Take Heed

By Uvoh Onoriobe
April 23, 2009

When I saw this photo, so many thoughts ran through my mind. I seek a caption.

There are many things "men of God " will not do yet Jesus delights in those things.

In most places the set man seats on a golden chair. These plastic seats are preaching to me big time.

When I see the opulence in which some of our Christian leaders swim some times while countless others are suffering, I wonder.

Many no longer preach "if only in this world we have hope , we are of all men most miserable".

It's 4am and am sleepless. Take Heed is what I hear. I looked some up. Let us take heed. There is another person reading this that needs to make a definite change before it is too late.

Ex 34:12 -
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

De 4:9 -
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

De 4:23 -
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

De 11:16 -
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

De 12:13 -
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

De 12:30 -
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

Jos 22:5 -
But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jos 23:11 -
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

Job 36:21 -
Take heed, regard not iniquity.

Ps 39:1 -
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

Mal 2:15 -
And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Mal 2:16 -
For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

Mr 4:24 -
And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

Mr 8:15 -
And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

Mr 13:5 -
And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:

Mr 13:33 -
Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

Lu 8:18 -
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Lu 11:35 -
Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Lu 12:15 -
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Lu 17:3 -
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

Lu 21:8 -
And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Lu 21:34 -
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Ac 5:35 -
And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.

Ac 20:28 -
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Ro 11:21 -
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

1Co 3:10 -
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

1Co 8:9 -
But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

1Co 10:12 -
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Ga 5:15 -
But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Col 4:17 -
And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

1Ti 4:16 -
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Heb 3:12 -
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

2Pe 1:19 -
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Take a listen to Kirk Whalum's Lord I want to be a Christian

It reminded me of good days. That is my plea. Make it yours.

Mission From Africa

April 12, 2009
By ANDREW RICE

PASTOR DANIEL AJAYI-ADENIRAN is coming for your soul. It doesn’t matter if you are black or white, rich or poor, speak English or Spanish or Cantonese. He is on a mission to save you from eternal damnation. He realizes you may be skeptical, put off by his exotic name — he’s from Nigeria — or confused by his accent, the way he stretches his vowels and trills his R’s, giving his sermons a certain chain-saw rhythm. He suspects you may have some unfortunate preconceptions about Nigerians. But he is not deterred. He believes the Holy Spirit is working through him — aided by the awesome earthly power of demographics.

Africa is the world’s fastest-growing continent, and Ajayi-Adeniran belongs to one of its most vigorously expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination that is crusading to become a global faith. In the course of just a few decades, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, founded in a Lagos shantytown, has won millions of adherents in Nigeria while building a vast missionary network that stretches into more than 100 nations. “The rate of growth,” Ajayi-Adeniran says, “is becoming exponential.” As the man coordinating the Redeemed Church’s expansion in North America, the pastor spends his days shuttling from his home base, a storefront church in the Bronx, to the denomination’s continental headquarters, a 550-acre compound in Texas, and to mission outposts scattered from Vermont to Belize. This places him at the vanguard of a revolution in worldwide Christianity, one that it is quite literally changing its face, as a faith that was once exported by white missionaries from Europe and America comes to draw its strength from the peoples of the Southern Hemisphere.

Revival is an eternal theme in the history of Christianity. Time after time, evangelical fervor ignites, burns itself out and then re-emerges in some altered and surprising form, in constant cycles of migration and renewal. The ferment of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation sent Puritans to New England, Quakers to Pennsylvania and Jesuits into the wilds of South America. The missionary movements of the 19th century inspired pious adventurers to travel to Africa and spread, in the famous formulation of David Livingstone, “Civilization, commerce and Christianity.” Today the process is reversing itself, as the population of churchgoers dwindles in Europe, remains fairly static in the United States and erupts in the “global south” — a geopolitical term that encompasses Africa, Latin America and much of Asia. Seven years ago, in a book titled “The Next Christendom,” Philip Jenkins, a Penn State religious scholar, predicted that the global south would eventually come to represent Christianity’s center of gravity. Now it appears that phenomenon is starting to manifest across a broad spectrum of Christian belief, challenging patterns of leadership and notions of religious identity that in some cases have stood for centuries.

Take, for example, the Anglican Communion. Spread along with the British Empire, its membership now tilts heavily southward: Nigeria alone, with some 20 million adherents, makes up around a quarter of the entire Anglican Communion. The church’s recent schism over gay rights, which pits liberal white bishops against traditionalist counterparts from Africa, has upended old colonial lines of authority, leading to the odd spectacle of dissident conservative ministers in America formally shifting their affiliations to authorities in faraway countries like Uganda.

The story is similar within the Catholic Church, the world’s largest Christian denomination. Roughly a third of the College of Cardinals currently hails from the global south, lending support to predictions that someday, perhaps quite soon, they will elect a non-European pope. If that were to occur, it would only echo what is happening in Catholic parishes throughout the developed world. In the United States, where a shrinking number of young men are willing to accept the sacrifices required for ordination, one in six of all diocesan priests, and one in three seminarians, are now foreign-born. The world’s largest Catholic seminary is in Nigeria. When I went to my childhood home in South Carolina for the holidays last year, a visiting Nigerian priest celebrated Christmas Mass at my own family’s parish, surprising his passive audience with an upbeat, stemwinding, almost evangelical homily on God’s glory.

Christianity is practiced differently in the global south, and especially in Africa, where it has been invested with cultural values that long predate the first missionary efforts. During the 20th century, the population of Christians in Africa grew from 10 million to around 360 million, and that could double by 2025, by which time demographers project the continent will be home to a quarter of all believers. These Africans are making Christianity their own, in ways both subtle and profound. This is evidenced in political debates over subjects like homosexuality, which is scorned throughout the continent, or condom distribution, which — despite the current pope’s opposition — some local Catholic bishops have countenanced as a practical response to AIDS. But it can also be seen in a style of worship: colorful, musical and suffused with a belief in the presence of the supernatural in everyday life.

