Good Night, Dr Myles Munroe! │ Muyiwa Olasehinde

I want to challenge every Kenyan to go to the cemetery and disappoint the graveyard. Die like the Apostle Paul who said I have finished my course, I have kept the faith and I have been poured out like a drink offering. There is nothing left. I am ready to die... When you die, die like I am planning to die. Empty. It's finished.

- Dr Myles Munroe, speaking with a journalist on a visit to Kenya, just 3 weeks ago.

I looked for words to pen down all day but the words just did not form. For the first hour after reading the news, the only two words I could mutter were "God" and "Jesus Christ".

The moment my phone's alarm rang today's morning, I noticed I had an unread message on the WhatsApp Application, and that message just seemed to blow apart the beginning of a new week for me.

It read "Pls o. What am I hearing about Dr. Myles and family?"

Saturday Morning Rantings │ Muyiwa Olasehinde

Well, basically, it is Saturday Morning and, with no fixed schedule for the day, I am in a mood to rant.

I recently began another phase in my academic verve and in the pursuit of purpose in the "Hippocraticean" order and while it might be too premature to begin my doxologies and eulogies, I want to jump the gun.

Though it might be more convenient to be grateful for the various victories, successes and good-times that I have been privy to over the years, I am more grateful for the challenging times, the seemingly intractable days, the gloominess that envelopes my heart each time I failed, that despair I feel each time when I seemed so helpless, the pain of purpose and the sorrow of a determined skin.

I am most grateful, however, for the lessons I have picked over the years, the thick skin I have grown, the seemingly painless way I always seemed to bounce back, even if just for a moment, and the person I have grown to be today.

I can look back and say with all sense of assurance that my dreams have not been shattered. I have not lost a bit of courage than I had five, 10 or 20 years ago. I have gotten better at life and stronger at fights (and maybe bigger in size?)

Today, I look forward to the future with much assurance and dignity knowing that whatever encounters I have is only a chapter in the book that will surely pass. The visions and dreams for the future are still as intact as when I began seeing them fourteen (14) years ago and I am propelled on by the little part that I have seen materialise before me.

P.S. I know this does not exactly qualify as a "rant" but I just couldn't find another vocabulary to depict what I was doing.

My Thoughts on "Half of a Yellow Sun - The Movie" │ Muyiwa Olasehinde

I just finished seeing the movie adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award winning novel and smacking in the euphoria of such great production and heart rending story, I want to share a few thoughts.

I have not read the novel and I hear that the movie isn't totally a 'sceneric' representation of the book but the viewer is captivated in the story flow and the professionalism with which the cast interpreted their roles, albeit unfamiliar.

Heart wrenching is the only way I can describe the emotion I felt while watching the scenes of war - the anguish of losing a loved one, the despair of a lost hope for survival, the massive destruction and desolation associated with war, shattered dreams...

...how some politicians still

GOD’S ACCOUNT IS BLANK: HE HAS GOT NO MONEY │ Banji Odurombi

I won’t beg you to read on. Such staggering statements are not popular in this part of the world. Well, it is why we have remained where we are. Staggering statements said to me are as ghosts sealed up in their wooden home. I do not let them go and you had better not.

  To the subject at hand! 

Certain questions ran through my mind as I shared a thought with a brother. I said to him ‘Whatever you do, do it with a global mindset’. Jesus walked the face of the earth in the relatively unknown town called Nazareth, yet everybody that must have come in contact with the Christian faith must have been acquainted with the name just by keeping the account of Jesus’ earthly walk in Israel. And if Judas, had known that his act of stealing from the disciples treasury would have been read all around the world, perhaps he would have had a re-think. When I read ‘Judas…, not Iscariot…’ in the Bible, I came to realize that those little actions in your mind, done in school, room, etc. can have a global impact, either inspiring people to imitate or as a form of instruction not to follow.

CUNNINGLY DEVISED FABLES │ Banji Odurombi

When the Apostle Peter wrote that the declaration of the coming of the Lord to believers isn’t a fable, he was saying that against the background of fables that were being told in their time; cooked up, refined and falsified stories that overtime have come to be accepted as the truth. In our time, there are such fables that their origins seem improbable but their contents can be challenged. Let’s consider some of them.

One fateful day in football history that Nigerians will not forget in a hurry, according to them, is the Nigeria/India football match. It was said that India was leading by 99 goals with none to Nigeria and because it was so obvious that the India national team was using juju to play against our national team, the national team players were told that if they could score just a lone goal, the match would be decided in our favour. Was the goal scored and who scored the goal?

Birthday Post: 10 Lessons Life has taught me │ Muyiwa Olasehinde

1. Age is just a number.

Nobody should be limited because they are young. You are not too young to begin. You are not too old to embark on your achievements. Brace the odds and set on the path to success.

2. The best life centre is God

There will be a lot of factors appealing to you - money, fame, possessions, friends family...But trust me, if your life is centred on God, the storm will only blow, you will have peace.

3. How you react to life and 'lifers' is entirely under your control.

No one will tread on you without your consent.

4. Take the relationships (people) in your life seriously.

HEARD OF DYNAMITE?│Banji Odurombi

When my good friend asked me to write on his blog, I never did consider it a difficult task but what was more difficult for me was what was going to be my first. People usually talk of their first ‘date’, ‘kiss’, ‘car’, ‘phone’,… I leave you to supply the other firsts. Of all that struggled for relevance, I finally arrived that this should be my first.
A story was once told of a man who had planned to go on vacation with his wife but unfortunately the wife couldn’t make the trip probably because she had to urgently attend to some other things, leaving the man to go on the vacation alone. In the euphoria of the vacation, the man decided to send a telegram to his wife. He approached the telegrapher at the reception and dictated the following words to the telegrapher: "Having a nice time wish you were here". But the telegrapher typed and sent: "Having a nice time wish you were her", omitting the last letter in the sentence ‘e’ and by implication giving the sentence another meaning entirely. Can you imagine the havoc this could wreak on their marriage?

Little wonder the preacher ‘preached’ “Take up the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine: for our vines have tender grapes”

12 Personal Lessons from Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

1.  No shortcuts. The law of sowing and reaping is non-negotiable.
2. What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
3. The way we see a problem is the problem.
4. It is not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurt us. We are free to choose our response in any situation, but in doing so, we choose the attendant consequences.
5. Effectiveness does not depend solely on how much effort we expend , but on whether or not the effort is in the right jungle.
6. We accomplish all that we do through delegation. If we delegate to time, we think efficiency. If we delegate to other people, we think effectiveness. Transferring responsibility to other skilled and trained people enables you to give your energies to other high-leverage activities.
7. The more genuine your character,

...in praise of Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

Have you ever read a book and you wondered what your life could have been if you had read that book at a younger age?

I recently had that WOW moment.

I was on my way to Akure to do a surprise birthday for my mum last week. Out of boredom, I opened the "Books to Read" folder on my tablet and selected Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" which happened to be the first book on the list.

I finished reading the book yesterday afternoon and

Should a Woman be allowed to abort a child conceived through Rape?

In response to commentary on social media earlier this week made by a well known and popular clergyman, I'm throwing my hat in the fray and making my submissions on this subject matter hoping this would stimulate a larger discourse for the benefit of society.

I am going to base my submission on two premises.

First, Rape is sacrilegious.

THE CRESCENDO

Wasteland before, Wilderness behind,
Hear the thunderous silence of rejection;
Basking in an euphoric despair of abandonment,
The desiccating ground collects no clemency.

Birds tweeting,