Well, today we're in chapter 2 here in 2 Samuel. We're going to read verses 1 through 4, and we'll get into our study. 2 Samuel chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 4, it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?  David said, Where shall I go up? And he said to Hebron. So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoum, the Jezreolitis and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household, so they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David, king over the house of Judah, and they told David, saying, The men of Yavash Gilead were the ones who buried Saul. Now as we begin here in chapter 2, let me give you a couple of thoughts, and we'll look into this.  But as we look at chapter 2 here in verse 1, I want you to notice how it begins by simply saying, It happened after this. Now so we have to ask ourselves, it happened after what? It happened after this. Well, it happened after the deaths of Saul. It happened after the deaths of Saul and his three sons. He had three sons who died alongside of him, according to 1 Samuel. As we went through chapter 31, we saw that. We saw Saul die, but he died also with his son Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkeshua. He also died alongside of his soldiers. He died alongside of his bodyguard. So a number of men died, and so this is speaking concerning after Saul died and those things that were related to that. But it also speaks concerning a period that would have taken place called mourning, a period of mourning that normally would take place after the death of somebody. And when you read the Bible, you see that there are various days that people would put aside that were suitable for mourning the loss of somebody. Sometimes it could be as long as 30 days. Sometimes it may be up to 40 days. In the case of Saul, according to chapter 31, 1 Samuel, there was mourning that took place for seven days. And so it's after the mourning had taken place that these events that we're looking at in chapter 2 transpire. And so it says, it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And so after a suitable time of mourning, David now begins to inquire of the Lord. And notice the question he asked here in verse 1. Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? You see, Saul's dead. Remember with me that in the history of David's relationship with Saul, Saul had on numerous accounts attempted to kill him, was pursuing him for quite some time. And so David was down south. He was in the southern portion of Israel and wasn't spending any time in any of the portion that Saul might be able to get to him in. And now Saul is dead. And because Saul is dead, David now has the ability to go anywhere he wants to in this particular nation. He can go to the north, he can go to the east, he can go to the west, he can go pretty much anywhere he wants to because Saul is no longer there to pursue him. And so the first thing he's going to do now that he has freedom to choose where he would like to live is he's going to ask God for directions. He can go anywhere he wants, but the first thing, and I want you to see this and I'm going to make application through this, the first thing you see him doing is inquiring of the Lord, where do you want me to be? I think that's a good habit. I think it's a good habit for us as believers to ask the Lord to lead us. I think it's a great habit for Christians to ask God where would you have me to be? You know sometimes when I'm giving Bible studies, as a matter of fact I have to be honest and say pretty much all the time, almost every time that I'm giving Bible studies, I make an assumptions, even as I teach, I was mentioning this just the other day, I make assumptions, I make assumptions that everybody who's in that Bible study reads the Word. I make an assumption that every person who's here even this morning are believers who read the Word of God.  I assume that people will make a decision based on prayer and the Word of God. Any time they're going to make a decision if you're going to move or do something, I assume that. I assume that you spend time reading the Word and you have spent time reading it, you've seen how God moves and and you pray. I mean that's what we're seeing take place here, we're seeing that David has an opportunity. He can live anywhere He wants to, but the first thing He does instead of just packing the bags, grabbing His wife and kids and moving is He inquires of the Lord. The very first thing we see David doing is asking of God, what would you have me to do? Now the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. God promises to direct your path if you acknowledge Him, and to trust in Him. You see, and that's just a very basic tenet, if you will, of the Christian faith. Believing God, talking to God, following God is what we're supposed to be doing. David could have gone anywhere he wanted to do, or to go rather, but he didn't choose to just go. He had all Israel open to him, but he didn't just get up and leave. Instead of finding the most beautiful city, and saying, oh I want to live here, I've always wanted to live here, he prays and asks God, where do you want me to be? He's making sure that he's going to settle in the right place. Now when we read our Bibles, we read about Abraham. Abraham, who later on became Abraham, was a man who lived in the area of Israel, modern Israel. When we read concerning him, we read that he was a rich man. We also read that he had a nephew. The nephew's name was Lot, and that his nephew Lot also became a very rich man. And so, because both of them were rich, especially because they had a lot of herds, it caused them to have a lot of conflict between the two, because the land could not adequately contain both Lot's and Abraham's herds, and it caused a conflict to erupt between Abraham's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. Now Abraham, known at that time as Abram, didn't want strife, and therefore he's seeking to put an end to it, and what he does is he takes his nephew Lot, and he has him survey before him the land, and he begins to speak to him, and he asks him to make a choice. Where do you want to live? It's recorded in Genesis, if you take notes chapter 13, verses 8 through 13. Abram said the lot, please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left, and Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go towards Oar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. So Abram says, look, if you want to go to the left, I'll go to the right, you go to the right, I'll go to the left. Bottom line is there's a lot of conflict between us, we're family, I don't want that problem. Make your choice. I want you to notice, even as I read out of Genesis 13, I want you to notice that Lot, and nowhere does it say, and Lot sought the Lord. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that he went out and said, well, God of my uncle Abram, where would you have me? You don't see that, you simply see him standing there, looking. And as he's looking, he sees the beauty of that plain, and he realizes how lush and beautiful, well-watered it is, that it would be a great place for him and his herds. And so the first thing he says is, I'll go there. And he goes off into this plain and moves on, and the Bible is very interesting how it puts it. It says that Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. When you're introduced to this, this is really his first step towards backsliding, because he is now directing his tent towards Sodom. Later on, you're going to see him in the city of Sodom. So he actually moves by virtue of the fact that he sees something that with his eye is delightful to himself, and he says, this would be great for me. There's no inquiry of the Lord whatsoever. He simply decides, I'm going to live in this beautiful place. It'll sustain me. It'll take care of my herds and everything, and oh yeah, we won't have conflict with Abram any longer. So the bottom line is having the opportunity to live in a place that you think is beautiful is not always a door that God is opening to you. You need to make sure that you look before you leap. It's always best to patiently wait on the Lord and to ask Him to direct your footsteps. Before we planted this church, before I went into full-time ministry, my brother Frank moved from California to New Mexico and decided to at first live in a city called Deming, and I began to think maybe the Lord is moving me to move to Deming to plant a church. That was back in about 1977, and I thought, well maybe that's where I'm supposed to go Deming, and so I told Marie, my wife, I said to her, do you think we ought to go and check it out? Frank's over there, maybe we ought to go and see, maybe God would have us to plant a church. My brother's there, he needs to be ministered to, and so she and I said, we agreed that we should go, and on a Friday we decided to go. Now, let me ask you a question. How many people in this room know where Deming, New Mexico is? I'm interested. How many of you know of Deming? See, a few of you do, and you know why you don't live there, huh? We got up and we drove all night, we got in real late at night, and the next morning in the full light of day we knew God's will was not Deming. He opened my eyes to more than just a little bit. It's just not a place that you want to live. You know, that's wrong, I shouldn't say that. It's not a place where I want to live, it isn't a place where I want to live, and so I told my brother, go with God, I'm out of here, I hope you find a church, bye. And I left. Deming, New Mexico. You know, it's the desire and hunger, but you ask the Lord, you ask God, where do you want us to be? Where do you want us to go? What do you want for us? There will be a sense of your spirit will just resonate with that place, it's going to be something that God confirms, and you're going to know that. I resigned my position as an assistant pastor. I'd been an assistant pastor in a church for a couple of years. I resigned my position. I went to my wife, Maria, and I spoke to her about that. I said, honey, I resigned and now that I have no position in ministry any longer, I have no job. Maybe this is one of the ways that the Lord is simply setting us free to move. We were living in Ontario at that time, and I liked where I lived. I liked my home, I liked my neighborhood, but I've always had another place that I wanted to live, and that was San Luis Obispo. Since 1968, I've been wanting to live in San Luis Obispo, and so we go there to this day. When I go on vacation, I guarantee you I am in San Luis Obispo. That's where we go.  