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NewsDay

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November is around the corner

Opinion & Analysis
Although it is now decades since I left St Augustine’s Mission in Penhalonga, I vividly remember these words: “November is around the corner.”

Although it is now decades since I left St Augustine’s Mission in Penhalonga, I vividly remember these words: “November is around the corner.”

Report by Pastor with Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi Father Keble Prosser who used to be the principal then at this once school-of-choice, would remind you from first term Form One right up to Upper Sixth that November was around the corner. He would remind us at the beginning and closing of every term that examinations were inevitable.

  No matter how hard you tried to bind or cast the devil out of Cambridge, examinations always came. You would ignore him at your own peril. The playful that did not heed his call would try to cram all the notes and text books in October and unfortunately for others it would be too late.

  Nostalgically I recall that we all had urgency and didn’t want to waste time.

 

During those days it seemed that going to “Santa” or “Tsambe,” as the mission school was affectionately known, was a ticket for university or at least college.

  At “O” Level if you said you had five it meant five As. Bs and Cs were not a big deal. It was almost certain that everyone was going to come out with at least eight “O” Level passes. If media reports on the wrangle over ownership of this institution of historical significance are true, then it is unfortunate that the church is at the centre of destroying this once prestigious institution.

  For those who would dare listen; please understand that running down institutions like Santa arouses emotions in too many quarters. Soccer lovers know very well that mismanaging a team like Caps United, Highlanders or Dynamos and running it as a private and personal project, can only court the ire of the whole country. You cannot be at a national or international institution and forget that you are not representing yourself, but the whole world. Hear me and hear me well.

  My story however, is not about St Augustine’s, but our universal assignment and purpose. For those that were at St Augustine’s and all of us in general, your message from Father Prosser after talking to him over the telephone from his base in the United Kingdom was that at the consummation of time: “Let us all meet in heaven.” I did an article titled, “When God gathers His people” on August 28 2012 where I touched on conferences, conventions and crusades that were coming up in August and September.

  These events have come and gone. The devil also gathered people evidenced by mass gatherings of cults. For the church, the message was generally that it is now time for the church, Zimbabwe and Africa. What is needed is to keep the momentum and always remember to act knowing that in January, November is always around the corner.

  Do away with procrastination which is the thief of time. Don’t do tomorrow what you can do today. We should do away with the spirit that there is no hurry in Africa. We don’t want to regret missed opportunities.

  There are words that should ring in our minds and stir our spirits in this dispensation. Such words are action, implementation, strategy, embark, do, go out, etc. Aren’t you fed up year in year out hearing that it is time and you go back home and sleep only to come back again tomorrow to be reminded and revived that you have what it takes to be the light of the world.

  I have repeated James’s theology over and over again in this column. He says in James 2:14 and 17: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

  While we are in the laboratory calculating the risk factor, James is performing and we are studying how he succeeded.

  Don’t you want to go out and be an example to the lazy ones? This is not the time to be worried that your fake designer suit will become dirty or your manicure, pedicure and flowing human hair will be disturbed.

  Go out in the fields and work even if you break those artificial nails; after all there is no blood in them. Be the case study and model for success. Cultivate a spirit of urgency and preparedness, always bearing in mind that November is always around the corner. Come out with flying colours in your life.

  Let us grab all the opportunities that are floating. Stop playing. Make a life changing decision today. Church, Zimbabwe and Africa arise, you are going somewhere.

  All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

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