Feeling important

“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”

John Dewey.

Tell me how many people you know of, that have done some very stupid things just to get attention?

I don’t want to critize, judge or offend anyone, but just think about it for a second,  how many people have you seen on TV or Internet,  social media and websites doing some unthinkable  or crazy stuff, such as posting  nude pictures or videos in order to get more likes, especially on facebook or tweeter? And Why? had you ever ask yourself that?

That’s a good question I must say, but I’m not sure if I can give you the right answer for it because I had never done it before. However I can make some few assumptions why those who do it, do it.

The first one is, I think they have a very beautiful body and they are not ashamed to show it to the whole world.

The second one is,  they don’t see anything wrong with that, “It’s a free world, if you have it why not flaunt it.” Right?

The third reason is, I think it’s because of low self esteem,  the more ikes and comments they get,  the more they feel good about themselves. But do they like themselves after that? I don’t know.

The last reason I can think of is directly linked to the one I just mentioned, of the low self esteem problem – I think they want to feel important,  they want to be noticed, accepted, adored and appreciated.

As John Dowey put it, to feel important is one of the most deepest urge in human beings.  People would rob, kill, steal and even hurt themselves in order to feel or treated important. Tell me how many stories have you read about ordinary kids, from ordinary families,  going out to the community or to the other side of town, shooting and killing people for no reason or whatsoever, except that they did it because it made them feel good or look cool infront of their friends, when they are asked? How many stories have you read of ordinary people again, going out in attempt or success of  killing a president or someone of that caliber so that their names can be added in history books, not as one of the people who made the world become a better place but as one of the killers who killed the greatest men in history? Do you know how many teenagers had cut themselves and some had attempted or succeeded to commit suicide in order to get attention or In order to feel important, appreciation, love from their family or peers.

It was William James who said “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” Starve a person food for a day, he can survive, but starve a person this thing, appreciation or the feeling to feel important and you will provoke the animalistic side of him that you didn’t know exist and the results can be disastrous. Human beings can go to extremes in order to feel important, as I mentioned above some will do some unthinkable things just to be accepted and appreciated. We both know people who will spend their last dime on clothing or cars to impress people they don’t know or who even care if they suffer or not, don’t we?  And I think you already know why.

My friend it’s not wrong to have this desire, in fact we all do, we all want to feel important,  appreciated,  accepted,  loved – but we shouldn’t do that through the expense of others or of ourselves.

Don’t lose yourself respect or the respect of others,  just in the name of “I want to feel important”. If you want to feel important,  do something important – like serving mankind and you will be treated like an important person,  because you are.

The Lord Jesus said these powerful words 2000 years ago “and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” Isn’t that true? Haven’t we seen these from the Steve Jobs, Bill Gates,  Nelson Mandelas, Abraham Lincolns – men who dedicated their whole lives to serve humanity and what did we do in return?  We celebrated and still celebrate them for their contributions to mankind. That’s why I say if you want to be important,  do something important for mankind and your name will never be forgotten and if it goes down into the history books,  it will be for a good reason,  not a bad one.

God bless you.

Thinking about birth

Today I was thinking about birth, yes you heard me right.  I was thinking about birth and not because I want to give birth,  fortunately for me, nature doesn’t approve it and besides I don’t have the right tools for it. I don’t think I was going to do it, even if I had them. That stuff is for women,  because they are courageous than us, God bless them.

So I was thinking today about birth  in terms of how incredible and miraculous it is. The whole process,  from conception to delivery is so magnificent and mind boggling for me at the same time. Just think about it for a moment,  a minute or seconds millions sperms are released to a woman’s “thingy” (whatever you call it) they all race to the womb, but only one sperm win the race and make it to the egg (ovary or ovaries,  whatever the right word is) and that’s how you and me were formed. Powerful isn’t?

In your father’s bag of seeds, there millions of you,  racing to be you, does it make sense? Or let me say provided if any of the sperms who didn’t make it to the egg, would have become you if they made it first. There’s a high possibility that the millions sperms that were released they were all of you, don’t you think? especially if we believe that there’s a Grand Designer who designed all things to be the way they are. Who knew that by this time you would be alive, not by chance but because He designed it so from the beginning. He hand picked your parents to create you, so that you will be the way you are, perfect skin colour, perfect DNA and perfect heritage -there’s nothing missing with you, everything is where it was supposed to be,  the way it is. You think my ears are big? No you are wrong,  God made them and they are perfect as they are. God put your parents together to create you on purpose.

I know this is a very contrivasial thing to say, because there are many people who were born out of the wedlock (which is against God’s law), some were born as result of adultery (which is also against God’s law), some were born as a result of rape (which is totally against God’s law as well). Therefore how can I boldly make such a statement that everyone’s parents were hand picked by God to form you.

Let me tell you this; That would be hard for me to explain and I won’t even try, otherwise I might burn off my fuse. There are things in life that a mind can make logic of and there are things that the mind can’t fully make sense of, no matter how hard the intelligent and the educated people try to explain them,  like how big is the universe,  how small is very small, where does the wind come from and where doe it go or to make things more interesting let me ask the ancient question: how the body of a baby is formed in a mother’s womb?

Which brings me back to my topic.

After you have reached your mother’s womb and she’s conceived you,  you start to grow in private. How? I don’t know.  What forms first between the mind and the heart? I don’t know,  I will leave that to  the smart guys to answer it. But what I know is the child/fetus grows in the mother’s stomach,  without anyone’s intervention,  except the One of course,  Who can see our unformed substance before it’s formed, Who has access to the secret places that no one else has. And yes we can give credit to the mother as well, she also plays a role by feeding the baby the right nutrients, while he or she’s in her stomach. Although  that I think it’s debatable, the baby eat its  since she must also eat. Therefore the fetus is benefiting because she must also feed her stomach,  but anyway let me leave the politics out, of who benefits because of who. You will decide.