That's where we are. I like the city, and so I've been going there since I was 18 years old, 41 years. I've been going to this one place, and so once again, back in 1981, I resigned my position, and I tell my wife, Maria, I think that it's possible that we can move there. Honey, I'll sell the house, we can buy a home there. I said, I have a friend of mine who works for a bread delivery company. I said, I can work for them. I said, I can still be delivering bread. It just won't be the bread of life. I just think that the Lord would, and she's looking at me, and she says, you know that God has not called you to San Luis Obispo. You know that. I said, get thee behind me, Satan. What's this all about? You know where I'm supposed to go? But she was 100% of course, 100% right. But let's face it. I love Chino, but it was not my first choice. I mean, who can really love a city that has a fly for a mascot? You know, people in Paris are not waking up in the morning saying, before I die, I got to get to Chino. That's not happening right now. I guarantee you, Hawaiians aren't saying I got to get to Chino. They are not. Well, maybe a few, but not many. It doesn't work that way. It's just not the wonder of the world. It's not the place that you want to come unless it's where God wants you. For me, it is. I love, I really do. I tease about it because I love, I love this city. I love this city. My kids graduated from Chino High School. My wife graduated from Chino High School. My, my wife's mother and father graduated out of Chino High School. We have a long history here on Marie's side of the family. I love Chino. I love this city. It's a great city to live in. It's a great city to minister in. But, but if God would have said, Chino or slow, Chino or San Luis Obispo, thank you Jesus. My bags are packed. I'm ready to go. It didn't work that way. Now again, I make assumptions that everybody makes decisions the way that, that we make decisions. Let me share how we make decisions because the scripture gives us some direction here. I want you to see this again. Notice it says David inquired of the Lord. Where would you have me to go? It's a great, a great habit to have, guys, a great, great habit to have. You see the Bible in Proverbs chapter 16 verse nine says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. And so you may have a plan in your heart, but you're asking God's direction. See, David saw the land open to wherever he wanted to go, but the first thing we see him doing is asking directions because God had a place he actually was going to lead David to as he has a place that he leads you to. But you have to seek where that may be. Some people are very impetuous. They make decisions emotionally. Now I feel this, it feels good to me. I'm going to do it. Others are extremely rational. It doesn't matter how they feel. They're going to wait until they have enough evidence that really helps them to make a good decision. You have the rational, you have the emotional. Sometimes it's a mixture of the two, but you can make mistakes being so rational that you don't move and you can be making a mistake when it's just a flesh to be impetuous and move into the wrong place. You need to have proper direction. Psalm 3723, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. God has a way of leading us and God has a place that he wants to take us to. And so what do we do? Well, one, read your Bible. As you're reading your Bible, you'll see the great stories of how God moved, how people ended up in certain places, and what God did with them there. And you begin to see the ways of God unveiled before you. And you can begin to say, well, let's see now. Abram said, you choose to lot and lot made that choice. Maybe, maybe lot should have sought you the way David is. And so one of the things you need to do is spend time in the Word of God because God will direct you. Psalm 119, verse 133, direct my steps by your Word. And so the things that were written were written for our instruction, even as Paul said to the Romans. And so we read the Word of God and we say, well, Lord, I see how you worked in the life of Abram. I see how you worked in the life of Moses. You took him from one place and brought him to another. Lord, I see how you work in the life of David. I see how you work in the life of Saul. I see the things that he did and did not do. And you're instructing me. So help me to be directed by your Word. And so spend time in the Word of God. And secondly, be open to the power of the Holy Spirit and the leading of the Spirit. Romans 814, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Word of God, the Spirit of God working together can help to direct you. And they'll be that sense. Sometimes people make a decision they're going to move to another state. They say, you know what? I'm tired of Southern California. I'm tired of the traffic. I'm tired of all the problems we're going through here. I'm just tired of it. And they say, you know what? I'd like to move. So I'm going to move to Boise, Idaho, or I'm going to move to Portland, Oregon, or I can move up to Spokane, Washington, or whatever. They just see Colorado Springs. I'm out of here. And so they decide we're going to move. And they pick up and they move wherever it may be, the whatever state or city they determine. And sometimes they'll come back and visit. And I speak to them and I'll ask them, how are you? They'll say, well, you don't pass when we moved. We live in whatever. How's it going? You don't always hear that it's going great. A lot of times you hear that it's really not going great. So let me give some advice. Never move. Never, never move until you know the Holy Spirit's in it. Never. Don't just get up and move. No, this is something I have to add kind of a caveat to because it may not apply to something. You know, because some people look at churches as being like motels.  It's like motel.  You stay there one day, two days. It's nice. It's nice to have somebody else make the bed, isn't it? It's nice just to have... It's just a hotel, though. It's a motel. It's just a place that I'm staying temporarily. It's not my home. We go home. Well, a lot of people look at churches, even this church, as being... It's a hotel. It's a motel. It's a place that you stop by. It's a place that you do what you do. And then you move on someplace else. For you, it's not difficult to get up and leave whenever you feel like it because there's no attachment. You don't have friends. You don't have any ministry. You don't have anything you're doing. It's just something you stop in and you get bored and you move on. That's what people do, and they move from place to place. So for them, they can move to Colorado. They can move to Oregon. They can move to Washington. It doesn't really matter because they're going to jump from church to church once they get there anyway. They're not hooked up and doing anything. It's just... So you have to ask yourself, are you a person who likes to live in a motel or are you a person who wants a home? Now, if it's a home, now that makes it even a little bit different. And this is how it works. Everybody thinks that their home is pretty much the best. Let's face it. Now, we didn't have the best home. It's nobody's going to say, oh, I had a perfect home. You know, what I mean is, but it's home. Whatever it is, it's home. I'm familiar with it. It's where I live. It's where I grew up. It's my neighborhood. I'm familiar with all of that. It's my home. It's my family. So that's my home, whatever. Some people had great homes and some people had homes that weren't great, but they were their homes. Church can be similar. When people move, I tell them to do this, because if they'll come up and talk, and sometimes they do, they'll say, pastor, I have an opportunity to move too, and they'll say the city of their choice or whatever. And they start telling me about it. I'll listen. I'm very interested. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's got schools and it's got... It's nice neighborhood. It's quiet. My job is going to transfer me. They're going to give to me ability to move. They're going to do all kinds of things for me. You've got everything all set. Yes. What church are you going to go to? And I have heard this many times. They've got a lot of churches in the city. It's a great churched city. And I go, great. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear there are churches there, of course. Which one are you going to go to is what I asked. Well, you know, when we move there, we'll find one. That's not a good idea. What you need to do is know where you're going to go to church before you move there. You've got to know that. If that doesn't matter to you, I don't know why it doesn't.  And pastor, I thought everything was going to be like it was here. Not to say this is the greatest church, it's not. What I'm trying to say is it was a home. I thought it was going to be like that. Everything's different. We're not fitting in. It is in the place. Did you pray before you went? Did you go? Did you get a, because this is what I'll tell them. I'm just giving you practical advice. Did you get a CD of the teaching to hear how they teach there? Well, no, I really never thought about that. Did you pay a visit to the church when you were there?  Did you go to a church while you were there? No. No, because I figured that they're all the same. No. I'm telling you, if you're going to plan on moving on, the best thing you can do is pay a visit, find a church, listen to the CDs, get a bulletin. If you can get a Wednesday night or a midweek and get a Sunday morning, get a feeling and a flavor of the type of ministry is there. When you have a settled in your heart, I can grow here. My kids, if you're married and have children or you've got children, my kids can be fed here. I can serve here. I can grow here. This would be a great place for me spiritually. Then that's a good first step. Never move just because you're tired of the smog or you're tired of the crowd or you're tired. I have to be honest with you. Look, I'm one of the few Californians who are born and raised here. A lot have moved in, you know, from other states of the country, born and raised in California, 59 years. I have seen this state change into the millions and millions that we have now from a time when on a Sunday you got on the Santa Ana freeway and there was no traffic because when I grew up, nobody was out on Sundays. We all stayed home. We had Sunday dinners. We all stayed home. I have a friend of mine who was driving on the 605 freeway in the mid-60s who actually stopped his van on the 605 at midnight, climbed off the van, did some things, got back on the van and drove away. There was no traffic. There was no traffic anywhere. I grew up in a time when then it took me 15 minutes to get to LA from where I grew up. I grew up in Norwalk. Jump on the 5 and bang you're there in 15 minutes. Yesterday I went to the Nokia and we're driving on the 63 way and I'm turning to my wife and I turn to her and I said honey you know how do you normally go into LA? I'll follow your direction. She says I usually take the 60. So I'm thinking 60 sometimes gets crowded but we'll see. I turned to her I said I think it's gonna