and affinity for the finer things in life. The Luo men are infamously known to give ladies a good time, but not for a long time; while the Luo women on the other hand, are graced with beautiful physiques, loaded with benefits in all the right places 😉 .

The Luo people are brave and courageous – they take the frontline of many protests; they are highly educated – many professors, medical doctors, PhD holders, engineers and high profile professionals hail from their community; and I consider them funny – the Luo people in my circle make me laugh uncontrollably. It would be an injustice to the Luo people if I did not tell you about their music – it serenades, it soothes, it makes you dance to the beat in rhythmic motions and it makes you romanticize the picture of a beautiful sunset against the Rock of Kit Mikayi.

Linda and I have been friends for 15 years now, alongside Beryl, Brenda, Sinde and Nelly.

You can spot their faces in this article that I published 11 years ago! For those readers who’ve been with me from the genesis of my blogging days, you’ve definitely spotted Linda in some of my articles, especially those written about or around my birthday.

We’ve grown from studying together for exams, being in the same group for group presentations, navigating our first job experiences together and now, being each other’s bridesmaids [dabs tears from eyes].

Linda and Elvis’ nyombo was a beautiful ceremony filled with amazing people and immaculate vibes. Evening passed and morning came. Inasmuch as we wanted to remain in Homa Bay to explore Rusinga Island, it was time for us to leave. We reluctantly packed our bags and started freshening up in preparation to leave. Due to circumstances beyond me, I couldn’t travel with the rest of the girlies on the Nairobi – Homa Bay trip; I travelled with the groom. For the return leg, I assumed that we would return the same way but things had changed and that option was no longer possible. I wondered what to do because the next option would be to leave the following day via bus.

There is a gospel song whose name has eluded me at the moment, but one of the ad-libs in the song is that God is an impossibility specialist. That stayed with me. The rest of the girls had a 7pm flight to catch from the Kisumu airport and we had to leave Linda’s home by 3pm since it is a 3-hour drive from Ndhiwa to Kisumu. Then here is your girl Amanda with no ticket and no confirmed means of transport, hoping to also leave with the rest of the girls for Nairobi. I did not want to remain behind 😦 and also, I was going home – to Mombasa, the day after that. This meant that I needed to leave Ndhiwa that day. It was already 2:30pm and the rest of the girlies had all showered…. except me!

I had to figure out something because in the next half hour or less, the driver would be leaving and I needed to have hatched a gameplan. The Holy Spirit brought to remembrance that nothing is impossible for God. I went to the room and prayed, “Lord, please order my steps.” From a human perspective, my options were slim to none, but to God, His options are as abundant as the sand on the seashore.

A certain person came to mind in that moment, let’s call him Otee. Otee is familiar with the skies (if you know what I mean). Bookmark that information as I will refer to it later. He is also Luo meaning he would know other ways to navigate this conundrum – not that he lives in Luo Nyanza but somehow, he seemed like the right person to call at that moment. Remember, the clock was ticking on my end and I needed to be showering at the very least, if I wanted to leave with the rest of the girls at 3 pm. However, how could I leave with no plan? It was a chicken-and-egg scenario – which one came before the other?

The phone network connectivity was quite poor in Ndhiwa let alone internet connectivity. I went outside the house and placed a call to Otee, and you know what? It went through! That was miracle number one. The network had been sketchy to the core while we were there but now, my call went through with ease. Miracle number 2 is that the call didn’t go to roaming, meaning Otee was in the country! Hallelujah! A WhatsApp call would have been near impossible to make, with the kind of network that was there. Miracle number 3 is that he picked up on the first ring! How is that a miracle, you wonder? Well, he could have been working or away from his phone or taking a nap or anything else in between but he picked my call on the first ring – that was miraculous because it was 2:40pm by then and every second was crucial at this point! There was no time, literally so, for the call to keep ringing on end!

