Fist of cloud

For many of us, 2020 began on a hopeful note. The vigil service kind of hit differently on the eve of the new year. We had started the year with a resolve to have a great year. 2020 was destined, a year where we all could claim and indeed receive ‘double-double’. It did not quite appear it may turn out to be portions of double zero, double zero, but it literally was 2020.

It may appear, however, for the tissue paper man; he couldn’t have asked for a better year, not to talk about the sanitizer woman or the kingpins of the newfound face mask industry. For the likes of the ‘COVID-19 Kooko Aduro’ champ who sought to make gains, Anas seemed not to be chasing whales but the troublesome herrings.

For the social actors in the frontline of this pandemic, these seasons may have been some of their busiest, but for the majority of people, however, the last six months may have been some of the most uncertain and difficult times one has ever had to deal with. Whatever your narrative of 2020 is, this July, 1^st write-up may be beneficial.

A story has actively engaged my attention for the last few days and I wish to share it: A story is told about a powerful queen who believed in the superiority of her gods and on that conviction, influenced her husband, the king, to institute a law enforcing singularity of faith. All persons of other creeds and practices were killed, except for the ones who were hidden by a servant of the King, Obadiah.

There yet lived a certain man of national repute, resolute with an alternative conviction to the queen. He was an acclaimed leader of the prophets, a strong voice. He had gone into exile after he was sought in every city in the state as the king sought to enforce the queen’s wishes. This man cursed the land with drought and hardship following such cruelty of the queen and went into hiding.

His curse of drought had worked, the land had seen no rain in three years and extreme hardship had come upon the people of the land. No one had heard any word of him for years, except that, all of a sudden this Prophet sets out to meet Obadiah as the servant went out with the king to seek for still waters and foliage to feed the horse. He sends the king’s servant, Obadiah, to go tell the king, he had presented himself (classic Raymond Reddington fashion, voluntarily submitting to the FBI as in Blacklist).

This man then orders for a show of significant historic memory. He calls for faith to be validated by works, that we may allow a contest of the gods to prove who is mightier. Man, as he was, he sets the stage and invites the gods to a fight, a fight to send fire from above to consume a sacrifice. An invitation the gods seem to have obliged. At the end of the contest, the sovereignty of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel is without a question, His existence, power, and presence proved by a man to the nations.

The story to this point is fascinating enough, but the subsequent events reveal something far more reaching and enlightening. He sets off to lift the curse and to bless the nation with rain and his method is what I hope we may find strength in this second half of 2020:

1. He declares an abundance of rain even before there is wind of a cloud. He tells the king in all confidence, again Reddington style, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” Note that, at this time, there was still hunger, famine, and drought, yet bustling in faith of a God who is sovereign, in whom he had had victory, he orders a celebration of abundance, yet when there is no evidence of same.

2. He then sets himself upon his knees to cause the heavens to intervene. He does what he knows best. He invokes rains, calling on the great sovereign God of the fathers to harness the uncertainties for Himself. That he may bless the nation with abundance. Let us be reminded of faith of abundance, but in humility with our knees on the ground, let us travail in works that tears the heavens and pour down rain.

3. He then sets a watch over the sea, a man who understood the formation of the clouds as he, Elijah, engages in the work. He sought to find insight from others. For seven times, he battles in great work, yet without any sign of rain, until there was a word: “Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!”

The most profound thing for me from this story is his strong conviction that a cloud “as small as a man’s hand’ will be a mighty rain. After all the years of drought, the massacre and seven times of continuous travail, who will wish all the Creator of the Universe will bestow was “a cloud, as small as a man’s hand”?

Let me conclude by reminding ourselves, COVID-19 may have been like the drought, for some of us, we may have labored for years in the faith, prayers, work and insight and are still yet to experience the abundance of rain. I write this to affirm the faith of the faithful, to assure us that, In the seemingly insignificant clouds rests the mighty rains. 

Most importantly, however, I speak concerning rains. The rain comes. My name is Yaw Sompa. Good morning and happy new month. 

The Adventure of Life

I am a collector of memories, as I assume every living human being is. The recently passed week added to my collection very interesting stock to treasure. It was particularly enlightening because it offered me the opportunity to reflect on memories. Like a photo album, I tirelessly watched the floating memories of time in my mind and my words.  The best part of the reflections was that, I had to share the accumulated snapshots for the last twenty-seven years. Yes, share with a group of curious creative people who will not wait but eagerly gulp on every memory, sip every word, analyse every life’s screenshot and perhaps categorise you into any lot they find fit. For whatever it is worth, I enjoyed the mirroring exercise with very little concern for the category I fitted in if any at all.