get crowded. She says well you know I always I say fine fine we drive and then bang we're sitting in traffic on the 60 freeway and I'm late to get to where I'm going and I'm thinking rapture rapture now rapture take me home Jesus get me out of this place coming home the same thing coming home there's an accident packed up and and this I can remember days and this isn't a good old days talk by the way but I remember days when that just that wasn't the way it was. I can remember the 91 being empty when's the last time you saw an empty 91 and so yeah you can get frustrated yeah you know I'd like to go out to Idaho I'd like to move into Oregon I'd like to move into Washington I'd like to move off into Colorado I'd like to go to slow Jesus and he keeps saying no anyway so I shouldn't have said that but where are you gonna go to church where are your children going to be fed where are you going to serve because I promise you like the psalmist said that God gave them their request but he sent leanness to their soul they got what they wanted they dried up on the vine and so David is wise because the first thing David does is he asks of God where do you want me to that is so important I hope I didn't I hope you got that it is so important I hope I hope that made sense to just I'm going to go here I'll go there oh it's not entertaining enough here all right they didn't give me that there that's not the way to go to church anyway when you go to church what do you go there for what do you expect from it what do you want do you want to grow in the things of the Lord do you want to serve God or is it going to be one of those fast food places you go get what you want choose this kind of a cafeteria grab that grab that grab that but I don't want that you got to know what you want and you find that by being in the word of God you have to know what you want where am I supposed to be you find that through praying and saying God give me the peace to know and then you find that by making the determined effort to know if I'm in this place and you want me there then I need to know where I'm going to go to church to serve you I want to be fed by you David inquires of the Lord and I want you to see something about it because notice how he's he asks he first asks a general question should I find somewhere in Judah which is southern Israel so God says yes the Lord said to him go up now he gets specific where shall I go he says Hebron and so that's where he's going to locate he's going to be in a city called Hebron it's 20 miles southwest of the city of Jerusalem it's a highly it's a city built on a high elevation it's going to be a great place for him to live and he's going to be there for the next several years and so that's what he does verse 2 through 4 tells us that David went up there if there's two wives Ahinuam and Abigail it says he brought up the men who were with him every man with his household they all dwelt there in the cities of Hebron now verse 4 the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah now David had already received an anointing as a king we saw that in 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 13 where Samuel had come and anointed him and the Bible there says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward the men of Judah are members of his own tribe David was born in Bethlehem he's from the tribe of Judah and what this represents is his own tribe recognizing him as being king Saul is dead and so these people from Judah are saying we recognize you as our king now as his own people from the house of Judah are recognizing him they go on to say they told David here in verse 4 saying the men of Yavish Gilead were the ones who buried Saul so David sent messengers to the men of Yavish Gilead and said to them you are blessed of the Lord for you have shown this kindness to your Lord to Saul and have buried him and now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you I also will repay you this kindness because you've done this thing now therefore let your hands be strengthened be valiant for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them this is a wise thing for David to do he finds out that that these are the men who had buried Saul and so he goes and speaks to them he takes the opportunity to thank them by by showing for showing such loyalty to the king but he also is declaring to them that he's a king in Judah and what he's doing is he's inviting them to show him the loyalty that they showed to Saul he's also promising to repay them this kindness because he's going to provide protection for them and so this is what he did through these messengers as he spoke to them in that way now verse eight but Abner the son of Nur commander of Saul's army took Ishmael the son of Saul and and brought him over to Mahaneem and he made him king over Gilead over the Ashrites over Jezreel over Ephraim over Benjamin over all Israel Ishmael Saul's son was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel he reigned two years only the house of Judah followed David and the time that David was king in Ebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months and so here you have Saul's cousin we saw that in chapter 14 verse 50 of first Samuel and he's taken Saul's son Ishmael the word Ishmael his name means son of shame he's the one who didn't go to the battlefield didn't die alongside of his father he has a name now son of shame and what has happened is he as a highly respected commander of the army is placing Ishmael the heir of Saul into the position of king and what he's doing is dividing the kingdom he's actually creating a division you see with the Philistines slew Saul Abner survived and he and some of the men took off and they went across the Jordan River to the east into a region called Mahaneem and now that he's extremely popular and all he's decided to appoint a king to replace Saul and so he puts Ishmael in that position and as he does so he begins to actually have a rule if you will over most of Israel except for Judah now this is taking place it would seem at the end of the seven and a half years because he only reigns two years and then he dies and so this is taking place within the the first few years of David's reign there in Judah now as this is taking place verse 12 Abner the son of Nure and the servants of Ishbushah the son of Saul went out from Mahaneem to Gibeon so they travel from the east of the Jordan and cross into the south into Israel and Job the son of Zeruia now Zeruia was David's sister so that makes Joab David's cousin and the servants of David went out and met them by the pull of Gibeon so they sat down one on one side of the pull and the other on the other side of the pull Abner said to Joab let the young men now arise and compete before us Joab said let them arise so they arose and went over by number 12 from Benjamin followers of Ishbushah the son of Saul and 12 from the servants of David and each one grasped his opponent by the head thrust the sword into his opponent's side they fell down together therefore that place is called the field of sharp swords which is in Gibeon so there was a very fierce battle that day and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David and so what they do is they gather together you've got Abner on one side of this pull and you got Joab on the other side they have their men with them these men who are with Abner are from Benjamin they were warriors and you have the men of Valor who were alongside of David and so there's a challenge that is being made because what's the point of us conducting a war when we can send 12 champions to fight it out and save the bloodshed and so they go together to compete but the problem is is at the same time that one struck one the other struck him and they both died so all 24 of them die there as a result of that there is a war anyway there's a battle that's going to take place anyway and it says according to verse 17 that there was a fierce battle and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David so verse 18 the three sons of Zeruya were there Joab and Abashai and Asa Al and Asa Al was a was fleet of foot as a wild gazelle so Asa Al pursued Abner and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner Abner looked behind him and said are you Asa Al he answered I am Abner said to him turn aside to your right hand or to your left lay hold on one of the young men take his armor for yourself but Asa Al would not turn aside from following him so Abner said again to Asa Al turn aside from following me why should I strike you to the ground how then could I face your brother Joab however he refused to turn aside therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear so that the spear came out of his back and he fell down there and died on the spot so it was that many as came as many as came to the place where Asa Al fell down and died stood still so here's Asa Al chasing Abner Abner's running Asa Al is known for being a very fast runner and there's no doubt he's going to catch this commander from Israel Abner looks behind him and he sees this young man catching up to him and begins to warn him now you need to know that Asa Al was one of David's mighty men Asa Al was a man who was actually a captain who had responsibility over 24 thousand men and so this was a man who was well known as a mighty man he undoubtedly believed that he could take Abner he also wanted the honor of doing so because he felt that if he were to catch him and defeat him in defeating the commander of the armies of Israel it would bring him great prestige now Abner knows that he can not outrun Asa Al but he also knows that he can take him and so he begins to warn him he says why are you pursuing me he says look at if it's valor that you want if it's some kind of battlefield credit take the armor of one of the young men but don't pursue me and he's warning him and he finally says to him it's because I don't want a blood feud to go on between me and your brother if I kill you then your brother Joab is going to be after me it's going to create a feud between us and I don't want to do that but Asa Al is not thinking and so he chases him down and so instead of taking the sharpened end of that spear and driving it through him he actually kills him in a brutal way by driving in the blunt end of that spear and he kills him instantly there and lays him out and here comes the pursuing people from Judah and as they come there's the body of Asa Al one of their mighty men dead on the ground and they stop there in silent reverence and they're looking at this captain and they don't want to proceed for a moment but here comes Joab his brother verse 24 Joab and Abashai also pursued Abner the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Amma which is before Gia by the road to the wilderness of Gibyan now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit and took their stand on top of a hill then Abner called to