Welcome to the March 14th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story of My Week
My week was thrown into a bit of a rush-to-the-finish-line situation.
After a visit to the hospital, my wife was told they needed to do surgery on her. The only available slot was Friday.
She asked if it could be moved. To which the answer was “No”. The whole COVID was making setting up surgeries a lot more complicated so she had to take this slot as they could not be sure of another time.
I was out of town due to work and was not due back soon. That was an old story. New story - I had to get a ticket to travel back Wednesday night so I could be there on Thursday.
Wednesday was a mad rush as there were work things I needed to close out on.
6 pm on Wednesday, I was still in a negotiations meeting. Fortunately, we all got to a happy place and signed the agreement.
The 11:15 pm flight gave me a bit of time to make the almost 1-hour drive to the airport.
I was so tired when I got to the airport. I had gone to bed after 1 am and got up by past 5 am so I could do my COVID test and get my result the same day.
The ticket I got had a 9-hour layover. Tired and with no place to rest the way I wanted.
I got home and we started to get ready for the trip to the hospital the next day.
We have been blessed with good friends and neighbors who agreed to help out with the kids.
At the hospital, we discovered how much the new normal of a post-COVID world is rocking everybody’s plans.
I was told I couldn’t stay in the hospital or be around during the surgery.
My wife had to go in all by herself without me waiting at the door to see her come out.
They told me I could come back between 12 pm - 1 pm to check her.
I went home and decided to do the only thing I understood to do at a time like this. I focused on raising my faith for both of us.
I read the Bible (no I didn’t read Ps 23 or 91) and listened to messages of Pastor Bankie and Kenneth Hagin.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word - and that’s what I’m going to be doing.
I showed up by 12 and was told she was still in surgery. That was a bit unnerving but the nurse assured me everything was going well.
I think the shock really was going to her assigned room and not finding her there.
I went back home and continued what I was doing earlier. In one sermon, Pastor Hagin talked about the times when his faith had to carry his family. Until he had to let his wife and son know it was time for their faith to carry them.
This was a time for my faith to carry my family.
At some minutes past 1 pm, God assured me that everything had gone well and the process was completed.
It was then I developed the state of mind to go and have breakfast or is it brunch.
The nurse had told me the doctor would call once they were done with the surgery. A strange number called me at 2:47 pm. In my hurry, I picked and canceled the call simultaneously.
It was one of those numbers you couldn’t call back. And they didn't call back
By 3:47, my wife’s weak-sounding voice called me with her number. It was mission accomplished.
And trust my wife, she said she wanted to call other members of our extended family to let them know she was out of surgery.
That’s my job. Her job was to rest and recover.
It was a ride of a week and we are glad to know God walked with us through.
Grateful to have family and friends who prayed with us and we have seen the outcome of their prayers.
God bless you all
Things I Learnt
1-Remembering Lessons from Billy: I stumbled on the movie "Billy Graham – An Extraordinary Journey". Released in 2018, just after his death, it's a cinematic look into the life of the man fondly referred to as one of the most respected ministers of the gospel.
Most of the stories in the movie were not new to me. In my teens, I read a detailed autobiography published of him. But it was good to watch the video reels of some of the stories that my imagination had built structures for from the book.
Some of the issues he tried to address remain till today in other forms.
He refused to have segregated lines (blacks placed differently from Caucasians) for his crusades. This put him in conflict with some of the organizers. At a point, he said he was going to cancel a crusade if they insisted on having this. The head usher of a crusade resigned when Billy Graham removed the line separating the blacks from the rest during a crusade.
I still remember how they came up with the often talked-about "Billy Graham Rule". To the uninformed, there are 4 rules which they put in place to maintain ministry integrity. The most popular is the second which deals with upholding sexual morality.
In Billy's words "We all knew of evangelists who had fallen into immorality while separated from their families by travel. We pledged among ourselves to avoid any situation that would have even the appearance of compromise or suspicion. From that day on, I did not travel, meet or eat alone with a woman other than my wife. We determined that the Apostle Paul’s mandate to the young pastor Timothy would be ours as well: “Flee … youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 1:22, KJV)."
One thing which the video helped me to see better was how Billy Graham showed up at every audience - including secular. He would show up as a preacher and provide answers solely based on the Bible.
Whether it was showing up in a USSR-backed meeting in Russia, or talk shows in America, he spoke as a preacher of the word. He did not adapt to the audience but he brought them to his unchangeable message that carried hope in God. And interestingly, I think this commanded a level of respect that endeared him to many.
His consistency allowed him to be a spiritual adviser to every American president from the 33rd president (Harry S. Truman - 1945-1953) to the 44th president (Barack Obama - 2009 - 2017, irrespective of the political party they align to.
Some of the practices I adopted for life came from when I read his autobiography in my teens.
Even in death, he continues to teach me what finishing right is about.
2-When the Stress is Worth More: So, I had to hold the home front with my wife in the hospital. Some of our friends volunteered to take the kids for the day. I got the offer for both Saturday and Sunday.
They understood how much stress it must be taking on me - add to that the long-distance travel I made.
But I decided not to take them on their offers.
I have missed my family. And I wanted to spend time with them.
I am typing this just before midnight on Sunday after a weekend of making multiple meals, giving baths, changing diapers, been bitten in the breast by a toddler who couldn't understand why milk wasn't coming from there, and a couple more tasks we'll keep details in the family.
I loved hearing my son tell me that he was happy to have me back home.
I may be tired but I loved every bit of it and wouldn't have given that stress away.
It was a fun ride for me because it allowed me to create new memories.
Time only matters when I create memories with it.
Postscript
May your faith be unshakable in God's promises to you and in His ability to fulfil everything He has said over you. Amen
Tata,
Tola
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