The story behind the consecration…

Brethren! Amen to coming up for air! This, in the midst of a lot of traveling, meetings, and trying to grow a little baby I birthed recently. Story about that coming soon… Very soon!

Today, let me start by apologizing in advance for any names I leave out, not my intention at all; there’s just a lot of people to be grateful to!

So my father was consecrated Bishop on the 8th of August, and I am grateful the day has come and gone, that it was glorious, God honored Himself, church was full to overflowing with guests, worshippers, family, it was just awesome!

This post is not really a chronicle of the events of the day to be honest because my sisters and I were so busy distributing souvenirs, running errands, etc that at a point we wondered why we bothered to dress up at all. Like it’s only Wumi who has a photo of herself on the day, that’s how wound up in work we were!

But Daddy is everything to us though, and it was our privilege to help out, our honor as a family that people came to share in, and we wouldn’t exchange our duties for anything in the world! So this is more of my thank you’s from before, to after.

First off, goes without saying that God is amazing. I have seen God’s hand; His love, mercies, on and on and on! From the horrible news we got in 2012 that we thought would destroy us, to God drying our eyes with the birth of cutest, most brilliant nephew on the planet, God constantly assured (and reassured us) that He hadn’t forgotten us (and didn’t have any plans to).

2012 ended. 2013. 2014. God by His own hand steered my father to the birth of Grace and Progress Family Chapel. Faithful, faithful God; the One who calls, and makes both provision and strength available so there is no stress whatsoever!

And in His own time, the lifting came. The ILCOM college of bishops led by ArchBishop John Praise Daniel, the 8th of August, the consecration was a go.

And so the planning began. And so my thank you’s begin. Remember the place in the Old Testament where Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands? I must thank precious sons and daughters who regardless of their schedules held all our hands up throughout the planning. Led by Abel Adeleke, a very big thank you to The Committee for attending meetings upon meetings, strategizing, praying, and all you did to see that the 8th of August was glorious.

To the guests who braved the perilous flight schedules in and out of Asaba (we had guests whose flight returned to where they took off from due to poor weather); we missed you but we’re glad you’re safe. To the ones who made it and travelled back to their homes even in the same day, thank you for sharing our joy! People literally travelled from the furthest parts of Nigeria (and beyond) to worship with us. So overwhelming, the love and support!

To everyone who sent in a goodwill message, whether included in our brochure or not; thank you. For even thinking that it was the thing to do, we’re grateful. You thought of us, prayed with us, rejoiced with us, and we couldn’t be more thankful! May you never lack people to stand with you!

Thank you to Jackie Assenga, who made us ladies look even more beautiful on the day; she’s so good we had to arrange to bring her in from Abuja! She’s such a great make up artiste who truly understands the words, ‘nude/subtle/complementary’ when it comes to touching up a face. She’s on Instagram as just_aces_mua, you should totally check her out! And she takes the most beautiful pictures too!

Thank you to my uncles and aunts for coming through… was so proud seeing all of them standing by him! This thing about blood being thicker (and prettier) than water rings so true! God bless all of you, and keep you!

I also want to thank the best best friend on this planet, Wumi, for coming through, and truly being my sister. From playing with Boo Boo (and fighting with him sometimes, lol), to helping with all the cleaning, sharing, working, everything! Wumi is truly a gift to us from God, and I couldn’t be more thankful for her.

Mwah!

To my brothers and sister, pillars of love, support, encouragement! This is our story, and I’m totally grateful to God we’re in it, telling it together. Thank you, for being you.

To mom, who’s been there from the beginning of this story, who has cushioned us from feeling things as they really were, you’re the best maman, and we love you very much!

And to my father, Bishop Chuka Agwuegbo, welcome to a new era, to a greater connection with God, to joy unspeakable, peace and wisdom without measure; welcome to greater patience, greater understanding, more exploits wrought for the Kingdom of God via this new lifting. We rejoice with you, because what was intended for destruction God turned around beautifully, just like only He can!

Lifting is in the air! Yours too!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, sons and daughters of God!

How have you been o!

I saw Eziaha’s tweet early this morning, where she literally said, ‘go and write Chioma’. I hear you Sister! How’s KingDaveed? Please hurry up and have a girl so my son will marry her biko (you have to be extra calculative and sharp in the spirit to catch that)!