Joab and said shall the sword devour forever do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end how long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren so he basically is saying Abner is basically saying to him you have control over the whole issue now do you want to create something terrible or do you want to put an end to it now he's afraid of the blood feud he doesn't want it to go any further than that but i want you to notice the response in verse 27 Joab said God as God lives unless you had spoken surely then by mourning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren it's up it's your fault the whole thing is your fault don't be putting that on me is what he's saying don't be saying it's my fault don't be saying i'm hurting when it's you you're the one who started it you're the one who said let's get 12 of our of our men to compete you knew what would take place you're the one who instigated it you also know that David would not fight against his own people unless provoked David had never done that remember with me when he was living in exile he would tell the king that he was living under exile with that he was actually raiding the jewish people when in reality he wasn't at all David wouldn't lift his hand up against his own people and that's exactly what Joab is saying to him he's saying this is all because of you you're the one who challenged him you're the one who started the problem you know that David would not have done this on his own and now because of you it's you who started it and that's what he means when he says as God lives unless you had spoken surely then by mourning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren it would have been all over but you provoked it you created the problem now he's angry but what happens verse 28 Joab blew a trumpet and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore and did nor did they fight anymore he didn't want many to die simply because of his anger at abner abner killed his brother and there's no way he's going to let him get away with that but he doesn't want others to die he doesn't want to be guilty of a needless slaughter he knew the time would come when he deal with abner for what he had done in proverbs 16 verse 32 it says he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty he who rules his spirit than he who takes the city and he just says i'm going to calm down but you will have your day it is going to happen well verse 29 abner and his men went on all that night through the plane crossed over the Jordan went through al-bitran and they came to mahanain joab returned from pursuing abner and when he had gathered all the people together they were missing of david servants 19 men and asa al which makes 20 but the servants of david had struck down of benjamin and abner's men 360 men who died which demonstrates the incredible combat readiness of david's troops david's men suffered far fewer casualties because his mighty men were superior they had greater tactics and that gave them victory but verse 32 then they took up asa al and buried him in his father's tomb which was in bethlehem and joab and his men went all night they came to hebron at daybreak in bethlehem they bury a great warrior 1000 years later in bethlehem a great warrior is born jesus jesus is from bethlehem when you read these stories again you make assumptions the bible makes it very clear no man can call jesus lord but by the spirit of god sometimes the plans that we have for ourselves are not successful because as believers we haven't pursued the lord and we haven't asked of him as a person who doesn't have a relationship with the lord you're pretty much on your own because it would be difficult for you to speak to somebody that you really don't know very well and ask favor or direction from it's kind of like the stereotypical guy who doesn't like to stop and ask for directions my dad was a truck driver my dad knew you know all the all the areas around he was a a man who spent many years behind the wheel and he was very good when it came to taking us on family vacations but i'll tell you something about my dad that used to make me laugh when i was a little boy whenever my dad got lost we would be driving and we recognize that we'd been there for a little while and hadn't moved on he would turn and he would say something like you know i've always wanted to see this part of town i've always wanted to see this part of town and that's when i finally realized dad's lost he doesn't know where he's at but a lot of times guys don't want to stop and get directions they don't want to stop and pull in now i do because you know what i'm too old to worry about how dumb i look i'll i'll stop i don't care then i'll send marie to go ask and they go ask him tell me you're lost i have discovered it just saves a lot of time to ask directions doesn't it it really does when in doubt follow the directions it just saves a lot of time and if i'm in a place yesterday marina going off to we're going off to to the nokia center for the for the outreach that dave truhio and south los angeles was doing and i haven't been to the nokia and i thought it was next to staples but i wasn't sure so we're driving and so i have a nav system and i program it and i programed the wrong address i put in nokia service center so i'm just driving and i'm already late and as i'm driving past where i'm supposed to get off i keep driving and i'm telling me i don't think i'm going in the right direction now i'm in culver city and i say i ought to stop and visit my cousins because i have cousins in culver city but i drive and i said to me no i'm obviously going in the wrong direction we turn around we go back and try to reprogram the nav and i am lost and do it again and i didn't put south figure on it before you know it i'm going by the alley coliseum and i'm driving the coliseum and i'm saying i know i'm lost so marie says well we ought to call dav on the phone and find out what's what is called i said that's a good idea he gave us the wrong phone number so we can't get to him so now i'm just driving out there and i'm turning to marie i'm saying you know i'm going home i know how to find my way home because i can't find the nokia so we end up pulling off the street and then she calls up and she talks to one of the other guys he says oh yeah it's over here it's exactly where we thought it was where we should have been 30 minutes earlier i'm just not real good at asking directions you would think that i would have learned by now but i haven't yeah i'll find it i got a nav system i'll go to culver city i mean and a lot of people are really not good at asking directions and so one that's why i'm trying to encourage directions are found in the book the bible but what happens if you don't have a relationship with the lord keep in mind that the book was written to those who believe in god when i was in the military we used to have mail call and they would stand there and they would call out your name and if you got a letter they'd hand it to you and and then the guys would sit down and they'd be reading letters from their moms or family members girlfriends whatever and and you know and they'd say here read this if i picked it up and it says uncle matt says hi and aunt bertha just had her second child it meant nothing to me i don't know who matt is i don't know who bertha this is not my family why should i read your letter it's not to me what made sense to me is when that was addressed to david and my mama could say well dad did this and we went on vacation here that's news from home but that's my family when i read somebody else's letter it's somebody else's mail it is not my life being spoken of it somebody else's when you pick up the bible if you don't have a relationship with jesus christ you can read it it's not going to make an awful lot of sense because you're reading somebody else's letter but when you open your heart to the lord that letter is now yours that's the letter written to you it doesn't matter if it says to the romans or the chrysians or the aphesians that's a letter to you and now as you read that it says this is what i have for you this is what i want for you this is what i'll do for you this is what i don't want you to do you take it personally because this is a letter from god it's a letter from home and he's speaking to me and he's directing me that's why sometimes people say i just don't know what to do that's why i make assumptions that everybody has a relationship with god listen when the holy spirit comes and dwells within you and you become the temple of the spirit of god you're born again like jesus said now there's a life within you no longer are these words simply on a page now these words go directly within you and through that god writes on the tablet of your heart and he directs you through his word and by his spirit and it may be that i have some today who've never opened their heart to the lord in that way that the spirit of god is right now not working in you other than in the way of convicting you saying you don't know me you know a lot of times when people come to church especially churches like this where we take time to go verse by verse through a book they get bored but i don't blame them in a way i'll tell you why it's because they're listening to somebody else's story because it's not theirs it doesn't apply to them it applies to somebody else they get bored or they're so busy getting a text message they're not even listening to the message from god because they're more interested in the text than they are with god's text that's how it works but when you have a relationship with god you read these old stories and you say lord simple as it is david could have gone anywhere he wanted to but he asked you first and you actually answered him he asked you a simple question and you gave him a simple answer he asked a direct question you gave him a direct answer he said should i go into the places in judo you said go and he said should i go where you said hebron well lord i want you to direct my footsteps like that i want to know you and i want to hear you so i'm going to read your word i'm going to pray i'm going to seek you now if you don't have a relationship with the lord then today is the day to have one if you have sin in your life it cuts off communication that has to be dealt with once that's dealt with once again the lord is once again going to be able to speak to you my invitation to you is to open your heart up to the lord


