SO, YOU THINK YOU’RE SHORT?

In her growing up years and even as an adult, Bim often fought with the fact that she is short. She breath it, live it and walk it that she has a small stature which she did not appreciate because she felt it was not befitting. Most of the time, she had wished she was taller with some added weight to go along with her height. She simply wanted to be on the big side; however, she did not realize that being big has its challenges too. To her, the petit stature is simply not a plus as she often grumbled about her small stature.

Her thought line changed the day her course of study required that as final year students, they visited a home for the less privileged as part of their project. As God would have it, her group was to visit the home that caters for those with physical challenges. The sight she saw at the Home sent jitters down her spine which was accompanied with tears that she could not hold back; and from that day, her orientation about her physique changed.

According to her, she saw a man who had been in that home for a long time, apart from that, he was blind and mentally challenged. Yet the man was still living. It was the state of this man that made Bim to look back for the first time and give thanks to God for her stature. She told herself, ‘here you are complaining that you are short, see this man with all these challenges.’

For some of us, our fight or quarrel with God maybe why He decided to make us a citizen of a particular nation, why we were born into a particular family, especially if the family is not a high class family and some of us are still fighting God on why He allowed us to get a particular job when we wished we were earning a three figure salary even with our school certificate result!

There is a need to be thankful in whatever state we find ourselves in life. I want to believe that we know that it not our stature that will bring about fulfillment in life. God must be very patient. While the doctors and health managers are encouraging us not to get unnecessarily obese because of various health challenges that we may have to battle with, some of us are still clamoring that we want to add some excess weight. Do you think you can manage it?

Many people who are short do not often realize that they are well packaged by God. Check out Mr. Zacchaeus in the Bible (Luke 19). when he discovered that the people were too many, he took advantage of his small size to quickly climb a tree where he could see Jesus without any hindrance and miraculously, Jesus found him where he was.

Well, the fact that you are short does not mean God will not see you or meet your needs. Just as he located Mr. Zacchaeus on the tree, He is going to locate you and bless you with what you want; so, never live in regret concerning your petit stature.

Come to think of it, why will you trouble yourself on what you do not have control over. Even if you weep and mourn about your small state, it will not change it. It is inferiority complex and ingratitude that lures an individual to embark on a transgender journey without a deep thought about its consequences. Also, it is the height of ingratitude to God when we do not appreciate Him for what He made us to be in regards to our physique.

Instead of complaining, why not look at the various advantages of being small and live your life to the fullest. If you see people with small stature in their old age, you will thank God for giving you a small physique.

Always remember that your brain is not small and the talents and abilities that God has deposited in you are not small at all. So, don’t wait until you see or visit a mentally or physically challenged person before you are grateful that you are petit. Again, never believe that short people are evil, because they are not!

Have you read any book this year? If not, pick up one, because readers are leaders. Have a fruitful year.

WHO WANTS TO DANCE SHOKI?

Sometime in September 2015, we were invited to a teens’ forum to speak on, DRAW THE LINE, which was based on one of the books the Lord helped us to put together and which urges young people to stay away from pre-marital sex. 

I really commend the organizers of the event because they did not only mobilize the young minds that turned out in a large number, the forum was involving for the teens as it was full of varieties and anything one may call a dull moment was nowhere to be found. 

After our presentations, a co-facilitator, Pastor Peter Oyesiku and myself, had a major issue to confront with when it was question and answer time. One major question that kept popping up was, Can we dance Shoki in the Church? As the two of us said No and presented our reasons to these teens, more of these teenagers kept asking the same question and we insisted that Shoki was not meant for the church and not only that, anyone who professes to be a child of God should not even dance Shoki in or outside the Church. Were they satisfied with our answers? Time will tell…

I got a shocker when I turned to page 37 of the Sunday Punch of, October 4th, 2015 and I saw this headline, ‘I don’t know the meaning of Shoki—Orezi.’ Just because it sounded unbelievable to me that someone who sang a song did not know its meaning, I quickly read the full page interview in which the Delta State-born musician, Esegine Allen, aka Orezi, who sang the hit single, Shoki replied to the question, what is Shoki? By saying, “Shoki is just a dance step which I stumbled upon while I was relaxing at an African Shine. I felt it was interesting and I needed to make a record about it. I do not know what it means; I only know it is called Shoki.’’

Hmm! We, as the next generation must really learn to censor what we watch and listen to irrespective of where we are or at any point in time. For some of us who do not know Shoki; it is a type of dance that stylishly portrays a kind of indecency that I do not approve of and again, the dancers usually use one hand to wipe one eye as if they want to see clearly from a blurred vision. It is a dance step that has taken over many places, including religious houses. It is really making waves among children, teenagers, youths and adults. 

