What I think I will do, What I do now and What I will actaully do

I was having a conversation a week or so ago with a friend about Architecture. For the record I do not talk about Architecture all the time, sometimes I talk about Architecture. Just had to put that in. Anyhoo we were on the bus back to campus from Church and we were discussing my main project for the semester which is a wellness center, for those of you who care. I told him how I had initially gone for circular type shapes but had since scrapped that to go for the more common addition and subtraction from four sided shapes. As you may imagine I was called boring and I was accused of going for the easy way out but that was not my reasoning and the best tittle for my reasoning is actually the tittle of this. Allow me to ethplain.

From the top, what I think I will do. When we go to university/college most of us have this fancy idea of what we want to achieve at the end of the day. For the Architect it would probably be something along the lines of designing some ridiculous sky scraper or the next Guggenheim, I’m using broad strokes here. For the Banker it could be working in The World Bank or the central bank of the person’s home country. For the computer guy it could be making some big program or even hacking into some secret service computer etc. Bottom line is most of us have this vivid picture of the “end product”.

The Guggenheim Bilbao

What I do now. When we arrive at university/college there is a lot of enthusiasm towards what we learn, for some this phase lasts a couple weeks but there are special cases where this lasts only a day or two. I’m not that old but I have seen the latter in action, it’s a sad sight. The enthusiasm is “killed” when the guy, I’ll call him the guy, realizes he’s being taken through the basics. But the thing is the guy wants to learn all the “good stuff” now. The most common thing done at this level is to switch on auto pilot. Auto pilot is the mode that has us doing our work just for the result, in short no learning is done. I have to say auto pilot is triggered by several other factors not just this one, the most famous one  being when things get hard just pass. Back home they phrase it “umuntu ku kliya”. Rough translation just get over the line.

The problem with auto pilot is it’s easier to turn on than it is to turn off. It starts as a potential solution then turns into a habit. Habits are actually harder to stop than addictions. So when the time comes for the so called interesting stuff to come in they rarely become that good at it. They work just to get by. Plus a lot of the work done at this point is improved drastically by the foundation level stuff which the guy does not know because he skimmed right through at that point. Two avenues exist at this point. Either they over reach pushing for attractive work or they go on with the habit and spend the majority if not the rest of their life producing mediocre work, accepted but mediocre work.

It's almost like a theme these days

What I will actually do. This part mainly affects the guys who over reach and produce attractive work. I will use Architecture for this as that is my field of study and it is the one in which I am the most versed. The guy gets into the industry and upon arrival he is given small projects; a two bedroomed house on a ridiculous sized piece of land, maybe classrooms for a school. Problem is he was expecting Guggenheim, where is Guggenheim? After all, he did study for it. Guggenheim, for those who don’t know is a foundation that commissioned the building of a number of modern buildings, the most famous of which are the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. You have seen at least one of the buildings at least once if you look at magazines or even use your phone quite a bit, trust me.

Anyway the guy expects the chance to show the world the designs he was working with in university/college. The fancy circles, the fancy concepts etc. and yet the chance is just not coming. All he is getting is conversions from kitchen to laundry rooms, little joke from the place I did my internship last summer. The result in most cases is disappointment and then he joins the other guy in spending the majority if not the rest of his life producing mediocre work, accepted but mediocre work. As you may have guessed I am anti mediocre work, I hate it with a passion, especially when it comes from me.

The moment you realize the Guggenheim is not coming your way

The reality is that very few of us will ever get to work on the architectural equivalent of the Guggenheim. It’s the truth but don’t get me wrong, this is not a takedown piece of the industry, I love the industry, it has its flaws but I love it. The problem lies in our lust of the explicit and exotic and abandoning the common. The reason we are taught things from the basic/foundation is known but not appreciated. Because these are the principles that allow us to make the common and obvious not so mundane and at a higher level to properly work with the complex at a later stage. A person who is good at his craft should be able to get something simple and go one up on that. If you look at the people who have made advances in anything I think one of the things you will find in common between most is they started off on the simple and did the best that could be done, they went above the normal not just in extravagance but in function as well.

