RANDOM THOUGHTS

Mind Your Business!

People can really be nosy about other people's business!  It can be so annoying to have people who have no single idea of who you are make statements about you like they have some license from some authorities to speak on your person.  How can you seat in your own house and begin to make laws as to how another person in his own house should live his life?  Who made you the judge?  You may be wondering why I am fuming this much... well, I am very crossed with the way I have seen people pock their noses in the business of fellow human beings.  

For God's sake, shut up if you have no details about the life of anyone.  If you mind your business, you will have less headache.  I am serious... many people fall sick for other people when those for whom they are concerned are not losing sleep at all.  Everyone is free to live their lives the way they deem fit as long as they do not interfere with yours.  Many of the things you are bothered in others have no direct bearing with how your life should turn out at all.  Shut up!

Nigeria, my country

I am a citizen of a very interesting country.  We are the most populous black nation on the face of the earth.  In the West African bloc of nations, 15 of them - our total population is bigger than 14 of the other nations combined.  Super nation you may call us.  You are right but we are a poor nation with weak societies in every facet.  China has used its population to its advantage, ours is our own albatross.  

Our leaders are a product of our society so we deserve the leadership we get.  We are a bunch of very unambitious people in terms of getting the best.  We are easily satisfied with mediocrity and average living.  Persistence, excellence and consistency are virtues that are scarce.  People live on the basis of survival and if they can afford a meal per day, they go to bed without thinking of tomorrow nor are they bothered about who is dictating the pace of things from the leadership point of view.  We are so religious that is has led us to the point of foolishness.  When we are expected to be calling the shots in terms of our rights, we philosophically say "God dey", meaning, God is watching!  We abdicate our responsibility and leave it on the laps of God.

I want to be a street pastor

What does that mean?  I want to identify with the man on the street.  Yes, he is ignorant and does not know his left from his right... I want to be able to show him the way.  I don't want to be like those who live in mansions (even though I want one) but are not concerned about those who live by the street corners.  Our churches are prospering to the high heavens!  Our pastors are riding the best cars and "efizy" is everywhere in the Church.  We dress fine, eat in the "happening" restaurants and wear flashy super star smiles but we are not doing God's work.  I think God is not happy.  I feel it.  The hungry amongst us are wondering if it is still Church.  When a man walks up to a pastor's office and wants to see the Man of God, we so protect the Man of God from being seen on account of protocol that we "protocolize" the hungry man out of help's way.

Our Churches are "centers of excellence" but the street in front of the Church is flooded and the roads are dilapidated.  We blame the government for not repairing the road but we show no example.  Most of our members are unable to pay their rent and keep their kids in school but when we meet them, we investigate how they come to that pass for over 3 months until the members are tired of being "tried" and they leave us alone.  What a Church!  We want to be on satellite TV but cannot address the simplest needs in our midst.  Is God really happy with us?

How many people are we teaching God's ways?  We select those who sick with us on the altar and make them look very excellent but they are empty in their heads and in their hearts.  They can't even explain simple biblical terms to save a soul and yet we "ordain" them as shepherds!  What has happened to good old Discipleship?  What kind of generation are we breeding?  That is why I want to be a street pastor, possibly with no name or title but one who will do God's bidding and help people find Him!  God help me to be that street pastor to the shattered.

The Ultimate Gifts of Life

You would be giving yourself all sorts of headache if you pre-occupy yourself with the idea of trying to figure out life as a whole.  In actual fact, life is not meant for you to figure out, it is meant to be lived based on the revealed will of Him who kept you here - and that is done on a step by step basis.  If you want a full package of what lies ahead of you all at once, you won't get it.

Many of us enter life with preconceived idea what our parents told us, what we see in our immediate environment and what our friends tell us.  On the basis of this small narrowed idea, we go out with some kind of ambitious boldness and feel like the world and life is all about the "little" we know.  We argue about issues only from the perspective of what we know and without desiring to learn from the perspective of others who are not from our own end of the globe, we end up making a fool of ourselves and making very critical mistakes in decisions that we make.

It is in this vein that I have made up my mind to receive gifts from life on the basis of every experience I have because every season and experience or challenge comes with it it a gift that is so valuable that can't be received from any other medium.  As I pondered over this, I stumbled on a movie that confirmed this concept of gifts of life... and I want to share with you some of these gifts:

1.  The Gift of Work

Life itself operates and revolves around work.   If things must work in your life, you must get down to work.  If you don't, nothing gets done.

2.  The Gift of Money

We must learn how to handle money.  We must be masters of money and not slaves to it.  It should be realized that money is not the ultimate in life and we must not make it so.  Learning to give value we are paid for is and should always be the ultimate.

3.  The Gift of Friends

It is unfortunate that true friends rarely exist.  What we have in excess are acquaintances who relate only on the basis of how convenient it s for them.  When a relationship demands responsibility and becomes costly, people begin to shift base.  We tend to get involved with people on the basis of what we can get from them and not what we can give.  True friends are hard to find but we must make them.  Go out and be a true friend to someone.  If such people have a different mind, they might be changed when they see the unselfish nature we display.

4. The Gift of Love

Everyone wants to be loved and to love.  One way or the other, we have narrowed love to romance.  It is far beyond that.  Love is the essence of God.  Love is about sharing your life with people.  In it is the virtue of giving and being spent for someone whether they are deserving of it or not.  Some kind of warning here though:  to love is not to commit suicide either.  Rewards are not given for suicide.  Balance is applicable.

5.  The Gift of Problems

In life we face all kinds of challenges.  There are problems everywhere.  People are facing them daily.  Problems are not palatable.  Nobody wants to face them but they are gifts.  We learn from them.  When we overcome, we become better people.  Welcome them as gifts.

These are some of the few gifts of life that can make us better people and cause us to life more fulfilled life.  Maturity comes when we welcome these gifts and use them.