SO I BOUGHT A MAGNUM...

...and I murdered him!

Life for me began in the backyards of evil where your nightmares were everyday

processes... the masquerades you read about in books, the shamans that you watch in the movies were my neighbours. Funny thing is, Harry Potter books and movies make witches and wizards seem so cool... Dude, those folks redefine the word MEAN... I know this, cos I grew up running errands for some.

Experiencing evil first hand introduced a friend to me... a friend that fought fangs and claws to cripple the big dreams I had. I call him a friend because I just couldn’t leave him behind; he always found a way to share my meals with me, bathe with me, sleep with me and even attend classes with me.

His name was FEAR... having watched the rise and rise of evil in my town, I got so conscious of evil, despite my sterling church-going records, that at some point everything that happened had to be interpreted in the light of evil’s supremacy. I was more conscious of the consequence of annoying a witch or wizard that I forgot that these beings were all created by my omnipotent Dad.

I had to plan my calendar such that certain days were tagged as compulsory holidays, cos masquerades were having their town tours on such days; on such days, my dear friend ensured that his taunts were hyped to the A++ grade. Nights had to be spent with my room lights turned on, and when the power despots (NEPA) decided we didn’t deserve services that we pay for, a bush lamp would do the job.

Hahaha... I slept with my bible under my pillow but that didn’t prevent the nightmares or the FEAR attacks... matter of fact He took advantage of my ignorance and tormented me the more so I would doubt the power of the word. What I didn’t know was that, those words in the Bible are just words on paper, but if they were absorbed into my spirit, they would become weapons of mass destruction; the letter kills, but the word in the spirit gives life... sure you’ve heard that before.

Dude had fun with my subservience until I bought a magnum... the magnum I bought was not a physical one that had nine rounds or more... I got the magnum when I gave drowned my life in Christ and got filled with the Holy Ghost... the magnum was the new spirit I had... for they which are in Christ, all things are new... my spirit was awakened and my mouth that had only known the function of wining, dining and gisting, got an upgrade; it became the trigger to my magnum. The bullets I realized were the same words in the bible that I slept on.

Enter, II Tim I v VII, and I exploded, I had found the homicide bullet for my dear friend of over eighteen years... I meditated so much on this portion that it became me... and I cocked my gun, loaded the bullets and waited for my dear friend to show up again... I waited for while, probably he had been hinted that I had found a weapon for him and he decided to wait till my enthusiasm had worn out... but after so many years of terrorism, getting tired wasn’t an option.

When he finally did show up, I emptied the entire magazine into his being... paramedics could not even find any vein or artery to resuscitate him...mehn, I did an awesome job. So ended the reign of FEAR in my life; you probably are wondering why I’m chatting about it – well, loads and tons of born-again, spirit-filled, tongue-speaking Christians are being tormented by irrational fear and they think what they need is deliverance to break free.

Not true... what you need is to use your magnum!

Do you have this guy as a friend too? You have a magnum, murder him. No one would charge you to court. And if you haven’t sunk your life in Christ, sorry you can’t commit this homicide... click on I CONFESS above and obtain your magnum.

LIFE’S NOT A DREAM

Row, row, row your boat... Gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily... life is just a dream.

Please I beg to disagree, that life is just a dream, for if life were to be a dream you wouldn’t need to scream when danger loomed, laughing grim because you would know that you could always wake up with a grin.

A dream would mean all plants were green, no seasons, no treason, and definitely no reason to make you green. A dream would mean we wouldn’t have dreams and work all the days of our dreams trying to make it real...

In dreams you just voice your wish and it becomes real - but in life, there is no genie; all we have are our genes that would help us attain our different dreams. In dreams no one wears jeans, just royal garbs meant for kings and queens or maybe some princess and prince.

If life were to be a dream then everything we had would be free, and we would float about without gravity, drawing all shapes in the skies to capture our glee...Ahem... we would all have salad, chicken, dessert and none would soak garri.

If life were to be a dream, then guns and swords wouldn’t be...Say, what dreams would build weapons for world war three? And for profits, throw a killing spree?

