Contrasting Brothers

As Barack Hussein Obama steps closer on the doorsteps of the White House, having been proclaimed as United States Democratic presidential nominee; George Hussein Onyango Obama continues to reside in a two-meter by three-meter shack in the tough community of Huruma on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. While the Illinois senator has become a popular figure, his 26-year old half brother told Italy’s Vanity Fair magazine: "I live like a recluse, no one knows I exist."

Two brothers of the same father, yet of different mothers, of different families, of different circumstances. Barack is living the American dream and may just lay claim on the highest office of the United States. George was raised in Kenya and lives "on less than a dollar a month." They had met twice, when George was five and in 2007 when Senator Obama toured East Africa. The younger Obama recalls their second meeting: "It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger."

God chooses when, where and to whom we are to be born. In His unfathomable wisdom, He places us where He thinks we can best make full use of our lives and gifts. Moses was brought up in the palace of the Pharaoh, while Jesus was born in a manger and raised in a carpenter’s home. Moses could have opted to stay in the comforts of power and luxury, but he obediently followed the voice of the Lord. Christ with his infinite power had the world at the palm of his hand, but He pursued the mission given Him by the Father: to save humankind through teaching, exemplary living and dying on the cross.

God gives us gifts primarily for His glory; not ours. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21) He leads us in the right path, but we make the decision whether to follow or not. Whatever status we have in life, wherever we may be situated, He makes Himself available to carry us through. "For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing." (Deuteronomy 2:7) He wants us to succeed in our earthly endeavors, but most importantly, in our journey towards His heavenly kingdom.

It is important that we come to realize that God knows each one of us personally and that we are special to Him. "But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30) If we fulfil the mission He has given each one of us, He will welcome us not as strangers, but as sons and daughters to be in His blissful company for all eternity.

by Mel Libre