@muhanjithelife
Camps have a way of stripping things down.
No routines. No familiar comfort zones. Just people, conversations, laughter, exhaustion—and God doing something unexpected. When I was invited to teach a one-off sermon at Camp Voltage titled “Power Surge,” I thought I was simply carrying a message for the room. I didn’t realise how much the message would first work on me.
I opened the sermon with something every Kenyan understands.
You’re watching a match you’ve waited all week for. Snacks ready. Volume up. The build-up is perfect. Then suddenly, wee wee… ziiip… BOOM! Darkness. KPLC has spoken.
Everyone laughed. But the truth underneath that moment was sobering: when systems are overloaded, things shut down violently. And as I stood there thinking about a melted multi-plug, it hit me, many of us aren’t broken because we lack power. We’re burnt out because we’re overloaded.
That sermon became less about teaching and more about confession.
When the Problem Isn’t Pressure, but the Wiring
As I spoke about faulty wiring, I realised how easy it is to blame pressure. School. Ministry. Expectations. People. Life. But faulty wiring is internal. Hidden. Silent. And dangerous.
Proverbs says to guard your heart because everything flows from it. Standing there at Camp Voltage, I realised how often I guard appearances instead of my heart. I manage what people see but neglect what God sees.
The “two versions” conversation hit me deeply. The version of us that shows up spiritual, disciplined, and composed, and the version that exists in private spaces. Online. In thoughts. In conversations we’d never put on a screen.
God isn’t shocked by struggle. But pretending slowly disconnects us from Him.
What We Allow In Is Quietly Shaping Us
I asked the room a question that followed me long after camp ended: if your spiritual life were a phone, which apps would be draining your battery?
The scary thing isn’t obvious rebellion. It’s slow erosion. Content we scroll past. Conversations we tolerate. Music, jokes, trends, and habits we excuse because “everyone does it.”
I realised how often I wonder why prayer feels heavy while ignoring what I feed my mind daily. We can’t keep sowing distraction and expect depth. We can’t consume poison and pray for purity. We cant keep feeding ourselves poison and expect to produce holiness.
That wasn’t a message for the campers alone it was for me.
Emotions Don’t Knock Before Taking Over
One of the most honest moments in the sermon was talking about emotions. Anger. Comparison. Insecurity. Jealousy. Hurt.
Unmanaged emotions don’t disappear, they leak. They shape tone. Decisions. Reactions. I realised how many emotions I’ve spiritualised instead of processing. How often I’ve told myself “I’m fine” when I wasn’t.
Emotions are real, but they’re not always right. If we don’t manage them, they eventually manage us.
External Pressure Is Loud, And Constant
At camp, away from normal routines, it became clear how noisy everyday life is. Busyness. Expectations. The pressure to fit in. To keep up. To not miss out.
Teaching from the story of Mary and Martha, I was reminded that being busy for God is not the same as being present with God. We can serve, attend, post, and stay active and still be spiritually empty.
The world constantly pulls. If we don’t intentionally disconnect, burnout becomes inevitable.
Why We Need a Surge Protector
The image that anchored the sermon was the surge protector.
It exists not to eliminate power, but to absorb pressure. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. He doesn’t remove us from life, He keeps us alive in it.
As I explained this, I became aware of how often I try to absorb pressure on my own. But the Holy Spirit isn’t just theology. He’s guidance in real time. That quiet pause. The inner warning. The sense that says, “Stop. Walk away. Don’t respond.”
That voice is protection, not restriction.
The Reset I Didn’t Know I Needed
The sermon ended with a simple reset: unplug, reset, recharge.
- Unplug from what drains you.
- Reset through repentance, realignment, not guilt.
- Recharge through daily connection, not occasional encounters.
As I said it out loud at Camp Voltage, I realised how much I needed to live it. We don’t charge our phones once a week and expect them to survive. So why do we wait only for Sunday to recharge our faith. Our souls aren’t different.
So What Am I Unplugging?
That’s the question camp left me with.
Not what others should change, but what I should disconnect from so God can do His work uninterrupted. God isn’t demanding perfection. He’s inviting honesty and dependence.
Teaching “Power Surge” at Camp Voltage reminded me that life will always come with pressure. But burnout isn’t proof of faithfulness, it’s often proof of disconnection.
And sometimes, the most spiritual thing we can do is unplug, so we can stay fully powered by the right source.
Watch The Full Sermon Below
@muhanjithelife
