I’ve been particularly upbeat this week, but for no apparent reason – actually perhaps it was because someone I liken to the young Omar Sharif unexpectedly popped into town this week.
I see you smile!
But honestly, it’s been a week full of joy.
My Christian Scriptures had laid unread for a while and I remembered that this ought not to be the case. So I began my read of it, I believe, on Sunday evening. Jonah 2 verses 8-9: they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving….salvation is of the LORD.
I smiled. Faith leapt up. Hope stirred within, and yes the love of The Almighty God encompassed all around me.
Better not to observe, better not to dwell on, the lying vanities that surround. The lying vanities and false gods that say to you day in, day out that you life is without purpose and fulfillment; that you and your spouse are ill-matched; that your marriage is failed; that your life is a failure because your bank account cannot even smell let alone purchase a Birkin bag and yet your contemporaries and friends carry them like you carry your beloved, what is it now, DKNYs. Your life is a failure because you can only afford a holiday abroad every three years.
Hmm. The list goes on.
I have concluded that I cannot, quite literally, emotionally afford to observe the lying vanities all around me for indeed I would be forsaking the mercies of God to date on each and every area of my life.
Is it the vanity that says that at this time I ought to have had at least 3.2 children? Or the one that screams: if only my income afforded me the extra finances to have liposuction on my thighs, butt, stomach – erm, you name it. Or the vanity that yells, what now, erm, that I should be my own boss by now? If you care to observe them, there are scores of lying vanities that threaten your sanity day in, day out.
But you know what? Forget that, I say. What I have I am grateful for and what I will have and I will become, by the grace of Almighty God, I look forward to with exuberant expectance. Oh yes.
Then this afternoon in doing some work related research on Leadership I stumble upon this wonderful piece:
Learning from Jonah's in the Belly of the Fish Experience
Aha! That’s what Jonah was talking about. Resilience. In these tough times? Better be resilient.
Don’t go off the wagon, I say. Weeping may endure for a night, but but but but but - joy comes in the morning.
In the above piece, Jim Murray puts it like this:
resilience is the capacity to "bounce back” after disappointment, setbacks or even disasters. It is a leadership attribute that is crucial in unpredictable times or in the face of tough circumstances. It is rightfully acknowledged to be a critical component in one’s emotional health.
He goes on to say:
Resilient people can detect the seeds of opportunity and the enormous potential for learning in difficult and trying situations. They can resist being swept up in the anxiety or panic of the moment and are more willing to adapt as creatively as possible to seemingly daunting challenges.
And when this adversity is conscientiously dealt with and subsequently overcome, resilience is strengthened
Aha – I say again. Rejoice.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Monday, 23 February 2009
Car Bumper Stickers - Lagos Style
The ones from here are absolutely and definitively out of this world. Full of religious insinuation, but many are mostly religious claptrap. Harsh? Well, try this.
GOD PUNISH THE DEVIL.
All words written in bold capitals, the second word is in bold red.
Now tell me, what is God punishing the devil is got to do with anyone? Indeed, does God punish the devil? I don’t know. Anyone who does, let me know the answer to that question. Please.
Why would anyone put such a sticker on their car bumper anyway? Well, it beats me also but I think I can guestimate. I figure it’s something to do with this. Hmm: our religious belief that the devil is our greatest enemy. So far so good. Then, the further belief that this devil is the cause of most if not all of your woes. Then the further, further belief that this devil has colluded with other human beings to frustrate your life. So, God should punish the devil for imposing on your territory.
So you go round announcing to everyone you meet that God should punish the devil.
Never mind that God is omniscient, omnipotent, kind, gracious, loving. The God asking all those who are weary come to Him so that He can give them rest. His mercy is everlasting, as is His love.
Why not focus on worshiping Him in obedience to His Word? Why not focus on the greatness of the love of this God as opposed to asking Him to punish the devil? Why not?
GOD PASS THEM.
The other bumper sticker that caught my attention.
Okay – I actually think everyone of west African descent would understand this statement. Never mind the grammer.
But, for all others, what the sticker is saying is this: God is omniscient and omnipotent. Amen to that.
And, the bumper goes on in implication, that being the case, God is greater than all those pursuing me for evil. Amen to that also.