I won’t give example of this because you know a lot. That song has been sung. What I am preaching is to come to terms with giving your all and then some. Produce fine and beautiful work on the simple and so called mundane. What I am preaching is work ethic. What I am preaching is something not common in today’s day and age, in my opinion it has never been common. Being lazy is easy, it doesn’t take a genius. Producing accepted work is doable, maybe not easy but doable. But the thing that gives pride to us is one that after throwing our all into will make us sit back and appreciate the diligence and the result, that’s work. That is what we need to produce

When You Wake Up In Hell

I fancy myself the equivalent of an apprentice to the cousin of a drop out from the poetry academy. So this here is my thoughts on the first few seconds of hell.

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It is a painful picture but for a moment close your eyes and picture with me the moment when you will wake up in hell

Now I hope and pray you won't be one of those but I know some of you in here will

So back to the picture. That first moment when you open your eyes in hell

What will hit you first even as you open your eyes are not the screams all around

Or the help nowhere to be found, not the pain and anguish you feel

But the absence of a presence you once knew to be so... so real

You took it for granted and never noticed it

But because of that absence hell is what it is

That presence that brought you comfort on earth, knowing you were in the hands of the creator

Now gone because all you can feel are the pangs of the tormentor

That presence you now realized was the "X-Factor"

The presence you ignored not knowing that he was the provider

For hell is the only place God is absent, for hells biggest punishment is that God is absent

A place where the torture of the devil for all eternity will not relent

Many think that is the biggest most worrying problem but the truth is the biggest is the absence of the ever present God

So what will you do? What can you do? Nothing!

You chose that life, you chose darkness over light because you wanted to only please you

You thought "that life is boring". As though the joy in your friends’ lives did not correct you

But still you went on chasing sin, doing nothing else but allowing the devil to get more comfortable within

Following the path so wide not knowing that that same path between you and God would be the divide

How foolish you were, how foolish you are. You think the only ones who sell their souls are those who are part of some secret organization

Till failing to gain the whole world and losing your soul becomes your painful realization

But this is me drifting

You in your sinful nature try to be God, He is the one who upholds you without effort or notice

Yet it is you who wants to pretend his presence you do not notice

The heavens declare the glory of the lord do you not see

Will you not just sit back in awe and wonder as his grace sets you free

No! You would rather chase what cannot be caught

How dumb are you to think what men have been searching for in ages past you will be the first to find

This life cannot and will not satisfy!

I have seen poor Christians happier than the celebrities we try to emulate

And yet we do not seem to ask ourselves why the poor Christian is content and the celebrity can't even keep a skin color shade

So today sit back and feel the presence, Ask God why for all your rebelling you are still alive, maybe not well but alive

When you realize that is all for grace don't stand and shout, fall and weep

After that you will experience Joy even in your sleep and maybe even avoid that one dreadful moment when YOU WAKE UP IN HELL!

Imagine Judas

I was reading a book the other night in which a massive betrayal happened between two friends. The thing is the betrayed one knew he was going to be betrayed and yet he still allowed it to happen, not because he knew he would escape, he knew he would die but he also knew his death served a larger purpose. I’m not sure if the writer of the book was meaning to draw comparisons with the Jesus/Judas narrative but the resemblance is there. This led me to think over the life of Judas Iscariot, this is what I came up with

Judas like most Jews had probably heard of how the messiah would come and he looked forward to it, especially because of the rule of the Romans which was less than desirable. I imagine him to be a pretty smart guy who was getting by in life. Then he met Jesus, he was actually called by Jesus and he was enthralled by the wisdom and power of the man. We are astounded by Jesus’ life from the little we have recorded, imagine how he must have been to live around. Judas probably knew at once that this was the messiah. He probably expected any moment that Jesus would make a play for the throne.

Then as time went by his view probably changed. He saw a man who cared more about telling people how to be reconciled to God than any political agenda. There was probably some disappointment involved but I figure it was overtaken by a new agenda. He realized that this man Jesus was a bank with legs. People would donate money to his every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Judas being the smart and shrewd man that he was, was only too keen to be the man to handle the funding, he could even sneak a penny or two out for personal needs, not too much but just enough to get new sandals maybe even that tunic with the stripes.