This Africanization is obvious in Pentecostal sects like the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Here again is a story of revival. The Pentecostal movement is said to have begun in 1906, in a rundown church in a Los Angeles ghetto, where a black preacher gathered a multiracial congregation to pray in a fashion that contemporary critics saw as radical and strange, maybe even possessed. Today there are around 600 million Pentecostals worldwide, the vast majority of them in developing nations, and Africa is a hotbed. Pentecostalism is not so much an organized religion — it has no central authority — as a set of beliefs and practices that can be adapted by local entrepreneurs. It is perfectly suited to harness the modern forces of global crosspollination.
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Find full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/magazine/12churches-t.html

The Everlasting Love

By Akin Ojumu

April 12, 2009

I’m sitting here, on my lazy-boy recliner, watching this epic movie – an umpteenth time, perhaps, but not in a while. And again, the levee of my heart breaks, and tears, like a torrent, wash over my soul.

As I watch, in my mind, I begin to flip through the pages of the chronicle of His legacy – the Holy Scriptures. From Genesis through Lamentations to Revelation, His lamp guides my feet, and illuminates the path, to His mercy and goodness and loving kindness, through all generations.

As I turn the pages, suddenly I find myself standing on the street of Jerusalem. The Temple of the Most High is but a few yards in the distance. Oh my God!!!! I can see Jesus standing together with his disciples a few feet away. He beckons to me to come and I can’t believe my eyes.

It is a smoldering afternoon in Jerusalem on this fateful day. It is about the 9th hour and the sun pelters the sand with its scorching heat, and the dusts, they rise and fall, as if dancing to the tune of the hot blowing wind. And there I am with the Lord and His disciples – as we sit lounging in the cover of the shadow provided by God’s Temple. Suddenly a multitude approaches from around the street corner. Pushing and shoving and yelling, they drag along a woman clad in torn clothes. Oh my, I know her!!! I know that woman. It is Mary from the district of Magdala!!! She looks shaken and petrified – her eyes darting around and filled with fear, as she pleads with the stone carrying mob for mercy. But they drag her forward, to the feet of the Master, spitting the vapors of hate and anger upon her as they come.

“This woman was caught in the act of adultery.” They shouted at the Lord. “The Law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

Mary cringes at Jesus’ feet – shrinking in fear. She begins to cry – a deep, rattling shudder that racks her entire body. As she bawls, she seems to crawl deeper into her world of shame and self condemnation.

Every eye is now intently trained on the Lord – all waiting to see if He’ll fall into the trap they’ve cunningly laid. But the Lord is not even bulged at all – He looks so calm and appears not to notice the commotion all around. For a long and agonizing minute He continues not to say a single word, only scribbling in the sand before Him.

Then without even raising His head Jesus says,

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

And again He goes back to writing in the sand. As He scribbles, the crowd seems to be drawn, by an invisible force, to what the Lord writes in the boiling crucible. Each word He writes seems to come alive, leaping up from the sand into the soul of every man holding a stone. And like a sharp two-edged sword, it begins to cut between the soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. The word seems to expose the innermost thoughts and desires of the accusers of Mary of Magdala. The word pierces the souls of men all around, leaving every wicked heart naked, and every sin exposed. No one is able to hide from the word Jesus scribbles in the sand.

So, one after another, starting with the oldest, they drop the stones in their hands. They turn and walk away – fleeing the scene with as little as a whimper.

As the stones drop, all around Mary, each thud causes her to flinch and recoil back in fear – believing the end is near she brazes for the pain to begin to sear her wearied body. But the only thing she feels is the loving arms of Jesus, lifting her to her feet from the place of blame and shame. He wipes away her tears and says to her, “It is okay. It is over now.” “Look around you”, Jesus continues, “Your accusers are all gone and no man condemns you.”

But all she is able to do is peep through her latticed fingers, and nodding her head in agreement, with tears running down her cheeks, she answers nervously, “They are all gone, Lord! Yes they are all gone!!”

“I know you Mary,” Jesus continues to say. “Your past deeds are not hidden from me. You have sold your body for a morsel of bread, and have defiled my holy temple with the life that you live. My child you have carried a lot of burden and have been unequally yoked with all sorts of men. But come now, let us settle this once and for all. Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

And Jesus, as it were, now turns to me directly, with His piercing eyes boring deep into my soul, and says, “If you come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

“Mary of Magdala, since your accusers have not condemned you, neither do I. Go on your way and from now on sin no more.”

With her clothing hanging about her like scullery rags, Mary clings to the feet of Jesus. She continues to sob uncontrollably. “Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord,” you can hear her say repeatedly. After a long while though, she lets go of Jesus feet. Like a fresh green shoot poking its head out of a hard soil, Mary gathers herself, rising to her feet ever so gingerly, to return to her life – her new life – a changed woman.

Suddenly, I’m back on my lazy-boy and the movie is over.

Why me? Why us? Why does He love us so? We are but mere puny men.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hide as it were our faces from Him; He is despised, and we esteem Him not.

Two thousand-some years later, all around me, things remain unchanged. The world – the very same one He came and died for – continues to live in perpetual defiance of His command and authority. And yet His love for us remains the same.

Donnie McClurkin Disgusted with Pastoral Abuses and Excesses

This past week, popular preacher, recording artist and pastor, Donnie McClurkin, went on record to declare his deep disappointment with what he sees as pastoral abuses in the body of Christ. His comments have raised a legitimate question about abuse and excesses in the body of Christ and has brought attention to a topic that has largely been ignored in the church community.

