Service is the call for all leaders; not squabbles!

Ah! Who am I that I should even stand before these big, big people, eh? I recently had a bit of epiphany and I just had to share to our African leaders, specifically these 3 groups of people: politicians, traditional chiefs and religious leaders, especially Christian leaders who should know better!

There is a deep sense of pride and power that potentially comes with “rising to the top.” There is a lot at stake, lots of people looking up to you as a leader and lots to be done. May God grant our leaders grace.

When leaders are blinded by long-drawn out disagreements, they seem to lose sight of the very character traits that got them to the “top,” --- humility, teachablity and accountability. They forget the inherent call of a leader is SERVICE.

Such blinded leaders hold on to their pride, unrealistic expectations and hurts in their squabbles. It’s a shame that some of our leaders have been so blinded by “self-rights” that they cannot serve the people they had promised/pledged to serve when they took up “post.” No wonder development, growth and success so often eludes us in Africa.

It’s time to pray for these leaders to uproot bitterness from their hearts and lives, to completely forgive and reconcile so that they can really focus on what really matters.

Jesus Christ refused to be entangled by the traps of the Pharisees and Sadducees because He wanted to accomplish His ONE GOAL: the salvation of people like me! Amen!

Praying for African leaders,
Lady Akofa.

That I am His Child, For all Time

People may take pride in their profession such as a doctor, domestic engineer, journalist, chief executive officer, wife/husband, movie agent, celebrity model, pastor, etc. All these are temporary because they are limited to earthly circumstances and to this earth but of this, I’m sure:

That I am His Child, Forever.
♥

Amen and AMEN!

Delighting in Him,
Lady Akofa.

Only in Ghana! Speaking in Tongues

Sometimes, I’m tickled by conversations I have with people, especially when

1. we speak different languages (literally) or
2. when people use inappropriate words or unintentionally use certain words to mean something else. This makes for potential misunderstanding and conflicts but can be a source of humour!

Sometime ago, I had a brief conversation with a retired cleaner and messenger. He wears many hats, by the way. I was so amused by it that I typed it for my personal pleasure. This conversation is an example of situation 1 above, where he was speaking in broken Ghanaian English and I, formal educated English. I normally switch to broken Ghanaian English when I meet such people but for some reason, I stayed with formal English in this encounter. I’m sharing here.

Former co-worker, a pensioner: I wan box cover.
Me: There are things inside so I won’t be able to give you the box. By the way, what do you want the box for?
Pensioner: I wan put puss cat for box make I take home.
Me: Eeeiiiee! Pussy cat! You’ve got a pussy cat!
Pensioner: Somebody stole my Big puss cat, eh! So I get small (baby-my insert) puss cat make I take home.
Me: Oooh... as for this one. Somebody has probably taken your Big cat to make Fufu and light soup. Oooh sorry o!
Pensioner: Ooooh.... every time visitor come for house, they make say, this puss cat dey BIG, fine! Now i-no more. Oooooooh!

*Note: Yes, there are people who eat cat meat. I’ve not yet tried it. I doubt I will.

Amused,
Lady Akofa.

Only in Ghana! Potholes

Rain does some pretty wonderful things... Brings life and ... death. Remember the flood in Noah's day? It rained 40 days and needless to say, you know what happened in the end.

Fire does some pretty wonderful things too.

But I'd take water if let let me choose between fire and water. I think you can recover some things after a flood but I'm not sure what one can recover from ashes.

About a week or two week ago, we were driving home from I don’t remember where, and I commented on the association between rain and potholes in Ghana. And my mom responded, “There is a saying that you choose which pothole you’d want to fall into.” Hehehe! And there are very deep ones too.

You see, overtime our road gradually erodes as rain softens the ground with the added pressure from vehicles. So you see all these drivers dodging potholes, running into the other lane in the process. Welcome to not so smooth driving in Ghana = Bumpy rides.

It was such a pleasant surprise to see the potholes being filled over the weekend by the road works people.

God bless ya,
Akofa.

Not Enough Containers 2

It was windy.

There was thunder.

There was lightening.

It was pouring.

And the containers were still not enough to contain the blessings that gives us food to eat and water to drink, wash, etc... When you brush your teeth every morning with water, my sister, my brother... thank the Giver of Life.

Yes, that was the 'best picture' I could get.

God bless ya,
Akofa.