Could be Judas was saving up for these bad boys

He probably was quite happy that none of the other disciples were looking to get in on his job, they were more interested in sitting and listening to Jesus speak, why couldn’t he do both. And then there was also the power. Jesus gave them power to heal people and even drive out demons. He was not selfish about this and was keen to do some good. He had a sweet deal going on and no one suspected him. Three years in he gets tired of constantly being on the move. His friends from back home had probably settled down with wives and there he was, still on the move. Jesus words were having less and less an effect on him, he had heard it all before. Repent this, the kingdom of God is at hand that. When was it going to end? Then he heard the whispers, the authorities had enough of Jesus and they wanted him dealt with. Put away, possibly even killed.

They were on the way to Jerusalem and Jesus sent him and some other disciple on what he probably looked at as a pointless venture. He had been on a number before and had gotten used to the spectacle, they would find things as Jesus said but it meant less and less to him. Turns out Jesus was organizing a meal for them in Jerusalem but this time it had nothing to do with him collecting money and buying stuff. Judas must have been disappointed. During the meal Jesus goes on and on about stuff that wasn’t making sense, calling the bread his body and the wine his blood, he was always saying enigmatic things like that. Then Jesus said one of them in there would betray him, the thoughts were already spreading in Judas head but it reached its worst when Jesus looked at him and told him to do what he was supposed to do. Judas had no idea what Jesus was talking about but he had had enough

Off he went, to broker the deal

As soon as the meal was over he snuck out and made bee line to the authorities. He was ushered in and explained who he was, then he made his offer. He would give them Jesus, he would take them right to him but he needed to be rewarded for his part. The authorities spoke among themselves then offered him thirty silver pieces, Judas could feel his mouth water at the thought of that much money. This was substantially more than he could pinch from the coffers with Jesus at any one time. The authorities mobilized more men than he thought necessary, considering they said they wouldn’t kill Jesus. He probably tried to tell them that Jesus was just with the eleven others but they told him to lead the way and leave the organizing to them. He shrugged it off and led the way.

As they approached the garden Judas’ heart started beating faster and faster. As they reached the garden he skulked back a little. The authorities took it from there. Jesus told them who he was when they said they were looking for him but they did not move forward, maybe they doubted it was really him, it being dark and all. Then Judas gained the courage and walked up to Jesus for the betraying kiss. As he walked up to Jesus he expected Jesus to be angry or even look sadly betrayed. He kissed Jesus on the cheek and pulled back.

Staring into Jesus face he saw what he was not expecting. Not anger, even sadness at the betrayal or even hatred but love. It’s easier to betray someone when they angry with you but when the person still loves you despite of what you have done and what you are doing, that just hit a different nerve in Judas. What he saw in Jesus eyes, on Jesus face must have shook him to the core. Jesus knew and accepted what Judas had done and still loved him. You can see Judas at this point turning around and running away in shame, the authorities did not care, they got there man. As he ran he could not shake the look on Jesus face. After all he had done, Jesus knew it all and yet he still loved him. Why? Why would Jesus love him? He couldn’t even love himself. Judas probably spent a number of hours being tormented by the love of God and his utter sinfulness till he could take it no more.

All he could see was blood stained money

He probably looked at the money and saw it as blood money, he could not have it and could not use it. So he went back to the authorities to take the money back but the damage was done. Throwing the money at their feet he ran away, tormented by the very same thought. You can see Judas troubled by the thoughts of what he had done. He probably wanted some form of redemption but felt too sinful to be saved. Even if God could and wanted to save him he figured he wasn’t worth saving. Taking matters into his own hands Judas killed himself.

Now I have animated the story in parts, well more than a few parts. But I think the Judas story is one that we can all relate to in one way or another but the one I want to focus on is the part at the end. God’s love towards us elicits one of two responses when it hits us in its magnitude. It is a stumbling block in either situation. Situation one has us broken by it when we realize that for all we have done he still loves us and is willing to redeem us. This situation has us running to him for repentance and salvation because we know that life outside of his grace is hopeless and meaningless. Situation two is the one where we see ourselves as too sinful for us to be saved and Judas was a typical case of this. It must be said that not all commit suicide not even the majority but some do. The rest live their lives always running away from God because they think they are too bad to be saved

This final scenario is ‘pride clothed in false humility’ to borrow a phrase from a poem that I like. It is thinking God is not strong enough to save us. Never equate the power of God to detergent for clothes. Some think that no matter what the stain will just not go because it is too tough or it’s in too deep. Don’t be proud like that, one your stain is not tough for God, nothing is and two God will get you a new shirt, new life, that is better and brighter than the old one. Quit being Judas, quit running. Leave the pride behind and come to God for the forgiveness you need, you’ll never regret it

I Have a Fundamental Problem With People Being Wrong, Why Don’t You?

