A Good Neighbour

A few minutes ago, I heard a knock on my door. I hurried downstairs to see who it was. It must be the pest control people that I learnt will be coming every second Monday and Tuesday of the month, I thought in my head. On opening the door, I saw a middle-aged man with a big shoulder bag, smiling and pointing his finger. I still thought he came for pest control until he spoke up, his finger towards my door.

"Your key."

My gaze shifted immediately to my door and there was my key, in the lock. My right palm flew to my mouth as I exclaimed, "Jesus! Oh my God!"

I was so grateful and thanked him profusely. He told me he always tries to look out for other people and went away smiling.

And to think the key slept there in the lock all night and till this afternoon when that good neighbour noticed it. I'm thankful no evil person saw it.

MYLES MUNROE

"Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave"--Ray Boltz

Adieu Myles and Ruth Munroe.

I was shocked to the bones when I saw a friend's update on my Facebook homepage a few minutes ago stating Myles and Ruth Munroe's death. I later learnt their daughter was in the aircraft too.

The first time I encountered Myles Munroe was in 2006 as an undergraduate who was newly elected as an executive member in her fellowship on campus. It was basically my first experience of serious leadership. I read a psychological book on leadership and the ideas I got from there were not helpful at all in leading my unit members. I was frustrated.

Then, there was this long strike and I went home. I explained my frustrations to my sister and she gave me Myles' book, Becoming a Leader,to read. I prayerfully digested the book and set principles for myself. By the time the strike ended and I got back to school, I was a different unit coordinator. My members knew I was never going to take a no for answer anymore.

Myles Munroe taught me that leadership in the house of God is theocracy and not democracy. It now depends on the leader to carry his/her members along and ensure everything done is according to the dictates of God. Since then I had been reading his books and had learnt much more. He taught me, that as a multi-talented person, I can make the full use of each of my gifts and excel at them. He taught me that you could be highly prosperous and still love and fear God with all your heart. It always awed me how he got that wisdom and knowledge for almost all areas of life.

I had hoped I would meet him before I get home, but God understands. Your legacies speak on. I can't ever forget you. No one who had read you, listened to you, or meet you in person would ever do.

A TALE OF MY PHONES

I got my first phone in 2005 from my mum. It was an LG flip phone. I loved it so much that I was wearing it around on my neck everywhere. It wasn’t a camera phone, but it had a lot of effizies (An English word invented in Nigeria meaning ‘special effects’). You could set it such that everytime you flipped it open you heard some beautiful sound. I used it for two or three years after which it started to misbehave. So my mum got a Nokia torch phone for me instead and I gave the old LG phone to my younger brother. In my house, we have a way of pampering phones, that LG phone was wearing a jacket almost all the time it was with me and by the time I had to let it go, it was still looking new except for its issues.

My second phone—the torch phone—though without special effects, was a blessing too and I pampered it also. It did serve me well until I went to the NYSC orientation camp in Rivers State. One day, I went out of my dormitory and I left it on the bed. It was gone by the time I came back. No one owned up to taking it. I suspected two of the ladies on nearby bunks, although we were all looking for the phone together. It was painful as I had many precious contacts on it, some of which I could never get again. I thought I would find the phone before the end of the camp, but the thief’s heart was hardened, she refused to release it.

At the end of the orientation camp, we all dispersed to our different places of primary assignment, mine was in the state capital. We had to go to the NYSC office in our local government areas as fresh otondos after camp. One of the first few days after camp, on my way to my local NYSC office, I saw one of my bunk neighbours on camp. We were glad to see again and we exchanged pleasantries. It was a tough day at the office as there were a lot of people, so it was tiring. Anyway, I finished what I went for and returned home. At home, I had to rummage my bag in search for something when my hand touched a flat object. I brought it out and it was my Glo SIM card, the one that was in the stolen phone. Was I dreaming? How did the SIM card enter into a bag I didn’t take with me to the orientation camp? I arrived at the NCCF family house a night before I went to the orientation camp, so I took with me to the camp only what I would need. Definitely, the thief saw me in town that day and stylishly dropped the SIM card in my bag. So who was the thief? Then, I remembered the lady I met in the bus (she was my chief suspect when the phone was stolen).