Normally the expected period for a full grown baby, delivery rather is nine months ir more. We all know that right? Okay,  even though some kids can’t take the wait any longer and they decide to come out earlier. Thank God that many of them survive  through the help of medical science (which God is the inventor of it of course, despite what other religious dominations had taught their people concerning medical science. I believe  God is the Creator of doctors, not satan. The devil is not concerned about people getting healed, getting help. He’s concerned about destroying the whole human race by all means,  and if he has to use what was created for good to do it, guess what?  He will do it. That’s how much he hates us,  especially babes,  because he knows they contain seeds of possibilities and he’s the hater of possibilities.  That’s why the laws of terminating a pregnancy if the mother don’t want the child had been approved. ” It’s a woman’s choice” they call it. It’s murder and  that’s what I and God call it.)

Anyway when the nine months is over, the baby comes out. Most of the time we come kicking and screaming.  What for? I don’t know.  But my assumptions is because the world is a hostile place and we can sense that when we come in. But that Is just my assumptions,  you might have a better explanation and please do share what you think.

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However if you look at this whole process,  you realize what a miracle this is. Although we have gotten so used to it, that we don’t recognize the miraculous part of it. Child birth is a miracle. For nine months you lived inside your mother’s womb, surrounded by some kind of fluid I believe, but you were still  able to breathe and eat through your mother’s umbilical cord. Isn’t that amazing?

Which brings me to my last point, my closing point.

Just imagine that a group of people from another planet come to earth,  lets say aliens – since we are so familiar with that word. Let say aliens who look like us humans visit our planet and they see a pregnant lady and they ask her, what’s in her tummy and she explains to them. The aliens can’t believe what she’s telling them,  that there’s a person growing inside of her, because they had never experienced that before.

Let’s say in their planet, lets name it, planet A (A standing for aliens by the way) for argument sake, babies don’t grow on their mother’s stomachs but they grow on trees, like oranges. How many of you think the aliens who see and hear that will be amazed by this and 99% of them will think that’s a miracle,  if aliens believe in miracles like us? Why? Because according to them, babies don’t grow on tummies,  they grow on trees like peaches or oranges. First of all it will be hard for them to think how the sperm got to the womb, provided they had a different way to have an intercourse,  secondly it will be hard for them to figure it out,  how can a baby grow bones and other parts of the body in the woman’s body? How does he receive nourishments and air? And the last tricky part, how does he get out? Especially if you have explained the conception part to them. And I think one of the questions they may ask you is “From something so small, how can something so big come out?” Valid question, babies come in different sizes and the heads are also different sizes, some come with baby heads, which is alright and some come with a 30 year old man head (just kidding).

What i know is The aliens will be really puzzled by this, I don’t even want to mention what they will say if they see the woman giving birth, while pushing, screaming and sweating or maybe even swearing to the husband for putting in that condition. The aliens will be traumatized or being flabbergasted.

What is my point?  My point is birth is a beautiful thing, in fact it’s a miracle, the whole process is. And if maybe we could try to see it that way, maybe we can fully see and witness what God what us to witness.

There are no mistakes with God

“You’re not an accident

You’re not a mistake

You were only created for

Something far greater

You may not see it yet

But you’re beautifully made

And there’s a reason a reason

You’re alive on this day”

The man who penned these lyrics was born outside of a wedlock and could have easily been another abortion statistic,  if his mother, who was seventeen years old when she got pregnant, went ahead and terminated the pregnancy as her parents told her to.

Even though she was white and the father of the baby was black, she told her parents “No, no I’m going to keep this baby.”  And due to that “She ended up kind of getting shunned for a good chunk of her life after that and didn’t have a lot of contact with her parents.” Said the artist on the interview with Lisa Ryn on CBN.

She got kicked out or  moved out of her parents house to stay with the father of her child, but when she was eight months pregnant, she and the father split up. Being miles and miles away from home, addicted to drugs and the state getting ready to take the child from her as soon as she give birth, because she was considered an unfit mother – due to her drug problem.

It seemed like her life was over, when God intervened and sent a lady out of a blue to witness about Christ to her.

‘I don’t know you, and I don’t want to give you a hard time, but I was driving by and I really felt that I needed to come tell you Jesus loves you. You’re not forgotten. You did the right thing. It’s going to be all right.’ the artist related the story. And because of the power of those words,  his mother knelt down right there in the street, repented and gave her life to Jesus.

And I guess that’s where he got the inspiration from, many years later for his song titled “Not forgotten.”

But unfortunately, it was not the end of her journey,  she was still have to give birth to her “half-breed” child, I presumed that’s what they called him back then, remember it was still in the 70’s and many people where not used to the “mixed race thing”, and they are still not used to it even today – Africa, America,  Asia,  Europe is the same, it’s still a taboo, dating or marrying outside of your own race. It’s even more difficult if a child is involved.

Can you then imagine how it was like for young Israel Houghton growing up? At seven, meeting his grandfather who’s full of racial prejudice for the first time and seeing his cousins and younger siblings running down to him and jumping on his lap, and he thinking he could do the same but only finding himself on his back, being pushed to the ground by his grandfather.

” What’s wrong with me? Why?” the young Israel had to ask himself that question always. But he didn’t let the hate and bitterness of those who were around him, get to him. He didn’t  become bitter towards his father for leaving his mother the way he did. He didn’t hate his grandfather for his prejudice and maybe even others. Finally, he didn’t let the circumstances of his birth and childhood background dictate his destiny. Although his parents didn’t plan for him and he was a “mistake” as his grandparents had put it, but according to God he was not a mistake. He was created for something greater and he knew there’s a reason that he’s alive. And haven’t we seen it?

Today Israel Houghton, whom I have already mentioned could have been another abortion statistic,  is a prolific worship leader, musician, songwriter, producer and recording artist.

