I saw the future

I saw the FUTURE! Yes __ I did. This isn't some scifi post apocalyptic vision, but the real future. The future my heavenly father showed me. I saw myself blessed beyond belief, living life, living the dream. Married to a queen with a little prince and princess standing beside me.
I saw another, this part was more like a dream, but a dream that you know is real. I saw the third, a princess from my loins destined to be the greatest the world has ever seen. In this vision I had achieved, I wasn't there yet but it was a very good start I believe.
I saw myself standing with my glorious family to snap a portrait while I wrote a long letter of exaltation to the King of kings! For how far he had taken me. I knew in my heart that what I saw is real.
He showed me just now as I sat in this cafe updating my PC. I write this post as a testament to that vision and I pray he will refer my mind back to it when the day comes to be. I know now that God is all there is to be. To be loved by him is a privilege I am not sure is deserved by one such as me.
The only thing I can ask now is release your grace upon me and take me from this present into that future with all speed. Release that grace to follow you to the end of my days, release the grace for me to right my ways. Release the grace for me to stay with you and in you and you in me.
Release the grace for me to be all I can be. The grace to love you even half as much as you love me.
I saw the future father ___ the great future you showed me.
I saw you __ I saw them __ and it was better than how I ever pictured it to be. For now only the queen is with me ___ I eagerly await the prince and the princesses and all is complete.
I saw you father and I saw them and it was a ALL AND MORE than I imagined it to be. I saw the future and its right in front of me 

God and Man

God and Man ___ or dare I say man and God. A convulated and complicated relationship if ever there was one. Not on God's side __ God is simple and straight to the point. With him there is no variance. He hasn't changed for thousands of years so it's highly unlikely he'll change now.
The problem always begins with man. We never seem to be able to keep to the terms of the agreement.
Its simple really __ do this and I'll do this __ you don't do this and you'll suffer this. But do we listen? Na!
I am one of the greatest non listeners. I will say something for him though __ he is the greatest. Super cool, super strong and above all super HOLY. The bible calls him the thrice holy God whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity.
I ask myself sometimes how does a deeply flawed man measure up to that? I don't even want to imagine what our fate would have been if he didn't send Jesus Christ. And even with Jesus its highly debatable most of us will enter the paradise called heaven.
All we can do is pray right __ Once when I sat down and started listing the things the Bible counts as sin I almost lost my faith. With that long list I surmised it would be impossible for anyone to make heaven. But someone opened me up to a nugget of wisdom which states our lives are hid in Christ. That doesn't mean God condones sin, it just means that when we do fall into sin and we truly repent and ask forgiveness he is merciful enough to forgive us.
God is wonderful. Humans are undeserving of his love and mercy. I ask myself sometimes why he loves us. We are a deeply flawed species, evil for the most part and seemingly incapable of obeying even the most simple of directives.
But I guess that's why he is God right? And that's why he is extremely worthy to be praised. Thank you Lord for saving me, and release grace upon me and anyone else who wishes to do better by you. Thank you Lord.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/semanticdmax

Pegged as a continent

I love writing... If I was to list my many weaknesses on a scale of preference then writing would most definitely top the list.
But now that I think about it, that's not entirely accurate. Let me explain... I don't write just because I love doing it.. I write because am compelled to. Stories, ideas start to explode inside me and the pressure won't let up until I release it by putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard as the case might be.
I've written quite a few books as a result not counting tons of poems, articles and such. Honing my art and becoming better at what I do is a hunger that consumes me.
That being said I feel saddened sometimes by the way the world perceives African literature. We are put into a slot kind of.... In my opinion.
It seems to me that what most publishers and organizations that support African writing expect from us are stories centered on political unrest, human trafficking, civil war and the likes. They are not likely to take a Nigerian writing science fiction seriously. Which I think is wrong and a big mistake... There are many beautiful stories out there just waiting to be told... But if a writer cannot find a good platform to tell said stories what becomes of him. Nine times out of ten he gives up and decides to face reality.. A wise man once said that the graveyard is the richest place on earth. Where all manner of treasures and talents are buried with people who didn't or couldn't reach their full potential.
Any of these writing competitions don't just judge the strength of your writing or prose, they have other determining factors like societal relevance et al.
I miss the days when a guy would just go out and write a real good story and still profit from it. Sadly those days seem to be at an end. Now you are forced to write to follow trends not write what your heart is telling you to because you want to survive and make ends meet.
I pray God will help and strenghten African literature. And writers in every genre be given an equal chance to sit at the world's literally table without being pegged or forced into a niche, because it is what the world expects us to write about. Thank you

