SHEDDING TATTOO TEARS

It was a cold night (5th of December 2013), I came home very tired after a very busy day. It must have been about midnight when my phone rang loudly, waking me up from a very deep sleep. It was my good friend -Oghene, so I picked up, barely hearing his voice…he said “ Hey Velli, whats up?, Mandela has passed on!, its on CNN…” I managed to mutter “ thanks bro” in a very drowsy voice as I ended the call. A light wave of some sort went thru my entire body like an electric shock as I realized what I just heard…. I couldn’t believe it at first…I checked my twitter and facebook accounts on my phone and to my greatest shock, tributes to Madiba were already flooding in. I rushed to the sitting room, switched on the telly……and on CNN, there it was….a repeat broadcast of President Jacob Zuma breaking the sad news. It was the most painful experience in my life after the passing on of my own father a few years ago. Everyone around me know how much I adore Nelson Mandela, he was one of my major life mentors.

Even as I type this piece with tears freely rolling down my cheeks, I can only reflect on the remarkable qualities of this wonderful leader….his smile, his South African accent, his voice, such humility, his jokes….and that broad smile. He was a leader worth emulating; he lived a life worth living with simplicity, totally enveloped with love and a lifestyle garnished with peace. A true African and a world leader indeed… the force behind the success story of South Africa today.

I was deeply moved by his commitment to reconciliation, lack of bitterness and genuine forgiveness towards his oppressors. His sense of humour was out of this world. These are virtues for our leaders to imbibe. He was not only a man of vision but also a compassionate man who placed the interest of his people far above his own personal interests.

I am not surprised that the whole world is standing in awe at the passing of this great man. But after all the tributes and accolades, what do we take home with us….as individuals, as leaders, as men and women and as children of God?

How can we call ourselves children of God and yet not learn one or two lessons from the life and times of Madiba? Nelson Mandela is a worthy example for all, irrespective of your religion, your tribe or belief. Imagine what the world would be like if we had two or three more other “Mandelas” in this generation of leaders.

We can do great things if we put others first, if we do unto others as we want them to do unto us or even love our neighbors like ourselves. Genuine love overcomes all obstacles. How can you claim to love an Invisible God when you can’t love your next door neighbor or the man across the street?  I believe this was the gospel Jesus came to preach and the lifestyle he wants us to live as Christians.

A life of loving our enemies and forgiving them of their shortcomings, no matter how deep they may have hurt us. Making a difference in the lives of others irrespective of who they are, who we are, where we find ourselves and what we are passing through.

As we join millions of South Africans and the world at large to mourn the passing on of this great icon, I think it’s also a time for sober reflection, a time to look inwards and seek for ways to make positive impact in the lives of people around us and the environment we live in. We preach better sermons with our lives than with our voice or church swag. Everybody will not end up as pastors on pulpits but we can change the world by practicing what we preach and loving one another.

Legends like Nelson Mandela possibly appear once in a century, so imagine how long we may have to wait to see another revolutionary leader…..Mandela, I know for sure that your legacy will live on for ages to come, my tears for you will neither dry up or cease flowing. I join the whole world to shed tattoo tears….forever in our hearts……Adieu Tata Madiba! Rest in Peace…..Papa Africa…..Good bye Nelson Mandela.

PS

Tattoo Tears: When your friend or someone close to you dies or is killed, you get two tattoo tears to represent your loss and the feelings you had for them. (source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TattooTear)

This is the author's view point and humble intentions, hence the choice of the title "shedding tattoo tears". The title should not be misinterpreted or quoted out of context.

