Being A Person Of Excellence- Part II

A couple of months ago, I had a need for a large book shelf, as the books in my study were growing out of proportion. I got a referral from a friend to use a carpenter. He came highly recommended and after showing him exactly what we wanted (my wife did the most of that bit) from a magazine, I was pretty sure he would deliver. After agreeing on price and delivery date, I closed the deal. Not too surprised though, the guy could only deliver 2 weeks late! He had this story about being ill and all that, and he didn’t deem it fit to call and negotiate his commitment. But that wasn’t what pissed me off. What really pissed me off was a tiny detail that he didn’t pay attention to. Can you imagine a book shelf where all the legs were not balanced on the floor? One leg was slightly shorter than the rest, causing a sort of imbalance. When I confronted him with this obvious defect, all he could say was “ It is just a small defect. It is nothing major. Since you are putting it in a rugged room, it won’t be a big deal”. I told him I wasn’t going to accept this, and to my amazement, he got angry with me! I mean, he really got mad at me that I would accept nothing less than what I had paid for. Needless to say that we live in an environment with thousands of folks like this, who will never autograph their work with excellence! What a tragedy!

Contrast this with a story I once heard from Harvey Mackay, (Business Motivational Speaker). He told a wonderful story about a cab driver in Chicago. Harvey Mackay was waiting in line for a taxi at the airport when a cab pulled up. The first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed him a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I`m loading your bags in the trunk I`d like you to read my mission statement. ` Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally`s Mission Statement:

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly
environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, `Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf. ` Jokingly, Harvey said, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”Handing Harvey his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As the taxi pulled away from the curb, Wally handed Harvey a laminated card and said, “These are the stations I get and the music they play if you’d like to listen to the radio.” As if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey the air conditioning was on and asked if the temperature was comfortable. The driver then advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. Wally also let Harvey know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.“Tell me, Wally,” the amazed passenger asked, “have you always served customers like this?”Wally smiled and looked in the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do.” Wally had the chance to listen to to a personal growth guru on customer service and excellence and committed to excellence going forward. “I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year, I’ll probably quadruple it.” While excellence may appear costly at first, it eventually pays out! People are willing to pay extra for an excellent service.

In the 1st part of this article, I listed a couple of steps that should be taken by anyone who wants to be a person of excellence (I recommend you read it up). Here are a few more thoughts:

Pay attentions to details: "The magic behind every outstanding performance is always found in the smallest of details."If you long to accomplish great and noble tasks, you first must learn to approach every task as though it were great and noble. Ultimately, the key to excellence in every aspect of our lives is doing little things correctly, all the time, every time, so that each action produces an excellent result. When every detail is lovingly attended to, and each step in the process is given complete and careful attention, the end result inevitably will be of the highest quality.

Demonstrate Consistency: To be a person of excellence, you need to be consistent. Doing things right today, and changing your mind tomorrow will just make people perceive you as being rather sloppy. Your goals and values must be consistent. Your behaviours must be consistent and most of all, your results must be consistent. Commit and over deliver, each and every time. Build equity with your team and your customers. Whenever they think about you, they need to think of excellence.

Never stop Improving: People of excellence will stop at nothing to improve themselves. Nothing but the very best is good enough. They improve on their skills and knowledge every single day. They maximize every opportunity to learn.

Always give it your best shot: I am not a baseball expert. I don’t even understand the game that much. It doesn't matter if you don't play baseball--I don't! But the point remains: you have the bat, you have the reason to swing for the fence, and the rest is all moot. Take your best shot and make it count. This isn't baseball I'm talking about, this is life! Whatever you do, give it your best shot! Autograph your work with excellence…..always.

Being A Person Of Excellence

We live in a society where mediocrity is the norm. So many people do just as little as they have to in order to get by. They are always looking for the easy way out. They make commitments that they can’t keep. They are always late to work. They don’t pay their bills on time. They dress shabbily. They’ve got a lazy, sloppy attitude. Are you one of those employees who arrive 5 minutes late to work and clocks out 10 minutes before closing time? Are you one of those shoppers who accidentally knocks a display of cans to the ground and conveniently walks away from the mess, thinking it is the responsibility of the store employees to clean up because after all, they get paid to do it? Do you think nothing of saying little white lies throughout your day? "But everyone lies, everyone leaves work early, everyone gossips, everyone makes messes and leave others to clean up. What's the big deal?" you may protest. The road to mediocrity is wide, comfortable and paved with compromises, lies and the refusal to do anything extra.

