MONTEÈCLAIRS TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE

Sometimes I sit and complain about why I wasn’t born in another country with a ‘golden-spoon’, why I didn’t study another course in school; I hear others complain about the witches pursuing them from their village, how they wish Dangote was their father or in-law, they complain about unemployment & the failing economy is ‘forcing’ them into criminal activities e.g. ‘boko-haramism’, ‘419ing’, kidnapping, armed robbery, corporate begging, get-rich-quick-schemes and the likes… If there’s such a fellow around you, please do this little exercise,   ‘look them eyeball-to-eyeball and say SIMEON!’ SIMEON! First time I met him was at rehearsals in prep for ‘Worship Unscripted’     organized by Mr. Toyin Adebola. I marveled as he played the bass guitar with such dexterity. Touching what was ‘supposed’ to be his hand (no palms, just a wrist), I was awed at what it could do and I couldn’t. ‘do you eat eba’, I asked. ‘I do everything’ , he said. Wow!   I coul...

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for yo...

I was flipping the newspaper, still pissed at the comments i was getting from Nigerians on my Facebook wall  based on a picture of the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock donating blood in Abuja and the Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, at a birthday party in Ibadan, Oyo state just 24hours after the Nyanya bomb blast, when my eyes caught it,... ‘Slacktivism’! ‘ Slacktivism ’, is a condition we’re all suffering from even though it’s not peculiar to Nigerians. The term, which was coined by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark in 1995, is a combined word for ‘ slacker and activist ’. It was coined to deride those who offer online support to causes in order to feel sane or at least assuage their feelings for or against a certain issue without actually doing something constructive about it. These ‘feel-good’ measures according to +Deola Kayode (punch newspaper) include likes, tweets & re-tweeting for a cause, signing online petitions, changing profile pi...

During my service year in Dutse, Jigawa state, I had to assist my choir director score a song and so I was given a cassette player to take home. On getting home as usual there was no light and of course one could never predict when the light would come so weighing my options I decided to get batteries for the player. About a day or two later, Nepa gave light and I rushed to my room, got the player out and pressed play. No sound. 'Arrrghhhh! Not now! not today!' I screamed in my mind. I took the player, fidgeted here and there, checked the wires, checked the power circuit point, pressed off and on again and then pressed Play. No sound. Ah, how can this be happening I thought to myself. I grabbed the player, dashed off to another Corper's room, plugged it and pressed play.  No sound. Now I stopped being confused and moved over to being worried.' Ah, this player is not mine. How do I now explain to the owner that the Player which was working is now bad. How much allowee...

The first time i saw my local church Pastor, go up the pulpit with his ipad (it was in a wake-keep service), i felt so proud of him that i told the person beside me, ‘Yea! That’s my Pastor...’ lol. What is the place of Gadgets in our worship? To enhance worship or has it become a distraction too? I remember when these smartphones just hit the shelves. Chei! Ushers in our church had clashes with members whilst trying to maintain decorum... ‘brother please put away your phone, the sermon is on’   # the culprit gives the usher a look of are-you-just-jealous-or-plainly-ignorant?#   ,then he says,   ‘thank you but i’m reading my bible on my phone’ . Reluctantly the usher would back-down to avoid a scene. I imagined part of what will pass through the usher’s mind...#with eyes rolling# ’what insolence! if not that we’re in church ehn.... hmmm... who does he think he is... Or Father forgive them though they know what they do.... Those around me know I’m a ‘g...

i hear the author is anonymous or perhaps an elementary school teacher, but i never get tired of hearing Ravi Zacharias read it out in his teachings. So inspiring, soul stirring , gently taking us back to the cross, the love of Jesus for me & you. Do read it again and again, then share your thoughts!  A New Leaf He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done. “Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher? I’ve spoiled this one.” I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one all unspotted. And into his tired heart I cried, “Do better now, my child.” I went came to the throne with a trembling heart; the day was done. “Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.” He took my day, all soiled and blotted and gave me a new one all unspotted. And into my tired heart he cried, “Do better now, my child.” Author anonymous, “A New Leaf,” James G. Lawson, compiler, The Best Loved Religious Poems

THE GOOD SAMARITAN A country preacher went looking for a job and had this conversation with the interview committee: ‘do you know much about the bible?’ ‘oh yeah i know a lot, through and through’ ‘What’s your favourite book?’ ‘The book of Mark’ 'What’s your favourite part?’ 'The parable of the Good Samaritan’ ‘Can you tell us about it?’ ‘Yea, it goes this way. Once there was this man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among the thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked him. And as he went on he didn’t have any money and then he met the queen of Sheba and she gave him a thousand talents of gold and a thousand changes of raiment. And he got into a chariot and drove furiously, and when he was driving under a big juniper tree, his hair caught under the limb of that tree, and he hung there many days and the ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink, and he ate 5000 loaves of bread and two fishes. One night when he was hanging there, his wif...