It’s only truly holidays in dreams; in life, holidays are never free because your workload on work days, pay the holidays’ fee...No thoughts to scare you with any negativity...Just thought to reveal how real life is beyond the rim of dreams.
In life diabetes waits after ice cream, an eye for an eye, plus good for evil, please don’t scream...because even if you do, you won’t wake up from this dream.

In life, our paddles are hoes and tractors and fire grills...Sorry, there are no boats just mighty warships & we have oceans, seas and rivers in place of streams
Please I do not agree that life is just a dream, cos that would mean that the Bible is a book of fantasy...it would mean that there was no old rugged tree... and death would lunch on our kidneys without a fee...yes and our eyes for dessert pastry...

But I know a land where the imaginations of dreams are paled... the journey to this beautiful land begins from Galilee... up to the tree in the centre of the three... on Golgotha, the skull that’s called a hill... takes you through where Hades lost its thrill... and finally submits you to the throne room, where Yehova chills... the beautiful city...the beautiful city indeed where everything is free...

I’m on the road to that city, that’s why life to me is a journey...so you too could take life as a journey... and ride steady on your donkey...so trot, trot, trot your horse gently down the road...
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life could lead to thrones...

YOU GOT STUFF?

More than three instances in the scriptures provide logical proof that we’ve always got stuff (ability) that we need to attain our purposes, but lack of awareness or inability to properly harness what we’ve got deludes us with the thoughts that we do have stuff. Worst case scenario is when we realize what we’ve got and refuse to ask the creator of the software (ability) how to properly harness it – cos we know he’s going to ask us to lay it down – Hmmmmm... that’s the tedious, brick-walling, iron-smelting part; laying down our stuff.

Yehova, my Dada, asked David for his sling; whoever went to battle giants with a sling? When David yielded the only tool he knew how to harness pretty well, it didn’t matter what its history or antecedents were, the LORD OF WAR took over. The sling took on the laws of rocket science and a common sling became the song of a hero; just cos the hero was willing to lay down the only thing he had – a sling.

Yehova’s flaming tongue on the branch asked Moses “what have you got in your hand?” and when Moses responded, he was asked to lay it down and pick it up according to instructions; the rod which was used in taming lousy sheep became the rod of GOD. The same rod that played instrumental roles in parting the red sea and spinning fresh aqua from dead rocks... stunts that only could have been spun due to a total surrender of one’s tool to the most high, most fly.




Elijah asked the Zarepath lady “excuse me ma, what have you got at home to feed a hungry prophet?” her response was “the last round of grub” but she gave it to the prophet, holding on to the first verse of psalm 23 and the multiplier effect took over; just cos she was willing to lay down the only stuff she had. But for want of generations her borrowed cruse would still be enjoying the meal cruise till this day.

Elisha also asked a prophet’s wife “Lady what have you got?”...”I just have the last round of oil in my jar” and Elisha went “Whoa! My master got the multiplier effect algorithm correct, he taught me too”...Next thing you knew, the lady was running shows in the oil exporting business - The value of realizing the stuff you’ve got.

Jesus asked a little boy for his lunch; the lunch box that fed 4,000 men... hmmm...talk about transformers.

In all these situations, the parties involved recognized what they had! #GBAM! The size, magnitude or seeming importance didn’t matter, it was still stuff, and they laid it down.

Yes, you’ve got stuff; else, you wouldn’t be consuming the ever depleting oxygen in earth’s atmosphere. Your purpose precedes you and the stuff for the attainment of that purpose had existed before you were created. At the point of departure from the manufacturing plant of heaven, that stuff was given you, so you could attain your purpose (some say that’s why you were born with your palm closed in a fist – not really sure bout that but it sounds logical as folks die with their palms open; an exhaustion of the stuff they came with).

Have you identified your stuff? If you haven’t, you cannot attain purpose; and if you have, lay it down at the feet of the manufacturer so He can teach you how to properly harness it – and once you have learnt and are groomed in the ways, your journey of purpose begins.