It's now time for members' statements. The member from Lenox and Addington. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, this morning the Lenox and Addington Interval House in Napañí was awarded the Third Annual Family Advocacy Award, which honours people and organisations that make a positive contribution to the lives of families. The Interval House earned this award for their 24 years of service and their great work on helping those affected by domestic violence throughout Napañí and Lenox and Addington. This Interval House has provided services which have made a great and positive difference in many lives and provided safety to those affected by domestic violence. They have provided shelters to those brave enough to leave, resources for those attempting to help, legal information to help regain a sense of justice, and a helping and caring hand and listening ears to help end the isolation. Speaker, I'd like to congratulate the Lenox and Addington Interval House once again for all their great efforts, which have resulted in this award and all that they do to improve the lives of families in Lenox and Addington and the greater Napañí region. Thank you. Thank you. Further members? Members from Oshawa? Thank you, Speaker. February 20th marked the coldest night of the year, and this past Saturday, communities across the province came together to walk for awareness and raise funds for homelessness. In Oshawa, our coldest night of the year walk benefited the Refuge Outreach Center. The Refuge does invaluable work across our community to support our homeless, hungry and hurting youth. This year was a balmy 10 degrees, so it wasn't as cold as years prior, and we were warmed by the spirit of the volunteers and the shared purpose. In fact, there were 92 participating communities across the country, and Oshawa placed 11 funds raised, but fifth overall in terms of participants, number of participants. And that, Mr. Speaker, is what community is all about. Speaker, events like this remind us how generous our communities are, but we should not have to rely on generosity to ensure that all of our community members are safe and warm. When it comes to homelessness, this government is failing. We have a poverty reduction strategy in Ontario, but there are no measurable targets in place. In my experience, a strategy without targets isn't much of a strategy at all. According to Ontario's Chief Coroner, this government doesn't even keep track of homeless deaths. They don't keep track, they don't measure, and they don't seem to care. Homelessness is a very real challenge across the province. I challenge this government to care, to set real and measurable targets. Perhaps then we can stop relying on the generosity of communities to crowdfund Ontario's poverty reduction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The member from Brampton West. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This past Christmas, the Singh Kalsa Sable Club organised a massive food and clothing drive within my riding of Brampton West. The word Sable means help without the expectation of anything in return. The response from the community members was enthusiastic and very positive. So on Christmas Day, donations of goods collected were handed over to the Knights Table, a wonderful organisation in Brampton West serving the needs of people dealing with the issues of poverty and homelessness. The volunteers from Singh Kalsa Sable Club did not consider Christmas as just another holiday. They worked tirelessly through the week prior to Christmas to go door to door in my riding of Brampton West. In their feedback, this organisation advised me that the community was very kind and generous to those in need at this special time of the year. I look forward to working at the grassroots level with the Singh Kalsa Sable Club to continue to work towards integrating every member in my riding to spread the message of Canadian values of oneness and living in harmony. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Singh Kalsa Sable Club and the Knights Table for all the great work they do for our community. Thank you very much. Thank you for the member's statements, the member from Carlton, Mississippi Mills. Mr. Speaker, Bernard Cameron died tragically on February the 11th. He will be sadly missed by his wife, Catherine, his four children, his six grandchildren, his four brothers, his extended family and the community of Allmont where he lived. Bernard graduated from the University of Western Ontario and was a much respected high school teacher. He served as a Boy Scout leader for 25 years and was on the board of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. He was also elected to two terms as councillor for the municipality of Mississippi Mills. Bernard Cameron will be greatly missed by all. I ask that we have a moment of silence to remember Bernard Cameron. With the member's indulgence, can I do a unanimous consent after the rest of the statements? Would you mind? Thank you. Further member statements? The member from Hamilton Mountain. Thank you, Speaker. Saturday brought record temperatures to many parts of Ontario but it was also the coldest night of the year in over 40 communities across Ontario where thousands of women, men and children walked to raise money to support their neighbours who were hungry, homeless or hurting. On Hamilton Mountain it was my great pleasure to head over to St. Stephen on the Mount which was the base camp for the walk in support of Neighbor to Neighbor, our local food bank. Before we headed out with 300 other walkers. This was the third annual coldest night walk organised by Neighbor to Neighbor and as in past years it was a great feeling to see our community coming together to support an organisation that puts people first. Offering housing support, family budgeting, counselling and various food programs, neighbour to neighbour is a vital part of our community and we are fortunate to have the dedicated staff and volunteers who run it. The walk on the mountain raised almost $55,000 and that was that last count and I know every penny will be put to good use. I want to offer my sincere thanks to the organisers of the coldest night of the year walk, to the event sponsors, to all who walked and especially to the volunteers who took care of the registration, greeted us along the route and welcomed us back with a piping hot cup of chilli. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well thank you speaker. This past weekend I participated in a series of events celebrating International Mother Language Day and my speech today, my member statement today is especially important considering the apology that this house has heard about regulation 17 what prohibited frank one tearing for being taught in their mother language. So International Mother's Language Day was created by Avangal Deshi living in Vancouver in 1999 to promote awareness of a linguistic and cultural diversity and the value of multilingualism. The choice of the day commemorates the killing of four students on February 21st, 1952 as they protested the right to speak Bangla in Dhaka Pakistan which eventually led to the independence of Avangal Deshi. The event reinforces the critical importance of language and preserving people's culture, traditions and history. In 2009 the Ontario officially recognized February 21st as International Mother Language Day. So our local Bangla Deshi community created a number of events to reflect the theme and I was honored to participate in them including an open discussion on the role of language and education, integration in Canadian society and an art and poetry competition for children in the Bangla Deshi community, a large rally which went to a memorial on Danforth Avenue and a somber yet beautiful commemoration of those who gave their lives fighting for the right to speak their mother tongue. So we are fortunate speaker to live in a province where so many languages are spoken and so many cultures are sustained through the teaching and sharing of their language including our First Nations languages. And I encourage you in this house to join me in recognition of International Mother Language Day to remember the sacrifice of those students so many years ago and to celebrate those who preserve and sustain their languages today. Thank you. Thank you. Please remember Samus, the member from Bruce Curry once out. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. As you may be aware, Wyrton is home to Canada's foremost weather prognosticator, Wyrton Willie. And this year was a very special celebration as we hosted the Diamond 60th anniversary of the Wyrton Willie Festival on February 2nd. Groundhog Day is one of the most popular events in Ontario. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was one of the best ever celebrations that saw thousands of visitors from all corners of the country flock to my beautiful riding of Bruce Grayo and Sound to see the world famous Albino Groundhog cast his shadow and declare six more weeks of winter. I was also pleased to host our party's leader, Patrick Brown, during his first visit to the festival, as well as my colleague, Randy Padapeace, from Perth Wellington, who also has a cottage nearby Lyons Head. Everyone enjoyed a great weekend, which featured a festival queen pageant, hockey tournaments, curling bondsfields, ice carving, buskers and a zoo just to name a few family friendly events. None of this fun would have been possible without the genius idea of its founder, Mack McKenzie, who sent out invitations to a first Groundhog Day gathering, helped his backyard in 1956 in an effort to break the winter blues. Willie has always been well cared for over the years by Hamdons, John McKella, Sam Brower and Don Crane. This year's Willie predication was six more weeks of winter, which put him at odds with that of his Pennsylvania counterpart, Punxsutawney Phil and Shumanakade Sam and Nova Scotia, but that's okay. This was not the first time Willie generated excitement. You see, Mr. Speaker, I was the spin doctor, the spokesperson in 1999, and Tom Ashman and D. Cherry Ashman were key organizers of this year and of his infamous demise when the Albino prognosticator passed away just days before Groundhog Day. We garnered media attention from all around the world and had so many messages of condolence and well wishes that it crashed our internet. Over two one million hit in three hours. Fortunately, Willie's son, Wee Willie, who had tunneled his way to our nation's capital, returned and continues making the annual famous prediction for the whole world to hear. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We welcome Willie, members of this member from New York South Western. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize today Youth Boce Canada, who is proudly associated with Special Olympics Ontario, under 23rd Youth Boce Canada's championship for athletes with special needs, happening this Friday, February 26th at the Amesbury Sports Complex in my riding of York Southwestern. This exceptional organization was founded in 1994 by my constituent, Lee Priorello, whose passion, vision, and dedication has affected so many. The organization's mission is to support over 400 athletes with special needs in the GTA and York region. The game of Boce is used to promote participation, socialization, and a sense of community. The championship taking place this next Friday is extremely important to the special needs youth as it gives them a chance to participate in a sport in a team environment. Remarkably, Youth Boce Canada hosts the largest Boce tournament in all of Canada, Mr. Speaker. It also provides bursary awards for special financial needs participants and organizes pilgrimages with small groups of participants. They have traveled to France, to Italy, to the Vatican. Youth Boce is a private organization. It is not funded by the government. All events are made possible with the support of many committed sponsors that purchase advertisement in the Youth Boce magazine. Congratulations to Youth Boce Canada on their tournament, to Lee Priorello as the founder. And thank you to all of the volunteers for all they do for the special youth kids in our community. Great. Member Statements, the member from the subroom. Well thank you Mr. Speaker and as always I'm always honored to rise in this house and speak about some great work that's happening in my riding. Just this past weekend in the riding of Sudbury we were part of a national campaign which is called the coldest night of the year. It's a walk held around the country that raises money for the hungry, the homeless, and the hurting in a hundred and plus cities. And what I'm very proud of Mr. Speaker is two things. First off, about 300 people in my riding participated in this walk and over $50,000 was raised to help programs in my great riding of Sudbury to help the homeless and the hungry. And I know specifically the Samaritan Center which is a phenomenal place and it does great work. It ranked 13th out of 2,800 teams of walkers Mr. Speaker. They did great work. We also had four teams in Sudbury that were in the top 100 nationally and seven walkers from Sudbury Mr. Speaker were also in the top 100 nationally. So not only are we doing great work to try and raise funds to help the homeless in my community, we're also caring for them and giving them fellowship. And I should also mention Mr. Speaker that the member from Newmarket Aurora in his great community was also part of this walk in his community and so is the other member from Durham. So you know Mr. Speaker we're doing great things not only as a government but our communities are doing great things as well. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Member from Carleton Mississippi Mills has deferred a unanimous consent for his friend Mr. Bernard Cameron. He's seeking unanimous consent for a moment silent. Do we agree? Agreed. Could I have all members please stand for a moment of silent in honor of Bernard Cameron. Preview seated.


Welcome back to the touchline on Y25 for my name is Max Holwaseek, I'm still with Ken Andrew Malimcombo, chair and founder of Comra's rugby football club and also Kenya Rugby Union director is joining us this particular afternoon. Good to see you Malimma, how have you been? No, I'm okay. You're alright. Santesana kumikaribisha. Santesana pukujapia. So Vancouver 7s is happening tonight. Before that someone just amazed me asking Malimma about his opinion with regard to an announcement from Confederation of African Football regarding more international events. It is not suitable to host FIFA accredited matches. What's your opinion as a veteran sportsman? I think that's a huge disappointment especially at this time when we've been in this competition for many years, over 50 years of competition. We don't have an accredited stadium that can be able to host matches and meet the international standard. I think these are wake up call and the stakeholders of the game, they need to go down and be able to look at that and sort that one for all. I remember during the last campaign when the NAG government and the Yubri government were campaigning and saying that they were going to introduce every count should have an international meet standard stadium. So when we are now looking at these two stadiums, the big stadium, Kasalani, that we have in the country and one of the biggest stadiums in East Africa, they are saying it cannot be able to meet the standards. It's a big disappointment for the country and bad news for us. Now what does that necessarily mean for World Cup qualifier between Kenya and Mali? Considering what's said to play in the next few months and if Kasalani is not in a standardised situation to host FIFA accredited matches, is there any other apart from... I don't think there is any other because Nyayo again, I think it will be the same spot as Kasalani. But as he said, it's been way too long for Kenya to lack an international, a stadium with international standards, it's been way too long. And it's not even the first time, Kaaf I think was supposed to host chan for them and we couldn't host chan and it's a tournament for local African base players. We couldn't host that and now FIFA has said and Kaaf has said we can't host FIFA quality matches. It is just so sad for the match, it's just in Limbo, we just have to wait and see what happens with it. Ya, of course, just a sneak preview of the aggressive a little bit to football but we sticking to Matas Raghbivan, Kufa 7s happening tonight. Kenya looking forward to put their predicaments behind following what happened, sort of a horrible show during Tokyo Olympics. Though they managed a ninth place finish and looking forward to ensure that all goes well ahead of Kufa 7s tonight. It's the first leg of HSBC World 7 series, right? And we playing teams like Mexico-Spain and the last game of the group South Africa, tomorrow morning. First of all, Nelson Noyo, now getting the handbant for overall captainship. Does he have what it takes to replace Andrew Armonde who said that he has played sufficiently for Kenya and now it's high time to hang the boots? Ya, well, depends on when you see how Nelson Ayo has been decorating the team. He came in from the edge grid, Raghbivan, Nakuru. Nakuru is one of the clubs that have a very nice edge grid program. Having come from that edge grid program and then journeying well and making it to the national team, I think he meets the criteria of being a national team. You remember also when Kenya won in 2016 in Singapore, I think he was also on the score sheet scoring. So he has been the team and he understands he is mature enough to take over and bleed the boys in Kufa 7 and the upcoming series. So the man was risen through the ranks and I know when you speaking like that, you speaking from that aspect of yourself who has been passionate about youth development and ensuring that growth of young people is ensured locally. Ya, ya, ya, it's true. I've been, the way of saying I've been that particular program for development and being also the director of development. It's good to see that the path of the players is being wanted and they go up to the national team. And I think that's the way how the game is supposed to be managed. Where the players come from, the edge groups and they go up to the national team, through the clubs that nationwide go on to the Kenyakap teams and playing for the national team. I think that's a big achievement for the coaches who are doing that great job of enabling these players to meet all the path where until they play for the national team. When you look at the Kufa 7, where you saying we did play well at Olympics, we played just a few errors and I think it costed Kenya, but when you look at the way they played and how they lost the matches, I think it was a team that had a very small margin in all the matches at the Olympics and also having lost to Ireland and winning against Ireland again in Japan. I think that was a good plus. That tells us if you could have had more games, I think the boys had found the rhythm and they could have won more matches. But Olympics have few teams, that's only 12 teams. So if you lose one match, probably you are in a very difficult position to make it to the next level. But when you look at Vanguva the way it is and the core teams being USA, Canada, South Africa, Kenya and England, Ireland, you find that Kenya stands a big chance of making it to the main cup and probably also lifting the Vanguva. Depends on how they will be able to execute their game plan. So our first match this particular evening is again in Spain at 8.30 pm then let run a few hours later at 11.42 pm we play against Mexico which is an invitational site. Then on Sunday morning at 3.35 am for those people who are nocturnal we can catch that particular action against South Africa the heavyweights 3.35 am and that game coming in the wake of South Africa having lost against Australia. The spring box, I think it's a big disappointment for the world champion to lose the match today and probably the coach Jack Snapper might be struggling after Erasmus having left the national team and became the director of rugby of South Africa. But sometimes it's also good to lose so that now you go and look where you've gone wrong and prepare and I remember South Africa from the time they won the World Cup in 2007 they struggled until 2019 and they came and found the reading month when they said now 18 months preparation for the World Cup so they brought in a lot of players and integration and they are able now to execute and win the game. But when I watch the game today South Africa is also trying to kind of change their mode of play and that's where it probably is affecting him because now passing off the ball it has not been part of South Africa when you look at how they won the World Cup but this time round you find that they are kind of playing the Australian mode of the game passing the ball instead of kicking and setting the set pieces I think that's where South Africa has been affected much but all in all I know they'll come back we still have one more weekend they're playing again in New Zealand in the two weekends consecutive weekends probably they'll come back despite what I've seen in New Zealand it's a very strong team they have made changes today and they are winning again in Argentina again today and Ken of course ahead of Mexico the captain Nelson Oyo has released some statements saying that the team is generally in good mood and are ready to tackle a pool which is to us we have a feeling that it's very open for us to reach the knockout stage and contending for the cup I think that is a statement coming from someone who looks like a leader right? Yeah and he has to take up the mantle now lead the national team the others who have left it's now up to Oyo to lead this this new crop of players because I've seen their debutants in this side I think five going into the Vancouver series right now and also this Vancouver series and anything they play right now I think they lead up to the World Cup and Commonwealth Games so they'll be key in preparation for those tournaments and it's also good to observe that for a player like Nelson Oyo he will be in charge of heavyweight players Colin Sinjera Willie