In an article appearing in Essence this past week Pastor McCLurkin is quoted as saying:

“As pastors, we have to link arms and have bi-partisanships. The [Black] church has always been the face of the community. Now we have to take on the responsibility of becoming true servants to the people from all walks of life. I get so mad when I see these pimpin' preachers driving Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, flying around in their private jets, and making it seem like prosperity and money is the way of God when 90 percent of your congregation is on Section 8 or can't figure out how they are going to keep their lights on or feed their kids. I'm big on perception, and what would it look like for me to live so lavishly if the people in my church are struggling?” says Pastor McClurkin in the article."

In venting his frustration over the behavior of some in the church community, Pastor McCLurkin reveals his own humility and sense of service to God and God’s people, by outlining his own relationship, financial and otherwise, with his church and his refusal to take revenue from a congregation that he has built from the ground up.

“I've done great in gospel music, and only a few of us have accomplished what I have, and guess what? I live in the ‘hood, not some place on the outskirts of the ‘hood. There ain't no gate around my house; I have a white fence because the people I pastor live in that community. I have one vehicle and it's not a
Mercedes, it's a Lincoln Navigator. I don't receive a dime—not an Abraham Lincoln copper coin—and haven't for the last seven-and-a-half years because I'm okay.” he tells Kenya Byrd of Essence Magazine.

As such, Pastor McCLurkin has become a model and an example for others to emulate. His mentality and actions, that places a greater emphasis on service than profit, can only be admired by all of those who love the Lord and are seeking to do his will to the best of their ability. Pastor McCLurkin makes it clear that he has options, but chooses to live a modest and humble lifestyle because that what God has called him to do.

If I wanted to buy a Phantom or Bentley I could and not hurt my pockets, but I'm okay with what I have. I can sing and work and I let all that money go back into the church so we can buy the delicatessen on the corner, or the house next door to make it state-of-the-art low-income housing. We've trained our people to put their leaders on pedestals, and some people want to live
vicariously through their pastor and say, "My pastor has this and he's on television and so on," but then what do you have? How have you prospered and grown? So when I hear other pastors say, "My people take care of me," I'm thinking, But you're supposed to be taking care of the people. I just don't get it. Pastor McCLurkin goes on to say.

What is best gleaned from the wisdom and honesty of Pastor McCLurkin is his healthy attitude about the church and who it belongs to. His “ecclesiology”, which is worthy of our consideration, perhaps best represents what Christ had in mind when he gave pastors to the body of Christ in the first place.

I don't have a church, but I do have a church that I pastor. I can't name something the Donnie McClurkin Temple because the people do not belong to me and if they did that would mean I have slaves. I am simply a vessel to deliver God's word. At the end of the day, it's God's church, not mine, advises Pastor McCLurkin.

http://gospeltoday.ning.com/profiles/blogs/donnie-mcclurkin-discusses

Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own

March 14, 2009

By Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham
www.nytimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Andon, 24, a graduate of Duke University in biology, was laid off from a biotech company last May. For months he sought new work. Then, frustrated with the hunt, he turned to jellyfish.

In an apartment he shares here with six roommates, Mr. Andon started a business in September building jellyfish aquariums, capitalizing on new technology that helps the fragile creatures survive in captivity. He has sold three tanks, one for $25,000 to a restaurant, and is starting a Web site to sell desktop versions for $350.

“I keep getting stung,” he said. And his crowded home office is filled with beakers and test tubes of jellyfish food. “But it beats looking for work. I hate looking for work.”

Plenty of other laid-off workers across the country, burned out by a merciless job market, are building business plans instead of sending out résumés. For these people, recession has become the mother of invention.

Economists say that when the economy takes a dive, it is common for people to turn to their inner entrepreneur to try to make their own work. But they say that it takes months for that mentality to sink in, and that this is about the time in the economic cycle when it really starts to happen — when the formerly employed realize that traditional job searches are not working, and that they are running out of time and money.

Mark V. Cannice, executive director of the entrepreneurship program at the University of San Francisco, calls the phenomenon “forced entrepreneurship.”

“If there is a silver lining, the large-scale downsizing from major companies will release a lot of new entrepreneurial talent and ideas — scientists, engineers, business folks now looking to do other things,” Mr. Cannice said. “It’s a Darwinian unleashing of talent into the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Even in prosperous times, entrepreneurs have a daunting failure rate. But those who succeed could play a big role in turning the economy around because tiny companies are actually big employers. In 2008, 3.8 million companies had fewer than 10 workers, and they employed 12.4 million people, or roughly 11 percent of the private sector work force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Economists say there are some peculiarities to this wave of downturn start-ups. Chiefly, the Internet has given people an extraordinary tool not just to market their ideas but also to find business partners and suppliers, and to do all kinds of functions on the cheap: keeping the books, interacting with customers, even turning a small idea into a big idea.

The goal for many entrepreneurs nowadays is not to create a company that will someday make billions but to come up with an idea that will produce revenue quickly, said Jerome S. Engel, director for the center for entrepreneurship at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Mr. Engel said many people will focus on serving immediate needs for individuals and businesses.

“It’s a very painful thing,” he said of the pressure people feel to find new ways to make money. “But it’s a healthy thing.”

Mr. Engel noted that the dot-com bust helped propel a pack of hardy companies. One of those, in fact, was Google. While it was started in the late 1990s, the company succeeded during the bust in part because it was highly focused and did not need much capital, Mr. Engel said.

Ryan Kuder, 35, understands the notion of scaled-down start-up fervor — and the worry and exhilaration that goes along with it. He was laid off in February 2008 from Yahoo, where he was a senior marketing manager. He job-hunted for a bit, then decided to start an Internet company that would let people do social networking at the neighborhood level.

