Eternal But On Time

As a Ghanaian, this topic is very hard to right about without scratching myself. I guess that is why Hebrew 4:12 describes the Word of God as the sharpest two-edged sword. The Word of God reveals our faults. Paul knew this and hence disciplined himself by the same word:

I Corinthians 9:27 NKJV

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

The concept of time is one I have seen disrespected all my life. The punishment and some quite severe seems to have not succeeded in convincing us of the importance of time. I guess understanding does not necessary come from the rod although it may take foolishness away. On the contrary, most foreigners (mainly westerners) seem to have a better appreciation of time. I cannot say whether this appreciation is systemic or true understanding.

When we come before the judgement seat of Christ we will essentially be accounting for our time. You may not have noticed but our lives are just countdown clocks. When you look at time this way all of a sudden everything you give time becomes something you are willing to sacrifice a bit of your life for. Well, is this always the case? In an Economics modelling sense, Yes! We may not always be aware.

My main verse for today is:

Habakkuk 2:3 NKJV

For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.

In recent times I have become very particular about time management because I have realized that it is in fact life management. This post I guess is to keep not just you but most importantly me remaindered of God idea of time and how it ought to be used.

Many would think that a sovereign God would do things as and when He likes. We are not to be blamed for such thoughts. After all, many leaders today lord their positions over others. On the contrary, God works according to a plan which we can also describe as His will. A plan presupposes a time reference. In this case since this plan concerns man, we can then suggest that God works in the time of man.

We know from the scripture above that God appoints a time for every vision. This means in His plan there are set times. What are these set times for? Why not just get His plan done at anytime? Another very important characteristic of this vision and its set time is that they are spoken for by replaying the Providential steps that manifested it.

The last section of the verse shows a divide between God's plan and man's. It would seem that man is always in a hurry compared to God. It may be due the the limitation in time. The assurance given is that the plan of God is better and hence to wait on that since God will not delay when the time has come.

It is quite clear from this scripture that although God is eternal He works within the constraints of man's time. We see God portrayed as one who is not late. This brings me to the crust of my discussion. What does it mean for a person to make time for something or someone? When we wait on God, it is usually so that His divine power will come to either our aide or that of another. This means our expectation in an appointment with God is that we are empowered through the exchange of the God life and our own life.

It would then seem to me that every little bit of time we give is us giving away our life. This holds for not just the time we spend with God but with every thing or person. Christ gave all His time to us so that the exchange produces eternal life in us. Parents usually give away a huge chunk of their time for their children. A spouse gives away a lot of time and sometimes in vain. Many today give the biggest and best part of their time to their professional work. The currency for acquiring anything seems to be time and by implication life.

Well, what does all this say about being late? By being late, I am wasting the time or life of those in wait of me. This may look like a very extreme way to look at being late but it is not. If we all have limited time and we decide to make time for each other dishonouring it is giving no regard to the life of the other.

Why are so many Ghanaians always late? The answer is simply poor planning. A God who is omniscient still takes time to plan. Who are you to live life without doing so? When we fail to plan we fail to think about what is important ahead. In many cases, your day is always made up of what is important competing with what is not. Planning will in fact prompt you to call off an appointment early enough not to waste someone else's life.

Taking some time each week to plan your week may be one of the most valuable additions you can make to your life. Valuable because it is at the core of not wasting your life. Some may think that the Holy Spirit will direct you always and hence planning is not needed. On the contrary, we need the Holy Spirit to plan; to align our plan with God's plan.

Make everyday count in your life by making time to ask God every evening: what is the agenda for tomorrow?

Mind your reading.... OnePlus @ work

What Jesus Do You Know?

A number of Christian leaders have received their fair share of public mockery mostly from fellow Christians for speaking up about the Christ they know. You may think that such Christians may be from other denominations but this is not necessarily the case. I have listened to friends and journalist lambasting many Christian leaders for what they believe is not the Christ they know. However, is this kind of mockery justified or out of place?

Since my concern is mostly about how Christians condemn fellow Christians, the basis of this post will be from Scripture. Although all scripture is inspired by God, I'd prefer to use a scripture that is not reported but directly from God. Does it make a different? No but maybe for someone who is very theoretical. My scripture of is:

John 14:12-14 NIV

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Wow! Very loaded indeed. Surprising as it may seem to some this is Jesus speaking. Let's work on this scripture a little bit. Jesus opens by saying that believing in Him is the foundation of replicating his work on earth and even doing more than He did. He closes by reinforcing that He will do anything, yes anything, we ask in His name. He explains further that all these wonderful giveaways is so that the Father will be glorified in Him. In other words the answer to the prayer must bring praise to Jesus and as a result reveal the glory of the Father.