SUPERMAN (PART-U)

I’ll tell you about superman, the super man that he is
The “He” that could be a he or a she
Superman has the choice of being a nobody
But could still choose to be somebody
His name could be spelt like mine, yours, hers, his, ours, and theirs
Consider her skin colour black, or white, or red, or brown, or chocolate
or any skin colour except grey
Maybe she lives in the back streets of Brooklyn, better yet, he’s under a duvet in a penthouse on Hotel Manhattan
Maybe he shares a room with twelve others in the waste yards of Ajegunle,
Better yet, parks her Buick in the largest property on Banana Island
Superman does fly the virgin Galactica for vacations to the moon
& plies CMS to Ojo Cantonment on board her “legedes” (Weather readings - hell noon)
He may watch “Spiderman returns” in his mind from mental consolidates
of fragmented tales told by peers in school
Matter of fact, she spends every weekend at the Galleria to savour
Box office flavours

But all of the above don’t really define superman, ‘cos they are just definitions

arrived at through the “seen” (sin?) world’s observations

Underneath all of these splendour & poverty

She really is the same man; the real superman is inside - seen by others only through his Character…
*The extent he goes to keep Her word, despite the HEADACHE, SUDDEN BANKRUPTCY, MISFORTUNE, WEATHER CONDITIONS, and every other thing that goes in-between 00 midnight & 12 midnight
*The discipline he applies in her pursuit of purpose
amidst the pleasures of “routes of least resistance”
*Her dedication without repose
to be the change the world needs, even when the world offers no assistance
*In the simple act of giving away her last 50 naira to a needy stranger - that’s “supermanness”
‘Cos in a world were selfishness wears the democratic crown, giving is indeed madness
So I came across superman, in her Palace located above a dunghill
& He told me, “I am superman cos I exercise rightly & positively the power of will”
She said “My fingers have been kissing keys on the keyboard
since age three for at least three hours daily”… little wonder He’s the world’s best composer - CNN Report…

He said “I wake by 4 am everyday to pray till daylight,
I’ve been doing so since age 26 and I‘m 65 now”
yet everyone says he travels to India yearly for
sacrifices! Now I know his miracles are legit - British Sun


In these, I found Superman to be dedicated & consistent

Do I think she would have gotten where he did without persistence?
You might as well embrace sleep and await a cure for impotence!


He said “I trek 1 mile to and fro every day to teach children English
in mongonu”…I got irritated when I saw the pot-bellied in Range Rovers snicker at her bent shoes: if he spent that time in business she could afford a pair from “Fetish” - The Daily Observer…

Superman said “I never eat a meal until, I have fed at least 2 Alumanjeris,
what’s the point in living when I don’t delight in giving of me, of my wealth, of my..?
He deserves to be on “who deserves to be a millionaire?” - Charity Due
In these, I found superman to be Sacrificial and Concerned about others
Do I need to be Dangote to save those kids without mothers?
Giving is everyone‘s gift, not someone’s talent - thoughts to ponder!
Superman told me “I got a contract worth 70 milla and the
guy with the stamp asked for 10gs, guess he expected an everyday dealer…
I just walked out without the papers”
He might not be the wealthiest, but he has the only wealth that matters - Sky News.

She told me about her manager at the bank “he kept threatening
& I kept denying, I finally walked away without a single glance back… what’s the point in dressing when it does more than impressing?”
He owns a bank today because of a decision made without regretting - Forbes
In these, I found integrity to be Superman’s skin
Can I bend the rules just a teeny weenie bit, so I can win?
The waste bin might not be a waste yard, but it’s still a bin!
Need I mention superman’s stories about - my word, my bond; responsibility; love; patience; and seventy virtues?
He said “I always check my rear view
to see if my records dare you”

Superman resides in me, in you, in him, in her, in them, in us
But situations whisper to him she is otherwise, sometimes with force
So she chooses to run off for the us that is not really us to take charge of us…
Superman could really be the greatest… she could
But he’s just too timid to be her! Are you?
That's the Chinese integrity finger pointing at you

PILATE MUSE

I wonder if Pilate ever got to ponder about the gravity
of what he did, the disparity, indeed,
within the life-giving death sentence
The derogatory excellence
of a blood bath, ruptured heart, brutal thorns in scalp
resulting in the world’s best emollients… the love bath…
- Wife executing tongue judgement as he
chews on the details of his judgement
palms extended, sight - blurry, teary; mind excited yet weary
from the magnitude of so inconsequential a judgement
How come Herod didn’t find no guilt to judge him?
Why wouldn’t Caiaphas and Annas touch him?