I have been called argumentative on many occasions while pursuing this view on life and have kind of reached a point where I now embrace the argument but in a different form. The form being, “I have a fundamental problem with people being wrong”. The first time I said this it rolled off the tongue nicely and so I kept it. A lot of times we hear people say something like, “but it’s his/her life, why can’t you leave them alone, they are old enough bla bla bla”, and a lot of people cave in and back off at this point but I think that is the wrong approach and this is me trying to explain why.

No it's not, it's Gods. So no, I won't

1. Because there is such a thing as wrong and right. The entire basis of the “let them do what they want” argument is that everyone has their own truth. What’s right for me might not be right for you. This line of thought is not just false but is almost stupid. As much as we would like to live in a world where we are completely different and different set of laws apply to us that is not the world that we live in. One plus one will always be two, one might argue that in some part of the world they might call the number two, three thereby making one plus one three but that’s just a person who is in denial, serious denial. I recommend you don’t give up on that person either. Anyhoo we live in a world that has a set of rules, parameters if you will and one of the most important of these parameters is... right and wrong, not gravity [woops]. And in all we do we are either right or wrong, there is no middle ground, and this leads me to

   

   There really is no middle ground, no matter how bad you want it

2. We can’t leave people to live in the wrong. It is possible that you could be wrong but that does not negate your duty to address the issue at hand because if you are wrong then talking about it just might set you straight, it’s a win-win. But here’s the thing, when parents see their children doing wrong and potentially harmful things they stop them. The reason is they know that what is going on will not benefit the person doing it at all. Why can’t this apply in a peer to peer relationship? Picture a situation whereby you are standing facing a cliff and at the bottom of the cliff there is a sea but the sea at that point has rocks in it. You see the rocks because of where you are standing but the person about to jump off does not. Person number one jumps over and you stay silent, after all it’s their truth, according to them it’s safe. Person two jumps off, you still stay silent. Person three, person four. What kind of a sick person are you to keep watching people do what you know to be wrong and potentially damaging? You might as well be kicking them off yourself. Which brings me to

   

   You might not be female but you sure are kicking them over

3. Inaction is an action. You not telling the person who’s doing the wrong to stop is you literally allowing them to destroy themselves. A bit harsh? Maybe but let me ethplain, not a typo. You leaving the person to keep doing what they are doing because of some sort of fear or whichever way you might want to paint your inadequacy is a negligence that is costing the person something. Each action has a cost and a consequence, the majority of these are eternal and you sitting by in silence is you watching them destroy themselves. You have consciously made the decision to do nothing. But the thing is you never turn away, you remain watching. Sometimes it gets so bad you even get amused by the destruction and it becomes one of your party stories. You know what I’m talking about, you’ve been there, you know the times when you have gossiped about that person throwing his/her life away. Talking like you are superior or better off when you could have done something to prevent it. You even begin to give speeches about washing your hands clean, Rubbish! How can you delight in the downfall of another? If you think back, it all begun with you being silent one of those times when you should have said something
   
4. We owe it to them to help because we are not immune to fault. Don’t for a second imagine that you will forever be on the side of right. It’s more like all of us are standing in line with cliffs in front of us and the only people who can see the bottom are those alongside us. Every decision is us jumping. Sometimes it’s safe and sometimes it isn’t. Now if you were a good enough friend to point out the potentially damaging decisions and or wrong turns that are consistently being chosen won’t the others in turn help you out when you are in the wrong? But if you are always watching and never helping, when the time comes for you to need help, which will be sooner than you think, no one will speak and a number of bad decisions down the road you will realize you are in serious trouble. In the long run speaking out is highly beneficial to you. You keep thinking short term and it will cost you, in some cases it already has.

