DECEMBER 31ST, 2012

So, I am a grey-haired 27 year old Nigerian millionaire who runs a multi-million naira organization that rose through the ranks without the slightest inkling of my twisted imagination that in one year, I would be paying taxes running into seven figures, that my name would be on ad materials of every success and motivation seminar for young folks, and that I could afford to spend a weekend at the Waldorf Astoria... that’s where I write this from!

My success story is not limited to business only, in the last three months I have pulled 2 ladies out of wheel chairs (yeah, they walked instantly) ... it’s been a long time coming... some guy that read my blog post on divine health had been miraculously healed of cancer... I have experienced the same rapture that Paul felt whenever he performed some miracle... Though I think there is a slight difference here; he never had the crazy publicity that I have...

I don’t even know what to call myself anymore, Google defines me in so many terms that it’s hard to figure if I am an Entrepreneur, Film-maker, Poet, Brand architect, Author, Life-coach... yeah! Almost forgot the “Minister of God” part... why does that always come last with these celebrity ministers? Whoa! I mos def outran all the expectation of family and friends in one year! Talk about the God who does “far, above and beyond what we could ever imagine, hope for, ask for, and dream of”

My fiancée’s picture, the fairest amongst them all, sticks out of the P.S wallet that has my signature embroidered on it... she’s been the best HELP MEET in my steady incline... showing strength when my weaknesses surfaced while maintaining the poise of an emerging empire’s first lady... what can I say? I have found favour and I am blessed!

I scream “GOD IS GOOD” hoping the crème Astoria staff wouldn’t get sacred that they were harbouring a psychopath in the penthouse; the walls resonate with “ALL THE TIME”... Heaven must be pleased with my accomplishments... I mean it should please God that I have shined all through 2012... “Am I not the light of the world?”

Hmmm...

A glitch in my smooth string of feats though... I have felt utterly empty throughout 2012...

Like... “In the beginning, the earth was without form and void” sort of emptiness... nothing within... whoooooossh... How is this possible? I should be the happiest Nigerian alive, considering how the year began with the Haramic bombings and the non-subsidised public manipulation by the *&^%$£”! we have for leaders... but the feats where like surface tension over water... was I in sync with God? Well, if I wasn’t, the miracles would not have been possible... so what was not right?

Gadgets have never been my freak zone, so the iPhone 5 and HTC Zing lying on the bed were not a call for vanity... both buzzed at the same time, no ring tones, why bug neighbours with the music they probably don’t want to hear... the Nigerian Youth Ambassador to the UN was on the HTC and Fortunes Magazine was on the iPhone... which comes first?

Room service decides with Don Moen’s “I just want to be where you are” on her lips... as the lady rolls her cart out of the bathroom with so much peace and joy exuding from her demeanour, passing me, she begins to hum the tune... instantly, I find myself lying on a faded brown rug, in room 302, Eni Njoku Hall, University of Lagos... crying rapturous tears of joy as I discover the heart of my Father... Lying at His feet, not requesting anything, just loving on Him... Singing the same song... that was five years ago!

What happened to that boy? When did I become some taken with achievements that I forgot about the most important of all? When did I lose touch with the TRUTH about Christianity? The TRUTH that the heart of God surpasses his hand?

I switch of both phones and crash on the soft Persian rug at the foot of the bed wishing it was dirt on the street so I could really get soaked in the truth about my vanity... I had pursued so much of fame and wealth in the name of being a Christian that has tapped into Heaven’s beauty... perverting God’s word to suit my innate narcissism... secretly desiring my glory in the name of shining for God’s glory...

When was the last time I told someone sincerely “GOD LOVES YOU”? When was the last time I truly gave? Don’t get me wrong, I have been benevolent all through 2012, visiting orphanages and stuff; but all of that was so that I could tell folks that “I GIVE”... publicity stunt... when was the last time I heard from GOD? When was the last time GOD spoke through me to someone...? not some memorized/rehearsed message!

When was the last time GOD cuddled me as a Father and told me “Son, I LOVE YOU”? WHEN? Was everything I even achieved in 2012 part of God’s plan for me? Even though He said His hand was on my organization in the beginning of the year, I never bothered to constantly consult him per season as to how He wanted me to steer the organization. It’s 31st December, 2012 and I just realized I was totally out of the plan for 2012...

...Hope you have a clear picture of what you might get when you make plans to achieve great things in 2012 without properly seeking the father’s heart... “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God...” isn’t just a onetime act... it’s a class you never want to graduate from...

So, I am a 26-year-old dark haired Nigerian believer running a potential billion dollar organization and its still January 2012... I will get to December without shifting gaze from the Author, Leader, Composer and Completion of my faith... I will do great exploits in this 2012, but every single act will be led by the Holy Spirit... I will always be where My Father is.... dwelling daily in His presence and seeking only His glory!

And the only result I hope you get when you Google my name is “SON of THE MOST HIGH GOD”

CHRIST LOVE

The Knowledge – Eph.III.XIX

Coming into practical experiential knowledge of the love of Christ, a knowledge that defies logic and science, a knowledge too slippery and deep for the carnal mind that is fraught with materialism to grasp... it is this knowledge that opens you up to be flooded with all the fullness of God... it is this knowledge that sets you up to be filled with the richest measure of the divine presence... imagine your system being ripped apart (which might be an impossibility should you be filled with GOD Himself) and instead of blood flowing out, you find the God essence gushing out to inundate the ambience...