Come to think of it, that bumper sticker is actually apt, deep and extra.
Selah.
GOD PUNISH THE DEVIL.
All words written in bold capitals, the second word is in bold red.
Now tell me, what is God punishing the devil is got to do with anyone? Indeed, does God punish the devil? I don’t know. Anyone who does, let me know the answer to that question. Please.
Why would anyone put such a sticker on their car bumper anyway? Well, it beats me also but I think I can guestimate. I figure it’s something to do with this. Hmm: our religious belief that the devil is our greatest enemy. So far so good. Then, the further belief that this devil is the cause of most if not all of your woes. Then the further, further belief that this devil has colluded with other human beings to frustrate your life. So, God should punish the devil for imposing on your territory.
So you go round announcing to everyone you meet that God should punish the devil.
Never mind that God is omniscient, omnipotent, kind, gracious, loving. The God asking all those who are weary come to Him so that He can give them rest. His mercy is everlasting, as is His love.
Why not focus on worshiping Him in obedience to His Word? Why not focus on the greatness of the love of this God as opposed to asking Him to punish the devil? Why not?
GOD PASS THEM.
The other bumper sticker that caught my attention.
Okay – I actually think everyone of west African descent would understand this statement. Never mind the grammer.
But, for all others, what the sticker is saying is this: God is omniscient and omnipotent. Amen to that.
And, the bumper goes on in implication, that being the case, God is greater than all those pursuing me for evil. Amen to that also.
Come to think of it, that bumper sticker is actually apt, deep and extra.
Selah.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Quest
On his neighbour being irresponsible
For some odd reason over the past few days my thoughts have been towards a statement our driver in Sierra Leone made some years ago. Bless him. I can’t quite recall what started the conversation – it was probably the usual case of the driver cutting into the private conversation of his passengers and giving his own, though unwarranted, insights to whatever topic we were discussing.
On this particular occasion though, I must say I was engaged by what he had to say. His penny’s worth on this occasion was that one of his neighbours was being irresponsible and above all was seriously committing a sin against God. Why so?
He explained that the man was unemployed, had been so for a long while and was actually not actively looking for work. Yet the man had over ten young children and one of his wives had just given birth yet again. How would he look after the new baby, let alone the baby’s siblings?
Well, you many think that was not a profound statement but in a country and indeed a continent where to have children and plenty of them, regardless of your ability (financial, emotional, physical and otherwise) to look after and take care of them, is regarded as a raison etre of existence, it was a profound statement – particularly coming from a barely literate individual.
I stopped in my tracks
Here was a man, probably not much older than me, in his 30s but looking at least twice that age because of the effects of war and abject poverty, demonstrating agility of thought, mind and purpose. He himself had lost his two children at the hands of RUF rebels during the war. Post-conflict, he adopted a little girl orphaned by the war, and, by the grace of God, birthed his own biological daughter some years after. He considered his two children truly the apple of his eye.
There was not a day that would go by that he would not buy something on the road for his children – be it a loaf of bread, sweets or a toy. Those kids were his delight.
On bricks and mortar and the corrugated iron roofing sheets
I pondered the difference between this barely literate driver and his neighbour whose story he had told me. Why was one so apparently different from the other even though their background in economic status and social class were apparently almost exactly the same? I recalled that the driver had told us that he had not really gone to school. He learnt to drive and had worked as a driver all his life. And work hard and consistently he did. Gathered enough money to ‘hire’ a banged up 1970s Mercedes from someone and used that as his private taxi hire, paying a monthly fee to the owner of the car. From his earnings he was building a home and a roof over the head of his family. Three rooms. He had literally built that home with his own hands and the support of a few others. He took one of my colleagues to see the home once. Bricks and mortar with corrugated iron roofing sheets covering the bricks.
But it was a home. Our driver was also paying for the school fees of his children – at a Government assisted school – and was looking forward to their future, despite the precariousness of the nation state that he resided in.
Are all born equal?
Then I wondered how he could be so responsible and his neighbour apparently not. I wondered if all indeed are born equal. I wondered whether really we could say that his neighbour is just plain lazy and irresponsible, or might it just be the case that life had dealt him a blow and he did not know how to recover? I really wondered.
