Posts by Deborah Osinowo

I don't want a D!

 
Whenever anyone I know gets wind of the fact that I own a blog, and they try to confirm it from me, I tell them “yes” and then I immedieately add:
“I’m not very serious about it”.
Whose fault? It’s just like when you get a D in a test and you say “I didn’t actually study”.
It doesn’t justify it. Most people don’t care. The fact remains that there was a test, people aced it,  but you didn’t!
I open a blog, I don’t post much, it’s a D grade.
Now, two days ago, in an eureka moment, I decided a D grade wasn’t befitting me. I had a post whipped up and I thought it was pretty good. Airtel network on the other hand was pretty bad so it wouldn’t upload on here. Guys, that was how I mistakenly deleted my post. It was gone. It’s not the first time that would happen to me. I recall once writing about a funny experience and in the blink of an eye, I got it deleted somehow.
I choose to be persistent however because I realize that giving an excuse like that still earns me a D. *Low and deep sigh*
Afoma of ihundasmusings.com undertook a photography project last year. She put up a post weekly containing pictures she had taken all through the week; atleast a picture per day. I think it’s really helpful. It’ll help sharpen your photography skills, help you notice more beauty in the mundane.
I’ve always nursed an interest in photography. I realize I don’t have to wait until I get my Nikon or Canon camera before I do what I desire. Perhaps my humble phone camera can land me where those gadgets would be begging to have me, yes?
Alright so I will be having my photography posts up starting from next week Sunday.
And cheers to me,?for leaving D for a better grade.
Feel free to let me know if i’m still bordering on a D or higher. Please don’t let it be lower. Please.

BOOK REVIEW–BLINK OF AN EYE

Heyy guys. This post is a review of “Blink of an eye”.

This book is categorized as mystery.

I read the Paperback format . The book opens in a very enthralling manner. I’d admit what made me choose to read it and not drop it back on the shelf was the review by Karen Kingsbury on the front cover. Karen was quoted to have said:

   “His(Ted Dekker’s) use of suspense and intrigue caught me at the first page”

So I thought to myself, well let me see that intrigue in the first page. Intrigue and suspense did I indeed see. The setting didn’t open in America which I would’ve been tired of. It was Saudi Arabia; a place I’m not well abreast of. I got a slight insight into the social condition of Saudi Arabia. Ted Dekker right on the first page made me giggle. The book is about a super-intelligent guy( which I never get tired of),Seth and a slightly rebellious Saudi princess, Miriam. Both become fugitive and have to weave through life’s experiences on a fun (to the reader) yet scary roller coaster.
I’d say Miriam is my favourite character due to something of a loyalty to her faith. She also has an intelligent perspective. Her friend Sultana also rubs off on me in a good way; we don’t have enough encounters with Sultana but I still Love her person.

It’s written in a 3rd person POV. I can relate to the characters in a contextual manner.
The characters feel real to me although uh I don’t think I’m ever going to meet a clairvoyant person, so that’s out the window.

While I read, the story gripped me and kept me turning the pages, it was largely unpredictable. The title used to be “Blink” when it was published initially but was altered based on the need to make a movie out of it. Not all the ideas are well developed, the author leaves you to imagine some part.

I particularly love the interview with the author at the end of the book. He brings out salient points which he might have presented slightly earlier on. He is a little unabash about his stance too. The book covers the themes of acceptance, love, hope, betrayal and more.

I’d recommend this book to inquisitive people and lovers of intrigue(which you most likely are among, right?). The book has left me panting after other books by the author which I’m a little ashamed to admit I haven’t read before. Ted Dekker Ted Dekker Ted Dekker. I’d rate the book four out of five stars.

