God and Evil

Recently I saw an old movie where a very young boy was to be hung by a supposedly mean political lord because he belonged to a wrong group, Pirates.

I was curious to see if the plot would be written in such a way as the protagonist would save him before his death, but it wasn’t…

The young lad actually hung and died, and I couldn’t help but think:

The irreligious/atheist blames God for creating the kind of world where evil is possible and even present, such evil as the death of a child, yet in their own purview of creativity create such world themselves.
[I’ve moved beyond the movie itself, but I’m using the event in it to illustrate a very real point].

One would have thought that if fault was to be found with God for what He created or permitted, the fault-finders based on their own knowledge of good and evil by which they judge Him “unfair” would within the power of their own will & creativity, invent worlds devoid of such.
But this is not the case, as the evil in the world is most often replayed in movies.

Moreover, humans take it further in inventing such despotic and evil beings that have no template or model in the real world. This also shows that with power to create a world, we choose evil.

Back to my story of the boy that was hung, I thought deeply about it:

The only logical position of the unfair hanging not being prevented by the writer, is that he must have wanted us to see how wicked the ruler really was, so that when story switches against him we understand.
The extent of his evil needed to be clearly seen so that the plot justifies the coming reparations.

Hmm…

The boy who was killed in the movie doesn’t die in reality, but is most probably living a very happy life in a world far more real that the universe of the movie.

The irreverent of God similarly forget that when He orders events in life in such a way as evil is prevented (as would have been the case if Jack sparrow showed up preventing the boy’s hanging by one mischief) we’d have seen only one demonstration of the goodness of the writer…

But the liberty God has given man in the expression of his own will more often than not is actually what permits every person to live.

It is the freedom to exercise our will that provides us the opportunity to do right (to whatever extent) or sadly do wrong (to whatever extent).

It is really the mercy of God, whenever He gets involved, limiting the impact of evil to save some, even now.
Unless everyone would have been robbed of the opportunity to actually live: to do right or wrong.

Who can tell all the good that resulted from uncomfortable events? 🤔
But then, there is the part of the world where these things exist.

How dare I compare the universe of a studio, and choices made in a movie plot to this real world we live in?

Well, if you share that thought you are right, just that you might have overlooked a tiny detail.

That difference between the MOVIE-WORLD in relation to OUR REALITY is infinitely small, and pales in comparison with OUR REALITY in relation to ETERNITY.

Just as the boy who died in the movie lives in our reality, a person who dies in this world is in a realm much realer by far.
His loss to the characters of the movie might be felt on set, as the death of a person in this real world is felt by loved ones, but in the reality of God they have only changed set-location.

His realm is more real, and so there is no real loss in His creation except in this…
If the off-screen character of the actor of the movie is really bad; if such a person after dying off on TV yet living in this world, still gets into some kind of criminality then it is this, not their act that really counts.

Beyond this natural world also, your soul counts. Not whether good happened to you in life or bad (that can be likened to the movie’s reality), but who are you essentially?

Is your soul unsaved?
This is what really determines whether that life was truly lost.

The movie is in reality, reality is in eternity.

So what am I saying essentially?

1. We get so hung up on evil in the world, yet make it part of our creative process when we have a choice not to.
God cannot be faulted for errors caused by Man’s will.

2. There is more to life that what we deal with in the body good or evil.

3. The reality of God’s perception is far more real that what we have in this world, and an illustration for better understanding is the reality of a movie’s universe compared with this real world.

4. God will make reparations for every act of man where it truly counts.
The evil of the wicked will be judged and the good deeds of the righteous will be rewarded, even when it doesn’t all happen here in this world.

The way to make the switch now is by believing in what God has done in His mercy, to help rid us from sin by the death of Jesus Christ.
God handed Him over to pay with His life for everything that put us out of favour with Him (sins), and God raised Him from the dead again as proof that the work for us was perfected & completed.

We need to accept this work to be done in us through faith, inviting Jesus as Lord.

𝒀𝒆𝒔! 𝒑𝒍𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝑫𝑴 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅.

Owning Tomorrow Today

What gives you direction in life?

Your tomorrow does not exist in isolation. There’s a transition phase before your next level that I often see people take for granted. Many people are so focused on their future that they pay little to no attention to the now and how it impacts the future they seek.

Pst Hephzy ministering healing and Deliverance at Glory Life International in Kaduna-Nigeria

Your today is intricately connected to your tomorrow, and how you handle and manage your today will determine your tomorrow.

Your daily actions/inactions compound to package your future. This is why you see some people excelling more than others.