The road to mediocrity is wide, comfortable and paved with compromises, lies and the refusal to do anything extra.

God didn’t call any of us to be just average. He doesn’t want us to merely get by and do what everybody else is doing. He has called us to be cut above! He has called us to stand out in the crowd, to be people of excellence. He has called us to come up higher. A person of excellence goes the extra mile to do what’s right. He keeps his word even when it’s difficult. People of excellence have integrity; they pay their bills on time; they give their employer a full day’s work; they don’t come in late, leave early, or call in sick when they are not. When you have an excellent spirit, it shows up in the quality of your work, and the attitude with which you do it.

God's greatest concern and search in every generation is for people whose greatest quest is to move from average to excellence, and are willing to pay the price systematically and delightfully. I want to challenge you today to start making the better decision, not just the okay decision. I want to challenge you to make the more excellence choice. Make the decision to do what you know is the right choice and give it your all. I like the way an old friend, Bro Paul puts it in his epistle to the Colossians (Chapter 3:17)

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

(New Living Translation)

We are called to strive for excellence in order to be the best testimony for the Lord that we can be. People are watching to see what kind of a difference Jesus is making in your life, and you can point others to Him by being diligent in your tasks and being above reproach in your ethics. Daniel exemplified this spirit during his service as a highly regarded administrator in a secular environment. The Scripture says that "he distinguished himself among the administrators . . . because of his exceptional qualities" so much so that "they could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent" (Daniel 6:3-4).

You can run into mediocrity accidentally but you have to purpose to be excellent

Joyce Meyer once said, "Excellent people exceed expectations." In other words, they go the extra mile, they do more than is asked, and they take extra steps to ensure the highest quality. If people were to describe your work, would excellence come to mind or simply mediocrity? Meyer declared that "You can run into mediocrity accidentally but you have to purpose to be excellent." Thus, exercising minimal effort will lead to a mediocre performance at best, but really going above and beyond the call of duty takes a conscious effort.

Being excellent is not about comparing yourself with others. It is not about trying to outdo the other person. It is all about being the best that you know you can be. When you go out each day, you should look the best that you possibly can! When you go to do something, you should do it with you whole heart, giving it your best effort!

To be a person of excellence, consider the following steps:

Take pride in what God has blessed you with. No matter how small what you currently have is, take care of it! Your house may be small, but you can keep it clean. You can mow your lawn and make sure junk isn't piled in your front or back yard. Your car may be old, but you can take a few minutes each day to keep it looking nice and presentable. Don’t leave it looking like a junk yard. You may have only a few nice clothes at the moment, but take good care of them. Take extra care of whatever God has blessed you with at the moment! Be the one to stand out among the crowd, the one who will be faithful in the little things. If you can take care of what you have right now, God will bless you with something better.

Make excellent choices, even in the mundane. When you leave the grocery store with a full cart, don't just dump it wherever you want in the parking lot. Make the effort and bring it back where others carts are stacked. If you accidentally drop a blouse from a rack, don't just walk away and pretend you didn't see it. Pick it up and put it in its rightful place. If a cashier gives you more change than you are supposed to get, don't pray he or she will not notice and walk away. The money is not yours. Give the money back and don't try to fool yourself by saying God wanted you to have it. God doesn't bless people by taking something away from another. Those things may seem small, but they are the areas where the most compromises, excuses and justifications are made.

Be willing to pay the price for doing the right thing. Excellence comes at a price, and it is not cheap! Be willing to pay this price. If you are in a group where people tear others to shreds with mean-spirited comments, walk away. If everyone in your office lies and cheats to get ahead, don't get caught up. Be determined not to fall in that trap. You may think you won't have a friend left, but if you are faithful in the little things, God will reward you and bring better friends into your life. Don't be deceived: the bad choices people make will eventually catch up with them. Doing the right things may put you at a seeming disadvantage in the short run, but I bet it will eventually pay out.