All this while, I was still phoneless. One evening, a brother gave me an old Nokia camera phone at the family house. He told me I could use it till I could get another phone. I was very grateful. Even though the phone was really old and had some issues, it was an answer to my prayer. Sometimes later, another person gave me his old Motorola phone, making two. The second phone too had a few hiccups, but I could use it. Later, I was able to save three thousand five hundred naira (I served when corpers were earning nine thousand seven hundred and seventy five naira) and I gave it to three of my exco brothers who were going to the Computer Village beside Oil Mill in Port Harcourt to get a good phone for me. (I was a member of NCCF’s state executive council and we refer to ourselves as brothers and sisters, hence the usage of ‘my brothers’). I reasoned they would be able to buy better phones since they were guys. These three young men came back with a nice looking phone, a Sony Ericson camera phone. I was glad. But my gladness was short-lived because after three days, the phone started to act funny. Afterwards, one of my exco sisters gave me another phone, that one too was not wholesome. I had four phones in all, but all of them were not equal to one.  Sometimes I had to hit them hard to get what I wanted from them.

We eventually passed out as corpers and God gave me a job barely after two months of passing out. After a while, I bought a blue Nokia camera phone, Express Music. I loved this phone and I was satisfied with it. After using it for a while, friends started pressing me to get a blackberry phone, but I wouldn’t.  Blackberry was in vogue then and it was like a class thing. I hated that, and by the way, my Express Music was giving me everything I wanted. I remember telling a friend then I would never buy a blackberry if I didn’t see the need for it. In November 2011, pickpockets picked the phone from my backpack in Ibadan. I bought another Express Music, same colour.

The following year on the rig, I mistakenly left my precious phone in my coverall and sent it to the laundry. I rushed down to the laundry room immediately I realised this. Gosh! The coverall was already in the machine. The laundry man pulled it out and dug out my phone from one of its pocket and he advised I dismember it and sun-dry the components. I did that. I placed the components on one of the sills of my work cabin. There was a puddle a few inches away on the floor, but it was safe on the metallic sill. I went for lunch and I returned to a blank sill. My colleagues didn’t pack it for me. I was afraid it was wind-blown into the sea. A few days after, one of my colleagues heard an announcement made at the safety meeting he attended about a phone found in a puddle. He made enquiries for me about who it was with. Unfortunately, the person was on his time off. So I had to wait till the person was back on the rig. When he returned, I was back in town, so my Columbian colleague collected it for me, hoping to drop it at our base in Port Harcourt before he would travel to Columbia for his time-off. He forgot to drop the phone. The phone went to Columbia, came back after a month and then I got my phone.

I had that phone till I changed my mind about blackberries last year. I now have three phones and each is equal to one phone in its own right. Lest I forget, two of them are wearing armours and the one lacking looks well kept.

PASTOR TAIWO IREDELE ODUBIYI

I love this woman of God! I first met her in 2002 in my pre-degree days. My friend Oluwatoyin was reading 'Love Fever', one of her books, which she got from someone, and she lent it to me to read. I enjoyed the book and learnt a lot from it. I remember Toyin and I making commentaries on the book, on how Tosin was stubborn and how her husband did not help matters either because he was insensitive. To me, it was unforgivable that Ladi forgot Tosin's birthday. We oohed and aahed about how Tosin narrowly escaped being dashed HIV by Joe and were glad everything ended well after the turbulence.

Anyway, that was the first book that taught me that it is not only men that have fall into extra-marital affairs, women do too. Now I am talking about a Christian marriage that has its foundation on Christ Jesus. I have understood from books and shared experiences that many genuine children of God who fall into adultery in marriages do not set  out to cheat on their darling spouses, it always start with innocent gestures.... So, I learnt not only to pray ahead against strange women in my marriage but also against strange men....