Mr. Kuder and his business partner toiled until November, when he realized his big dreams had run headlong into reality. He needed money to pay the mortgage and buy health insurance for his family.

They transformed the company into a new one called Koombea that designs and builds Web sites for businesses. Koombea has grown to nine people, most of them in Colombia, where the cost of living allows them to do Web design relatively inexpensively.

Mr. Kuder and his wife agreed that he would give up working for Koombea at the end of January if he did not hit certain revenue goals. They narrowly missed the target. For a few days, Mr. Kuder sent out résumés. He found no work, so he is back investing himself full time in Koombea — and says he is feeling transformed.

“My sleeves are rolled up, and I’m dirtier than I’ve ever been before,” he said. “It’s incredibly nerve-wracking. I wake up nauseous everyday. But it’s probably easier right now to find a problem, solve it and charge people than it is to find a job.”

Monica Zamiska, 25, said it was “traumatizing” when she was laid off in January from her first postcollege job as a junior account executive with the public relations firm Ogilvy & Mather. After meeting with five recruiters, she began to realize how barren the job market was. “You can only send out so many résumés,” Ms. Zamiska said.

So she turned her full attention to a pet project called the Confoodant, a Web site with restaurant reviews written by a by-invitation-only network of food enthusiasts. Her main financial obligation is her rent, but with her savings and four weeks of severance pay, she is confident that she can devote at least six months to getting the project off the ground.

“I love working,” Ms. Zamiska said. “So I made work for myself.”

The surge of interest in entrepreneurship can be seen in the demand for related workshops and networking events. Monica Doss, director of FastTrac, an organization that offers training to aspiring entrepreneurs, said she expected participation to double this year from the 10,000 people it had last year.

“People are thinking, ‘These jobs aren’t going to come back in three years. I’ve got to find something else to do,’ ” Ms. Doss said.

Mr. Andon, for one, seems to have found his niche. He said he recently received an order for a large jellyfish tank that should sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

His entrepreneurial fever seems to be catching: at least four of his roommates are starting companies. Two of those — Erin Kitchell, 28, and her brother Andrew, 25 — are making laminated, fold-out language guides for travelers. In the next few days they plan to print their first 8,000 copies and start trying to sell them.

Ms. Kitchell took a voluntary buyout in June from Wachovia, sensing a layoff would come anyway, and is not sanguine about finding good work.

“This is as good a time as any to try something entrepreneurial,” she said. “There is not a lot of opportunity right now in finance.”

Matt Richtel reported from San Francisco, and Jenna Wortham from New York.

A version of this article appeared in print on March 14, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition

From Wall Street to Church Street through Main Street and Side Street

By Akin Ojumu

March 24, 2009

Wall Street is no place for the simpletons. Nincompoopery is scarce in Lower Manhattan. The faint hearted cannot survive in this place where the kings of the earth pay homage at the feet of the mammon god. The brightest and the best minds of the world offer up daily sacrifices, at the altar of this being, who governs over the twp by the East River. As the smoke of the burnt offerings waltzes up into the skies, it lifts up the almighty dollar that lays resplendent within its almighty throne.

The minds that run Wall Street rule the world. They are the Masters of the Universe. These are the captains of the world financial ship – the drivers of our economic automobile. When they sneeze the world catches cold. When they talk the people of the earth listen with rapt attention. These are very powerful people whose pervading influence permeates deep into every nook and cranny of our livelihood.

Wall Street can do no wrong………..or so we thought. All our hopes and dreams for the future naturally follow our trust. So we rest our nest egg in the arms of Wall Street whiz kids. And our IRA, 401(k), and 403(b) are fully vested in the hands of the Colossus before whom all men bow and worship. Into the care of Wall Street we commit our automobiles, mortgages, children’s education, and of course our retirements. We are sold on the infallibility of man-made financial system.

From Wall Street to Church Street through Main Street and Side Street the clarion call goes out, “Do not cast your bread upon the waters.” We are told to give unto Caesar that which belongs unto Caesar and then some. Daily we are buffeted with the shout to lay up treasures for ourselves and ourselves alone.

Pastors preach it, Deacons declare it, and the House of the Lord soon has become a den of financial planners and wealth managers, drunken with wine from the Wall Street orchard. The message from the pulpits becomes the how to of building personal wealth and financial security. They tell us it is time for the transfer of wealth from the world to the church. The House of God, we are told, will soon become the center of world’s prosperity. And so we are charged to invest in real and imagined estates. “The only thing real,” a big man of God always says, “is real estate.” “Borrow and buy,” we are counseled, “Income should not be a hindrance. Just stretch your faith a little bit and let Mortgage broker do the rest.”

Thus the Wall Street mindset takes hold in the House of Worship. The Body of Christ is caught in unholy web of materialism. The yardstick of church growth becomes the acres of land on which the church building stands and individual success is measured by the number of houses owned as investment properties. The focus and thought process shifted from:

".....Brethren, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service....." Romans 12:1

To that of:

".....I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry....." Luke 12:18-19.

And it works well for a time. It is like the seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Bigger homes, magnificent edifices of worship, luxury cars, and even private jets. Then the house of cards comes crashing down. The seven years of plenty is always followed by seven years of famine. The foolishness of Wall Street is unraveled and the infallibility of mammon debunked.

In the book titled Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote about the Tragic Vision of humankind, which he described as a school of thought that believes in the existence of inherent limitations and flaws in the way we think and act and requires an acknowledgement of this fact as basis for any individual and collective action.