I explained my scenario to Otee, that I needed to fly to Nairobi that same evening. We checked options online – again, to have done this was a miracle since the internet wasn’t strong, moreso strong enough to surf the net while on a call. We found one flight for that evening, however, the fare was astronomically high and the flight options for Monday were equally as expensive, if not pricier. We checked two other airlines that fly the Kisumu – Nairobi route and the outcomes were similar in terms of availability and pricing. Kenya Airways didn’t even have an option for that evening, the seats were completely sold out! Otee then mentioned an airline that I hadn’t heard of before, let’s call it Airline-X. Remember that I mentioned earlier that Otee is familiar with the skies? Good. Airline-X flies the Kisumu – Nairobi route and other lesser flown-to destinations in Kenya like Wajir. To my disappointment, they do not fly to Mombasa. How sway? That’s besides the point of this story though.

Otee told me to check the availability on Airline-X for flights leaving that evening then call him back. It was 2:45pm at this point. Sweat was coming out of pores I never knew existed. The driver was now reversing the car towards the house in readiness to put our bags in the boot but your homegirl was still on phone!

Glory be to God because not only was there an evening flight for that same day but availability was there too… for one seat only! To make things sweeter, the price was half of what the other airlines were quoting for a last minute flight! Woohoo!

“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26 NIV

It was 2:48pm when I called Otee to let him know of my findings and guess what he did? He sent me money to book it! Can somebody say gloraaaay!

By the time I went to shower, it was 2:50pm. Fortunately, I had put everything in my bag save for toiletries that I would have packed last, after showering and dressing up. I was showered, dressed and ready by 3:05pm and it was time to say goodbye and leave. In true African fashion, you cannot leave someone’s house without eating and Linda’s mum had prepared a hearty lunch for us. Local food is sumptuous to the bone but we could not sit and eat given the time constraints. Linda’s mother was sweet enough to pack frozen fish for each of us to carry to Nairobi. Don’t you just love African culture? You can never leave someone’s home empty handed. By the time we wrapped up with the hugs and kisses, packing the fish and saying a prayer of safety, it was 3:30pm. Here is something interesting about my flight that I deliberately did not tell you earlier; the rest of the girls had a 7pm flight but mine was… drumroll please… 6pm!

Yep.

It was already 3:30pm and we had not commenced our three hour drive to the airport. Keep in mind that check in for local flights is one hour before departure. Now do the time math.

I will relate this to the Biblical anecdote where Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt but now, Pharaoh’s troops were behind him and the Red Sea before him. Getting my flight ticket can be equated to leaving Egypt while the issue of getting to Kisumu and checking in on time were akin to being pursued by Pharaoh’s chariots and facing the Red Sea respectively.

The car didn’t have much fuel and when we got to Homa Bay town from Ndhiwa, we had to fill the tank at the nearest petrol station. Each passing minute felt like a millennia! It was 4:00pm when we got to the petrol station and we left at 4:11pm – I know this because I kept looking at the clock! We now had 50 minutes to cover a two-and-a-half-hour stretch.

I called the airline and asked them when the next available flight at the same fare would be, and children of God, their response reverted me to Option A – I just had to believe for that miracle. The driver had taken my mission to heart and we were cruising, overtaking every slow car and at some point, we were close to hitting a cow! [welcome to Africa] I was quite tense in the car given the time factor but the driver’s speed had started giving me reassurances that we would make it to the airport by a whisker. However, God does not share His glory with anyone or anything. Lest I give the driver more credit than is due, it began raining heavily. This meant that we had to slow down due to poor visibility, the road getting slippery and we also encountered patches of potholes so we could not keep speeding anymore.

When the driver couldn’t accelerate much, my faith had to. It was now 5:00pm, my designated check-in time, but we had not gotten to Kisumu town yet. I received a call from an unknown number and when I picked up, it was the airline asking me how much longer it would take me to get to the airport. “How sweet of them to check in on me”, I thought to myself. Meanwhile, my heart was beating faster than the West African Ashanti drums (how many of you used these literary devices in your primary school compositions? Haha!).

I had to shift faith gears now. I asked God to make time stand still -just like He did for Joshua – until we got to the airport.

