Humpty who?

As I strolled down a resplendissant lane called wonderful, I overheard just above me screams of we are undone, we are undone, the “blessed curse is upon us”. I watched the wings of the first break, and as he tried to steady himself loose his loot, lost his balance and fell down to his death. The same happened to the second after him and just as it was about to happen to the third, I saw that a weird looking man with greyish wings, who appeared to be one of their oldest and most decorated member was being released and ordered to seek them all out and annihilate them all completely. It was as if the time set for them to turn against each other was upon them. However, if they were able to exchange their misfortune in time by successfully entering into the household of an unsuspecting family in one accord with one another, they might just be able to keep what they find and thus prolong the inevitable only for a moment longer. Just two doors down the road appeared to be a family, with only two young children in the house. It was a large uniquely located house with many window openings, and not one was locked. I was a bit apprehensive as to what to do, and called out to the inhabitants of the house to find out if there were any adults at home and why their windows were all left unlocked. The children at my behest ran round the house in a bid to lock all the windows they could find and indeed locked them all accordingly. I wasn’t quite sure if they had securely locked them, and thus made up my mind to go in and check. I had barely gone a few steps when I heard what appeared to be a heavy thud coming from the north east section of the house. As we hurriedly made our way there, I found that they were trying to crack open one of the elevated wooden windows by trying to drill nails through it. I realised that if I were to place log pieces over the area where the nails were being drilled in, we might just be able to prevent them from creating enough gap to forcefully enter into the house. And so we retaliated with log for nail, a process that reinforced the sturdiness of the window. They proceeded to change tactics by trying to bull doze their way in. In the instant when they were about to burst it open, did my eyes draw to a study ladder, completely made of wood, which I and indeed we hadn’t noticed was there before. We immediately grabbed hold of it and were able to push it against the window and were able to secure the window. Finally, after several blow out attempts, the intruders couldn’t manage to get in, and in the end ran out of time.

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Phew what a story, but I’m going somewhere with this.

How many times do we see friends, neighbours, strangers in great difficulty and we turn a blind ear. Yeah, you read it correctly, a deaf eye. The Lord Jesus reminded us of the importance of being vigilant [John 10: 10 - The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly] and Peter also reminded us of the fact [1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour]. And throughout the bible we have been given examples of the need to be alert [Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:16-17; Luke 10:18]. And yet, many of us are of the view that as long as our world is resplendissant, then all is indeed well in the world. In fact, Jesus told us that in order for us to inherit eternal life we NEED to LOVE LOVE LOVE God and our neighbour (He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself – Luke 10:27).

So since we know that the enemy is prowling around looking for families, people to destroy. And since we know that the enemy, our adversary, will try to pick off the weak, the needy, the ailing, those among us who have grown weary and have dropped back, and is always lurking for opportunities to isolate and manoeuvre’s us into positions where he can then attack and deal that blow (Pow). AND since this is a fact and the truth, what are we doing about it? When was the last time you could honestly say, “I got his or her back on my knees in prayer?” Exactly, are we people who genuinely care for one another? Better still as we have been taught in our worker’s class when was the last time we prayed for one another [James 5:16]. Some of us don’t even know the name of the person sitting next to us (am not even pointing an accusing finger I am so among these groups of people, but I digress).

And if you happen to be among those (of us) going through some difficult situation, fear not. Remember what the Lord said to you, that He is near to those that call Him – [Psalm 145:18-19 - The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them]. So we are not alone. We also need to remember that God has indeed put a wall of protection around us, so there is a limit to how the enemy can toy with us (Job 1:6-10); and that God allows it all as an instrument for our elevation. To get to the top or a next level you need a ladder, a stair case, a device of some sort. A mountain is a high place because it comes after a long low area of land, or else everything will be on a plane, and the mountain will just be another level place. There needs to be a valley, a long sunken area before getting to a mountain. So also, to get to the next level, a level higher than our current position there are some tests we need to meet and overcome. Have you tried climbing a mountain before? I Have, and trust me it isn’t easy at all. During one of my earlier experiences, I was worn out, my entire waist was aching, I was out of breath and out of shape, and I wanted to give up every moment. Infact if I wasn’t with the group of people I went with, I would have happily given up a third of the way up and just sat down. And just as my friends helped me overcome the long walks to get to, up and over “Monte Bondone”, “Monte Mezzocorona” and countless others, that is what God does for us during our long low area walk and up the mountain of life. In the same way God used “these period” for Job and the Lord Jesus (Matthew 4; and Luke 4), and we know He is no respecter of person every one of us have opportunities for elevation. So therefore every situation we face are just opportunities for elevation. So don’t fret, you are so not alone.

And for those of us with resplendissant lives, we’d better be vigilant that we don’t fall into temptations.

