Get your cup of coffee. Let me tell you about a wonderful day I had. It was Saturday, August 23, 2025, and I was at the Rich Faith Club’s annual Finance Seminar. The theme was so inspiring: “Master of my craft”—from Exodus 31:3-4.
The main speaker was a true master of her craft, a remarkable woman named Allen Kagina. You know, the one who did such amazing work with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and then with the National Roads Authority, bringing so much change. She’s now been given the big job of heading the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council, and I can’t think of a better person for it.
She said something that really stayed with me: “My children cannot inherit my jobs or degrees but they can catch a craft if I have one.” Isn’t that beautiful? She explained that a craft is something you create with your own hands, with skill and love—not something a machine just spits out. It’s a gift that gets passed down through families, and each piece carries a person’s history and spirit. It’s things like weaving a basket, carpentry, tailoring, or even making a drum. It’s any special talent you have that creates something useful or beautiful.
Mrs. Kagina reminded us that countries like South Korea and Germany have been transformed by crafts, with people earning so much more, while in Uganda, we’re still working to get to that level. She said we must stop thinking of crafts as being less important than degrees. God doesn’t just look for our competence; He looks for our excellence, and it’s the excellence that comes from our crafts that can bring us before kings. When we master a skill, it opens doors, builds our name, and creates a legacy for our children.
She shared five beautiful pillars for us to build mastery in our own crafts:
Clarity of calling: Your calling is tied to how God designed you, for His Kingdom. Remember Jeremiah 1:5? “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew you intimately… You are my prophetic gift to the nations.”
Continuous learning: We must always be learning. She reminded us of Daniel 1:20, where the king found those young men “ten times superior to all the magicians.” Learning is a pursuit that never ends.
Character and integrity: A skill without integrity can destroy everything you build. We must teach our children to walk in honesty, because a good person’s life is guided by truth.
Diligence and discipline: Mastery needs hard work and consistency. You never truly graduate from the effort it takes to be great. People won’t know you’re a hard worker until you’ve put in the work. As Proverbs 12:24 says, “The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work.”
Build Godly partnerships and networks: It’s so much better to have a partner than to go it alone. She shared Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 about how two are better than one, and a three-stranded rope is not easily snapped.
Finally, she left us with this call to action: “Make a promise to yourself to learn a skill. Learn it very well. Build your name and character. What can I do to contribute to society?”