“Why has purpose chosen me not just to scorch him; flog him; but cross him?”

- He rises to the roof of his haunted palace
The grandeur offers no solace, rather, malaise
- In nothing but a loin wrap, he watches
Centurions, Generals, hustle loin wraps from
the condemned guilt-ridden innocence on
the hill of skulls far beyond the
plains carpeted by the chatter of guiltless sinners
Sinners freed by the same one they held captive…
Sinners intelligibly arguing the foolishness
of God’s wisdom within a limited mental capacity hindered by
the same sin that the guiltless guilty one would add infinitum
to
Unclean-cleansed trooping back from the execution of their life eternal…

“How come he never uttered a word?”

His soliloquy sounds so loud, the ear muffs in his heart
are ripped apart (almost)…so sad
Never has such excellence reeked from a carpenter
Not even the emperor’s carpenter
Even from this distance he could feel the calm
Whenever he set his eyes on Him, a balm
So psalm (like), evaded the crank
dissembling his sanity, or rather insanity
He felt (like) the gentle penetrating eyes beckon
“come on to me, oh ye that condemn me”
That’s what he heard, convictions tugged his beard
without condemnation aforethought…
The guilty had condemned the guilt-ridden guiltless
The merciless cross-ified the merciful
The seemingly tragedy appeared to him - endless
it was indeed, for the fearlessness in the eyes of this right rebel
was about to tame the childishness & ferociousness of Hades
Endlessly…
He sees a sparkling asterix, what appears to a smile & a wink
from Golgotha outshine the sun’s glint
& the wife, having assumed her position behind her man
devoid of woollen condemnation about this one that condemns,
whispers - “I see it too”
in tandem, Pilate thinks out loud as a tear comes about

“Do you think I fulfilled purpose?”

Knowingly and unknowingly she retorts “3 days will tell”
Just then the guilt-ridden innocence’ head fell
Journey to hell, the salesman went to sell
Life to death
If He had not sold life insurance to death, Pilate would still be musing
beside you as you conclude this muse I tell
Have you bough’ your Life-insurance?
Shhhh! Don’t yell!

www.growinginpurpose.com

PULL THE TRIGGER OR NOT!

Like it or love it, this walk begins & ends with choices!
In case you didn’t notice, the first statement spelt out choices… positive choices!
& if you are not interested in gist about choices, you might as well choose to leave this page right now!
Thought so!

That you are reading this is a consequence of a choice you made yesterday…Yep! You could have chosen to commit suicide yesterday, but you resolved to witness the beauties of today… one of which is reading this.

Everyone knows about choices, but how many people really make the choices that are consonant with their cognition, physiology & ultimately spirituality - The Right Choices?

You might not have chosen to be born into a Christian family, but you chose to remain a Christian; you chose to accept the new life; chose to run back to God every time you fell; & chose to talk to a being that you had no physical evidence of his existence; & chose to have faith even when it doesn’t make sense! Some of this choices you made without even realizing you were making them!

Yes, granted, you are facing challenges right now… but it’s a choice to view them as challenges or opportunities - it is said that two men looked out of prison bars and one man saw the starry skies above while the other saw the mud below - their choices led to their perspectives.

From creation, choices have been emphasized… The Invisible God chose to remain thus till his revelation in the second Adam; He chose to drive out the first Adam after he messed up; Noah chose to obey the Invisible God even though evidence proved that it was impossible to rain; Abraham chose to believe in the same invisible God & move to a land “that I will show you” - someone tell me which map has such a land; Jacob chose to remain another seven years just so to marry Joseph’s mum; Joseph chose to flee Potipher’s mistress; & Moses chose to approach the burning bush; David chose to believe Goliath was a dog; & Jesus chose to let the father’s will come through in Gethsemane… Choices!

Did you ever sit to ponder on the consequences of all the choices these entities made? With every choice comes a consequence! You can determine what choices to make, you cannot determine the consequence… what would happen if every choice you made followed the path of least resistance?