You too my friend,  you not a mistake,  God created you for something greater. In the words of Israel “You may not see it yet. But you’re beautifully made. And there’s a reason a reason You’re alive on this day”

God bless you.

We are all being influenced by someone

We are all influenced by someone. Nobody,  I repeat nobody is original. You are either dumb or delusional to believe that you are. We are all influenced by someone, positively or in a negative way.

Some of us are influenced by the people around us; family,  friends,  teachers etc. Some of us are influenced by the media, the kind of stories we read, hear or watch on TV, the kind of music we listen to. I can tell you more about music and how artists like Tupac and Zola influenced my life. If we can go back 8 years, 10 years ago, you would see how my perception of the world and my philosophy of life was different then from now, and you could hear by listening to me, who was my influence or who I was listening to. That’s why is very important to look around you and ask yourself who is influencing me? Who am listening to?  Who do I spend most of my time with? Because eventually you end up sounding and acting like them. The saying that says the birds of the same feather flock together is so very true. People are attracted to people who are like minded.

As a Christian guy,  I can tell you I have met so many people who are against the Christian faith and many of them usually criticize me or the Christian family as a whole for referring everything we believe  or know about God from the bible or verse of Scripture.

They usually say to me “Prove to me that your god exist without quoting  or referring on the scriptures in the bible. ” Oh really?  How can I do that since everything I know about God is from the bible? Just as all the “facts” they have to prove the nonexistence of God is also from their bibles; a book or TV show by a well known celebrity or atheist. But the end of the matter is we all are or being influenced by somebody,  and whether we are conscious or not about it – we are all quoting someone’s bible. We know what we know because of someone. We believe what we believe because someone influenced us into believing it.

So you can call yourself a free thinker or an open minded person, who’s unlike “these religious people,  who’s thinking is dependent or shaped and limited by someone else’s thinking. “. But did you know that all of us and all of our thoughts are shaped and some of us are limited by someone else thinking, just like for many years our ancestors believed that the earth was flat and if you went far, you might fall off the edge.

Just think about it, generations and generations lived in fear, not exploring and passed on that same error to generations and generations. Why? Because what they knew was shaped by what the generation before them knew and believed.

We not an exception you and I, whether I believe in God and you believe in nothing. What we know and what we believe we got it from someone. Whether I believe the bible and you believe “logic” but at the end of the day what we know and believe to be true or lies, it’s the result of someone’s else words or thoughts, whether they were spoken or written on a stone.

A dead man’s story

I am dead, yet I am alive. I’m buried underground, but I can speak, how could this be?

My blood cries, it cries out loud underground for Justice.

“God, God, can you hear me?” Can you hear me?

I was murdered, murdered by who? Murdered for what?

Before I tell you the story let me tell you that I’m the first of our kind to experience this kind of thing. I am the first one to taste death. My body will be the first to experience decay and worms to feast on me.  Nobody has ever died before me, I am the first one, but I am not the last.

Death has entered the world by two people,  by two people and there’s nothing we can do about it.  Death entered the earth the day our parents chose to disobey the Creator, God

“After He created the world, He planted a garden eastward in Eden and He put me there, to tend and keep it.” Papa had retold the story to us a million times about our fall, for one reason only, so that we won’t forget it, so that we can pass it on to our kids, but I guess I won’t be able to do that anymore since my life has been cut short.

“He commanded me that I can eat of every tree of the garden freely, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil I shall not it, because if I eat of it ‘you shall surely die’ these were His exact words.” Papa would say.

“But you ate anyhow?” My brother and I would always ask.

I could always notice Papa’s face fill with sorrow every time he’d tell us about how the serpent,  the devil came in the Garden and deceived them, after the woman, my mother was formed.

“She was the most beautiful thing I ever seen, she was none like other, she was different from the animals I was so accustomed to. And when the Lord brought her before me, I immediately said ‘This is the bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.’ Because she was taken out of me, she was like me, a man but with a womb, therefore I named her a Woman.

We ruled the world, side by side. Walking naked and we felt no shame, because the glory of God was covering us. We were gods on earth, as God was and is in heaven. There was nothing we couldn’t do, nature was subjected to us, animals looked at us with admiration, lions bowed when they saw us, and the earth would bring forth her fruit without a hassle. Until the day we were deceived” Then he would pause before saying:

“ Now the serpent was cunning more than any of the beast of the field, which the Lord had created.” He would then start telling us, how many time it had come to them, trying to deceive them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and without any luck.

“But he didn’t give up, he would always come back and ask us the same question ‘Has God indeed said ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’ and our response would always be the same ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’

But one day after so many attempts to get us to eat from the forbidden tree, the serpent came to your mother while I was not there and asked her the same question. And she answered him, like we always did, hoping that he will give up and walk away. But on that day, he said something, he never said before.”

Papa would pause and look at us, then say “I want you to listen to me carefully and remember this for the rest of your life, because as the serpent came to me and you mother, he will surey come to tempt you as well, more especially that sin is in the world.

Number one:  If God tells you not to do something, don’t do it. no matter if you understand the consequences of that thing or not.  Just as He told your mother and I that if we ate of that tree, we shall surely die. But we didn’t know what death was, because we had never seen anything die before. Our duty was to trust God and not do what He told us not to do, whether we had or didn’t have an idea what death was.

Number two: Never leave you position as a man, just like I left your mother alone and vulnerable. As a man its your duty to teach your wife and children God’s laws and principles, as I am teaching you right and as I have taught you about the importance of the blood sacrifice.

Number three: Let no one cause you to doubt God’s word, just like the snake caused your mother to doubt God’s word. Remember  the tempter will always mix lies and the truth,  just because the some truth in the lies, it doesn’t make it the truth. ”

After saying that, Papa would go back and tell us how the serpent dropped doubt in our mother’s heart.

“‘You shall not surely die.’ The snake said to your mother and went on and said ‘God knows that if you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall be like Him, your eyes will be opened and you will know good and evil.’”

