A Toothache

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

If you've ever experienced a toothache you will know just how excruciating the pain can become. It's so uncomfortable because you feel so helpless. You touch the offending tooth and think up ways to stop the pain but to no avail. Until you have the tooth removed, the pain persists.

I'm suffering from toothache right now. Last night I slept fitfully and woke up often to take pain medication. But this morning it became much worse. Just now, I was dancing around because of the pain and could have just about burst into tears, quite literally, when the pain disappeared. I mean it simply vanished. I cannot explain it in the least. All I know is that one moment I was experiencing some of the most intense pain of my life and the next moment it was gone. Wow! If you ever needed proof that miracles still happen…

The significance of my sudden relief is not lost on me. It's the kind of "twinkling of an eye" event that scripture talks about. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that these earthly, corruptible bodies will be exchanged for heavenly, immortal bodies in the twinkling of an eye. Just like that. One moment this, the next moment that.

"Our bodies now disappoint us," he says, "but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power." What a momentous occasion, I can hardly wait.

In developing his argument, Paul uses the analogy of a seed sown into soil. It's planted in one form and grows into another. But before it can become a fruiting plant the seed must die, change form, be watered, and endure the scorching sun, the relentless rain and the blistering cold until it reaches maturity. It must go through a lot of pain before it can become what it was meant to be all along. But in the end, the entire process is worth it. What a sweet relief!

The same applies to us. In this world we will experience suffering, hardships and, yes, toothaches, but in the end it will all be gone, in the twinkling of an eye. And it will all be worth it.

With love, Doosuur.

The Waiting Game

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:13,14

Traffic in Jos is at a standstill. I was on my way to pick my younger brother from school when I met a traffic hold-up. After sitting still a short while, I walked up to the junction to find out what might be the problem. "We're waiting for the chief," one person volunteered. "The number one." I soon found out that he was referring to President Obasanjo and his entourage making the political rounds in Jos.

Good enough, I thought, as I sat down to wait. But slowly one minute turned into five, into ten and still no sign of any let up. I sat back in my chair and dug into a Reader's Digest to help pass the time but my patience quickly turned to exasperation as the hour-mark approached. The most frustrating thing about my predicament is that in Jos there are precious few alternative routes to take you anywhere. I soon left to seek another path but the second and third options were clogged with other people thinking like me. Finally, after about an hour and a half I got to my destination.

I'm not sure any of us likes waiting, particularly not for other people. The analytical side of me wonders why thousands of man-hours should be spent waiting, in vain no less, for a single individual.

But the experience reminds me of the heroes of scripture. They very often were made to wait patiently for the Lord. Joseph endured oppression and incarceration while awaiting his elevation. Hannah endured barrenness and taunting while waiting for her child. David endured hunger and the harsh wilderness while waiting for his kingdom. The list goes on and on. But in each case they eventually received what had been promised.

This lesson is significant for me as much as for anyone, because I find myself at a stage in life where I have to do a lot of waiting. It's the crossroads that we all come to at one point or the other where life-changing decisions have to be made. You'll agree with me that it's never easy to wait expectantly when answers seem far off, but I'm learning that the prize is always worth the wait. So I'll keep waiting.

With love, Doosuur

I would cherish your thoughts, whether you're at the crossroads, been there & done that or are yet to get there.

The Waiting Game

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:13,14

Traffic in Jos is at a standstill. I was on my way to pick my younger brother from school when I met a traffic hold-up. After sitting still a short while, I walked up to the junction to find out what might be the problem. "We're waiting for the chief," one person volunteered. "The number one." I soon found out that he was referring to President Obasanjo and his entourage making the political rounds in Jos.

Good enough, I thought, as I sat down to wait. But slowly one minute turned into five, into ten and still no sign of any let up. I sat back in my chair and dug into a Reader's Digest to help pass the time but my patience quickly turned to exasperation as the hour-mark approached. The most frustrating thing about my predicament is that in Jos there are precious few alternative routes to take you anywhere. I soon left to seek another path but the second and third options were clogged with other people thinking like me. Finally, after about an hour and a half I got to my destination.

I'm not sure any of us likes waiting, particularly not for other people. The analytical side of me wonders why thousands of man-hours should be spent waiting, in vain no less, for a single individual.

But the experience reminds me of the heroes of scripture. They very often were made to wait patiently for the Lord. Joseph endured oppression and incarceration while awaiting his elevation. Hannah endured barrenness and taunting while waiting for her child. David endured hunger and the harsh wilderness while waiting for his kingdom. The list goes on and on. But in each case they eventually received what had been promised.