If the man who sang Shoki does not know what it means and he also borrowed the dance steps from an African Shine, why is it that that is what we want to employ as a means of praising our God. Don’t you think we are losing our bearing and gradually denying our paternity since we want to follow after the dance step that is danced godlessly in an African Shrine?

For me, the challenge of creativity comes up here. Like we told the young guys in that forum, if you call yourself a child of God who is filled with the Spirit of God, why is it that you cannot introduce your own dance steps which will make waves and glorify God?

Also, it shows that some of us do not edit what we watch on our television sets and internet, especially some songs or films that we watch on You-tube. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, ‘For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.’ (KJV) In the same vein, we also drink into a spirit that is not of God when we indiscriminately swallow strange songs, by singing and dancing to them. You know what? There is a spirit behind every song!

It is rather unfortunate that many of us do not bother about the lyrics of some of the songs we sing or dance to. As young people, I know that many of us are mostly interested in the beat more than the lyrics. But I think we should also learn to go through the lyrics as we dance to the melody of any song.

You know what? Shoki will soon go into extinction and another dance step will come on board; are we going to cave in to that too? By now, we should know that evil communications corrupt good manners.

Going by the information supplied by Orezi; it does not matter whether it is in the Church or outside the Church, I think we should stay off shoki. Choose To Be Different!

AN UNHOLY MIX

        

                                                                                                                    SHAMBHALA BRACELET

HIGH-LOW HEM

It was a beautiful Sunday morning when, a young man prepared himself for a journey to one of the states in south-east, Nigeria, in order to upgrade himself academically. Although well dressed, his parents discovered that there was an unholy mix somewhere; this guy had a wristband with the inscription of a Christian message on one wrist and a Shambhala bracelet on another wrist. What a combination! His mum seized the Shambhala bracelet and asked him where he wanted to be placed; a Christian or a Buddhist.    

As young people, we sometimes embrace fashions, fads or anything in vogue with so much ignorance. According to Wikipedia, Hindu texts such as, the Vishnu Purana mention the village of Shambhala as the birthplace of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age (Satya Yuga). Shambhala is also seen as a Buddhist pure land and a fabulous kingdom. If I may ask at this juncture, what accord has a child of God with a Buddhist kingdom? Yet, many of us put on Shambhala bracelet as if we are proclaiming Jesus’ coming!

What of this horrible style tagged, High-low hem which is fast gaining grounds among ladies of different ages. High-low hem comes in gowns or skirts; sometimes, the frontal of the skirt or gown is short and the back is long while at times, it is the back side that is short while the frontal is long. Sometimes I ask myself why this? This is because, your thighs must be very cheap for you to want to expose it to everyone when you sit, because a skirt must move up when you sit and since the skirt or gown is short already; it helps to show off the thighs. If it is the back side that is short, the indignity is still the same because, the bum helps to push up the skirt or gown and we begin to see some fat thighs which are not pleasant to the eyes at all. A very awful combination indeed; yet we wear these styles as if it is an in-thing that we must partake in!

Another horrible style is one shoulder or single strip dress. In actual fact, that style portrays the person who wears it as indecent. This is because; the dress covers one arm beyond the elbow while the other side stops at the shoulder. Even if these dresses were presented to us as gifts, we should simply tell the one who gave us that we do not put on such? Moreover, before anyone gives such gifts to us, our dress sense must be questionable in the first instance! Sincerely, it does not show that we are current with the trend in town, it simply shows that as a young people we are lost, blind and naïve.

There are some ingredients that we put together and they produce a positive result; on the other hand, there are some mixtures that are awful, demeaning and sometimes send a wrong signal about our person. For instance, how does a young man approach a Buddhist to present the gospel of Jesus to this lost soul when he himself unknowingly acknowledges that Buddhism is good through his Shambhala bracelet!

I often wonder what we do with our internet aside from posting our pictures or some dry jokes! Let us try and do some studies on some personal effects before we jump at them and let us not consent to the fact that our parents are oldies who do not know what is happening in town!

As a young person, we must not feign ignorance when we engage in a vice; if as a lady you tint your hair to wine and gold and an elderly woman gave you a run-down look, you may not like her but you will know in your heart of heart that something is wrong with your style which makes it an unholy mixture.

You know what? When you have something as small as a wrist band which promotes God, it attracts divine favour, protection etc to you; in like manner, if you have a Shambahala bracelet on you, then you must know that either Hindu or Buddhist spirit will locate you! What is your combination like? Always make sure that your combinations attract His presence.

TWO BOOKS BY HIS GRACE. CHECK OUT THE NEW BOOKS BY BUKONLA

DRAW THE LINE challenges young people to stay away from pre-marital sex while YOUNG AND CONFIDENT, IMPACT 003, encourages young people to move on despite obstacles. Read and be transformed