Papa would stop there and let mama tell the rest of the story. “After he told me that I shall not surely die, even if I didn’t know what death was, I was releaved, I saw the tree to be good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and it was desirable to make one wise, so I took of its fruit and ate.”

“What happened? ” my brother and I will ask in anticipation.

“Nothing happened;” Mama would respond “I remember feeling frustrated, thinking that God and the serpent had lied to us. God said I will die if I ate from the tree, the serpent said I will be wise as God, know good and evil.”

“Atleast the serpent was right about one thing.” My brother,  Cain would say “You didn’t die after eating it.”

Our parents wouldn’t scold him for saying that,  Papa and Mama would look at each other and then she will continue.

“Therefore I took the fruit and I gave it to your father. I told him I have eaten it, but nothing has happened.

Seeing nothing has happened to me, he took it and ate it too. And immediately he had eaten it, something happened to us. The glory of God that was covering us immediately disappeared and the presence of God and angels that we always felt around us was no more. For the first time in our lives, we realized that we are naked. First time in our lives we became more conscious of our bodies instead of our spirits.”

Then papa would take over and tell us how they gathered figs three leaves and tried to make some garments for themselves to cover their nakedness. The told us how the Lord came down looking for them, to fellowship with them, like He always did, but they hid from Him because they were ashamed of their nakedness and their eyes were opened, for the first time in their life they knew the difference between good and evil.

“When God came to the garden to talk to us, we felt something inside us that we never experienced before, we felt fear. So we ran away an hid ourselves” Papa added.

He told us that fear was the result of sin and it has a tendency to cause you to run away from God, instead of running to Him. He told us that we should resist it in every way.

He also explained to us how the Lord declared the curse to the snake and the earth, how He declared the punishment to him and the woman, how He put the enmity between the woman and the snake, her Seed and his seed.

“He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” God said to mama.

Papa called mama, Eve, because she was going to be the mother of all living. Then God made tunics for Papa and Mama from a skin of an animal He had killed, before sending them out of the Garden of Eden.

“That’s why the blood is so important to the sacrifice you give to the Lord, an animal was killed and its blood was spilled for God to cover our shame. I have a feeling this is some type of a prophecy that would be fulfilled in the future. Therefore always remember to bring an animal before God for your sacrificial giving.”  Papa had taught us that since were young, my brother, Cain and I have been doing that for the past years of our existence, until, until today…… and now I am  dead.

To be continued.…….

Africa is a continent, not a jungle or country

1. Africa is not a jungle and it’s not populated by animals,  as your Tarzans and other movies alike made you believe. We also have humans down here, yeah civilized humans like you, with a body, two hands and two feet, a head, two ears, two eyes, one nose and a mouth too, they who wear clothes, live in buildings and drive cars just like you. We are not swinging from one tree to another, no! We neither hollering or talking to animals like your King of the jungle, Tarzan do.

Yes we work too, we have factories, offices, malls, airports, we don’t sit around telling stories the whole day or sing and dance around the fire the whole night, like our so called “African films” or “African literature” would make you believe.  I don’t know why my African brothers (All races in in the African continent) do that – but I can assume it’s because they know that you love that kind of stuff – chasing lions, fighting with baboons, and guess it also because that’s the only way for African movies and books to get recognition worldwide.

“Africa is a dark continent” That’s what some of your leaders had confidently declared in public in the past.  Some of them would like to make you believe they were right. But eeeeee, they were wrong, Africa is on the rise!

2. We not dying of AIDS and starvation,  like some of your televangelists and some of your artists had told you, so that you can give some of your precious money. If you didn’t know,  Africa happens to be one of the richest continents in the world. Yes it might be true that we haven’t figured out a way to process our raw materials to useful products yet. And that is not because we are dumb as they made you believe, and I don’t mean to point fingers or blame anyone, but maybe the reason could be, we have leaders who are so greedy and who are also gaining from the folks who come here and dig out minerals in our land and transport them abroad. We have leaders with no vision, who have not servanthood spirit,  but to be served. Instead of building institutions that will train people how to refine gold, oil and process them to useful products,  they look out for themselves instead. They building expensive houses, driving expensive cars and sending their children to the best schools abroad out of the people’s expense. But just like one of our greatest leader once said “Let Africa deal with Africa’s problem” I am sure you also have alot in your continent too, so instead of trying to solve our problems,  why don’t you start with yours. Charity begins at home, right?

Okat let me come back to my point, as I have said we are not dying of AIDS and starvation, and yes I will be the first to admit that there are more infected people here than anywhere else and maybe yes we may have some hungry mouths to feed, there and there but WE ARE NOT DYING OF AIDS AND STARVATION. Coming back to the AIDS issue, instead of stating the obvious,  why don’t you ask yourself why more people in Africa are infected by diseases like this one I have mentioned, more especially if it didn’t originate there? Swine flue didn’t originate in Africa,  but the next thing I read that I was killing more Africans (all races in the African continent) more than the people where it started. Isn’t that interesting?   Oh please don’t prove to me how narrow minded you are by jumping and claiming its because of ignorance.  Just like most of your smart dummies had done in the past. There are more morons in so called developed countries,  than they are in Africa. The difference is we don’t empower them and put them behind the mic or in front of the screen to mislead masses, with their cunning words and perverted lifestyles.

3. As one of my white friends also reminded me, there is not only one race living in Africa,  yeah we have Black, Whites,  Indians, Chinese,  Coloureds, and many more. So when you hesr that someone is from Africa,  don’t assume that he’s black.

4. Africa is a continent,  not a country,  just like America, Asia,  Europe are also continents.  So next time if you say you are going to Africa or you were in Africa,  or you were mugged or mistreated in Africa, please be specific where in Africa. Africa is a big continent, you know?

