READ. WRITE. GROW.

  Who Are You Helping? The world has gone to a stage where you have no idea who to help, or if they will even appreciate it or end up criticizing and looking down on the help you offer. There was once a man who was fighting a foreigner in his land. The countryman was almost killed when one of his fellow countrymen came and struck down his enemy. You know the story of Moses in the Bible- when he tried to save his fellow Israelite from the hands of the Egyptian. After the help, the man who just got rescued began to boil over and said he didn’t need any help. “Do you want to kill me like you killed the other Egyptian yesterday,” asked the man who had just been saved. I know you are a good person. If not, then you should try to be a good person, but the point is that being good should not land you in trouble as it did in the case of Moses above- he had to flee the land. He became an outcast in a foreign land. When next you offer a helping hand, try to know who you are helping...

DANGER IS IN THE EYES OF THE 'BEDANGERED' I climbed a tree, finished the ripe fruits i could lay my hands on and started to climb down. I know it had rained the previous day, but the fact that the tree would be slippery eluded me. To further complicate things for myself, I went up the tree with flip flops (slippers). On my way down, the proverb, “it’s not going up that matters, but coming back down” kept ringing in my ears, but it didn’t make me feel any better, if anything it made me feel worst. So I devised my own saying. One that would console me a bit…”Danger lies in the eyes of the bedangered .” At the time I didn’t know if bedangered was an actual word, I didn’t even care; this was no time for grammar. My adrenaline and stress levels were rising exponentially by the second. I even thought of throwing my flip flops down, “But what if I had to make a jump?” I asked myself. I kept the flops on. “Danger lies in the eyes of the bedangered,” I said out loud this time, trying...

Risk and reward Risk it all and one day you’ll drive a ford, That’s when people will call you Lord; But success comes at a price- a very steep price, It takes hard work, patience, dedication and sacrifice; To get there you may tell a lot of lies, You will hate and be hated, despise and be despised; You will be abandoned and you will suffer, But one day you will smile as you clean your zufa; Ridin’ in a black limo driven by your chauffer;   You have to sacrifice your time, Even put your life on the line; You will fail, but you gotta get up and try, Failure makes you feel dejected and you wanna cry, But you gotta sit up and push ‘em down Cos one day it’ll all turn to success; When everything you want you now possess, And your fears turn to pigs in the seas – possessed; Work hard Pay now, play later Burn now, shine later Grind now, wine later

  You must have read or at least heard the story of Greedy Gehazi; he was the servant of the prophet Elisha who was obliged to healing a certain general, Na’aman. There are two lessons I would like us to take from this story.   First, consider how Na’aman had to travel such a long way to meet Elisha. Were there no other healers in his home town or on the way? But Elisha had a special set of skills and an impeccable reputation and ‘clients’ had to be referred to him. We all want to build businesses and get rich as fast as possible, so fast that we overlook the quality of our services. Know what you want to do and do it well- be the best in your field and referrals will overwhelm you. Secondly, greed will kill you, period. The hierarchy at that time would be Elisha– Gehazi -Na’aman: one because Na’aman was not in a territory to use his rank, he needed the services of the prophet, and although Gehazi was a servant, the servant of a prophet was always held in high regard...

 WHAT REALLY MATTERS? It is written in the Bible that “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1Tim 6:6) This verse has been hammered into my brain since I was a child, but then it was just another memory verse, just like the others I learned in Sunday school. But growing up, I have come to see the several applications of this verse and how it has helped me lived a happy and fulfilled life. In our society today, we are blinded by clout and desperately chasing and falling for what we do not have. Scammers on -or-offline would not have a fan base if it were not for our greed. One will see an ad promising free cash, phones, or other gift items and all sense of reasoning will disappear through thin air, all for what? I’ll tell you the answer… we are trying to get what we do not have. How about fathers and mothers; uncles and aunts; and even children who leave their families to search for the so-called “greener pasture?” I have no doubt we all want to climb up whatever ladder ...

                                                                           BE THE VOICE I was watching a video yesterday on how the power of one could change many. Although I dare not use the same example as I’d seen in the video, mainly because I do not have the same experience, therefore, it would be really hard to portray the message using their situation, I will illuminate it using a different perspective. Sometimes all you need is a little voice to give you the final push that will help you overcome that difficult task. You do have that voice in your head but it doesn’t work because you have shut it down by giving up, therefore you need another voice- someone else’s voice to speak to you. Whatever challenges you face, don’t face them alone; find a true an...