A weakness remains a weakness until you choose to say otherwise and alter your perspectives to say what God’s word says about you! God says you can do all things -choose to see His strength in your weaknesses; God says you are righteous - choose not to be condemned because you fell; God says all things are yours - choose to see Him supplying your needs even when there is no dime on you… Choose not to be daunted and pushed into a corner, when you are more than a conqueror!

Josh made a profound statement “Choose this day whom you will follow, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” Triple Wow! If you have chosen to serve this Lord of choices, then choose also to believe in His opinion of you, not the world’s, not even yours… Only His!

Remember, if you choose a choice within an array, there are bound to be dissuading anomalies towards the direction of ills… but the savour of the consequences of the chosen will thwack the urge to choose negativities henceforth.

You can control the choices but not the consequences. Ahem...

So choose… Yeah! Pull the trigger and see if a bullet is released or not!

MEET JESUS' CREW : JOHN WAS A SELFISH BIGOT

All you need is a pair of reading glasses to see this!

John had a very strong personality, the type that took a bulldozer with whale-sized harrows to move... dude could die for an opinion and would go to any extent to establish his point of view – even if it meant burning down an entire village... sounds like a new testament Elijah without regards for the change in covenants...

One wouldn’t really blame this assertive bum, not with an elder brother like James around... Day in day out in the coasts of Capernaum, brawls broke out on fishing turfs and these brothers came to adapt to the coarse lifestyle of staying firm with your opinions even if you were wrong... That was the only way to earn respect on the turf... either you toughen up or you just get your “weak” self out of the way!

It was never a case of “let’s reason” but “you’ve got to see things my own way ...else”... you know the caustic drill... Business was good; money was never a problem with a large fishing trough berthing every day with tons of sea merchandise for a vibrant commercial nerve in Israel; strategic partnerships with the likes of Pete & Andy made sure, competition was low; mama had the home front on check; & everything was all dandy except for the fact that John’s bigotry had the whole dock clamouring for his skin.

No doubts, John was one of the finest around as far as fish game was concerned (That’s why the customers could not resist his merchandise) but this bigotry, brashness & strong personality was fast chopping off the good graces... The reason why Johnnie did not have to think for long to follow Jesus...

Even after hooking up with Jesus, it took a while to get his bigotry out of the way... remember when the disciples were asked to go to Samaria to prepare the way for Jesus? John & his brother suggested they call down fire from heaven to consume the entire village, just because the village would not receive their gospel... Sci-fi!

Selfishness was so ingrained in his heart that he and his brother had to chat up mama to go confront the master and tell him to arrange for thrones next to his in heaven... Hmmm... Would you tip this dude as candidate for the love portfolio in the beloved country of love? Apparently not! But Jesus did... he saw a dude whose bigotry could drive him to the ends of the earth if properly harnessed...

Same John came to be known as “John the divine”, the only one to be given that title... he so spent time immersing himself in the love of Christ that he was the only one amongst all the apostles to flesh out the love of God towards man in all his writings... No wonder he called himself the “disciple whom Jesus loved”... Doubt not that this understanding is the reason why he was the only one to stay with Jesus through his ordeal, even to the cross, after the rest had scampered and stayed scattered...

Selfish Johnnie was so transformed to the extent that even after being dropped in boiling oil... pause, rewind & replay... “boiling oil”... He came out unscathed... wow! A clear evidence that he was not just flipping pages when he wrote that “love conquers all fears, ills, persecutions & challenges...”

If anyone deserved to be given the visions in Revelations, do you think it would have be Johnnie? How could God trust a man that was once selfish to the “ISH” to proclaim this vision? God doesn’t see the way we see!

Even if you are struggling with selfishness and the weakness of bigotry (it’s not a weakness in all cases), God will still use you... are there times when you feel like you simply cannot apprehend this “Love” message? Look up the books of 1st, 2nd, & 3rd John for consolation and see a man that was once worse than you reel love like a cinema screen!

Allow the potter do his work...Your selfishness is not an excuse... Remember... Jesus never asked for golden, silver or diamond vessels... He only needed yielded vessels... yielded vessels usually bear ills but always turn out to be the best vessels for transmission...