This lesson is significant for me as much as for anyone, because I find myself at a stage in life where I have to do a lot of waiting. It's the crossroads that we all come to at one point or the other where life-changing decisions have to be made. You'll agree with me that it's never easy to wait expectantly when answers seem far off, but I'm learning that the prize is always worth the wait. So I'll keep waiting.

With love, Doosuur

I would cherish your thoughts, whether you're at the crossroads, been there & done that or are yet to get there.

A Visit to the Locksmith

Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly."

John 13:37

I fixed the lock on my car yesterday. It is no big deal, really, until you consider that I have not been able to open the driver's door for several years now. It's a chronic problem that I never bothered to deal with until my dad insisted a couple of days back. And what did it cost me? 20 minutes and 200 Naira. That's it. 20 minutes to deal with a several-years-old problem. Why I didn't deal with it earlier, I have no idea. The solution was always so simple but going out of my way to do it always seemed prohibitive. I look back and remember how many times I had to walk round the car to open the passenger-side door. The ladies thought it was chivalry but I knew better.

It's the evil we call procrastination. We all deal with it on a day-to-day basis and what we lose because of it is incredible. I have only to look back at the year passed to see just how much I put things off and what they cost me. Deadlines missed, plans spoiled, opportunities spurned. All because I chose to leave things undone. Someone has joked, "Why do today what you can leave till tomorrow." We may think that it is funny until we realize that perhaps, to a large extent, that is how we have been living our lives up to this point. What a waste! No, I prefer to ask myself, "Why leave till tomorrow what you can do today?"

It is also terribly unsettling to remember how I would go around the car to open the far door. At a moment it seems a negligible inconvenience but when you multiply that by several times a day for several years the thought becomes quite discomfiting. I wonder if this is the way we circumnavigate little problems in our lives rather than tackling them head-on. They may seem small but until they are dealt with they will continue to cause us trouble and indeed master us.

This thought reminds me of Solomon's Shulammite bride in Song of Songs 2. "Quick! Catch all the little foxes," she cries, "before they ruin the vineyard of your love." She knows too well that it's the little things that complicate the big things. The same principle applies to work, business and, yes, love.

Have a lovely Valentine's Day.

With love, Doosuur.

Old Money

Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

Luke 12:33

I am sure you, like me, have occasionally found yourself stuck with old currency that you could not use. You ask yourself how in the world you accepted such a worn-out, torn note and curse your luck. You wonder what to do about it. Because you do not live in Kano. You see, in this old city, anything that has ever been used as legal tender is acceptable. From old 50 Kobo coins to the dirtiest, ugliest 5 Naira note you'll ever see. I sometimes wonder that I have yet to see shillings in use there.

Unfortunately for me, I came back to Jos with a lot of old, dirty currency as change. I stopped by the roadside today to buy some yoghurt from a Fan merchant but the disgust on his face as I counted out the money said it all: "Your currency is not acceptable here." Money that I had used freely just a few days ago was no longer tenable and these old notes had suddenly lost their value.

Reminds me of Jesus' teachings in Luke 12. First he tells the parable of the Rich Fool, a pretty wise man by this world's standards, seeing as he was so successful in farming and business. But he was unwise in thinking his life was guaranteed and for trusting in his riches. God's reply to him was none too kind: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." Jesus said in conclusion, "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." As wealthy as this man was, his currency was not acceptable in Heaven.

In the next part of the chapter, Jesus teaches, "Do not worry… Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I couldn't say it better myself. The bottom line I guess is that we must work for treasure that will be presentable when crunch time comes because then, your money will not matter. The sign reads: Earthly Currency Not Accepted Here.

With love, Doosuur.

Old Money

Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

Luke 12:33

I am sure you, like me, have occasionally found yourself stuck with old currency that you could not use. You ask yourself how in the world you accepted such a worn-out, torn note and curse your luck. You wonder what to do about it. Because you do not live in Kano. You see, in this old city, anything that has ever been used as legal tender is acceptable. From old 50 Kobo coins to the dirtiest, ugliest 5 Naira note you'll ever see. I sometimes wonder that I have yet to see shillings in use there.

Unfortunately for me, I came back to Jos with a lot of old, dirty currency as change. I stopped by the roadside today to buy some yoghurt from a Fan merchant but the disgust on his face as I counted out the money said it all: "Your currency is not acceptable here." Money that I had used freely just a few days ago was no longer tenable and these old notes had suddenly lost their value.

Reminds me of Jesus' teachings in Luke 12. First he tells the parable of the Rich Fool, a pretty wise man by this world's standards, seeing as he was so successful in farming and business. But he was unwise in thinking his life was guaranteed and for trusting in his riches. God's reply to him was none too kind: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." Jesus said in conclusion, "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." As wealthy as this man was, his currency was not acceptable in Heaven.

