MAN DOWN

Digital Tracts

It was just another sunny day in the heat-ridden city of Ibadan, nothing special; same dusty roads, arguing agberos, extorting police officers, overspeeding vehicles – nothing new, same old, same old. Ola and Bisi were walking down Oyo road on their way to a birthday party -the two had known each other since childhood and had even made their way through the same university, they could be practically considered brothers save one key difference.

Bisi talked about the stomach upset he experienced while Ola had his fun, teasing that it was the communion wine he and his church people drink. No sooner than the laughter stopped that they heard the terrifying high-pitched screams of people on the opposite side of the street followed by the dismaying site of a truck with a failed break crashing into the side of the road, breaking through the parked vehicles and ramming into the…

View original post 545 more words

Knowing Him Vs Knowing About Him

Digital Tracts

The president of Nigeria is an immensely popular figure, it’s safe to say he’s no stranger to anyone in Nigeria. So one of those days I was discussing with a young lady, and I asked if she knew the president and she replied in the affirmative. “Oh really”, so I preceded to ask “Can you please tell me, between eba and fufu (akpu), which is his preferred swallow?” At this point, she was clueless and confessed she didn’t know. So I continued my questioning “But do you think his wife would know the preference of her husband, the president, between eba and fufu? -To this, she affirmed, “Definitely, his wife would”.

The difference between my friend and the president’s wife is that one knows about the president while one knows the president. One reads about him on the newspaper while one reads his facial expression every day in the house…

View original post 401 more words

GRACIOUSNESS

Digital Tracts

Many times, when we think of Grace or Graciousness, we see it as one of those supreme qualities of God to us -but it’s also a quality of God in us!

The most popular definition of Grace is an unmerited favour, a favour not deserved and many times a contrasting (re)action to our actions. But yet God shows us kindness and love nonetheless: we spit at Him – He kisses us, we ignore Him – He comes closer, we are faithless -He remains faithful.

But it’s not an attribute reserved only for the LORD, each believer is called to live a gracious life: to show this same unmerited favour to others. Nothing makes a person more beautiful than a gracious spirit.

Opportunities for graciousness often come in the midst of irritation. If I send you flowers and you reciprocate by sending me chocolates, you’re not being gracious -you may be…

View original post 189 more words

Tales from PRISON

Truly True

Digital Tracts

There’s a story of a prisoner sentenced to death by hanging. The prisoner had in his rage killed a person and was terribly remorseful about his outburst and the dire consequence for the person and now for himself. He had thrown himself into a self-imposed solitary confinement of depression, waiting only for the day of his hanging.

Someone had, however, taken his case to the governor of the city requesting an executive pardon be granted him for the dangerous mistake he had made. The Governor after reading the case file, and noting the history of the man and his penitent state decided to give the prisoner this rare executive pardon which could only be given once in his office. You see the law of that state permitted the governor to give such a pardon once and in-person to the recipient.

So, this Governor drove down to the prison and waited…

View original post 310 more words

Walking On Water

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Matt 14:28, 29

Faith is not a leap in the dark but a leap on the Word! But many times it feels like a leap in the dark. But we live by faith and not by feelings, by the truth of the Word and not the facts of the world.

Recently I was led by the Lord to embark on a venture I had no experience in, to walk a path foreign but exciting, novel but worthy. The Lord placed deep in my heart a strong impression and I knew it was of the Lord, but alas, the question of how would this thing be? Loomed hauntingly across my mind.

Your True Colour

When we hear the term “your true colour” what often first comes to mind is some horrible attitude shown
in critical times.

It’s like this a lady who is fair and happy, friendly and playful all day but is provoked at
some later part of the day and overreacts to the person who annoys her by saying
something nasty. Many folks would turn to her and sneer, saying that’s her true color; a snarly
insultive soul.

But the question is this, why have we chosen to define ourselves and others by our worst
actions? why do we ignore everything else and settle for only that which paints ourselves and others in our worst possible light? And then declare, this is who we truly are?

If you wrote a test and scored 9 out of 10 questions, what do you want to be said, the one
who failed the tenth question? Or the one who got 9 questions?

A better description would be the one who got 9 out of 10 questions, it paints the narrative that though you were not perfect, you gave quite an effort.

We must remember this, we are all works in progress, none of us have quite gotten there,
Paul in the bible pens words which resounds to us all; the things I wish to do, I do them
not, it seems to be the other way round, I need help.

Who we are is not just who we are under pressure, it’s who we are all day and every day,
not just during the bad times but in the good times as well. While pressure may reveal aspects of
us that do not show up on a daily basis, the life we live on a daily basis cannot be
extradited in the definition of who we are. We are the total of our days, not just the low
days, but the high, low, and medium. Our true color is mixed along these lines, not in a
monochrome black or white.

We can be beautiful and friendly yet fighting addictions and self-esteem issues, we
are not defined by the one we are defined by the whole and by the one we choose to be. And even greater truth is that we are defined by who God says we are, regardless of our current imperfections.

OVERCOMPENSATING

So I am a self-proclaimed professional chef by circumstance.

My current bachelor’s status mixed with the preference for home-cooked food and a tinge of cutting cost has demanded I cook, and I do so quite often, and I don’t consider myself particularly horrible either.

So tonight I’m cooking spaghetti, just came back home and I have a ton of things lined up to do and still need to put some food in my otherwise empty stomach. I’m already cooking as I discover the tomatoes I have is not sufficient, I have neither the patience nor petty change to go all the way to the nearby market for a sachet of tomatoes. 

I’m cooking for just me so my standards aren’t particularly high this night, so what do I do to compensate for the lack of tomatoes? I pour in an extra or two or maybe three handfuls of little dried blended shrimp (popularly called crayfish in Nigeria). My hope is that the blended shrimp will distract my taste buds from realizing the tomato deficiency.

Turns out many of us follow the same approach in life, to cover a perceived financial deficiency, we go overboard on social media posting a kind of life we don’t live, with the hope it distracts everyone from our perceived “deficiency”. To cover a perceived “beauty” deficiency, we go overboard as the talkative of the bunch, to cover a perceived “worth” deficiency we pour an extra handful of toughness to cover the vulnerability, and the list goes on.

The truth is no amount of crayfish can replace tomatoes, no amount of money can replace healthy self-worth, and no amount of social greatness can replace true contentment.

We must face our fears, not cover it with mascara.

God is our sufficiency, He is sufficient in Himself and if we receive the adoption as His children through faith in Christ, we become sufficient in Him. His sufficiency becomes our sufficiency, and we can be forever content in Him.

This is true for humanity, let me hope it’s not for Spaghetti…off to the kitchen.

Seven Nations Greater & Mightier

The Utter Insignificance of the oppositions Might

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou

Deut 7:1

Possibly the most mismatched and unfair pairing in combat was that of the little teenage shepherd boy David and the well-experienced herculean warrior, Goliath. Goliath was so formidable that seasoned men of war dared not face him. It’s not like these Israelite soldiers were wimps, they had fought scores of battles in times past; the problem or so they thought was this particular opposition by name Goliath, he was not a fair fight for a man, maybe even for two men.

The Perpetuity of Fear

We often reason that the reason we are afraid is because of the current fearful circumstance, we think if the situation was different we wouldn’t be afraid, if the stakes were not so high, if the chances were not so slim, then we would not fear. We think we are afraid because of the issue on the ground not realizing that the reason for fear is not the fearful thing or circumstance out there, but the fearful heart within.

The Glory, The Greater Glory 2

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

2 Cor 3: 7, 8 (emphasis mine)