Koxie's Diaries

I recently read this article below on the internet and thought to myself that it aptly describes the difference that the presence of God has made in my life in the year 2009. But for God, I can't begin to imagine where I would have been today. I just can't fathom how people without Christ survive on a daily basis in the Country. It's tough enough when you have the backing of the King of Kings, not to mention if your trust is in man or worse still if you're totally on your own. I'm so grateful for the touch of the Master's hand upon my life. The Article: Myra was a woman battered and scarred from severe arthritis. Her legs were held captive in a wheelchair, but her soul was forever free. With one pencil in each crippled hand, she used the erasers to type words on her typewriter. The joy of her efforts in typing the words outweighed the pain of creating them. One day, when a friend was leaving Myra's home, she patted her wheelchair and said, "And

I’ve often wondered why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving every year. What is the big fuss about the day? Is it just about dinner with friends and family? Is it about the exchange of gifts, the crazy (and sometimes deadly) shopping on Black Friday? Who are they thanking anyway? What is the thanksgiving for? Whatever the reason for this special day, I guess it never hurts to have a grateful heart. Only problem I have with the tradition is that too much emphasis is laid on one single day when really, thanksgiving should be an all year affair and should be celebrated daily! This also applies to Christmas and Easter by the way. Well, I’m glad I don’t have to wait till Thanksgiving Day to be thankful and to celebrate my family, my friends, my loved ones...I don’t have to hold on one minute to appreciate people who have meant the world to me through the year... There’s never a time too soon to say sweet words like ‘’I love you, I appreciate you, you mean so much to me, I’m grateful for you

Last week I was to travel to Port Harcourt for a business meeting. I had just returned from Abuja the day before. Usually I hate traveling (especially local flights) and more importantly, I hate traveling alone. On Wednesday morning, just before leaving for the airport, I started looking for something to read on the plane since I was to be traveling alone. In my rush, I stumbled upon two small notebooks I used to write in a couple of years ago (you see, I have all sorts of notebooks and jotters I write stuff in when the mood hits me so these were just two of them). I picked them in a hurry and off I went to the airport. In the plane I picked up one of the notebooks to read and wow, was I shocked at what I read? Apparently, this notebook was titled “ NUGGETS OF LIFE ” and had some short biblical confessions/motivational words I used to write and speak to out loud to myself back then. I kept reading and reading and to my greatest surprise, I realised that majority of the words I had

Blessed, happy and to be envied are you….. 1) ...when you are not married; for you don’t have to be saddled with the responsibilities of caring for a man, his family, kids, friends etc 2) ...when you are not married; for you are not concerned about the series of marital issues arising on a daily basis that lead individuals to intense depression & suicidal thoughts 3) ...when you are married; for you will not have to carry certain loads & responsibilities all by yourself 4) ...when you are married; for you do not have to spend the  entire night staring at your pillow when your mates are being cuddled & pampered 5) ...when you do not have children; for you don’t have to look out for anyone but yourself 6) …when you have children; for when you get home, their warm embrace make the laborious day worthwhile 7) …when you do not have a nanny/maid; or you won’t be struck with sudden heart attack when she just ups and leaves in the middle of the week when your chil

I have a question that's been heavy on my mind lately: Who is a leader? What does it take to be a true leader? In Nigeria today, we have several seminars, trainings, lectures on this ambiguous word ''LEADERSHIP'' and yet I'm beginning to wonder if these trainings are having any impact on the so-called leaders of our corporate society? For the past couple of days I have been opportuned to talk with people who are experiencing serious torture, harassment, and threats in their various workplaces. They happen to be working with bosses who are either egocentric, power hungry, slave drivers and/or devil incarnates and this is greatly affecting their output at work, their morale, their mental and even their physical health. The common trend now is for young managers who have suddenly tasted power to begin to Lord this power over everyone around them. Question is why do you feel that you have to be bitchy and shrewd to prove a point or to get people to follow you?

Guess what? Something interesting happened to me yesterday...Something I never thought was possible... I went to the cinemas with my hubby to watch a movie. When we got to the counter to pay, we had three options of movies to watch. There were two foreign movies and one made in Nigerian. Naturally, the made in Nigeria movie was not an option for me so it was a choice between the other two foreign movies. However, my hubby (who by the way detests Nigerian movies) had seen the preview of this particular Nigerian film and thought it might be interesting. Anyway, after much argument back and forth trying to convince me (who hates Nigerian films even more); we decided to watch the Nigerian movie! Hmmm...I was so so sceptical about the movie; I kept telling my hubby that we'll be the only ones in the theatre. On getting into the theatre however, I first of all was shocked to see the place almost full. Ok, we settled down to watch the movie and all the time, I kept looking o

Today on my way home from a meeting in church I saw a lady standing along the road beside a broken down car. She had at least 5 kids in the car with her nanny and she looked very worried and upset. Her car had apparently stopped out of the blues and refused to restart despite all attempts. As I passed her car, a scene suddenly flashed in front of me – I imagined myself standing there with a broken down car full of kids, stuck on the express... Immediately, all the places I was rushing to...all the things I urgently needed to do before the end of the day suddenly seemed so unimportant to me and so I did something most Nigerians won’t dare to do...I stopped to help!! I got down, walked over to the lady and smiled sweetly, asked what the problem was etc. She lived in Isheri and was on her way to Lekki for a function. I knew I’d probably not know what to do to help with the car but I was hoping to help at least take the kids to a safe place while she sorted out her car or at the very leas

