General Writing – Page 5 – Patrick Kayongo

Will the real Patty please stand up

I was raised by two loving but strict Ugandan parents. One of the things one needs to realise about Ugandan parents is that they put the fear of God in you. When you decide not to mess up, it’s not because you have a true perception of wrong and right, but its because if you do something stupid, the fear of a torturous death far outweighed the momentary pleasure of whatever I was about to do, whether it be stealing sugar (which I never actually wanted to do, but I hear it’s what most kids do – can’t seem to understand why) or sneaking out of school for a period of time (which I actually did in grade 2, and received the hiding of my life, and the next life, and the 9 after that).

Ceteris Paribus

Back to my first year of university, in economics, we had the option of choosing from a number of lecturers. My first choice was a 30-something lady who seemed to be living life hard. She seemed to be an older version of a university student. As the lecture started, she would update us on her previous night at Tiger Tiger, and ask us what we did for fun, to which most people lied (sitting in your room with a group of nerdy-who-are-trying-to-be-cool guys rating other girls isn’t the most exciting of stories for what you did on a Thursday night).

Outsourcing life

In my first year of University, in the first semester, I was lectured economics by this German guy. Honestly, to this day, he’s been one of my best lecturer. He was a middle aged man, who had lame jokes, but because of our respect for him (and most of us just came from high school therefore sucking up seemed like an option), we laughed at his jokes.

Changing The World

I have always been a person who wants to be a part of God’s shaping of the continent of Africa. Every part of me has wanted to play a role in this. The nations of Africa have been part of my desire. In thinking of the career I would like to have, I always wanted something with a largely African focus, because I have always seen myself as going into Africa and changing it for God.

On cultural identity, coconuts and other precepts…

Africa is and has always been a diverse continent boasting various groups exhibiting different mannerisms, arts, music and languages. Before colonialists came and divided the continent into territories representative of their “parent nations”, definition of individuals came from your family, clan or tribe. For example, I could be defined as Patrick Kuteesa Kayongo, from the Kkobe clan of the Buganda tribe (this clan wasn’t one of the original clans of the Buganda kingdom, but came as one of the tribes when Kabaka Kintu Kato invaded the Buganda Kingdom, and can be likened to Shaka Zulu, who unified a group of different clans into a nation). Different families, clans, tribes and kingdoms within the continent constantly adopted each others’ practices and skills allowing the advancement of each group through interaction

For who’s glory?

So now we live in this massive universe created by God. Everything created in this universe was created through Him and for Him (Romans 11:36). We are but miniscule entities in this vast array of His glory. Everything we see represents His Glory.

Essentially, what this means is that in everything we do, we are either living up to our purpose or not. We are either glorifying Him or not. If we are not glorifying Him we are glorifying the idiot against Him.

In everything we do, we need to see who is being glorified. A popular discussed example is the music we listen to. If the music we listen to does not glorify Him and is against what He stands for, then who does it glorify? If we are living a life to build our own kingdom (e.g. pursue fame, greatness, vast wealth, etc…) instead of building His Kingdom, we are not glorifying Him, so who are we glorifying?

In all we do, let’s live lives to glorify Him and Him alone…

Backbone…

So now, we live in an area where the modern Church movement has created an opportunity for us to express our worship to Christ in a way which means more to us and which we are comfortable. Therefore, if we want to dance, we can dance. If we want to shout, we can shout. If we want to weep, we can weep. Through our worship to God, we get a revelation of who He is, and we often get moved by this revelation.

Purpose of Life

Is this really that complicated a thought? What I don’t understand is why this has troubled philosophers for decades when the answer is SCREAMING out to you. The purpose of life is to do nothing but glorify God.