Treat other people's property with respect. I remember how I use to deal with hotel facilities when I started getting the privilege from God to stay in top class hotels. I will go out of the room leaving things ON. “Well, I am paying a lot of money anyway, and these people need to earn their money” I reasoned. That’s not an excellent decision. Treat other people’s properties with respect. If you walk by a house, don't step on their grass, thinking it is all right as long as they don't see you. If a person was gracious enough to let you borrow a book, a tool or a plate, treat the items with care and don't keep them longer than necessary. The people you borrowed the things from may have forgotten about it, but return everything to them.

Be committed to living a life of excellence. Everyday, be determined to give life everything you have. Don't cut corners. Don't compromise. Don't lie. Don't gossip. Don't accept mediocrity. Go the extra mile. Put in the extra effort. Do a little more than what you have to do. Remember, you are representing God. Get rid of sloppiness, laziness and move to a higher level. God will beam down on you and reward you beyond anything you ever imagined.

Wherever you are, be all there.

The true goal of excellence is to do the best you can with what you have at every moment. Jim Elliot once said, "Wherever you are, be all there."

Worth Dying For?

I have been following closely the recent unrest in Cairo Egypt, for several reasons. For me, it’s been a very interesting development. From Jan 25th, a national holiday to commemorate the police forces, Egyptians have taken to the streets in large numbers, to protest against poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for three decades. A few hours ago, the President resigned from office and handed over to the military. The will of the people of Egypt has prevailed! In 18 days, one of the greatest tyrants in recent times was sent packing from his office, by the sheer will of the oppressed people. After about 300 deaths, and over a thousand injuries, Egypt is finally free. The celebrations in Cairo and other major cities will no doubt go on for weeks. What liberation!

It is interesting to note that the unrest in Egypt was a ripple effect of the one that happened in Tunisia, weeks earlier, which led to the ouster of President Ben Ali, who has ruled that country for over 2 decades. What is more important to note is that the revolution in Tunisia started with a seemingly minor event that became a catalyst for a wave of events. It all began with a young man, a fruit vendor, whose death might have changed the Arab world forever!

Twenty-six-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi, living in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid, had a university degree (this is being debated, as another report says he dropped out of school) but no work. To earn some money he took to selling fruit and vegetables in the street without a license. When the authorities stopped him and confiscated his produce, he was so angry that he set himself on fire. Amazing! While I am not advocating for people to burn themselves to drive home a point, I have a question that I want to pose to my readers – What price are you willing to pay to effect a change in your life? In your family? And in your world? Selah!

This takes me back to 1955, where a woman, by her sheer determination, changed the course of history for all black Americans! It was at this time, that a new law was imposed on racial segregation in the city’s (Montgomery, Alabama) public transport system. The underlying resentment of this law soon came to the fore, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman refused to give up her seat for a white passenger, in a bus in Montgomery, and soon after, was arrested for violating the law. As a consequence of this incident, the public transit system of Montgomery was boycotted by the Montgomery Improvement Association, formed by activists against racism led by Martin Luther King, Jr. This boycott lasted for over a year, and the situation worsened to the point where Martin Luther's house was bombed, and he himself, arrested. This was however, not without success, as by the end of the court ruling, in December 1956, racial segregation in the buses of Montgomery was abolished.

Make sure the thing you’re living for is worth dying for.

Charles Mayes

Is Nigeria worth dying for? Now, don’t just take that literally. I am not advocating that people should set themselves ablaze in order to start a revolution. I am not advising that we should do what Bouazizi did in Tunusia. What I am asking is this. To what extent are you willing to go in order to improve the standard of living in the country, today, tomorrow and many years to come, thus helping the people and the country in general become more responsible? Are you totally committed to a better Nigeria….if not for your sake, for the sake of your children?