The world does not subscribe to the philosophy of fallibilism, the philosophical doctrine that all claims of knowledge could, in principle, be mistaken. To the whole world Wall Street can do no wrong. And in our own childish innocence Believers in Christ also believe - and strongly so - that Christian leaders can do no wrong. Yet the world in the height of its wisdom is still pitifully foolish.

Whereas the scriptures tell us:

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21.

Wall Street tells us the direct opposite. So whose report do we believe and whose orders do we obey?

The whole world (the whole creation), it turns out, seems programmed to spit in the face of the Creator. At every turn and at all times we flaunt our free will and haunt our Maker with our power of choice. The world seeks universal truth and attainment of the highest individual human potential. It is the theme of the books we read, the rhythm of the songs we sing, and it is the common thread that runs through all the TV shows beamed for all to see.

The preservation of self is the weltanschauung of the new age mentality and it is the foundation of Wall Street.

But the truth is the Word of God will always prevail because:

".....whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it....." Mark 8:35.

Ukraine-based Nigerian Pastor in Fraud Charges

By Ezra Ijioma

Daily Champion Newspaper, Nigeria
Sunday, March 22, 2009

Flambouyant Nigerian pastor and apparently Ukraine’s most prominent Pentecostal leader, Sunday Adelaja, has been indicted on fraud charges. Pastor Adelaja is the senior pastor of the largest church in the Ukraine, "The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations, Kiev."

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has accused him of defrauding citizens of money, the ministry’s Department for Media Liaison and International Activity said. Sunday Champion gathered that the amount is over $100m.

"The investigator has brought charges against Nigerian citizen Sunday Adelaja, who permanently resides in Ukraine and is a senior pastor at the Embassy of God church. The charges were brought under Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the embezzlement of funds in very large amounts via fraud)," the ministry said.

Last month, several church members went to authorities saying they were unable to recover the money they invested, which left many of them bankrupt. Police later arrested one of King’s Capital leaders, Aleksandr Bandurchenko, on suspicion of fraud.

Speculation about Adelaja’s involvement with King’s Capital grew after reports surfaced that he was part of a bank in Nigeria known as GS Microfinance Bank Limited. Some speculated that Adelaja, a native of Nigeria, invested funds from King’s Capital in the African bank and planned to leave the country.

Adelaja, however, said those accusations are unfounded. He said he has never been involved with King’s Capital but denied that it is a Ponzi scheme, which uses later investments to pay dividends to earlier investors.

He said King’s Capital was a legitimate business that failed under the pressure of the global financial crisis. He said because the company poured most of the investment capital into real estate, which decreased in value, it has been unable to pay investors.

"When the economic crisis came, all the real estate is no more selling. The land is enough to pay back the money owed. ... The problem is ... everything is stopped in the country--nothing is selling now in Ukraine,’’ he said.

Adelaja said Interior Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko accused the church of involvement because he wants to undermine the evangelical movement in Ukraine. With several thousand members across the nation, God’s Embassy is one of the most influential congregations in Ukraine.
"(Lutsenko) is in a very bad situation," Adelaja said. "He’s got to prove now that (King’s Capital) is a pyramid scheme, but he cannot."

Adelaja said he never encouraged his church members to invest in the company and cautioned them to invest in businesses that offer insurance. "Of course ... if you invest with insurance you get less percentage," he said. "What happened was many people said they didn’t need insurance because the (King’s Capital leaders) were Christians."

He acknowledged being affiliated with GS Microfinance, but said he invested his name and influence in the bank, not millions of dollars. He said GS Microfinance was formed to give small loans to poor Nigerians as a way of lifting them out of poverty. "It’s not about what you can get, but the vision of the program is to elevate and get as many people out of poverty as possible," Adelaja said. "That is one of my lifetime passions ... because I grew up in poverty."

Although Adelaja has repeatedly denied any involvement in King’s Capital, which has not officially been deemed a fraudulent business, Pentecostal and charismatic leaders across Ukraine are calling on him to repent, saying they heard him encourage church members to invest in the company on several occasions.

"He was not a president of this company, but he was the No. 1 spiritual leader, and he told them what they have to do," said Bishop M. S.Panochko, leader of the All-Ukrainian Union of Pentecostal Churches of Evangelical Faith, which is comprised of 1,500 churches across the nation. "He can do everything to tell them that he is not involved, but all the leaders have a lot of facts, and we have a lot of video of when he was pushing people, and he encouraged people to invest in this business."

Panochko was one of 10 leaders who met with Adelaja last Tuesday to confront him about his alleged support of King’s Capital and the negative impact some of his actions have had on the evangelical church in Ukraine.

The Pentecostal bishops, who together represent more than 2,500 congregations, listed seven items of concern and said Adelaja has a pattern of making exaggerated statements. They pointed particularly to his alleged claim that he led the 2004 Orange Revolution--when Ukrainian voters protested a presidential election many considered fraudulent--and his reports that God’s Embassy has 100,000 members across the nation. The bishops say those and other statements are untrue.

After the meeting, Adelaja issued a statement saying he did not organize the Orange Revolution, though his congregation participated in the demonstrations. He also asked forgiveness for the negative impact the King’s Capital scandal has had on Ukrainian churches, but he added that he did not personally have any involvement in the company.

Despite the statement, Panochko said the bishops would continue waiting for Adelaja to apologize for allegedly endorsing King’s Capital. If he does not repent, Panochko said the bishops would issue a statement to Christians in Ukraine and abroad, and to the Ukrainian government, denouncing Adelaja and claiming no affiliation with him.

Moscow-based pastor Rick Renner, founder of the Good News Association of Churches and Ministries for Russia, Latvia and Ukraine, said Adelaja’s claims are hurting Christians in the former Soviet Union.

