WORD OF PRAYER

When in my life all odds compel
When my weary eyes close in tears
When I struggle and tear shreds
When within me I want to conquer

When I slowly move like an eel
When through and through upright stand my hairs
When my worry is so much I can't bear
When I am left in the dark to ponder

When in my spirit there's nothing to propel
When all I do is live in fear
When all oppress and there's no one to care
When I am in need of an answer

When all the joy in me expels
When I listen for good tidings with puckered ears
When I am pushed so far to the rear
Then what I really need is a word of prayer

Written by Adora Ahamefula.

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SEARCH OUT THE GOOD IN EVERYONE

“The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none”

- Ezekiel 22: 29-30

The above verses are usually referred to when talking about God’s search for intercessors. But as I read this again, I got a fresh understanding of God’s love for man. It is a truth that every word of God to man reflects his love in its entirety one way or the other. In the text above, the people had sinned against God and he had every right to wipe them out, he would be right if he destroyed them. It would be justice if he punished them severely for what they had done. The depth of their sins was very much. But instead, God went further to search for a man who would make up the hedge, who would serve as an ambassador and plead for them that he would not destroy them. Now notice that God did not search for this man from a different nation or people, he “sought for a man among them”.

Now you would also want to consider why God still had to search for someone in the midst of these ‘sinful’ people. He was not happy with them, but he still believed something good could come out of them. Even if at the end of the search he found none, he at least made an attempt to search for an iota of good among them. God doesn’t just leave us like that; he doesn’t give up on us for any reason. In fact we are the ones who give up on ourselves and on others, even while God still searches for the good in us.

How do we relate with others as Christians? How do you see that drunkard that lives at your back yard? What do you say of that prostitute down your street? Have you already marked them for hell? Have you started visualizing them burning in the lake of fire even when they are still on earth? 2Peter 3:9 says: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. If God can be longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, if he still searches for a good man in the midst of a perverse and corrupt nation, what stops us from doing the same?

No matter how dark the cloud is, there is always a beam of sunlight behind it. Search out that sunlight. Believe me there is good in every man. Before condemning any person, why not at least present a solution to such a person; Jesus is the way. Your criticism is not, your self-righteousness is not, and your track record is not. Let us learn to search out the image of God in every man and by doing this, we are at least moving forward in our mandate to be perfect just like our father; God.

Have a nice day!

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GOD SENT A TEXT!

How do you feel when you receive a letter or a text from a good friend? I bet it feels lovely and cozy!
Without such communication links it would be difficult to maintain the friendship.
God himself saw the need and started planning towards sending me a text...all the courses of nature were added to this text! As time progressed, there was war against this writ even as there is today. But it has always prevailed because it was compiled by the Ancient of Days!

In this text he told me of his unquenchable love for me! Wow!!! What would make one send his only son to die for me to be free from condemnation!
I kept the text because I cherish it a lot.
When I went out, I discovered he sent the text to many people too, but just very few take it serious!

The Bible! The infallible Word! The Text!

Have a nice day!

Love Swap

God gave us people to love and things to use. Do not join the world in reversing this principle, using people and loving things.

Its an error of our generation the way people treat each other. Sometimes like animals. Not having any iota of compassion towards them. People rather give the lives of others than give up their material things. These things should not be so.
Let us correct the love swap and get back to the way God created us to be.
It is well!

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DESTRUCTIVE CRITICIZERS

This world is really a deceitful one. Many do not care so much about who you are, what your mission or intention is, or even how you feel. All they want to do is castigate you, condemn you and do all sorts of evil against you (well, some people are good any way).

If they see you talking to someone who was known to be a thief, they conclude already; “You are a thief”. They care less whether you were preaching to him or if he gave his life to Christ at that encounter. They already mark you BAD. Because of this reason, many have resorted to becoming ‘men pleasers’ rather than pleasers of God. When they want to go out on evangelism or a likely function, they carry big bibles, so that they would not be condemned for entering a particular area known to be for ‘sinners’, they wear fine suits with bishop tags so all can see, and stop the castigation…Oh! What a stigma.

Meanwhile, the eyes of these critical criticizers hover around like a hunter’s range rover, looking for whom to kill with the bullets of their words. It’s a pity many of them don’t know the power of the tongue. No wonder James likens it to fire, that devours far and wide. They are so eager to talk evil about the ‘stranger’, not moving themselves with a finger, without even knowing that a word is enough to practically break the sixth of the Ten Commandments.

How awful; destructive criticizers, paralyzing the morale of the weak, 7 days a week, weakening the spirits of the saints, without being sent, conceiving mischief against the meek. What they seek, I know not.

But I tell you the truth; we must care less about these despisers of reality, whose mouths are open sepulchres. Their minds are filled with deceit.

“It’s not fair!” “It’s not fair!” But they move on to the next year, seeking for an ear to deposit these words of theirs that can wear the gears of the soul if it were a machine, loosen its hem if it were a cloth, create pot holes on its road if it were a car, pluck away 60 feathers if it were a bird. But we are none of these, so please STOP! the tease.

Let us encourage each other, for only then can we be relevant forever.

God Bless you.

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Hi there! I'm still Ikpa Onwuka and just want to seize this opportunity to apologize for the very long silence... *wasn't intentional though*....Anyway, the blog is back and better. Expect the best!
And never forget that Jesus loves you so much, your toils and struggles would not make him change the way he loves you. His heart beat is that all be saved! It pains him whenever anyone whom he created chooses to die in sin, rather than accepting the gift of salvation made available through his Son Jesus!

I hope you reading this understands what I mean... Jesus with arms open wide is saying; "COME SON! COME DAUGHTER!"