As we journey towards another election period, the prognosis is not very encouraging. Many youths remain jobless while 70 percent or our population, mostly in the rural areas, lives in abject poverty. Twenty-six years ago, the late Sonny Okosuns in one of his hit songs asked rhetorically– “Which Way Nigeria?” Apparently perplexed by slow pace of the country’s development efforts, the music maestro expressed his worry over the myriad of socio-economic, religious and political problems stopping Nigeria from reaching the promised land. Okosuns’ pertinent question is still valid. Which way is Nigeria going with its socio-political, economic, and infrastructural development? What concrete actions have Nigerian leaders taken to actualize Vision 2020 which will make Nigeria an El Dorado? Why is the country unable to find lasting solutions to its problems despite its huge human and natural resources? Why is it that at 50, the country is still struggling to provide its citizens with the basic necessities of life? There is inadequate infrastructure and social amenities are practically non-existent because the economy is comatose. Consequently, our political future is still very uncertain.

We have a chance to stop this rot. We have a chance to speak out. We have a chance to help restore the pride and dignity of our nation. Even if you don’t burn yourself to make a point like Buozizi, you can cast your vote for the right persons. Even if you are not prepared to spend 18 days in Eagle Square protesting against this government, you can insist that your vote counts. You can stand to be counted. You can make a commitment to be involved in installing the next set of credible leaders.
Don’t just fold your hands. Don’t just complain all day. Don’t just lament and curse. May I challenge you to do something? Bouzizi led Tunisians to do something. The Egyptians did the same about their own issue and now they’ve got victory. What are you doing?







.

Get Organized. Get More Done

Setting clear and committed goals won’t work if you can’t organize your resources towards achieving them. How you organize your goals and how often you are reminded of them play a key role in their success. If your goals are collecting dust in a filing cabinet or a folder, they won’t influence your actions. Similarly, how you organize your physical surroundings can give you much greater productivity towards your goals. A messy, disorganized house, office or computer waste valuable time. How you organize your time is probably the greatest factor, and without the ability to control and allocate time to your goals, they will fail before you even start.

Organize Your Goals

So you’ve written out your goals on paper. You have described them in objective terms and written a paragraph or two about why you want to achieve them. Below them you have set the deadline for which you feel is both realistic and challenging. Now what? Do you store this file in some obscure folder in your computer? Do you take the sheet of paper and put it into some binder marked ‘goals’ and put it into the dark and cobwebbed realm of your attic?

The organization of your goals and how often they serve to remind you are critical to their success. If you never see your goals, they become easily forgotten and they lose whatever significance or meaning they held when they were written. Creating a system where you can see your goals a few times per day and getting organized so you can track the past goals you have set will ensure they stay meaningful.

The first step to organizing your goals is to find a system to store them. If you store your goals on a computer, or you prefer a more complex or simplistic scheme for storing your goals, go ahead. If you use a computer a lot, you may want to turn your desktop wallpaper into a goal reminder sheet. This can be a little time consuming if your goals change rapidly, but if you are using your computer frequently, this can be an excellent reminder.

Organize Your Environment

Always losing your car keys? Seem to have a lot of stuff just lying around? Being disorganized will damage your productivity, increase stress and make staying on track with your goals more difficult. Organization is a skill anyone can learn and it can save you a lot of time, energy and frustration. Most importantly, being organized creates an environment of productivity and achievement that serves to reinforce your goals.

The main culprit in being disorganized is simply that the your items don’t have a home. Whether it is your home, your office or even your computer files, if the items don’t have a specific place they should be stored, they will be pile up in clutter. Losing your car keys is a sign that you don’t have a specific place to put them.
If you are already disorganized, reorganizing everything is a huge task that will take a significant time investment. This is an example where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Once you are organized and place things where they belong, only minor reorganizing will need to be done to keep everything operating smoothly. You may need to split this task up into several pieces if you have a lot to organize, but the benefits of being organized are well worth the time required to get there.

Start by mentally getting an idea of how you want to organize everything. Chances are you have an idea about where things should go, but by sitting down and thinking about where you want to put things, you can create an effective organizing system. Next go through every single item. Decide whether you want to keep it or throw it out. Unless it is a legal document or holds sentimental value, I’d recommend tossing out anything that you haven’t used in a long time and you can buy again. When you are going through all your items, sort them into the rough groups they will be put into when they are re-organized. Finally take those organized groups and put them back into the place you designated at the start.

Organizing your environment may seem costly and unnecessary if you feel that you are just as efficient with some clutter, but it serves an even more important role. An organized environment sends a strong message to your subconscious telling you that you are productive, hard-working and efficient. A cluttered area tells your subconscious that you are lazy, unmotivated and wasteful. As we talked about in the last chapter, the environment you have sends a strong signal to your motivation and your ultimate success towards your goals.