Brethren, what have you been up to? How’s work, your family, your loved ones, your enemies? All doing well I hope, especially your enemies, so they can see the feast God has laid out for you, and watch you chomp it down! I was having a conversation with a close friend this morning and it led me to pray, “may we never become collateral damage/may we never get caught in the middle”. Somebody say Amen!

For instance, a person is standing somewhere, two others start fighting or a robbery takes place or a car careens off the road, all three affect the innocent bystander, sometimes fatally, or with life-changing injuries. Not our portion. No accidental or wilful damage around us in Jesus name!

Talk about trusting God to order our steps out of trouble and into great things. Not a joke o!

Moving on, quick update.

This Saturday!

The story behind this consecration will be told later, muuuuuuuch later. For now, all I can say is a big thank you to God for making it happen, for the lifting, the promotion, and the attendant grace and wisdom to function in the new office.

This is what I’ve been immersed in the last few weeks, working with the most brilliant senior committee ever to ensure that the day is glorious, everything goes well, and the name of the Lord is magnified above any other person or thing.

Can I also say that whatever has held down your own lifting will either leave it, or will leave; either way, your lifting is closer than you think! Amen!

So, fingers crossed I can write up one more post before the day, otherwise, y’all are going to wait till this wave passes!

Light, love, and God’s great blessings!

FGS!

Training, Warri, and something (or two) about Denaj Hotels

Welcome to the end of March! Have you had a good month? I know I have!

Much earlier in the month, I was invited to Warri to facilitate at training for some officials from various organizations working in the Niger Delta. And I was excited, for a number of reasons. Since I ran a couple sessions late last year I discovered that training is something I really enjoy plus I hadn’t been in Warri since 199something and so I was really excited about the trip.

Flight was uneventful except I must mention that Arik Air thrive in the midst of confusion. It’s incredible! So my flight was for 8am, and I was at the airport before 7am. There was a rapidly lengthening queue, Arik Air officials doing what the Lord alone can explain because there wasn’t any progress.

And then of course people started jostling about and getting rowdy because their flights were getting announced. Guess what? They delayed the flight. Lol…

Anyway, we finally boarded the miniature plane, and off we went. Landed in Benin, and then did the 45+ minutes drive to Warri. I was taken to my lodgings, a place called Denaj Hotels. I was a little concerned when I saw these two signs but I said I’d be a good girl and not make a fuss about anything.

This was at the bar.

This was at the gate.

Have you noticed that when we say we’re not going to do something bad it seems like all the devils in hell relocate to our ends just to make us renege on that promise?

Children of God, the sheets had funny stains on them – not even going to hazard a guess around that. Then the toilet seat looked like there’s been a pissing contest for blindfolded guys.

I was confused. There was no menu in the room either, and I was starving.

I called for someone to clean the bathroom (not change the room – remember, no fuss), and then I ordered jollof rice, plantain and chicken. Food came on a tray without cutlery, and the cleaner still hadn’t come.

So I went downstairs, and had to get cutlery myself, and pried a lady attendant from her phone and argument with the receptionist about her not being the person to clean my room. I ate (don’t ask any questions – I was starving), and then had a meeting where I complained to the heavens about the entire situation (by this time chill had departed), and then I spread my mom’s wrapper on the sheets, and slept. The evening, the morning, and it was time to prep for the first day of training.

First off, I woke up with some sort of itch on my arms and feet. There was no hot water. I’d finished my water and I didn’t even feel okay buying water. So, no shower, and I settled for gargling with my mouth wash.

Was I grumpy or what!! Hian! I mean it was lovely to meet the class, 21 bright-eyed people who I was supposed to be useful to, but I couldn’t shake the itch and it was all so disorienting, two mugs of my favorite brew didn’t help.

We were moved to Protea that evening, and guess what I did first? Phew… Thank you Jesus! I had a proper dinner as well, three-course type of business. Talmabout getting my groove back!

So what did I teach the class? We did an introduction to social media, tools and platforms, what their organizations might need (or not), and the personal vs corporate communication. We also learned about keeping ourselves safe online, hyperlinks, infographics, blogging, and developing articles for their organizations. Of course there were lots of things we tried our hands at (internet permitting), and I ended up creating a WordPress blog for one organization, a Facebook page for another, and personal Twitter and LinkedIn accounts for members of the class.