You can check out my books here

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B00FB3J1Y2_B00FB3J1Y2_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Ifedayo+Adigwe+Akintomide&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1469154213
http://www.amazon.com/Ifedayo-Adigwe-Akintomide/e/B00FB3J1Y2 

The blame equation - Jonathan effect

I believe one of humanity's greatest failings is the ability to condemn and judge others. One thing I have noticed about most people is they always feel they can do things better than the one who actually did it.
That's why I pay little mind to the sport commentators who analyze games during and after the matches. Except if the person is a former sports man or woman seasoned in that sport I find what opinions he or she puts forward of little value.
A wise man once said don't judge me until you walk a mile in my shoes. Where am I going with this?
In my country people have taken to condemning the past president calling him all manner of unprintable names, the most polite being that he is clueless.
That may be the truth. A lot of bad stuff happened under his watch which shouldn't have but I want all Nigerians to ask ourselves a sincere question... Would we do better if we were in his shoes?
Do you know what it means to head a country of at least 150 million people where sixty percent of them are corrupt.
I remember when the present administration was about to be sworn in, people were excited. They said they voted for change. Now a year later that change appears to have made things worse for all Nigerians.
Fuel prices have gone through the roof, most of the state governor's are not paying workers salaries. In ondo for instance workers haven't been paid for six months.
But under the administration of the supposedly clueless person petrol was 87 naira a litre as opposed to 145naira a litre which is what we have now.
The argument for that is that they had to remove the fuel subsidy because it wasn't sustainable. All manner of excuses have been put into play but it cannot hide one unmistakable fact, things are worse now than they were before.
It's amusing to see people condemn the past administration. Forgetting that he is the first Nigerian president we've had in a while who willingly relinquished power so peace could reign.
Instead of condemning him why not commend him for the few good things he did? It's not like you would do any better if you were in his shoes. If the Nigerian boat was that easy to captain why haven't we reached our promised land yet?
Instead of spending precious time laying the blame game, why don't we join hands and help pull the nation out of the quagmire it is presently.
I like what Michael Jackson said in his song Man in the mirror. Quit complaining and be the change you so richly desire by first starting with yourself. At least sixty percent of our population has a penchant for corruption. Why don't we all focus on fixing our shortcomings and in so doing change our troubled nation. Whining and complaining never solved anything. It's doing that changes.
You WANT CHANGE? Then be the change you want to see. When next that person comes to offer a bribe say no.
When next you are pressured to lie be determined to tell the truth. When we begin to do this and more our change will come. Thanks 

The thing about pain

I know a bit about pain. Am being modest, I know a lot about pain. Whether it's the physical pain which came a lot in my earlier years or the emotional one. That didn't come until much later.
We live in a world that is ruled by pain and unpleasantness. A world where even the most basic form of dignity comes at a steep cost, which is fighting life for every good thing you want from it.
Growing up it was more of fighting to stay alive. My body was troubled by a sickness that brought the most awful of pains upon me.
There were days I actually prayed for death, if it would only bring peace and an escape from the pain. But death never came. He had other plans for me.
The long and short of it is I survived. He sustained me.
If you are out there going through any sort of pain of hard sentence... Believe me when I say he can fix what's ailing you
 Who you may ask is this miracle worker. His name is God and his loving partner is Jesus.
If you haven't then invite them into your life and he will make everything that concerns you to be perfected.
Invite him as I did and be free of all pain .. The same way he did to me... I know he will do for you. As unfaithful as I am he still blesses and increases me.
To God be the glory

P.S if you feel the need to commit your life to Christ say this prayer after me
Lord Jesus, I come to you today, I know am a SINNER and Jesus Christ died on the cross for me. Wash me clean with your blood, fill me with your precious goodness. Thank you Lord for saving me
 Now I know am born again. Jesus is Lord. Thank you for reading. God bless 