Permit me to digress, only for a paragraph, for the sake of the overall objective of this article. In my professional career, I have had the opportunity of taking some of the most advanced personality test intending to aid career progression and succession planning. The last one I took was the Myers Briggs Personality Test. This test as much as many others have something in common, to profile the subject. As a Risk Analyst, I appreciate the concept of profiling thoroughly. Categorisation offers the bases from which complex decision are made and I am sure the enquiry helped guide others as to what their opinions will be if I ever came to the picture. The profiling was however not done by others only, I got the opportunity to re-examine if at all I could fit somewhere.

Before I share the three key lessons from the exercise let me be quick to say Myers Briggs gave me the same score for introversion as much as extroversion, this results is not unique to Myers Briggs, other tests I have had suggests similar things. I do not find these results surprising after all, I love Neil Burger’s film, ‘Divergent’. In my mind I am ‘Four- Tobias Eaton’ or even better, Beatrice Prior, 100% divergent!

• All things are possible is not a mere rhetoric: As I went through the stories of strength and weakness, good and bad, happy and sad, regrets and lessons, one key lesson which stands out is the possibility of time. From a humble background in Duayaw Nkwanta Local Authority Junior Secondary all through to a Masters  degree and an ongoing legal education, that can only point to possibility. No one needs emphasise, we are the sum total of our experiences, knowledge and summarily our exposures. The hard truth however lurks, our future is in our mind, howbeit subject to what we can imagine from the past we have had. Whatever the past has being for whoever, my life tells a story of possibility if only one will be focused enough.

• Fear is made of nothing: People are often afraid to open up to new ideas, people, places and challenges. Interestingly the rule of nature is, adaptation. Tides and times are ever evolving and survivors have the best adaptability. I have seen worlds in my few years and I intend to see many more. I have seen the handwork of poverty and have equally seen the testimony of wealth, I have seen righteousness as much as sin and I have tested knowledge and stupidity. I do not suggest what I have seen is anything close to a percent of what there is to know but from what I know, I have learnt shedding fear is key to living fully. A challenge to confront one's fear at a time leads to discovery of purpose. We all love to be secretive because we are afraid of confronting the past fully, I dare to confront every dark and light within me without fear, I hope that inspires somebody to at least embrace life as an adventure from which we must tell a story of legacy 

 

• Be limitless: I do not fit into any categorisation. Since I was a child, I have never fitted and I have stopped struggling to. It is good to have people place you in a bracket but that’s just not me. I thought I was wrong till I heard Jesus suggest same in John’s epistle, third chapter and eighth verse. As a wind, my promise to myself, refusing to be categorised by anybody under the sun. 

I conclude only with the hope that somebody finds the courage to know themselves thoroughly beyond any impossibility, fear or limitation. I was once asked to find a title for a book, song, movie which will adequately summarise my life’s story. After a long stretch of thought, all I could agree on was ‘Adventure’, a life not defined or relapsed to a model or rules but one leading the course of life to find a new path. I hope this helps somebody embrace their race to pursue their own adventure.

Twifo Praso Blood Bath

It was on the fifth day of June, some eight years ago, just about this time. I had gained admission into the university the year before and as such had completed my first year in college.

This day had begun just like any other day but with a little more enthusiasm about a trip I was about to make in the evening. This was a journey to save the lost, perishing and dieing(or at least so I thought). It was the Student in Church Evangelism(SICE)for the Presbyterian students on my university campus. This was a program for community volunteering in the very rural areas and to preach Christ to them.

I had volunteered to be part of this experience, as some of my colleagues had, all ready and fired up to 'depopulate hell, talk some tongues and chase some demons'(Looking back with humor at how I felt as a young crusader). 

The journey promised to offer a life changing experience and it indeed did, at least for me, but it was nothing close to what I had expected. It is the surprise in the mystery and thus its unforgettable memory it left me that I share publicly for the first time in eight years.

I am sure you still may be wondering what exactly happened? A bloodbath is what happen! But before I lay it all out on you, just bear with me as I tell my story. 

1. Goodwill does not exclude hard chances. I had completed my exam two weeks earlier and had traveled some seven hours from cape coast to Duayaw Nkwanta, the town I lived with my parents. In the spirit of good faith of reaching out, I traveled back to campus to help make history by reaching out to lives. Prior to this journey I believed once you had chosen to do the right thing, you become trouble free. The story of Israel, a fresh college graduate on the bus thought me, goodwill may actually lead to death.
2. Faith or the lack of it is born in hard time. I saw my faith grow exponentially after the event, maybe because I was safely spared but I saw people steadily lose their giant grip on faith as mine grew. I am sure I have question the why it all happened countless times, but the truth is, it does indeed happen! and if it does, pray it causes you to grow rather than kill you.
3. Purpose can be born through all circumstances if you don't give up. No single event in my life has forge purpose for me than, my near death experience at Twifo Praso. I became resolved in life to make a difference because I had seen the fleeting nature of life with my own eyes. I had seen beauty been stripped off the skins of humanity and that horribly sad story of twenty three young student who only wanted to help somebody get better, gave birth to my own purpose for life.