I must say that a constant thought that passes through my mind when I come into contact with people who are so apparently poor and living below the poverty line is to wonder ‘what if that were me?’ In the same breath I thank God that by His grace and mercy I am who and where I find myself – on the other side. I thank God. Really I do, for when you have travelled around and within countries ravaged by poverty, in fact, extreme poverty, you must but thank God that your path is positively different and more pleasurable. Thanksgiving.
So I thought of this neighbour of our driver. I sympathised with his plight. Perhaps he deserved no sympathy – I don’t know. All I could imagine was that life must have thrown him a thousand and one blows and he just could not rise again.
Request for Lipton Tea
Then I thought of someone else I had had the privilege of meeting in 1999. Another driver. A hotel driver. He was driving me to our office in Accra from the hotel I was residing at and began to ask the usual questions of which country I had come from etc. He then of course proceeded to tell me his own story. Poor, helpless, the lot.
He then asked me to purchase a box of Lipton Tea for him on my next trip to Ghana.
When I arrived at our office I relayed the conversation to one of my colleagues. “Don’t mind him," my colleagues said. “For all you know that man refused to go to school as a child and was rebellious. That’s why he finds himself where he is.” I chose not to believe my colleague. For how could anyone choose to be unproductive?
Decisions and choices we make
But several years later I realise that some of us do actually choose to be unproductive – myself being no exception. But I think the difference might be that most of us choose to have few moments of unproductiveness (or indeed may be thrown into unproductiveness by a situation - positive or negative) and many moments of productiveness, for that is the path of progress. Sometimes it is about choice. But also a lot of the time it is about His grace and mercy.
At fellowship the other evening, our leader reminded us that whether 2009 is a year of possibilities for any one of us will depend on the decisions we make or choose to make.
Sobering.
May we all choose paths that will lead to progress and fulfilment during this and coming years, even whilst weathering the storms of the path to the day after tomorrow.
For some odd reason over the past few days my thoughts have been towards a statement our driver in Sierra Leone made some years ago. Bless him. I can’t quite recall what started the conversation – it was probably the usual case of the driver cutting into the private conversation of his passengers and giving his own, though unwarranted, insights to whatever topic we were discussing.
On this particular occasion though, I must say I was engaged by what he had to say. His penny’s worth on this occasion was that one of his neighbours was being irresponsible and above all was seriously committing a sin against God. Why so?
He explained that the man was unemployed, had been so for a long while and was actually not actively looking for work. Yet the man had over ten young children and one of his wives had just given birth yet again. How would he look after the new baby, let alone the baby’s siblings?
Well, you many think that was not a profound statement but in a country and indeed a continent where to have children and plenty of them, regardless of your ability (financial, emotional, physical and otherwise) to look after and take care of them, is regarded as a raison etre of existence, it was a profound statement – particularly coming from a barely literate individual.
I stopped in my tracks
Here was a man, probably not much older than me, in his 30s but looking at least twice that age because of the effects of war and abject poverty, demonstrating agility of thought, mind and purpose. He himself had lost his two children at the hands of RUF rebels during the war. Post-conflict, he adopted a little girl orphaned by the war, and, by the grace of God, birthed his own biological daughter some years after. He considered his two children truly the apple of his eye.
There was not a day that would go by that he would not buy something on the road for his children – be it a loaf of bread, sweets or a toy. Those kids were his delight.
On bricks and mortar and the corrugated iron roofing sheets
I pondered the difference between this barely literate driver and his neighbour whose story he had told me. Why was one so apparently different from the other even though their background in economic status and social class were apparently almost exactly the same? I recalled that the driver had told us that he had not really gone to school. He learnt to drive and had worked as a driver all his life. And work hard and consistently he did. Gathered enough money to ‘hire’ a banged up 1970s Mercedes from someone and used that as his private taxi hire, paying a monthly fee to the owner of the car. From his earnings he was building a home and a roof over the head of his family. Three rooms. He had literally built that home with his own hands and the support of a few others. He took one of my colleagues to see the home once. Bricks and mortar with corrugated iron roofing sheets covering the bricks.
