Vow

I walked my daughter down the aisle.

I turned around and officiated her wedding.

I was catapulted to worship by her promise to my God-given son.

Here was her vow ...

I was loved before I met you.
My heart was tattered, bruised, and bleeding and I knew not a home to rest.
In the deepest and darkest of pits it was Jesus Himself who wrapped me up and loved this broken mess.
And like a master surgeon he cracked open my chest, giving me a new identity
He called me a chosen person, a royal priesthood, a nation who is holy
I fell in love with LOVE itself, with my Saviour who since the beginning of time found me worthy of the wait.
He waited for me. So my heart gave in and I waited for Him, never knowing the gift he had in store was more magnificent, more glorious than even the most beautiful of stars. After all, you think God would spare you the wrapping paper, when he bought you a luxury car?
Then He spoke and brought me into your life. Like Eve to Adam in the Garden of Eden, he said “Now”…and I said…”Wow!!!”
You were a reflection of the heart of Christ from start; it’s true.
But the enemy of my soul would scream that if you saw the real me I’d be sure to lose you.
I knew Jesus could love me just as I am… but could you?
But like a fearless warrior you busted down each wall, giving me a new identity. 
You called me the most supreme of Queens, a beauty from ashes, a testimony of God’s grace. 
That even the fire I was afraid of in myself, you would never ever dream to replace. 
I fell in love with the image of Jesus in you, with my Saviour who since the beginning of time knew this very moment would be worth the wait.
He called out the darkness in me and spoke out light. You called out the weakness in me and spoke out strength. And like His mirror, you continue to carefully follow the steps of the One who keeps us on the frequency of His wavelength. 
It is here I find my home, you carry it in your heart. And it is the power of the gospel truth and the story of His love that even death can never part. Someone once told me you can only give the kind of love you have received. So my darling, it is a lifelong promise I give you when I say all your life to you I will cleave. 
Your father Apollos would have been so proud of the man you are today. And it is my greatest honor, knowing he is watching and smiling from Heaven, to promise him that by your side I will always stay. 
I was loved before I met you. And it is because of this profoundly precious truth that I stand before you with a vow strong as eternity starting with the words, “I do.”

Nika speaking words of life to Emeka / Photography: Brant Smith 

 
 

Chained

The plethora of voices fueling our actions are like intertwined chains shackling us to our fixations.

We kick each other's shins due to undisclosed perceptions.

If I suddenly hit your shin with heavy duty Doc Marten's, you'd probably punch me in the nose.

If I abruptly hint that I need to squash your shin because a scorpion is poised to sting ... you'd probably buy me lunch.

Our chains must be subdued by clarity.

This is  where the Word of God does its best punch.

Photography: Benny Dychangco / Medan, North Sumatra

Mentor

When academics sets a course beyond books and into life, deep impact occurs.

When your esteemed teacher shoots hoops and is willing to run with you for miles, you've got more than a friend.

Suddenly, it is no longer Greek to me.

Dr. Buist M. Fanning III (DPhil Oxford University) / Chair and Senior Professor of New Testament Studies / Dallas Theological Seminary. My Iron Sharpener.

Theology of Pain

Yesterday marked the 36th year of my life as a follower of Jesus Christ. It is rather providential that during the past few days, the Lord has been mentoring me with precious insights that I would not have known if it were not for the avenues of pain that cradled it.

 I seek to be brief on these jewels for I seek the reader to begin a lavish rush to seek its application benefits.

 Pain is the most misunderstood of all our salvation benefits. It comes out real dark and mysterious. It overwhelms like an unremitting storm. The world is no friend to pain and thus we run to our therapeutic-oriented shelters. When we experience pain, we immediately think that something is wrong instead of pausing to recognize the Still Voice that seeks to call us to a deep awareness of succulent freedom.

 We are blindsided by our fallen history. We easily forget our propensity to hide behind the bush and cover ourselves with self-devised garb. We see everyone clad in one’s own clothing and panic takes place when we are stripped naked by our Maker, who is forever pursuing us to take His life as the only competent relief for all our shame. We’d rather believe the delusive promises of manipulation rather than seek unbridled sanctification.

 God pleads for our humility; we flaunt our vulnerability. There is no one who knows us deeper than Christ. We keep on ignoring this truth in exchange for fleeting moments of made-up spirituality. We need God for every passing hour to redeem us from our death-re-living travesty.

 Only God is wise. We contend with His wisdom without even knowing it. He weeps while we keep busy seeking to protect our shattered dignity with every idol that we secretly worship.

 We do not know how to truly love others. Humans are too obsessed with themselves to even try. Only Christ shows how it is done. How can one even conceptualize seeking to believe that others are to be esteemed with true worth? Christ did it by dying.

 There is no way I can live the life of Christ in me if I am not willing to suffer and die just as my Savior did.

 I am now 55 years old and for 36 years, I have done nothing but fail.

 It is only by sheer majestic grace that I am held up by Christ’s majestic love and mysteriously declared to be a child of the King.

 I am awed by this illogical and irrational love. May we find cover under this unrelenting and stubborn pursuit. Let us all pursue reconciliation just because it is our only hope for true joy.

Cross Fitted Witness

© 2016 Oil and Dew Ltd