ASTONISHING FACTS ABOUT YOUR BODY

Do you know that your body is an incredibly complex and intricate system and  still baffles researchers regularly despite thousands of years of medical knowledge? As a result, it shouldn't be a surprise that your body parts you deal with everyday have unexpected facts and explanations behind them.
Here are some facts about the human body: 

* The brain is more active at night than during the day. Scientists don't know yet why this is.
*The higher your IQ, the more you dream.
*Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body.
*The nail on the middle finger grows faster than the other fingernails.
*Fingernails grow nearly four times faster than toe nails.
*The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average.
*The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve zinc. It doesn't destroy the stomach because the stomach walls constantly renews itself.
*Women's hearts beat faster than men's.
*Women blink twice as many times as men do.
*Men burn fat faster than women by a rate of about 50calories a day.
*Men get hiccups more often than women.
*A man has approximately 6.8 litres of blood in the body while women have approximately 5 litres.
*During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools… to be continued.

VICTOR FRANK

ONCE PRAISE IS FOREVER PRAISE

My sincere appreciation goes to every member of praise family especially my fellow executives for all their support during my tenure as the leader.  Praise Family is such a lovely family to belong to, the bond and the relationship that exists in the family is so strong that no one will want to leave the family. But a time shall come in life when one will definitely move on and allow others to take charge.

I am happy that the series of meetings and seminars we conducted were not in vain. It shows by the number of leaders that had emerged from praise family. In June 2011, three leaders emerged from praise family and became leaders in other families and to the central executive of Youth Ministries. Again, in June 2013, another three great leaders also emerged from praise family to the central executive of the Youth Ministries.

Each time leaders emerged from praise family, it will be as if the most important people have been taken away from the family but time has proved that it is another opportunity for other greater leaders to emerge. For those who seem to be weary that some leaders are no longer in the family, I want to let you know that every member of praise family is a potential leader. This is your time to showcase the leader in you. The best way to do that is to give the incoming leaders all the necessary support they need.  If I should borrow the word of our pioneer leader, ‘There is no cause for alarm’. My prayer is that the love we share, the understanding we have and the friendship we have developed among us will continue to grow. I am still part of you, once praise is forever praise!

Angela B. Anwana

GADGETS & DECORUM

The first time i saw my local church pastor, Rev Awazie, go up the pulpit with his ipad (it was in a wake-keep service), i felt so proud of him that i told the person beside me, ‘Yea! That’s my Pastor...’ lol.

What is the place of Gadgets in our worship? To enhance worship or has it become a distraction too?

I remember when these smartphones just hit the shelves. Chei! Ushers in our church had clashes with members whilst trying to maintain decorum...

‘brother please put away your phone, the sermon is on’ #the culprit gives the usher a look of are-you-just-jealous-or-plainly-ignorant?# ,then he says, ‘thank you but i’m reading my bible on my phone’ .Reluctantly the usher would back-down to avoid a scene. I imagined part of what will pass through the usher’s mind...#with eyes rolling# ’what insolence! if not that we’re in church ehn.... hmmm... who does he think he is... Or Father forgive them though they know what they do....

Those around me know I’m a ‘gadget’ person. Modems, Blackberry, Androids, Ipad #eehm, okay i don’t have an Ipad yet, but I’ve listed it so you can get me one after reading this...lol. don’t harden your heart o#

Okay, back to our gist, gadgets in church can really be cool, efficient, swaggy, and sometimes distracting. For instance, you’re in the middle of this hot sermon, checking the Hebrew translation of one scripture on your blackberry and PING!  You hear that ever familiar sound PING! . You’d mutter under your breath, ‘who could be pinging me in church?’, the brilliant red light is blinking all over the place, calling for attention...tell me you didn’t read that ping?

Or hasn’t it ever happened that whilst you were in church, during a service, an email suddenly drops on your Ipad. You decide take a peek (saying in your mind, I’ll read it later) then you realize it’s an ‘important’ mail, perhaps one you’ve been expecting, an international business mail, visa approval, or from your lost cousin...tell me you didn’t quickly read that email?

Putting your gadget away and paying attention to those talking to you? There’s an App for that, it’s called ‘RESPECT’.  Even your spouse gets pissed when during a conversation and you are busy pinging or responding to an email, let’s not mention your boss, how much more God. 

I’m sure a lot of us have several marked highlighted, underlined and even painted parts of our bible (hard copy, i mean), and one day you were flipping through or searching for a passage; suddenly one marked verse strikes you, the Holy Spirit begins to minister to your soul...that wouldn’t have happened on your gadget.

Yea, yea...i know all about bookmarking of favourite passages on your device but nothing really compares to the rugged good old hard copy bible. You don’t have to press ‘Power On’ to read it.

In all these, i am the ‘chiefest’ of sinners. I’ve also gotten tired of feeling guilty and apologising to the Holy Spirit each time i distract myself. I quit whining about my ‘easily besetting sin’ and found me a cure; where do we draw the line between use of our gadgets as worship enhancements or distraction? 

Tips:

1.     Don’t bother bringing it to church, that way there’s zero chance of temptation

2.      

Switch off the internet before entering church , that way no mails or pings can drop

3.      

Preload or download offline versions of the bible on your gadget, that way you won’t worry about going live online to get a passage, commentary or translation

4.  

   Exercise restraint, stop your amateur videos and paparazzi during service, you’re distracting other brethren. Thankfully media produces CD’s each Sunday, buy them instead

5.   

  Come each Sunday with your rugged big old bible and jotter, that way you don’t get to doze and you’re actively engaged

As for me, I’ve decided nothing can separate me, not NEPA or PHCN, not MTN, AIRTEL, GLO, ETISALAT or any other consistently unstable network, not virus, nor gadget hanging palava, not swag nor business, not convenience nor whatever else will separate me from my Bible.

Maintain decorum in the use of your gadget today, don’t miss your blessing and if it’s too much of a bother send it to me, I can put it to excellent use #winks#

BERYL  EHONDOR

berylehondor@gmail.com

Kill The Phrase, ‘I HAVE DONE MY BEST’

Are you a pastor, departmental leader, sunday school teacher or just a member in the church?

 You may be a CEO, or someone occupying a high position in the society. If you can just drop the fact that you know it all, or that you have contributed so much, you will see yourself doing better than what you had done.

You may not be able to touch or reach out to everybody In your position as a leader, but you can still reach out to one more person. Don’t say I have done my best. Your best may not be good enough; you can still go the extra mile in your well doing. That extra effort can make a whole lot of difference. I am of the opinion that improving on your good deeds will bring joy to the heart of somebody.

So the essence of these write-ups is for you to add more effort to whatever you are doing. Don’t be carried away by praises or criticisms. Instead be appreciative to God for giving you the privilege to be in that positions, knowing fully well that if you don’t do it, He would surely raise someone else who would do it much better than you can.

 In Luke 17:10, Jesus says, “ So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: We have done that which was our duty to do”. This passage makes us understand that we should not be carried away by our past achievements.
 Therefore, kill the phrase, ‘I have done my best’. 

Maduka Nwaigwe