Donata is asleep with the book Letters to Brenda on his chest in his tiny room in Block B. The night-light clock shows 2:58pm in the afternoon. He gets an out of body experience looking at himself. He is not sure whether his spirit is leaving his body, he’s undergoing a sleep paralysis episode or he is in a straight depersonalized state. Be that as it may, this time he isn’t worried, not like the last time the same thing had happened. So, what changed this time? He was calmer, ready to go or stay because he had God on his side. He chuckled at how God orchestrated a lot of events in his life through seemingly simple events that would run unnoticed or unappreciated by the simple eye. This is what, in this one moment, he decided to name them Christological Lead Points.
This phrase is derived from Paediatric Surgery unit- Pathological Lead Point- if you are a finalist and you don’t know it by now, don’t worry I got you. A pathological lead point specifically for intussusception is like a first hit condition on the bowel that predisposes you the former. For intussusception above 3 years they include, HSP, Appendicitis, Merckel’s diverticulum, lymphomas, polyps etc (may it come tomorrow!!). For example, a bleeding disorder such as HSP can cause submucosal bleeding that may make it heavier making it susceptible to telescoping during normal bowel movement. Therefore, the Christological lead points are single and seemingly simple events that led to rededication of one’s life to Christ and to walk in obedience.
Now that we are on the same page. Let us go back to Donata chuckling.
He has often thought about how the events turned out. Maybe on this day CJ Kiror and Ndichu did not feel like going for the weekly door-to-door evangelism. As it was their norm, they knocked doors to present the message of salvation to non-believers and to encourage the believers to a closer fellowship with Christ. On this day, they knocked at around 4:50 pm on possibly one of their first rooms of their day, room 301 Soweto. It was a room made of two, probably in hindsight, physically imposing students based on their gym exploits, of which one was Donata.
From Donata’s POV, it was Ndichu filling the door then someone hiding behind him. He knew Ndichu well and knew what he was here to do, but for his little comrade, could she really have anything to say? After an exchange of pleasantries and introductions, it seemed as though Ndichu took a back seat and let CJ talk. To Donata’s roommate, this was probably like another day in Soweto but to Kut, it felt as though God was directly talking to him. On that day he definitely encountered God; that was his day, it definitely was. He could not even maintain eye contact with the two because of the magnitude of guilt and the awareness of how far he was away from the God he once knew so well. After the short sharing, that burned all his sin filled insides, Ndichu made a prayer and the two went on their way. This cannon event shifted his trajectory to at least go back to church on Sundays. God bless them wherever they are!
One year after the event, Donata recounters yet another lead point. This time, it is a normal Sunday after-service period. He was now at the literature desk and this time another lady, called Achieng S. was on his case about going to a conference. At first, he shrugged off the story, but this lady persisted and insisted that he should sign up. She was like, “Kut, si tuende Commission. Everyone in literature has signed up apart from you!” Her realizing that FOMO didn’t work on Donata, she switched gears to persistence. Long story short Kut went to Commission. If all men could insist like her in their relationships, maybe there would never be conflicts in life. Jokes aside, in hindsight, he understood that it was God-driven insistence that would work on him; Achieng being the best candidate for the job. God bless Achieng too!
Walking in obedience to God’s call was the fruit of the Commission Conference that Achieng was so enthusiastic about. Just like points of mutations or the hit hypothesis for development of cancers, Donata realized what he knew nothing about the depth of God’s love. He realized that God has always been calling and stretching his arm towards him since time immemorial. Notable events include retrospect admission by his friend Johnex ,that he used to pray for him; the many times people had invited him to class fellowships, the existence of born gain sisters and a mother in his life among others. He even remembered how one time a song called Shekinah Glory by Esther Wahome made him feel God’s presence in a trying period of his life.
As Donata gets to that point, his soul starts to ascend higher to the room’s ceiling: he however wants to hold on to this moment of thanksgiving. He is thankful that he was able to serve God; and He enabled him to serve him with zeal and zest. He is thankful that he found his identity in Christ that the Holy Spirit has walked and worked in him in the latter part of his campus days. He is thankful for the community; for deep brotherhood he has encountered; for every bonding session; for every Chanan Bible Study session, for the First Years’ Orientation, for every class fellowship, every Sunday service, for every time he sang on the podium, for the Elder’s Night, for pain and heartbreaks; The list is endless. What a privilege it had been to serve God! At that time, he realizes that all the lead points have now culminated in a diagnosis, Stage IV Metastatic Christianity.
He wants to encourage someone that in whatever way they are serving God, let them do it with utmost cheer and willingness because in obedience they are confident in doing God’s will. Our perfect God even chose the barley seeds that were planted and then ground to make the bread for the boy from whose loaves fed the five thousand. Were he to write an article or if his words were inscribed in a book just like in Job 19:23-29, this might just be the reader’s lead point, or not, but he now knows that nothing is accidental with God.
With this realization, his soul immediately falls into his body and with the sudden jolt he realizes it was a hypnic jerk. He looks at the time, it is 3:01 pm, wipes drool from his mouth and gets up. He has to write the article of the day and read for his final examinations on the morrow. Oh reader! Make a prayer for him and all the finalists!
PS.
Job 19:23-26 onwards “Oh that my words were written. Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives and at last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God…..” Even as I do this last article; my hope is that you will continue or start putting your hope in the Redeemer Christ who keeps on beckoning you to him. God bless you all.
Donata Kut (Chief).