On acceptance of other people’s culture:

“but all of these practices advanced Saudi culture in a way the west did not see. Saudis understood the value of strong families for example. of loyalty to God and his word. Of respect for an order that supported both families and God”

On Conflict:

“the world’s religion had engaged themselves in a great struggle. A struggle between those who wanted to fix the world with the sword and those who wanted to fix it with love”
“yes, God was great, but those who swung the sword on his behalf were not, Samir thought”
On a sense of self-preservation/struggle for survival:
“he still didn’t know how they were going to survive, but he did believe that they were meant to survive, and that was enough”
“the sheik had not only been spared but commended for his reversal of loyalty in the eleventh hour. Though he’d been one of the plotters he was still more valuable to the king as a friend than an enemy. It was the way of the desert”

On conviction:

“prayer may just be the most powerful tool mankind has”

On Love:

“bright red petals from two hundred roses flown in from Holland blanketed the water. Evidently the groom, Hatam bin Hazat had heard that his young bride liked red roses. Upon seeing the extravagant display two days earlier, Sita vowed never to look upon another red rose in her life”
“one day, if he would be so fortunate, he would find another woman to love…she would be free, and if she was not, he would set her free. Like a bird”
“love changes everything”
“love your neighbour as yourself”

On female subjugation:

“Miriam could not decide. Most women she knew had a hard enough time getting out of the house, much less out of the country. Who was she to think she could run?”
“she dipped her head, replaced her veil and left the tent without another word”

Please oga orange, what's in a name?


I do hope you and your buddy will really find a way to celebrate Christmas. I guess you’re Muslims. I guess you think I’m silly. Which gets me thinking, do people really never ask you about yourself? Is it abnormal to be petitioned about something other than oranges? Your name, simple! 
As an answer to the first question,  I apologize. we are mostly busy. sometimes in a rat race or in a real one. I only have time to engage you this holiday period, forgive our self-absorbed nature. Will you read my tract? Or use it as an orange peel parker. It’s Christmas eve and I really hope you find a meaning to Christmas and do tell people your name. I hope 2016 for you,  is more than selling oranges near an atm.
-Your sister
Debby

MY WEEK…

It’s been a full week really. I’m still excited. Last week Sunday was my sister’s birthday. I spent two nights in her hostel. It was a blessed and fun time. I ate a lot. I had to read too as I had exam the following day. A big exam as it were. On Monday my exam was a success. I began to prep for my exam the following day again. My prep was short-lived as I slept. Hmm, the exam was fine naw. Anyway happiness, freedom. Exam period is such a drag. It’s fun when you get the hang or gist of the topic but when you consider how much you have to do, ugh. Plus if you sleep at the rate I do, mehn…
that Tuesday I had also helped my friend, Olola, our fellowship colporteur sort through the books and attach price tags, arranging them neatly in big ghana must go bags. I settled to eat indomie at night.
Wednesday I woke up a free man. Had my devotion, flexed in my room till time for carol which I probably over-killed in my imagination and anticipation. At a point I wanted to just check my phone browse through apps but Christ wouldn’t let me. The devotion I put to IVCU service must be equal to that when children sing in a church, no matter how boring, otherwise it isn’t Christ I reverence in IVCU services. Hmm, don’t I just love when God says something like that. I missed home o. my home church! We had IVCU service afterward.
Thursday I was up at it early, from TKP office to all over school. Night time we had finalist commissioning in my hostel. It was amazing, I thank God. Then a vigil, I was sooo fagged out. Ah! I was glad I went anyway, fatigue musn’t come in the way. Friday I was all over school again and down to TKP office( THE KINGDOM PROJECT), touching lives at Christmas is only so close. I had to buy food out two times. I never really do that. Time to get to the market. I had a vigil again. It’s actually a continuation of the Thursday night retreat. I had EXCOS meeting for a while. In my hostel I did a number of things before God caused a deep sleep to fall upon me, mehn…
End of that gist. Permit me to tell you, Saturday was basically absent in my calendar. I woke up and kept checking the window to be sure I could see well. My phone was dead.
Today is Sunday. I envision so much already. Issoorait. All in God’s hands eh.
Do have a blessed week

