What a Relief!!
What a Relieve!
From the time we left Hong Kong, the challenge of self-organisation has been significant and especially balancing the work-related, family and reading assignments. On arriving back home, there was much waiting for me and without settling down to access the situation before getting straight into them, I jumped into them. There was a deep crisis in one of our churches with serious internal conflicts that threaten its split and they were waiting for me to bring them together from a neutral level. I also found my son who is a college student and had had some drug/alcohol challenges and was in rehab was relapsing back to the same. I had to deal with two critical issues at the same time as if that was enough, the same week I was holding an Africa board meeting for my organisation where I am the secretary to the board and organiser for the board meeting where leaders were coming from across Africa. On top of that, I had a class assignment to read and prepare for our zoom classes. With all these in place and trying to figure which one takes priority, my elder son came and introduced to us his fiancé whom they are planning for marriage in one-month time.
With all the above issues falling on the shoulders of one person were seriously overwhelming and confusing. With variously mixed emotion, where at one time was sad about the boy relapsing and trying to get him back to the counsellor and on the other hand joy for another son who is planning for his wedding and bringing another member in our family. Reading this book by Derek Rowntree which at first never looked like it could transform anybody, and especially when he stressed on how to keep a balance between the competing demands of study, family responsibilities and full-time jobs. The book spoke to the condition and saw myself in the middle of all these mix-ups. There was no other good time than reading this book now that earnestly spoke to me as if Derek was addressing my confused situation and asking me to organise myself with proper planning. I am always organized, but this time I was caught off guard completely and found myself in a state of confusion. This led to even confusing the time I was to join the Zoom in and ended joining an hour later when it was ending. This was a clear indication from Derek’s description of a strategic planning method that I was to plan while in Hong Kong, but I had no clue what was waiting for me back home. Learning is indeed a process, and simple reading books may seem obvious, but I am happy Derek Rowntree has driven some sense of planning, organisation and strategic focus on this journey of study. It is an essential factor that we need to take responsibility for what we do especially our lifestyle, learning resources, time and study sessions. If I had observed all the above I would have managed some of the challenges I encountered when I arrived from Hong Kong; I would have handled better than how I did this time around.
Derek Rowntree wrote that there is a need for one to be understanding his situation; “Different situations have different things to offer you and make different demands on you in return.” Understanding your situation and reflecting on what one needs to do in advance is important so that one may not be drawn in the mix-up of many world issues we experience. Derek further said that “If you do not understand your situation, you find yourself blindly adopting in-appropriate approaches to studying….” This is the actual situation I found myself in when I came from Hong Kong. I appreciate the time I took going through Derek book.
About the Author
John Muhanji
I am the Director Africa Ministries Office of Friends United Meeting. I coordinate all Quaker activities and programs in the Quaker churches and school mostly in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The focus of my work is more on leadership development and church planting in the region especially in Tanzania.. Am married with three children all grown up now. I love playing golf as my exercise hobby. I also love reading.6 responses to “What a Relief!!”
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Thanks for the open and honest post, John. I will be praying for you and your family as you go through this changes.
I think after reading more philosophical books reading this practical book was a breath of fresh air. I remember going through the master’s program, and it seemed like every class was positioned by God and spoke to exactly where I was at during that season of my life. I pray that we all continue to experience what you have written in this post, that being, the exact thing we need at the moment to help us get through the season we are facing.
I too will be praying for you and your family John. What a week and what a post!
Additionally, you say that had you been applying Rowntree’s wisdom and scheduling practices to your own life you would have better handled the past week. May I offer you up the opportunity to give yourself some grace. Many of the things that you list could have alone been overwhelming, but all of them happening in the same short time frame is brutal. Remember to care for yourself, so you can best care for others.
John,
Thanks so much for being vulnerable and sharing the whirlwind of many events and situations flooding your life concurrently when you returned from Hong Kong. While we never choose how or when these whirlwinds come (congratulations on your son’s pending marriage!), perhaps our greatest need as leaders is choosing how we will respond in the midst of them. I am so grateful to the Lord for utilizing Rowntree’s book to give you some sense of strategic planning and decision making going forward. Your situation personifies why we need to incorporate our personal context and framework into our doctoral studies so we grow in both knowledge and compassion for those we lead. Rowntree’s admonition for us to pause in the midst of our whirlwinds (as oxymoronic as that sounds) and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what really is our situation, is paramount to our doctoral process (both studying and learning) as well as our being transformed into more effective leaders for his kingdom. I will be praying for you, H
I will second Jacob’s encouragement to give yourself some grace. Life happens and sometimes we have to accept that we are frail. Thanks for your post and also the encouragement to apply these lessons not only to our studies but also to our lives.
John! Thank you for sharing this. It is a privilege to be in this program with you. I will be praying all these situations as you walk through them. Rowntree’s book came at a good time for many of us I think – it did for me.
I can’t help but think of 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 with all you are facing:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Much love and grace to you.
I can relate, John. Since coming home it seemed as if my schedule, projects and emergencies have been overwhelming. Had Rowntree only written the pragmatic aspects of studying, I would have struggled to even engage it. What helped me most was focusing on the philosophical questions he presses us to ask about why we do what we do. That always helps me prioritize and even cut away things that otherwise become the tyranny of the urgent. It helps to know others are struggling with the same and we can pray for one another.