Most often we make choices based on the following:

• our own level of exposure or knowledge about a thing or an issue.
• what others tells us or advise us to do.
• what we see others do.
• our own experience.
• own feelings or sentiments.
• in line with the trends and fashion.
• by information we get from literatures or books, movies, social media etc.
• by following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Much as there are absolutely nothing wrong with the above methods. It is important to stress that taking a wrong choice in life has left so many with regrets in the latter day of their lives. The prodigal son made a choice to leave his father’s house with his inheritance. Something surely must have informed his decision and choice to leave the fathers’ house. The decision to leave came suddenly to the father. He must have been thinking about it. Whatever the pull, it certainly weighed heavily on him.

His motives were certainly sincere and genuine but got it entirely wrong in the course of his sojourn outside his father’s terrain. Life was not as he saw it. He must have realized the foolishness in making a choice to leave the father’s house. He began to play in his mind, the idea of either to stay under hard condition or to return to his father’s house as a slave. It became obvious to him that his choices have marred his destiny. His life was now in a ditch, dining with pigs.

He no longer qualifies to be called a son. He lost his rights and privileges to sonship. He took the choice to take the painful path of regrets back to his father’s house to be given a place as a slave in the house.

Many have come to the end of life with regrets because of the choices they made in the past. God is particularly interested in the youths. He is interested in ensuring that they make the right choices in life. He wants them to get to the place of their God given dream. He therefore exposes them early in life to His word.

On the other hand, the devil is interested in getting them to choose wrongly in open rebellion and hostility to God. He gets them conscripted into cults, drug addiction, gangsters who unleash terror and violence on people.

No youth can make a good choice without the guide of His lamp, that is His word.

His word is a guiding lamp that illuminates the path of every man that comes into world. With it there are no reason to fall or stumble into the ditch of life. It guides a man’s step in the path of wisdom. Wisdom is a profitable tool for making the right choices in life. A man of understanding grows in strength and ability to discern between good and evil.

The Word of God will give you the understanding on the things that are yours, and her your inheritance in life. You make choices therefore, with an assurance that your choices are God ordained.

As stranger here on earth, the word of God become your pathfinder.

The choice you make in life with either make or mar you. Let the word of God be your guide. Do not be wise in your own eyes, always acknowledge God. Let his Holy Spirit guide you into all truth.

In case you have made wrong choices based on your ignorance of God’s word in the past ask for God’s mercy. He will pardon abundantly.

My prayer is that God will lead and direct your choices in life.

adeyinkantwi

You have teh capacity to be resilent in tehface of adversity. You have the capacity to break through the barriers that wants to hinder, pull or tear you apart.  Keep strong.

God’s capacity is in-built in you. You have the DNA of teh Almighty God. He never fails so you cannot fail. You are a Son of God.

God has made it in such a way that your life has a great meaning and purpose in the lives of so many people still waiting for your appearance. Dont allow set backs to put you down. They are night hours of the day, certainly the day will break-outt, let your hope lighten up your tommorrow.

We all make decisions that leads to falls in life, learn your lesssons, keep moving, stay confident and stay excited. Dont allow failure to define you.

God’s spirit will give you teh wings to fly. He will strengthen you while walking, keep your feets on the path of life and give you speed to run and recover all.

Something tells me I am writing this because of you.

All glory and adoration to God.

Have a great day

adeyinkantwi

Realize that dreams come from God. There is a constant need to remember that our life dreams come from God. Dreams sometimes are revealed to us in our night sleep.  It can also come through divine revelation, or deep insight or knowledge. The scripture (Phil.2:13) says it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is important to acknowledge God with the ownership of our life dream. When we do. He makes helps available towards the actualization of our dreams.We must at all-time hand over our dreams to God.

Apart from this what else do we need to do keep our dreams alive?

Work at it: There is no other recipe for getting to the place of your life dream other than through hard work. The days of miraculous rain of manna are over. Everything comes with a price tag. You must work to get to actualize your dream.