But it was a home. Our driver was also paying for the school fees of his children – at a Government assisted school – and was looking forward to their future, despite the precariousness of the nation state that he resided in.
Are all born equal?
Then I wondered how he could be so responsible and his neighbour apparently not. I wondered if all indeed are born equal. I wondered whether really we could say that his neighbour is just plain lazy and irresponsible, or might it just be the case that life had dealt him a blow and he did not know how to recover? I really wondered.
I must say that a constant thought that passes through my mind when I come into contact with people who are so apparently poor and living below the poverty line is to wonder ‘what if that were me?’ In the same breath I thank God that by His grace and mercy I am who and where I find myself – on the other side. I thank God. Really I do, for when you have travelled around and within countries ravaged by poverty, in fact, extreme poverty, you must but thank God that your path is positively different and more pleasurable. Thanksgiving.
So I thought of this neighbour of our driver. I sympathised with his plight. Perhaps he deserved no sympathy – I don’t know. All I could imagine was that life must have thrown him a thousand and one blows and he just could not rise again.
Request for Lipton Tea
Then I thought of someone else I had had the privilege of meeting in 1999. Another driver. A hotel driver. He was driving me to our office in Accra from the hotel I was residing at and began to ask the usual questions of which country I had come from etc. He then of course proceeded to tell me his own story. Poor, helpless, the lot.
He then asked me to purchase a box of Lipton Tea for him on my next trip to Ghana.
When I arrived at our office I relayed the conversation to one of my colleagues. “Don’t mind him," my colleagues said. “For all you know that man refused to go to school as a child and was rebellious. That’s why he finds himself where he is.” I chose not to believe my colleague. For how could anyone choose to be unproductive?
Decisions and choices we make
But several years later I realise that some of us do actually choose to be unproductive – myself being no exception. But I think the difference might be that most of us choose to have few moments of unproductiveness (or indeed may be thrown into unproductiveness by a situation - positive or negative) and many moments of productiveness, for that is the path of progress. Sometimes it is about choice. But also a lot of the time it is about His grace and mercy.
At fellowship the other evening, our leader reminded us that whether 2009 is a year of possibilities for any one of us will depend on the decisions we make or choose to make.
Sobering.
May we all choose paths that will lead to progress and fulfilment during this and coming years, even whilst weathering the storms of the path to the day after tomorrow.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Coelho and Madiba
It’s always a good idea to have any one of Paulo Coelho’s book within easy reach. It’s an even better idea to start the year reading one of them.
Quite by chance Paulo Coelho’s writings came up in a conversation I was having with an old friend in Dubai via BlackBerry messenger. Wisdom at last – we had learnt to use the free service of instant messaging from our BlackBerry as opposed to making those unfairly priced voice calls.
We marvelled at how our circle of friendships from two decades or so ago, had quite suddenly remerged and we were literally finding each other again. No, not on Facebook, but via the traditional phone call, the unexpected email, the longing and nostalgia to reconnect – “the universe is working its magic,” my friend told me. Hmm, that sounded like a Coelho phrase. So I asked my friend if she was a fan.
Of course, was the reply. We discussed our favourite book from the Coelho collection and my friend recommended The Fifth Mountain and Eleven Minutes as the next Coelho books to read. So, a dash to the bookshop ensued. Well, it was actually a dash to an Accra bookshop because good bookshops are few and far between here, but that is another story for another day.
The Fifth Mountain
So I am reading The Fifth Mountain. As I am reading the Fifth Mountain, I am constantly reminded of Nelson Mandela’s great speech: “Our Deepest Fear.” Why so? Well, here it is – all credits et al, of course, to Madiba:
'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.'
Nelson Mandela
I don’t want to ruin your enjoyment of the book by giving the plot away – I just want to whet your appetite for the core of the book’s message.
Elijah, the prophet. You, the prophet. Me, the prophet
So, the main character, a ‘prophet’ called Elijah, is called by God. God uses him to perform significant miracles and to commune with His people. God also wants to use him to draw His people towards Himself. As a young prophet, Elijah does this with great zeal but as time goes by he realises that this destiny of his also puts him in ever present danger and he wonders if he is a prophet at all, if indeed he has been delirious when he thought he communed with angels, and wonders also what this path, filled with disappointments and challenges, was really worth the trade off he chose, i.e. leaving his work as a successful carpenter to answer to God’s call.