BADDEST GUY EVER LIVETH

The Savior from Nazareth,

Indeed my redeemer liveth,

Jesus Christ, my pillar of faith,

His name, all angels praiseth,

He who has all sinners justifyeth,

From all iniquities, He saveth,

From all debt, He redeemeth,

The Word that created the earth,

And all humanity by His might, He sustaineth,

At all cost, true salvation He obtaineth,

All those who trust in Him, He edifyeth,

The devil accuseth, Yet He redeemeth,

I marvel at the things He doeth,

Deep into the hearts of men, He looketh,

He who had my sins wipeth,

And all my sorrows, He taketh,

He fulfills every promise He maketh,

He neither slumber nor sleepeth,

The Lord giveth life, and He taketh,

Yet all my needs, He provideth,

Studying His Word is a full diet,

Listen, all the sinners He still calleth,

All those with sickness, He healeth,

For all mankind to be saved is all He seeketh,

Deeper than the grave, He searcheth,

Like a two-edged sword, He pierceth,

Every dead thing around me, He raiseth,

For His sake, I have Angels everywhere, even in my closet,

Hosanna in the Highest,

In my view, He remains the fliest,

His Holy Spirit in me remains the realest,

He comes to me at my lowest,

He stands by me when the obstacle is thickest,

And He takes me to the highest,

Still He brings out my very best,

His glory, I can’t wait to manifest,

In my list of priorities, He comes first,

He is the bread of life, have a taste,

His blood will quench every thirst,

If you don’t want to believe the gospel, be my guest,

Anytime spent in His presence is definitely not a waste,

He is ever present from the east to the west,

He may not look like Kanye West,

But I know He is the baddest guy that ever liveth,

Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

I will love you till I take my last breath.

 

PS:

One love to Nigeria’s hottest rapper - Olamide who will be dropping His album soon titled “Baddest Guy Ever Liveth”. Your album title inspired this piece. Good luck on your album release, Thanks.

DISCLAIMER:

This piece is not in any way related to Olamide or His upcoming album, all the contents herein are just based on the creative imaginations of the author.

The word “Baddest” is a slang for “Greatest” in modern lexis of the youths. It is therefore not used and should also not be interpreted or quoted in a derogatory context.

Image1 : Christo the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Jeneiro, Brazil.

Source:www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_(statue)

Image 2:Lifting para el cristo Redentor de Rio el comercio

Source: www.elcomercio.es

IS TIME REALLY AN ILLUSION?

Hi peeps, how has your week been? I know it’s been a while (4 years, 8 months and 12 days to be specific) since I dropped some lines, but to cut the long story short…… I am back. I took a break from blogging for some personal reasons. I want to thank all those who sent  emails……urging me to make a comeback….I am so honoured  and really humbled. I have been working on some other projects for a while now but it’s a pleasure to be back all the same. You can say it loud now….Uchevelli is back!

According to the scientific American Magazine (June 2010 Edition) in an article written by Craig Callender, the issue was raised “is Time an Illusion?” He enumerated the divergent views of various scientists and philosophers on the issue. He mentioned Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity and Mysterious Flow by Paul Davies (Scientific American, September 2002).

“In the bestselling book -The Secret, it says ‘Time is just an illusion.’ Is it true? Is it just a figment of our imagination? (Does time Exist? by Andrew Zimmerman Jones)

According to Wikipedia “time is a dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.

Time has long been a major study in religion, philosophy and science, but defining it in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has consistently eluded scholars”.

I didn’t write this, I didn’t formulate it….the case is that I even got more confused when I tried to get the definition of time. But I must tell you that the theory of relativity, time dilation, space time, time travel, twin paradox or cosmological  and thermodynamics arrow of time didn’t give me a clear picture of the topic, rather I got more confused.

There are lots of popular sayings in this part of the globe with reference to time like” Time is money”, “Time waits for nobody”, “there is time for everything”,” time travel”, “manage your time well”, etc.

But I ask…do you really have time when you don’t control it? How can you manage something that is out of your control?

Do you know when your time on earth will come to an end? You can’t even say what will happen in the next minute or couple of seconds. Does it mean that you can only manage the slot you are given by the Almighty? (Even though I read that God added 15 years to the life of a King during the time of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 38:1-8)

The past is gone like smoke and you can’t go back to it or get it back…..with all the opportunities that came along with it and the future has not come yet so  it’s not tangible, you can’t count on it until it comes and becomes NOW. What we call the present is just NOW, one split second at a time and it’s gone…..LOL.

It’s quite confusing right………..when science, religion or philosophy doesn’t give you all the answers?

I only came to one conclusion…..that Time is one of God’s mysteries…..which is still beyond the scope of human understanding. Only God has control of time because He made the end from the beginning. Time is one of the major unsolvable equations of human intelligence despite its importance which is beyond man despite his technological innovations. It’s something we take for granted, yet it determines our lifespan on earth and our destinies in eternity.

According to some people, time past cannot be captured, rather it can only be remembered as a good or bad memory……therefore you spend time trying to remember time already spent. So I ask again……..What is time? Is it real? Don’t give me some complex algebraic or mathematical equation.

In your own words, what is time? How come we know so little about time, yet we use time spent to measure our sojourn on earth? If I ask “How old are you?” and you respond “I am twenty years old” Does it mean that time is life? If life is measured by time spent, does it mean that life is a function of time or vice versa?