Chase after it: Like a young man pursuing after the love of a maid, you don’t give up, you will need to give all it takes to pursue after your dream. It is too late for you to give up. Realize that you are not carrying this dream just for yourself, you are carrying it as part of God’s master plan. Just as marriage brings a man into a place of favor with God and man, your dream remains your partner that will bring you into the limelight.

Invest in it: When we talk about investment, we mean sowing. Sowing is done with the hope of a harvest. You are God’s investment on earth. God has wired you with talents or natural gifts that will help you actualize your life dream. Invest time, money, energy and other resources in the actualization of your dream.

Develop your cutting edge by investing in any form of education either formal or informal that will get you to the place of your dream education. Invest in being the person of your dream.

We are in the age of knowledge, get knowledge, get understanding and get wisdom. Invest resources to acquire wisdom.

To give birth to your dream, a lot of sacrifice in terms of time, money, talents, and other resources will be needed. Investment in prayer is also crucial. Life is like a man going to the forest; he needs his cutlass to clear his path to his destination. Prayer is the cutting instrument needed to clear the path to the place of your dream.

This position is succinctly put in the word of Martin Luther when he said ” I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer”.

Your harvest is something you will need to patiently wait for. It needs time to grow. Don’t jump the gun, your dream will be birthed.

Believe in it. There is no other way to be defeated in life if you don’t believe in your dream. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He left his fathers’ land for a dream of a city whose maker is God. Faith is not passive, its active. It takes work. Believing in your dream is crucial in his actualization.

Fight for it. The actualization of your life dream is worth fighting for.  I don’t mean going up in arms or holding your fist to fight everyone. Fighting for it denotes the determination and doggedness required to ensure that your dream is not taken away from you. You have to protect your dream.  Jacob wrestled with the Angel of God for a blessing. Nothing comes easy, you will need to stand up and demand your rightful place of the dream you carry in your heart.

Learn from others: There are quite a lot of people of you who have succeeded ahead of you in a similar area of your dream, learn from them. Get a role model or mentor that will lead and assist you in the realization of your dream. Having a mentor, you can learn from will help you save time as you won’t need to re-invent the wheel, you can fine-tune and even make what you have learned better.

Be Patient with setbacks: Having a dream does not mean you will not make mistakes in the course of pursuing your dream. Therefore, you don’t need to be hard on yourself. You need to know that you are still human and therefore open to making mistakes either in your choices or errors of judgment. Your need for perfection will take time and experience.

Avoid comparing your dream with others. The uniqueness of our identity as individuals cannot be debated. One, therefore, takes a seat with the unlearned when one compares oneself with others. Our DNA is different so it is our dream in life. The only person you should become better every day is yourself. No one else. Don’t also succumb to peer pressure.

Don’t be afraid.  Fear has a crippling effect on the actualization of a man’s dream. There is a need to know that our dreams are part of God’s master plan so when he gives a dream, He also provides the enabling resources to actualize it. God told, Abraham, ‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.’ (Gen. 15:1). Feed your faith and starve your fear. History is replete with ordinary men who through faith, laid the foundation of nations, subdued nations, raised the dead, etc in the pursuit of their God’s given dream.

Change your limiting belief. Our beliefs are like unquestioned commands. They have been programmed into because of experience and knowledge.  They tell us how things, like what is possible and what is not possible. What we can and what we cannot do.  They shape our every action and our thoughts. Most often we have unconsciously programmed limiting beliefs into our lives.

Changing our limiting beliefs is central to keeping our dreams alive. The greatest enemy is our mind, we must, therefore, pull limiting beliefs that have become stronghold down in our lives so that we can get to the place of our dream.

Apply Wisdom: To get to the place of your dream in life, you need wisdom. King Solomon asked for only one thing, wisdom. You need the wisdom to judge and make the right decisions in life. It’s fundamental to offer divine direction (Eccl 10:10).

What is wisdom? It is the application of knowledge. Knowledge, on the other hand, is a body of information. You derived information by gathering, intelligence, news, facts, and data together.

I once told my undergraduate son that when a lecturer gives an assignment, the intention is for students to take ownership of their research findings and not just depend on what the lecturer has taught or he is about to teach. Information is collected as data, facts, news, etc. from different sources. These are used to present answers to the assignment given.