A dance with the dark

They take us for fools. Yeah hell of a way to begin but I am just so angry.
Let me tell you a little story. It's a story centered on an incompetent company which used to be owned by an even more incompetent government.
It has been known by many names. It used to go by NEPA which means National Electric Power Authority. That is humorous by the way because it was never an authority on anything least of all power. That being said it now goes by the name Phcn which means the Power Holding  Company. This name is more apt since they rarely provide electricity for more than four hours a day and that is on the best day. So it's fair to assume they are simply living up to their name.
Today we've had almost four hours light between the morning and afternoon alone. This fact brings suspicion. It's unlike them. I can only surmise that since they've given more light this week it means they are about to bring the electricity bill which I should add will most certainly be inflated and bloated. There is no way on God's green earth we can run up the bills they present to us based on my above analysis.
In civilized countries we'd have boards and unions to protect us from this sort of extortion which is nothing short of criminal. But why should I complain about the extortion of private companies when our government officials have made it their singular duty to keep extorting and cheating us.
The phone bills and Internet access we pay for has some of the highest charges in the world. The telecommunication companies would argue that the lack of constant electricity makes them run their businesses totally on generators. The extra cost this runs up is transferred down to who else? We consumers.
The situation in this nation is one that defies any logical situation. The present administration was an extremely harsh critic of the former. They gave us a long list of how quickly they would effect a change if they were elected. Now more than one year later things are much worse. The economy is in a harsh recession, 27 States out of 36 aren't paying salaries. This is not cos the money is not there but people are stealing it.
My biggest grouse however is with the electricity. Two to four hours out of twenty four is inhuman. Anyone who doesn't have a generator has resigned himself and his family to an eternity of darkness. The day your generator starts acting up is the day you know you're in a heapload of trouble.
I want you to give a shout out to a nation that has failed it's citizens in every conceivable way. Though some may argue that the nation is its citizens so we have failed ourselves. May God deliver us, but while we wait for God we should also keep it in mind that God helps those who help themselves. Nuff said 

Judge and Juror

Judge not.. Lest ye be judged. Strong words... It's hardly surprising. The Bible is a treasure throve of strong words.
That scripture and those words have been reveberating in my head for the last ten minutes or so. I can't help remembering how many people and situations I did judge consciously and unconsciously.
A wise man once said, don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes. It's easy to draw conclusions about someone or something without considering it might be wiser to hold off until you know the full story.
I am older now... An adult.... I remember how right and wrong, good or bad, was so easy to spot... I drew lines in the sand with a lot of preconceived notions of how the world and the life around me should be. I realize now those lines aren't so clearly defined.
I have come to realize that people and situations I judged in the past should have been looked at through the lens of empathy. If I tried to see things from their point of view maybe I would have had a clearer understanding why they behaved and took the decisions they did.
Don't get me wrong.. No one has an excuse for wrong doing. The yorubas have a saying that nkan ti o da ko da. Ko loruko meji which means whats bad is bad. It doesn't have two names.
Life is journey of choices. And it's the choices we make that determine how well or how bad our life turns out.
And the only way I feel we can make the right choice is by praying to the one who created choice to release grace upon us to always go the right way. And when he does release that grace look at those who make wrong choices with empathy and not derision or a pontificating and holier than thou attitude.
You could try praying for them instead of judging them. Try understanding them instead of abandoing them. Think about it... If God abandoned us.. Even though he probably has good cause to do so, where would we be?
Road kill probably for the devil and his minions. Judge not lest ye be judged.
When next you have an opportunity to condemn a person.. Why not pause and try and see things from that person's point of view? And if you can't and all else fails you could pray.
I remember when Eminem released the song cleaning out my closet. He literally hung his mother out to dry. But am willing to bet now that he is a parent he sees things differently and realizes it wasn't that easy for his mum to raise him and his siblings. Which is why I believe he recanted and sang another song apologizing and hailing her.
Judge not ... Least ye be judged. Life is never clear cut. Think on these words... Thank you.
Jesus is Lord 

Double love

I love my mum. She is one of the closest people to me. She has always been on hand to encourage, support and offer advice and wisdom nuggets every now and then.
What am most grateful for is her support for my writing career. Never did she tell me it wasn't worth it. However with the encouragements and all that she did offer warnings too.
One of such warnings she drilled into my head day in and day out was the danger of double love.
What's that you might ask? Well I'll tell you. It's pining and going after someone else other than the person you are with.
Mum is a very strong woman. She endured what would have broken most women and dare I say even men. She gave her all to raise me and my five other siblings.
She spent extra time on my brothers and I. Reiterating that a man doesn't mistreat a woman, any woman, especially his wife.
A man doesn't make it a habit to keep stringing several women along. It ain't kosher.
She always said she would respect my choice in a mate as long as I realize I wasn't gonna be hitting it anywhere else for as long as I was ALIVE.
But what mum could not adequately prepare me for was how hard it was gonna be. How gals would throw themselves at you especially when you are at your weakest.
I come from a society where a woman's unfaithfulness is treated with extreme prejudice but a man's unfaithfulness is rewarded with a pat on the back and probably a beer if you are the drinking sort.
But I guess most of her teaching sunk in.. I am not able to let go the way some of my other friends do but that doesn't make me a saint either.
I am not married yet but I have someone I want to be with till the day I die. When I was single there was no double love temptation hanging around the place. Now that am close to being hitched it's everywhere.
Thank you mum for your prayers and teaching. I am not like the others completely. Hopefully what you instilled will keep me on the straight and narrow inspite of the tempting. And with God helping, the sky they say is the limit. Thank you for seeing and warning. And I thank God I was listening