And to all my friends who’ve never been to Africa, please don’t believe everything the media tells you about Africa, most media houses are controlled by the greedy super rich people – I’m sure you know about it because there are many of them in your continents.  They like exaggerate things and to paint a negative picture about Africa, so that they can make you feel uncomfortable and you’ll be afraid to come and invest in the Mother land. Just like they make Middle East appear as if is no go zone, while the suck oil in that land. Propaganda,  propaganda, they use propaganda to put fear in your heart, while they fatten their pockets.

Last note: I would like to rephrase what Malcom X once said; If you not careful the media will have you hating the people who are oppressed or exploited, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing or exploiting.

The Lost son

Dad I want my inheritance, I’m leaving.”

Amos was sitting under the tree when his younger son, Eli said these words. He looked behind him and there was servants carrying his bags for him. He didn’t know what had led him to take this decision, because he it had been a while since he heard or saw him fighting with his older brother, Joel – which was a usual case for them to fight, just like any other siblings.

“I want my inheritance, I am leaving. ” Eli would always say that after fighting with his brother. And he would tell the servants to pack his bag, but come to his senses before they were even done.

Amos thought this was one of those days, except that today he couldn’t remember hearing any noise or any of his servants running to him to report that they were fighting again as they would always do.

“Where are you going, son?” Amos asked.

“I don’t know, I will see, maybe I will go to the city.” He said and he looked very serious.

“Why?” Amos asked “Is Joel troubling you again?”

“No, dad. I just want my independence. I want to go out there and see the world”

“But you still young son, who’s going to take care of you? Why don’t you stay until your 18th birthday atleast and then you can get you inheritance and leave. I promise I won’t stop you”

“I know, but I can’t stay. I need my inheritance now. I am leaving today. ”

His words pierced Amos’s heart,  he didn’t know what he had done wrong to cause his younger son, his favorite son to want to leave home. He tried to beg him to stay but he refused.

“I made up my mind, I am leaving today. ” Eli insisted. “Whether you give me my money or not, I am leaving.  I can always find work in the city to stay alive.”

Amos wanted to laugh when he said that because he knew that he had never worked a day of his life, he was just a spoiled brat like his older brother. Everything was done for them, they had servants to cook, to clean, wash, to look after the cattle and sheep, they had servants for everything.

“Okay.” Amos said reluctantly and gave him his inheritance.  “Don’t waste it, this all you have to live on the rest of your life. Don’t spend all of it, invest, buy property, start a business…”

He gave him the bag of money, full of gold and other precious stones. Eli took it from him, he opened it and smiled, before giving his father a hug and left.

He headed towards the city, checked in one of the expensive hotels, bought himself expensive attires to match his lifestyle and started going to parties, where he met big and important people, and whom some of them were very wealthy like him.

He also started hosting parties at his place and invited all of his new friends, and the bill didn’t come cheap because most of his friends were from wealthy families, so they didn’t drink or eat cheap food. He supplied them with the best.

In every party he hosted or went to he met a different woman, and would pay her a substantial amount of cash every morning for sleeping with her. Day in and day out he dined and drank expensive wine with his friends, not aware that slowly but surely his wealth was diminishing.

“I want my money, pay me.” One morning one of the beautiful ladies he had slept with the previous night shouted at him.

“I can’t. ” he said, still half drunk.

“What do you mean you can’t?  Do you think I slept with you for free?

A hiccup hit him “I can’t pay you because – hiccup- I don’t have – hiccup – any money – hiccup – left.” He said.

She looked at him in disbelief, like she was waiting for him to say he was kidding, but he didn’t say anything. When she realized that he was serious and that he didn’t have money left, she opened his closet and took out all of his clothes.

“This won’t be enough to pay for my services, but it’s better than nothing.” She said after emptying his closet and left.

The following day he got kicked out from the hotel and as if the odds were against him, the news travelled fast to every part of the city that he was broke,  and by the moment he went to his friends places all the gates were locked and the guards and receptionists were instructed to turn him away.

“But James told me I must come to him when I need something. ” he tried to reason with a guard who wouldn’t let him in and see his friend.

“I’m sorry Mr. I was told not to let you in.” The guard responded.

“That’s absurd, James is my friend, I am sure there’s a mistake somewhere. I was here last week and I gave you a fat tip, don’t you remember? ”

“I do remember sir and did appreciate it, but as I told you I was given a clear instruction not to let you in.”

Eli frustrated turned and walked away and didn’t know where to go to.

All the people he thought were his friends were no more to be found. He slept the first night at the city’s park bench, the following day he was standing on the streets begging people to give him something to eat. Some gave and some ignored him or when they gave it was not enough to even buy a half of bread.

For the first time in life, he understood how it feels like to lack, to be hungry – scrapping garbage bins for food,  he knew what it meant to be could – sleeping in the streets or park benches with no blanket.  He learnt what it meant to be humble – he went and looked for a job and got one, to look after and feed pigs.

He didn’t get paid for it, but he got a plate to eat and place to sleep at night. The food was not enough but it was better than searching in garbage bins. The place he slept in was not a place for a person to live in, he shared it with animals but it was better than sleeping out in the cold, in the harsh weather.

One day after feeding the pigs, he sat down and watched them while they  excitedly ate the pods, and he hadn’t ate anything for days, he was hungry and thought of joining them. He had to eat something or die. So he stood up and went and knelt down to where the pigs were eating, he dipped his hands to the food, raised his hand to his mouth to eat but some of the pigs seemed like they were aware of what he was about to do and they were asking themselves ‘what’s wrong with him’.

He opened his mouth  to eat when a thought came to his mind and immediately brought him back to his senses:  “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  he thought to himself.

Then he stood up and in his filthy state he went back home.

BACK AT HOME

For the past two years since his son left, Amos would go and stand by the gate expecting to see his son coming back home and for the last two years he hadn’t seen anything until today. He saw him coming from a distance and thinking his mind was playing tricks on him, he ran nevertheless to meet him. When he realized that it was really him, he put his arms around him, hugged him and kissed him, with tears streaming down on their both faces.