Here are a few steps to secure your tomorrow today:

1. Be visionary. It’s not enough to see the big picture and imagine your future. You also have to be visionary about your today. Your vision must translate to daily actions, tasks, and habits. Develop a sense of vision to the point you can connect your purpose to impact. It’s a vision that makes things move from small to big. Your tomorrow will deliver a sense of purpose and fulfilment when you’re visionary today.
2. Commit to a life of excellence. There’s no magic about success. Like everything else, success is scientific and connects to the values, habits, and processes you commit to daily. Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings (Proverbs 22:29). Skilled here means excellence. Going above and beyond. Being an example in business and in life. However, you can’t be excellent if you have a survival mindset. Also, you can’t achieve excellence without benchmarking your life against a higher ideal. To build excellence, you must understand your “why” and the reason you do what you do.
3. Take ownership. Gaining ownership is imperative for visioning and building a life of excellence. When you take ownership, you eliminate excuses and take full responsibility for your future. A person with an ownership mindset works with a vision and gives it everything. Take ownership today so you can own tomorrow. Taking ownership also means setting goals. A subpar life is engineered by a life lived without goals. You can’t achieve a goal you didn’t set.

All the points highlighted above are interconnected. They must be present in a life that seeks to excel today and own tomorrow. Be that person this month and beyond.

May May be full of Testimonies for you and yours.

I hope this has blessed you. Feel free to Drop a comment and share.

PstHephzy

Kanye West: A Tax Collector

Kanye West released his highly anticipated album last week called “Jesus Is King,” an explicitly Christian record that comes about a year since he began hosting events called Sunday Services.

Kim Kardashian West has called his gatherings a “musical ministry” that combines traditional black gospel music with Christianized remixes of secular songs and sometimes includes a message from a pastor. They began as private affairs before expanding into a kind of traveling worship event.

How did we end up here?

West has sworn off secular art and says he will perform only gospel music going forward. His wife told the women of “The View” last month that he “has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ.”

We’ve seen something like this before. At the height of the Bad Boy Records era, Mase left hip-hop to begin life as a pastor. Snoop Dogg released a gospel album. Tupac Shakur declared that only God could judge him. DMX and Chance the Rapper have been vocal about their faith in Jesus. Kendrick Lamar’s two most recent albums have wrestled with issues of faith. And there are other hip-hop artists with strong Christian bases, including Lecrae and Sho Baraka, who have been vocal about their faith throughout their careers.

But West’s bold declaration that he is leaving secular music for a more explicitly Christian approach has been the subject of much conversation and has left many Christians asking questions.

Many are excited and suggest that Sunday Services and “Jesus Is King” have the ability to draw in young people suspicious of Christianity. Others are skeptical about the sincerity of West’s conversion. Even others are suspicious that West turned to Christianity only when his public embrace of President Trump alienated his base audience. They suggest that he is taking advantage of the fact that the church will forgive almost anyone. They claim that West is a part of a long line of people who use the black church for their benefit and leave when it no longer suits them.

As an African Christian trying to make sense of West’s decisions, I have repeatedly reflected on the stories of Jesus eating with tax collectors that upset many of his contemporaries.

Business was booming in the first century. Rome had territory to conquer and an empire to maintain. It funded the empire by taxing conquered groups of people, including Jews in the first century.

Rather than collect the money themselves, the Romans engaged in something called tax farming. That meant that they would sell the collecting contract to the highest bidder, who would then collect the taxes. Tax collectors profited from the economic exploitation of their people. They had money, but it was dirty and despised, and for that reason they were shunned by their own.

For some black people, West’s comment that “slavery was a choice” when linked to his support of the current United States of America’s administration makes him something of a modern-day tax collector, belonging to a group of people who we should instinctively reject. Therefore, any embrace of West involves joining arms with an administration associated with harm to many groups of people.

Others are afraid that after West is welcomed into a church fold, he will say something controversial that brings shame on Christians or that he will grow weary of us and abandon us. We will look like pawns.

It has become a part of our societal playbook to bring in a willing pastor to pray with and for a public figure when they are in trouble. But is there a difference between getting pastors to baptize problematic behavior and the possibility of real change? Can we tell the difference in advance? We cannot always tell, and that is fine.

A central teaching of Christianity is that we were all “tax collectors” in the sense that we are all complicit in the harm done to ourselves and others. For that reason, the grace afforded to us is available to others, even before they have fully explained themselves to our satisfaction. We don’t require accountability before extending a welcome.

I’m not worried about the church’s reputation more than Jesus was worried about his. Every week, Christians gather to worship a God who was unjustly stripped, beaten, tortured and crucified by the state. Nonetheless, we believe God was at work in the midst of that profound evil and humiliation. Christians follow a God for whom reputation protection never trumps love. There is a reason that the Apostle Paul referred to his message as the foolishness of the cross.

