The Essence of CHRISTMAS

Christmas? What is Christmas?

This question may sound funny to most of us. Some of us may even ask what sort of question is that, who do not know what Christmas is? but I would like you to take out time to answer this question. Well, the general consensus, most likely will be “Christmas is the celebration of the birth of CHRIST.” Well, that is very correct to most people but I will beg to differ a little.

I believe we all know the story behind Christ’s coming to this Earth (that is HIS birth), for some of us that do not know it and those that do know it but do not really recognize it; The only reason CHRIST was born was because the Earth was filled with sin, in essence if the Earth was free of sin, then there would be no need for HIM to be born. This means that the Almighty in HIS kindness, looked down on us (HIS creation) and not wanting us to perish in hell had to send HIS only begotten to die for us (John 3:16).

Hence, I want to categorically state that CHRISTMAS is the celebration of GOD’s LOVE on HIS creation (Gen. 1:26a), this is my personal meaning of the word CHRISTMAS and based on this view, I will like to debunk the notion that this yuletide season is a period of squandering money, gallivanting about (flexing), or eating rice and chicken or new clothes or what style of hair to make or where to go, rather it is

-  A season of thanking the Almighty for this gift of CHRISTMAS (Luke 2:10-20)   

-  A season of showcasing/spreading HIS love to all men (saved and unsaved).

-  A season of witnessing the gospel of Christ (This is very essential)                                                                                                                                                                    

These are just few points that I would like to make, so please as we all celebrate this season let’s have this in our hearts, that this is our period to glow forth in His glory and love.

Merry CHRISTMAS!!!

Love you all.

LOVE ON A TREE

Was walking down the path all alone
dejected, rejected, my hopes lost and gone
path after path I took left me disappointed
The joy I sought after, the peace I longed for
was all but a mirage that shone before me glitter glitter
I would turn on yet another path
hurriedly approach my supposed answer, the end of my search
and one more time I would meet my deranged self
staring down at nothing but dust and dry leaves, an empty package
I couldn’t like this I was done.

I trudged on and on `cos even If I couldn’t what I sort for
I could at least reach my end whatever way It was
and just when I thought the end was near
I was at a crossroad, yet another decision maker
to a side, a familiar scene
just at the near end was a bright package
it shone in all Its glory, very beautiful, very promising all for me
probably containing all my heart so longed for
but my lesson was already learnt
I couldn’t handle anymore disappointment, not anymore
and although the other path showed no promise
it was way better than one more heartbreak If fruitless
as I turned my heart stayed on
everything in me would love to just try and see
nevertheless I turned aside
and even though my legs wouldn’t move I pushed on
with a broken heart, a wounded soul and dry bones
I took a new path with no hope none at all

As I walked along up the path I chose
I couldn’t understand why it seemed so difficult
I now totally regretted my choice of path
I so longed for the easy though disappointing path
and just when I would turn back
something caught my attention something different
`twas a tree, just a tree? You may ask
but this tree was different and it carried something special

I took a step closer, closer an yet as step closer
I took a look closer and there right there
Love hung on a tree
I couldn’t believe it
the tree wasn’t decorated neither the path silver plated
nothing gave a clue, infact none would have guessed
that right here In the midst of hopelessness, nothingness
Love, love hung on a tree
Love died to set me free
and though I never knew such a sacrifice was made just for me
it was there all the time
I now acknowledged my mistakes and believed on the mystery that
when nothing would do
Love lifted me

There must be a mistake I assured myself
or had I taken the easy going path
`cos love, the best life had to offer
could not have hung on a tree on a path so dejected
but then I took just another closer look down the path
right at the far end a light shone
a light like I had never seen before
wasn’t a mirage but an actual light
and the light had a life, it had a voice
it called out to me
it beckoned me
it reached out to me
it said ‘son come home’

There that was what I’ve been looking for
Hope, Joy, Peace and it all began with love, love on a tree
and though it wasn’t a race against anyone
I ran for all I was worth
the path that seemed difficult and tense
lay like plains so easy before me
When I fainted, I soared with wings like eagles
and as I ran I met so many people running like me
even made friends with faith grace and mercy
Now as I continually run with vigor
paths appear before me but change my course I won’t
I now have one hope, one home
and that’s at the end of this path

 

Written by

Ezeonyeka, Godswill

 

Edited by

Me

TRUST

TRUST is what a blind person has for his/her guide that the guide will not hurt or harm him/her.
TRUST is what we as toddlers had for our parents that made us feel secure around them.
TRUST is all that GOD desires from us.
ARE YOU WILLING TO TRUST?

LOVE

This four letter word has more definitions than the one’s each of us have ever heard or imagined. Its definition varies from person to person, and for that reason I want to be very cautious with my definition.

I do not know about you guys but from my observation of my immediate environment, this word “LOVE” has done more HARM than good. “HARM?!!!” Yes harm, it may sound surprising but that is the bitter and unfortunate truth. This is so because most of us (youths) have mistaken, misplaced and replaced the true meaning of this word LOVE.