Ambaka now leading the troops to another level just like for your team in Europe and United having Harim Aguaya to be captain someone like Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi at PSG is not the one of the umband someone is in charge so I think you have to up your game to ensure that you lead your troops well isn't it Mali? Yeah okay but now it depends on the team play and how you know at times also the players also involved in terms of choosing the captain and the captain is actually the big role model because now he's the link man and this controls the game in the pitch but when you look at the way the team is these are also players who've played together for long even the debutants also have been there Makwe Moe has been in and out Maesi Nekayonga these are also players who've played well for their clubs and also the 7s and 15s and they have come from a very competitive league that we've resumed after a long time so I do feel that they are ready and they will take on also remember that we also have players who've just come from olympics and a big chunk of them have Jeff O'Lorge, Alvin Otieno we have Umwa and also we have Ambaka who is also doing well professional player now in Russia so these are the players who have been together they are training you know the coach has executed he has a game plan for how they are going to play against all the teams debutants are always sometimes the co-surprises in Spain sometimes they have won they have also Spain has sometimes won against Kenya in the circuit even though they have been on the evitational side and Mexico it's okay I saw them play there is a tournament that was held in South America and they also played well it's a coming team in Germany also it's an upcoming team Hong Kong has been regular and been hosting and you've seen how they play so when you look at the core teams at Canada, USA and Ireland and England so Kenya stands a chance and South Africa is a threat also and you see how South Africa normally plays the rugby they are fast in terms of the set pieces and they change their game at the high pace so it starts upon now the defence on how to work on it and stop the such a teams we were very aggressive in the attack after Tokyo Olympics there was a comment that came from Namco Sinosensmi, the man in charge of the National Sevens team Shujia that there should be a national dialogue on Kenya's playing style because since 2016 we've had like four coaches and each one of them comes with their different style of play and to some extent now players get into confusion on how to play because there is no uniformal style of play for Kenya Sevens I think having a style of play contributes more to the team having an identity and even the young players who are looking to break into the national setup will understand what they need to learn before they step into the national setup so I think the union should actually come up with a style and ask the coaches they hire to try and replicate it and also ask the local coaches of the local clubs to try and incorporate this style into the other levels of rugby in Kenya so that when someone gets selected to go and play for the national team even though they might be debutants they already know what is expected of them so it is easier for them to gel and have an identity and understand each other and it is glad that you've mentioned about the union and we have the union representative in Malim himself Are you also looking for doing the same and ensuring that you actualize that policy Okay, when you look at our Kenyan rugby we have the same trainers and most of the clubs they are held by the local coaches and these coaches they go under training of the same same trainers so finding a different rhythm it's not that big the only time I saw probably when Mike Friday came in but all the local coaches we've seen the later Imba we have seen Naucheng we have seen Pa'u and Namkos you find that they the coach of Mamba now you see when you look at how they play their mode of play is not that different there is a very small margin and that's why you see every player who comes in from a local circuit it gels on well with the national team and they play so even when you look at country like New Zealand I remember when they were playing Super Rugby and Super Rugby was was also the same time they were also playing the championship and find that the national the coaches say now they allow the players to go and play for the Super Rugby because the national coaches the teams wanted back their players but now they say now these players they are going to play under the same mode over the game so allow them to go back so the teams to play for the Super Rugby because they wanted to win and they found out also about the issue of the sponsorship attached to those particular teams but they were to put under the same condition as the national team so it is practical and it's doable when it comes to the coach so long as the coach request about request the teams the coaches of the local teams these players should be under this particular condition it happens because these are in the same condition then the same environment they have gone through the same training so I don't see if it's a big deal and Kenya Rugby has been on the forefront in terms of training the coaches and like now when we have a good program for training of these particular coaches at least for them to have a level 2 for those ones who are working with the late teams and even the small teams so we are building our capacity and that one will be able to probably in the next one year we will see a very big margin in officiating and coaching and considering those are words coming from a coach it makes sense it means it's so appropriate and relevant that it's high time that it gets into actualization sooner than later oh yeah yeah it's happening already but now I think what the coach was saying we should try to instill that in our local game because it happens in our local game today we will get a player from Oilers the national team and that player will be able to jail very fast because the mode of training for this particular coach is the same because Kenya Rugby Union has brought a program for the training of these coaches and they are training them under the same kind of execution of the game of the coaching program wow and of course Ken looking forward to see how that happens it will be a good thing for Rugby in Kenya and considering Kenya is a heavyweight in african content alongside of course South Africa not only in Africa but even overseas when Kenya is playing but are we looking forward playing against Mike Friday I have seen USA he is also at the Vancouver Sevens yeah it depends on the results and pairing going forward after the first pool matches and I am sure because one of the core teams when you look at those teams Kenya is one of the big teams there South Africa, USA and England so probably they will be able to meet in the next phase of the game someone was asking me should we regret at some point having parted ways with Mike Friday and leaving him to go coach USA I was unable to respond to such question because I had to contemplate deeply before responding which I did not if you are the one Malimu how will you have responded that losing Mike Friday was a huge blow setback to Kenya and Rugby ok we will look at it not really because Mike Friday left and the local coaches picked up and the local coaches even did much better if Mike Friday was here and he was not able to win one of even of the circuit the late Benjamin Aiba one in Singapore when Namco came in and went to Vancouver Sevens finals and also in Hong Kong Sevens Finals so the local coaches find they have done well even better than the foreign coaches and by the end of Namco we surpassed 100 point mark that had never been witnessed before under any other coach under coach, yeah but also remember the number of legs also increased from 6 to 6 to 10 but the local coaches are doing well and that's the way because they also understand the players they are with the players the same environment and also conditions of these players they really understand them and it's easy for them to work with the players anyone who comes in Kenya gets the results they require results in the national circuit Kenya question for the director it's just a word question and it's best of what I said earlier the Commonwealth and World Cup are coming up and obviously before the Olympics they had not played as much as they would have liked but right now after the Olympics they did what they did in the Olympics right now they will have a few tournaments leading up to the Commonwealth and the World Cup and how do you think they will perform there and what are we to expect as fans of rugby Ok, I think now things are working out well I remember now last season we didn't play a lot of rugby but now we played Kenya Cup just come to an end and KCB won 2 weeks ago new fixtures are coming up Safari 7s are also seen in the media it's coming and that's been a very good hunting ground for the coaches and also for the local teams in terms of preparation and when the teams play in those particular tournaments you find they really improve and this Wanguva next November 26th and the 3rd of December will also be having Dubai 7s then we resort to 2022 season which will be coming up in the year 2022 I think before that Kenya could have played a number of matches and the coach will have seen which is the best team now to take it to the Commonwealth and then later on in the year we will be having World Cup in South African continent Kenya has done well so well in a World Cup competition so we expect it now to carry it on the way they played in Russia and went to the semi-finals so we expect probably this time Kenya to go in the Finland and see the magic they did in Singapore and the cup will remain in the African continent and almost every team locally as far as several sporting disciplines are concerned football, rugby, basketball they are chasing for place in the global show pieces, World Cups and I know it will be prestigious for Shujia to make it to the World Cup isn't it? Ya Simba was Shujia Shujia will be at the World Cup Ya the 15s because now we played the first match we played against Senegal and also we played we have forgotten the other team Zambia and we lost to Senegal but we won against Zambia and now we are in pool games and the teams will be preparing well for that and Kenya you found it done well last time we went to the Reaper judge and the boys now have gone to the next level so this time around we will be able to execute and be able to qualify we have seen how the other countries have played they are yet to beware the Kenyan rugby is now today Zimbabwe which have been our rival competitor and also Namibia we will be also losing their first match so we expect Kenya to do well and the real time now is coming for them to qualify I hope this time