Some might be tempted to portray Kanye West as a kind of prodigal son, someone who has finally “come home” to the Christian faith. But Christians in particular should view him in the same way that we view ourselves. West is a “tax collector,” and Jesus is king.

Kanye West performs during his “Jesus Is King” album and film experience at the Forum on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Aba)

We shouldn’t expect someone new to this level of devotion to spark a sudden revival. We should not expect him to lead. We should instead give him space to learn, grow and be held accountable in a community of faith that will ground him and prepare him for a lifetime of service.

Pleasure Boundaries

By Ralph Hephzy Freeman Ehiabhi

Let’s say you agree with my previous post— that with great love Jesus looks at you and says:

Trust me. I love you. Don’t have sex before marriage.

But that raises the question — what counts as having sex? Before you are married, how much sexual involvement is too much?

God’s Idea

It’s good to remember that sex is God’s idea. He created us with bodies that can give and receive sexual pleasure in a way that builds deep closeness, pleasure, and fun into a marriage.

So when a married couple enjoy sex together, seeing it as a gift of God’s mercy, and pursuing it as a way to serve each other — God is happy.

But What About Before Marriage?

We saw that God does not want us to have sex before marriage. But what exactly does that mean?

What does God want an engaged couple to do — or not do?

Flee From Sexual Immorality

That’s what God’s Word teaches (1Co 6:18). And we saw that Greek dictionaries define sexual immorality as sexual intercourse outside marriage.

But the point of the Greek dictionaries is not that outside marriage everything except sexual intercourse is permitted, Surely Paul would not say it’s OK for a married man to be sexually involved with someone not his wife as long as they don’t actually have intercourse.

So the Greek word “sexual immorality” covers more than just sexual intercourse. But where should an engaged couple draw the line?

Two Kinds of Activity

It’s helpful to distinguish activity which expresses affectionate love (like holding hands), from activity which involves sexual desire (like extensive kissing).

Affectionate love is content to enjoy the closeness. But sexual desire is different.

God created us in such a way that sexual desire naturally wants more — moving from one stage to the next, creating stronger and stronger desires, greater and greater pleasures, until it is satisfied in orgasm.

This is a great gift to marriage, as together you enjoy this excitement and pleasure, with the closeness and bonding it brings.

But what if you are not married, and are committed to not having sex? In that case, if you start to experience sexual pleasure together, you will want more, and will experience the frustration of needing to stop a process that — within marriage — God intended to continue.

A Better Way

So if you are engaged, why not commit to avoiding those actions that stir up sexual desire? Men, you will need to take the lead in establishing these boundaries since, generally speaking, you experience sexual desire sooner than women.

But why not avoid anything that stirs up sexual desire, and focus instead on building each other’s faith, getting to know each other’s personality, and expressing affection in ways that don’t stir up sexual desire?

Yes, that would take discipline. But it would take much less discipline than stopping sexual desire once it starts.

A Burning Fuse

Picture sexual activity like a fuse leading to dynamite which, once it is lit, burns more and more intensely and becomes harder and harder to put out.

If you are married, this dynamite can bring great good — love and closeness and intimacy.

But if you are not married, this dynamite can bring great harm — sin before God, and the pain of more closeness than your commitment to each other warrants.

So if you are not married, and don’t want the dynamite to explode — why light the fuse?

New Beginnings

What if you are engaged and have become too involved sexually — what can you do?

Here’s steps I would encourage —

• Pray over promises showing that God’s grace will forgive, change, free, and help you — like 1Jo 1:9; Luke 18:27; 1Co 6:9-11; 2Cor 5:17.
• Bring this to God, and confess it and fight the fight of faith until you experience assurance of forgiveness.
• Pray over promises in God’s Word until, by the work of the Spirit, you see and feel Christ as your greatest Treasure — greater than sexual pleasure, greater than your fiance or fiancee — promises like Phil 3:8; Matt 13:44; Psa 73:25-26; Psa 16:11; John 6:35.
• Pray and ask God to transform you and your relationship with your fiance or fiancee.
• Share all of this with your fiance or fiancee. Encourage them to take the above steps. Talk together and decide about changes you can make. Commit before the Lord to a new path, and ask for His grace to enable you. He will.

Feedback? Comments? Thoughts?

I’d love to hear them. Leave a reply below — thanks.

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Sex? Why not?

By Ralph Hephzy Freeman Ehiabhi

What Does the Bible Say About Sex Before Marriage?

I’ve heard too many people talk as if the Bible is not clear on this question. So let’s ask — where does the Bible clearly teach that premarital sex is wrong?

It’s true that the Bible does not use the phrase “premarital sex.” But what what the Bible does talk about is sexual immorality —

Flee from sexual immorality. I Cor 6:9

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of [Israel] did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 1 Cor 10:8

But sexual immorality … must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Eph 5:3

So when the Bible says sexual immorality is wrong — what exactly is it talking about?