Organize Your Time

Time management is an extensive subject that has been written about in many books. There are many different styles of prioritizing and organizing your time for the greatest effectiveness. This program is not designed or equipped to teach everything there is to know about time management, but it is important enough to warrant a general overview on methods to increase the organization of your time.

The first step in time management is deciding what is important. Your goals should already be doing this step for you. If your goals aren’t telling you what is most important, or worse, the objectives of other people are placed on a higher importance than your goals, then your goals won’t work. Ensure that your goals have been broken down until the next action step at any stage in their progress is always apparent. Secondly, make sure your goals are loud enough that they demand your action now.

Once you’ve decided what is important, the other step in time management is actually doing what is most important. In this area there are many methods for doing what is important more effectively and efficiently. Depending on your personal style, you might work best by scheduling work in advance or you might work better with a to-do list style that allows you to choose when to work on your goals in the spur of the moment. Experiment with different techniques and styles. If your goals are strong and compelling enough, this phase becomes a lot easier to optimize.

I once heard that a successful venture is, “5% plan, 95% execution.” Whatever the actual percentage is, how you execute the progress towards your goals will ultimately make more difference than the planning you use towards them. Having an organized system for reminding you of your goals will allow you to be more motivated and productive and ensure a superior execution.

See you at the top!

A Brand New Start.....

Let me start by joining the rest of the world to wish you a Happy New Year! May it be to you, and yours, a splendid year.

Some years back, after having to write the UME (University Matriculation Examination) again (I wrote it twice before I nailed it), one thought flashed through my mind. What if failure was perpetual? What if, once you failed, you have failed forever? What if there was no opportunity to start again? What if once you made a loss in business, you continue to make losses? What if, once you repeated a class, or a course, you will continue to repeat it eternally! What a chaos our world would have been!

What if failure was perpetual?

God, in His infinite mercies divided our lives into tiny bits – so, we have centuries, decades, years, months, weeks and days. If you have failed in a particular year, you can look forward to another year, to try again. If a particular day isn’t going to well, you wish the day would be over soon, so you could have a fresh start. If you have failed once, or twice, you look forward to another opportunity to try again, or start again. In my opinion, a new year is God’s wonderful opportunity, given to us, to start again….howbeit, more intelligently. And that opportunity is not only available to those who didn’t do well the previous year. It is also available for those who did well, so, they can even do better. The New Year is an opportunity for a fresh start.

The greatest definition of insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result!

So, my question is this – What will you do differently this year? Your result is always a function of your inputs. If your inputs are wrong, do not wonder if the results are in the same direction. Let me say this categorically – the year 2011 will be very much like 2010 to you, if you do things the same way you did last year. I guess that’s a no brainer. I can guarantee that your output will be exactly the same if your inputs do not change. So, do you like the results you turned out last year? If your answer is NO, then, something about you has got to change. The greatest definition of insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result!

Here are a few things you need to look at changing /improving to get better result.

Change your thoughts

No one can rise above the level of his thoughts. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. Your life will never go beyond the level of your thoughts. So, the Bible has a nice advice for you.

“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. “

(Philippians 4: 8-9, The Message Bible)

No matter how long you pray, if you harbor in your heart, things contrary to your prayers, the prayer will be a mere exercise. You cannot be praying for health and be thinking like a sick man! The thought of sickness will nullify your prayers. You cannot be praying for success and be thinking like a failure. God is able to do much more than you ask or think.

Change your Association

A wise man once said this. “You will be where you are today in another 5 years, except for 2 things – the books you read and the friends you keep”. I have found this to be very true. If you want to improve your results, then you’ve got to improve on your association/relationships. In my quest for financial freedom, I discovered that there is a fundamental difference between the way the rich and the poor think. Their thinking patterns are worlds apart. As a result of this, associating with the group you want to belong will give you accesses to their perspective.

In our environment (Africa), there is so much emphasis on the enemy. People spend a whole night vigil praying against their enemies. May I say this to you – your friends are more strategic to your destiny that your enemies. You had better have the right ones.

