Upside-Down

Heat instantly wrapped around my body as I stepped off the airplane. Even inside the terminal building of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, I found myself instinctively drawn to the buzzing air conditioners, constantly positioning my perspiring body in the path of the rotating blades in order to cool down. It was only 6 AM. The sun hadnt even risen yet and already my blood was boiling. Let me just explain here that Im an exceptionally warm-blooded individual by nature. I overheat easily and preferred temperatures leaning towards the minuses. Rainy days are my best days. So what was I doing in Nigeria? What appeal could the tropical African climate possibly hold? Well, after the lengthy process of launching my book, I had to get away. For three years Id been hammering away at my life, trying to improve my surroundings and my work environment, while finishing a manuscript for my publishers in America. Life was a driven and pointless affair and a simple cup of coffee was my escape from it all. Unintentionally I stressed about the little things that complicated my life. I delighted in subliminally highlighting the negative elements of our country. Finances was at an all-time low. Business was slow. Somehow Id been boxed in by my commitments and my desire to accomplish much in this life. I wasnt even aware how badly I needed this trip until my sisterin-law told me she was taking me along on a church tour to Nigeria, no debate. Back in Lagos, I slowly made my way through the airport security checkpoints and greeted every armed military guard with a huge smile, something the average Nigerian was not accustomed to. Lethargy seemed to run rampant because everyone glared at me with droopy eyes and had slurred speech, or they were simply reluctant when you engaged them in conversation. Before long I had formed part of a tour group and was herded out the doors and into the soaring heat wave that was the daily conditions I had been warned of. Immediately we were robbed of our luggage if only for the remainder of the trip to our domiciles, it still felt like robbery and were then motioned toward a series of small busses, which we mounted without rebuttal. After only five minutes without artificial temperature regulation the aircons on the busses were a welcome sight to us all. As Im a comfortable chatterbox I easily began talking to my newfound friends and fellow travellers. Excessive talking is something that has lured me into many a confrontation and has also been an attribute I had tried to tame with little luck. A chatterbox I would remain and I had made my peace with it. However, in a situation where people found themselves shaken by their experience and their surroundings, strangers quickly took comfort in a voice that really wanted to speak to them and a pair of ears that wanted to listen in equal measure. I shut my mouth when a pair of armed guards ran along the busses

and a robust black vehicle with flashing lights led our convey through the city of Lagos. The sheer horror of the next thirty minutes brought me down to earth in a hurry. I felt the video recorder of my mind spinning as it recorded every detail and every emotion in every face. As we drove, the world inside our busses felt miles apart from the world zipping past the windows outside. And as this strange reality came and went, so I remembered how fragile this life can be. Im easily fascinated by the things around me and I quickly draw near to pain and suffering when I can sense the hurt in others and the trials they might be facing. On the road we hit a wall of traffic everywhere we turned. There were no traffic cops we could complain about or point at when they were dozing at the side of the road. There was no order. The streets were in utter chaos. Cars and trucks and taxis competed for right of way, going this way and that, slipping into on-coming traffic, then snaking across three lanes to stop on the side of the road or across the centre island. Moving between the cars were hordes and hordes of motorcycles, each carrying two to three passengers, while cutting through the gaps in this chaotic commute, clipping bumpers and narrowly missing pedestrians. Not even our military escort or their guns got the traffic going any smoother than this. There was also the ever-present dishwasher-sized pothole to contend with. At one point the buss carrying all our luggage almost disappeared down one of these black holes, luckily bolting out the other side after a bit of a struggle. The infrastructure, road maintenance and construction was alarmingly dilapidated for a country considered to be one of the richest countries in Africa. It was exhausting in that it was difficult to reason why it had been allowed to become so neglected. Electricity lines were looped over poles and fed over busy intersections in a haphazard manner. Demarcation and electricity poles had been knocked askew in several accidents and were left in this wanton half-fallen manner to mark the numerous cracks and scars of reckless and un-policed driving. Here and there were darkened shells of burnt-out buildings, abandoned and forlorn musings of broken-down factories, and numerous defaced structures of similitude. Upon entering the likeness of a residential area my heart tightened in my chest and I was overcome by all forms of sadness and shame. This feeling inside me was not unlike the feeling one might endure when seeing a three-legged dog limping along a busy street, but more spiritual in sort. All the while my mind recorded and remembered. I saw a physical need for God. I clearly noticed a spiritual lack and I had a desire to fill it. Masses of people moved to and fro like robots en route to a predetermined destination. Torn and dirty clothes. Shoeless feet. Crying babies. Blank faces by the hundreds, by the thousands. Tiny wooden structures, shacks upon shacks, rows and rows of them, each shack housing full families - a feat which seemed impossible to me at the time. Food and goods were moved around by means of wheelbarrows and buckets and eager fingers. It was nothing shy of