I end by telling the real story, it was eight years ago when boarded a bus to save souls, a body in the bus was lost and an arm was amputated with many injuries through a fatal accident. It was on this bus my very soul was eternally saved and burdened with the responsibility to tell the world of the story of these young men and women who will not give up until they had sacrificed to see their fellow humanity made better. The experience did not end for me in the hospital, it did end with me and some other people going back to a village called 'Betimore' to tell them the simple message of Jesus and how much He could make us better irrespective of how difficult circumstance may be. I tell the same story today, just with an invitation to tell you eight years after that, "All things indeed work together for the good of them that love the Lord, those who are called according to His purpose".

Let me sum it up by saluting the pain and loss of every person on the bus and the family of my comrades, we remember the day not with happiness but with the memory of sacrifice which  must drive us not to waste the blood of these young men and women but to toil in making our land a better place to live.  

Betrayal or Survival?

Going through the Easter season gave me a piercing thought to mule over. It is one of which I write; Betrayal or Survival? The thought was inspired by hearing the story of Simon Peter's resolve to be with the Master all through. A ground seemingly well held and ever unyielding, one he even slayed someone over. I take keen interest in his resolve, conviction and passion to which is he fully persuaded. Yet, soon after such display of will, he thugs to an act of betrayal rooted in survival.

Yann Martel in his Novel, 'The Life of Pi', a novel which has sold over a ten million copies and has a 2012 American 3D live-action/computer-animated adventure drama film based on said this about survival, "All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive." Yann's statement explains the universal quest to live which is believed to be nature's first line defense. 

 It is amazing how we all will find cause to protect our lives first and do, as a matter of relevance, sort all issues of life primarily by the things that affects our lives first. The multimillion question I guess is, who wants to die, even in the face of death?

It is in the light of ones desire to hold on to life that Peter's case tenders towards justified. One that makes all acts of sin and weakness susceptible to similar justifications. I was pushed to ask myself what is the amazing worst thing I could do in the light of survival instincts? And pretty much so, I recount some dark youthful moments and all I see are actions prompted with an understanding to survive.

Perception of what threatens us forms a huge part of faith. How often we fear what men and circumstances may do to us, and by such interpretation for survival, adaptation becomes the obvious option to survive. Adaptation yet an act in conformity, the very reverse of what the Master all the years had thought Peter. Paul in latter writing puts it this ways, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

I write concerning the one who feared nothing and gave His life in death that we may break the boundaries of fear. I am inspired by Jesus' will not to flee for survival but his choice to freely give even his life to a cause for the renewal of humanity. And by that which inspires me do I write, may all of us find courage yet to hold on to all that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. And as Peter, may we find cause to tear if we have and do betray such a noble example.

A Lesson for a Christian

But He turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know of what spirit you are. (MKJV)

-Luke 9:55

 

I have been greatly engrossed in some reflections on the Christian worldview among other things for sometime now. I share a piece of some of the thoughts I have been cogitating.  Perhaps, just as always I intend to provoke thoughts along matters which matter and affect the daily lives of every human being.

 

A worldview is a fascinating enigma, a lens through which all other essence of life may be seen and by which all decision are made with reference to. Congruence of thoughts provide the foundation  for a person's worldview. Congruence in thought patterns defines a person's worldview.

 

Yet, among the many thought I have been dealing with, the inconsistencies and dissociation within people's worldviews are astounding. We are gradually boxing ourselves into a corner where we tell ourselves we don't have to be consistent with a worldview. I have for instance met in the past month persons who in one breath honour the principles of honesty and diligence yet in another breath  will cheat as long as it was convenient. It appears people are comfortable with the sweetener in the cake and yet dislike the bitter almonds. The irony although is that, it takes this blend among other things to make a good almond cake.

 

Elpis

Hope, like a gleaming taper's light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray. -Goldsmith

English language has been blessed with the expression 'Pandora's box' which is directly borrowed from the Greek myth of Pandora. The Pandora's myth was made famous by Hesiod's poem 'Works and Days'. Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC.

The myth has it that Pandora was the first woman on Earth endowed with beauty and many gifts. She was presented to Epimetheus, the representative of mankind, as a form of vengeance by Zeus when Prometheus his brother stole fire from heaven. Pandora was given a beautiful container which she was not to open under any circumstance.

Impelled by her curiosity given her by the gods, Pandora opened it, and all the evil contained therein escaped and spread over the earth. Evil had been leashed on Earth except for one gift left in the box, Elpis!

Elpis is the Greek word translated hope in many Greek text including The New Testament. There are forty-eight verses in the New Testament containing elpis, with but one reference translated as faith (Heb. 10:23), all others were translated as hope.

