Fifth Bullet: LEAVE THE HARBOR AND SAIL
It is a known fact
You’re safe at home.
But are warships made for the harbor?
Life is warfare
And the sea calls you
You must leave the harbor.
And sail both the calm and raging sea.
Remember sailor,
The sea calls you
And that which is inside you is greater than all the sea monsters.
Ugwu David C.
©2023
Fourth Bullet: WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE
Rumpled, difficult, complicated
The world takes this shapes.
Every thought chaotic,
Every energies dissipated.
We’ll drown if we don’t write something down somewhere.
Imagination though blur
Whisper to me that
God wrote down his plan of creation somewhere..
If you’ve pen and paper
For a better future,
Write something down somewhere.
If you don’t have pen and paper
Borrow
But make sure you write something down somewhere.
Ugwu David C.
©2023
Third Bullet: IT’S A MOVIE
Morals and lectures are scripts.
Parents and teachers are directors.
If the roles you act
Does not stir your spirit,
Discard the morals
And trash the lectures.
But woe to you,
If you cross the Rubicon
You will inherit the pang of a director
You will craft a new script
And with all thy might
Will your character into existence.
If you fail , we call it tragedy
If you stone the world, its comedy
Yet, in general life is authentic movie.
For God made it so.
Ugwu David C.
©2023
Second Bullet: LAUGH AT ALL THESE AND THAT
YES – there is a cause,
A purpose with serious sense.
But, if I may advise.
Sometimes be still
And know that HE is God.
Laugh at yourself daily.
Laugh at fame and glory.
Laugh at your friend and enemy.
In these world,
Laugh at all these and that.
And then, in your mind,
Will emerge a new energy
A sure strategy
To battle all these and that.
Ugwu David C.
©2023
First Bullet: TIME AND SEASON
Like mad flood
So is time and season.
Our ancestors, they lured into life
Floated them in temporal presents
Dazzled the Age with great moments
And took all away still.
Time is a respecter of no man,
Season enthrones, season dethrones.
Time and season,
How many souls have you buried?
How much ancestry did you align
to bring me?
Dear LORD, tell me plainly
What must I do now
Before your awesome technology
Takes me away into the unknown.
Ugwu David C.
©2023
Hello Friends!
It’s been a hot minute since we did this, and how I’ve missed you lovely people. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and an even better Easter celebration? I know I did. Last Freestyle Friday, while we celebrated the perfect plan of God in Salvation, we tried to answer a very important question; Could you have strategized your life better than God has?
While we pondered on this, and reflected on the gift we have been given in the nature of God’s life, His power, and our beloved eternal family, two of our very talented poets edified us with poems on the topic Immortal Strategy.
Niel our host started as usual with this beautiful piece;
Question is for people who have counted paces
Seen that they did not always make healthy choices
Who betrayed the fam for half the stew of Esau
Oxlade in the dark, not caring that he saw
Me?
My strategy was a hole in me, I’d never be all I need be, Sin CV
Plans on plans to balablu the lack
Flutter through the waves for pay to stack
Piggyvesting testing the waters too small for shark do
And then the jealousy extends from me to those with more goods
And I could be tied if I relied on half the limits I have
But I have defied half of the grind, my help is meet forever
Healthy meat and pepper
It rests on King Yeshua
God my planner
The one who waters from a rock in the sun
To us a son is given, to us a child born
The right trajectory dodges when power thinks it might
The race is not to the SWIFT, the OS is the Spirit
I’d rather travel a lot, than go the way of Lot
If God is righting my writing, I’ll let him build the plot
Strategy divine
First step is listen
Next thing I needed
Was yielding to his mission
Seeking first the kingdom
Yielded my ambition
Being reborn with God’s own name and ammunition
Phew!
If you wanted a chunky, beautiful ride on words, with a sweet reminder that we are horrible planners, even worse decision makers, and had little in the form of strength to save ourselves from those bad decisions, then this poem was it! Thank God for God who is capable of saving even the worst of us from ourselves ehh?
The next piece came from our beautiful Hannah DGinus;
One would wonder what went through the minds of the Angels in heaven. How they looked at God as he looked at his son. How he did nothing when his son was crucified. They may have known the plot but didn’t know the gravity.