Dreams are like a puzzle. You need the wisdom to solve and only wisdom only can unravel it.

Realize the potential within. Often than you feel weak and insufficient to carry out a big dream of our heart, but within you are potentials, God has placed in you for the actualization of your life dream. There is a sleeping giant inside of you waiting to be woken from slumber. You need to activate the gifts and talents God has invested into you for the fulfillment of your dream.

Watch out.  To keep your dream alive, you will need to watch out for dream killers. Dream killers are those who will not allow you to achieve your life-long dream or desires. Dream killers are around everywhere; usually, these are trusted persons such as family members, friends, co-workers, group members, and bosses. They are just like that, not due to any errors in yours. The brothers of joseph envied and hated him for his dreams so they plotted to kill him and his dreams. God had to intervene.

Keep away from substance abuse. I decided to add this point because of the younger generation that may be reading through it because the use of substance abuse is pandemic. It is everywhere. The World Health Organization defines, ”Substance abuse as the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs.”. The use of these drugs leads to a life of dependence and cluster behavioral, cognitive and psychological phenomena. You don’t need any drug or substance to enhance your capacity to fulfill your dream. God has wired you with all you need to get to the place of your dream.

I have quite a lot of pathetic cases of young men in the early twenties who were almost at the point of graduation and some undergoing internship in their professional calling but who could no longer go further because they had broken down and were being referred for admission in a psychiatric hospital. They have used their own hands to truncate their dreams of becoming a success in life. It is sad, expectations of parents and the community have been dashed. The dream of the younger generation taking over from the older generation is under a siege by the influx of illicit drugs and other substance abuse in our society.

Keep away from substance abuse to keep your dream alive. It will destroy you and you won’t be able to get to your life dream in one piece.

Be grateful and celebrate. In keeping with your dream, always be thankful and celebrate landmarks in your journey towards the actualization of your dream. You may not have achieved all that you need to, but take a moment to reflect and be grateful to God, your mentor and all others that have cheered you on, in your journey of life. Occasions of celebration at your birth were done on your behalf and will be done on your behalf at your death, while alive celebrate milestones, giving thanks to the Almighty God for sustenance and progress made so far.  done on your  It is a good thing to give thanks.  Your depth of gratitude will determine your altitude. Do everything, however,  in moderation.

Change strategy: In case you are helpless and frustrated because it is obvious you are not on the road to actualizing your dream then change your strategy. Do a self-assessment; ask yourself what is your purpose in life? Write down all the things you will no longer accept in your life. Finally, write down what you aspire to become in life. Prepare to decide to say enough is enough to those ugly things that are not taking you to the place of your dream. Acknowledge that you are more than these. You an eagle, not a pigeon. Make definite changes in your life. Raise the standard of your life. Stop living aimlessly, each day of your life should draw you close to the dream of your heart. Prepare your heart to take over the world. Be that star that you.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we need to keep our dreams alive and not allow the present circumstances of life to weigh us down or rob us of our destinies. The whole world is waiting for you because the best book has not been written either the best song sang. The best invention is still yet to arrive. The actualization of the dream of your heart brings fulfillment in life. This is called success.

Thanks for your time.

Please do not hesitate to leave us a comment in the chart provided below.

adeyinkatwi ….the pilgrim.

In our earlier discussion on this subject we established the truth that your dream is you. That your dream is part of God’s master plan for the universe and you. He wired you with potentials to fulfil your dreams. The issue confronting us today is that quite a lot of us are loosing the sense of our callings, called dreams, in life.

Samson lost his dream with a carelsss lifestyle built on faulty character on the lap of Delilah.

Lets examine for now what happens to dreams?

It can be aborted. Dreams can be aborted ( early loss), when exposed to a harsh and unconducive enviroment (early loss)due to lack of nurturing.

It can suffer still-birth.  Dreams can survive for a while (Later- loss) in a harsh environment, after draining energy and resources available and dies later.

It can come too prematurely . Dreams like pregnancy can be delivered prematurely (too early). It is  dangerous. The environment may not be too conducive for survival. It may die if cares to preserve is not taking) (such babies are put in the intensive unit of a hospital to ensure the full development of the baby’s organs). Jesus told his mother my time has not come

It can be birthed. (Timely-  fully matured). The bible uses the word “in the fullness of time”to describe this.