1 Cor. 13:4-7 lists or enumerates the qualities of love. From this passage we are made to understand that LOVE is; PATIENT, KIND, JUST, TRUTHFUL, FAITHFUL, HOPE, ENDURES, FORGIVES and permit me to add that LOVE TRUSTS.

Now we have all seen the qualities of love and are beginning to get a picture of the meaning of this word. But I must say that the qualities of this word can and will never be truly defined without GOD. For the Bible state it clearly that “God is love” and without God there is no love. Jhn 3:16-17 tells us all that we need to know about LOVE.

What is more than that? OR do I say “What sacrifice is more than that?” My answer, which I believe should be same with some of us, is NONE. All the qualities of love from 1 Cor. 13:4-7 are encompassed in the story of the Son of God “JESUS”.

On a final note, I will like to chip a friend’s definition of love; he said “love is the surrendering of our priviledge and preferences”.

ARE YOU WILLING TO SURRENDER?

Aluu 4

‘Aluu 4’, another dent in the already fragile structure of a nation we so much pledge to uphold. ‘Aluu 4’, a nightmare which eyes who saw it, will never forget. ‘Aluu 4’, a tale we would never forget to have heard. ‘Aluu 4’, another stain on the soiled sheet of ‘Green Land’. ‘Aluu 4’, a sacrifice that was not necessary. ‘Aluu 4’, a mistake that tomorrow will always remind us of. ‘Aluu 4’, the birth of an awareness. ‘Aluu 4’, the death of hope and four lineage. ‘Aluu 4’, the list is inexhaustible. 
The men in black and khaki might beat their chest and applaud themselves for a job well done in rounding up or nabbing the instigators of this heinous crime; but why shout victory when they could have averted it? Why shout victory when they encouraged it by moving away? Why shout victory when they could not stand and protect the citizens/enforce the law? Why shout victory when they could have been saviours? Must we always be REACTIVE instead of PROACTIVE? We cry for their blood, we demand for justice, we plead that the hands of justice catch up with them quickly, we ask all this in good faith; but wait! Why be in a hurry to create another history today when the lessons of yesterday have not been learnt? Why cry for justice when this same act will happen again in our watch and we will troop out in mass to the streets shouting “murder” “murder”? Are we not tired of writing comments and condemning actions?
Well, a man at 52 will be wise enough not to let the mistakes of days past become a pattern or lifestyle he gets accustomed to; but if he does, he is not short of being called a fool. I refuse to believe that we are fools. I refuse to believe that we are incompetent. I refuse to believe that we have learnt no lesson from this. I refuse to believe that we have become non-wiser from this scar. I believe that there are grey hairs who escaped this barbaric lifestyle and wouldn’t want to see it flourish in our generation. So let them speak forth, for ears are itching to listen, minds are waiting to reason, hands are waiting to scribble and act; so that a generation and its successors would be salvaged from the barbaric age we are walking into. But woe to that grey, bald or curled hair that will laugh at this and say this is our way of life. Woe to he or she that will not learn from this.

NB: It is a relief to nab the culprits, but truth be told: Justice will flex its hammer, yet it won’t bring them back, but the lessons learned and corrections made, would save a lot of future(s) out there.

Written by

Arua, Samuel

Edited by

Godwin, Emmanuel

Quote of the Day (FRIENDSHIP)

“There is no fight more important than friendship”

Culled from Cars 2

HERO

You are not a hero because you saved the world. You are not a hero because the world stands still in applause at the sight of you. You are not a hero because you are putting on a costume designed to your taste. You are not a hero because everybody on the street wants to get a shot with you and wants your autograph. You are not a hero because of all these.
That day you fed that hungry child, that day you helped to that old man/woman with those loads; that day you put a smile on that child’s face on the street, that day you went out of your way to give help where no one else would; that day you saved a soul from dying from hunger, that day you beat your chest and said “I will never rest until these ones have a reason to smile”, that day you became a reason for someone to smile because of your good deeds, that day; you became a HERO.
With every knowledge comes a consciousness, with every consciousness comes power, and with every power comes the responsibility to protect, influence and even to cause change lives. Looking at the faces passing by on the street, even those who call themselves ordinary, I see people who have the power to cause change, I see people who can affect the root of the society, I see people who can give hope to the common person, I SEE HEROES.
You know, there is no one who was born with something that the society does not need, so look inside of your very own, there is a HERO THAT LIES IN YOU.
LOOK FOR A FACE TODAY, PUT A SMILE ON IT, AND BECOME A HERO.

By

Arua, Samuel

Edited by 

Godwin, Chibueze

BE THAT CHANGE

Change as is commonly said is the only constant or permanent thing in life. The dictionary and everyone has his/her unique definition for this word CHANGE, this is based on our unique views. For this reason I won’t be giving any definition for this word yet.

Change is a process, so it definitely can’t be accomplished in a day as most of us “should” have realized by now, so in order to effect change one has to be extremely patient. Now, that’s enough on CHANGE because that’s not the topic.

This week, we (the noble citizens of this GREAT country) celebrate the 52^nd year of independence. I’m certain some of us will be saying “so? It’s not like we have anything or any reason to celebrate” but I must let us know that we do have everything or reason to celebrate, I’ll explain a little.

