Open Letter To Her Excellency

Your Excellency, I’ve been waiting to get at least a note from your end. If anyone had told me that I will get anxious about not hearing from you, I would have shrug it off, that the fellow is ignorant of my busy schedule.

Well, the truth now is that I am anxiously waiting to hear from you. I was told it may take some days before you will gain access to WiFi. That is not comforting news at all. Your departure to R--- wasn’t this painful. I guess that was because I could gate-crash to visit if I so desired. This new school is over 600km away. You will be doing a lot of good if you send just a ping.

Meanwhile, I hope you are keeping a journal of all the events that I missed out on. Her royal majesty promised to bring home pictures that will at least soothe our nerves and compensation for all the fun we missed. We are eagerly awaiting her arrival. She too seems to be missing you already. As she journey back, she is not enthusiastic about given update on the progress of the journey. I guess, mama is missing her baby already.

Yesterday was quite busy as I shuttled between two local assemblies to share with the brethren. Not that I planned it so, but what can I do when Her royal Majesty accepted an invitation without even pre-informing me. Thank God it all went well.

Your Excellency, we are eagerly waiting to get at least a note from you confirming that you are doing fine. We know God is taking care of you just as He is doing overtime in taking care of us. Please don't keep us waiting for too long, lest we are tempted to gate-crash!

Princess Journey To Ivory Tower

Her Excellency, princess number one embarked on the journey to an ivory tower on Friday. Of course she was in the company of Her Royal Majesty who I had to persuade to accompany her. Left for the Queen, I should have escorted the princess on this historic journey.

I had to keep my cellphone by my side as I kept tap on their progress. Text messages were delivered at several intervals to give update on their progress. Eventually, they got to their destination and the Almighty took over. It was favor galore as they were given a royal welcome party. The initial plan to move straight to the Ivory Tower was jettisoned. They decided to enjoy the hospitality for another two days before embarking on the last lap of the journey.

Our God is indeed an awesome God. He makes a way where there seems to be no way.

NINE SUGGESTIONS FOR AN AILING MARRIAGE

1. Never consider divorce an option. It is not a solution to your problem. Divorce is not an acceptable alternative because God says it is not.

2. Do not compare your mate or your marriage to others. There is not another person on earth like you. Your mate is also unique. This means that your marriage is unique. Let God make it what He wants it to be. He will make it perfect!

3. Forgive your mate. You are to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. You are a sinner. He or she is a sinner. You are not perfect-so be willing to forgive one another. And do it right away before any bitterness can build up.

4. Stop all criticism. Love does not criticize and find fault. Therefore, if you are critical of your mate, you do not have a heart of love. Stop all criticism. Instead, try a little praise. It works like magic!

5. Start communicating with your mate. Communication is completely broken down in many homes and marriages. Start listening to what your mate is saying as well as to what he or she is not saying. Break down the barriers by being vulnerable. Try saying, "Honey, what is the biggest fault I have?" Then say, "Would you please help me, by the grace of God, to gain victory over that fault?"

6. Refuse any relationship outside your marriage in which affection is sought or given. This substitute could even be a relative, a friend, or a neighbor. Do not seek to make someone else a substitute for what you are not getting in your marriage. You will never solve your problem doing this.

7. Trust your mate. Trust your spouse, even if he or she is wrong -you are right in trusting. A marriage must be based on trust. It cannot survive without it.

8. Do something every day to please your mate-something that you know will bring your partner joy and happiness. This is not asking much-to do one thing-but it pays big dividends.

9. Thank God every day for the 25 best qualities in your mate. Write them down. Concentrate on them and the positive will soon outshine the negative.

Okay, I’ll give you an extra
10 —Plan a second honeymoon! For further assistance read Songs of Solomon. ;-) – Contributed by www.naijaecash.com

Mum, I won’t tell you my Birth date!

I’ve been quite busy, so posting has been the least of my priority, but I have to share this story with you, it is quite original because it happened at home. Here we go.

Princess T – Mummy

Queen – Yes, darling.

Princess T – When is your birthday?

Queen – You mean the date (wishing she didn’t hear right)

Princess T – I mean your birth date!

Queen – Sorry, darling, I won’t tell you because I don’t want you to tell your friends. I am trying …….

Princess T – Mummy, pleaseeeeee…………

Queen – No, I won’t…………

Princess T – Then, I won’t tell you my birth date……….