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Eli said while holding his father was holding him tight.

When they got home, Amos told his servants quickly bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

He said  “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

They began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older brother was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. Surprised by this, he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

‘Your brother has come,’ the servant replied excitedly, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

The older brother became angry and refused to go in the house and join in the celebration of his brother’s return. His father heard about it and came out to speak to him.

“What’s wrong my son. Why are you not happy that your brother is back?” Amos asked.

He replied “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

The father looked at his older son with eyes filled with compassion and said to him “‘My son you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

The older brother realized his selfishness, apologized, went in the house, hugged his brother and welcomed him back. Eli also apologized to his parents and his whole family for taking off the way he did.

“You are my son; I love you and no matter what you have done, my love for you will never change, as long as you see your fault and come back to me and ask forgiveness.”

The End.

The unclean woman

Veronica lay on her bed and she didn’t know if she should get up or not.

Every night before she went to bed, she prayed the same prayer, begging God for her soul to take and never wake her up the following day.  And as if God was ignoring this particular prayer like most of her prayers she would wake up the following morning,  angry and resentful. Why didn’t He let her die at once, than to live like this? She was fed up with life and she was fed up with her own life. She didn’t see the reason to live anymore and unlike thoughts of suicide had never crossed her mind so many times, they did  but she didn’t have the guts to do it, to end her own life. If she had to die, it had to be by someone else’s hand or the Master Himself – that would be much better, she would have someone else to blame for a change.

She thought what else was there to live for, she was broke, deep in debts,  had no friends,  no husband and no one to turn to for moral support because of her sickness. She had been homorrhaging for the last 12 years none stop. She had been to the country and out of the country best physicians and witch doctors but still none of them could help her with her problem. Her funds had been depleted,  she had sold whatever she could sell, her jewelries, clothes,  furniture,  livestock to get help, until she had nothing else left to sell. Even the house she was staying in, it was no longer belonging to her, it was the bank’s property now.

“If you can’t pay the loan in three months time, you better find yourself another place to stay. ” the gentleman from the bank had said to her two days before.

Three months was a short time to raise that kind of money the bank was wanting from her, she knew she wouldn’t have it, unless she start working again. But where was she going to get work or Who was going to give her work with her kind of a condition. By law she was declared unclean, nobody had to touch her, touch her clothes or sit where she was sitting, lest they be declared unclean as well for seven days.  And that was the reason her husband left her and that was the reason she had no friends,  she was unclean and no one wanted to associate with her.

“I can’t take this anymore. ” her husband had said on the day of his departure,  “How long is this going to take?” He asked as if she was doing it on purpose.

“I’m sorry. ” she would always apologize with tears in her eyes, she felt like she was failing him as a wife. If only, if only she knew how to cut, she would cut it.

She was not allowed to be in public gatherings because of her condition, so she spent most of her days by herself in her house. She had no visitors,  even the gentleman from the bank when he came two days back, he stood outside of her yard and shouted at her, loud enough for all her neighbors to hear.

While she was standing on the door to listen to him, she heard one of the neighbors saying, “Why doesn’t she go and see the miracle worker from Galilee, He’s coming to town in two days time,  I heard that there’s nothing He cannot heal, the lame walk, the blind see, the demon possessed are delivered,  the leepers are cleansed, the death are raised. If He can feed multitudes with few loaves of bread and two fish, if He can walk on water, calm the storm, surely He can do something for her.” She thought they were mocking her. But when she went back to the house, the words didn’t leave her.

“Surely He can do something for her” she muttered the words she heard neighbor saying.

But how was He going to do that,  if she was not allowed to come near other people? How was she going to ask Him to help her if she was not allowed to get close to Him? Because from what she heard from her neighbor,  He always had multitude of people following Him.

“if He can feed multitudes with few loaves of bread and two fish, if He can walk on water, calm the storm, surely He can do something for her.”  The words echoed in her ears again.

She had to do something and that’s why she was laying in bed this morning thinking about what she could do.

“If He could help a Leeper,  He can help me too.” She said to herself, because  the leepers just like her were not suppose to be seen in public or if it happened they were there they had shout “unclean,  unclean” for people to be aware or stay away from them just in case they touch them and become unclean too.

“How did He do it?” She asked herself “Did He go to the leeper or the leeper came to Him to be healed. ” She didn’t have an answer for that question, but she drew her conclusion that since He was a busy man, surely the Leeper came to Him to get healed. Maybe she should do the same, she thought.

She got out of bed. Hope was starting to rise in her heart and she said “I will cover myself,  so that no one can see me. I will push my way through the crowd,  crawl if I have to, to get to Him.”

She washed quickly and put on her shawl over her head and said to herself “if I can only touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole.”

She didn’t know where that kind of confidence  was coming from but she had some kind of assurance in her heart that if she did that, her problem would come to an end.

She left her house and she saw people starting to fill the roads already.

“Here He comes. ” She heard some women shouting.  “Jesus is here!” She heard them say and she didn’t know His name until then.

“Jesus,  Jesus,  Jesus!” She heard people shouting and she didn’t know whether it was the fear to be found out that made her start trembling or it was the sound of His name. She thought of going back to her house, thinking what she was doing was stupid and that she would be in big trouble if they found out she was in public with her condition. But  ” if I can only touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole.” The words sprung from her heart to her tongue and she started saying them again and moved forward.

She pushed through the crowd to Jesus,  although it was tough and her condition wouldn’t allow her to move as she wanted to, but she pushed through, until she could see Jesus, actually not seeing Him, but she could see His cloak of His garment.  There was no other way to get to it because of the crowd thronging Him, she went down on her knees and forgot about the thought that people might run her over, the only thought was of her healing. She crawled down and touched His garment and immediately when she done that, she felt something leaving the garment of Jesus and Jesus felt it too. It moved through her fingers to every part of her body and immediately the bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked, turning around quickly. His disciples responded ” You see there are so many people around you, and You ask us who touched you?” They laughed thinking He was joking.