What Is Sexual Immorality?

“Sexual immorality” is the English translation of the Greek word porneia. So what did porneia mean during New Testament times?

I looked this word up in Greek dictionaries, and they all said porneia meant “fornication.” And dictionary.com says fornication means “voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.” So porneia — sexual immorality — includes sex before marriage.

Friberg’s Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament agrees, saying that porneia meant “every kind of extramarital, unlawful, or unnatural sexual intercourse [including] fornication, sexual immorality, prostitution.” Extramarital means outside of marriage, which includes sex before marriage.

So porneia — sexual immorality — means sex before or outside of marriage.

So here’s how Paul’s readers would have heard 1Corinthians 6:9 —

Flee from any sex before or outside of marriage.

And 1 Corinthians 10:8 —

We must not indulge in sex before or outside of marriage as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

And Ephesians 5:3 —

But sex before or outside of marriage … must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Eph 5:3

So God’s Word is clear. The God who created us, and who created the joys of sex, commands that we not have sex before marriage.

But Why?

We don’t have to know the reasons. When we see Jesus’ love for us displayed on the Cross, we can be certain that Jesus loves us perfectly, passionately, completely. So, when we hear Him say — don’t have sex before marriage — we can trust that this command is part of His love for us.

But still, it can help to know why. So does Jesus ever explain why? I think He does — in Matthew 19:6 where Jesus is talking about marriage —

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

“One flesh” includes sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is a wonderful gift from God. Its intimacy and pleasure and vulnerability deeply bond a man and woman. This bonding brings great joy when nurtured and protected by love and commitment — but it brings great pain if it is broken.

So to bless and protect us, God commands that this profound closeness occur only between people who are committed to each other in marriage.

Someone once used the illustration of flypaper. Once two pieces of flypaper stick to each other, it’s impossible to separate the pieces without ripping them up. In the same way, once two people are joined through sexual intercourse, it’s impossible to separate the relationship without ripping them up.

But again — the main reason is that the Jesus who died for us on the Cross looks at us with burning love in His eyes and says —

Trust me — do not have sex before marriage.

Comments? Feedback?

I’d love to hear — leave a reply below. Thanks.

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Battling Sexual Temptation

– Ralph Hephzy Freeman Ehiabhi

No matter how much you have sinned sexually, how impossible change feels, or how powerfully you are being tempted — there’s good news.

Jesus Christ died and rose again. And so, if you will turn to Him as you are, and trust Him to forgive you, help you, change you, satisfy you — you can know you are completely forgiven, clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness, and passionately loved by God.

That’s precious beyond words.

But There’s More

God also promises to give you all the grace you need to overcome sexual temptation —

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2Cor 9:8)

And He promises that He will only allow you to face temptations that you, empowered by His grace, will be able to overcome —

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1Cor 10:13)

So through Christ, by faith alone, God will give you everything you need to fight sexual temptation.

Yes, Fight!

We don’t just let go and let God. Jesus calls us to fight sexual temptation.

Here’s how He put it in Mark 9:47 —

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown in to hell.

Not that your eye causes you to sin. A few chapters earlier Jesus said sin comes from the heart (Mark 7:21). So Jesus’ point is not that we fight sin by gouging out eyes. His point is that IF gouging out eyes would overcome sin, it would be well worth it. Which means we must spare no effort to fight sin.

So how do we fight sexual sin?

A Helpful Distinction

Sexual temptation has two parts.

There’s the physical craving for sexual feeling, activity, and fulfillment. And there’s also the emotional longing for sexual excitement, closeness, and pleasure.

God’s grace helps us deal with each of these differently.

The Physical Craving

Take the physical craving for sexual activity. This craving is not in itself sin, and is something God built into our bodies. But unless we are married and in a setting where this can be pursued in a way that serves our spouse, it must be resisted.

How? By relying on God’s promise that He is worth the discomfort, and by understanding that God has made our bodies so that in time the craving will diminish.

It’s like when you are fasting and crave food. This craving is not sinful. But if God has called you to fast, you must resist it by relying on God’s promise that He is worth the discomfort, and by knowing that in time the hunger will be gone.

The Emotional Longing

The emotional longing is different. This is not a longing we have to live with. This is a longing God promises to satisfy completely — in Himself.

I say that because of Psalm 73:25 —

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

God can so satisfy our hearts in Himself that we desire nothing else. All our emotional longings can be satisfied in knowing Him, beholding Him, and worshiping Him.

So What Can You Do When Tempted?

Joy in God comes from faith (Rom 15:13). Obedience comes from faith (Heb 11:8). The Spirit is provided by faith (Gal 3:5).

So what’s most important is not will-power, computer filters, or accountability.