Frustrated and at the end of his tether, Elijah wrestles with God. He pours out his frustrations, reminds God that he has lost love and suffered tremendously as a result of following Him, and although perhaps he admitted that he had sinned one too many times, he challenges God that God Himself has sinned against him by making him go through such difficult times even as a prophet. He would confess and repent of his sin to God, if the Almighty God did the same to him. Quid quo pro. We call it equals and move on
Blasphemy. Abomination.
No. Coelho demonstrates to his readers that it is exactly at this point of wrestling with God that we win. For if you don’t ever question your quest and your faith you in fact claim to be God for it is only Him, the All Knowing, All Seeing God Who knows today, yesterday and tomorrow at the same time can have the confidence and surety that ‘everything is going to be alright’ ALL the time.
Coelho’s call is to yet still pursue dreams and destiny, accepting the joy and the pain of the journey.
Then I thought of Madiba’s speech – our deepest fear is that we are inadequate.
The trials and the tribulations, the seemingly fleeting joy and the seemingly ever present pain and challenges.
Our deepest fear is that we are inadequate.
Better to just give up on your dream. Better to just forget that hope. Better to lose the thought that there is a potentially a glorious destiny for each individual .
Madiba’s cry, and I guess Coelho’s cry, is this:
Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Quite by chance Paulo Coelho’s writings came up in a conversation I was having with an old friend in Dubai via BlackBerry messenger. Wisdom at last – we had learnt to use the free service of instant messaging from our BlackBerry as opposed to making those unfairly priced voice calls.
We marvelled at how our circle of friendships from two decades or so ago, had quite suddenly remerged and we were literally finding each other again. No, not on Facebook, but via the traditional phone call, the unexpected email, the longing and nostalgia to reconnect – “the universe is working its magic,” my friend told me. Hmm, that sounded like a Coelho phrase. So I asked my friend if she was a fan.
Of course, was the reply. We discussed our favourite book from the Coelho collection and my friend recommended The Fifth Mountain and Eleven Minutes as the next Coelho books to read. So, a dash to the bookshop ensued. Well, it was actually a dash to an Accra bookshop because good bookshops are few and far between here, but that is another story for another day.
The Fifth Mountain
So I am reading The Fifth Mountain. As I am reading the Fifth Mountain, I am constantly reminded of Nelson Mandela’s great speech: “Our Deepest Fear.” Why so? Well, here it is – all credits et al, of course, to Madiba:
'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.'
Nelson Mandela
I don’t want to ruin your enjoyment of the book by giving the plot away – I just want to whet your appetite for the core of the book’s message.
Elijah, the prophet. You, the prophet. Me, the prophet
So, the main character, a ‘prophet’ called Elijah, is called by God. God uses him to perform significant miracles and to commune with His people. God also wants to use him to draw His people towards Himself. As a young prophet, Elijah does this with great zeal but as time goes by he realises that this destiny of his also puts him in ever present danger and he wonders if he is a prophet at all, if indeed he has been delirious when he thought he communed with angels, and wonders also what this path, filled with disappointments and challenges, was really worth the trade off he chose, i.e. leaving his work as a successful carpenter to answer to God’s call.
Frustrated and at the end of his tether, Elijah wrestles with God. He pours out his frustrations, reminds God that he has lost love and suffered tremendously as a result of following Him, and although perhaps he admitted that he had sinned one too many times, he challenges God that God Himself has sinned against him by making him go through such difficult times even as a prophet. He would confess and repent of his sin to God, if the Almighty God did the same to him. Quid quo pro. We call it equals and move on
Blasphemy. Abomination.
No. Coelho demonstrates to his readers that it is exactly at this point of wrestling with God that we win. For if you don’t ever question your quest and your faith you in fact claim to be God for it is only Him, the All Knowing, All Seeing God Who knows today, yesterday and tomorrow at the same time can have the confidence and surety that ‘everything is going to be alright’ ALL the time.
Coelho’s call is to yet still pursue dreams and destiny, accepting the joy and the pain of the journey.
Then I thought of Madiba’s speech – our deepest fear is that we are inadequate.