we're weak without weekly words

oratorical :
(adj.) characteristic of an orator or oratory; “oratorical prose”; “harangued his men in an oratorical way”- Robert Graves;
limpid :
(adj.) 1. (of language) transparently clear; easily understandable; “writes in a limpid style”; lucid; luculent; pellucid; crystal clear; perspicuous;  2. transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity; “could see the sand on the bottom of the limpid pool”; crystalline; crystal clear; lucid; pellucid; transparent;  3. clear and bright; “limpid blue eyes”; liquid;
oscitance :
(n.) 1. an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom; yawn; yawning; oscitancy;  2. drowsiness and dullness manifested by yawning; oscitancy;
N.B: i know, i know, i have not made my weekly words post weekly. and no, i am not weak!

I'm not incidental to you!

 It seems the children were merely incidental to him. Perhaps there is someone in your life, you’re  convinced without a doubt in your heart (maybe in your household or among your friends),  that God’s hand is evident upon, do you presume that spiritually you are incidental to them in the scheme of life. You probably haven’t considered it.
 Could it be that when things are going to move spiritually, you have no stamina, no weight in the spirit world, so much that your movement would be as a result of the other person’s influence. Trust me, that is not preferable. It could be a positive or negative movement. 
Take a look at Job’s life. How could it be that the children had not wondered “oh! What is going on here? Our dad is the most influential man in the east, he fears God, he is respected. Why is my life all about the wealth he has amassed and the weekly parties we rotate? Why? Why don’t we live lives that are holy enough so there is no weekly ‘daddy’s kids consecration’ ” 
oh why didn’t they cry? How I wish they did.
 
This routine or cycle,  if you please, went on. They obliged him by coming for the consecration, not that it was totally unpalatable. 
Oh on that night,  they had made merry In their heart, with the first daughter saying “how is it that only you guys hold the parties and invite us. We daughters will throw the next one. I will make sure you all get drunk to your fill. What a man can do, a woman can do much better.” 
Are you supposed? don’t you know wealth usually makes a person more enlightened. Maybe it was at that stage that the feminist revolution was to be birthed. They took no thought for tomorrow. Daddy will pray for us. Well daddy’s life was about to change.
The devil had just left the presence of God plotting to plague Job further. Just till his faith will shrink and he will curse God.
If awakening feminist daughter 1 had just a bit of spiritual understanding. If she had developed a relationship with God. If she could be someone God will brag about, death wouldn’t have followed. 
She wouldn’t have been incidental to Job’s life on earth such as to be sacrificed. She would have been her own person, with a mandate to fulfil. Someone with spiritual weight and influence. Someone even the devil will have been interested in trying. 
Rather they all died because Job, who had spiritual weight, was going to have a change in his life. 

God, I want to grow more and more in you. I want to mean so much to you. I don’t want to be reckoned in the spiritual realm in relation to someone. I want to be close to you.

Jesus the son of God i believe in you

Trust
Its in releasing the reins
He says it and his word is true
The heathens rage
The rulers of the world gather
They all rose against the firstborn son too
The apostles prayed, faces upwards, believing
Immediate answer came
I know you are waiting for me
Just this release into your hands
Because you have said it and your word is true

building happiness

it’s in this flutter of a new life
this hope that springs to my mind
smelling of freshness
scenting rose
it’s where I place myself
never really having been
never waiting for it to show up
forming happiness from these jigsaw puzzle
never complete
it’s where I place myself

i found your nose

You know I signed up for you sometimes
…Without realizing
It was the simplest thing to do
Forget Facebook, forget instagram
They encroach on the space you give them
I signed up for you
Bane of my being
How hard can it be for this encroach-ers
to give me MySpace
Let me be
I need MY SPACE!

Nawa for this capacity

If the woods could speak
They’d tell us stories
If walls could speak
They’d be dumb right back
But God you know all
You see all, you hear all
You’re never overwhelmed
You never go out of capacity