Can we then pray for the fall of the cedi against the dollar to stop and / or reverse? Well, to answer this I will need to ask more questions especially to those who will laugh at Christians who will pray like this. Do you know how God intends on answering all your prayers? Do you pray about things you don't fully understand? What is a miracle? For a number of Christians today we know exactly how we need God to answer our prayers. For some as well we do not pray that much in the name of God has given us brains to think. We are no more children before God but adults.

We can never stop being like children before God. I would argue that the only attitude accepted in prayer is that of a child. One thing I love about my wife is her ability to thank God for even the thing we can explain by logic. The beauty about being like a child before God is that you don't need to know how He will  fulfill your request to ask. Your prayer is predicated on one unshakable faith that God is Able.

My answer then to the previous question is that yes a child-like Christian can ask God and He will answer but an adult-like one cannot ask in the first place. Why will God answer such a request? Very simple, let's take it through the test in our scripture above. Does the answer point to the Son thus glorifying Father in Him? Yes! How? The prayer left the logistics to Jesus so he can show off :-).

What Jesus do you know? The one who can heal Malaria without you going to the hospital or the one who uses the doctor to administer your healing. Both are the same Jesus. The difference is about the Jesus we know. Then why laugh at someone's knowledge of Him? Is it OK for a lady to ask God for better body features? Again, what Jesus do you believe?

Next time you hear about other Christians praying in a certain direction don't be quick to condemn. Ask yourself what Jesus do they know. A further question may be: do I need to know this Jesus?

Mind your reading OnePlus @ work...

Can He not do more?

The proliferation of churches in Ghana and across the world is one that excites me albeit not every part of this growth. On the surface, it would seem that as a religion we are heeding to the last request of our Lord Jesus Christ; Yes and No. There are aspects of this growth that leaves much to be desired. One such is the skewing of the gospel to one of material gain - wealth.

Some may have already taken offence that I've chosen to write about this. Well, give me a moment to lay out my thoughts. Financial benefit in the Lord is not a sin. It is in fact a promise and intent of God ( Psalm 37:25,  2Co 9:8, Psalm 35:27). Jesus makes it clear that there are blessing both here on earth and in heaven when you follow him ( Matt. 19:29 ). I am a firm believer in the Lord's ability to make His children wealthy (Psalm 50:11

What beats me is that we are not seeing how such skewing hurts the message of the Gospel. How do I minister Christ to one who is already rich? Is Christ coming into his heart so he can be more rich? What financial breakthrough is he desiring? Someone's argument will be that the rich are always desiring more? Whether this assertion is true or not my question is why sell God on things that can be provided through other means?

What means? Let's consider this speculative statistic: there are more people who don't believe in Christ who are richer. More of the wealth in this world belong to folks who do not believe in Christ. How? Look at the statistics of Christianity in developed countries as against underdeveloped countries.

Does this suggest that the devil is succeeding at enriching his children than God. I have come to realize that although ultimately God is the giver of every good thing, principles are key. I see principles as God's Word or Promise packaged as a formula. If this is the case, you can learn such formulae not only by being a Christian. I'd like to push this submission further that if indeed the devil teaches you such principles he will additionally not inhibit you.

Today seeking God is predominantly seen among underdeveloped countries like Ghana. Can this be linked to how the Gospel has been skewed? I would argue so. The Gospel today is packaged for the poor. How would you package for the poor? You promise a way out of poverty.

How do we fix this? It is very simple. What is the biggest competitive advantage of the Gospel - reconciliation with God resulting in the saving of our souls through the Free Gift of God, Jesus Christ. Miracles are great and would follow our obedience to share Christ to the nations but the best packaging is not it. This is not about capitalizing on the fear of man but reigniting hope. Jesus alludes to this when he says there's no need to fear the one who can kill the body but rather the one who can kill both.

Make some time this new year to examine yourself. How are you projecting Christ? Is your attitude preventing a friend from seeing Him as more than a bank or insurance company? Christ is best preached through us so let's makes sure we reflect him right - Our Saviour. He is more than wealth.

#HeCanDoMore

Forgive typos for now....done from mobile.

The DreamOval Song - Dream again (a place of dreams)

This is a bit off the main topic (Trotro Diaries). Jojo (a colleague at DreamOval) and I were trying to put ourselves to good use given that work almost comes to a stand-still with all the power fluctuations and outages in Labone. We came up with this. This is like version 0.0.1. What do you think? Suggestions, comments, etc. The song talks about DreamOval hence the title "Dream Again (A place of dreams)"



Cheers

Lets Speculate

It's been about a month since my last post. I can imagine what you are thinking by now: has he bought a car? Hmm... Well I have been really busy but more importantly, lazy. I bet you did not guess that.