What can you lack with this knowledge..? Nothing... but without this knowledge, no matter what you have...you still feel empty (because you are)...

Little wonder Hos_4:6 spites that "His people, His creation, His 'minis', perish for lack of this knowledge and gross rejection of this same knowledge... we were made to be filled with this knowledge, and unless you have it... you are void... merely grappling with the lower level of science and philosophy and logic to fill what was created by the patent owner of science and logic...

Philosophy without this knowledge is a mere waste of brilliance and time... how on earth does one philosophize the existence of language, when you can communicate without words? How does philosophy capture the joy in the eyes of an infant or the pain in the heart of a bereaved family? The knowledge of the love of Christ goes beyond philosophy; my words are highly inefficient to capture the magnitude of its scope...

In Knowing the love of Christ, you are thrown into a vortex of beauty... the beauty of Him who knows beyond your limited imagination to make you sleep when you do, make you breathe when you do, to connects your words to your thoughts and your thoughts to your emotions, then your emotions to your well being... The love of Christ helps you understand that there is one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we could ask or think...infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, visions, dreams...

In knowing the love of Christ, every fear is jettisoned... oil stains in the face of acid... because you would know that, He that would not hold anything back just to get you back as a buddy, a son, has given royal guards over you... touch the president and you wreck havoc... touch A Son of the Most High God and you have a tornado & hurricane combined...

Whoa... The Knowledge of the love of Christ... who can attain?

Seest thou a man that has attained it? Then you have seen a god!

NO ROOM

I dare to defy time even as I construct virtual space; I dare to jump into this tortuous vortex of cerebral travel to picture Joseph and Mary just behind the Census lines; I dare to stand besides Mary as the baby Jesus kicks in the womb, expressly delivering, like a FedEx delivery guy, the initial pangs of birth; Yes I dare to punch the receptionists at inns for saying “we are fully booked”... but of course you can’t mess with the plans of the MOST HIGH!

Like you would ask if you happened to get prior info that, the child that Mary bore was God himself made flesh... “Why are all the rooms in all the inns booked?” but I am only a man trying to understand within my limited mind, the unlimited wisdom of God, so I keep my cool expecting a miracle from God, whom I believe is still in the business of dead-raising manifestations, talk less of sorting out accommodation for Himself...

So, from 5 stars we start checking out 4 stars without any trace of favour in the 3 stars, we simply ignore the remaining stars (if 5 stars were fully booked, you do the maths)... Since we knew no members of Joseph’s bloodline, we decide to take a breather at a stable down Palm Avenue as Mary’s teenage waist was hurting from the long travel to Bethlehem and light showers were dancing down from the heavens...

The stench of stale sheep dung and horse dank sweat hit my nose as I walked down the stable corridor looking for a work bench on which she could sit, Joseph scanned round the stink-hall-of-fame without disgust (quite impressive considering His knack for neatness), searching for a spot to start a little fire to keep away the cold from the draught that was picking up pace... I find nothing other than an old manger lit by the flickering rays of smelted oil lamp, typical with the age...

I beckoned on Joseph to help her get to the end of the corridor where the feeding trough lay... oddest occurrence being that there was nobody to tend the stable, not even a receptionist (snickers)... so we (Joseph and I) had to run around the stable to get everything we wanted – by now, our olfactory lobes had accommodated the high class stink... Funny how baby Jesus got justifiably violent immediately Mary sat on the Manger...

I left Joseph with his “baby-mama” in search of a local nurse only to find most of the houses empty... I look up and scream “IS HE REALLY YOUR SON?” no response... Cos God doesn’t talk based on our terms, which would mean we are His GOD! Then I hear a distant noise and see a large fire glazing the night sky... it hits me... THE BETHLEHEM CARNIVAL (the hottest annual event this side of the east)... little wonder all hotels were booked and nurses were MIA (missing in action)...

So I run back to the manger to find Mary screaming her head off while a frazzled Joseph ran around not really sure of what he was doing.... medical instincts, from hanging with mum at the hospital as a kid, kicked in... Of course not all facilities were available in a stable, but a creative always makes do with the available... bucket (check)... fodder (check)... water (check)...knife (check)... willpower (check)...and the rest is what you were taught in Sunday school...

In five minutes the whole affair is over...

Baby Jesus glows as he’s cleaned up by Joseph even as the mother’s eyes glisten with joyful tears... in no time she’s all cleaned cuddling baby God with all tenderness... I take a walk out the stable to find the largest star I have seen, heard or read about looming over the manger... it felt really close like it was about dropping down into the manger...

Then I thought back on the events of the night and the consequences of the whole happening... it wasn’t coincidental that God chose to be born in human form in a manger... the consequences where not just entirely spiritual but also physical... no organization or human entity could claim rights to this franchise... he was freely given through the humblest of circumstances, so that all men that needed life could freely access him...

It was pre-planned that his birth would encounter the “NO ROOM” embargo in the physical so that when the filled rooms where emptied of the festivities, the succeeding void and emptiness would gnaw on the Landlords such that it was only when they invited this same Jesus in to lodge permanently that peace could reign in their homes...

This was just twenty-five days ago and I haven’t left this spot since... still standing and pondering on how long it will take for you to realize that he couldn’t find any room in Bethlehem, so that the entire world would make room for... He was turned down by hoteliers and home owners in Bethlehem... would you also turn Him down?

It doesn’t cost you anything to let Him in to that room... funny thing is when He is given room, He creates room for others to lodge and improve your life... MAKE ROOM