Please No...........Don't do this

I am angry, very! Angry that men who were created in the image and likeness of God, to protect, provide, be a covering for women would abuse those same women entrusted into the care. What kind of man decides he must forcefully rape a woman who turns down his advances? What kind of man drugs a woman and takes advantage of her? hat kind of man inflicts such pain on one so helpless just for a few minutes of pleasure?

Women from war torn countries speak of brutality, rape and abuse at the hands of their own armies or enemy army, life's shattered never to be the same.

Women all over the world speak of going on dates with admirers and waking up to see themselves naked and raped.

Women speak of going home late and being assaulted by a stranger on the road.

Family mourn the loss of their daughters, raped and beaten to death.

Oh the fear- unwanted pregnancy, HIV, STD, injury but none more scary than the life sentence of the mental pain inflicted that never goes away.

Such women developing a warped sense of morality, struggling to differentiate between wrong and right, somehow believing they brought it on themselves, Feeling dirty, used and worthless.

Who can help? One does not know whom to trust or turn to. Hopelessness abounds....who can help?

Then God's word's, pure as silver melted and purified by fire: His grace is sufficient...to overcome, to heal, to deliver, to restore , to save......

What to do:

•  Never ever go on dates with men not known to any reliable and trustworthy person.
• Investigate your date. You won't believe how much information is available out there if you just dig a little.
• If you must, go to places where you will be seen by others.
• Do not accept drinks already open.
• Do not leave your drink left unattended.
• Do not follow a stranger home or to an obscure location.
• When in doubt, take a friend as a chaperone.
• Do not stay out late if using public transport except accompanied by others.
• Flirting can be misconstrued as a come on signal, avoid it.
• Do not dress provocatively. Less is more.
• Make sure someone else knows where you are and who you are going out with.

While you cannot predict or control someone else's behaviour, you can put yourself out of harm's way. Show yourself some love by protecting yourself.

Worthless offense .. Fickle Treasures

3rd of June, she got into an argument with her husband, and by the time they where half way through, she started wishing he had stayed a little longer at Abuja from where he just returned, after being away from home for 1 week.

30 minutes later, he was headed out the door, needed to get out and sort out “more important matters” that have been left pending in his absence rather than sitting at home and arguing  with her…”women and their wahala!”, he must have thought.

She was so upset! Offense had found a seat in her heart! Etching deeply! “How can he say that to me!! How can he think that of me??” …The stage was set for the play of the week…. “RENOVATION OF BODY PARTS – cold
shoulder… long face…pouted mouth….bitter heart…hard head and rolling eyes!” 

10 minutes after he drove off, confirmed reports filtered in, indicating that there had been the fatal airplane crash that had just taken the lives of 153 people, coming from Abuja to Lagos!!

Goodness!! “It could have been him!! It could have been anyone” she thought! At that instant, nothing else mattered but that her husband – her love, was alive and well, safe and sound back home!! Alive enough to  be annoying! Alive enough to have a fight with!! Alive enough to reconcile with! Text messages had never been typed this quickly  - Her message read ; “Thank God you are back home! Thank God you are alive! What would I do if I ever lost you!... sorry about the argument, I just realized that I misunderstood what you were trying to say. Please let’s forget about it and move on. I’m just happy that you are back safe and sound, every other thing is trivial. Life is the most important! It’s a gift from God.. I love you so much…”
 
And she meant every word of it! Because set side by side with issues of life and death, the cause of the offense harbored became so irrelevant! So worthless!

It got me thinking, 
how many times have we held on to issues and nurtured offense in our heart like a mother would a child
 How many times we have helped to water, cultivate, and bring to harvest the seed of offence that had been laid in our hearts 
Oh, how many times we have deprived ourselves of the joy and weightlessness that forgiveness brings!
For On that Day, when we all shall stand before our Master, all the issues of life as we know it, will be like “NOTHING”!
All our hustles, bustles, hassles, deals, runs,” levels”,“swagger”, everything will equal to NOTHING –
 It is then that we will know that “nothing” is actually a sum total of some things! 
Things of no spiritual relevance multiplied by infinity equals to nothing!