Ancient Greeks defined Elpis, in their mythology as the personification and spirit of hope (It was an extension of suffering not as good). It is in this background do I share my reflections on the words of a wise Hebrew King; "Hope put off makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

These words are part of King Solomon's collections of wisdom in Proverbs, recorded in chapter thirteen verse twelve. In one breath the wise King shares the taunt as well as the freshness of hope. Holding such powers to make the heart sick and to give fulfilment as the tree of life will. Some writers paint these sides well; "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torment of man."  This is an idea expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche. Benjamin Franklin expresses a similar thought as "He that lives upon hope will die fasting". These statements are profound statements about such pain as the idea of hope could engender. These line of thought brings us to see hope as an evil and a concept that cannot in anyway be a virtue and should therefore not be considered by any person.

Other writers, paints the refreshing nature of hope not only as beauty but as a need to fulfilling life. Helen Keller puts it this way, "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." Napoleon Bonaparte expresses a much profound statement about leadership and hope. "A leader is a dealer in hope". Helen and Napoleon shows a clear alternate path to Friedrich and Benjamin words, not only in words but also in the astounding examples of their lives.

Conversations of Truth

I have wondered within this month questions bothering on truth. I have read articles and publications on the subject of truth and other related topics within this month. One particular question struck me all through my truth enquires; i.e. What is the most important piece of strand in the weaving of life patterns? This question was asked by Apologist Ravi Zacharias, and he goes on further to answer with a single word, TRUTH.

How true this statement is, truth is incredibly the most important piece of life's whole puzzle. These questions of truth was birth within me as I went through the Easter period. I had the opportunity of leading a small youth group in my neighbourhood to discuss the topic of truth and history.  This topic is particularly important because of the dominating worldview of postmodernism, which exclusively reject absolutes and sing choruses of relativity as truth.

I intend to share some key lessons I have learnt about truth and its search with the many who will read this article and to the generation far beyond ours who may need reference to truth and its existence someday soon.

1. Truth must be sought with passion and enthusiasm just as any other jewel that must be found. If indeed we grow to appreciate truth as the most important thing, then it must be sought with all the passion it deserves. Love and desire for truth is the beginning of finding truth as much as it is the beginning of finding any other thing that humanity must have.
2. Open-mindedness to accept truth is a human weakness. Objectivity is and it will always be the gateway to truth. Prejudice is the single enemy to truth. The irony of the human race is sad, the world is full of people desperately seeking things only to reject them when they have found what they sought for all their lives. This unfortunate irony seems to pierce our search for truth as well. We may do all to find truth but we must guard the weakness to reject it for the comfort of our old and used to philosophies and traditions.
3. Truth can best be understood and embraced in the context of a person. We do not speak of truth in abstracts or as a quality that is abstract. Truth is best seen in or about a person or about a thing of substance. Post-modernism gains roots when it can reduce human cause to nothing tangible. We live in a tangible world with reference points and human being are not figments of imaginations or imaginary concepts. Truth can only be known when seen as a person and not as a concept of an imagination.
4. Truth conforms with history and human experience. Truth is not isolated to one person. We are used to a world now where people say, well that is true for me if even it is not true for anybody. Truth has coherence and no contradiction in itself. Contradiction can only be a liar! It can therefore not be true for you alone, that can only be a liar you may have believed!
5. He who wield the tool of liars and deploys them well is humanity's greatest enemy. There is no threat like distortions and manipulations. Unfortunately, there are a lot of counter messages in the media such that they all can not be true. Not everything seen in the media is truth neither is the first information gain the truth. Liars are as powerful as truth because each stand the possibility of being believed.
6. Truth exists because of a universal moral law from whence we may know good and evil, truth and liar. The goal posts do not keep changing. Truth is exclusive! If we granted a statement such as, the sun rises from the East as truth, will we therefore not mean that the sun does not rise from the West, North or South at the same time? Relativity cannot be true for the mere truth of truth being exclusive.
7. Seeking to prove truth rather than to disprove it is the honour of the wise. It appears a lot more people are busy and trying to disprove one thing or the other. The logic stands out  to reason that if we can prove truth, granting its exclusivity than all others can not be true. There may a thousand lies but only one truth. It is therefore only nobler and wiser to seek to prove that which is true rather than to disprove it.

Conversations are life's own way of giving us a platform to solve lives complexes. Our whole life is wrap around our conversations. We talk what we have believed. What we have believed is always the bottom line. Belief systems and what we belief will determine how life turns out for each one of us. I only implore readers to be careful of what they believe as truth. We must all subject our belief system to the rigorous test of time to proof truth. I end with an idea for the truth seeker, all seeker must be willing to subject their own belief to doubt before found as true beyond reasonable doubt by them.

I have found one as true and with no doubt, I believe truth is found in JESUS CHRIST!