The trials and the tribulations, the seemingly fleeting joy and the seemingly ever present pain and challenges.
Our deepest fear is that we are inadequate.
Better to just give up on your dream. Better to just forget that hope. Better to lose the thought that there is a potentially a glorious destiny for each individual .
Madiba’s cry, and I guess Coelho’s cry, is this:
Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Lessons in living... and loving
This popped up in my inbox this morning - I am blessed!
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.
So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.
So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
2009
2009 – the year of possibilities
Possibilities in amidst the downturn.
Possibilities in amidst the price of oil coming tumbling down
Possibilities in amidst our currency losing value
Possibilities in amidst securities losing value
Possibilities in amidst Obama’s imminent inauguration
Possibilities in amidst Ghana showing the world that an African nation is serious about governance and democracy
Possibilities in amidst billionaires committing suicide and the world crying out for help.
These are interesting times, but remember ye that He that keepeth Israel never slumbers nor sleeps. God is still on the throne.
It was only this morning that someone reminded me that it was during The Great Depression when billionaires then were also committing suicide that some millionaires and billionaires were created – like the man in Idaho who ‘invented’ French fries. Oh yes. We’ll need to pray to The Creator of The Universe to open our eyes to see and take hold of the opportunities around us in this New Year.
Business Unusual
It’s not business as usual in 2009, but business unusual.
That business idea must not wait for another moment in your head. Forget sending out your CV to that corporation because you think they’ll see through your experience that you are the man for the job. Write them a business proposal bespoke to them with your idea and then attach your CV.
That business idea that needs funding and the banks are saying ‘sorry’. Look, forget the fact your securities have lost value. Pick one from your portfolio. Liquidate it and use that as capital. The returns, with careful business planning and management, will probably be greater in that investment as opposed to the stock remaining on the market and losing value.
That piece of land that you want to buy. Yes, right now is the time. Even if you bought it now and left it for one year unturned the investment will yield you bountiful reward in a year’s time.
2009: the year of opportunities.
Like David I am encouraging myself in The Lord even as I write. It’s going to be a great year. Alas, it’s got to be: I’ll be 39 on 09/09/09.
Here's to Him through Whom what is impossible with man becomes possible. Selah.
And to Him again through Whom ALL things are possible. Selah
My city, My Lagos
The Art of Living – Ruka readers, sincere apologies.,
Several people have reminded me that I haven’t web logged since November. Hmm. As if I needed reminding!
Well, the thing is…I’ve been zapped by Lagos living. I am not even sure that the word ‘zap’ is in the world’s lexicon, but zap is the only way that I think could describe how I began to feel physically after nine months of being in Lagos.
The thing is, I have carried on as if I was in Accra, London, or any other ‘normal’ city of this Planet Earth. The timetable and activity list remained much the same: work (including international travel), church stewardship, MBA, gym, family time and me-time. No change management plan, here.
All well and good, but this is Lagos.
The 5am latest rise. The jump into the car to the gym. The sighing on the way to the gym as a 30 min journey becomes a journey of one and half hours. The rush to thump on the treadmill for 40 minutes. The mad rush to get into the showers and freshen up for work in amidst 20/30 odd other women. The determination to get to work on time. And the determination to have 10 minutes of downtime and me-time riding to the office.
Then the office...
The demands of the deliverables. What is outstanding? Hmm. Ok, must resolve that today. The demands of the boss and bosses. The demands of the client. The demands of office business management and adminstration. The demands of….
The ride of the client site. On a good day 40 minutes. On a bad day two hours. Upon arrival at the client site the meeting that was scheduled for 2pm has now been cancelled. No one thought to call to notify. I drive back to base – praying that there won’t be traffic on the way.
Today’s a great day and there’s no traffic. Back at base. I remember that I haven’t eaten breakfast, let alone lunch. I send the driver out – literally down the road – 10 minutes at most – to buy lunch. He gets caught up in traffic. He returns at 4pm. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at one meal.
I continue work. At 7.30pm I figure I should probably go home now. Traffic would have died down. It has – somewhat. Catch up with emails in the car. Make a few calls to friends. Read a bit in the car. I get home at 9.25pm.