I have read several of Pastor Taiwo's books since then and I was never disappointed. She is a Christian relationship/marriage minister and her books are mostly romance fictions. They are stories that feature different scenerios in relationships--especially courtships and marriages. Those stories teach you all you need to know about godly relationships, how you behave in courtships and marriages, what to do when you find yourself in a particular shoe. They are excellently written in good and simple English and apart from learning godly principles from them, they are enjoyable stories as well.

I recommend Pastor Iredele's books, you won't regret reading anyone of them. God bless her more.

TINY ME

“You’re so tiny!”

I have heard those words in different forms and paraphrases all my life. As a kid, I used to protest vehemently, telling whoever said them I was not that little and that (s)he was just a few inches taller than me. I remember a classmate in JSS3 (Junior Secondary School Three), she would look at me, mischief lacing her eyes and would exclaim, “Ayo, you should be in Primary Two” followed with a peal of naughty laughter. I would flick my fingers and forbid it. Ayobola!

This informed why when I went for my medicals in my pre-degree days and I stepped on the balance the doctor was surprised. He said, “Is this your weight?! You should be eating ten times a day!”

A lot of times I have had to trim clothes to my size (to be fair, I still get my size in the market, just that I will have to walk around a lot to get it) and I would always pout and ask why some designers do not consider people like me when they are designing their products. Thank God for my younger sister who learnt to sew, she had made a lot of fitting wears for me. I think that’s actually the best for me, having someone to design my wears for me. I still shop for clothes and every time I see a wee size that I love, I grab it with immediate alacrity.

And I don’t think my size is because I don’t eat. I will not say I eat a lot, but my appetites are better now compared to the way they were earlier this year and a few years back.  I used to eat a lot on campus and it never showed. My friend, Tope, would tease me and ask if the food was going to my head. Someone even suggested deworming. (I do not regularly deworm. The last time I actively dewormed was before mom died. But I do not have worms, I know.) So, I heeded the advice and used the drugs, well, there were no worms. I guess that’s just me, delicate and dainty.

When I was at the NYSC orientation camp, people would ask if the hairstyle I had on was all my hair—I had single twists on. I would reply yes and they would say, “It’s what you should use to add weight that your hair is using.”

However, I have noticed a trend in my life. I have always found myself doing/handling things ‘bigger’ and ‘stronger’ than me. I studied geology, a course ‘stronger’ than my frame. I was graphics coordinator in my fellowship back on campus. Being a graphics coordinator in my fellowship was not beans, it was very tasking and considering the fact that I am small, it appeared ‘bigger’ than me. As a Jesus Corper, I was State Chief Usher/Landlady. That was another tasking assignment. And eventually I became a rig worker. It is quite unusual to find a person of my size on the rig. Some guys had asked me before if my mama and papa knew if I was working on the rig. Poor guys, my size fooled them. There was a time on a rig when the company man remarked on seeing me and another female colleague that he wasn’t running a kindergarten on the rig (that was my fault though).
 
Sometimes last year at training, I was chatting with my colleagues and I mentioned something about when I was small. One of them looked at me, amused, and said, “You’re still small!” =D . Two hitches away while at the heliport, I already had my weight taken, but I was called back again after a while to confirm my weight which was 90 pounds then. And this last hitch, I was weighing 92. The woman that took my weight lowered her voice in a whisper and told me she weighed 92 pounds twenty years ago when she got married. She was trying to get back to that size, she said, as she had lost about 90 pounds (if I remember correctly).

But this size was instrumental in getting me my job. I went to gatecrash with some other brethren from the NCCF family house and it was my size that made the security guard who allowed me in to my company base to write the test notice me. Sometimes last year though, I was supposed to work in Canada for six months on a short term assignment, but the assignment ended up being a vacation of one month and five days. Why? Because in Canada, they fly on choppers with flight suits and not life jackets, but there was no flight jacket small enough for me and the process of getting a customized one would take more than six months. Anyway, I never saw my weight/size as a disadvantage still, even though it wasn’t easy on me at that time. I will always know that my size is not a disadvantage and that God uses the weak things of this world to shame the strong.