around we will make it, we qualify direct of going for the Reaper judge like what we did last time and make it to France 2023 we already have the players for 2023 and like for 2027 where I am setting up now the program for the players we will play in 2027 and 2031 and you have seen how Kenya rugby has taken rugby to primary school went take rugby to primary school that tells us Kenya rugby is now preparing on the players who will be able to play in 2027 World Cup, in 2031 World Cup 2035 World Cup these are the players who brought through the age grade program and we have set all the programs last month we also launched under 20 this program that has not been there but we have launched a 20 program for the ladies so that we have the team that will play in the Olympics, in the coming Olympics of 2024 and World Cup 2025 remember the ladies team the number has been increased at 16 teams so whether you like it or not Kenya will be able to lioness will be at the Olympics or at the World Cup of 2025 and that's why we have the under 20 program and those under 16 program so we are doing a good job across the country the regional rugby development officers they are selecting the elite players on all the age grade so that we now put these elite players under program where we will be able to monitor their skills and development so by the time comes when Kenya now is ready to take on the rest of the world will be having skilled players and give the right results so proper preparations in advance before then if we have to make it and they have already started and when you look at these successful countries like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand they have a very vibrant program for the youth and every time we have seen under 20 qualifying for the World Rugby Junior Trophy one against Madagascar so that tells us that we already have setting up a team that will be able to play in 2027 World Cup because now these are the guys just like when you look at New Zealand, New Zealand like of Mackenzie like of Paranya see those are players who play at the World Cup the Junior World Cup and now they are representing the country because we have a very good youth structure program for the game so Ken finally as we come to the finishing line of this particular noble discussion Kenya, just like you know the captain should just say that they are looking forward getting to the knockout stage how strategic are they supposed to approach these games considering they are playing sort of minos during the first and second game before they take on heavyweight South Africa which means win the first two games in order to seal a quarter final battle how schematic and Namco's approach these games even though they are said to be minos we saw what happened to Man United and PS2 can't really call them minos but young boys but for Kenya to play the first two games they should win them to actually show that they are serious to then want to really go to the main cup final South Africa after facing Spain and Mexico I think the Mexico game is the one which many people fancy Kenya will actually go ahead and really win it the Spain one might be a little bit tricky but for the first two games I think Kenya, they don't need to be studied they just need to express themselves how they usually do we know they are good rugby side they can play really well they just have to live it out there and look forward to face South Africa who will be a tougher test than the two from coaching perspective do you think it's possible are you also reading from the same script with Nelson that we can get to that level of Vancouver 7s in a minute since we even gotten to the semifinal stages of just BCR 7 series when you look at those teams teams that have come from a very good competition in Kenya and South Africa or just come from the Olympics so they have a head start and when you look at the statistics also against Spain Kenya have an upper hand and also South Africa especially when we meet South Africa at the last matches we won against them in Cape Town at the home ground and the fans got disappointed so I know the coaches prepare the boys well and they will be able to take it on and their focus on doing well at the Vancouver before the crossover next week at the same tournament in Canada the new Kenya Kapa friend of mine was telling me that now it's an inclusive tournament which means all teams are said to participate is a fan of homeboys probably football club saying that now KCB has got a new you know strong opponent who can beat them in the finals of Kenya Cup not like a brass do you buy that joke okay when it comes to the game and sports depends on how you prepare yourself focus on winning and losing and if they have prepared well if they have prepared well I know they will bring up a very tough competition I remember the two teams KCB and Cabras they prepared well and we saw good rugby being played at the finals so if the team will be able to prepare well then you expect also to see good rugby towards the end of the next season that was a reckless performance comeback of comebacks because a team is winning 20 nil after him then you know your opponent decides to bounce back and beat you and thoroughly lift the title but you know that's the beauty of sports it's never done you might think you're leading you might think you're the better team but there's always a comeback somewhere for one team that they'll never forget about it and safari 7 is back also the way he's saying it's about how the team has been prepared the mental strength of the team and how they will hold on up to the last minute and remember South Africa how they are punishing people at the World Cup they had what we call the bomb squad the players who could come in second and destroy the other opponents so how the coach uses this tactics in the game and probably Nani also used the same very experienced coach also he just won with under 20 recently and also having retained the cup he's been at the finals and remember when we discussed here last time we said he's the master of the finals he can cause a surprise and indeed he did that safari 7 I think we are gearing up and Kenya has done well we expect them to do well again this time against the invitational teams and I know many people have been away people have not been watching rugby for long so it's a good opportunity for the game to be back on the home soil again and bring up the spirit of the game I know most people who have seen social media how people are exchanging and preparing for this particular big tournament coming up and this time around happening at Nyayo at Nyayo stadium away from traditional air refueling grounds Nyayo has been good and Laiones also the reputation match against Colombia I told that Nyayo even the Simbas also play their match the World Cup qualifying against Zimbabwe and Senegal so it's a good stadium and it's a good place to be and also for the health protocol for covid and all that it's a good place to play rugby Maliwe generally we are parting shots with regards to what is happening in international rugby locally I know we are doing our level best to ensure that we get to another level in terms of growth and development but your general thoughts in terms of rugby at this time of covid-19 pandemic where the situation might be a little bit tough but we keep going it's good to see that rugby is back and we were able to see Kenya Cup complete the season successful I think that's a good place and also the upcoming season the world goes well we have to have even the lower leagues playing the championship and the nationwide it's good the national security is disappointing not to see the giants of Kenya playing against the others that's Australia, New Zealand and Fiji not coming to Vanguva 7 and Edmont I think that's a huge disappointment I could have wished to see Kenya versus Argentina and the finals again what is this that you mutated to what are you participating in? I think the issue of the government and the covid protocols when the championship the championship cup was to be delayed they are meant to travel to South Africa one home and away New Zealand travelling to South Africa also needs a home and away Australia but because of that you find that now the government restriction now they decided the tournaments in one venue and that's why South Africa and Argentina need to travel to Australia so it's just the issue of the pandemic but hopefully things will be okay as we move on can you last question for the director last question is we've seen a calf talking about Kassarani not being able to have FIFA quality games there and rugby has held some of its tournaments at Kassarani and they seem to be in the same state for rugby how confident are you that coming rugby arenas and fields will be able to host international tournaments in the future? Okay, the way I've seen I think once you meet the requirements the what rugby requirements for hosting of the game which Kenya has expertise in that particular area well trained expertise in terms of organising of the tournaments once you meet the criteria and we've never had issues we've played with hosted parties recently World Cup coldfiring Kenya Hosted also Lioness also hosting Colombia here for the Reaper Charge so with rugby everything is okay and so long as we meet the requirement for the government in terms of this particular difficult time everything will be able to go on well once you give an opportunity I know Kenya is ready to host any tournament and if this particular in fact we host it at a very difficult time but now as things are easing up it is even easier for us to host the tournaments Thank you Mwanim for coming through It's a pleasure speaking to you and sharing your good insights on this particular show of course Mwanim Combo Director Kenya Rugby Union in charge of youth development he's been doing a lot of good work in terms of ensuring that we qualify for World Cup in the future remains optimistic that can happen considering what is being done right now in terms of talent search and developing the young players who are passionate about the sport and also it remains confident that at the Vancouver Sevens which is first leg of HSBC World Seven series Kenya has got what it takes to make it to the quarterfinal stage in their tricky but manageable pool of Mexico, Spain and South Africa we're looking forward to see how that pans out hopefully some of us will be awake tonight to watch that South African game that will be a mouthwatering time that everyone is looking forward to It's a big march and if we're able to wake up during the Olympics why not Celebrating about the gold for our Marathon as a elite and we managed to wake up during late at night so tonight it is not an exception of course it's been nice talking to you thank you for coming through Mwanim because we're still here until 3 o'clock don't go away stay tuned always a pleasure having you on board stay tuned