CHILLIN IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

Wud’up people, how are you all? Am good. Well, today was wonderful, a lot of things happened, had a lot to do, did the best I could and closed for the day. An old friend frank, called me earlier in the day to check on him… claimed that we had a lot to discuss. Not seen him in a while. Well, on my way home, gave him a call, and he suggested we meet somewhere cozy after the day’s Kung-fu hustle.

Not a bad idea… so he says lets meet at Ibiza, somewhere in Area 11, Garki…not my favorite joint in Abuja, but a nice place no doubt. I pick a cab and am off… not very far from my office in wuse...like 20 minutes drive. I arrive there, not filled but a significant bunch… staring, drinking and having a gud time, I step in, saw my nigga frank, chillin with cold bottle of beer… we embrace, shake hands, I sit down and after all the pleasantries, we get down to business, cos I was kinda curious what this dude wanted to discuss with me. I order for a bottle of malt … reasons are best to moi, well they get me a cold bottle and we start discussing. I don’t want to bore you with the details but a quick run down of the whole scenario: He had been working with his cousin for 2 years now (who in my view is treating him well and paying well) after graduating from school, and now wants to start his own construction business and was looking for partners… probably get a few contracts and hit the millions, buy a car, get married… the dreams of any young man (yea..yea…Pinky and the Brain).

Well, am not against dreaming big but how do you intend to do this I asked? You don’t have any capital, you don’t have any experience, and you are this ambitious? Are you kidding me? Instead of staying with your cousin, gather more experience and wait for your time to shine, you want to gate-crash into the hall of fame. Well, after our discussion, I told him that am gonna think about it and give him a feed back later.

Am on my way home with a lot of thots swimming thru my mind, why is it that the youths of today are never patient? They are always in a hurry to make it big, to get married, to get famous, what happened to the “patient dog that gets the fattest bone”? These days its like the patient dog get no bone at all but I don’t share that view. What is the rush about? You make these millions and then what? This is the reason for the high crime rate in our country today. If you can’t get a car in a legit way, you seek alternative means, you can’t get admission into school, you seek fraudulent means as if someone is chasing you.

I waited for four gud years before I could gain admission into the university…even though my father was in the system, did I die?, did I not still graduate… in the course of my choice…ha? This craze for wealth and success baffles me because I don’t know what they want to use it for… what many don’t know is that success comes with a price tag. I just read in the papers that the former president was embezzling N51 Billion Nigerian Naira (about $440 million US Dollars) from the Petroleum industry (NNPC) on a monthly basis for the eight years he was in office… and you still call Bill Gates the richest man in the world? Better have a rethink.

Deep down in my heart, I knew that I was not gonna call frank again cos I wasn’t interested in that type of shit and trying to convince him to rethink his resolve was even a more herculean task, so am gonna let sleeping dogs lie. No success is built over night, not even in the bible; miracles do happen but ….in rare cases… besides miracles are not the full package, its just a temporary measure cos its doesn’t solve all the problems, its solves the currently pressing problem for now, that doesn’t mean that other more pressing issues are not going to come up, miracles are waivers not the solution. Big business enterprises did not just spring up from the blues; it took time of hard work, patience and dedication, ask Bill Gates… like the Americans would say shit ain’t easy. You have to be nurtured and groomed to be a good entrepreneur but it starts by being a good apprentice. Even Hollywood stars did not fall from vanilla skies; they started from small roles, worked hard and waited patiently for their time. Homie, WAIT FOR YOUR TIME.

I have been working with a firm for almost a year, I have learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn, why not stick around to learn the tricks of the trade…complexity transforms to simplicity with time, it’s just a matter of time. Even if I step out now, do I have the experience to sustain that success? If you come too fast, you expose yourself to a lot of danger and risks. Getting a degree in a university takes about 4 years (depending on the discipline), most of the vital things you would learn about life while you are in school are outside the classroom, and you will have to figure out things for yourself. My father would say that “a degree is never earned by anybody; it is awarded to those who meet certain requirements and criteria”. Its not just having good grades, what about morals, discipline, exposure, patience, punctuality and regular attendance… etc. when you meet all these requirements, you would have to graduate, not by yourself but by the system where you find yourself…the system would vomit you out, you either pass out or fall out, it depends on you. If a pregnancy is due, a baby has to be born (in normal conditions), it is not a decision of the mother or the child, but by the forces that be…at the appointed time. There is time for everything under the sun, why do you want to preempt things?

Even God operates in a sequential and systematic manner, today am like what is wrong in chilling for the right time to explode? In the scriptures… when David was always chilling in the forest with his father’s flock, taking care of his father’s bizness, others were either at home or the army camp. They thot that there was something wrong with him, it’s not as if they had no servants but he was trying to learn, and you learn with a humble heart. Even after he was anointed King of Israel, he still went to serve in the house of Saul; I didn’t hear him going around showing off like some top shot. You have to chill in the belly of the beast, wait for your time… when I say “chillin”, I mean relax in the belly of the beast, even if you are in a mess, chill in the belly of the beast called problem, it is only in a relaxed state of mind that you can think straight on what next to do… even if your marriage is not working out or that things are not working out bizness wise… allow God to make a way in desert. A patient apprentice is always ends up like his master (depending on who your master is – they call my master “The Great Physician”, you might know Him… ha ha ha) (Luke 6:40)…there is no problem that does not have a solution, even a HIV positive status, you don’t have to allow you circumstance to weigh you down, No… you have to sit down and think … what does God want me to learn from this situation? (Hebrew.12:5-11) …If you catch the drift, then that problem is solved, then you move to the next level. The great commission in the scriptures talks about “making disciples of all men” a disciple is an apprentice who is learning the way of the Lord, how He talks, how He behaves, what He does in His spare time , how He prays, when He prays…. We should be good disciples. How can you be a good apprentice if you don’t wait long enough to understand the keys to the mysteries surrounding your present circumstance? If you understand the hidden keys, you can unlock life’s challenges on your own without having to call your mum anytime you have a problem with your spouse, or blame your boss anytime you get a query in the office, or call your dad anytime you are in a mess… these are things that meant to make you that independent person you will turn out to be in the near future.

Well in conclusion, there is nothing like I have been wasting my time, says who? There is nothing like waste of time in life, its all experience and it all counts, sometimes, most of the situations we call problems are God-sent so as to bring us back when we have gone astray, so lets always look at issues with a positive mindset. Circumstances give you a story to tell (a testimony), well I gotta go, no matter what you do or where you find yourself, just know that God is aware of your case and keep chilling in the belly of the beast until the time of your sending forth comes, I hope that when the angel of blessing comes to knock on the door of your life, someone else will not open the door and say “sorry he moved out last week, but I can take the message”, keep chilling in God’s purpose for your life, its still your boy, Uchevelli, am out.