Thanksgiving

Interestingly, last Friday, I was thinking about how confusing and complicated 2015 has been for me. Why? Because of one issue with minor related issues. I go to church yesterday, (we had a Thanksgiving Service to celebrate 2015) and the preacher, preaching on the theme: 'The Importance of Thanksgiving', says, "if you have nothing to be thankful for, be thankful you have life". And then I felt like the worst person ever.

During the last week of October, one staff in my office died. I have life.
A couple of weeks ago, this university graduate who has been without a job since he completed university (about 3 years ago) came to my house to check out an almost abandoned taxi. He'd rather be a taxi driver than stay at home with no job. I have a job, and since I completed university, I have never had to worry about being jobless.

These are two reasons for me to be thankful. There are countless others in 2015. The more than 3 times I drove into the cars in front of me, the one time a car run into my car, and all these times I wasn't damaged. My car was also not damaged. How could I forget? When I went on an all expense paid trip to South Africa to just go and have fun and relax. Mind you, this was my 3rd all expense paid trip to South Africa since 2013.

So, because of one incident, which will not mean much in a couple of months, I choose to rate 2015 as confusing and complicated? God please forgive my ungratefulness. Funny this should come from me because I am one person who just cannot stand it when she feels ingratitude coming out of anyone who should be expressing anything but.

Yes, bad things happen all the time, but so do good things. Come to think of it, more good things happen than bad, yet we choose to dwell on the bad. By all means, acknowledge the bad stuff that happen, which you can count, but never forget the good things you can't even count. Remember count your blessings, name them one by one, and see if it's possible to.

Crush?

Nah! Still too early (translates to I'll make another attempt at sharing something inspiring).

For as long as I can remember, I've been trying to read the whole bible. Naturally, I'd start from the beginning (Genesis), by the time I read the story on Cain and Abel or push to Noah, I just go like, "I already knew all of this. Heard stories about all of them in Sunday School". All of them referring to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Noah and the ark. And then I'd quit. Then there was this time I just decided to focus on particular books in the bible. I was more successful with that. At least I can say I've read the whole of the book of Proverbs.

I've always felt I need to seriously spend more time studying the word of God, and stop my halfhearted attempts at doing so. I downloaded a bible app onto my phone (YouVersion) and it really has helped. There are so many resources available on there, from daily bible verses to bible plans. I found I could select bible plans for a couple of days or months. Last year, I picked up a year long bible plan and completed it on December 31, 2014 (felt real good). The bible plans I found were a way for me to spend time on the word of God everyday. From a few days, to a few months and then to a year (baby steps).

At the start of this year, I started a new bible plan, another year long plan. But get this. This plan is "Bible in One Year". That means next year this time, I can say I've read the whole bible. Interesting thing is, there are so many stories in the bible I never heard of (they didn't make children stories of those for Sunday School). The people involved I may have heard of but not some accounts of their lives in the bible, and the thing is, all this is in Genesis. There are actually so many interesting and inspiring stories after Noah and the ark. What I totally love about these plans are the fact that there are daily devotionals included, so after reading the bible passages, I get to read a discussion on it, which give more insight into what I just read.

I find this very helpful for me because Christianity I find is hard today. Why? Because quite a number of people seem to enjoy guilt tripping others into it (how about you let others or lead others to discover the goodness of God without guilting them into it?). It really is so sad. People try to use current stuff e.g. social media to share the word of God and then threaten you. e.g. forward to this number of people or this and that will happen to you. If you love God and hate the devil you will forward to this number of people. If you don't, means you don't love God and you do the devil (totally rolling my eyes right now). I'm sure it's okay to love God and not forward every message you get about Him to a particular number of people (and I'm sure that doesn't mean you have a thing for the devil either).