I have been thinking of changing the focus of this blog to one of speculative journalist. I see so many things around which make me sad and happy. This is what I'll like to write about. And since I'm a solution oriented kind of guy I'll also like to write about solutions for some of the issues I raise.

I witnesses a very sad event on my way to the office today. A woman's fingers were smashed by the front door of the Benz 207 trotro I was in. I can still remember her inability to shout. She couldn't shout but her tears showed it all. She wanted to act strong because of her daughter but she could barely hide her agony.

This is not the first time I am witnessing an incident like this. From what I understand it happens quite regularly with this particular type of trotro (I mean Benz). Given that this Benz was made for carrying goods and not human beings we cannot blame them. The problem is that these trotros are high and often many above the age of 30/40 need to hold on to something to get down. Unfortunately, if you are on the first row there's nothing to hold on to except the front door. If you are not lucky and the door is opened, I guess you can imagine the rest.

I would think the solution to this problem is quite simple but no one seem to realize it. Since this happens to people in the first row who are trying to hold on to something to alight or board the bus, we can safely assume that an alternative to holding on to the door's space will solve the problem. I believe there are many types of holders this purpose.

What do you think?

Low cost Taxi Ride

This represented for me the sweetest trotro ride ever. The day is Friday, 2^nd May 2008. I was from my girlfriend’s hostel (Danquah Circle), destination – home. At first sight the bus looked like any ordinary one. Suddenly it slipped from the mate’s mouth that they will be going to Odorkor. Trotro operators usually rip passengers off by dividing their long journey into shorter last stops so that passengers more. Well, this mate had made a mistake and I saw this as an opportunity to get to Odorkor without changing trotros. The mate quickly withdrew Odorkor from his shout outs when he realized the slip so I paid to get to Kaneshie. Kaneshie was not such a bad alternative to Odorkor because Sowutuom buses LOAD (stop for passengers to board). Therefore, to me it was still a great ride.

I must say that I was not ready for what happened next. At circle, the mate started calling out for Odorkor, Kwashieman, Santa Maria ……… and Sowutuom. I really taught I was dreaming. I could not believe it. And come to think about it I almost didn’t board this trotro. I quickly called the mate to verify what I heard and if true pay quickly before they changed their minds. Can you imagine: it was true. I was going to sit in the same trotro from my girlfriend’s hostel to my house. This was officially my first “trotro taxi” from my girlfriend’s, home and it was just sweet. And do you know the best part about all this? The driver was not like most trotro drivers who wait and wait and wait and wait at bus stops to get the bus full. He only stopped when there were passengers to be picked up. He did not keep long at bus stops. It was just an excellent.

I got home in a record time of 45 minutes. This was unprecedented. It just made my whole night. J . My trotro journeys from my girlfriend’s to my house usually take at least 1 hour.

I wish this could happen to me every night.

Hmmm....

Green-horn Mate in the City

My life currently rotates around my family, girlfriend, church and ministry (I love singing), work and “the others” (these consist of the set of undefined stuff in my life). Currently, work takes most of my time which I know is most likely the same for you. Therefore most of my writing will be based on my trips from home to work and vice versa. I will endeavour to begin every entry with my start location and destination. I guess you are wondering where home is. I live in Sowutuom (if you don’t know where it is assume that it is far from work - Labone)

These events occurred on the 26^th of April 2008. I was from my girlfriend’s hostel going home at about 21:30. As usual I had to use three trotros. The first was from Danquah circle to Kwame Nkrumah Circle. It was a quiet and peaceful journey. I was very excited to be the last to board my second trotro because that meant zero waiting time. This however turned into a not so nice ride. I could not tell whether the conductor (locally called mate) had something bitter in his mouth. I bet that his looks could cause a laughing baby to cry. I suspected the journey may get a bit uncomfortable because I was sitting in the way of everyone who will want to get down so I got down earlier that I had paid.

My final trotro was the most interesting for the day. The mate looked really timid and new to his job. I later discovered that he had just come from Takoradi. He just could not get the balance between when to call for passengers and when to collect the monies of those already in the bus. He also could not tell new passengers from old ones. Therefore, he usually tried to out-smart the unpaid by asking, “YES! Bring your monies.” He almost gave away GH 1 to a hawker while in traffic because he wanted coins. He was saved by a passenger who prompted him not to give the money to the hawker before she gave him the change.

This mate got me thinking about a whole number of things. Is it better to live in the city where you are mostly critical and scrutinizing of other people’s actions or in the village/town where you are more communal, trusting and integrative? Which will you prefer? I think I prefer the earlier because I believe I’ll adjust better in a village setting coming from the city than vice versa.

Which do you PREFER?