Change your attitude

Attitude more than aptitude, determines altitude. Look, things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out. During the course of the year, you will definitely have challenges. How will you face them? Will you be optimistic about life and it’s opportunities or bend your head in pessimism?
To achieve more this year, I challenge you to be an incurable optimist. This way, all things being equal you will always win. All things not being equal, you will still most times win!

Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

Go for Information

I have realized that there are no mountains anywhere. Every man’s ignorance is his mountain! Nobody suffers from a special problem, only from special ignorance. Every outstanding accomplishment rides on the hub of information! If you know better, you will shine brighter

There are no mountains anywhere. Every man's ignorance is his mountain

No matter what your vision this year is, I can bet it will end in frustration, except you have the right information to match. Read books. Listen to tapes. Read newspapers. Most importantly, get information from the greatest of all information sources – The Bible- The Manual for Life!

May the year be to you a year of years!

Enjoy.

The Animals Were Singing.......

What’s the big deal about Christmas? Why do we celebrate the birth of someone who died over 2000 years ago? Why does everything in the whole world have to come to a stand still to remember and celebrate this day? The interesting thing about it all is this – his birth wasn’t really celebrated. His birth sure didn’t appear on the national dailies of his days. Was it to happen in today’s world, you can bet it will be on facebook, twitter and other social media. But not then. There were no fun fares. No fire works. No special team of Doctors ready to help with the delivery. It was an ordinary day. Were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold. The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor. A more lowly place of birth could not exist.

Off to one side sit a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him—so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.

Near the young mother sits the weary father. If anyone is dozing, he is. He can’t remember the last time he sat down. And now that the excitement has subsided a bit, now that Mary and the baby are comfortable, he leans against the wall of the stable and feels his eyes grow heavy. He still hasn’t figured it all out. The mystery of the event still puzzles him. But he hasn’t the energy to wrestle with the questions. What’s important is that the baby is fine and that Mary is safe. As sleep comes, he remembers the name the angel told him to use . . . Jesus. "We will call him Jesus."

Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks! Her head rests on the soft leather of Joseph’s saddle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel, “His kingdom will never end.”

Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.

Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking. Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?

The circumstances surrounding his birth however did not diminish the concept. A king was born. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isa 9:6). In our world today, people are often remembered for the problems they solve. Of course, we know some people because of the problem they created (remember Osama Bin Laden?). However, they are not often remembered for long, neither are they celebrated. Solving problems is one of the ways that one can be remembered for a long time to come. Faraday is often remembered today for solving the world’s electricity problems. Jesus, the reason for the season today, solved the greatest of man’s problem – SIN

When God created the world, everything in it was good. There was no problem at all, until sin came in. The fall of man when he sinned exposed him to all kinds of things imaginable. Sickness came, Poverty got hold of him. Death overpowered him. Fear gripped him. Man entered into the “crisis” mode as a result of SIN. Sin is a sinker my dear readers. It sank the destiny of man, and still does till date. The greatest hindrance to enjoying a good life is Sin, and Jesus came to solve that problem. By hanging on the cross, he paid the debt he didn’t owe; all because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay! Celebrating Christmas without understanding this is just like celebrating a mass. Christ is what makes an ordinary mass become Christmas.

As you celebrate Christmas today, ponder on these things. Ponder on the greatest love story ever told – the story of a man who laid down his life for his friends.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Wanted: A Loyal Friend.

I recently heard the story of two young men, Jim and Philip. They were the best of friends. They did everything together. They went to high school and college together. They played sports together. Even after college, they both joined the marines. They were inseparable. And one day, they were out on the battlefield in Germany, in the midst of a very fierce battle. Gunfire was everywhere. Bombs were exploding. It got so bad that they were given the orders to retreat. As the men were running back, Jim noticed that his friend Philip wasn’t with him. His heart was gripped with fear, he panicked. He rushed over to the commanding officer and requested permission to go back to the battle zone. The officer said “Are you crazy? You don’t have a chance. I will be committing suicide going back in there”. Without missing a bit, Jim turned around and ran back, defying the orders. In a few minutes, the officer saw Jim hobbling back across the field, carrying the lifeless body of his friend Philip. He screamed at him “I told you not to go. You could have been killed. I knew your friend was already dead”. Jim said “No sir, you were wrong. He was still alive when I got there, and his last words were ‘I knew you would come back’ ’” Anytime I read or hear this story, I am always close to tears. Even as I write this, I marvel at the level of loyalty exhibited by a friend. Awesome!