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
    and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still,
    and the moon stopped,
    till the nation avenged itself on^[b] its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 

Joshua 10:12-13 NIV

I prayed that with each minute, it would pass by so slowly, enabling us to cover much ground in little time.

God had other plans though.

5:30pm found us on the road, making our entry into the outskirts of Kisumu county. We still had more distance to cover before getting to Kisumu town and eventually to the airport. I received another call from the airline “Ms. Namayi, how far away are you?”; “Fifteen minutes away”, I responded. “Please hurry”, the airline correspondent sounded almost desperate for me to make it on time. I was touched. If it was Nairobi, I highly doubt this kind of follow up would have been done.

I had to change faith tact once more. Since time was not standing still for me, I prayed for a flight delay to enable me board. We got to the airport at 6:05pm and when I went to the Airline-X check-in counter, I saw the board “Counter Closed”. Someone else would have given up but that person was definitely NOT me. I checked the screen and my flight had been marked as “Scheduled” meaning that there was no delay. There was no way I could give up hope at that point. I started interceding in tongues so that the Holy Spirit could pray the perfect will of God concerning my situation. I kept speaking in tongues until someone showed up and asked me which airline I was boarding and the destination I was going to. I responded that I was flying to Nairobi via Airline-X. The airport staff looked perplexed and he glanced at his watch. It was 6:15pm. He then told me in Swahili, “usijali, Nairobi lazima utafika” which means, “don’t worry, you will get to Nairobi”. At that point, I saw Beryl, Sinde and Brenda walking to their check-in counter with their suitcases. We were boarding different airlines but the Kisumu airport is not that big so the queuing area is the same for all airlines, just with different check-in counters. They saw me waiting beside a closed check-in counter and they wondered whether I was still eligible to fly at that time. They were sweet enough to come and wait with me as I waited for someone to check in my luggage. At 6:25, after what felt like the most grueling 10 minutes I have ever waited, someone came to the check-in counter.

“Are you Ms. Namayi?” he asked. This person had been briefed it seems. “Yes.” I responded in the sweetest voice I could muster. “ID please” he asked as he stretched out his hand toward me. Children of God, I do not know how this happened but I did NOT have my ID with me.

I promise you that I always walk with my national ID but I could not find it in my purse that day. After searching frantically for it, close to turning my bag inside out, I requested that I present my credit card instead, since it bore my name and I had not carried my passport. The kind gentleman agreed. This was now the 79th miracle, on the brink of losing count. God had been flexing the whole way.

The gentleman checked me in and guess which seat I got.. number 2A!

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20:16 NIV

Getting Seat 2A was clearly a manifestation of Matthew 20:16 because I was, without a shadow of doubt, the last passenger to get her boarding pass. “We are boarding via Gate 1; next time, please be early.” he told me. I thanked him profusely and headed to Gate 1.

Beryl, Sinde and Brenda were also boarding their flight, for take off at 7:00pm. They saw me walk towards the aircraft but I couldn’t see them, I only knew this because Beryl told me thereafter.

I took the picture below intentionally for the purpose of testifying about this miracle.

God loves a good drama movie and I was the main cast in the script that day. I must have entertained Him, the host of angels and the cloud of witnesses as they watched everything unfold for me. There are other “feeder” miracles that I couldn’t write about because I may end up with a novel at this point.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

John 21:25 NIV

This is my longest article yet, since 2019. I was torn between breaking it into a two-part series or narrating the whole story in one go and clearly, the latter won the day.

I will make the clarion call for salvation. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour but you believe in your heart that He died to set you free, then please repeat the prayer below out loud:

Dear Lord,

Thank You for dying on the cross for me. I believe in my heart that you died and rose again and I confess with my mouth that You are Lord and Saviour in my heart and in my life. I denounce my former ways and choose to be Your child. Thank You for setting me free. I am now born again.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Congratulations for making that prayer! Welcome to the fun side of life. God is so interesting! Trust Him and His adventures for you 😉 .

You are loved more than you know.

XO,

That Lady