My Confession

Wow weee, I am back, walking albeit gingerly but I am in “da” house!!! So how has everyone been? Did I hear you all try to tell me what you’ve been up to all at once? Say what? Well maybe I should start with me. Well as I got on that boat, you know the non-stop express to my next destination I was so busy being excited and rejoicing that I was finally leaving and getting on to the next level to the point that I almost did like the Israelites did when they left the land of Egypt. I was so busy doing the break dancing of touching my head, gyrating my hips, moving my legs in and out and moving my hands from side to side, that I had almost forgotten my Source.

Could you believe it. Since during these past four years I was pretty much on my own, I literally had God for company. I would holler at Him, have some deep and meaningful discussions with Him, and talk to Him on my way to work, to the airport, to the train station, to the market square, to the church, to the Gelaritaria, where ever I was I just had to talk to Him, because let’s face it, I had nobody to talk to, I mean literally. My good friends went home most weekends and my out of the country / continent friends, well you know how it is. On all of my long walks I would talk to Him. Even when the journey felt a tad too long and quite frankly unfair (you know the why me sagas J), I knew I had no choice, nowhere else to go, because the bottom line was JESUS Is both the WAY and HAS the WORDS to life. And in the words of Peter, to whom can I even think of going to: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” – John 6:68. As in really think about it, even if you are fed up, angry, depressed, frustrated, and want to just leave and turn away from God, where would you go? Which one is better (:)). Trust me, NONE is as good as Him. “No one do me like He do me”!!

I always knew that regardless of what was going on in my life there was no better place to be than to be smack bang in the middle of that trial, test or as some has called it, the valley experience. I mean look at me now J. We may never believe it, but it sure is for our greater good [2 Corinth. 4:17 - For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory]. Think about it. To enter into any of these prestigious universities, the exams are not like the “simple simple things” my young 8 year old cousin once complained about when he was told that Mimi my baby cousin had come first in her class and Mimi is 4years old - I guess first in waking up J - but I digress.

Now that I am at this end, and looking back, I have now realised that the time spent in the wilderness was indeed the BEST four years of my ENTIRE life. I felt a connection that was that close to God and I knew that my isolation was for my own good. And then He went and sent me back to my people, significantly more than when I left all those years ago. I felt like JJC that had just landed in “obodo oyibo”; see television where people spoke in English. I ate slept, woke up, watched television, went to the Cinema and watched all of the films that I could not get to see because I was in a foreign land. Kept trying to reacclimatise myself and my “funetics” :) and started going to the theatre where they sang in English. I was indeed back to civilization (no more in the mountains of Italy or the beautiful hills of Blacksburg). And as time went by, days turned into weeks, weeks into months and slowly I began to realise that my spirit was slowly getting disconnected from my Jehovah. I had started to get busy and the time spent dissecting His word had become non-existent. And then I started to wonder, if God would have had to say to HIMSELF, did He make a mistake in bringing lifeofastranger to her land of more than enough? I guess I started to feel a bit bad, and had to start telling the Good Lord that He didn’t make a mistake, and it was not a terrible thing to bless me.

My Lord and my God in any way I have sinned against you and walked in the ways of the children of Israel when you took them to their promised land please God forgive me. Have mercy on me and do not treat me as my sins deserved.

I realised one morning when I was busy getting busy that I could no longer understand what I was doing and my ability to remember was decreasing, and it hit me. The reason my mind had run a blank was because the Words to life that it functioned on had emptied itself. And only 12 weeks had passed since my return. I knew I had to go back to my Source and back to the familiar, back to the way it used to be. Back to the times when only He and His Words mattered, nothing and no one else. I had forgotten all this while that God’s Word was the very foundation on which He built my success on. I could see it. I didn’t need to be told the significance of the WORD of God for my daily survival. Indeed I have found Him to be my sustenance and survival [Acts 17:28a - for in Him we live and move and have our being]. I started to become forgetful, loose focus and remember the things that people did to me J. When did this all start? How else would I have known that these are so not the exhibits of the fruits of the spirit [Galatians 5:22; 2 Peter 1:5-8]. It’s all in His word.

So here I am back to my love. And I would be a fool to let the bright lights of civilization dim out the light of His Hope that burns in me. Receiving my breakthrough is not the end, but instead the beginning of a new journey. I must see to it that I don’t repeat the mistakes of the past that incurred previous debilitating problems in my life or else worse could happen. I have indeed found that my ability to succeed is most definitely tied into how much I know of His Word (which is tantamount to how much time I spend in His Word). You see His Word is Life to they that find it [Proverbs 4:20-21]. If you don’t believe me check it. Check it!! [Jeremiah 23:28-29; Isaiah 55:10-11]