I am adding little by little, but I must not over-add. I am not tall, so I do not want to become a bottle. I have a target weight which I told God I don’t want to exceed, except if I get to that point and I realize I could do with a few more pounds. I still want to be able to jump and skip around, I love doing those.  I am Ayobami Temitope with a high metabolism rate and I love being me. I am beautiful, delicately and intricately made by the Greatest Artist.

“For You created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-15

PROPHECIES

In December 2010, I was at a weeklong convention with a dear friend. We were divided into groups for a specific session of the convention and my friend and I joined the singles’ group. During one of our singles’ group meetings, the minister asked us to write down by faith our wedding dates on a sheet of paper each. He stated that he understood some people did that before but they shouldn’t give up, they should write it again. So, I wrote and my friend wrote. If I can remember very well, I filled in July 2011. I did this because I frown at short courtships, for me a courtship should not be less than six months at least. I met some other ladies there and they wrote down their wedding dates too. We were all excited because we were cocksure 2011 was our year, we knew the Lord would honour our faith. None of us was engaged then, but we were sure the Lord would settle us somehow.
Fast forward to now, I am not yet married neither is my friend. I lost contact with the other ladies we were together at the camp except for one and she got married in 2012 or sometimes last year. What am I driving at? It is the fact that a prophecy spoken by a servant of God at a particular point in time is not meant for everybody under him at that time. It might be for just one person. Shout and jump all you can, if it is not for you, it is not for you. I’m sure that wedding-date-writing exercise was meant for some people that day and they would have been married on the exact dates they specified in their papers. Does that mean my friend and I did not have enough faith? Yes, we did have faith; we didn’t doubt that we would be married in 2011. I’m certain it wasn’t just our time (as much as we didn’t want to see it that way).

Another thing I’ve learnt is that when you log on to a particular prophecy, if you are not careful, you might get a fake fulfilment before the real fulfilment comes. (Note that I do not claim all prophecies. If a prophecy doesn’t correlate with the soundness of the Scriptures, I ignore it and there are some prophecies I know are not for me.) I claimed a prophecy under a programme during my last few days on campus. It was about getting a marriage proposal before the month ended. I claimed it with so much faith and a few days later I had a very STUPID proposal from an acquaintance I was trying to lead to the Lord then. I would have fallen into the trap of a wrong relationship if I didn’t have the understanding that there are some men you don’t even pray about when it comes to marriage. For someone else, it would have been the ‘fulfilment’ of the prophecy, for me it was a manipulation from the pit of hell.

I never doubted the authenticity of those ministers because I understand that God has a time for everybody and prophecies spoken forth during a service or programme are not for everybody.  I was under another programme just after NYSC and there was a prophecy that someone would get a turnaround before the end of the first quarter of that year. I claimed that prophecy with the same enthusiastic faith I’d always used to claim prophecies. I finished my national service in February that year and I got a cream job before the end of March. But there were other people under the programme that evening that didn’t experience a ‘spectacular’ turnaround that season. God is still God and is yet for them. We only have to understand that no matter how many prophecies we key in to, God will do what He will do when it is beautiful in His eyes.

So, fellow yoke-bearers, I want to encourage you with the same encouragement I have been encouraged with. When you get a seeming answer to a prophecy you are holding on to, test it with the word of God and pray about it. Do not just rush for it as a fulfilment to the prophecy, it might not be. Of course, you have to pray prophecies forth into physical manifestation, but if after you have done all it doesn’t come at the expected time, hold on for His time. Rest on the Lord and trust Him. His plans and purposes will be realised in your life.

You should also know the Lord for yourself, as such, you can discern prophecies that are for you or not. Why, because prophecies are meant to confirm what you have received from the Lord yourself. And do not forget that all His beautiful promises are hinged on only one condition—pleasing Him. Is your life pleasing to Him? Are you sure He is pleased with you? I am writing to fellow yoke-bearers, to fellow little christs, to fellow Christians. Know that pleasing Him is not by power, He works in you to will and to do according to His good purpose. Tell Him to help you live a life that gives Him smiles. MARANATHA!