These have their place. But what’s most important is strengthening our faith in Christ.

Here’s what I recommend:

Come to God as you are. Don’t try to change your heart first. Turn and trust Jesus Christ to forgive you, help you, free you, and satisfy you. By faith alone you can immediately be assured that you are forgiven and that God will fulfill all His promises to you (Luke 18:13-14).

Confess any sin that needs confessing. If you desire sex more than you desire Christ, have had lustful thoughts, or don’t believe He can overcome this temptation — confess your unbelief. Ask Him forgive and cleanse you. He will. He promises (1John 1:9).

Pray for the heart-changing work of theSpirit. The Holy Spirit can revive dead hearts (Isa 57:15), soften hard hearts (Eze 36:26), and free enslaved hearts (Rom 6:17). So pray earnestly for God to increase the work of His Spirit in you.

Set your heart on the truth of God’sWord. The word of God is the sword the Spirit uses to slay unbelief and lust (Eph 6:17). So pray over passages describing God’s incomparable glory, Christ’s all-satisfying love, and the Spirit’s heart-changing help, like Exo 33:18-19; Psa 138:5-6; Gal 2:20; 2Cor 8:9; Luke 18:27; 1John 5:4.

Pray over God’s Word until your emotional longing is satisfied in Christ. God promises that who He is in Christ will completely satisfy every emotional longing (see Psa 16:11; John 6:35; John 7:37-38; 1Pet 1:8). So press in with prayer and meditation until the Spirit strengthens your faith and you see and feel Christ as your all-satisfying Treasure.

Let that satisfaction stir you to resist the physical craving. Sometimes God supernaturally takes the physical craving away. But more often He calls us to endure that craving until it lessens. And what motivates us to endure is the taste of Christ’s all-satisfying glory and the promise of gaining more through our endurance (Matt 5:8; John 14:21). So plead with Him for help. See Him as your treasure. Then go for a walk. Run some sprints. Whatever. He is worth it all.

Do all you can to avoid temptation. We can go places, watch TV shows, and read books that increase the physical and emotional desire for sex. So — for the sake of gaining more joy in Christ forever — don’t. Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:12). Join him.

Comments? Feedback?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a reply below — thanks.

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Special Water

Growing up, I had friends who trained pigeons.

Back then I used to wonder how these pigeons got used to their new homes and owners.

How do these birds love their new home after spending just a few days?

I did wonder why they would fly far away to play and still come back to their cages.

It was like they were under a spell because I couldn’t fathom why birds that enjoy freedom and the wild, freely and easily give up what they love for a cage.

I was curious. I needed to know the tricks.
So I asked one of my friends what magical spell he was using to win the hearts of his pigeons.
I was amazed when he told me the secret he and other pigeon keepers used.

According to him, when he buys new pigeons, he would keep them in the cage to prevent them from flying away and then feed them with grains and “special water”.
“Special water”
Instead of giving the pigeons normal water, he added sugar to the water and gave them continuously for few days.
That was the secret.

It was the sweet water those pigeons fell in love with to the extent that when they were finally set free to fly around, no matter how far away they went, when they become thirsty they still went back home because home was the only place sweet water was served.

And guess what, these pigeons sometimes brought friends home.
As an individual what sweet water are you offering to people to make them love you and stay loyal to your brand.

Whatsoever is sweet will always attract. Try and drop a cube of sugar on the floor and you will be amazed at the number of ants that will visit that spot. If that sugar was discovered by one ant, that ant will go back and call a host of others.

This is the secret of customer acquisition, retention and growth. If one person is pleased with your product or service, he will be your self appointed marketer.

A sweet product, service and character is stronger than a magnetic force. It never repels but it always attracts.

Go on now and add some sugar to your life and watch the business grow.

THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS

In the English language, there isn’t really a word for the opposite of loneliness.

A quick Google search puts the word “popular” as the top hit, but I find the meaning of popular to be too contrived; it defines an outward setting, but misses the condition of the heart. After all, we can be completely surrounded by bodies, yet feel the emptiness of being alone.

I recently read a book of essays and short stories entitled “The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan. The article from which her collection of stories and essays proffers its name was first published in the Yale Daily News. Marina addresses her graduating class and speaks of the camaraderie and togetherness she experienced at Yale. It was this indefinable familiarity, which produced a potential energy to make her and her classmates feel worthwhile and abundantly capable.

In describing the opposite of loneliness Marina offers, “It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people who are in this together. Who are on your team.” It is difficult to nail down a concrete definition.

I’m finding that this opposite of loneliness is belonging. It is the knowing of loneliness that gives us an understanding of the opposite of loneliness.

