RANDOM MUSINGS

The greatest deceit in life is self deceit. Even if you put up a front to the whole world, do not lie to yourself because the power to change begins from within. The first step to getting help- be it divine or human help, is to admit to yourself that there is a problem in your life, and you need help with it. As long as you continue lying to yourself and others, that problem can never go away. Start from somewhere today. Learn to do away with self deceit and speak the truth to yourself. UIK

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Josh McDowell who talks with high school and college students all over the world said this at a Moody's Founder's Week address in 1986 said,

One of the reasons for where our young people are today is the lack of intimacy. We have not been through a sexual revolution. We have not. What we have been through in the last fifteen years has been a revolution in the search for intimacy. Most of our young people do not want the physical aspect of sex, they want someone who cares. They want to be able to care. They want intimacy. We have allowed our culture to dictate to us that the only way you find intimacy is through the physical -- and that's an absolute lie!
One woman called me at a university. She said, "Mr. McDowell, in the last five nights I've gone to bed with five different men. I got out of bed tonight and looked back and said to myself, 'Is that all there is to it?'" and she started crying. She said, "Please sir, tell me there's something more!"
I said, "Yes, it's called intimacy. It's what the Bible calls 'the two shall become one.

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What makes a parent who bribes a teacher to promote his/her child better than the corrupt Minister who steals government funds?
What makes an individual who violates traffic rules a better person than a government official who flouts every rule in the book for a 'cut' of the National cake?
What makes a student union election, which is steeped in massive lobbying, rigging, and cult activities thrown in for added flavor, better than the Nation's massively rigged elections? The list is endless, but I guess you get it.
Become the change you want to see. A corrupt nation did not emerge in one day. It is a build up of corruption on smaller scales all over our polity. We are responsible for where we've found ourselves! A people get the government it deserves. Until we change and walk the straight path in our individual day-to-day lives, nothing will change. Can we begin to remove massive logs from our eyes please? UIK 

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Most Nigerians seem to have ready-made solutions to the problems of this country ; we are a nation of analysts and evaluators. We are adept/proficient @ spotting all that is wrong with this tottering giant of ours, but there's a dearth of workable solutions to the massive problems on ground. Let us begin to speak solutions and practical ways we can move forward, instead of constantly sounding like broken records which echo the same song endlessly-no difference. If we all do what we should be doing in our different necks of the wood, our country would improve remarkably!!! UIK 

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 Each time I see a headline like, 'The rich and powerful babes or guys in so, so and so industry,' it irritates me because the wrong values/attributes that make one truly 'rich' and 'powerful' are held up to the rest of society as role models. When you now read the piece, to ascertain what makes them 'rich' and 'powerful', expecting to see some positive influence that they are imparting on their environment, all you read is, how many designer apparels, watches, cars, or jewelry they possess!!! Our children and the younger generation are watching. What makes someone a true person of substance? Is it designer bags, exotic cars, palatial mansions and the mere material comforts of this life? While I am not saying that material comfort is wrong, a person should be defined by much more than that. We need role models that will inspire the younger generation to do better, and be better. Oftentimes these 'substantial' role models are quietly working in the trenches and making a real difference without the public tag of 'celebrity.' UIK

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Heard this line in a movie, can't remember the name now, but it made sense, "Someday you are going to wish you had treated people differently...." Do your best not to belittle anyone you meet in the course of life's pursuits, because you just never know what the next day may unfold. Do not express regrets when it is too late. Some 'had-I-known' lines, are preventable. UIK

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Envy and jealousy are part of our humanity; everyone, no matter how spiritual, will feel its stirrings at one point or the other as life progresses; the only difference lies in the degree (dependent on how we nurture these feelings), and how we deal with these negative human emotions. Sometimes, we look at another person's life and just feel a twinge of a longing to have what they have, wish our life was different, or think that we have been dealt a wrong set of cards. These feelings could be positively channeled, once you admit what you are feeling to yourself. It can drive you to strive to be your best and humble you to seek to learn positive ways in which you can be better, or you could go the negative route, allow these feelings to take root in your heart, and become embittered at people and life, and become neurotically obsessed with an unhealthy drive to be in competition with others, a constant need to prove something to others, and an inability to be genuinely happy at the success of others. Show me someone who is wallowing in the mud of envy and jealousy, and I will show you someone who has given up on self and on God, and believes that their life can never amount to much. You may ignorantly stray into the house of envy/jealousy, but do not pitch a tent there. Move on and live your best life because you are better than this!!!-UIK

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