   

   That's you and your short term thinking

5. The last and most important reason why you should have a fundamental problem with people being wrong is the most important. It is the one that you should remind yourself of every morning when you get up and every night before you sleep. It’s because God commands it, especially of his children. A Christian is supposed to be salt and light, I like the salt one best for this because salt is a preservative so if you do not try to speak out for the truth and tell people of the savior you are the salt that has lost its saltiness, it cannot preserve anything. And what is that salt good for, I will give you a hint, it sounds like this “na-thing”. There is virtue in telling people about conserving the planet or speaking against injustice or speaking against cheating and laziness but the penultimate goal should be to tell people the gospel. It’s alarming how few people know the true gospel, its borderline sad and it’s because of our criminal silence.
   

We need to constantly pray for grace and boldness to speak out rather than be silent. It will cost you a slot or two in the popularity rankings but keep at it because you know the cost of the person continuing along that path. If they don’t listen, keep talking. Talk when you can, talk when you can’t. The alternative is watching people continually destroy their lives, don’t be that person… don’t.

Final words come from an athiest that shook me to the core. I tittle it how evil are you? But watch it and you will see what I mean

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Truth be told this is more like the curse that keeps on cursing or the evil that keeps on... evil-ing but that’s not catchy enough, so that’s what got us to where we are. You reading this and me in my attempt not to be ‘the gift that keeps on giving’. So what is the gift that keeps on giving? Well I’m glad you asked. It’s a mentality, a couple years back I would have said it is mainly in Zambians, a couple weeks back I would have said its mainly Africans but truth be told its world over but the people out there are not important right now, you are, you, the person reading this right now. But let me not delay this any further, let me tell you of ‘the gift that keeps on giving’.

The state of the world can be simply stated as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and it is impressed on the youth that in order to live a happy life you must be one of the rich. This is partly true in that the state of things is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer not that money will get you happiness. This paradox has been happening for millennia yet the system has not changed. Generations have come and gone and yet the system has not changed, it is a system that just keeps on giving, personally I would like it to stop, but that’s just me. It’s a system that has people talking about how if they enter power they will steal, be it money or goods, they will steal. You know the lot, maybe even one or two of you are. The truth is a few brazen people say it but most of us actually do it.

We, especially the youth, look at things that inspire us and we often walk away saying “Yes! That’s what I want to do. I want to bring about change I want to make things better” Fast forward a couple of days and the situation arises that would require you to make that decision that would take you closer to your words but do you take it, nope, nah uh. You do like you have always done. But this is too abstract, I can sense I’m losing you so hows bout an example. Say you have finished watching, lets say Sherlock, the BBC Series, and you see how the protagonist got to the level he is at through serious study and constant observation. You see how he goes about his work with diligence and you think ‘I want to be like that’. Most of us have been there, next comes an assignment, be it in the work place or even in school. A chance for you to ‘be Sherlock’.

We've all imagined being 'A' if not 'The'Mastermind 

A chance to not just give the lecturer the usual answer taken from the internet or a book and paraphrased but one where you bring in your thoughts, your opinions, a chance for you to learn and show what you have learned not just from class but from your research. Problem is that takes up time and you have all your episodes of series to catch up on for the week. Or you have this burning ache to spend time with your girlfriend so you opt for the easy way out, pull out the bare minimum, get your grade and leave.

Granted it could be a passing grade but the point wasn’t just to answer the question but to learn, to put a bit of yourself into your work yet you opted for the easy way out. A lot of situations can be paraphrased into my example, you have already thought of two, at the least. But what is the problem at the end of the day? What has us usually opt for the easy route instead of the route that we know is the best and most profitable? Laziness and fear are the two that I would use as a way of extending the overarching point but the reality is its plain old sin. Yup you read right