a Discovery or National Geographic documentary, but it was right in front of you. This pain was so real you could reach out and touch it, and, if you really wanted to, make an immediate difference with very little effort. When you gave a child here an empty plastic bottle their eyes instantly lit up and they screamed with delight. They would run around banging the bottle and show it to their friends. I was not used to this easy, uncomplicated enthusiasm. It took something very special to light up my eyes like that. Thats why my wife says Im the most difficult person to buy gifts for. Nothing impresses me anymore because the world had numbed me and expectation had seared my childish excitement. When did I become so absent? The reality of Third World poverty can stain our unblemished conscience. We choose not to see this side of the world because we want to avoid our compassionate side and worry about our own heap of troubles. We want to look at the glass as half-empty and doom our positive attitudes before we reach the office. We shower our world with the gray dust of misery by allowing negativity to grip us. We do not understand difficulty like these people. We do not understand pain. We will never understand the mysterious way of our God. It only took a thirty-minute drive through a foreign country to turn my world upside-down and to humble me. Quite often God takes us out of our comfort zones and calls us into a wild and foreign place. Exemplary scriptures abound in this regard. Abraham, Moses, Noah, David, etc. Even Jesus, when he fasted, went into the dessert to draw near to God. We can find perspective when we experience the hardships and the troubles of others away from our familiar environment. Sadly, most people will never see this world. They will continue along their lives, stressed by the mundane things that fill their days and consumed by a desire to obtain more. They will chase another promotion and the security of money, the metaphorical greener pastures, and they will always fall short. I urge everyone to break your own mould or to derail yourself for the briefest moment and to closely observe those in greater need than yourself so that you might understand true need and be spiritually enriched by it. When I finally returned home, my concerns felt so pointless when compared to the woes of the average Nigerian or unemployed South African or unsaved individual. What on earth had I been bitching about prior to my trip? Hard as I tried I couldnt even remember. Whatever it had been, it would still be there when I got back to work. If someone can go from day to day with only a bowl of rice and meat sauce, then I can surely make it without focusing on the negatives. If someone can sleep under a newspaper every night, then I have no right to utter a single word in contempt. After numerous prayer sessions I found a few aids in the Word to remind me that in time this life will pass, and with it my troubles will disappear. Also that my aim as a Christian should be not to get lost in the materialism that so

ensnares everyone and to be thankful for what I have. These five points some it up. Firstly, give freely to those in need, not in a boastful manner but in a humble way (Mat 6: 1-4). And giving doesnt always mean money. Give someone the gift of Christ when they need it and when the Spirit leads you. Sometimes just giving your time to someone multiplies its rewards in your own life. You gain perspective. You quickly learn to appreciate and give thanks for your little. Secondly, do not build up treasures in this life, where moth and rust destroys, because where your treasure is there you heart will be also (Mat 6: 21). Learn to live without. Instantly you will feel as if a burden has been removed from your shoulders. The less you max the cards to feed the hobbies or to entertain the neighbours, the less likely you are to be bound to the material. Thirdly, as for the many worldly issues that bog us down every day, review all your thoughts, pastimes, and mental demands that eat away at your spare time. That which we devote our time to will inadvertently reflect in our lives. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light(Mat 6: 22-24). Fourthly, stop worrying and complaining about survival and petty worldly troubles (Mat 6: 25 - 33). Let tomorrow be anxious for itself(v 33). Enough said. Anxiety and stress kills! Jesus instructed us not to worry. Lastly, live a quiet life, mind your own business, and work with your hands so that you will not be dependent on anyone (1 Thes 4: 11-12). Be not derailed by others, but rather set an example for them. Be in control of your life by focusing on the things that make it your life: your Heavenly Father and your family. Spend time with God behind closed doors, praying in private and in silence (Mat 6: 5-8) and he will make your little existence and your hurdles seem inconsequential. He will reveal to you the greatest treasure of all and give you the key to the everlasting kingdom.