Why do we settle for less other than for the fulfillment of our dream?

The Uncertainties and Pressures of life.  We settle for other things in life, other than the fulfillment of our dreams due to the uncertainties and pressures of life. Happenings in life are at a fast pace, and one seems not too close to catching on life and when one seems close to, it is often a mirage.

The pressures of life become so hard that our lives hang in a balance with nothing to hold on to. It is frustrating. So we settle for what we are accustomed to, follow the routines of every day and live by these. Here, life dreams are lost.

Fear: The greatest challenge to living out our dreams is Fear. The God-given dream of our hearts is usually bigger than our imagination. God intends that they are things that have not been seen, heard and neither come to our knowledge before. Fears often set in. We begin to question our dreams. We doubt our capacity to actualize our dreams.

The first issue God addresses whenever he calls a man with a divine assignment is on the issue of fear. He told, Abraham, ‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.’ Fear has a crippling effect on the actualization of a man’s dream in life.

Focusing on other things. We lose our dreams when we focus on other things in life. These things get our attention usually because they are trending, and economically viable. Following the principle of 80/20  we focus more on things that we should minor on. This accounts for why we are far from the realization of our dreams.

Failure to cherish and celebrate your dream. The key to divine uplifting and fulfilled dreams is being thankful and appreciative of what you have. It put you in the right attitude for a greater altitude in life. Those who complain and murmur in life, like the children of Israelites never got the land of their dream.  They died in the wilderness of life.

The opinion of others. We allow others to talk us out of our dreams by their opinion and suggestion.

Failures of the Past : Failures at certain undertakes may lead to discouragement and abandonment of dreams. The fact that you failed in certain undertakes is not enough reason to abandon your life dream.

The expectation of others. Men and women often jettison their life dream for another based on the expectation of others. I have read a story of a young brilliant guy that graduated with distinction from a Medical College. On the day of graduation, he told his parents that haven fulfilled their expectation of becoming a doctor; he was now willing to pursue his life dream career in music.

The discourse continues with what is needed to keep our dreams alive.

adeyinkantwi ….the pilgrim.

Quite a lot of us have dreams of making life better than we met it.

Our dream captures the life that we want to live but over time our dream and visions have given ways to pressure and routine of life. A lot of us are completely lost such that we are living life dry and frustrated. Destinies have been destroyed as a result of this. We are discouraged and don’t want to make efforts to dream again.

when we settled for the norm,life becomes one of survival,rather than living, our lives now hangs in a balance.

The truth is that you and I are designed and wired with dreams and visions in life.

God is the dream giver.  The dream, God gives are for the realization of His Master plan. Hence the scripture says that there are many devices in the heart of God but only the counsel of God that shall stand.( Proverb 19:21).

The truth is that you are your dream and once you loose your dream you loose you. The boy, Joseph held unto his dreams. he boasted about it. In return, he wan envied and hated for his dreams.

A man that believes in his dreams will speak out his dreams, because?

You are your dream,

Your dream defines you.

Your dream is your aspiration and desire.

Your dream is your desirable future at a glance.

Your dream is your life passion.

Your dream is your life purpose

Your dream gives meaning to your life.

Your dream is your best friend in the journey of life.

Your dream is your drive. Sometimes people say you are mad because of your dream.

Your dream differentiates you from another person. It is like your DNA.

Your dream pushes you towards your highest potential. It sees no limit.

Your dream helps you defines your fellow-ship

Your dream excites and intoxicates you. It’s a spark.

Why speak about your dream, like Joseph?

You want them to know what is in your mind.

You want them to know what you stand for.

You want them to help you to actualize it.

Sometimes you want people’s affirmation of your dream.

You want others to celebrate with you.

You want others to see how your dream will impact them positively.

You just want to speak because your heart is full. (It is from the abundance of the dreams of your heart that your mouth will speak).

Finally, you meant no harm when you speak out your dreams.

Martin Luther King Jnr meant no harm when he spoke his dream about a non- racial America.

