Oluwafemi Ifesanmi

 What does it mean to flee? It means to aggressively run away, with an exponentially increased intensity in running! Let me illustrate to you what it means to flee fornication…abstain from all appearances of evil. Do you remember the “ebola scare” a few years ago, well I was in one of the “high possibility zones” so I can tell you about it. PH was on red alert during those periods, and people took serious extra measures…handshakes became sacred, and people instead invented newer methods of greetings, like raising both hands to give respect (very similar to the Agbero’s “twale”), Hand Sanitizers became common place, a highly sought-after commodity...people avoided body contact with others (as everybody was a suspect even when looking normal)…you need to see people hugging their bodies tight in busses, avoiding body contact with others…but tell me, how can you avoid contact with the sweaty bodies of others in a packed bus on a sunny afternoon… and of course you remember the sal...

About nine years before (2011), I came to the reality of a near-death experience. I was in a little hall room with some people and I watched helplessly as death began to take hold of the people I was with. The numbers of those I kinda knew began to reduce as the deceased increased. The horrible truth of the movie industry was confirmed as I saw the vigorous shaking as a result of the struggle between life and death at which more often than not, death prevailed.   All I could do was rely on my Father’s word in Psalms 91:7 which says “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee .” Even though this was my watch word, I was indeed petrified knowing that if care wasn’t taken, I’d soon end up with the dead. Faced with that reality, I began to ponder over my life experiences which make that saying true that when faced with death, all of one’s life would begin to flash before one's eye; all I could use to console myself was...

Have you ever seen fishermen at work? I watch a documentary about them and found out how rigorous the work could be; casting out their nets, waiting for a while and when the harvest comes: extra effort is required to draw the net into the boat and that’s for the mechanically assisted method how much more when there is no machine to assist. The normal phenomena in life as concerned with bountiful harvest is that there must be a required input of hard work; almost like saying “What you sow, you’ll reap.” Over time, we’ve come to realize that this is not always so for at some point in life, we have heard, seen or somewhat experienced demeaning results irrespective of the large effort inputted. Such result could be due to human influence or at times just beyond control and one begins to wonder - why? The story of St Luke 5:1-7 tells of a similar situation turned joy. There we see some full grown hard-working ‘professional’ fishermen who had Toiled All Night and caught nothing but dirt in...

[Lesson from John 21:3-17] “So when they have dinned, Jesus said unto Simon Peter – Simon, son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these?” What made Jesus say this to Peter? Perhaps we should take it from the onset when he encountered Jesus. [Luke 5:4 –11] Having toiled all night, Peters fishing business was beginning to flop, Jesus came into the scene and intervened then Peter had a humongous profit- one at which he probably never had before for it was indeed net-breaking.  Seeing this he was afraid and was not sure if he was good enough for the Master. Jesus told him to fear not for He would make Peter fishers of men. That sounds like a good business deal. Peter seeing all that was done might have thought ‘why would I settle for this large temporary profit when I could ALWAYS have the source of unending wealth (referring to Jesus) with me. So Peter left all the fishes and followed Jesus, but we see Peter after a while still having the ‘what’s in it for me attitude’; he said somet...

The story of ‘Blind Bartimaeus’ is one quite full of lessons if only we take time to peruse it. At the beginning, we see Jesus coming out of Jericho with His Disciples and great multitudes following Him. Its a quite general perception that the Leader with a large entourage is more often than not usually among the crowd at the forefront and having a larger crowd following. Mr Bartimaeus who at this stage of his life had adapted to the norm of each day’s hustle and bustle, perceived something strange – a larger crowd than usual which to him signified something extraordinary happening. Verse 47 says “when he heard that it was Jesus”, which means he most likely had inquired about the event and his colleagues might have been there with him as well. Having confirmed his enquiry, he cried out for mercy. His cry was quite perturbing that those around him tried to silence him but to no avail; until he got the attention he required. Mark 10: 46-52. Lessons learnt: This man understood the sit...

Time... what an indispensable commodity it is; given freely and equally to all and can't be altered. The same 24 hours is allocated daily to everyone whether high/low, rich/poor, strong/weak,.. whatever the status. Right from the process of fertilization, everyone partakes in the non-mandatory yet compulsory race of time. We all want to grow - engage in things which exhibit growth in various facets. However, some unexpected occurrence could arise and growth gets hindered. One gets the more irated when even after so much struggle/toil to achieve a specified growth, an extremely minute progress is experienced or an impotent result or worse still retrogression is experienced. Yet, time waits for no one. What do you do in such situation. The book of John chapter 5, verses 5 to 7 gives a story about a man who had an unexpected delay in time; it says: " And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had bee...