I remember when the movie "Gravity" come out, there was so much noise made about it. As soon as it was in cinemas in Gh, I went to see it. Who wouldn't want to see a movie with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock in it? But that's just the thing. It really was a movie with just George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. 5 minutes into the movie I caught myself dozing off in the cinema. I couldn't believe it. How? So I stayed wide awake for another 10 minutes and when I realised nothing was happening and George and Sandra were same place they had been when the movie started, I curled up, found a comfy position, and I slept (no way was I letting the air conditioning in the cinema go to waste. I had paid for it. if I couldn't enjoy the movie, I could at least enjoy that). My point? It's very possible to fall asleep while watching a secular movie and not only when listening to the word of God.

Now as a rule, I always get popcorn even when I don't feel like it when I go to the cinema (I have fallen asleep while watching other movies and I find that nibbling on the popcorn gives me at least 20 - 30 minutes before I start lolling away).

Inspiring? Well, I will get to that crush thing in my next post.
And oh, I hear a certain young lady has decided not to pursue the case she has against a Gh celebrity she's accused of allegedly raping her (can't say I'm surprised). Like I wrote in my last post, even if she comes out to say he really didn't rape her, his reputation has already been ruined (but who cares? I'm not talking about this celebrity stuff).

Crushes!

Ummmmm... a new year just started and this is my first post of 2015? I want to talk about something this insignificant? Yeah, I feel bad. Well, at least I'm not talking about some Gh celebrity being accused of raping a teenager (I'll leave that to the celebrity bloggers to blog about). On that though, seems the problem quite a number of Ghanaians have with it is he had sex with a teenager (he's admitted to that). As to whether it was consensual or not, is not the issue. The problem is he is 49 and she is 19 (his daughter is just about the same age). Whatever happens, even if the girl recants, his reputation really is just ruined (but I really am not talking about this).

Happy 2015, and all the blessings that come with entering a brand new year!
Let me put up something inspirational (I think) then if I haven't put up 2000 words, I'll talk about crushes.
I'm Anglican. I go to church every Sunday (yeah, really). The Gospel is read (bible passage), a hymn is sung, the preacher says a word of prayer, the preacher preaches and at that point I zone out (embarrassing, but it's the truth). Why do I do that? Well, I figure that's less embarrassing than dozing off and have my head lolling backwards (mighty embarrassing). Besides, when I zone out, no one even notices. I come back to earth when the preaching is over and we rise to say/sing the Apostles creed or Nicene creed.

Why not change churches if the preachers in my current church are not exactly interested in keeping me paying attention? Well, I have heard other preachers preach and pretty much the same thing happens. See, there are 3 priests in my church and any of them can preach according to their roster. Sometimes visiting priests come in to preach. Some preachers will start, just when I'm zoning out, they say something interesting or funny, I come back, I'm getting into the preaching, and then in an effort to reach the non-English speakers in the church, they translate what they say into a local language, which I probably don't understand (again, embarrassing), and then I go and come back to earth when they are done. Some preach all through in English with lots of jokes, so I stay with them throughout, laugh, enjoy what they say, but at the end, I don't particularly feel inspired or like I learnt anything. Matter of fact, 10 minutes after the preaching is done, I don't remember what it was about. As for some, as soon as I see them approaching the pulpit while the hymn is being sung, I know it's time to go.

And then last Sunday happened. There was a visiting priest. We are singing the hymn, I'm preparing to go, we done with the hymn, he says a word of prayer, I'm about to go, and then I hear, "start living in 2015". Of course I come back, mainly to say to myself, "we are 4 days into 2015 and now you say I should start living in 2015? What about all the years preceding 2015? What have I been doing? Seriously?" So now he has my attention mainly because I want to argue with him in my head. Then he breaks it down.
S - Stop making excuses
T - Take inventory of your life
A - Act in faith
R - Refocus your thoughts
T - Trust God

Not only did his message make so much sense, he added a whole lot of humour to it, plus there were real life examples, and he kept engaging the congregation, asking us to repeat stuff, asking us questions, etc. Most importantly, I felt inspired. By the time he was done, I literally felt like running up to him and lifting him shoulder high (seriously). But, he was just visiting, now I'm seriously thinking of looking up his parish and joining, all the time hoping he's not a one trick pony. But really, what I find so impressive is today, 5 days after, I can remember the message without looking into a book (I didn't take notes. beats me how I still remember any of it).