Not Enough Containers

Ever since our gardener got laid off early this year, I’ve taken a special interest in watching out for the plants in the flower pots. It gives me great pleasure to uproot weeds, prune the plants, dig up fallow soil and to water the plants. I’m even more excited to see tender shoots, leafs fresh and tender and flowers blossom.

When plants start to droop and wither, I know that their nourishment has been long overdue and I must quickly nurse them back to life; yet one day at a time. I think I’m now familiar with each one and with their patterns.

I’ve also taken special interest in rain. It’s not that I don’t like rain. I’ve always loved rain, except for my childhood days when I sang with my playmates,

“Rain, rain go away!
Go and come another day.
Little children want to play.
Rain, rain go away!”

Rain has been sporadic this year as compared to last year. And since we have water shortage from time to time, I’ve taken delight in making sure barrels and buckets are put outside to collect water from the roof when it rains. Because… it seems when it rains, it rains heavily.

One day, as I was excitedly replacing full buckets with empty buckets and getting wet, a thought came to mind,

“God sends abundant rain and you don’t have enough buckets/vessels to contain it all.”

And today it rained cats and dogs.

How gracious God is with His showers of blessings. Free. Abundant. My God of UnLimited blessings. And we just can’t contain it because it’s meant to overflow!

I thank God for the lesson- He is BIG!

Revelling in My UnLimted God,
Lady Akofa.

May 17, 2010.

Only in Ghana! - Abro ne nkate

Okay, I'd like to think there are some things you'd only find in Ghana like my latest delicacy: Abro ne nkate (corn and groundnut/peanut). Like you see at the side. It's roasted corn (you can see the popped corn) and roasted peanuts. When I bought this I asked for lots of peanuts and little corn. The corn is usually hard.

It's considered a snack for the average Ghanaian, and it's not what you'd see the rich or well-to-do Ghanaian eating but this to me is a delicacy. Why? I just don't get it everyday, lol!

So when you decide to visit Ghana one day, try this. And let me warn you, be ready to crack your teeth.... just a little. :-)

BTW, watch out for my new series: Only in Ghana!

Glod bless ya,
Akofa.

“I was arrested…!”

I’m always amused whenever I hear Christians in Ghana share their conversion experiences and often describe the significant turning point with such words, “The Holy Spirit ‘arrested’ me and I gave my life to Christ that day.” Hehehe!

Can you picture Mr. Holy Spirit as a police man holding a BIG stop sign at the end of a dead end street? Hehehe!

And then I remember it used in a context where an aggrieved party was asking for prayer for the person who had stolen from her so that the person would come and confess his/her sins to her. “I want God to arrest the person so that the thief will come and confess to me.” Uh….Oh-uh… I had a bit of a problem with such a request. I’d prefer that we pray that the LORD leads the ‘thief’ to repentance that leads to salvation first, then the person would be led to deal with specific sins at the Cross and the way God requires.

Oh…. I digress… we were talking about a Police Man and how He does a wonderful job of ‘arresting’ people, eh? The beauty of it all is that He doesn’t take his ‘suspects’ to prison, lol! Instead, He does a beautiful, life-changing work in them that liberates them to live to please God all their lives! Huh…there is a famous account of a man named Saul (Acts 9:1-31) who got arrested on his way to Damascus and had to make a U-Turn! His name later became Paul (Acts 13:9).

I prefer to use these phrases, “I got convicted by the Holy Spirit,” “was touched by the Holy Spirit,” “the Holy Spirit brought me to repentance” and lately “the Holy Spirit wooed me to Christ.”

So I did get ‘arrested’ sometime ago, lol! Have you been arrested before?

God bless ya,
Akofa.

No title but deep stuff

Occasional loneliness is actually not such a bad thing if we know where and who to turn to when we find ourselves friendless and abandoned. Should we look into ourselves into depths that confound us, we lose sight of what’s true. But if loneliness drives us to seek the True God then that’s a good thing because we have found a Friend. And what blessedness it is to find Him! Or better still, when God powerfully and lovingly reveals Himself to us- YOU!

Oftentimes, we try all possible means to avoid being lonely but it is only at such times that you recognize your need for something more, for Someone Divine.

And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6

I lift up my eyes to the hills-
where does my help come from?
My help comes form the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

God Dey!

My personal translation of Psalm 139:7-12 is this:

Heeey... where you gonna go that God no dey, that God no see, that God no know?

Don't you think my next publishing project should be a new bible called, "God dey Bible" or something like that?

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

*** "God dey" means God is there or God exists.