Friday, June 23, 2023
Thursday, June 22, 2023
How I Killed My Wife
Yesterday, I went to interview a preacher. He came three hours late to his church, venue of our meeting and I was a bit angry. But when he explained what kept him, not only did I forgive him quickly and learned some lessons, but I decided to share this with you so that some of us could learn.
Husbands and wives should learn how to settle their quarrels without delay. I have seen situations where couples allow simple disagreement to fester for days. Husband is silently hurting, expecting the wife to speak to him first; same for the wife, hurting and expecting the husband to play the man. The waiting game leads from one thing to the other. If you are at this level of matrimony, please read this. You might have a reason to call your spouse and together take an oath that “OUR QUARREL WOULD NOT LAST BEYOND THAT MOMENT.”
The story as told by the reverend: Husband and his wife (his church members) had a domestic disagreement one morning. The man said he was so bitter about it, claiming his wife knew she was wrong but refused to apologise. She felt it was a non-issue and the husband should overlook easily. To say “I am sorry, darling” to her husband was difficult for her. So many people are like that. So many wives take their husbands for granted too much. We are humans. Blood flows in our veins.
Three days on, malice reigned in the house. The husband said he must get that “I am sorry.” Wife cooked, husband refused to eat. Every day he came home with food from the restaurant. He boycotted matrimonial bed. Husband found new friends in the children; same with the wife. By the way, the children were too small to break the ice. I’ve been there before. Thank God I am wiser now.
On Sunday, last Sunday, they went to church in their different cars but sat side by side during service, pretending to be jolly good husband and wife. Fraud in the house of God! May God forgive some husbands and wives. But after service, husband went home with the children while she waited for women’s meeting. That day, Satan decided to enter the crevice they allowed in their home.
The husband was home already. When he perfunctorily checked his phone, his wife had called him thrice. He disregarded calling her back. Malice. The wife drove in some forty minutes later. He saw Usman opening the gate for her as his phone went on ringing. He checked it. It was his wife. She was in her car at the garage already. What is she calling me for? Foolish and stubborn wife! He said and ignored her calls. The call went on for a while. He ignored it as he sat with the TV.
Thirty minutes later, she did not come in. Something told him to go and check. Is she still in the car? Yes she must be there. He called Usman, Is madam in the car? Few minutes later, Usman rushed in, “Madam dey sleep inside the car o!”
That was when he woke up and rushed downstairs. Asthma! Could she be having her usual attack? Could she have forgotten her inhaler?
He quickly took the inhaler and rushed downstairs. When he got there, she was almost breathless. Usman and husband quickly carried her to the back seat and off he sped like a bat out of hell to the clinic nearby. Madam was confirmed dead! If he had picked her call early enough, probably she could have been saved.
When you leave domestic disagreement to fester for too long, it leads to greater evil. The preacher said the husband is weeping mad, blaming himself: “I killed my wife!”
Only God knows how many wives, husbands, children have died such a needless death. Couples must cultivate one another. No matter how angry I am with my wife; I, in my office; she, in her shop; I call her at least three times during the day. I call even when I have no reason to call. All I would say is, “Where are you? Anything for your boyfriend?” I am not saying this to impress anybody, but because it is true.
— Author Unknown
Meditation: Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. – Ephesians 4:31
You will succeed in Jesus Name!
The Best and Worst of God's Creations
The best of all God’s creations are humans; the worst of all God’s creations are humans. We all live true to that statement per time in our thoughts, choices, attitudes, actions and inactions.
-Babatunde Oladele
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
The Many Names Of Jesus
The Many Names of Christ
To the ARTIST He is the One Altogether Lovely.
To the ARCHITECT He is the Chief Corner Stone.
To the BAKER He is the Living Bread.
To the BANKER He is the Hidden Treasure.
To the BIOLOGIST He is the Life.
To the BUILDER He is the Sure Foundation.
To the CARPENTER He is the Door.
To the DOCTOR He is the Great Physician.
To the EDUCATOR He is the Great Teacher.