In the next part of the chapter, Jesus teaches, "Do not worry… Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I couldn't say it better myself. The bottom line I guess is that we must work for treasure that will be presentable when crunch time comes because then, your money will not matter. The sign reads: Earthly Currency Not Accepted Here.

With love, Doosuur.

"I Want to be a Doctor"

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24

I was chatting with a seven-year old friend earlier today when she leaned in towards me for a little tête-à-tête. I obliged, leaning close to hear what she might say, and she whispered into my ear, "When I grow up, I want to be a doctor." A smile lit my face. What a smart girl to be thinking about her future already.

"Why?" I asked her. "Why do you want to be a doctor?"

I wasn't exactly prepared for her response. She lifted her eyebrows with delight as she said very slowly, "I want to make money," rubbing her fingers together at that last word, like she was counting currency.

Oh horrors! Whatever happened to "I want to help people" and "I want to save the world"? What is this world coming to?!

But as aghast as I was at her statement, I had to admit that she was perhaps the most self-aware of us all. She had the wisdom at her age to voice what most of us only admit to ourselves after years of frustration. In truth making money and success in business are our very great, if not principal motivators for roughing it out through another day. Why is this so? I know it has to do with the sense of security that comes with having money. It's a truth of life: "Money answereth all things", so the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes 10. There are so many things we can achieve - for self, family, country and God - when we have money.

Having said that, like so many poets old and new insist, money cannot buy happiness. We know this just as surely as we know that night follows day. But it doesn't stop us from our almost pathological thirst for more and more money. I think most people are so driven by the desire for money because as humans we have a need to feel in control of our circumstances. Whether we admit it or not, trusting in something unseen and intangible is so much more difficult than trusting in what we can hold with our own two hands or, for that matter, in our wallet. Surrender is a very difficult thing for us to do.

But that is what God calls us to. When Jesus said, "Let the children come to me … for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these," (Mark 10) he alluded to their implicit trust. "I assure you", he said, "anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." We must trust first in God before anything else. Matthew 6 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Which would you rather do - Work for money or work for God and have money work for you? I know which I'll choose.

With love, Doosuur.

The Taimako Phenomenon

We were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day … so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

2 Thessalonians 3:7&8

The Taimako Phenomenon. It's a term I coined to describe a concept that I think is key to the persistent poverty of the people of rural Northern Nigeria. "Taimako" is the Hausa word for the verb "to help". It seems to permeate just about everything they do and say from the marketplace to the motor park to the hospital. "Help", "help", "help" in all it's different inflections is all I hear from sunup to sundown. Nothing wrong with a culture of looking out for one another but, in this case, what is sacrificed in the name of help is probably not worth it.

I was doing my "farewell" rounds earlier today, visiting some of my colleagues of the past one year for one last time. One staffer took me to his place and showed me his drug store. It was a pretty rundown affair with a rickety old chair, dusty shelves and a very spare stock. He showed me several-year-old records of debts owed to him by friends, neighbors and relatives - all members of the "Taimako" society. Bad debts, the vast majority of them.

On my part, I remember having to say a firm "No" over and over again to different people I came across over the past year only to see their jaws quite literally drop in horror. They were shocked! How could I say I would not help?! How evil of me!

What is worrying in all this is the attitude I think this "help" mentality engenders among these people. They are very laid back, if not downright lazy. Not many are industrious and very few will go out of their way to struggle for what we may consider a better living. Why work hard for anything when you can get help next door? A pretty simple philosophy.

You know, I tremble with trepidation to be critical of anything the Early Church did, seeing as they were so filled with the Spirit, but from a limited perspective, it is easy to see how their experiment at communal living was fraught with so much trouble. Acts 4 says, "From time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Now extrapolate this scenario across a few years and an exponentially-growing population and you have a pretty messy, if not desperate, picture.

To the same extent that we as Christians encourage ourselves to lend a hand of help to the next person, we must also encourage him to stand on his own two feet. Perhaps that is the best way you can help your brother - make him help himself. You may not have to look far. Perhaps all you have to do is to submit somebody's CV, introduce a new business concept, encourage someone to finish his education or invest his money. In truth, like a friend has taught me, financial security is not just about having enough money to take care of personal needs. It goes beyond to include a "shell" of financially-dependent people surrounding you. I'm not secure until the people around me are secure.

So, like the proverbial fisherman, don't give me a fish. Take me to the waterside.

With love, Doosuur.