-  For those of us that follow happenings around the World, we must have heard of the “Arab spring” It started as a Peaceful protest and escalated to a very violent one and for some, civil war (most recently Syria over 18 months of war now). What’s the reason for all these chaos? They want a change of leadership, they’re tired of their dictator leaders. In Africa, three countries were involved in this violence (Tunisia, Egypt and Libya), hundreds if not thousands of lives were lost during these “protests” and property worth millions of dollars were lost just to oust those leaders. Go back some 16 years (1996), we never thought (not even in our dreams) that DEMOCRACY was possible in this land (NIGERIA), yet we had a seamless transition into democracy, no bloodshed or destruction of property. Isn’t that enough reason to be joyful?

- Nigeria has 3 major ethnic groups and over 250 tribes from what I hear (I’m not sure yet) and with all our ethno-diversity and inter-tribal conflicts, notably the civil war that lasted about 3 years (1967-1970), we haven’t lost lives at the rate which RWANDA (that has 2 tribes HUTSI’s and TUTSI’s) lost lives in a one month inter-tribal war, over 1 million people were killed in a MONTH!!!!! Shouldn’t we celebrate?

- NATURAL DISASTERS; aside the current flooding (which I won’t term a natural disaster rather a product of bad drainage channels) NIGERIA has nothing to worry about nature’s forces, not too far from us here in neighbouring CAMEROUN, they suffer the wrath of volcanic eruptions. AMERICA with HURRICANE KATRINA and most recently HURRICANE ISAAC also EARTHQUAKES and TORNADOES (TWISTERS) here and there. ASIAN countries always hit by MONSOONS and TYPHOONS, most recently TYPHOON TEMBIM. We don’t suffer all these, so why shouldn’t we be happy?

- NATURAL RESOURCES; This country has been blessed by GOD with numerous natural resources; TIN, GOLD, COAL, COLUMBITE, CRUDE OIL, a very fertile soil for agricultural produce etc. Most of these resources haven’t been harnessed at all with our over-dependence on “BLACK GOLD”, this land is a haven or evidence of GOD’s riches, truly the land is GREEN (thanks TY Bello).

- By my rating this is by far the most important of them all; HUMAN RESOURCES: We’re blessed with the best of people in every sphere of life. Yes every sphere, from the Leaders to the least significant citizen (if there’s anything like that) in the country. This point is where my topic comes to play, like I stated earlier NIGERIA is blessed with the best of HUMAN RESOURCE, the only challenge is that most of these human resources have just sealed their heart with the notion that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, good can come out of this nation, but I want to counter this notion. All this country needs is someone somewhere to begin that change, I’ll give instances.

·        We’ve been known to work with “African” time and that’s the reason a 2 hours meeting that’s to end by 12pm by original schedule would just be starting by 11:15am (an alarming 1 hour 15 minutes late). This is the case in a lot of gatherings or meetings that is associated with time, now that happens because everyone involved in such meeting believes that other participants of the meeting will also come late, so they consciously decide to go late for the meeting even when they could have been 30 minutes early. This cliché “AFRICAN TIME” can only stop when we all decide to come on time for every of our meetings. You’ll be surprised how this little change will positively change our lives.

·        Some of us just decide to break rules because we believe that we can always bribe our way out of trouble for the fact that the official in-charge is corrupt. We haven’t realized the fact that we (the people giving bribe) are actually the corrupt ones and for those that may say they were forced to give the bribe, have you considered what will happen if you just do what’s right? You won’t have to face any charges, the official will have no one to collect bribe from, hence turning or do I say transforming the official to a noble citizen (that’s one better human resource) for the country.

·        PATIENCE; we’re known to be “RUSHians” which has led to several/numerous mistakes (most notably fatal car accidents). We also rush to condemn our leaders, elders, friends, subordinates or younger ones. We don’t give them the opportunity to explain themselves, we seem to forget what the BIBLE says about the tongue (life and death are in the power of the tongue), we rush to curse and condemn people yet we want them to perform, how is that possible? It’s really difficult, please mind what you say about anyone because it may just come back to haunt you, remember:

WORDS ARE LIKE EGGS ONCE THEY’RE OUT OF YOUR MOUTH (BREAK), YOU CAN NEVER GET THEM BACK

OR

WORDS ARE SEEDS, ONCE SPOKEN WILL COME TO PASS NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES, except GOD changes it.

- LOVE: This is another virtue, which we desperately need in this country, the importance of LOVE cannot be over-emphasized, even the BIBLE explains the importance (of all the fruits of the spirit, LOVE is the greatest). If we all exhibit this virtue, there won’t be cases of tribalism or inter-tribal wars or conflict. LOVE is the only thing that can make us tolerate each other and accept each and everyone of us for who we are not minding TRIBE, CULTURE, GENDER, EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION, SOCIETAL STATUS or RELIGIOUS BELIEF. With LOVE, this beautiful nation of ours will definitely be heading for greater heights.

There are many more but I’ll stop with these few, remember NIGERIA is ours what becomes of HER is up to us. BE THAT CHANGE, it begins with YOU.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIGERIA

GOD BLESS NIGERIA

LOVE YOU ALL…..