No need to sugar coat it. It's the overall problem

Before you lose interest because you don’t want to read my rant about God, allow me a couple more lines. Sin convinces us that we are the center of it all, it’s all about us, what’s important is my happiness, me, me, me. It’s so one dimensional. But if you take a step back from the point that is you, you see a plane and you realize that it’s not just you but a lot of people and factors involved. For example in a school set up. If you simply copy your work and not learn a thing who else suffers. Let’s see… How about the person who teaches. Hours upon hours invested in you trying to not only earn a living but to see the student learn and thrive but no… All you can think about is yourself, what you want. Anyone else perhaps… How about your sponsors, parents or otherwise. They too invest so much in you and there is a reason for that. It’s not free you know. They want to see you become something of note, not and that it is all based on you learning something not copying something but you would rather waste their faith, hope and money. How about your future bosses. I bet they are looking for people who can bring something great, new and spicy to the table, not that person who sits there being average. I could go on with this, I could mention siblings, future dependents, seniors who want to see progress from down below, juniors who want to see someone of note to look up to.

One could argue, what if I am fine with being average. I would say don’t act funny. The only people fine with being average are those who failed at being different and four out of every five who failed at being different can blame laziness and fear. Bringing me, plainly enough to laziness and fear but one last thing on sin. The most awful thing about sin is that it shrouds our vision of the fact that all that we do in terms of negligence is displeasing to God. The most disappointed one when we do not use our all. He gave us all the faculties that could allow us to do and be something different, maybe not great but different, yet we like the man with the one talent bury it. Way to let God down mate.

Way to go mate, keep burying that talent

Laziness and fear have us not pushing to do our best because it either requires us to move out of our comfort zone or fail and we don’t like to do that but then again who does. Remember learning how to walk, how many times did you fall? Yet now you can walk. Wasn’t all that falling worth it? What about learning to ride a bicycle or learning to swim, how many times did you look ridiculous? Yet looking back wasn’t it all worth it? Put your all into your work, go the extra mile. A computer follows a list of commands, even its ingenuity can be narrowed down to a list of commands. You can actually put yourself into your work and produce something beautiful, Wont that be worth it?

Lastly, if you have gotten this far I won’t be long. Lord knows you must be tired of me by now. ‘The curse that keeps on cursing’ is that we have had tons of people in generations passed who have only thought of themselves and have done the bare minimum in jobs that they have been given. So many problems faced by society can be traced back to individual negligence somewhere along the ladder. I know everyone might be doing it but whats wrong with you actually getting paid for good work. Getting grades for your good work, you gain more satisfaction than the guy who just copied, maybe not more money but more satisfaction. Satisfaction can be referred to as the little brother of happiness and happiness is the little brother of joy. Let the young person try to be different and maybe they can inspire one or two to be different, who will inspire one or two to be different, that right there would be a true gift that keeps on giving

I Don’t Hate Nigerians

A couple of years ago I stumbled across a stand-up comedy show by Chris Rock, I’m not a fan of his type of comedy because of the excess use of superlatives commonly called insults or cursing. Anyway in this comedy he was speaking on the subject of racism and he made a statement that at the time I thought was quite bold. He said “Black people are more racist than white people because black people hate black people too”. I giggled at the time and shrugged it off but the words stuck in my head. Over the past couple of days I have been drawn to think over the topic of racism and how it is still prevalent today and upon looking through the mirror of introspection I saw that I have been guilty of quite a bit of prejudice and as much as I would have liked to sugar coat it, I could sense the underlying problem of racism in the cracks. But this requires a bit of background

Black vs White, White vs White, Black vs Black. It's all wrong!

When I arrived at Cyprus International University it took me a while to realize the diversity that was on campus. We had 43 different nationalities represented, now we have somewhere over 50, and in the beginning it was exciting. I got to meet people from Swaziland, I had not met any before even though it is also in southern Africa. I got to meet people from Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan and a lot more and it fascinated me how different we all were. I noticed how Zambians were different from Zimbabweans even though we are neighbors and I met a lot of Nigerians. Of all of these nationalities the two that really fascinated me where the Azeri’s (Azerbaijan) and the Nigerians (Nigeria). They were strong willed, loud and were the most representative of their cultures.