There’s a power outage. There’s no fuel for the generator. Driver has to go and buy fuel. I wait for 30 minutes in candlelight (hmm, sounds romantic, no? Not when you are in your suit, sweating. Sorry, perspiring).
Driver returns. Generator fuelled and there’s power. I undress and put on my slacks and the TV. Half an hour of peace. Call my Mum (who thinks, by the way, that I am still in Accra and never came to Lagos because she probably saw more of me per annum whilst I was in Accra).
Laptop comes out. Reading for MBA comes out. Work reading comes out. The generator is pounding in my head. Never mind, this is Lagos. Grin and bear it.
It is a quarter past midnight. I must sleep. The generator is pounding in my head
Then church…
The weekly reporting. The membership database management. The people management. The meetings.
Then the MBA
“Ruka, is there anything I can help you with? You haven’t logged on for a couple of weeks now.” Need I say more. I am reading, for goodness sakes! Reading to catch up on what I am supposed to be doing so that when I do log on I can sound somehow comprehensible....!
Dearly beloved readers: do you empathise a bit?
Pretty please, do. Handsome please, do!
Here’s to the New Year 2009! A year of possibilities and great, uncommon testimonies!
Several people have reminded me that I haven’t web logged since November. Hmm. As if I needed reminding!
Well, the thing is…I’ve been zapped by Lagos living. I am not even sure that the word ‘zap’ is in the world’s lexicon, but zap is the only way that I think could describe how I began to feel physically after nine months of being in Lagos.
The thing is, I have carried on as if I was in Accra, London, or any other ‘normal’ city of this Planet Earth. The timetable and activity list remained much the same: work (including international travel), church stewardship, MBA, gym, family time and me-time. No change management plan, here.
All well and good, but this is Lagos.
The 5am latest rise. The jump into the car to the gym. The sighing on the way to the gym as a 30 min journey becomes a journey of one and half hours. The rush to thump on the treadmill for 40 minutes. The mad rush to get into the showers and freshen up for work in amidst 20/30 odd other women. The determination to get to work on time. And the determination to have 10 minutes of downtime and me-time riding to the office.
Then the office...
The demands of the deliverables. What is outstanding? Hmm. Ok, must resolve that today. The demands of the boss and bosses. The demands of the client. The demands of office business management and adminstration. The demands of….
The ride of the client site. On a good day 40 minutes. On a bad day two hours. Upon arrival at the client site the meeting that was scheduled for 2pm has now been cancelled. No one thought to call to notify. I drive back to base – praying that there won’t be traffic on the way.
Today’s a great day and there’s no traffic. Back at base. I remember that I haven’t eaten breakfast, let alone lunch. I send the driver out – literally down the road – 10 minutes at most – to buy lunch. He gets caught up in traffic. He returns at 4pm. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at one meal.
I continue work. At 7.30pm I figure I should probably go home now. Traffic would have died down. It has – somewhat. Catch up with emails in the car. Make a few calls to friends. Read a bit in the car. I get home at 9.25pm.
There’s a power outage. There’s no fuel for the generator. Driver has to go and buy fuel. I wait for 30 minutes in candlelight (hmm, sounds romantic, no? Not when you are in your suit, sweating. Sorry, perspiring).
Driver returns. Generator fuelled and there’s power. I undress and put on my slacks and the TV. Half an hour of peace. Call my Mum (who thinks, by the way, that I am still in Accra and never came to Lagos because she probably saw more of me per annum whilst I was in Accra).
Laptop comes out. Reading for MBA comes out. Work reading comes out. The generator is pounding in my head. Never mind, this is Lagos. Grin and bear it.
It is a quarter past midnight. I must sleep. The generator is pounding in my head
Then church…
The weekly reporting. The membership database management. The people management. The meetings.
Then the MBA
“Ruka, is there anything I can help you with? You haven’t logged on for a couple of weeks now.” Need I say more. I am reading, for goodness sakes! Reading to catch up on what I am supposed to be doing so that when I do log on I can sound somehow comprehensible....!
Dearly beloved readers: do you empathise a bit?
Pretty please, do. Handsome please, do!
Here’s to the New Year 2009! A year of possibilities and great, uncommon testimonies!
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