Takeoff

Last week I attended one of those full day meetings where various speakers talk to you about their experiences in life to bring alive a particular topic. This meeting was a result of my church starting an initiative for guys at halftime. Many congregants in my church are in the 40 space and Pastor Alex, (who’s also turning 40); felt there’s reason to address the needs of those folks. The program is called PAUSE. 40 is a time we need to pause, consult the control tower and evaluate the flight plan. Do we take off, remain on the runway or turn back all together if we had just taken off?

This meeting last Sato was in Karen and we were over fifty people in attendance. Its aim was to find a sustainable way to keep a fruitful engagement with this very busy folks over several weeks. And what better way than to have a study book that we can discuss in small groups over ten sessions. The book we chose is titled ‘Zindua’ (Swahili for launch). Sounds appropriate, don’t you think? Zindua is a study that seeks to give people in the 30 – 50 year age group a rear view picture of what things look like from 50 onwards. It’s like starting with the end in mind and using that end to guide our decisions now. The many questions we asked at the end of each session confirmed that many of us are searching for answers. At 40 we are juggling many balls in the air and none of them can drop. Marriage, children, career, investments, school and more. We clearly need to focus so as keep the all the balls in the air. If the deepest needs and concerns of folks at 40 can be addressed then church is real.

Listening to the speakers share their stories was interesting. I picked up some nuggets along the way that I’d like to share here with you. The facilitator of this meeting, who is also the author of Zindua, said that most people who fail in their second half planted those seeds in their first half. He made that statement authoritatively. Most people fail in their second half. Maybe that realisation came with age and what he has seen happen. That got me thinking and scared too. Will I fail in my second half? Could there be stuff I did in my first half that is working against me now?  If so what could that stuff be and I’m I too late to change?

I think I’m good so far in this launch of my second half and slowly achieving cruising altitude despite the fog. Folks, do you sometimes wonder if there is stuff working for or against you in your quest for the life you desire?  From early in my life, there have always been clues of an unseen hand causing and directing things to happen. Most of the time I have only noticed that hand after the event has taken place. As I have said before, I chose to believe that hand was God’s, so I’m safe. For example, Pastor Alex invited me to help him with this program in church because he watched my Engage talk (check out engage 14 on www.engage.co.ke.) Clearly, doing that talk was more a beginning than an end in itself.

My prayer is that as we launch, we will not take too long accelerating lest we run out of runway and crash. No one fully knows what’s in the sky. Just as the plane has instruments to anticipate what is ahead, we too have the same, courtesy of being around for forty years. There’s still much unknown, yet we have to fly into it, as that’s where our destiny lies. Beyond the unknown. Let us learn to trust the journey even if we don’t understand it.

Having gone through that daylong meeting last weekend, I am now convinced that launching at 40 and faith, are two sides of the same coin. You can’t do one successfully without the other. In one of the planning meetings prior to the event last Sato, Alex (I prefer leaving out the pastor title as it makes him sound old), thanked me for clearing the way for others and re-inventing myself. I laughed out loudest. Is that the correct English for the emoji – LOLEST? Ha-ha…

I wondered aloud if I’m actually clearing the bush or watering it. Sometimes in life we need to clear the bush so as to advance forward. And sometimes we need to water it so it grows to shield us from imminent danger. It’s still a work in progress. The meeting last Saturday also challenged us to seek out good in the thicket, and use it to help others (and ourselves too) move forward. It’s not our work to connect all the dots on the flight path of life. Sometimes life will force us to live with unconnected dots and that’s okay. That’s why we are not God, just pilots on God’s radar. We are all able to achieve cruising altitude of 40000ft now that we are 40, so keep the faith folks.