Entry 22 by Damilare Joseph Adedeji (Twitter: @dami_maverick)
“It’s never long distance between real friends” — Sebastian
While those words sound like the deep musings of the animated crab in the
Disney classic “Little Mermaid”, they were spoken by a seasoned German
footballer to his friend and teammate on his departure to the soccer shores of
England. They are the words that resonate in my heart even as I pick my pen to
document a snapshot of my journey of growth and the discovery of myself.
All at once I am inundated with thoughts that spiral in and out of my cranium.
My head twirls and swirls as I try to churn out my experience as simply and as
honestly as I can. So of what relevance are the beginning words of this piece
to the 100 days of growth project? Well to me they have a spiritual
connotation.
As I pondered on this tweet, a revelation struck me like lightning from
Thor’s Mjolnir. I realized something that I had held on to as a form of mental
assent but which had not seeped through the cracks of logic into the bowels of
my heart.
It was this: I had a concept of God that was afar of. One that could not be
approached, whose throne was lined with booby traps and puzzles. He was a God
who had to be bribed or cajoled into blessing me. However Bastian’s quote
reminded me that there was no distance between myself and God. All perceived
gaps had been bridged, all illusory potholes had been leveled up by
Christ.
For so long my idea of God was of a shriveled up old man in the cloud,
suffering from schizophrenia and with a penchant for striking out his enemies
like flies. I had always called Him Father in prayer but that was more out of
rote obedience then childlike faith. To me there was a great chasm, an ever
widening divide which I had to bridge with my own efforts and by my blood and
sweat. This ideology was fueled by own ever increasing desire for approval
(This is a story for another day).
The reality of life however is this that God is ever present in our times of
need and even in our greed. He never leaves nor forsakes us. He is ever near.
In fact nearness doesn’t quite cut it. There are probably no words to describe
because I soon discovered through interaction with teachers like Pastor Femi of
The Haven Christian Centre and Brother Abraham that I was just as God
was.
He was and is closer than I could imagine. He was closer to me than the very
skin on me, closer still than the substance from which my soul and bones were
made of. The truth perfectly whelmed me. It left me with the realization that I
was one approved of GOD not by my works but by the offering of Christ. God
wasn’t afar of, aloof or austere. He had, through Christ, made me His
tabernacle.
There are many things one could glean from this. The fact there is no longer
any condemnation because of our location in Christ. Or the truth of our eternal
life by the offering of Jesus!
Let me stop here. To be honest it feels like I just started this journey and
the road ahead is filled with delight and wonder.
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