I couldn’t finish getting the rest of the gist because I was struggling to prevent my ribs from caving in as I have a suppressed silent laugh of my life. I asked myself, how do 4years plus reason? If there is anyone that is consider the best custodian of the birth date of a child, is it not the mother?

Well some father do have them. Since I was eavesdropping on the two (don’t scold me now, it wasn’t planned, I just happened to be in the right place, behind a door at the right time).

I hope you enjoy this. I got to go back to my busy desk. Cheers.

It was just for 5minutes!

I watched a movie yesterday that got me sober. The main actor had everything going for him until he decided to take a fling. The fling lasted for just about 5minutes, but the consequence of that extra marital affair was terrible, his whole world practically collapsed!

Too many of us are familiar with such story. Today, as I was going through my bible, I remember the movie and then a little word dropped into my heart. “It has to do with the TIME FRAME you were focusing on when making a decision”.

Too often, we human think in “short-term frame” and our poor decisions are often based on this wrong focus. Often times, spouses who engage in extra marital affairs would not have taken such decision if they were thinking in long-term and weighing all possible outcome of their decision.

Now here is another issue, why do we always feel that God is too slow? The simple reason why we think God is slow is because God thinks within Eternity Frame while we human thinks within Time Frame. Give it a shot. He wouldn’t be bothered whether Sarah is 18 or 90 because He had it all figured out over a Long-term Range – Eternity! But that wasn’t a comfortable idea for Abraham and Sarah. They had to help him out. So came in Hagar and you know the rest of the story.

Beloved, if you are facing challenges and you are about taking a critical decision, please ask yourself “Am I focusing on Eternity or I am thinking in Short-term?” Short Term thinking can result in foolish decisions which later gives birth to terrible consequences.

May the Lord God Almighty grant us understanding and wisdom to conduct our earthy affairs in a manner that will endure the test of time. Shalom.

VALENTINE, LOVER’S DAY, SINNER’S DAY OR THE LORD'S DAY?

My bible tells me that this is the day that the Lord God has made, I should rejoice and be glad in it. That statement alone calls for celebration. I made a post yesterday recounting the incident that happened in my home. That post brought the longest single comment I have ever received since I started blogging.

Unfortunately, the commenter decided to remain anonymous. He raised some issues that I am yet to verify. But while I am doing that, I wish to comment on the way a lot of Christians are going about mixing with the multitude today and falling into sins all in the name of celebrating VALENTINE!

While I have no right to tell you what day to celebrate and which one not to celebrate, wisdom demands that we do nothing that jeopardize our fellowship with the Almighty. Committing sexual immorality physically, virtually or even in our imagination is no way to celebrate a day made by God.

If you are planning to do something un-biblical before you stumbled on this post, I plead with you that you stop and repent of such foolishness. God won't understand why you have to sell your birthright just because of February 14th. You know that is true.

So go ahead, make the day what you think it should be, just remember that sometime in the future, you will stand before Him to give account of how you spent today. Shalom

Mummy, happy valentine!

Princess: “Mummy, happy valentine!”
Queen: “Today is not valentine day. It is tomorrow, 14^th of February”
Princess: “What is valentine?”

Thus started the early morning lecture. Trust me, I dodged from the scene. I’ll tell you why. I knew it was going to be a lengthy session of question and answers with plenty of explanations on all difficult terms. I didn’t have the time for that as I was running late for work.

Secondly, up till now, the parental-task of giving SEX EDUCATION to our daughters has been a big challenge to me. No thanks to my natural shy nature. My wife is naturally at ease when such topic arise. So when the VALENTINE topic started going round to the issue of what people do on valentine day, I was more determined to keep out of the picture even though I was eavesdropping. My wife did a great job, but I was still bothered (the perfectionist that I am) about the accuracy of the information she gave about the origin of VALENTINE day celebration.

So, how did VALENTINE day started? What is it about? Over to you. Your comments are most appreciated. Don't bother telling me about Google, I’ve already been there. I was not satisfied.

The Challenge of a Nursing Mother

The baby is just three months old. She looked at him as he lay in his cozy cot. Sleeping away in the wee hours of the day. The innocent look on his face and the chubby cheeks almost brought out the tear she has been fighting back. Here is her bundle of joy sleeping peacefully; ignorant of the fact that mother must leave him for the next seven hours because the maternity leave is over.

