Kwaheri New Jack Swing.

Tuesday this week was a teary day for me. We laid our friend Jack Mwaura to rest. Jack was one of my pals courtesy of golf. We met at Limuru Country Club in 2011 or thereabouts. I wouldn’t say we had attained the boy’s club status in terms of closeness but there was definitely a connection. He had a golf swing that resembled a dance move, so we quickly baptized him New Jack Swing. We shared a love for old school music too so that was a befitting nickname.

The funeral service was at Nairobi Baptist Church. It was presided over by Pastor Nick Korir from Nairobi Chapel and Pastor Majid Ochieng from Nairobi Baptist Church. Funny how funerals and weddings act as meetup places for folks who haven’t seen each other for a long time. I met my cousin, Wangeci at Jack’s funeral and she asked me, ‘‘Lucas, we will be meeting at funerals only?’’ The last time we met was at yet another funeral. I had no response and just promised to up my game. We both did.

The glowing tributes about Jack clearly displayed the man he was. He had brought laughter and life to so many people. I was surprised as to how many groups he was a part of. One that tickled me was a huge group that meets on Sunday afternoons to eat chicken in Hurlingham. They are called Guava chicken gate. Hilarious. He ate life with a big spoon and was super intelligent. A few times, he would attempt to describe his logistics job to me, and I would just float. All I knew is that he was a big shot in the logistics world.

Pastor Majid based his sermon on Psalms 91: 12 – Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom. Another version says; Teach us to number our days. He went on to illustrate that scripture with a story. A little girl once asked her mum where her Dad was after he passed away. The mum responded that God had come and picked her Dad and taken him to heaven. After some thought the little girl then responded that maybe then we should all pack our suitcases and be ready for God to pick us at any time, especially now that He shows up bila notice as He did to pick up her Dad.

Since we do not know when our file shall be asked for by Sir God, we should spend our days here doing things that matter. As my half- time Dad, Mike Eldon says, we should have a good time doing good things. I believe if we are busy doing good things that matter then we will find ourselves travelling light. That then enables us to travel through life with hand luggage only and avoid the hassle of checking in many bags.

As the funeral service went on in the church, I got distracted by my phone vibrating. I wandered into WhatsApp and decided to check our last chats with Jack. I went through those messages with the sermon in mind. Pastor Majid mentioned three things that would ensure we make our days count and not just count our days. These were living with love for family, having hope beyond the grave and going through life armed with faith.

My heavy spirit began lifting when I saw those three attributes in Jack’s messages to me. He loved his kids to bits and shared that with anyone who cared to listen. He had hope that God would turn his fortunes around, and we talked about that often. Lastly, he had faith that his best days were ahead of him. He would maintain that view even in the darkest times of his life.

At that point, I started to celebrate Jack and not just mourn his departure. I particularly liked how the pastor confessed that Jack was not perfect and that he had some personal manenos he was struggling with. That makes church real to many. When they embrace people as they come with all their baggage and attempt to help them through it without passing judgement. I believe this helped in things beginning to turn around for Jack but sadly he lefted the group of life abruptly. Maybe God needed him in another group (from chicken gate to Heaven’s gate perhaps he he). And knowing Jack, He’s probably the admin of that group already.

Jack please forgive me for sometimes judging you harshly both when talking to you or about you. I’m not proud of that. At the same time, thank you for opening up to me and asking me to help you. I’m so glad I did however little the help was. It was not little to you because you called me just when things had started looking up and you wanted to return the favor. Utalipia mbele bro. Rest in peace Jack Mwaura (he insisted to be referred to with both names).

Folks lets try to travel light this year and beyond. It must be the best way to live. I will endeavor to pack the three things Pastor Majid shared in my hand luggage. I will probably add a fourth and that is being conscious that everyone is going through something that I know nothing about. I will strive to be kind.

Maybe a good place to start is to stop meeting friends and family at funerals and be intentional. That’s how our days start to count. Now let me go look for Wangeci for that date.