To the ENGINEER He is the New and Living Way.
To the FLORIST He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.
To the GEOLOGIST He is the Rock of Ages.
To the HORTICULTURIST He is the True Vine.
To the JUDGE He is the Righteous Judge, Judge of All Men.
To the JEWELER He is the Pearl of Great Price.
To the LAWYER He is the Counselor, the Lawgiver, the Advocate.
To the NEWSPAPER He is the Good Tidings of Great Joy.
To the OCULIST He is the Light of the Eyes.
To the PHILANTHROPIST He is the Unspeakable Gift.
To the PHILOSOPHER He is the Wisdom of God.
To the PREACHER He is the Word of God.
To the SCULPTOR He is the Living Stone.
To the SERVANT He is the Good Master.
To the STATESMAN He is the Desire of All Nations.
To the STUDENT He is the Incarnate Truth.
To the THEOLOGIAN He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.
To the TOILER He is the Giver of Rest.
To the SINNER He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World.
To the CHRISTIAN He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Redeemer and the Lord.
— Author Unknown
Meditation: Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11
You will succeed in Jesus Name!
Two Heads Are Not Always Better Than One
It is not always true that two or more heads are better than one. If the premise is wrong, a plurality of input will not produce quality output no matter the number.
-Babatunde Oladele
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Our Own Way
Currently, we have our seven-year-old grandson visiting us. Julian is delightful and thoroughly enjoyable to be around, when he is getting his way. One day this past summer, as we were on our way to the swimming pool, I stopped to indulge his request for an ice cream cone. He decided he wanted a “Big Blast.” He was all smiles as he devoured the horrid-looking blue drink with whipped cream topping.
Our next stop was the video store. When we finally found one he had not seen, I checked it out and was on my way out the door, when I noticed that Julian was not behind me. He had discovered a Nintendo game. By the time we finally left the store, he’d talked me into letting him play for about 30 minutes. Then I had to make a quick stop at a nearby department store for the pair of jeans I’d promised him.
By the time we came out of the department store–without the jeans (he had now decided he wanted a type of jeans the store did not carry)–it was 4:40 pm.
“Julian,” I said, “we are going to have to wait until tomorrow to go swimming. It is too late to swim today.”
He folded his arms abruptly across his chest, stuck out his bottom lip and began to pout and cry. “I want to swim today!” he said, pouting all the way home.
I thought how we adults are like that. Even though many of us are more indulged than most people on this planet and get most of our heart’s desires, we do the same thing in more subtle ways when things don’t go our way.
Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.” When you think about it, our “own way” is one of the things we cherish most in life and the thing that keeps us as our own “lord,” or boss of our own lives. Our own way is usually in direct opposition to God’s will and sometimes in opposition to the will of those closest to us. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.”
If we left Julian to his own way, he would be so spoiled that he could not get along in life and could never have working relationships. He must learn that sometimes, when he gets his way, he will not get what he really wants in the long run, which, in this case, was to go swimming on that particular day. Instead, he had frittered his time away doing things that– while not really wrong– were not what he most wanted to achieve that day. He needed the guidance of a wiser, caring mind. He needed discipline with love that would teach him and direct him to the wiser path. Had he listened to this guidance, he could have had what he most desired.
If we ask Him, God will show us the path He has for us, but He does not force us. “`For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. `For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'” Isaiah 55:8-9.
Jesus said, “I AM the WAY, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.” In Christ’s life, in His death, burial and resurrection on our behalf, the way of salvation and the way of life has been made available to us through faith in Him and what He has done for us. To take our own path is to perish. To take His is life eternal.
By Daphne Harrington
You will succeed in Jesus Name!
The Best Way To Excel
Compartmentalising our dispositions is the best way to excel on all fronts; no same disposition is suitable for all life contexts. Intelligence, humility, confidence, aggression, etc. are examples of dispositions. Where you need intelligence to perform, humility, confidence or aggression may not be necessary to deliver there; the same way intelligence may not serve you where humility is required, and so on.
-Babatunde Oladele
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