Now diversity will either result in productivity or conflict, seldom do you find middle ground. And thanks to sin in the world conflict is present more often than not. Prejudice and racial issues have their heart in a failure to accept another person’s look, outlook or behavior and to put them below your own. It demeans the other person and elevates your view of yourself and people similar to you. These views get exaggerated in the presence of conflict. And I have seen this first hand on campus in statements such as I just don’t like, and this is me putting it mildly, people from so and so, where so and so is a country or a place. Nigerians suffer from such treatment more so than others, whether they know it or not. And its not even that the problem is them, I firmly believe if it wasn’t the Nigerians it would be some other nationality because the problem at the heart of it all is a failure to accept people who are different from us for who they are and where they come from.

Accept and appreciate the differences

Henry Fielding in his book A History of a Foundling: The story of Tom Jones wrote something that I have carried with me for years since I read the book in high school. He said, “When measuring a man’s actions do not use your own bushels, he might be using a different standard altogether”. Now whereas Fielding was speaking of a man’s intentions toward you and yours I think the phrase can be extended to the complete measuring of people. The world would be a pitiful place if everyone was like us, we enjoy so much from the symphony of diversity that God created around us. We enjoy ranges of color, different animals and plants and even among those animals and plants we see a variation of species and we accept them all. And yet very often we look at another person in terrible light because they are not like us, we accept variety on all things except human beings. It’s a pitiful situation.

Enough of the problem, let’s look at the way forward. We need to learn to accept other people for their differences be it difference in language, dress code, accent or even food and musical interests. If we keep confining ourselves to the small group that make us feel comfortable and understood we will never see all that is out there that we could benefit from and enjoy. We should also seek to learn from one another. I have learnt quite a bit from my friend from Azerbaijan, and yet if you spoke to me three years ago I just knew his country because of playing a game called “country game” at home. I have seen virtue in Nigerians that I have not seen in my own countrymen and it that is just what I have seen from two nationalities, not even the other fifty plus. Note to self, write something about what I have learnt from a number of people just before I graduate. Another thing we should acknowledge is God is infinitely smarter than all of us combined, he knew what he was doing when he made the world with so many diverse people groups, and it’s on us to enjoy the diversity.

Nuff said

Well and good we know the principle, now for the practice and this is the hardest part. Our prejudices will not be thrown aside overnight. It’s a lifelong battle, after all we are not too keen on things that are different from what we are used to. We should be able to go out of our way to talk to different people, there are tons of great people out there, we just need to open our mouths. Occasionally talk to a stranger, you never know who you might bump into and it does not always have to be someone of the opposite sex. There’s more to life than that, trust me. You can occasionally visit people, it never hurt anyone as I said before, there are tons of great people out there. Lastly walking out of your comfort zone every once in a while, it’s good for you

Hercules vs Jesus

I just watched the Hercules movie and the more I watched the more I saw comparisons with the Jesus story. I know I might be far reaching here but as I hope to show the similarities are there. One gives man’s view of how the story should be told and the other shows God’s. Before I get into my “breakdown” I think that the similarities that are to be drawn from the two are intentional if not subliminal, then again I do have the tendency to as it were “over deduce”.

Anyway, firstly we see that both Hercules and Jesus are the sons of a supreme God, Zeus being the Chief/Head/Supreme god, which ever floats your boat and Jesus' being God, Yahweh, I cant break it down any further, sorry. In both the movie and the Bible it is implied and mentioned on more than one occasion that the father to both Hercules and Jesus is the God of all. On a similar note we also see in both cases that there is no physical father involved, the movie shows this in a more explicit sense but you get the picture. They both leave you acknowledging beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are the sons of God.

Secondly we see Hercules and Jesus being seen as the salvation and hope for a people in dire need of one. In Jesus case it was in a human sense a freedom from the Romans who had as it were colonized Israel, they were the oppressors. And in Hercules sense it was the king at the time and the king in waiting that were oppressing the people. In walks Hercules and Jesus in their individual narratives and their actions give the people hope and they both garner a following. This is through feats of strength and power and this is the point at which the distinction becomes evident, which is the main reason for me writing this, you didn’t think I was doing a movie review I hope. Hercules comes in with strength and defeats soldiers in flashy shows of strength, he physically defends the poor and the oppressed. Jesus as well performed his miracles, the healing and the feeding of the masses.