We cannot know what it’s like to be “un-lonely” unless we have known what it’s like to feel alone. Perhaps this mystery lies in the fact that we have yet to fully experienced the true and complete opposite of loneliness, and so we don’t know how to label it.

As we walk this earth, even if we are happily married, happily single, immersed in a beautiful community, surrounded by loving friends and family, there is still a tinge of aloneness because we are not yet fully united with our Maker—the only unflawed, all-knowing being who is love and can fill every cavity of emptiness within us.

When that time comes we will experience a union with our God that will dismantle any form of loneliness because we will belong.

We will have found a place where we are made new; we will be fully known, fully loved and can fully know and fully love our God in return. Right now, in grace, we get a glimpse of this redemption, but it is not complete; for now we will inevitably fall short in loving rightly from time to time.

So what do we do in the interim? How do we live well now in the face of our loneliness?

We fight for those glimpses of belonging for both those around us and ourselves. There is great purpose in the here and now; passivity in waiting goes against our design. We won’t lose the longing to belong, so we harness that longing to propel our world toward Jesus’ return. We use our passions, with our eyes faithfully set on hope, to love with the love of Jesus now as best we can. And the mystery and thrill of it all is that this looks differently for each of us.

In the book of Hebrews, the author interrupts his description of many faithful lives before us to share an element each of them had in common…

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland…they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:13-16

Let us be people who hold the assurances of God in our hands courageously. Let us be people who, through the way we live, shed light on the distant homeland we seek and its promise to be whole and good. Let us lean into the inevitable loneliness now, to yearn more for the opposite of loneliness with eager expectation.

And when that day comes we will greet our Maker, having known what it is to feel alone, and experience the triumph of never having to know that feeling again. We will belong.

MEGAN SEXTON

A trip to Ajegunle

When we went to Ajegunle for the Lagos Street Store, some vessel inside of me broke.

I felt thoroughly abused by the reality called Nigeria. I’ve been through hell before, but this one was a new level of hell.

I never did a proper recount of our experience, it was intentional.

Those kids wanted something, anything. You could see the agony when you told them you didn’t have their size, their face dried up instantly.

You need to see mothers push to be on the queue for a rubber of rice, oil, tomatoes and seasoning.

One woman kept standing close to me…

Somehow she identified that if she did, something would get to her, I died inside of me.

Then we had to mark people’s hands when they got food, so they don’t come back.

We only served food to women, but one time I heard @Tee_Tayme Scream “Daddy, Na only women we Dey give”…

I had to nudge her to give him, whatever dignity broke inside him to stand in a queue of women to receive raw food, he needs the food.

There was this little girl that screamed “me I just want books o, what do I need clothes for”

It broke me that we didn’t bring books her age.

I remember his eyes when he said “uncle, I didn’t get clothes” I was probably frustrated enough but how could I scream “what do you want me to do?”

The little boy did have genuine heart, what would he wear this Christmas.

As the holiday passed, I remembered him many times.

When we needed rubbers to share the rice with, one woman in the market gladly gave us her tomato cup, I remember how she spoke Yoruba that I didn’t understand, something about it was cheerful when she asked me to keep her own specially.

Then the area boys that almost stopped us?

I wanted to understand them, I couldn’t. How do you ask me to pay to be good to you? How do you take my 5k and throw it in my face because it was not enough to buy you cheap alcohol and weed.

For that, you were willing to scatter our efforts, I desperately wanted to understand.

With their permed and dyed hair, weed in one hand, chanting gibberish and showing feats of violence, how could any set of people be so self absorbed.

I remember the Iyaloja who stood to tell them that if they do anything to us, they’ve done it to her.

What would have happened?

I look back at all of it and realise that as @amb_ore says it, “when these kids grow up, take one bus to the island and realise that life has been unfairly distributed, then they pick up guns or their laptops to level the differences, I hope we all accept our roles in this evil?”

In fact when our bus first came, one of the locals said “Na PDP abi Na APC?” I hated that all he knew good to be was something that had a leash on his neck, something that says “to eat, you must vote for me”

Are we dogs? Are we children of ghouls, is Nigeria a haunted house?

I’ve had to take a virtual course at MIT on the challenges of global poverty even more recently and the realities are daunting. Food prices, labour costs, the lot, are indicators of doom for the Nigerian.

18000 minimum wage? Let me tell you the dynamics of that in Nigeria.

Do you know how much half a bag of rice is? About 9k. Half of minimum wage gone

I spit on your grave If you are going to tell Nigerians to live within their means from the comfort of your banana island and Lekki homes, at least take a trip to Ajegunle, I beg you, just one trip.

People have less than enough to feed, go to their jobs, pay children’s fees, and other health issues.

You know what is a global issue? Mosquito nets, should we give them to Africa for free or not?

Economists don’t have answers, whether foreign aid is helping Africa or not.

