Hey kiddo,

I hear you’ve been seeing smoke rise from the streets of Nairobi again. June 25th—another year, another march, another round of cracked skulls and cracked promises. You’re young, angry, and confused. I get it. I’m old, angry, and much less confused.

What you’re witnessing isn’t just a political issue. It’s not just about tax hikes, rigged systems, or forgotten promises. What you’re seeing is what theologians like to call total depravity. No, not that everyone’s out there eating each other raw—but that every faculty of man, from government halls to slum alleys, is infected with sin. Every. Single. One.

For two years straight, June 25th has been marked by blood. And I don’t mean metaphorical tears—actual young people abducted, shot, disappeared. A whole year passed since last year’s outcry, and what did the government do? Dust. The opposition? A circus in different colors. And the citizens? Back on the streets, because nothing screams louder than pain that hasn’t been heard.

Some folks, in these demonstrations, have let loose their own demons—looting, burning, violence. You know what that is? Depravity responding to depravity. Evil done in response to evil is still evil, son. Don’t sanitize it just because it comes wearing sneakers and shouts "justice." God hates unjust scales whether they hang in a courtroom or on a street corner.

Some churches have locked their doors when protestors fled from bullets. Some pulpits went soft. Others just went silent. That’s not new, and it’s not only Kenyan. But hear this: the true Church, the blood-bought, Scripture-fed, cross-bearing Church, is never silent. It may be ignored, shadow-banned, or hidden in a muddy tent outside town—but it speaks. God always preserves a remnant.

The Lord doesn’t ask His people to carry placards with catchy slogans—He calls them to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God. But make no mistake, grandson: doing justice includes standing. Speaking. Protecting the weak. Calling sin what it is—even when it wears a badge or a clerical collar.

If you’re looking for where the Church is during these days, don’t just scroll Twitter(X). Find those small, faithful congregations. The ones who preach Christ crucified and cry for the oppressed. The ones who feed the hungry and write letters to their MPs. They’re there. They just don’t trend.

So you—young, restless, and Reformed—don’t sit on the fence polishing your theology like it’s a museum piece. God gave you sound doctrine so you’d walk in good works prepared beforehand. That includes speaking when silence would be complicity.

Anger is not always sin. “Be angry and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). When the innocent are shot and the guilty go free, a man who feels nothing has a problem. But anger is a fire, and fire needs a fireplace. Feed it with prayer, truth and lawful action, and it will warm the house. Let it loose, and it burns the house down with you inside. “Repay no one evil for evil… never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God” (Romans 12:17–19).

Some will quote Romans 13 at you to tell you to keep quiet. Read it again. Paul says the ruler is “God’s servant for your good,” sent to punish evil, not to do it (Romans 13:4). A government that kills its own children has forgotten whose servant it is. Nathan rebuked King David to his face (2 Samuel 12). John the Baptist rebuked Herod and lost his head for it (Mark 6:18). When the apostles were told to stop preaching, they said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Respect the office. Pray for the man in it. But never confuse the office with God.

“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 146:3). Presidents come and go. Parties change colours. The Lamb on the throne does not. Kenya’s future is not finally decided in Parliament or on the streets, but in the hands of the One who raises up kings and brings them down (Daniel 2:21).

June 25th isn’t just a date. It’s a question.

And the Church’s answer must not be a shrug.

Love you,

Grandpa..