The difference being that our thinking of the role of Jesus we expect more of a Hercules than what Jesus did. The people at the time and even us expected him to lead a revolt against the rulers of the day and free them from oppression but instead he preached more than he healed. He spoke not of the rulers of the day and what they did wrong or right, he spoke not of outer change but he spoke of the people’s need of an inner change, he spoke of their need of reconciliation with God to give their lives meaning but unfortunately most did not get the message because they were expecting something more like Hercules.

Thirdly we see the capture. Both Hercules and Jesus were captured by the enemy, in Jesus case it was more of a surrender because he did not need to be held to ransom, he literally handed himself over, did not put up a fight and even healed one of them men who was there to capture him after an altercation with one of his followers. Hercules on the other hand puts up a gallant fight and has to be taken because his followers are threatened, after all we all love a hero who fights hard but is willing to make a sacrifice for the little guy. In their capture they are both flogged openly and there is a cross like symbolism in the movie, I think that’s intentional but that’s just me.

The question posed to both is the same “if you claim to be the son of God, get yourself down from there” at this point in time the people at Jesus crucifixion were waiting for that great show of strength for the thunder and lightning, for the visual effects, if you will, for him to get himself down and give the enemy a hiding like they have never seen or experienced before. Jesus looked up and you can feel the watchers tingling with anticipation giving each other “this is it” look. They were terribly disappointed when all that happened was Jesus saying “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” and lastly “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”. They were terribly disappointed, that’s not why he came but they never got that. Hercules on the other hand fulfilled all the check boxes on our vanity list. Hercules looks up, asks Zeus for power, thunder and lightning plus a lot of visual effects, Hercules pulls off a feat of strength in which he throws rocks about like paper weights that kill some of the enemy and force the rest into retreat. Is it just me or have all the boxes on the human naiveté check list been ticked? Hold onto your boots because there’s one more.

The last fight. This is almost grasping at straws in the Jesus narrative, I’m trying to avoid calling it a story since it actually happened, ask your history teacher children, it actually happened. Hercules first. So Hercules goes back to take down the king and on a secondary agenda get the girl, that’s the final tick on the check list by the way. He gets the people behind him and basically beats the villain black and blue plus he gets the girl yada yada yada, you know the story. Jesus on the other hand comes back to life and I’m almost positive some of the people who saw him when he had resurrected thought “okay, he’s back, now he will take on the Romans and free us” but they had another one coming. He meets with his followers a couple of times, eats some fish and ascends to the heavens, that’s it. You can imagine after he’s feet had gone passed the last clouds some people were waiting for his feet to reappear followed by an army to take down the Romans, they got nothing. Well that’s not really true, they got two angels technically telling “move on, shows over” well not that crudely of course, you can reference you Bible, I’m pretty sure I’m close.

If you compare the two lives Jesus life must look like a complete anti-climax.  It must seem like a movie that is always about to get good but never really does whereas the Hercules story is what we want. The hero who comes in and beats up all the bad guys with all the visual effects and gets the girl. Jesus, no beating up bad guys, except that one time in the temple and I’m pretty sure that would not have been a moment to cheer if you saw it in a movie. For Jesus we see no mischievous breaking of rules, no violent rebellion and no girl getting. Boring right? Wrong! Jesus never came to free us from the dictators of our country’s or the diseases that plague us, sometimes he does but that was not his main aim.

What am I trying to say? I'm glad you asked..

Jesus came to secure our eternity, he came to reconcile us to the God whose anger we will have to face for all eternity if we do not seek his forgiveness. What use is it to us in eternity if we live dictator free and illness free but then spend eternity, which is forever and ever, and for those who still don’t get it, and ever and ever in the eternal suffering that is hell. Now I’m not saying it is a bad thing for us to live dictator and illness free, not in the least, we should ask and pray for such but Jesus main aim was not that. It was that we should have a relationship with God which is the one thing that will keep us joyful in good times and bad, whether sick or in good health, whether rich or poor, hungry or fed, under poor governance or under exceptional governance. Jesus life teaches us that we need not have the comforts, we need only God. The comforts are good but they are not everything. Jesus is everything. So look at his life again and try to look at it for what it was meant to be rather than the fairy tale, like Hercules, that we might want it to be