PS: You can join us to bear the yoke too. Sign up today through our Lord Jesus Christ. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:28). Jesus loves you, He came to save you from your sins, to give you eternal life (salvation from eternal damnation) and to help you live an abundant life through thick and thin while on earth.

DADDY

This had been in my head since I awoke, but I had a busy day, so I couldn’t type it. By the way, it’s still Fathers’ Day here, so it’s not too late.
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When I was a five-year-old in Primary One, I didn’t know how to read properly. My father let me play during that session. But the long vacation between Primary 1 and Primary 2, he really coached me in those few months so that I learnt to read well both in English and Yoruba before resuming into Primary Two. While in Primary One, my classmates used to call me ‘olodo’ (‘olodo’ means a dullard), but in Primary 2, I became their boss in academics and they all curried my favour. I remember telling some of them when they would beg me for answers to some questions, “You people are now coming to me abi, sebi you tagged me ‘olodo’ in Primary 1?”

That was my dad’s efforts in manifestation. My dad was our (my siblings and I) first teacher. You dared not go to play when you were yet to finish the assignment he gave you. Who born monkey? He really drilled us. He taught my us to read both in English and Yoruba. He ensured we treated every exercise in all the Arithmetics, Mathematics and English textbooks we had at home. He monitored us through reading and answering questions in ‘First Aid In English’ and ‘Way To Success’ to solving problems in ‘Lacombe’. It wasn’t easy on us those days because we thought he was too harsh (though he was really too harsh at times). He made sure we read every night before we went to sleep. You couldn’t go to bed until nine, at least.

It always amuses me how some children these days take as final what their aunties or uncles (teacher) say, even when those teachers are wrong and their parents are correcting them. For me, it was the opposite. My dad always checked our notes everyday we returned from school.

One day in Primary 3, I missed some answers in an exercise. But there was a mistake in the correction my teacher put up on board, I didn’t know and copied it like that. My dad who always checked our notes after school saw the mistake and asked me to correct it. He was sure my teacher wasn’t aware of it. My mum saw the error too and confirmed it. The next day my teacher was not happy when she checked my note and she saw the alteration I made. I tried to explain to her that there was a mistake and my dad discovered it at home and asked me to correct it. She wouldn’t understand and reported me to my mum, who was a teacher in the same school. My mum tried to explain to her too. Well, whether she was satisfied or not, I knew my dad was right, and that she was wrong.

Another case was when my Primary Five class teacher marked a mathematical calculation wrong for me because I didn’t use the method she taught others during her extra-mural classes. (My dad thought it unreasonable for us to wait for lessons after school hours, so I wasn’t part of those classes. In actual fact, she didn’t teach us that topic in class, but I still answered the question and got the answer correctly because I was taught at home ahead of time by my father.) I went to show her my calculations in tears how I arrived at my answer imploring her to check my calculations, but she insisted I didn’t use the right formula. It hurt, but I let it go. I knew I was right, and that she was wrong.

EIGHTEEN AND TWENTY-THREE

I got asked by someone at work today, "How old are you, 21?"
I looked at him, laughing with my eyes and heart, and replied, "I think I'm twelve years old".
"21?" He repeated and I gave him the same answer.
Then he said, "No, 12, no, maybe 18." I chuckled and told him I'm much older than that.
So he made another guess. "23, you must be 23."
"Oh, wow, so I look 18 and 23?" He said yes and asked if I'm married to which I answered no. I let him know I am much older than 23, but he wouldn't believe.
Well, I know, I actually look 18 and 23. =D =D =D

I TESTIFY

I took ill early this year before my birthday and I was really ill. It was the second time in a row as I was sick in November also. I went to the clinic to see a doctor and I had two injections shot into my bom-bom as the first dose of six. I was loaded with a barrage of drugs too. I got back home really weak and dizzy. I crashed on the bed but could hardly sleep. I was too weak. and alone at home because my sister and brother went to church. When I awoke from my hiccupy sleep, I knew I had lost some weight (within few hours) from the feel of the gown I was wearing (lepa to tun n lose weight!). My sister confirmed it when she returned from church, she said, "O ti ru o!" ("You've grown lean o!").