Man is limited by time because no one knows what may happen tomorrow, till tomorrow comes? I may predict scientifically based on things that had occurred in the past but…….is it always accurate? This means that most predictions are basically probabilities ……………yes or no, on or off, zero or one, black or white, right or wrong.

Since I could not find any satisfactory answers on Google, Wiki or science, I decided to consult my Bible and what I discovered blew my small mind.

TIME IS REAL………….HEAVEN IS REAL AND HELL IS SO REAL… and your time is ticking fast.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-17 was the first place where time was defined, described and elaborated in detail.

It says

“ To everything there is a season,

 A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born , And a time to die;

A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted (harvest)…….”

It goes on and on………..

Ecclesiastes 3:11

“He had made everything beautiful in its time,

 Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

 except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end”

QED

I wish some scientists of our time would read this and give their lives to Christ………..lol.

Ecclesiastes 8:6-12

“Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,

Though the misery of man increases greatly.

For he does not know what will happen;

So who can tell him when it will occur?

No one has the power over the spirit to retain the spirit,

And no one has the power in the day of death.

There is no release from that war,

And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it”

I discovered that God had the power to control time, step into the future and correct the past….wow, interesting…..something that we can’t even still understand now, with all the technologies at our disposal. God worked with time, acted on time and even paused time at some point.

Isaiah 46:9-10

” Remember the former things of old,

For I am God, and there is no other,

I am God, and there is none like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And ancient times things that are not yet done,

Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all My pleasure,’ ”

I realized that indeed….God just wants us to know why He is the Almighty. In the book of Joshua 10:1-43, the story of how a man under God’s anointing commanded the sun and moon to stand still for almost 24 hours, for them to continue a battle (against 5 kings) that was to their favour….(Joshua 10:12-13).

Man is a prisoner of time….yet brags to be free…..how?  I just wonder.

So at this juncture, I ask myself……….why will someone not serve God? It baffles me why someone will not accept Jesus as His Lord and Savior…..knowing that all could end just now…………maybe before you finish reading this article….God Forbid!  I can’t say for sure how many have died in the last five minutes……….but I wonder what gives you and I the impetus think that we are better than those who have fallen asleep?  It is simply by the grace of God that we are saved and yet another opportunity to make amends….Don’t take it for granted.

Psalm 144:3-4

“Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?

Or the son of man that You are mindful of him?

Man is like a breath;

His days are like a passing shadow.”

We board airplanes not knowing the one that may crash, we travel on roads……same roads where many  lives are lost daily, we live in a world where we could wake up and discover that a “tsunami” had wiped off a whole city while we were asleep……..some people go to bed and wake up with strange illnesses or even pass on in their sleep, some people travel and never come back home and you tell me not to tremble at His mercies and acknowledge Him in every step I take….. and every breath I breathe…. Impossible.

James 4:13-16

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,

Spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life?

It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and vanishes away.

Instead you ought to say, “if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

At times like this, the best thing to do is to take solace in the arms of the One who truly saves, allow Him take control of your time, your life and what’s left of it.

Psalm 31:15

“My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me”.

I may have wasted my life or time …..( Ephesians 2:12-13) making lots of mistakes, but I now I know better…..got to make the time I have left count for something  (Eph 5:16, Colossians 4:5 – Redeeming time).  The fact that I have fallen in the past is not the issue, wasting valuable time crying over spilled milk is the script of the enemy. Jesus has brought redemption to our doorsteps. He says it doesn’t matter how long I was stuck down there, He is willing to wipe off my sins, forget the past and give me a new start. God is a God of many chances only if you are willing to keep trying until you get it right. Things might not be perfect at the moment, but never give up….because it is only for a time….or season, and as we know….time is not stagnant, seasons are not static…..so your situations are only but for a while….joy  and help will definitely come in the morning.

Psalm 62:8

 “Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us”

In conclusion, a life without Christ is a life well wasted….a total waste of time.  Time is real, heaven is real and Hell is so real. In my own opinion, I think it is “anti –Christ” to say that time is not real….because it implies that what was done on the Cross of Calvary is not real…..Can you imagine such a fallacy?

Anything not contained in His word (The Bible) is out of our syllabus….Time makes no meaning in the grave. The essence of life is to spend our time on earth for God (doing His will and giving Him true worship) so that we can spend eternity with Him at the end of time. I don’t know if you have a different view or  perspective regarding the mystery of time…..your comments would be highly appreciated……..thanks for dropping by……..please do visit again………..until next time……….it’s your boy…….Velli.

The image “Hourglass,dying.jpg”  is courtesy:www.highschooldxd.wikia.com