Sunday Mornings

With the rapidly changing climes in the world and the deliberate effort by the world and its people to push God and people who serve Him to the back seat, one may wonder if it is possible to thrive at the place of work while following God and to excel and stand out among peers. Prov 22:29 gives us a hint that can make this a reality: Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men Prov 22:29 (NIV) Joseph was a person who excelled in his days. The boy slave found his way to the palace, and I can guess that he remained there for the rest of his active life. He was a character who stood out in his generation. We know for sure that Joseph was a very diligent person and in this article, we shall be exploring his life to pick out one or two things that made him excel. Joseph was the favourite son of his father. Yet he was hated. Since he was born to his dad in old age, he was one of the last children that were born in his family. Joseph’...

I had dreams, aspirations, and desires to become great in life, to make it early in life, especially in my political dreams and aspirations. I was actually working my sleeves up, day and night. In fact, no hour passed without me thinking about those great plans I had. In the night, I dreamt a lot, I imagined great things, till I stumbled on the story of this ex-governor in the Book my Christian friend gave to me. I don’t know what led me to the seventeenth chapter, although now I know. So I studied through, took it seriously, and it became life to me as I practised it. Now I’ve decided to tell this story to you young ones, so you would be ‘THE GOVERNOR’ God expects of you. This is the story of the son of Hacaliah, Nehemiah. An ordinary man in the sight of men, but with God, a great man. This man, I discovered wasn’t a man who had gone through any training on how to be a great man. It was there I discovered that greatness begins from within a person and not the other way round. Now Mr N...

"He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come." Luke 19:12-13 Diligence in the Greek word is translated as epiméleia which means thoroughness. Diligence is conscientiousness or determination or perseverance when doing something. Diligence is performing with intense concentration, focus, and responsible regard; it is a quality of working carefully and with a lot of effort. "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." Proverbs 22:29 It is very easy to forget why we are God's own, what he has called us to do and how we are supposed to continually stay faithful to what we've been called to do, that is why Jesus set standards for discipleship. Through parables, he made the standards clear and one of the parables is found in Luke19:1...

 "Don't be ridiculous!" Saul replied. "There is no way you can go against this Philistine. You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!" But David persisted. "I have been taking care of my father's sheep," he said. "When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The LORD who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!" Saul finally consented. "All right, go ahead," he said. "And may the LORD be with you!" NLT 1Sam.17.33-37  The average Christian is very conversant with the David story. Goliath's death, the younger man's victory and Israel's subsequent win in a battle...

Daniel lived about 600 years before Jesus was born and 400 years after King David established the Kingdom of Israel and the King of the Chaldeans invaded Jerusalem. Israel had sinned against God and had become vulnerable to its surrounding enemies. This Chaldean King had a plan. He directed his administrators to choose ‘the best of the best’ from the Jews left behind in Jerusalem after the attack, bring young Jewish people to Babylon, and train them in the way of the Babylonians. They were to learn Babylonian customs and become familiar with Babylonian gods, traditions, and lifestyles. Then, once their hearts had turned from the God of the Jews to the Babylonian gods, they were to be sent back to Jerusalem with new Babylonian names, married to Babylonian wives to repopulate and rule Jerusalem as a ‘colony’ of Babylon. The entire strategy was to ‘dilute’ the Jewish faith and people. Daniel was one of the young men chosen. So right away we know that he stood out among the majority of Jew...

"Yom Kippur! Yom Kippur!! Yom Kippur!!!" shouted the children with glee as they raced towards me. I was under my fig tree after just reciting the Shema Yisrael for the evening sacrifice. "Rabbi, we have come to learn about Yom Kippur. We love hearing your stories." cried the children. "Okay children. Gather round. But first, I must get some water and a towel to wash your feet and some bread to eat while you listen to me." The children were dazzled as it was not customary for Rabbis to wash the feet of their disciples; nevertheless, if that was a condition to listen to my esteemed stories, they were ready to act along. I began my story, "The 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri (September or October in the Gregorian calendar) is the Day of Atonement. You know, the day everyone gets to transfer their sins onto something else (usually animals though) and they are taken away from them and they become purified. But why Atonement? As we all know the G...

...Well, quite some years have passed and honestly, no ram gets to live as long as I have. My mates are all gone. Even the younger generation. I am LAMB of the previous story witnessing our Savior's birth. Only I am no longer a lamb. I should be what you'd call a grandfather, except Sheep, don't keep family rites, especially the males. We just live. Neither ending nor beginning. But call me LAMB. The dust of the Negev has given my shaggy coat a nearly exotic red tint. Our Trek is punctuated by short stops to rest and water the livestock. We travel more at night when it's cooler. The days are treacherous. Ima is long dead (Hashem bless her heart). I smile faintly in recollection. I shall face a similar fate at the end of this journey. I mean, what ram lives to be 30 and 3 years... A low chuckle escapes my throat. There's a little dust devil to the west of us. Our caravan leader doesn't think it will delay us at all. A man with some metal instruments carelessly d...