Not that she liked the idea of living this little one for such a length of time when he is still so tender and need all the love a mother can provide. The fact is, she has no better option! She must go to work because the family needs the additional income. She quickly placed a soft peck on the rosy cheek of the sleeping-handsome and tip-toed out of the room thinking “Mama said that when I was this tender, I was never left for more than 10minutes. I wish I don’t have to do this”

Thumbs down to all the greedy politicians. There would have been no need for this forceful separation of mother and child at such a tender age, if the natural resources bestowed on the nation has been well managed. Thumbs down to all the greedy past leaders, who through their greed and corruption, has bastardize the economy.

The Blood of Jesus on Trial!

This was emailed to me by one of my friends

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church.

She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans.

This is when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting.

As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be.

He began to speak and his statement was this:
"My fiancee's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?"

The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! End of case!!!!

He Showed Me Mercy!

I traveled out of town down to my home-town. It was a trip long overdue. I had a nice time visiting places I have not been to for years. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent there. However, when the time I scheduled for staying there was over, I was in a big haste to get back to the city.

For one, I missed my family; also I missed the opportunity of browsing and doing my usual stuff online. In my haste to get back as fast as possible. I changed my plan of traveling. Instead of boarding a vehicle in the early hours of the day, I opted out for an earlier trip via night bus! The dreaded night bus! The queen wasn’t in support of the silly idea, but I cunningly cut her off and went ahead with my foolish decision.

All went well at first. The bus started the journey which is over 800km at 6.00p.m. I was happy about the early start. However, around 8p.m, we started having problems. Then it dawned on me that I had made a very stupid decision. The driver stopped on the side of the road and refused to continue the journey because a passenger made a call using his cellphone. Of course before departure, we all were told to switch off our cellphone. The driver insisted that he cannot continue the journey because he doesn’t know who the passenger was calling on the cellphone. After much pleading, he continued.

At that point, I started imagining the hazards lying ahead. Fellow passengers started recounting the terrible incidents of armed robbery attacks that have occurred on this same road in the recent times. Beside this, while travelling down, I had noticed that the road was full of deadly potholes and there were several motor accidents. In my haste to get back to my place of residence, I had ignore all these danger signs.

Some hours later, we had a flat tire and we had to change the tire in the middle of nowhere. While the tire was being changed, a lot of scary thoughts were running through my mind. I knew I had made a very stupid mistake, and I was begging God to grant me safe journey down home base on His mercy alone.

After that, we got to a spot where all vehicles ahead of us had stopped and switched off. Reason, they are afraid of continuing the journey because of the possibility of getting robbed. So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere! Up till now, I can’t explain how we got out of that one. I just woke up (I had to force myself to sleep since we were categorically told that the vehicles ahead of us won’t move until 4a.m in the morning) and discovered that we were moving.

So many other things happened. For example, when the journey was almost completed, we got to another dead-end around 9a.m. Rioters had blocked the expressway and they refused to move. They were protesting against the Nigerian Policemen who had mounted checkpoints along that expressway. After spending about an hour and the confusion was not subsiding, our bus driver decided to use a track-road to bypass the angry rioters.

I eventually got home around 2p.m. I was grateful to be alive and whole! Did I say, grateful, surely that was a slip of tongue, I meant VERY GRATEFUL to God for sparing my life!

Another Weekend in the Office

It’s been a quite but busy Saturday. I happened to be the only one that came to work in my department. Many of my colleagues are out on the field digging it out with assignments given by clients. This year started well and this first quarter promise to be a busy and prosperous one. I wish though that I was back at home playing with the princesses. But then, my presence with them may be worthless if I am unable to attend to my financial obligations. So I choose work first.

That is not to say that I won’t give them the attention they deserve, however, whenever duty calls, I have to attend to it first. We can always find some other time to socialize.

Today, I added to my knowledge online. I learnt a lot of useful stuff about Wordpress. I’ve always been in love with Wordpress themes, but I never knew that it is not as easy to use as Blogger themes. Also, Wordpress.com doesn’t allow newbie bloggers who aren’t willing to pay some cash to advertise on their freely-hosted blogs. So to me, that is thumps-down for wordpress, and thumps up for Google!

To all my readers, I wish you a wonderful weekend. Cheers.

