johneshun: A JOURNEY THROUGH MY MIND AT NIGHT.

johneshun: A JOURNEY THROUGH MY MIND AT NIGHT.:   “Each of us has come into this world as to a new city, in which he had no share before his birth”-Philo   I have come ...

A JOURNEY THROUGH MY MIND AT NIGHT.

 

“Each of us has come into this world as to a new city, in which he had no share before his birth”-Philo

 

I have come to realize that in life, we are not really controlled by what goes on around us but rather what we allow into our heads, hearts and spirits because most of what goes on around us we came to meet and can do little to change.

I am not against the fact that our environment plays a very significant role in shaping our thought patterns, life choices and decisions and sometimes to a large extent determine the outcome of our lives. For example; a child raised in a slum would have very different life choices and thinking pattern to that of a child raised in a well planned estate.

However; it may happen that the child from the slum would end up living a more fulfilled and impactful life than his counterpart from the well planned estate. This brings to bear my opening statement, “we are not really controlled by what goes on around us but rather what we allow into our heads, hearts and spirits”. A child from a slum is likely to be exposed all manner of life choices and vices associated with slums. It would always be bare to him the disorderly and lawless nature of life lived in such environments, but what he decides to learn and adapt from his neighborhood would form his approach to life and determine the kind of head, heart and spirit he would develop. Someone may be open to a very orderly society but may turn out to be very disorderly and uncouth and this may be due to the choices one makes even though the environment plays a part in helping us make those choices.

Have you ever come across someone who reads a newspaper article, gets angry and begins to abuse the writer of the article and even the newspaper that published it or someone who after listening to a speech or an address by a political or public figure and all of a sudden raises insults on the speaker and criticizes every word and letter of the speech? Well, I believe you might have come across lots of people like that especially in this season that we are so close to general elections in Ghana.

The problem here is not in the article in the newspaper or the address delivered but the problem is with the understanding and mindset of the reader and the listener. What we see, read, listen or hear does not in itself create any effect on us but the meaning we derive from it.  I have come to understand that in the communication channel, there is the sender and receiver of a message. The sense the receiver makes from a message from the sender is largely based on the decoding mechanisms of the recipient.

In this age of information overload, the decisions we make from the information available to us are not based on the information we receive but the meaning or the sense we make out of the information available to us, so the information that we can access does not in itself determine or control the decisions we make on a daily basis but our decisions are largely based on our understanding of the accessible information. You may have access to information needed for decision making but if you don’t fully understand the information in your domain you would not be able to make any meaningful decision with it.

As individuals we have the sole right to determine what affects us and in what ways we allow things to affect us. Despite the fact that we are influenced by our environment consciously and unconsciously, we have a very special role to play in determining the outcome of our life. When we are able to do this then which part of the world we find ourselves would not necessarily determine the result of our existence.

J B Eshun © September, 2012.

 

“Men of God” or “gods of men”

The year 2012 is gradually drawing to a close and almost everyone will soon be evaluating it and making comparisons to the past year and trying hard to put down plans for the coming year. As we evaluate the past and project into the future we must not lose sight of the fact that we are the creation of the Almighty and as such our main purpose on earth is to worship our creator. For this purpose He has anointed and ordained some people to be his intermediaries here on earth.

I believe the year 2011 had too many stories concerning the people the Almighty had called and endued them with love, power and sound mind to help tend his flock. But, what I found disturbing was the nature of the stories the filled the newspapers, the airwaves, the screens and the internet about the “MEN OF GOD”, they were not stories befitting people with such title and honor.

I have come to believe that whenever God gives an assignment and you begin to enjoy the benefits never let it get too much into your head. When people are shouting your name with all the accolades, and saluting you in public and lying prostrate before you, if you are not careful you would lose touch with the spirit of God that leads and have little regard for the God that called and anointed you for service. You begin to lead people who mention your name more than that of God in a day; they believe more what you say than what the Bible says. You lead them away from God and gradually they are led away from God.

One can do an auto analysis of his relationship with the one who called him to lead his people, to know whether he is on course or has veered off course. There are some indicators that can help one know whether he is on course or off course.  Ask yourself the following questions;

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•     Do my members desire God more or always desiring to listen to me preach.

• §    What is my attitude towards my praise singers; are they just being sycophantic or real.

• §    Do I still hear from God or preach my feelings and emotions and my thoughts.

• Do I personally desire the word more, pray more, and wait on God for direction.

•  Do I listen to other men of God preach and teach or I feel I am the best in town.

•  Am I humble and obedient to God or myself?

• Does material worth mean more to me than the growth and maturity of my ministry and members

• How do I treat those who help my ministry, my wife , my family and other close relations

The questions can go on and on and on, but I would like you to ask yourself the final and most important question: “should I drop dead today would I still be for God”.

I believe it would not be bad at all if the title “Thou good and faithful servant” is added to your name. May we not try or even think of taking the place of God in the life of his people. 

Let us carry only the message of God to his people and in so doing, we will be helping advance the kingdom of God.

John Benjamin Eshun © 2012.

DIVERSITY.

Sometimes I sit and ask myself why God won’t duplicate the over 6 billion people on earth but rather creates an original anytime He wants a new man or woman on earth? Why didn’t he create the same species of plant and animal all over the planet? Why did he create different water bodies; seas, streams, lakes, lagoons, wells, springs and so on?  As if that was not enough even with man he created all manner of skin colors and looks, no two palms are the same? Wonderful!

But, in all this I have come to see that this world would have been a freaking boring place if all humans were of the same color and look, had the same body odor and spoke only one language.

Assuming all men were wearing the same clothes and putting on the same kind of shoes and socks to the same places every time. Oh my God! This world indeed would have been not just boring but annoying and irritating. Assuming there was only one kind of food world over with the same taste. Would anyone in his right frame of mind want to travel beyond his locality to see what is elsewhere? Would there have been anything like tourism or cultural diversity; would man have had any sense of taste and desire to appreciate anything?

Would any man want to work if all men did the same kind of work, work in the same industry and took home the same salary and benefit? If all women looked alike, would any man be able to identify his wife? If all men built the same kind of houses and there the same streets and street lights everywhere, I don’t think any man would ever be able to find his way home.

However, because of man’s inability to embrace diversity, it has become a dividing tool and has become a destructive missile in the hands of an unable man. Many conflicts world over to come into being as a result of our inability to harness our differences to our advantage. I believe there would be no need for mediation and peacekeeping anywhere in the world if we are to acknowledge our diversity as humans and respect each other’s difference of opinion, religion, tribe, affiliation, desire, taste, and so on.

God made no mistake in creating DIVERSITY.

John Benjamin Eshun. © 2012