HALUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

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It’s likely I will lose a quarter of my readership by starting this way. Then again, it is just as probable I will gain a similar following if not more, so here goes…

Dede. Dede Ayew. Passes it to Gyan. Asamoah Gyan. Back to Kevin Prince Boateng. Boateng for the Black Stars. This looks dangerous. He shoots……

HALLUUUWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

1-0  to Ghana. 1-0 to the Black Stars. What a beautiful goal by Kevin-Prince- Boateng…

The above excerpt pretty much sums up commentary of a World Cup Match in 2010. It may not be word for word but it is something very much close. That’s if you were tuned in to KBC that is. There was this particular commentator who had a rather interesting way of celebrating a goal. Others would term it, passionate, unorthodox, eclectic or eccentric even. Take your pick, English is a language replete with adjectives. This commentator would say, “HALUWAAAAH” with the passion of that guy who screams ‘IKIBAMBA SANA WAPI NDURU!!!!’ except his was in a much deeper, reverberating voice.

Sometime back I used to believe I could be a commentator. Not having a job forces you to explore unconventional alternatives to earn a living, being a commentator was one of them.  Si I knew football? Si I knew English? What else was there to it? Somewhere down the line that interest tapered off. The dream died or maybe it’s in a coma on life support in my mind somewhere. I guess commentators like the Haluwaah guy compelled me to do some serious soul-searching and rethink my interest in football commentary.

Every 4 years, that Haluwaaah guy will go all Haluwaaah when a goal is scored in the World Cup. But, who am I to complain about it? That’s his style. His signature. We love him for it. Maybe one day I will figure out what Haluwaaah actually means. For now, I will stick to blogging about it and using it metaphorically for my blog post.

The Haluwaah guy exclaims Haluwaah with a particular charisma and exuberance that resonates with my soul. Every goal is greeted with his customary, vociferous ululation. Irrespective of how good the goal actually was, the decibel levels of HALUWAAHH are significantly high. Whether the goal was like Gareth Bale’s overhead kick recently, whether it was an awkward one like Chicharito’s goal with his face against Chelsea in the community shield of 2010; Mr. Haluwaah will still voice out his delight with rapturous applause. That guy deserves every penny of his salary on the basis of those celebrations alone.

Do you know that God delights in you even more than that Haluwaa guy? I mean, seriously, he delights in you. Some may find this notion alien and I don’t blame you for it, but imagine with me, think of God going Haluwaahhhhh for you just being you.

We are prone to believe that God is a joy-killer. That he delights in nothing more than to crash our parties and yank us away from anything fun. God is perceived to be a being with a permanent scowl on his face. Perpetually prim, solemn and sombre, impossible to please. We think of him as the party-pooper peering from the heavens, waiting for that moment we engage in any sort of revelling, to bludgeon us with his baton to get us back on track.

Contrary to our beliefs, nothing could be farther from truth. God does delight in us. He raves about us. His word tells us so. How’s Zephaniah 3:17 for starters, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

That’s something to mull over. God, creator-in-chief, taking delight in us, rejoicing over us with singing! It doesn’t stop there. Another indicator of God delighting in us is found in the Psalms. The book is not just about the various psalmists taking pleasure in God but they also speak of God revealing his affection towards us. Take Psalms 8:4, which says, “O Lord what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him. That he repeats more or less the same thing in Psalms 144:3 is extremely noteworthy. Repetition in poetry serves to underline a key point. Here I conclude it underscores the scarcely believable fact that we occupy God’s thoughts. God regards us with an ethereal fondness and affection. It is both comforting and stupefying. That he loves as such is delightful, that he does so in spite of us not having anything to warrant this affection or considering we constantly fall short of his holiness; it is equally mind-boggling.

The psalmist again reveals how numerous God’s thoughts are towards him in another chapter. It reads, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered. I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up you are still there.” (Psalms 139:17-18 NLT) The same could be said of us. We are in his thoughts that much! Surely this is indicative of how God delights in us.

Or to put it better, think of being a parent, or an uncle or an aunty. Think of that baby you love so much, cooing and prattling away in his/her romper. All the while, you stare at them, thinking how adorably cute they are and just wanting to be with them. As God’s children and I should say babies when you consider he’s been around for more than centuries, he loves us just as much.

1 John 3:1 mentions how great God’s love is for us that we should be called his children and that is what we are. God is decidedly affectionate towards us. He wants to fellowship with us and be intimate with us.

At this point, I must remind you the psalmist, David, who waxed lyrical about God’s love towards him, was flawed. He had an affair with Bathsheba, and killed her husband to cover it up after failing in earlier attempts like getting him drunk. He floundered as a father, some of his sons revealing that much. His son Amnon for instance, raped his sister Tamar. Amnon ended up being killed by his vengeful brother Absalom. David’s son Absalom then  tried to overthrow him and briefly succeeded, going as far as sleeping with David’s concubines (2 Samuel 16:21-22). Talk of a family with drama galore!

Later on, David, possibly in pride, took a census of his fighting men. It was an action that did not sit well with God, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocents. His mistakes were very costly. Yet in spite of those flaws, he knew God still regarded him highly. God still spoke highly of him terming him, ‘a man after my own heart.’

David knew God still loved him. Whether floundering in sin, or flourishing in righteousness, his love doesn’t change. He still looks on us with a fondness. He still yearns to be with us if we let him. God is sort of a gentleman, he won’t impose himself on you. He will impress on you, beckon you and wait for you to draw to him by your initiative.

As we celebrate the goals during the World Cup, as we jump up off our seats in delirium, let us know there is a God who is also going ggaga for you.

I reckon he is up there or in my spirit saying, “Oh, look, look, he’s confessing to his accountability partner and resolving to pursue sexual purity again. I love my son’s tenacity. Awesome!!!” 

“My daughter is not using her looks to manipulate people much as people are tempting her to do so. I bless you child!!!”

“Look at her. She is refusing to conform to the culture around her. She isn't tearing herself apart trying to fit in. She is staying true to my word and her principles based on it. Haluwaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“Look at him sharing his testimony of me in his life to unbelievers. Awww, it’s so cute the way he is stuttering and stammering to my glory. That’s my boy, don’t keep the faith, spread it all around, I’ll do the rest.”

I can imagine him, grinning, swelling with pride, as he watches us strive to glorify and honor him. Just the way we purr at the sight of baby’s smile, or a jerk of the foot, or a cute attempt at saying mama or daddy or any word, God delights in our actions however small we may think them to be. We may walk around with drooped shoulders because of our shame. We may carry with us, a prodigal-son mindset and not think ourselves worthy because of our dalliances with sin and our numerous compromises. He still loves us. He delights in us when we own up and get back up. It’s not the perfection he raves about, it’s the getting back up to pursue it that delights him.

Sometimes it isn’t always because of our activity. Sometimes just for the fact that we put our trust in him, that we go to bed and sleep over our troubles has him purring. Sometimes when we are meek to trust that we will right the wrongs against us and not insist on getting even;that pleases him. Sometimes when we insist on not taking matters into our own hands and let his sovereignty surprise us, he delights in us. Sometimes it is just a matter of being still, taking his rest, casting our anxieties on him.

Haluwaah isn’t just an exclamation of commentator, it is a small, small semblance of the delight God has in you as his child. The commentator will stop when the tournament’s over. God will continue till he call’s you home and all through to eternity. That’s  is worth a tonne of haluwaahhs in my view and definitely reason for me to live for him all the days of my life thankful and striving to honor him. HALLUWAAHHHHH!!!!