It’s been a great Year

The year 2007 has been a wonderful year for me and my family. The Lord God Almighty has been so generous and benevolent towards us. Spiritually, there has been growth in our individual lives and I am very grateful for this.

Financially, not much has happened. But I will not forget a failed business venture that left me bitter for some months. More than 50% of my saving that I invested into the failed business disappeared into thin air. It was a painful experience. Yet I thank God for the lesson I learnt from this sad experience. I am grateful that the lesson did not wait until my old age. Then it would have been disastrous.

Socially, I can say that I’ve made more friends within the year than all the friends that I have ever made before. However, the quality of the friends is what I am not sure of. I’ve been an introvert all my life and I rarely give in to socializing. However, the trend is changing especially as I become more active in my local church.

My online presence has experienced a good boost. I started as a novice blogger. I didn’t even know what I wanted when I started. But now, I am beginning to have focus. I am beginning to streamline my goals and objectives. I am grateful to God for the success that my blog Saved By Jesus has experience so far. For a newbie who lacks technical computer background, I can safely say that I have made great progress.

Academically, I have performed poorly. I procrastinated about my professional examinations. I gave all manner of excuse just to escape from settling down to read those difficult textbooks. I won’t repeat such in the year 2008 as the Lord will grant me grace to start being responsible in this area.

Blessed be the name of the Lord who has been so good to me and my family. Shalom

Acts of Kindness

I wish to use this opportunity to tell of my Uncle's wife. I lost my father when I was in my early teens. According to the story told me by my father when he was still alive my Uncle J, was withdrawn from school because he was not doing well in his academic. My father, then a primary school teacher, decided that my Uncle should not end his academic pursuit aprublty. So he took him as his ward and to the glory of God, my Uncle was able to further his education to a higher level.
When my father died, my Uncle decided to repay the kindness by taking me under his roof. In our culture that was not consider a big deal. Some will even argue that it is his responsibility. My Uncle with the un-usual support from the wife catered for my welfare for over 15years. He single handedly sponsored me through the University with his little earnings. At a point in time, he was having extra 5mouths to feed beside his nuclear family that has 5kids.
That was only possible because of a wonderful woman. A woman that is truly a child of God. A woman who was able to cater for other peoples children as if she is their biological mother. A lot of people that knew me after I had started living with my Uncle never knew I wasn't her first Son. Few only got to know when they see me write my surname and it is different from my Uncle's. I pray that the Lord God will reward her immeasurably now and in eternity.

Sharon Is One Month Old!

Our little puppy (Sharon) is growing. She is exactly one month old today. For about a week now, she has occasionally made funny sounds that I was told is her own initially attempt at barking. She has been a nice pet for the children and a very neat puppy. Every member of the family have come to respect her for indicating when she wants to defecate. The picture in this post was taken about a week ago. She looks stronger now. Being a cross-breed, I was told we will have so many surprises as per her temperament and lifestyle. Well, I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

I've got a crucial Appointment

Her majesty called about an hour ago and reminded me that despite my workload in the office, I've got to be home on time. Who am I to disobey after reading the warnings of Sis. Dupe Olorunjo? Also, I remembered that the two Princesses at home have made a complaint that my being busy as a bee is no longer welcomed. I have to prioritize properly now less I end up being the answer to Mumsdadschildren questions of "who is to blame?"
If I venture make any excuse, I will be reminded of the solemn promise I made when casting vote in favour of a new addition to the family (Sharon).

We've got a puppy!

A friend gave us a puppy that is about a week old yesterday. The kids and I were so excited about the puppy even though the Lady of the house was of the opinion that we were not ready for such additional responbility. To be frank she is right. Those of us that are excited about owning the puppy are the most ignorant pet owners you can ever think of.
That we are having the puppy at such age is due to the fact that the dog that gave birth to the puppy died by accident. So my friend had to give out the puppies at such a tender age when they needed their mother most.
Well, God in His mercy provided the kids and I a brother who has nursed puppies before. So we are learning with excitement, while the lady of the house is issuing warnings that we better get ready for the herculean project we have embark upon with her "permissive will". Of course I can't blame her. Those of us that are excited rarely stay at home. Two of us go to school and only returns in the afternoon, while I am known for getting home late in the evenings. So invariably we are just adding to the work of the home-manager.
Well, we have made a solemn promise to take care of the puppy. I for one have to get some quick tutorial online on how to care for a puppy.