23rd March

Testimony Time:-I received a message from a brother of over 40 years today. The theme gave me the impetus to use the write up as my main message. The message itself is potent enough and can serve as a sequence to my message of yesterday. Please read along; I am sure you will pick something out of it. "Just finished work on a film set in Reading location; though tiring but I was not tired instead energized seeing another dimension to life. How people come and go, I meant how people were born and die (ultimate price). The struggles, the business of life, the neglects and the neglected etc. The location of the set speaks volume of its self; it’s a place where all manner of people looking for help converge daily, some go home smiling maybe with new babies, and some go home crying for whatever reason not palatable to them. At a point during the shoot my hands were shaking I felt a cold shrill moving down my spine. I tried to comport myself so as not to mess the whole shoot-up but then my mind was fast racing decoding different thoughts about life e.g. what is the purpose of man’s life? Is life all about dining and wining? Is life all about struggle? Or being rich/wealthy makes you an acceptable person in the society. People want peace instead they get wars….. What beats my imagination really is how elusive these goodies of life have become to those who actually crave them irrespective of how much they tried. Some got these goodies for a brief moment and disappeared. Some do not actually crave for them but they come and stick/stayed while the recipients lack good health and peace of mind thus rejecting them. What is the benefit of a man that gains the goodies of life and then loses soul or sanity? The environment I found myself today answered some of these questions that I have been pondering about for ages. That life is nothing but vanity upon vanity!" Summarily, everyone wants to go to heaven but no one is prepared to die. We all claim to work for Christ but there is absolutely no one who is prepared to have their faith tested. We flinch in times of trouble; we groan, complain and see ourselves beyond every hitch. Matthew 16:25 says "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." If we are to go on living in our body, would that mean fruitful labor for us? What you shall choose I do not know! (Philippians 1:22) "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21) May the peace and good health of God that surpasses human understanding rest upon us all. Amen (Partly authored by Apostle Shola Bankole) Just Checking into His Presence...