Here Today....(May be) Gone Tomorrow

I know a lot of people have heard about the death of Reality TV star Jade Goody in the early hours of Sunday morning at the young age of 27...

It was sad hearing that this young lady had really gone.
I remember when I first heard that she was diagonised with the ugly scourge that is Cancer (Read about it here)I was like wow this lady's middle name is drama!
At the time, Jade Goody was fresh from a racial scandal in the Celebrity Big Brother House and was away in India trying to redeem her image .
One obvious thing about Jade's life was that everything seemed to happen so fast.... Infact if she were African, people would have said she probably knew she was going to live a such a short life hence her very "fast" life....

At the age of 19, she entered the Big Brother House and stood out (for being outrageously ignorant of general knowledge). Although she didn't win, she emerged the most popular housemate till date of the show.

Before we could spell JADE, she went on to be a huge success and in a blink of the eye as it were, Jade Goody became a household name: on our TV screens, on our bedside table (on her perfume bottle), on our reading table (her biography) and so on.... She was living the dream, a real grass to grace story.. Many times, she was accused of acting inappropriately, almost as if her upbringing and humble background conflicted with the level of sudden stardom and fame.....It was soo much in such a short time, perhaps she needed time adjusting...

But then again, it had to happen so fast because she wasn't going to be around for very long..... I am happy that Jade was able to achieve what many only dream about through their long lifetime. It seemed as if she was all up in our faces, but she needed to be because we wouldn't see her for too long..

I am a firm believer in that the quality of a man's life is not how long but how well...What's the point of living a 100 miserable years if you can have 40 excellent ones? We all pray for long life but we also pray for good lives.....

What's more important and what for me was the icing on her cake was that in the end she sought a relationship with God, she also went on to have her and her sons christened. It was a beautiful thing to hear...Everything would have been a waste if after all, she died without Jesus. She made the best decision ever and sealed not just her here but her after....A wise woman indeed.

So, her story has made me think, if I died now, what would be my story? Do I have a story? What am I doing to add quality to my life? Do I just live everyday as though it were fleeting? How can I improve myself?

These are questions you should ask yourself too, we may be here today but gone tomorrow..

May God help us!!
xxxx

What's your purpose?

Hiya!

I got this lovely article sent to my email and I thought it would inspire at least one person (hope it does)..... It's definately worth reading, DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY IT'S LENGTH lol...
Trust me you would be a better person at the end of it, ENJOY!!

Here's a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose Driven Life, A highly recommended book.

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,

'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings..
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD..

God bless xxxx

Frankie and Benny's

Still on the quest to being blogger of the year 2010!! lol (It's real by fire by force oo lol)

I really don't feel like blogging today but I must NOT relent! hehe

Went to Frankie and Benny's for the first time today...Had the meatball sub sandwich (abt £7.95)..I actually prefer Subway's and that costs me £1.99 on Tuesdays when its the sub of the day lol...Nevertheless, the atmosphere and decor was good..and when it was time to bring out the cake (it was a friend's birthday dinner by the way)it was oh so lovely..There's this thing they do whereby they turn off the lights and then play the "happy birthday" song...and you feel sooo special!! I loved it and I was not even the birthday girl....Definately worth having a birthday there!!

My stomach hurts as I write this now cause I ate when I got home as well and now I am "over-full"...Gluttony is a disease!

I am waiting for a call from a special somebody *big grin*
Thats all for today, I have tried ooooo

Good night people! God bless xxxxx

BLOGGER OF THE YEAR BY FIRE BY FORCE

Hiya blogville!

As usual, it's been ages! I haven't particularly left blogville, I have been quite present..only taking a back seat and discovering new and interesting/thought-provoking/funny/ingenious blogs..It has been a beautiful blogsperience :-) I can't remember fully all the really good ones but I would still say my lists would definately include:

Solomonsydelle
Linda Ikeji
Bellanaija
Oluwadee
Good Nigerian Girl
Nigerian Drama Queen
Overwhelmed Nigerian Babe
Christiana Rants
Bumight

(The list is not in any way exhaustive but mehn this bloggers can WRITE! They have re-inspired me to blog! The funny thing is the camaraderie thats exists in this little world known as blogville! The way they relate to each other makes it seem as if they knew each other well, yet for many of them, they are yet to have a one-on-one encounter)

For most of them, I got their info through the Naija bloggers awards... Their blogs are DEFINATELY worth a read.....
So, I have decided that by fire, by force, I must also be a nominee and eventually winner in next year's award hehe..

I thereby solemnly (try to) promise that:

- I would blog at least 3 times a week
- I would not be so obsessed about keeping my identity anonymous, thereby being free-er to talk about daily issues
- I would enjoy every bit of speaking my mind on the forum and not try to make my writing eligible for an Orange prize (that would come in due season lol)
- I would comment so frequently on other's blog that they would probably create another award category specailly for me "Commentator of the year".. and it shall even be a special recognition award.
- I would explore the wide range of "American wonder" that would enable my blog "shine and sparkle" e.g bright lights, pictures, videos, applications....be warned- you may find the blog quite addictive!

Hmmm..that's all I can think of for now....so join me in my quest to being blogger of the year 2010! It's not gonna be easy, I mean just take a look at my fellow contender's blogs *shudders*...I'm shaking!!....but BRING IT ON!!! lol

Peace, love and cocopops (sorry Christiana *wink*)
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