I also met Samson Idoko, a very brilliant young man and co-facilitator who taught Microsoft Office in a way I’ve never seen/heard it taught before. Tips, shortcuts, tricks across Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and it was a free class for me!! I learned so much!

There was also Frank, a staff of the organization who ensured we were always overfed! God bless him, one afternoon I said I wanted fish and a salad for lunch, and here’s the fish I got! I shared mine with Samson and we gave his out – walai I would have dozed if I ate that alone!

There was James who drove us around, and had this hilarious bad eye he would give other people who were driving dangerously. Thank you for making me smile everyday!

And the icing on the cake? The feedback from the class! I grabbed a bit of it, and then there was the email from one of the attendees, which was the sweetest thing I’ve read in a while. Sweetest.

I learned lessons about myself, about people, and about social media on this trip. Start from confirming that Lagos, Abuja are on one level with social media, and the rest of the country on a totally different level. Totally different ladies and gentlemen. It might not mean much till you juxtapose that with political communication, numbers and expectations for these elections.

And now for a shameless plug: want a social media trainer for your organization? Get in touch, already!

Warri was great, I love the class, and it was my privilege to share my skill/knowledge; massive thanks to the organizers and technical adviser for the opportunity, and for ensuring that we were comfortable. Let’s do it again!

Let’s take a trip – welcome to Obosi!

I haven’t been in my village for a good number of years, save the 24 hours I spent in 2010 for my sister’s traditional wedding (there’s got to be a separate chronicle for that someday)!

Anyway, so my cousin was getting married and I told myself that somehow my trip to see Momma would fall within that period. And it did.

The story about the trip to Asaba from Abuja is here; yep it’s the story about the ‘beggi beggi’ woman.

Cue Friday afternoon, and the 25 minutes drive to my village from Asaba; my father believes he’s from a town though, never says he’s from a village. 🙂

Occurred to us that apart from a 24 hour stint in 2010 when my sister had her traditional wedding – got in from London that morning, road trip to the village, met what I could of the traditional wedding and left the next morning – I’d not been in the village in at least five years so Daddy (Lord bless him) gave a running commentary of pretty much everything that had changed. ‘Changed’ here could mean it’d gotten better or completely gone South by the way.

I ended up tweeting some of the things he said… let’s go grab those off Twitter then.

Whoop!

Was awesome seeing my uncles and aunts, and super awesome to just take a nice stroll around. People in the villages lead healthier/simpler lives than all of us town folk o, regardless of what privileges we thing we enjoy. For example, I had roasted corn and pear (oka n’ube) and the corn was harvested from a farm near by. Fresh, succulent, and soft!

Yes Sir!!!

By the way, electricity was also a lot more constant than what we have in Asaba, no jokes. And I hear they are not saddled with bills (fixed or energy charges) that we town folk have to deal with either. Next thing y’all will hear I’ve relocated to my village o!

Before I forget, do you know where bitter kola comes from? So I was strolling with Uncle B (my favorite of all my father’s brothers), and he showed me this tree and told how bitter kola is derived. Plus he has lots of the ‘ugolo’ trees on his land, anyone want to bring us an export proposal?

And you know you’re in the village when your uncle stops a random stranger in the street and introduces you to them because you’re related!!
The evening, the morning, wedding day!

Got up early, did some work and then a bit of reading, and then prepped for my cousin’s wedding. She still didn’t know I was around, he he he.

We got to church and I think the last time I was inside this particular church I was a child. As in child, child. Still looks beautiful though, wonder why we don’t invest in ‘protecting’ all these aged buildings. See potential tourist site o…

Took pictures with my uncles, and a selfie with uncle B!

Went off to the reception, and things stood out for me so I tweeted (me and Twitter sha)…

Na wa!

 

Eating, dancing, and gifting over, it was time to head back to Asaba, and I didn’t want to go.

Pertinent note from Daddy as we crossed the Niger Bridge and I wondered why people were risking life and limb to board buses on the bridge going into Asaba.

Apparently, if they board on the bridge, the trip costs N100 because it is classed as ‘local’ (because some people see the bridge as part of Delta) but if they board anywhere in Onitsha (even if it’s just before said bridge), it becomes an out-of-state trip and it goes up to N150, maybe even N200.

And that my darlings, is the story of my trip to the greatest village/town on earth!

 

 

PS – Written on the 11^th (and completed on the 11^th) of July.