Martin Luther King Jnr said I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

In our next discourse we will go into how we loose our dreams.

adeyinkantwi…..the pilgrim.

In our last discourse we looked at the meaning of Amittai, the name of the father of Jonah. The name means “my truth or the truth of the Lord”. God is truth personified hence His children should be sons of truth.

Today, we will look at the specific nature of the call of God in the life of Jonah and how that impacts on our lives.
Prophet Jonah narrated how he was called of God “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise go to Nineveh that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me”. Jonah 1:3

God has a will. The eternal will of God is His heart beat. His will is that which matters most to Him. The execution of His will brings Him pleasure. He does not need man’s counsel  to decide what to do. He however needs the instrumentality of man to fulfil His purpose on earth. We are not here by accident; we are here to execute His purpose.

The God’s call is an invitation to man to take part in the fulfilment of God’s eternal plan and purpose for humanity and the earth. It is important to stress that as creatures and not creator, the true meaning of our lives comes from obedience to the call of God upon our lives.

It is important to know that just as in an orchestra we are differently talented or gifted to produce a harmonious and melodious song.  It is therefore important for us to identify our gifts and stay within the area of our calling.
It is the pursuit of purpose that gives meaning to life. We start to live when we gain understanding of our purpose in life.
One ingredient of God’s call is that it is specific. In the book of Jonah, God leaves no one in doubt as to who He was calling, Jonah of course and for what cause?, “to go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it” and why? “for their wickedness is come up before me”.

Jonah, the writer of this book, as if trying to convince his audience wrote down the exact word of his call, which today we call the Mission.

What is your sense of mission on earth? Take a pen and write it or them down.

The secret of a successful and most fulfilling life lies in the answer to this question.

Shalom.

Adeyinka Antwi – your fellow pilgrim.

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3)

In our previous discussion, we emphasized the fact that God called Jonah with a specific assignment to preach to the people of Nineveh. As far as God was concerned,  Jonah was qualified for this assignment. Our call in life is to show forth the light of God in us in darkness. Primarily, we called and chosen, like Jonah to share God’s truth to modern cities of Nineveh around us. Jonah would however not go, he declined such a mission.

Instead of heading to the great city of Nineveh, which at that time was the capital of Assyrian Kingdom. Jonah left his home at Gath-Hepher, near Nazareth in Israel (2kings 14:25), headed for Joppa, a coastal city where he boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, a city near Gilbraltar in Southern Spain.

We are told he headed for Tarshish, accordingly to go from the presence of the Lord. This move by Jonah was resisted by the all-knowing and Omnipresent God.

It is impossible for His children to escape His sight. King David said “whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into the heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there……if I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. (Psalm 139:7-12)

Am so sure that we are all familiar with the story of Jonah in the bible.  There have been occasions when God had asked you and I to do certain things, and we abandon them to pursue our own desires. In such moment doing God’s will is second to all other considerations. Sometimes we make other sacrifices other than the sacrifice that God demanded from us and still expect the best of God.

The Psalmist elsewhere says “ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: (Psalm 40:6-8).

The secret to a fulfilling life is staying in one’s calling or purpose, don’t jump ships. We put our lives and that of others at risk when we do- “ And they said everyone to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah” (Jonah 1:7). Don’t jump ships, don’t alternate, stop running pillars to poles. God created you uniquely for your assignment or purpose in life.

Memory verse: “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (I Corinthians 7:20).

Prayer: I pray that the Lord will enlighten my eyes of understanding, that I may know the hope of my calling in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:18).

Top of the day, surely goodness and mercy shall follow you today. You are blessed in Jesus name.

We will go further in our discussion on the call of God and Jonah’s response.

A call like we said earlier is a summon. With particular reference to our text it is a call by the higher than the highest, the creator and the owner of all creation, the Almighty God to a frail mortal being called Jonah.

God will always need the instrumentality of man to execute his plans and purposes on earth. The call can therefore be seen as an invitation to partner with God to execute His plans and purposes. For instance, He called Abraham to raise the nation of Israel, and called Moses to deliver the children of Israel bondage in Israel.

