MONTEÈCLAIRS TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE

PHOBIA TALES OF A NAIJA SPINSTER My neighbor had a visitor and whilst passing-by I heard their greetings {I wasn’t doing amebo o!...but what do you expect from a typical tenement building aka face-me-i-face-you…lol} “ha, long time Papa Calistus , how your wife na?” “My wife dey, she’s under compulsory 9 months imprisonment… ” and they laughed heartily… Arrggh!What!!! Don’t tell me that’s a ribcracker!…#eyes rolling# Sitting at my studio reception with a client, an artiste and a mother of twins (called iyabeji in Yoruba dialect), waiting for her driver just afforded brief moments for some girly chi-chat   #the guys can skip this paragraph…winks# ‘Aaawwh, twins?! That’s so sweet!’ , we echoed & started tapping anointing #touching her#.   Iyabeji laughed. She laughed the kind of laugh that tells you something serious was about coming-forth. “hmmm…twins, they are good o; but its not easy, especially when they are young. They will show you ‘pepper’. You won’t sle...

Charismatic as ever, he moved to and fro the threshold of the porch gesticulating, trying to drive home the point as his master had laid it in his heart … and it seemed he was in want for appropriate words for expression of the magnitude of the rhema divine. The topic of discussion however intrigued me, “ The Bone Collector ” . It was a teaching stemming from the from the trip of brother Ezekiel to the valley of Dry-Bones. He taught that out of the cemetary of life ’ s tragic situations can come a testimony that leaves on-looker believing in the awesome power of God. The Bone Collector convinces you that God ’ s word is strong enough to form an exceeding great army out of what the enemy said would be skeletons in your closet. Stumbling on this teaching and other literature hereafter was orchestrated by the Master as I was in a quagmire of doubts, fear of unknown , panting for grace, divine direction … I needed a word from the Lord … and it came..Josh 1:6, 1 Chron 28:20 He ...

It was a pleasant day for a 'Tea' date with my Kenyan friend, Musula, a former client. He needed to say proper goodbyes to the nice people he'd related with in Nigeria. Well, it turned out to be more than Tea & Goodbye talks, esp as I was accompained to window shop @ MegaPlaza..."Who would resist the company of a beautiful lady on such a nice day", he said. #don't worry, I didn't blush...lol...I was simply saved some expenses...hehehe# After a failed wooing attempt, he expressed his candid opinion of me (church girl) and goes on to tell me about his life, family,his christian background how he backslid, even the woman with him is not his wife... I listened carefully as he spoke whilst intermittently sipping from his glass of Whiskey (which had sparked off the new chat subject).#shh...I silently prayed that no one from church catches me sitting with a man drinking whiskey @ a posh bar. Would they believe its business which led to sharing the Go...

  There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, 'You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger,...

PREACHERS OR   MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS Today, you walk into a new generation church and the preacher tantalizes your mind with mesmerizing words and catchy phrases. Lines from philosophers are used more the scriptures. There is no insight or depth   in the scriptures taught; every line is tailored towards exciting the congregation, meeting their emotional needs and boosting the financial status of the church. The question I dare to ask is do we still preachers or they have been replaced by motivational speakers?! Churches now employ preachers not because of the level of anointing they carry, but choose by how well they can convince and carry a congregation. The church is run like it’s a business enterprise, ‘HAPPY CONGREGATION, HAPPY CHURCH’ or better still, ‘HAPPY CONGREGATION & THE CHURCH SMILES TO THE BANK’. For the most part, Christian motivational speakers concentrate on two areas that may overlap. The first is spreading the gospel. This does not mean that t...

mY SuIcIdE nOtE The thoughts had been recurrent through the week. I imagined myself leaving a final note behind, but would I write? Other thoughts crept in… I thought to myself, “is it Normal? Is it Christian? Who can I tell of these strange thoughts? Who would understand that I can’t even a place a finger on what is really gone wrong? Is it my job, family, friends, fiends, my faith, my fate, my fears….what exactly? ” Suicide as described by kenea (a lawyer friend), is cowardice; perhaps he was right! {Thank God he  didn’t possessX-men (mutants) skills of mind reading, else I would have been found out} Some folk may think my life is a fairy tale, but then my nightmares were unending. One of my friends rightly analyzed me as 'managing perception'. If you knew me, have met me, or seen my boisterous self, bewilderment of my recent thoughts will panic you. But why would a seeming ‘perfect’ me be depressed I ask? Well, Google was a little help…depression & suicide t...

THE DISEASE OF ASSUMPTION (Wisdom for singles) It was a bright and beautiful Sunday morning and every one was set for worship. Men were dressed and seated; women were clothed in their best, admiring each other at the same time criticizing others. Young people were exchanging pleasantries and updating themselves with the latest gist in town; church workers were busy organizing their activities for the day. The worship leader interrupted everybody with a loud shout of “praise the Lord” which brought everybody back to their senses that they were in church. It was time for praise and worship and every body was happy except a few whose problems were heavy and seemed blinded from seeing God. People were singing, dancing and jumping. The pastor suddenly came up to the podium signifying the time church for announcements.and end of praise session, and now After exchanging pleasantries with the congregation, he started with wedding announcement. The first was that of a popular brother in...