But He wasn’t, He felt power leaving Him when she touched Him.  He looked around to see who had done it. And He saw a woman fearing and trembling. She came before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her “Daughter your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed of your affliction. ”

From that day Veronica was healed and followed the Lord all her life.

The end.

Zacchaeus

There was a man by the name Zacchaeus, he was a chief tax collector and he was very wealthy. He had heard so much about the miracle worker from Galilee by the name of Jesus. There were so many stories about this Man so much that Zacchaeus wanted to meet him.

The law teachers were calling Him a false prophet who was casting demons, healing people and performing miracles by the power of Satan. The Romans saw Him as a rebel, who wanted to overthrow their kingdom, by talking about a His kingdom that was powerful than any other kingdom and that was coming on earth.

“He’s nothing but an imposter, He’s not the messiah.” Zacchaeus heard some law teachers speaking.

“He is nothing but a troublemaker, he should be charged for attempting treason.” The Romans politicians said.

”I know His mother,  sisters and His father is Joseph the carpenter.” Zacchaeus also heard some women in the market place talking.

He heard another group saying:

“He’s a prophet from God, He is the one who the scriptures had talked about and the things He’s been doing are clear proof that He’s really from God. No man can do what He does, if He was not from God.”

“Yes, He is. Not so long ago He delivered a man that was demon possessed and lived in the tombs for many years.”

“He raised a young girl and boy from death.”

“He touched a leaper and he was cleansed.”

“A woman who had an issue of blood for more than 12 years, got healed instantly when she touched the hem of his garment.”

“He commanded a lame man, who’s been lame for 38 years to stand up, pick up his bed and walk.”

“I heard that He walked on water and didn’t drown.”

“I heard that He commanded the wind to stop and the sea to be calm and they all  obeyed.”

“He fed more than 5000 men with two fish and five loaves.”

“He is friend with sinners and prostitutes.”

Zacchaeus was amazed by these things he had heard. Then and there he decided that he wanted to see this Jesus they were talking about. He heard that He was coming to the city, but the problem was he was short and he heard that multitude always followed Jesus wherever He went, so there was no chance that he going to be able to see him.

But that was not going to stop him. He asked the people where Jesus was going to pass. When he had found out, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him. Zacchaeus sat on the tree almost the whole day waiting for Jesus to come and he had forgotten to bring something to eat, water to drink and he was tired because of running, he felt sleepy – however he was not going to let food, water, fatigue or sleep to rob him of this opportunity, he wanted to see Jesus and this was his opportunity, so he waited.

Not very long after Zacchaeus saw dust going up from a distance and a group of people walking towards the tree, in the mist of the people he saw the person he was there to see, Jesus.

He was not as he had pictured him he would be. Yes He was tall, He had lean body, had long curly hair, long beard, Jewish nose and His attire was not eye catching as he had expected. Jesus looked normal, except for the love that covered His face and could be also traced in His eyes.

Jesus and the crowd came closer to the tree, Zacchaeus thought they were going to pass under it and he was praying not be recognized. People hated him enough for collecting taxes for Caesar and some even wanted to kill him for charging them more. He held his breath, sat still as they came even closer, Jesus disciples in front, the crowd behind and on the side and Jesus in the middle.

Two of Jesus’s disciples passed the tree without recognizing him, another three followed, when it was Jesus’s turn, He stopped and looked up the tree and He saw the short fellow up there and He knew who he was, how long his been up there and what he did for living.

Jesus said “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

Zacchaeus couldn’t believe what was happening. How did He know his name? Did He say He was going to stay in his house today? He thought maybe he fell asleep up there on the tree and he was dreaming. He pinched himself to make sure he was not dreaming and he was not. So he did as he was told, he came down of the tree and received Him joyfully.

But when the multitude saw this, they were not happy about it, they complained “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Zacchaeus ignored their critism, he was too excited that Jesus decided to come to his house, him a sinner, a tax collector. He stood and said to Jesus, “ Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

Jesus looked at him and “ Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a  son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

The head on the platter

It was 2:00 in the morning, the whole palace was quiet and  her “husband” was snoring next to her, probably he was dreaming about his party the following day. She had worked hard to plan for it and she was hoping everything was going to go according to plan. There would be many dignitaries attending the party and the last thing she wanted see was her husband being embarrassed.

That so called prophet had done enough of that already, rebuking him in public for marrying her. Who did he think he was?

She had tried many times convincing her husband to kill him but he always refused. Although he was not a very religious person, but he believed that John was a just and holy man, so he didn’t want to bring God’s wrath upon himself.

“But he disrespected you infront of your people. ” she had argued with him. “And he disrespected me, how do you expect these people to listen or follow you again as their king or me as their queen after what he had said?”

He ignored her and that made her  even more angry. If it was her ex husband,  Herod’s brother,  she would have told him to go and sleep in another room, but she couldn’t do that with him. Herod was a very proud man and very weak when it came to women. Leaving him alone in the master bedroom was going to be like an approval card for him to bring in one of his bimbos in their bedroom and sleep where she slept. No she couldn’t afford that,  she knew the danger of it, she had done it to the former queen.

She preferred to reason with  him,  although she knew very well that was not one of his strongest point, andcshe was still questioning herself, how did the people crown him as a king. His brother, her ex husband, Philip happened to had a higher IQ than him, but she never understood why he was never made king. Perhaps that was one of the reason, the Roman rulership didn’t want someone with brains, who will threaten their power to be on the throne, they knew that they were not going be able to control him, like Herod – their puppet.

However she knew the only way to convince her husband of something was not through that thing between his ears but the one between his legs. But even after that he refused to kill John the Baptist.