If convicted, Adelaja may spend up to 12 years in imprisonment, according to Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Pastor Adeboye, Buying a Plane to see God

By Tunde Fagbenle
Sunday Punch Newspaper, Nigeria
Sunday, Macrch 15, 2009

Have you heard the news? That our pastor, Pastor Adeboye, has acquired a brand new aircraft for N4 billion? Jesus is a mighty God, a mighty God, Jesus is a miracle God.

"Sharaap! Are you mad? So what business of mine is that? Now you see why I am not a Christian, and certainly cannot be your kind of mumu Christian. You are hungry and jobless and you are singing praises to Jesus that your bishop has gone to buy an aircraft for 4 billion naira! I am sorry for you. Please, get out of my sight."

"Na bad belle dey worry you. Can't you see the glory of God in that? A Gulfstream 4XP aircraft, whao, that's a pleasure ride, man, I mean a pleasure fly. Our pastor is the first to buy that kind of aircraft and he didn't even borrow a kobo to buy it. Cash down. I told you, our Redeemed Christian Church of God is the biggest and best church in the world, and buying this plane has just confirmed it, he has beaten others to it. We lead; others follow. Hallelujah!"

(Shaking his head) "Are you sure you're well? So, tell me, where did your pastor get N4billion from? With that kind of money, do you know what industry he can set up to provide employment for thousands, the likes of you jobless graduates who throng his churches in droves seeking the "salvation" of a job? In a land full of poverty and deprivation, a "man of God" goes ahead collecting monies from the poor and rich, promising them the kingdom of God, and going ahead to buy such luxury aircraft. Psshhh!"

"What you fail to know in your ignorance is that that money is not just our collections, not just our tithes and offerings, it is the blessing of God. How is it possible to collect N4billion just like that if God did not bless it? It is like the miracle of the five fish and two loaves with which Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour fed five thousand people. These things are not possible except through God. Look at all the wonders that are happening to us, look at the size of our churches, look at our university, everything. And we can still buy a N4billion aircraft and you think that is done by man? You are ignorant. May God open your eyes and let you see His wonders."

"O, I see! You guys collected N4,000 and your pastor performed Jesus miracle, prayed on it and it turned to N4billion! I wonder where is the taxman. About time religion stops being the excuse for not paying taxes. I am ignorant, ehn? Well, I would rather remain so than belong to your "enlightened" group."

"So, what's your gripe, anyway? What's an ordinary N4billion aircraft when even smaller boys own bigger planes in America, and even here in Nigeria? After all, Bishop Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, also has an aircraft. But ours has beaten his own."

"So, it's a case of 'my Mercedes is bigger than yours'? Hehehe."

"Stay there. If only you know how busy our pastor is and the magnitude of the evangelism he can achieve by being able to fly all over the world at short notice and convert people and expand our size, then you wouldn't be saying the nonsense you are saying. With that plane, now you have to know that no matter the money you bring to God through our church, you know our pastor is bigger than that. You bow."

"Hmmmmm, I see. But tell me, when will you get a job, now that your bishop has bought this plane?"

"Leave that alone. What you don't know is that in the same way that God has been faithful to Bishop Adeboye and granted him his wish for this plane, so will He be faithful to the rest of us and grant our wishes. Even with this plane, how do you know it wouldn't be a means for our bishop to be able to carry our supplications to God in heaven faster?"

"O, I see. You must be right. The plane flies in the sky, and heaven is in the sky, sebi? So your pastor will literally fly in his new plane to take your supplications to God? O pari o!"

"The fool says in his heart, there is no God. Please stop being a fool. I want you in paradise with me."

"I pass. Your pastor should be enough company there."

"So, what about the N100 I asked for? I'm really hungry, man."

"N100? Hundred naira ko, hundred kobo ni. Adeboye no dey there?"

The Christian Marriage II

By Ema Eirewele-Momoh

It is me again with my sustained interest on the Christian marriage. I am not one to over spiritualize issues but I feel that the pressure to preach what I practice (I prefer this to practice what you preach there’s a slight difference) since I wrote the piece precluding this on the Christian marriage has been heightened.

I am almost regretting sending that piece because I hesitated a great deal before I sent it. But no way; no regrets, no retreat no surrender I guess the issue of being in the battlefield comes to mind right now.

Lately (after that piece) I have been under immense pressure in my home just little provocations here and there that I would ordinarily (before I got enlightened in this area WHILE WRITE THE FAMOUS PIECE) have said “what rubbish” and be quick to remind my spouse that marriage is not a do or die affair (them no dey die put- the pidgin English version) and release all kinds of negative statements about the marriage. But now I ‘know’ better and I try to restrain myself. Please don’t get me wrong by restraining myself I do not mean that I did not give full vent to my anger. It is just that for one, I did not talk about moving out or being tired of the marriage or ask myself what I was doing here. To buttress the difficulty it was to restrain myself, I cried. Cried for the change I was going through; cried because I could not say those words chosen to deliberately hurt and tear one down, with the intent of transferring the hurt one feels to the ‘PHYSICAL’ cause of the hurt; cried because I felt really foolish exposing myself to be hurt (by loving wholly) AND DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT.

Someone once said that the devil is deliberately attacking the family unit subtly but steadily. In fact, the attack is being heightened in the face of the current status of the global economy. According to analysts, more men are being laid off from their jobs for the singular reason (it seems at least in the physical) that they were the higher paid of the 2 sexes anyway, but what is underlying that we need to be discerning is this: Homes become skewed from God’s original plan (of the man being the bread winner and the woman being the help, meet for him to fulfill his God given role). Then we have more women headed homes (they abound even before the crises). Now the woman takes up the responsibility of producing, reproducing and caring. She soon begins to succumb to the pressure of the weight she is carrying, she begins to be fed with lies (in her mind nothing external yet) from the pit of hell that she really doesn’t need the man to the point that she begins to believe it. The cream on this brewing tea will be a rapid successive barrage of the usual provocation that comes from living with somebody else that man (Homo sapiens) must exhibit, then it is only the grace of God that will keep the home intact (the good news is: HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR US).