Carl Maxie Brashear

Carl Maxie Brashear (January 19, 1931 – July25, 2006) was the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver, rising to the position in 1970. 

Early life

Brashear was born on January 19, 1931, in Tonieville, Kentucky , the sixth of eight children to sharecroppers McDonald and Gonzella Brashear. In 1935, the family settled on a farm in Sonora, Kentucky . Brashear attended Sonora Grade School from 1937 to 1946.

Career

Brashear enlisted in the U.S. Navy on February 25, 1948, shortly after the Navy had been desegregated by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. He graduated from the U.S. Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954, becoming the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School and the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver. While attending diving school in Bayonne, New Jersey , Brashear faced hostility and racism. He found notes on his bunk saying, “We’re going to drown you today, nigger!” and “We don’t want any nigger divers.” Brashear received encouragement to finish from First Class Boatswain’s Mate Rutherford, and graduated 16 out of 17. Brashear first did work as a diver retrieving approximately 16,000 rounds of ammunition that fell off a barge which had broken in half and sunk to the bottom. On his first tour of shore duty in Quonset Point, Rhode Island his duties included the salvaging of airplanes, including one Blue Angel and recovering multiple dead bodies. Brashear was assigned to escort the presidential ship the Barbara Ann to Rhode Island. He met President Eisenhower and received a small knife that said, “To Carl M. Brashear. From Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957. Many, many thanks.”

After making chief in 1959 he stayed at Guam for three years doing mostly demolition dives.

Leg amputation and recovery

In January 1966, in an accident now known as the Palomares incident, a B28 nuclear bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain after two United States Air Force aircraft of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), a B-52G Stratofortress bomber and a KC-135A Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft collided during aerial refueling . Brashear was serving aboard the USS Hoist (ARS-40) when it was dispatched to find and recover the missing bomb for the Air Force. The warhead was found after two and a half months of searching. For his service in helping to retrieve the bomb, Brashear was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal – the highest Navy award for non-combat heroism. During the bomb recovery operations on March 23, 1966, a line used for towing broke loose, causing a pipe to strike Brashear's left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off. He was evacuated to Torrejon Air Base in Spain, then to the USAF Hospital at Wiesbaden Air Base , Germany ; and finally to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia . Beset with persistent infection and necrosis , his left leg was eventually amputated. Brashear remained at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth from May 1966 until March 1967 recovering and rehabilitating from the amputation. From March 1967 to March 1968, Brashear was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two, Diving School, preparing for return to full active duty and diving. In April 1968, after a long struggle, Brashear was the first amputee diver to be (re)certified as a U.S. Navy diver. In 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver , and served ten more years beyond that, achieving the rating of Master Chief Boatswain's Mate in 1971. Brashear was motivated by his beliefs that "It's not a sin to get knocked down; it's a sin to stay down" and "I ain't going to let nobody steal my dream".

 "Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn't go to sick bay. In that year, if I had gone to sick bay, they would have written me up. I didn't go to sick bay. I'd go somewhere and hide and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it--an old remedy. Then I'd get up the next morning and run." – Carl Brashear

Retirement

BMCM (MDV) Brashear retired from the U.S. Navy on April 1, 1979 as a Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9) and Master Diver. He then served as a civilian employee for the government at Naval Station Norfolk , Norfolk, Virginia and retired in 1993 with the grade of GS-11 .

Personal life

Brashear married and divorced three times: Junetta Wilcoxson (1952–1978), Hattie R. Elam (1980–1983), and Jeanette A. Brundage (1985– 1987). He had four children: Shazanta (1955– 1996), DaWayne, Phillip, and Patrick. Brashear's grand-nephew is former New York Rangers left wing Donald Brashear.

Pictured left is Carl Brashear and Cuba Gooding Jr. on the set of 20th Century Fox's Men of Honor . Carl served as a technical advisor on the film.

 

Cuba Gooding, Jr. played the role of Brashear in Men of Honor, a movie inspired by the life of Carl Brashear.

Brashear died of respiratory and heart failure at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center , Portsmouth, Virginia on July 25, 2006. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia . Carl Brashear Foundation After his death, his sons DaWayne and Phillip Brashear started the Carl Brashear Foundation in his honor. 

Service Medal Honors

Brashear was honored with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in October 2000 for 42 years of combined military and federal civilian service. The award was presented by Secretary of Defense William Cohen. On October 24, 2007, the Newport News Fire Department dedicated a 33-foot (10 m) high- speed fireboat named Carl Brashear to be used by their Dive and Marine Incident Response Teams. The Lewis and Clark -class dry cargo ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7) was christened in his honor in San Diego, California on September 18, 2008. General Dynamics delivered the completed ship to the Navy on March 4, 2009. On February 21, 2009, Nauticus , a science and maritime museum in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, opened a new exhibit called "Dream to Dive: The Life of Master Diver Carl Brashear".  It is the first full-scale museum exhibit dedicated to Brashear.

On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 7:34 PM, his son, Phillip Brashear, chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army, came to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division to speak of his father and his own accomplishments during a ceremony honoring Black History Month. Phillip Brashear relayed his father’s message to the group. “First, everybody has to work. That is something a lot of young people need to learn,” said Phillip Brashear. “The second thing you need is an education. Education never stops. I didn’t get my bachelor’s degree until I was 38 years old.” The third thing was God. “You have to believe in a higher power,” he said.

Sources: www.wikipedia.org; www.chasingthefrog.com

Hmm! How inspiring. Well, I'll never advise you to divorce your wives for any reason except that which the word gives. And even at that, love still compels us to forgive.

This little biography challenged and inspired me, I hope it inspired you too?

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