In my church we have this wonderful elderly woman we fondly call “Grandma” (pronounced the Nigerian way oh! LOL..). She was an active member of the parish for so many years until sometime last year when she fell ill and became bed ridden. Not only was she an active member, she was regarded as some sort of Matron to all the children of the church. She showered the kids (and everyone really) with so much love; buying gifts, cakes and sweets at every opportunity (I guess that’s what endeared the kids to her the most!). I remember very well that whenever the kids saw her entering the gate of the church, you’d see a host of them running towards her and almost throwing her down with their hugs and kisses. They’d grab her bag, her bible and sometimes even her walking stick at which point she’d tell them to just hold it with her as she walked in. We’ve missed those memorable days with Grandma. Anyway, since we hadn’t seen Grandma (at least not as a group) in months, last week Sunday, the t

I have a sister-in-law who is a GARRI IJEBU freak! This babe (and even my husband) relish the Nigerian delicacy like it was some kind of caviar. I hear even their mum is a huge fan. I never could understand the love for drinking Garri that these people have...and I probably never will. Anyway, on Sunday, all of a sudden, I remember that there was this time in Secondary School when we used to drink garri with a dash of lemon or lime, ice cubes and sugar (of course). So I told them about it and asked them to try it out and they both went "NO WAY, THAT'S WEIRD!!!". I ignored them of course. Luckily I had both lime and lemon in the fridge so I got out my husband's favourite bowl, ceremoniously prepared the garri and ice cubes with some lime squeezed into it and served it to him with delicious hot Moi-Moi (hmmm...how do I explain moi moi to my oyinbo brothers and sisters?? Ok, for the sake of a name, just call it steamed bean cake). I presented the tray to my husban

Yesterday morning, after writing my diary entries, I went through the old blogs and felt I wasn’t getting as much visitors, comments and encouragement as I would have loved to. I started getting worked up and then all sorts of thoughts started flying through my head….maybe my diary is boring, maybe I don’t really have something worth telling the world, maybe I wasn’t good enough as I imagined… Then again I thought it could be that I wasn’t spreading the word fast enough, I wasn’t telling enough people… Then I started thinking, ok, maybe I should start forwarding the link to everyone on my address book (I think I already did that!) and then maybe I should post the link DAILY on Facebook, maybe I should join other networking sites, maybe I should make announcements in my church, in my office, everywhere. Trust me, I thought of all sorts! Just before I clicked send on the post I forwarded to friends yesterday, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me “Do not send your posts to anyone anymore.

I have this colleague/friend in my office; sweet, young, vibrant and full of bright ideas. She’s a typical Igbo babe and so is very money conscious (well who isn’t?). We talk often about all sorts of things but most especially we talk about our visions and dreams, business ideas, self improvement ideas, things that we wish we could see happen in our society and so on. So much so that we usually go as far as discussing how to kick start the idea, how to market it, how to save the profits and re-invest the money etc. We usually get so excited about our ideas because they are so big and so brilliant and so workable; these are ideas that are sure to be a hit the moment they hit the streets. Sometimes when we’re done talking, we praise ourselves and talk about how we’re “too much sha” and all that. Everything about our ideas are usually perfect and foul proof. The only trouble is (I’m sure you’ve already guessed)…. We never get up from our office seats and start the project!!! Imagin

Dear Reader, Last night I watched a bit of a movie called "Shooting Dogs" about the Rwanda Genocide that happened in 1994. For some reason, I've never followed that story to find out what really happened to cause so much hatred, anger and bitterness between brothers. Honestly, it brought tears to my eyes...watching men, women and little children die like dogs. I decided to google the story so as to know the history of this war. It's so amazing how a tiny spark can cause such a disastrous wildfire, how one small misunderstanding can bring about so much pain and destruction . If you have never read about it before, you may wish to visit this BBC site to read how it all happened. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm Since watching the movie, I've been asking God why he lead me to that particular movie (I usually am too tired to watch anything when I get home after work). Besides, I have seen that movie several times before but never bothered to stop a

Hi, This is my first time creating and using a blog. Hmmm ... Still don't have a hang of how it works but it looks quite simple so far. For so many years I have written all sorts in journals and kept them in my closet. A lot of these journals have been infested by insects who have obviously found a better use for them than I. If insects had not discovered them, mould and mildew certainly settled in and now they are no more. Recently, I stumbled on one of the journals I wrote in 2007 and was reading through it and I had to ask myself one question... so whose life has been blessed by all these words and deep revs I've received from the Throne room of God? Well, other than the insects, I am ashamed to say NO ONE ! So today, I'm grateful to God for the wisdom he has given man to create something called the Internet , the WW, and more importantly, blogs like this where simply regular people like me can pour out what God drops on my mind and hope that someday, somewhere, s