ON A CLEAN SLATE

This piece of white jotting pad I am writing on is indeed a clean slate, so clean it is that it is without lines or margins, header of footer. The words I write on it today makes it and the things I write here and now on this piece of paper today will be on it forever if not destroyed. The ink I write with today is not erasable but yet can be modified for reason that could be either negative or positive by manipulating it, but the content I give it today stands as it value as long as it is seen or hidden without being altered or modified, whatever it acquires now defines it for as long as it exists.

A drawing will make this paper an art piece, an article or write-up will make it a good source of information while quotes, ideas, ideologies and quotations will make it a lasting source of inspiration. Just like the human mind, a "Tabula Rasa", our action and reactions are defined by data acquired and information gathered along the way. The definition of the human mind is as a result of the product of his experiences and content, while the value placed on it is the brain child of its personality, breed from his behavior and disposition.

It is indeed a clean slate for me ‘cos I graduated a few days ago as a Computer Scientist, I will be defending my project a few hours from now and this will be a pitch marker for my new beginning. Soon it will be NYSC but still it will be a whole new experience, fresh and exciting. Like the salty taste of the sea, I can already feel the real world with its mixed taste on my lips; the streets are calling for the arrival of the new king. It’s definitely going to be a fresh start for me, words, ideas and inspiration pouring out from the river within. New wine, new skin but as the newest wine on the block, I will be bursting even the newest of skins on my way, the old skins stand no chance at all. I will be all out brewing new information and presenting fresh ideas on the cleanest and freshest of platters, catching in on new phenomenon with a new dashing look.

I am wiping my slate clean and starting out on this my new beginning with vigor. I have the Blessed assurance that it is going to be “UZOAMAKA” all the way for me on this new slate. It is a race with so many to contend with, but I will always stand out and stand tall uniquely because I am who I am and Christ defines me because he lives in me. Who and What defines you?.

Come join me as I start out afresh in this race that is set before us all. What are you waiting?

Trading the Gold for the golden boot

Lesson from Under-17 world Cup Final

Olden Eaglets
Uncle-17
Super Eaglets...

It was a glamourous nite of football,debutant vs. defending champions in the final of the 2009 Under-17 championship. It was a home game for Nigeria but the home advantage was evened by the fact that their opposing team is the birth country of the President of FIFA, Switzerland. Fair play it was for both teams, leaving them a levelled playing ground to fight for victory or face defeat.


Having watched both teams played in different games, it was hard for me to give the game to any of the two teams on a platter of gold because they've both showed pedigree with their style of play and determination and some level of individual brilliances from some members of both teams. Each team had a player with the potential of winning the golden boot and the two coaches have displayed a high level of coordination and control over their respective teams. What was left to claim the victory was not just the team play but the technicality of the two coaches to make decisive decisions when required.

One coach stuck to the winning formula while the other went for last minute excitement out of greed, placing the golden boot ahead of the golden trophy that brings the real glory. He threw in the golden boot seeking player and threw away the winning formula and the trophy along with it just for the hope of some undeserved personal gratification, and in the process lost out on all... Misplaced priority, it is not unusual for any footballer at any level to make the Same mistakes made by Sanni Emmanuel but it was totally unprofessional for the team coach John Obuh to have started him in a match where team success was more important than personal glory, knowing fully well that he was not a perfect match starter. Sticking with his starting eleven would have probably got him goals in t the first half of the game and the later introduction of Sanni into the game could have been the icing on the glorious cake that would have earned him the Adidas golden boot as well. Forgetting the essence of the game and unknowingly misplacing the priority of the game by redefining the purpose for self gratification instead of service national glory made him give the trophy away on a platter of gold.

Many a times in our lives; at the brink of our victory, we throw away our core values for minutes reasons at the risk of loosing our hard earned glory and deserved victory and most times we loose out on all at the long run without achieving the purpose for which we started out or acquiring the extra we traded in our glory to get. We loose on both ends just because we fail to identify which is more important and we throw out our victory for just a little more while we assume that the coordinates are right. We attach the same value to the joy of our desired victory and that of the extra personal gratification and sometimes we give it more because we suddenly get over confident about it. We misplace priority, forgetting the weathiest matter of all and we pursue the addendum that will naturally accompany our victory if we have devotedly stayed true without throwing out our values till the end, we go for the glitter and throw away the gold we could have been rewarded with by following through with the divine protocol.

Now I understand perfectly well what Jesus meant when He said

"Seek yee first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you".

How I wish John Obuh had seek first the trophy of the cadet competition only, obviously every other thing that accompanies it such as, the golden boot, accolades of being the first to host and win, first country to win the competition four times, first country to retain the trophy after wining the fourth time, first country to win the competition back to back, first coach to win the competition on home soil etc..etc… would have been added unto him effortlessly, but he chose the golden boot and lost all. Do we make these same mistakes in our daily dealing of every day of our lives? Less think about it...

I hope you've learnt the lessons I learnt

Defeating Tomorrow (Motives)

It’s 4:00am In the morning and I am still as awake and as fresh as if I just woke up from a deep sleep minutes ago, with a lot on my mind, I’ve tried to figure out in a thousand way the events of the past few days of my life and the world around me is shaping the man I have become. In a few weeks I will be a graduate from the acclaimed strongest polytechnic in Nigeria with a 2nd class, and still I am caught in the web of barrage of thoughts, trying to figure out the next required move that will produce the next big thing in my life. Although I have learnt, invaluable lessons from the feet of men of great wisdom with outstanding understanding of the principles of life like, Bishop David Oyedepo, Poju Oyemade, John Asharaf, Boyce Watkins, Leke Alder, Ibukun Awosika et al… etc, a few of this great men became my favourite and the words they’ve spoken still rings aloud in my ears, but still I carefully search the heart of the earth, looking for the rights spot to sow that seed I have in my hand, oblivious of how to get there, but equipped with a heart that searches the truth without relenting until exciting quality is produced from deep within.

A tool I have identified and used since I found it is a heart of praises and a tongue that give thanks in all situations, I have used it effectively and produced results that are enviable with it, doors are opening and opportunities have been coming my way exceedingly and still am grateful. Although am not worried about the future, but something within me still seeks the path that I must follow, the principles I must define, the rules I must understand and obey to produce the imaginable and unimaginable. I seek these things like babes seek milk, I knock on doors, knowing they will open, and hoping that I find wisdom on the other end of it. I ask questions with the hope of getting answers that will feel my heart with vigor and lighten me up, just like oil for my lamp.

I smell victory already and I think it’s the joy of it that keeps me burning all nite long with closing my lid and not the indomie noddles I devoured late into the nite, I hear the gong of victory sounding already and nothing will make me deter, I have burnt my bridges already, defeated my goliaths and now because He lives, I can face tomorrow like I just did, overcoming today.

Alive

Who needs an airplane when I can teleport?
“oya oferegege gbe mi pa”
Who needs a Ferrari when I can shorten the distance?
“ona ka, ona ko; aa kin ba onise rin”
Who needs their gods when I’ve got divinity?
“ifa olokun asoro dayo ti kin fololo fohun”
Calling the things that be not as though they were
“shango olukoso oooo!”
A fit fore surpassed by the Son of man
“Jesu Oluwawa”

I shall pour libation at the feet of the gods again
Pay homage to the roots of my ancestors
My walls will breathe again
And my words alive and fresh
My history not curios at all
Breaking the bounds like meteors from mars
I will live and reveal again
The wisdom that was denied
That which lives within my loins and my dark golden skin