JB Lifestyle

"When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade" so the saying goes! Well it is really hard to make lemonade from life's lemons but those are words to live by. I was robbed over the weekend on my way home. I am still in a bit of a shock and feeling kinda like an idiot for getting robbed but i am not hurt and i managed to get back my ID.( Thanks be to God and St. Anthony). St. Anthony is traditionally invoked when you cant find something lost or stolen.  I am so grateful for his intercession and am happy i got back the most important thing. There i was on a Saturday night with no phone and no money to get me home. I honestly wanted to cry and i was in a state of mild confusion pondering my next move. Five minutes later i said to myself, bad things happen all the time and worse things have happened. Thank God i am not hurt, so i tried to shrug it off and explained my situation to a motorcycle rider who got me home. The next day i woke up feeling a little blue and...

No one wants to suffer in life and most people do their best to avoid trials and to seek out happiness in their lives, to be successful and fulfilled! Yes, it is always good to be cheerful but the true test of life is remaining cheerful and calm in the midst of great trials and sufferings! Sometime this week, i passed by a group of homeless children laughing as they walked along the street and it got me thinking, if they can be cheery in those circumstances, what is my excuse? Today i am dealing with a little work stress but its souring my mood! Everyone who lives must suffer! It is an inescapable fact of life whether through poverty, disease, misunderstandings with family, friends and loved ones, prejudices or malice. We should learn to embrace suffering and to suffer in silence and obedience. Some trials are given to us by God to strengthen our virtues and some for the sake of God's kingdom and some even may be a form of purgatory on earth so you can go straight to heav...

I was reading an article last week about a scandal involving some government officials using time at work and official work addresses to engage in affairs using a site called ashley Madison.  Ashley Madison is a website with a slogan that say's "life is short, have an affair." My my, my initial reaction was seriously? I was honestly at a loss for words. We live in a world today which encourages vice and frowns on virtue. These days if you are a virgin then there must be something wrong with you but if you are having an affair and "smart" enough not to get caught, then you are the man or woman. (wooohoo!) We honestly pat people on the back for being duplicitous with their spouses! Marriage will never be easy and i understand that we are human and capable of making mistakes but if you choose to cheat on your spouse just because its thrilling and exciting , there are no excuses for that! Think about your children and the kind of example you are setting ...

When dealing with affairs of the heart, we ought to be sensitive and not make rash judgements. The heart does want what it wants indeed! However we must be careful not be ruled by emotions only and  learn to temper them with wisdom. Many people around the world have had their lives destroyed in the name of so called "love". Take for a example an abusive spouse or lover who beats the other person, sometimes to the extent of putting them in hospital and yet the injured partner gets back with the person who did that to them! I always think, where is the sense in that? Apparently, " love is blind" but not that blind to me! I am a christian and i believe what Jesus said about forgiveness, we all need it. However you can forgive that person, in case its your spouse but separation may be necessary to protect your life! This does not only apply to love but sometimes we want things that are not good for us! They will only bring us misery and complications. You ne...

Hail Mary, hail full of grace! That was the greeting from the angel Gabriel which so startled Mary and made her uneasy at first. The 15th of august is celebrated annually in the catholic church as the feast of the assumption, one of the greatest Marian feasts.  It was a tradition of the early church to remember the assumption of Mary, who was taken up to heaven body and soul until it was defined as a dogma of our faith by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. As Catholics, we believe that Mary was conceived without stain, she is the "immaculate conception".(another dogma that i will discuss in a later post) We also believe that Mary is the only human being to have never committed sin. When God gazed on Mary, she filled him with delight, there was no fault in her and her humility was perfect. Not only that, Mary lived only for God and her virginal purity pleased the most high. I am not a theologian but i believe that is why the angel saluted her in that way. Mary, having ...

A mother's love cannot be described, it is one of the most wonderful things that exist! Unfortunately, some people grow up without experiencing the love of a mother and this honestly speaking, makes a child grow up to be emotionally unbalanced. We as human beings have physical and emotional needs and if we ignore the emotional and concentrate on the physical, the result is a person growing up incapable of forming mature, relationships with others! I am not a psychiatrist but from experience and just looking at the lives of children who do not have a mother or mother figure , it is evident that there are emotional scars in their lives! That being said, i am a catholic and we believe that all God's children have a loving mother, a mother who death cannot take from us, whose love cannot be destroyed or diminished by anything !That mother is our blessed virgin mother, Mary. Mary is the personification of all virtue's and graces, she is God's beautiful masterpiece! I...

There have been a lot of arguments about global warming and man's role in it. Some scientists argue that the earth has a natural warming and cooling cycle and human activity cannot be the cause of global warming and rising seas! I am not a scientist and i will not debate so much about our role in global warming.  I will however say that, we have caused the extinction of a number of animal and plant species and we continue to destroy the environment in favor of so called "economic development." I live in Uganda and it is evident that if you are an investor, certain laws are flouted in favor of your investment. There are so many buildings built in protected areas such as wetlands and some forested land leased to private corporations for commercial exploitation. We cannot put a price on nature! One day, we will wake up and realize that we have made our planet mostly inhabitable for us as human beings and for animal and plant life! We all have a responsibility to ...

True leadership is about service and not only leaders are called to serve, but the people as well! However it is through leading by example that certain values can be instilled in the people who follow you! If you read the bible (new testament) , there are so many examples of Jesus Christ leading by example. He is the truest figure of what a leader should be like! When leaders are elected by the people or some who seize power by force, they are responsible for the lives of the people they lead. They need to ask themselves, are my people healthy, do they have the basic needs of life( food, shelter, education)? Are my people living in peace? Are their human rights being respected? Being a leader means putting the needs of the community above and beyond your own needs or your families needs! Today and in the past, we have people full of ambition who want power just for the sake of a false sense of security and to acquire wealth for themselves. Our leaders are mostly selfish an...

Sometime back , i was reading an article about the D&E procedure of abortion. I was horrified to find out that it is a late stage abortion procedure which involves the use of suction and forceps or tongs to kill the child. Yes i use the word child because i believe that from the moment of conception, a new being is created. I honestly cannot understand how someone can do that to a child? It is abhorrent to think that an innocent life is worthless to some people and they would not hesitate to destroy it! We murder children everyday as if it is something normal. How many millions of children have been killed over the years since abortion was legalized in certain countries? How many more will die as we push for the woman's right to choose? We have crossed the line when it comes to abortion and we need to realize that enough is enough! Only monsters destroy their own children! We are created with dignity and we need to fight to protect that spirit of dignity and love in...