One would imagine an angel flew down to help Jesus when he fell with his cross and God says “Don’t you dare!”
One would imagine Angel Michael holding his peace. The burden of having all weapons to do justice but restrained. Demons gaping at him. Telling him he has no power to do anything. Telling him to see the reason why they left heaven for hell. To think God was reasonable to let his son down and Satan will not seize that opportunity.
One would wonder why the heavens were so still. When you lack words, what do you do? You keep silent. When the Word is not with you, silence becomes inevitable. But now even the Word without them refuses to speak. Angels at his call! One would see the strength of Jesus, though a master at words but knew it was not time to speak.
One would imagine what madness. To refuse the use of your creative power when it was needed the most.
To know power, tested and tried. To know mastery, tested and tried. To know wisdom, tested now tried.
This, one would imagine what was in the minds of the Angels when they saw Jesus crucified.
Tell me you felt this! Tell me your heart sped up too as you read this! Tell me you smiled too! That you were taken on this journey, and your imagination was challenged too! Gosh! The imagery, the gripping authority of her words strung together in perfection, giving you a glimpse of another side of this eternally relevant story. Tell me you felt it too!
Regrettably, we have come to the end of today’s Freestyle Friday recap journey. Good things have to end sometimes too, and it was such an honour to have you with me on this journey. I’ll leave you with a beautiful parting gift; the perfect Easter song written by our very own Captain, Sir Ezeonyeka Godswill, and performed by the beautiful Glory (HISglory). The song is titled ‘Ransomed’ and it’ll take you on a very memorable journey through the redemption story. You’ll get a taste of mastery, skill, talent, the feels, and a good dose of edification.
You can find Ransomed streaming on all platforms, and I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me. You’re welcome!
My name is Miracle, and have a blessed day my friends!
Authors
Niel Quchi
Hannah DGinus
Oh poetry, art of language divine,
With words that flow, in meter and rhyme,
You paint a picture with each verse and line,
A tapestry woven, with thought so fine.
You give voice to what lies in the heart,
Emotions raw, made into art,
With rhythm and sound, you play your part,
To heal and comfort, from the start.
You take us on journeys to far off lands,
To meet characters, in your written hands,
You let us feel what it’s like to stand,
In someone else’s shoes, and understand.
Poetry, you challenge and inspire,
With truth and beauty, you never tire,
A spark that ignites, with a single fire,
Bringing wonder to all, higher and higher.
So here’s to you,
dear poetry, we sing,
With each word,
our hearts take flight
and wing,
With you, we soar, our spirits take wing,
You are the soul of language, the art it brings.
Tolulope Amao
© 2023
Like most Christians in the western world, I find that I am quite fascinated when we sing about the name of Jesus. I do not doubt that the name of Jesus holds a sense of comfort and power, as I have personally experienced the saving power of calling out that name in dire situations. However, this article is about something different, it is about how the name of Jesus holds a sense of belonging for the Christian. It is the character of the name of Jesus that reminds us that we are people bound in fellowship by a name and that name makes all the difference in the world.
The position this article takes might seem a little bit derivative but this use of a name is more common in our daily lives than we acknowledge. Every human that exists currently can be linked to a nation and/or people group who are identified by a name. This form of identification is usually contested by popular culture but when all is said and done, one’s genetic information aligns one with a name that is not their individual identification but tells of where they belong. In essence, we all belong somewhere and that belonging is identified and associated with through the function of a name. For instance, I am a Nigerian man. No matter where I travel to or naturalize to, if all documents were lost and my genetic information harvested, all links will point back to that name – Nigeria. This is the same approach I assume as I refer to the belonging that the name of Jesus affords everyone that believes in Him. When we believe in Jesus we undergo such a spiritual transformation that when our spirits are tested, the information will always point back to Jesus.
The sense of identity and belonging we have in Jesus implies that we are a people, a nation. Therefore, it is not uncommon that we have a name that refers to the connection we have to our heritage. People of Nigeria are referred to as Nigerians, people of Rome are called Romans, so it follows that people of Jesus are called Christians. If you are confused about the disparity in names, Jesus was also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus the Christ. ‘Christ’ is used as a title which means “the anointed one” and is an equivalent to “Messiah”. It is this essential character of Jesus as Christ that was used to identify his followers, hence the title – Christians. This is particularly interesting because we are identified not just by a name but also by the character of the one who bears the name. To be called Christians essentially implies that we belong to a people group that has its identity rooted in our anointed role of saving the world by pointing it to God.