The man who is lucky enough to get a 20k paying job, is dead the day his son comes down with cholera from bad drinking water, because his salary doesn’t cover medical emergency, you can’t afford to be sick, how could you of your own volition just become sick?”

When I was serving in Enugu, my boss reduced the old cleaners salary by 1k because she didn’t come early to work one day out of 21.

She didn’t complain, she thanked him, but I saw it in her eyes, when I gave her back that 1k. I saw it.

We can’t keep preaching poverty economics

Real people are trapped behind poverty lines, depression? Na who don’t chop Dey Dey depressed nau.

As we drove off, the kids started singing “Able God” we smiled and laughed so heartily.

Were they content to live within their means? Ajegunle never answered that question for me.

It’s close to two years that I volunteered to teach maths at maiyegun primary school for 5 hours per week. I saw it, I did.

Sodiq was been flogged everyday because he couldn’t afford N2000 uniforms, I had to buy for him.

Rasheedat never wanted to go home after school, no food.

I got her lunch everyday and you could see her top the class in assignments, I remember her dada hair, I didn’t even know it was a girl for weeks.

Sodiq would come to the front of the class, sit on the floor to take notes, I never knew for weeks that he was short sighted…

He never got my class works right, I was supposed to teach for 1hour per week until I realised that the school had primary 5 A, B, C, D and E and each class had at least 60 students.

I remember @Ibukun__ coming to teach with me on one of those days. at least you saw it too.

Kids who ruled their books in halves so they could save pages. There’s that too.

But zoom out of this local school in Lekki are schools like whitesands just across the road, meadow hall, the lot.

We can’t isolate ourselves from the problems, we really can’t.

I was glad when @BankyW ran for office, these were things I would have shared with him, because a5 least, we would have access to help create equitable systems that levels society in say 20 years.

Policy can do that, legislation can.

We can’t keep glossing over real problems.

We are making huger plans for the Lagos Street Store this year, we’ve held two street stores in Osun and Enugu, it’s been massive.

We are meeting new partners, thank you @duchesskk and the @freesanitarypad team, your support overwhelmed us.

There’s more, we have to do more.

The team at @TheLagosSS phenomenal guys, I would love to name names, but we have decided to not beat a gong about our efforts, we will just keep doing.

Can’t be blind to a reality, we won’t attack pseudo issues like population expansion when the ones alive never chop.

Nah Fam.

I’ve received a lot of requests to donate to the event. @paystack has made that happen for us.

Last year, we fed 300 families, we hope to do more this year. Writing materials for kids, maybe a medical outreach, increase number of families fed to 1000.

Pay for The Lagos Street Store – PaystackOpening this link alone tells us that you have a heart for others just like we do and we are thankful. With your support, we will make Christmas a delightful experience for those who can’t for thems…https://bit.ly/donatetoLSS

AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE

BY RHONNI GREIG

In the field of special education, students with disabilities are often referred to as children with exceptional needs. As I reflect on the countless students I have worked with over the years, I am reminded of what it means to truly live an exceptional life.

As a speech and language pathologist and a student of “narrative” language, I have come to learn that we tell ourselves stories and then we live by the stories we tell ourselves.

This has never been truer as I consider my own life’s story. From a very young age I have always been directed to the cheerleading frontlines and sometimes broken pathways of working and engaging with the marginalized and disenfranchised in both my professional and my personal life—with my ultimate endeavor to be an instrument of hope, belonging, and restoration for those who have been abandoned on the periphery of opportunity and acceptance.

If asked what my spiritual gifts were, I would most confidently list mercy-showing and exhortation, but I know that these ministry gifts that God gives so freely are only a small reflection of my passion to impact lives through the love and kindness God has first extended to me.

Working with children with special needs I have witnessed them learning to walk (and sometimes crawl) among the ashes that were not of their own making. In those moments of overcoming great obstacles, I have been gifted with a rare glimpse into the shadows of triumphs that can bring redemption to life and work.

In my therapy sessions with students I see why these amazing children are considered exceptional.

It’s hard to describe what happens in the human heart when, in a moment of time, a child’s self-identity is redefined. “Disability” is no longer a part of their personal narrative. The knowledge and perspective of “possibility” releases an inner feeling that can only be described as pure joy for both the student and me the therapist.

Recently, I was captivated by the concept of ‘the glory of God’ which we read about in vivid descriptions in scripture and I wondered if there was a possible connection between God’s glory and our human experience of inner joy and contentment. I was intrigued by a message I heard from a dear friend and pastor from England, Mike Pilavachi, as he reflected on the life of Moses in the book of Exodus; and Moses’ bold request for God to reveal His glory to him.