Let me at this point crave your indulgence to lift as is, what was written for Day 69 of Calvin Miller’s Daily inspirations for those who await the saviour- UNTIL HE COMES (hey by the way my husband bought it for me-now I am posing do allow me)

Dividing the Indivisible
Mathew 5:31-32
“And it was said, ‘WHOEVER DIVORCES HIS WIFE, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DISMISSAL [Deut. 24:1,3]; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”(Emphasis his not mine).

To divide anything that longs to be whole sins against unity. To cut off the roots of a great tree and separate them from the tree destroys it. For the leaves feed the roots as the roots nourish the leaves. Roots and leaves are vastly different, yet each makes life possible for the other.

Marriage is the grafting of two souls into a wonderful, spiritual interdependency. Life becomes a oneness that did not exist before a promise made a single organism out of seperateness. Marital love arrives where the paths of mutual submission meet. When a man and woman voluntarily surrender their private agendas to each other, each promises enduring commitment to the other’s welfare. They vow that in sickness and health, through ultimate trials of soul, they will live for each other.

But if they are not disciplined in their loving, divorce may divide them. The lure of new passions will smother them in the ashes of their lost integrity. Have they not promised “for better, for worse forever”? Then why this voluntary selling of their souls to promote their own private agendas? Did they not agree that they would have no private agendas? Did they not say what’s mine is yours and yours is mine? Now do they dare to take back their words, reschedule their oaths, or sell their secondhand promises to others?

Mark this: there is no such thing as self-seeking love. The two terms cancel each other out. A marriage altar is a union of high promises, not the welding of errant self-interest. So when I(Christ) said that he who divorces his wife sins, I(Christ) was really saying this: All breakers of holy union are committing sins of broken integrity. Think long and hard before you make a marriage promise. Then commit yourself to all you promise. If you say “till death do us part”, never make secondary vows with lesser texts. Determine to be a person of integrity.

Prayer
Lord Jesus,
Help me never to join that permissive
war of arrogance
by which the self-excusing
excuse themselves of their integrity.
Help me to honour every vow
and to mean it when I say
For better, for worse, forever.
Avoiding such poor marriage surgery
is but to keep my vows from perjury.
Amen.

I think this is a good place to sign off as I leave us all to ponder on these things.

Make Room for Daddy

By Damon Syson

United Airlines Hemisphere Magazine


Is being a stay-at-home dad an enlightened gesture, or a dastardly parent trap I’ll never escape? One man’s journey to paternal maturity.


TWO YEARS AGO, I HAD THE PERFECT life. As a London-based freelance journalist, I was sent on a variety of international assignments. In one year, I traveled around southern Africa with Bono, underwent astronaut training with Richard Branson, and sat wide-eyed in the stern of an America’s Cup boat as yachtsmen were swept overboard and masts snapped around me. Okay, so my salary was irregular and I had zero job security, but my life was exciting, spontaneous and fun.

Then we had a baby. And everything changed. Bethan, my partner, has a full-time job, so together we decided that once her maternity leave was up it made sense for me to curtail my foreign exploits and do the lion’s share of the childcare. Almost overnight, editors crossed me off their “will pack bags at a moment’s notice” list.

These days, the longest trip I ever take is to the local café. My luggage has gathered dust, my passport sits dolefully in a drawer and my world has shrunk to a mile’s radius around our house. Having once been flown to LA to interview Hollywood celebrities, I now go for entire days talking to no adults except the staff at Ava’s daycare and the occasional supermarket check-out worker. The edgiest my life gets is trying out an adventurous pasta recipe from Annabel Karmel’s Baby and Toddler Meal Planner.

I should stress that I haven’t entirely given up work. On the three days of the week when Ava is in preschool, I have the luxury (and it really does feel like a luxury, in a way that it never quite did before) of a 9-5 working day. But because I work from home, the majority of domestic chores—shopping, cooking, cleaning—also fall to me.

I’m not alone. I know at least three other men who have scaled down their careers—temporarily, they are always eager to point out—in favor of bringing up small children. If your wife earns more than you and has greater job security, it makes sense, especially in these turbulent times, to reverse the traditional roles. And with the looming specter of widespread job losses in 2009, I expect I’ll be one of a growing band of disconsolate, unshaven men pushing swings on weekday mornings.

I’m not complaining about my new life. Actually, maybe I am. But I know full well that I can’t expect any sympathy—neither from men, who probably view me as a cautionary tale, nor women, who can be forgiven for enjoying seeing the tables turned. And yet adjusting to my role as a domestic drudge has been a challenge. I’ve always thought of myself as a progressive, modern male—a fellow traveller in the march toward gender equality. And yet as much as I try to convince myself that being a stay-at-home dad is a worthy occupation for a man, I can’t help but feel like my masculinity is under attack. I can’t help feeling… well, like a housewife.

The other day, for example, I sulked for half an hour when Bethan arrived home at 10 p.m. I’d spent hours preparing a complicated vegetarian moussaka and she’d ended up working late and eating at her desk. Recently, during a minor dispute about doing the dishes, I caught myself uttering the words: “You don’t even notice half the things I do around the house!” It’s only a matter of time before I start a knitting circle.