I needed to use the convenience, so I attempted to rise from bed to go. It was very difficult. I had to hold the walls for support. I managed myself to the door and held it open. At that point, I lost it. My eyes went blank and I couldn't see anything. I was sore afraid, I had never had such an experience in my life. My legs felt so weak and my body so light. But for the door knob which I was holding, I would have landed on the floor and fainted. I started confessing the Word and called out for my sister, who had gone earlier to get some water for me from the backyard. She rushed back in fear and led me to sit on the chair. My eyes were still blank. I kept on confessing the Word. Then, gradually, I came around and could finally see my surrounding. It was then I realized I was sitting on the chair close to the door. I literally lost consciousness. That night when I eventually went to the toilet, while I was there with my eyes closed, I saw two spirits. They were telling me my body was their house, but I told them it was a lie that it is Jesus' house because He has said that He stands at the door and if anyone will open the door, He will come in with His Father and with the Holy Spirit and they will live inside that person and I did that already.

Fast forward to the day I was going back to Port Harcourt from Lagos and we were praising God, my sister blessed God for my healing when I was sick. She recalled how, when she rushed in that night when I almost fainted, she saw a look in my eyes that reminded her of when our mum was dying. She confessed she was very scared to find me that way.

I look back and I'm grateful to the Lord my Healer, the One who keeps my soul from death. I will never forget His benefits. I remember them today and I testify. Praise the Lord!

3AM THIS MORNING

I was to be picked for work at 3 this morning (because the journey to the point of departure is 2 hours and check-in is at 5). Usually, visitors have to call a number at the gate which will ring in the apartment of whoever they come for. The host will then respond and open the gate. But my hostess was asleep when the driver approached the gate. She, the chauffeur, told me she called and called an...d she got no response. Fortunately, someone was coming out of the gate and she used that opportunity to come in.

She knocked at our door about 3:10. I already had some worries in my head. "Did the transport company forget to send a driver, but it couldn't be because the booking was confirmed." Well, the van came at last and upon hearing the account of how she made her way in, my heart exclaimed some praises to the Lord.

The Lord well knew that the lady of the house would be fast asleep when the driver would come and he organized for a car to be coming out at that same time so that the van that came for me could enter. So while I was worrying, He already had it all figured out. The Lord is so thoughtful and caring. Can I ever love Him enough for His ever proactive love for me?

HE SEES ME

Thirteen days ago, I was at a park in Abeokuta, just arriving from Lagos. On alighting from the bus, I discovered that my right sandal was almost pulled off at the big toe grip point. So I started scanning around the park for a shoemaker but didn't see any neither was there any one selling flip-flops in view. I continued dragging it along. As I approached the roadside where I'd cross to the other side, the shoe finally pulled. I started looking around again for a shoemaker.

Just as the shoe pulled and I was trying to think of what to do, I heard a guy in a shed beside me calling out to me. I ignored the call because I was not sure it was meant for me. He kept calling and added "Shoemaker is here." Good gracious, my shoe pulled just at the front of a shoemaker and I didn't know!" I did see there were some men standing there from the corner of my eyes, but I didn't bother to check them out. I knew God was telling me something. I was going through a difficult time and I needed some reassurance from the Lord of His care for me. Indeed He is the Living One Who Sees Me. Lahairoi!

HE KNOWS MY NAME

And He did it again! I needed to get to the main road from an area where it is not easy to get public transport. I saw some public buses, but it was as if they were not ready to pick anyone on the road. I did not want to stay there for too long, so I prayed that the Lord would get me out of the place somehow. And He did. Few minutes after narrowly missing a bus that dropped some passengers across from where I was standing, a chauffeured jeep truck pulled up beside me and the woman at the back seat asked me to hop in. She was coming from the same place I came out from and was heading in my direction. I thought to myself:

"Lord,
You do really know my name,
You hear me when I call
And before the world began,
My life was in Your hand."