I thought—the nerve, and in some ways the presumption of Moses! It’s not as if Moses’ life was lacking of any proof of God’s provision and presence—or His glory. God overwhelmingly displayed His glory to Moses in a multitude of ways from the burning bush, the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the sea, His daily provision of manna, through a pillar of fire by night—and the cloud by day.

But somehow even after experiencing all of those signs, Moses still felt that he hadn’t yet truly experienced God’s glory. So Moses prays, “Show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Really? What more could God do to demonstrate His glory to the people He loved?

The astounding beauty of this exchange between God and Moses is how delicately and intimately God answers Moses’ honest request. God responds. It is not with another supernatural display of His manifest presence such as fire, thunder, lightning or shaking of the earth, but rather God’s response is a close and private exchange in a crevice of a mountain,

And the Lord passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands…”
Exodus 34:6-7

In this exchange God’s Holy presence is tenderly intertwined with His words of remembrance about His character and nature toward mankind. God makes it very clear to Moses that His real glory is proclaimed and revealed through the simple acts and gestures of goodness, mercy, and compassion.

What a revelation to everything within me that calls out for an authentic experience of God. Could it be that in those moments when we are compelled to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God that, God is quietly and affectionately invading our story and ushers in His glory through uncomplicated acts of goodness, mercy, and compassion.  The fruit of which releases “joy” to our soul.

If true, I’m deeply humbled and yet also profoundly moved to receive this great gift God extends to the followers of Jesus Christ—that through the work of His Holy Spirit, when we are afforded the honor to represent the Heavenly Father’s mercy, grace, and goodness—the very nature of God—the glory of God is revealed and I experience His joy. What an exceptional life!

The Apostle Paul understood very well the purpose and effect of seeing and experiencing the glory of God,

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18

Paul is telling us that once you receive this revelation of God’s glory—of his love, mercy, grace and long-suffering—the Holy Spirit will continually open our eyes to more of these aspects of God’s nature and character. We have an ever-increasing revelation of God, in the way God wants to be known to us!

As David Wilkerson paraphrases the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:15-16, “I have within me much more than some doctrine somebody thought up, more than just a head knowledge of Christ. I have a revelation of who Christ is—a revelation of his grace, mercy and love. And this revelation has become the very source of all I am and do. It’s the very essence of my life!”—an exceptional life.

Scripture tells us that when Moses experienced this revelation of God’s glory in the cleft of the mountain—the revelation that God is good, loving, caring, gracious, forgiving—Moses quickly fell to his knees and began to worship,

So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
Exodus 34:8

As I worship God today in gratitude and thanksgiving, I too boldly ask to see His glory in my life. Suddenly my eyes and heart open to the young pregnant mother who was just informed that the child within her womb has severe chromosomal abnormalities and will probably not survive the pregnancy, and if the child survives the pregnancy probably will not survive the delivery, and if the child survives the delivery—will not survive his first breath. The courage of this young mother to say, “I will not end the life of this child. He has value and a soul and I will carry him, give birth to him, hold him and pray over him for as long as God gives him life.” Through this young mother’s narrative—I experience God’s glory and bear witness to an exceptional life.

This young mother’s story and the many other young mothers and fathers I have been blessed to work with over the years—add beauty to my life. They help to write a narrative of an exceptional life—worthy of God’s love, mercy, compassion, and sacrifice.

A favorite lyric of mine written by the worship leader Sara Groves reminds me that, “their pain changed me, their dreams inspired, their faces a memory, their hope a fire. Their courage asks me what am I afraid of—what am I made of and what I know of love. And what I know of love.”

Today, God hands each of us a pen to write the stories we tell ourselves—our narrative. Within our grasp is a story filled with tales of God’s goodness, mercy, and compassion—His glory helping to define an exceptional life.

We also have the great privilege and sacred opportunity to inspire others to discover and write their own stories. Is there a friend or individual God is encouraging you to help write—or rewrite their story out of the ashes?

Discover and embrace your spiritual gifts and experience God’s glory as you write your narrative and help others to find the words to their story—experience the joy that comes when you chose to live an exceptional life of love, mercy, compassion, and sacrifice!

Here are some ways to use your spiritual gifts with families of special needs children and those on the margins of life’s opportunity:

▪ Volunteer to mentor a child with special needs in your church’s Sunday School
▪ Offer to babysit for a family with a child with special needs
▪ Volunteer for your local chapter of Special Olympics
▪ Host a “play date” for mothers with special needs children
▪ Begin a “Special Needs” family ministry at your church
▪ Help a family with special needs children find the resources in your community for social, academic, and vocational assistance
▪ Help to eliminate the feelings of isolation and abandonment that families with special needs children experience by inviting them to parties, gatherings, Bible studies, and vacations
▪ Volunteer at a women’s shelter
▪ Become a foster parent to a needy child