Before I start getting judged, I should say, I have received messages on social media talking about how people don't have time for the word of God, how churches are getting empty and clubs getting full, how people fall asleep while being preached to but are able to sit through countless movies. Well, I don't bother zoning out during some movies, I sleep. Not doze, sleep. We all have different gifts/talents (that's in the bible). Not all are meant to be preachers. Much respect to all the preachers out there. If for every 10 people you preach to, there is 1 of me, my utmost respect in trying to reach us (at least you try).

Now, for this priest, not sure I got his name. Hope his parish isn't too far from where I live.

But there goes my post on crushes. Maybe next time.

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Daylight Saving Time

First time I heard of Daylight Saving Time (DST), I didn't quite get it, but I was excited. It was Fall (almost November) and I was told on November 1st, I was to set my watch an hour backwards. I did think it was interesting that everyone had to know and do this, and at the same time I thought it was pretty cool. For me, all that mattered was I'd get to sleep an hour more (of course I wasn't thinking of sleeping an hour less when the process was reversed in Spring).

I woke up bright and early one lovely Sunday morning and went through the motions of getting ready for church. When I was done, I set off and did the 20 minute walk to the bus stop. I got there with 5 minutes to spare before the bus was scheduled to arrive. Unfortunately this bus stop was not sheltered so I took a seat and waited in the cold. 10 minutes after the bus was scheduled to arrive, no bus in sight. 15 minutes, then I got worried. The buses aren't usually late, well at least not that late. At 20 minutes after the bus was to arrive at this stop, I was convinced I was feeling whatever a block of ice feels. At least I know I looked it because a taxi stopped right in front of me.

I wanted to scream "help me!" when the taxi driver rolled down the passenger window, but aside my lips feeling too frozen to move, I knew I couldn't afford to take a taxi. Matter of fact, aside money for offertory at church, I had no money on me. All I needed was my bus pass, which I did have. I had earlier contemplated going back home, but besides being determined to go to church, another 20 minute walk in the cold wasn't exactly a thought I wanted to have.

So the taxi driver asks where I'm going and I manage to tell him thanks, but I couldn't afford the taxi ride. He then goes like "Oh no! You look like you need a little help. I'm not charging you".

Whew! I jumped into the cab, rolled up the window he'd rolled down and then I tell him where I'm going. Unfortunately he couldn't take me to church but offered to drop me at the nearest bus terminal, which fortunately, aside being sheltered was heated too. Off we went chit chatting to the bus terminal. Turned out he's Tunisian and stopped to talk to me because he saw a fellow African in need. Also turned out he has a sister-in-law from Ghana. Boy did we have a lot to talk about.

I got off at the bus terminal thanked the cab driver and went on to check the bus schedule put up on the notice board. Fortunately for me, a bus that would pass close to the church I was headed to, came by like two minutes after my arrival. I hopped on and was on my way to church. All this time, I hadn't figured out what was going on. I just figured the bus broke down or the bus driver fell sick or something. Have no idea where I got these ideas from because I had never experienced a bus being this late ever.

And then I got to church and the doors were locked.

I was stranded. Here I was standing at this non sheltered bus stop, which didn't have a seat, with no idea when the next bus was going to come by. I just knew church service lasted 2 hours and that 15 minutes after church service ended, a bus would come by that would drop me at another bus stop where I would wait 5 minutes to catch another bus that would drop me where I'd do my 20 minute walk home.

So I'm standing close to the church trying to decide if I should start hitchhiking, not sure if I should try something like that in a foreign land, knowing very well I would never do it in my homeland, when I see people and cars heading towards the church. At that time I must have stood at the bus stop contemplating my next move for about 20 minutes.

I make my way into the church still not sure what happened that day until I picked up the newsletter for that Sunday at the entrance of the church. The date on the newsletter read November 1st and I could almost have kicked myself for not setting my watch an hour backwards the night before. I missed out on more sleep and was stranded in the cold more than once.

Moral: even when you think you are sure, double check.