Permit me to make a preposterous statement! 
Heaven is only for the Rich!! Yes o, I said it!
Permit to clarify my  statement; God who will judge our wealth level, has his own standard of judging wealth; “ for His ways are not our ways”.
It won’t be “Your acct 1234567678 has been Credited With N50,000,000 On 31—May-12, 12:01pm by XXX. Bal:=  N 101,000,00”
Far from it, it would be an assessment of treasures that cannot be quantified by human systems! 
Heavenly Treasures that are immune to moth, rust, theft and fluctuations of economic systems;
Remember, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..

And so, out of the ashes of these tragic events, let us rise
and walk in Newness of Life!

Walk in Grace, Live by Faith, 
Dwell in Joy, Have divine Peace,  
Walk in righteousness, Believe God for the impossible, 
Practice forgiveness, Be anxious for nothing (but with Thanksgiving make your request known on to God),
Be prepared for War (for we wrestle not against flesh and blood), 
Put on your whole armor of War, Walk in Victory, be the Overcome you have been called to be, Rule and Reign like the King you are,  
Release offense, Play the fool (for He uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise)….

Life at best is brief…. In an instant, with a crash, a bang and a boom, All that we could see, GONE!
What counts now is all that we can’t see…”For what is seen is  temporal, but what is unseen is  eternal” 
Get over yourself already! Ask for the grace  Live the Christ-like life! Aka the “Love-life”
Stop being impatient!
Stop those acts of wickedness
Stop being jealous!
Please do not brag and stop all the “formings”
Stop being rude, selfish and self-centered too!
Why are you easily irritated and resentful? Always keeping record of wrong doings!
Stop condoning evil and start standing for and rejoicing in truth!
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Love stands the test of time;
Love never fails!! It lasts forever! It never ends!

How blessed are we to be offended, for it is the priceless
opportunity to exercise Divine Forgiveness…
May the Grace of God, rest and abide with us now and
forever…l
 

Loss of lives from the Dana Air Crash: A COLLECTIVE FAILURE

It is easy to blame Dana air management if it makes us all feel better but directly or in directly we as citizens of this failed state Nigeria play a role when disaster like this happens.

The Government: That certifies unfit planes or equipments discarded by other nations as fit for use, that is too busy looting to apportion funds and resources to the agencies (NEMA , NCA) That ought to have led the rescue operations.

Dana Management: For their greed and irresponsibility resulting in corporate manslaughter. Average cost of dana ticket is N18K. For 145 passengers, total revenue generated from that flight was less than N2.7Million! Was that money worth losing so many people for , families wiped out, dreams killed?

Dana Employees: Who all knew that flight had a problem and did not have the guts to stand up to the management that asked them to fly because no one wants to rock the boat.I don’t know much about aviation protocol but can a pilot not refuse to fly a plane? Does he see the safety records and maintenance checks done? I remember once a Virgin Atlantic flight to London was cancelled after we boarded. Crew members of Nigerian Airways saw us seated waiting for a bus to take us to a hotel asked us why and when we told them we were told there was a bird in the engine , they all burst out laughing, saying that if it was their flight, they would have been asked to fly on a faulty engine! DANA IS NOT THE ONLY AIRLINE THAT WAS AND IS STILL DOING THIS.

Nigerian Citizens: Who obstructed whatever rescue operations that could have been done by crowding the place just to take pictures and stare. I know some were trying to help but they are not trained or equipped for a situation like this and by being there hindered rescue operations.

Private Sector: In a country where private citizens own jets, helicopters and move around with ambulances etc, does it mean not even 1 multinational could have assisted in whatever capacity? I know they have no jurisdiction but when lives are involved is that the time for bureaucratic red tape or following due process? Was any attempt even made if for nothing to put out the fire quickly or did everyone just sit helpless?

So while we all blame Dana, until we all start being involved in our little way, nothing will change. The government has failed us but should we also fail ourselves? Today it is a plane crash but look within and around us and see areas where our lackadaisical attitude, nonchalance and ‘Look the other way if it does not affect us attitude’’ may has or can cause loss of lives.

Nothing can bring back Ayoola Somolu,other passengers on board and all the other people at home who died as a result of negligence, careless, irresponsibility but they should not have died in vain. Let this be a wake up call for us all because it could have been anyone of us.