Jonah was called to preach repentance to a wicked city, Nineveh. Jonah, in Hebrew literally means a dove. The dove is a small wild pigeon, it is usually used to describe a person who takes a conciliatory attitude and advocate negotiations and compromise; especially an opponent of war.

Jonah was called to a ministry of reconciliation. He was only been asked to live up to his name. But what was his response? It is necessary to point out that the plans and purposes of God are always eternal, no matter how temporary it looks. God will always patiently wait for men’s response, He wants an assurance of their willingness.

The narrative says “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
This was a subtle way of telling God, “I will have nothing to do with this call”. It was an outright rejection of God’s invitation to Jonah to help save a people.

Like many of us today, rather than following the direction of God he chose his own way. The Scripture tells us ”there are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand” ( Proverb 19:21). We are told that Jonah paid his way through to go to Tarshish to escape the presence of the Lord.

This story may appear ridiculous because we are only told he was going to Tarshish to escape the presence of the lord, bearing in mind that God is everywhere. It is, however, instructive to note that this is the way the average man lives his life as a pilgrim here on earth. We are always keen and interested in following our plans even when God is asking us to follow His.

We soon forget that we are creatures and not the creator. He alone knows the way through the wilderness of life.

Many of our suffering, hardships and frustration in life comes from not following in His path and direction for our lives. We need to make up our minds to follow the lord and ask Him to direct our steps daily in His path.

Memory Verse
“O lord, I know that the way of man is not himself; It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps”. Jeremiah 10:23

Prayer.
“O lord order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me”. Psalm 119:133

Calvary greeting to you and yours. His goodness and mercy shall follow you today. You are blessed in Jesus name.

When God calls people to do something their initial response is almost one of fear.

Moses when called of God to deliver the children from the land of bondage in Egypt, had a hundred and one reasons why God should look elsewhere. Moses’ response can be captured vividly in this word, “here I am, send Aaron”.

In his response to God’s call, Gideon said this, “Oh my lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”. (Judges 6:15).

In his book, Jonah gave a vivid description of his response to the call. It was one of rejection, to the invitation by God to go to preach repentance to the People of Nineveh. He reported himself this way, ”But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord”…(Jonah 1:3)

I wish to say here that there must be something God sees in a man before extending His invitation to him. There must be a reason why among millions of men of diverse tongues God chose to call a man, a family or a nation.

It is a great privilege to be invited to partner with God in the execution of His will and purpose in life. The scriptures say, “and no man put this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God” as was Aaron. (Hebrew 5:4)

It is an invitation to help further the cause of God on earth. God relies heavily on man for the execution of His will on earth. Men that He called are agent of positive change on earth. They help to advance the kingdom of God on earth. They are set over nations and kingdoms “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant”. (Jeremiah 1:10).

Men who heeded the call of God usually come to the end of their lives with a sense of fulfillment. Paul says” I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” ( 2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Abraham heeded the call and became the father of nations. Christ’s obedience to the point of death brought many sons to glory (Hebrew 2:10).

My prayer for you is that you will finish well in Jesus name. You will not fall by the wayside, the Lord will strengthen and keep you from falling.

He stood before a teeming large crowd and said, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth”.

The most important reason why reference is being made to Lou Gehrig’s word is that they speak of gratitude in the heart of the one we think would have every reason to be bitter.

It is hard to believe that a man like Lou Gehrig in his difficult moment will still consider himself the luckiest man on earth and will not ask, why me?. It takes a man of great character to be able to say this. John Ortberg, said in his book “When the Game is Over It All goes Back in the Box”, “that the great secret joy of life –the joy that we think getting richer will bring us – is the ecstasy of gratitude. Gratitude is how those rich toward God, rich in being, not just in having – play the game.

Lou Gehrig was grateful to those who made his job a success, these were men and women who have been unnoticed for many years. We truly need to be grateful for our state in life. Let your heart be full of gratitude for every step you have taken in life. Cherish the love of God, the great father who kept up you till this moment, be also grateful to cheerers who kept you going. There is more that we are, to be grateful for in life, than what we don’t have.

adeyinka antwi -your fellow pilgrim