“Could you please arrest him atleast. ” she had asked him when they were laying in bed at night. He was quiet for a minute, before saying “Okay I will send the soldiers to arrest him tomorrow morning,  if that will make you happy. ” she wasn’t happy,  but it was better than letting him spread his poison to the other people.  Her leaving her husband, with her daughter for Herod wasn’t anybody’s business.

Herod kept his promise,  he sent his soldiers the following morning to arrest John. But Herodias could see that he wasn’t happy about it and the only solution for him to be happy again was to set John free (which she was going to make sure it didn’t happen) or kill him (which she had doubts he was going to do it any time soon).

That’s why she was still up at this hour,  trying to think of a way to get rid of John; she had tried to persue one of the guards to put poison in his food, but he was afraid of Herod,  he refused.  He also tried to pay some soldiers to kill him at night and they were also afraid of her husband,  they refused. She even thought of going there and do it herself, but she couldn’t imagine what her husband was going to do to her,  because as much as he wanted to please her, he also didn’t want to displease Ceaser, by allowing her wife to kill a prisoner. Ceaser and the Roman rulership took a decision who died and who lived, not him or his miserable wife.

Herodias tossed and turned next to her husband, her mind refusing to give her a solution and as the land of sleep refused to grant her sleep. The time was 4:00  in the morning when her eyes finally closed and she drifted to the world of dreams.

The following day, the palace was full of nobles and other people who were invited to celebrate the king’s birthday. There was lot of feasting, drinking and dancing. Everyone was enjoying themselves except for Herodias who locked herself in the other room and didn’t want to get out. She couldn’t enjoy herself like everyone while knowing that her enemy was still alive. The words he had said  to her husband were still echoing in her ears “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Following morning

The king was sitting and chatting with his guests when her step daughter,  Herodias daughter hit the floor and started to dance. She moved her body like a snake, moved her hips to the right and the left at thr rhythm of the music and the nose ring on her belly button made Herod drool,  forgetting everything that she was still his step daughter,  her wife’s and brother’s daughter.

Herodias came and stood by the door,  looking at her husband, obviously lusting over her daughter, she was disgusted by this. “Damn pervert” she thought to herself,  “She’s a baby for goodness sakes.” When suddenly a powerful thought came to her mind. She stopped judging him for a minute and watched her daughter dancing. What if this was it? She thought. What if she can persue her daughter to sleep with him in exchange for John’s head?

Her evil thinking was interrupted by the clapping of hands and loud hollering. The dance was over and Herod and his guests were very pleased. He called the little girl to come and sit on his lap and said “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

“Really? ” the girl asked, thinking that her uncle was joking.

“Yes my beautiful daughter. ” he said and laughed.

The little girl put her finger on her lips,  seeming to be thinking hard, what she could ask for. She moved her eyes from the table, beyond to the door,  her mother was standing staring at her.  As soon as she saw her there, she smilled and kissed her uncle on the cheek, she stood up and said ” I will be right back.” And then she ran to the room where her mother was in.

As soon as Herodias saw her coming, she moved away from the the door and went back to her seat,  she didn’t want her to see that she was watching.

The young girl came in the room ecstatic, she told her mother about her uncle’s promise and she pretended to be happy for her, while inside her heart  she was thinking how she could use this opportunity for her advantage.

“What should I ask for? He said even if I ask half of the kingdom,  he would give it to me. Should I ask for it?” The girl asked her mother.

Herodias remained quiet,  she was trying to find a way to make her ask for John’s head, without causing her to suspect that she had anything against him.

“I don’t know” she said “But what will you do with the kingdom,  you already living in a palace and we have everything we need.”

The little girl thought about that and she saw that her mother was right.

She asked again “What should I ask for then?”

“As I said I don’t know.” She lied again,  but she decided that now it was the perfect time to ask for the ultimate prize, her daughter her cooled down.

She said “You uncle thinks you still a child,  he knows that you wont ask for the half of the kingdom,  and besides the Romans won’t let him give it to vyou.” She paused and checked if she was still listening to her and the said “He thinks you weak, like most of the men who aee sitting with him there, they think women are week and they think we are nothing but sex objects. Did you see how they looked at you while you were doing the dance?”

She shook her head,  she knew she couldn’t it, she was lost in the music and her mind tuned in to pleasing her uncle and his guests.

“Don’t mind about it anyway. After tonight they will respect you if you ask right.”

There was silence,  she didn’t want to spit it out as yet, what she wanted her to ask her uncle.

“What should I ask for?” She asked impatiently,  afraid that he might change his mind.

Herodias didn’t want to waste any time anymore either,  she said ” “The head of John the Baptist!”

The young girl’s eyes almost popped out when she said that.

“A what? ” she asked surprised.

But before her mother could answer,  she heard Herod calling her and she rushed back to the party.

“Have you decided what you want me to do for you?” He said delightful when he saw her.

She nodded and then said “The head of John the Baptist!”

Herod was quiet and he looked at his guests and they were surprised as he was. He then laughed thinking she was joking,  what would a teenager do with a Baptist head? She looked on her face and he noticed that she was not playing.

“Are you serious? ” he asked.

She nodded and added “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

The king was sorry that he had said she should ask for whatever she wanted, but couldn’t back out from his promise because of his guests he had sworn before them that he would give her anything she asks for.

Herod called the executioner to go and behead John and bring his head on the platter as Herodias daughter had requested.  The executioner went and did as he was told. He brought the head back and gave it to the girl and the girl took it and gave to her mother.

“What now?” She asked, feeling nauseous because of the blood and bulging eyes of the Baptist.

Her mother took it and smiled, and said “Now everything will be okay again,  I got my revenge.”

The girl felt bad that her mother had used her to fulfill her evil purposes, but since there was nothing she could do, John was dead,  she couldn’t raise him up. She pretended as if nothing had happened and lived on. While John’s disciples came and took his body and went and buried it.

The End