The question of belonging is one that is too complex to tackle in this short piece but I would like to emphasize the point earlier made as regards to how our biological identifiers define where we belong. This implies that we are born into whatever group we belong to. Hence I am Nigerian not by choice or selection but by birth. I was born that way and there is not much I can do to change it. Definitely, I can get citizenship in some other place but my biology does not change. For my essential biological identity to change, I must literally be born again. This goes to explain why the bible uses such drastic imagery when referring to our transformation into Christians. It is not a contract or agreement we undertake, it is rebirth. Our spirits are literally and unironically born again. This is why we can lay claim to the name of Jesus. Without this process, we cannot bear the name of Christians in truth. Jesus said to Nicodemus:
I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:5-7 NLT)
To be called by name, by God’s name is therefore a question of what birth we have gone through. This can sound very confusing and even Jesus acknowledges it in his conversation with Nicodemus but Paul comes through with a beautiful explanation:
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13 NLT)
The sum of Paul’s and Jesus Christ’s statements clearly makes the argument that by believing that God through Jesus has taken the payment for our sin and declaring that faith in the name of Jesus, you are reborn by the Holy Spirit and you are now a part of a people group called Christians. Ain’t that exciting?!
Being a Christian for as long as I have been has been all kinds of beautiful. It truly is a salvation. Imagine having a natural immunity to a disease that affects everyone else and then having the capacity to transfer it to anyone that wants it! That is what living as a Christian is like! Yes, there is sin, sickness, shame and pain in this world but it has no power in my life. This means that although I get into those experiences, I always have the option of engaging them from my identity as a Christian and when I do so, they lose effectiveness and I thrive over them even up to the extent of miraculously putting them to an end physically as well. These are rights that are accessible to us only because we belong to the body of Christ. It is similar to how I have certain rights as a Nigerian that I never got to earn. I only got access to them because I was born Nigerian. In the same vein, by believing and confessing the beautiful work of salvation in Jesus, we are born of the Holy Spirit and we have access to certain rights because of that birth.
It is important to note, that regardless of my birth, I can be unaware of my belonging or the benefits of it. Where adequate communication with the source is stifled, a citizen can be alienated from things that are rightfully his primarily because he is ignorant that those rights exist. There are too many Christians that live like this. They have believed and accepted the Lordship of Christ and are born citizens of the Kingdom of God but they live as though they never experienced anything and the primary reason for this anomaly is the lack of communication with the source. The name of this article is culled from God responding to the prayers of Solomon at the dedication of the temple and God makes two things clear;
Belonging to any group of people gives you rights that can be sidelined by your actions. In the same vein, belonging to God’s people gives you rights that can be made ineffective by your actions. God said to Solomon:
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT)
It is important to note that much like citizenry, action does not negate belonging. It rather affects the experience of belonging. This means that there are things that every Christian should enjoy but they miss out on these things because their actions do not align with the principles for those things. These principles are communicated through the Holy Spirit both directly and through the written word which He inspired. When we maintain this communication line, it is akin to reading your country’s constitution and in the same manner that it makes you bolder in your identity, communication with the Holy Spirit makes you bolder in your Christianity. It is one thing to have access to every blessing God has given to His people but it is another thing to know how to use it.
In conclusion, to be called a Christian is an affirmation of citizenship. It is to say that we belong to a LORD – Jesus the Christ. It is to say we bear his name and we have access to all that He has given us. We are not a religion, we are a Kingdom and our King is awesooooooooooome! We got into this Kingdom not by anything we could do but we accepted an invitation to believe that God through Jesus paid our debts and when we believed this and confessed it, the Holy Spirit rebirthed our spirits granting us citizen status among God’s people. Our citizenship is not questionable but our experience can be challenged when we are not familiar with who we are and who we are meant to become. Therefore, communication with the Holy Spirit is paramount for us so that we can learn the ways to maximize all that God has made available for us through Jesus Christ. One thing stays true throughout this process and that is – WE ARE A PEOPLE CALLED BY THE NAME OF GOD.
Ezeonyeka Godswill
(c) 2023
Christ a poet 