Although Ava, who recently turned two, is a delight, and I recognize that the time we spend together is a privilege, I have to confess that I haven’t always enjoyed parenting (at least, not the way I enjoy, say, traveling around South Africa, staying in luxury hotels). The biggest challenge for me has been adjusting to the long stretches of forced inactivity. Most of us go through life wishing there were more hours in the day. I now know that parents of small children instead spend large chunks of the day wishing time away. Only two hours until dinnertime, you find yourself thinking, then bath time, then bedtime stories, then a well-deserved glass of Shiraz for Daddy.

For someone whose life was goal-orientated, the frustration of ending the day with an untouched to-do list was maddening at first. I would set myself a minor task (“Today I will pay the phone bill!”) and fail to achieve it. In talking to friends, I’ve found that men feel this frustration more keenly. Out at the playground, it’s always fathers you see attempting to read newspapers or squinting at their laptops. Initially a lot of men think they can slot parenthood into their normal life like a rather time-consuming and expensive hobby. We soon learn otherwise.

The worst example was a friend of mine who thought he could simultaneously play a competitive, 90-minute game of Sunday League soccer and baby-sit his infant.

“Are you nuts?” we inquired when he arrived in the locker room pushing his three-month-old daughter in a stroller.

“It’ll be fine,” he shrugged. “She’ll sleep.”

How wrong he was. From the moment the whistle blew, the infant wailed, forcing her hapless dad repeatedly to sprint to the sideline and make goo goo noises—and severely hampering our offensive game. He wound up bailing at half-time to take his squalling cheerleader home for a nap.

Perhaps all this explains why I was more excited about Ava’s first day of preschool than she was. The moment I dropped her off, I was overcome with an incredible sense of freedom, like a sailor on furlough. I even went to the gym! But arriving at 5 p.m. to pick her up, I could hear the familiar sound of her wails a block away from the school. “How long has she been crying?” I asked. “Oh, not long,” replied one of the daycare workers, looking uncomfortable. “Perhaps you should have come a little earlier.”

One might expect for all my efforts that Ava and I would be deeply bonded. No such luck. Apparently absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Last night, for example, I spent 40 minutes rocking her to sleep, 30 of which were spent listening to her bellow, “No! Not you. Go away. I want mommy!”

Friends with older children insist this is just a phase. “In a few weeks she’ll be a total daddy’s girl, you watch,” one father of three said comfortingly. “Your time will come.” He later admitted that in the case of his daughter the phase had lasted six years.

The amateur psychologist in me has run through the possible reasons for this rejection. Since I’m the one who takes her to day care, in her mind I’m the bad cop. And when I pick her up in the evening I’m generally too busy making dinner to play hide-and-seek, whereas when Bethan gets home it’s all fun and games. And since she feels so guilty about being away from Ava, the word “No” never passes her lips. Once again, I’m the bad cop.

Of course, it would be much easier for fathers to embrace a larger share of parenting if childcare didn’t still feel like a female dominated occupation. Even though I live in a bohemian neighborhood where the sight of a man wearing a BabyBjörn is routine, there are still times when I feel like I’ve gatecrashed a bachelorette party.

The other day in the park I was surprised to bump into a group of Ava’s friends and their mothers attending a birthday party. The hostess looked embarrassed. “We wanted to invite Ava,” she mumbled. “But we didn’t have your number.” It suddenly occurred to me that while I’d had my head buried in the sports pages, the moms had all become friends! Their children got together for regular playdates, and they had a network of people to call if a last-minute childcare crisis came up. I felt like I had let Ava down just by being too male.

Sometimes this awkward distance turns into hostility. Last week at the playground, I had the rare pleasure of bumping into another father I know. As our kids played on the slide, we chatted animatedly for a few minutes. By the swings, I noticed a well-dressed woman in her sixties staring at us intently. Finally she strode over and jabbed an accusatory finger in our direction: “The playground is for children!” she hissed. “Not for grown men to shoot the breeze.”

I pointed to my daughter, who at that moment was digging in the sand box. “You know, men can be parents too,” I told her with a forced grin. “Look it up.”

Though the woman was apologetic, her comment stung. I’d given up my career, put aside my masculine pride and bucked social convention—all to take care of a dyspeptic, if adorable, little creature who didn’t especially appreciate my efforts—and here I was being treated like a common criminal. It struck me then that this full-time daddy track wasn’t such a bright idea after all.

The turning point happened a few months ago, when Ava came down with a cold and wound up staying home from daycare. Under normal circumstances, a day of baby-wrangling would be broken up with a walk to the playground or the grocery store, and a much-needed cappuccino. But a howling thunderstorm and Ava’s Vesuvian nose meant I was trapped in a small flat with a crotchety toddler for the forseeable future.

Having already driven both parents to the brink of insanity by waking up hourly from 2 a.m. onward, Ava now proceeded to wail inconsolably all morning long.

She didn’t want to play with her toys, she didn’t want to eat (making the point by knocking her breakfast off the table with an imperious swipe) and she refused to be put to sleep, or play, or do anything but hang onto my neck.

At 10:30 a.m. I looked at the clock and felt crushed by the weight of the hours to go before Bethan would be home. It was one of the longest, hardest days I’ve ever experienced. Then, at around 3:30 in the afternoon, something unexpected happened. I lay down on the sofa and Ava fell asleep on my chest. This Hallmark image was something I’d assumed would be a regular part of fatherhood, but up to that point it had never happened, not once. She wound up sleeping for an hour and a half. We both did.

That night, I told Bethan how frustrating I’d found the day. “I achieved nothing!” I proclaimed.

“Yes you did,” she responded. “You achieved looking after our sick daughter.”

I nodded. “She fell asleep on my chest, you know,” I said, turning off the light. And though I knew we’d probably be woken up in a couple of hours, I went to sleep smiling.


Find Article here: http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2009/02/25/make-room-for-daddy/