Jim said “No sir, you were wrong. He was still alive when I got there, and his last words were ‘I knew you would come back’

We live in a world where selfishness seems to be the rule of the day, and personal gain the objective of most relationships and endeavors. One of the most honorable character traits a person can develop is the ability to be loyal, whether to family, friends, an employer, or clubs and organizations to which we may belong. There are too many fair weather friends these days! There are too many people who will only stick with you when things are perfect, when the going is good and when all seems to be going well with you. The next minute that things change, they take off. They bad mouth you. They join others to run you down. I can’t think of a better place that this plays out than in sports world – one moment you are the hero. A couple of weeks later, you have a couple of bad games and everybody is booing you and trying to run you out of town! We need friends who are committed to us for a long haul. We need people who will be by our side, committed to us through thick and thin. A true friend defends, a true friend restores and a true friend is committed.

Perhaps the most familiar story in the Bible about loyalty is found in the book of Ruth. Really, the whole book is the story of Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi. She, her husband and two sons had traveled to the land of Moab to escape a famine in Israel. Naomi alone survived and with her were the two Moabite widows of her sons. When she decided to return to Israel, the women embarked with her on the journey. She, however, urged them to return to their birth families. One did. The other, Ruth, swore to go where she went, to die and be buried where Naomi was buried, and to adopt Naomi's God. As a result of this commitment to be loyal to Naomi, Ruth found a new and affluent husband and became the grandmother of King David and a direct ancestress of Jesus Christ. Her loyalty booked her a place in history books! Chances are that you don’t even remember the name of the other woman, do you?

We need friends who are committed to us for a long haul. We need people who will be by our side, committed to us through thick and thin

Another story of loyalty in the Bible that really moves me is the story of David and Jonathan. Jonathan knew that God had chosen David to be the next King of Israel after Saul (Jonathan’s father). To his father’s surprise and dismay, Jonathan was still very loyal to his friend David. Infact, he schemed severally to save his friend David from being murdered by his father Saul. Now, that’s interesting. Jonathan knew that only David stood between him and the throne of Israel. He also knew that God had chosen David. He decided to be loyal to him, even till his death! What an absolute show of loyalty. He was with David all the way – during the good times and the bad times, during the time of war and the time of peace. I like the way his loyalty was summarized.

Jonathan, Saul's son, visited David at Horesh and encouraged him in God. He said, "Don't despair. My father, Saul, can't lay a hand on you. You will be Israel's king and I'll be right at your side to help. And my father knows it." Then the two of them made a covenant before God. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home.

1 Samuel 23: 16-18).

A friend strengthens. A true friend lifts up. A true friends stays with you, in your low moments.

In the New Testament we have the moving account of Peter's failure to be loyal to Jesus in his final hours. At the supper in the upper room Peter had vowed to lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus, however, knew better; and later that night outside the temple court Peter denied not once but three times that he even knew Jesus. When he realized what he had done, he wept bitterly. The story has a happy ending, however. For, although Peter failed in his loyalty to Jesus, Jesus continued to be loyal to him and after his resurrection entrusted his mission to him once again. There are several people today who will behave like Peter. They are with you only when everything is going on smoothly. They deny you vehemently when you are in the midst of troubles. Unfortunately, that is the time that you really need them the most.

Loyalty is unwavering in good times and bad. (Proverbs 17:17)
Loyalty is what you do, not what you say.(Matthew 26:33-35 and 26:69-75)
Loyalty is in your heart. It is willing and not reluctant. (Psalm 78:8)
Loyalty can be demanding.(Exodus 17:8-13)
Loyalty may involve sacrifice.(2 Chronicles 11:13-16)

Everyone needs a true friend, especially when you are down. It’s easy to cheer people when they are on the mountain top. It’s easy to cheer people up when things are going their way. But a loyal person, a true friend, is going to be there cheering you on, even when nobody is around. That’s the type of friend we all need! That’s the type of friend we should all be!