Something That Matters

There was something about the white t-shirt this lady had just handed me.

She had told the story of Toms and explained how for every pair of shoes bought, a pair was given to a child in need. But as I walked out that room that Saturday morning, the words on the t-shirt stuck way more than the story she had just told. In big light blue print, the t-shirt read: "START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS."

I couldn't put it on. I looked around as almost everyone walked out the room with their t-shirt on but resolved in my mind not to do same because it would ruin my outfit. Unlike everyone else wearing jeans and shirts, I wore an orange dress and just didn't think a white t-shirt with giant blue print across the front of it would match. So I folded it and took it with me, but all I could think about were those words: "Start something that matters." When I got home after the weekend, instead of putting it away in my closet, I unfolded the shirt and I pinned it up on my wall. Now that's typically not what people do with shirts right? They wear them. But the words on this shirt had made me think very profoundly, and everyday I woke up I wanted to be reminded.

At 18 years old, I had no idea what I wanted to be, and sometimes I add the words "when I grew up" at the end of that statement because for some reason, I felt like growing up meant doing something very significant with my life. Just when I thought I could take some time to figure it out because after all I was just 18, I would go on social media and see people accomplishing things that I wanted to accomplish but just never got the opportunity to even explore. I am sure you can see how this threw wet blankets on my aspirations.

Growing up I had big dreams. I always said, like every other ambitious person, that I wanted people to know my name. I wanted to be successful in a way that I didn't have to introduce myself when I walked into a room. I wanted flashing lights, and red carpets; nice dresses and perfect make-up; private jets and mansions. In simpler terms, I wanted the perfect life. In my late teenage years when I started to battle my frustrations with what seemed to me as my lack of success, which was derived from my own view of the perfect life, God chose a simple way to work on my heart and change my perspective. On one Saturday morning, at a breakout session at a conference, I had received a t-shirt that read: "Start something that matters."

See every time I thought about what I wanted to be, my thoughts surrounded this whole idea of fame and fortune. My drive was to do something that would make me be famous and wealthy. My determination to work hard was fueled by the life that I pictured for myself - this perfect life. But this was exactly the reason why I was watching everyone around me, but me, achieve the dreams that I had. I didn't understand purpose. Suddenly the words on one t-shirt had put things in perspective. I needed to understand who and what I was living for.

Growing up to me meant doing something significant with my life, but how I had previously measured significance was fame and wealth. Therefore, until I had a huge bank account and became a household name, I hadn't achieved anything significant. However, now I was beginning to recognize that the real measure of significance isn't fame or wealth, but something that matters; and that it wasn't necessarily something that I had to attain. It was something that I could start. Slowly, the perfect life started to mean something completely different to me. It was more about what I could give, than what I could get; more about what I could do, than what I could achieve.

Although I haven't completely arrived at a total understanding of purpose, the transformation of my mind gave a whole new meaning to my idea of significance, and that is what I really needed to understand the part that I am playing in advancing the kingdom. Our human nature makes us want to pursue the fame and the wealth, and there really is nothing wrong with that. But we need to realize that our spiritual nature calls us to lives of purpose; to make a difference around us, even if it is in the simplest way possible; to touch and change lives; to start something that matters. Would it be nice to walk into Gucci and Prada, or Louis Vuitton and pick a pair of shoes, or a purse, or maybe even sunglasses without looking at the price? Would it be nice to have dresses sold out in stores just because I wore them? Absolutely. But that isn'y my idea of the perfect life anymore. Working on something that matters, is.

So together lets change the idea of what matters. As you read this, just like TOMS challenged me, I challenge you! Start something that matters. If it's as little as a glass of water to someone working under the sun all day long, it matters. If it's as big as shelter to a homeless person, it matters. Start something that matters, then spread the word! And remember Matthew 6:33: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and ALL other things will be added unto you!

That's Something That Matters... As I do it.


~ ***shanpepe***~

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IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY...

So many things are wrong with the world today. So many things.

Racial prejudice, religious persecution, and diseases are the most popular topics on our TV screens right now. If you escape one, well, you land in another. Some people have to deal with all. It's a hard life.

I wonder what a picture perfect world would look like - Where there was a natural progression of life without disease; where we all worshipped freely and accepted the differences in each others beliefs; where we were all blind to the colour of our skin. But, I can only wonder. This picture perfect world? We can never attain it. So we try to make it the best we can. We protest for justice, sign petitions, write beautiful statuses to encourage people, and even pour ice water over our heads - because this is our world, and EVERY SINGLE LIFE matters. However, our different opinions get in the way sometimes and it becomes hard to see past them.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is one that has taken social media, and the world by storm. This is a challenge where people pour a bucket of ice and water over their heads to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease, which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord (www.alsa.org). So many people from students to celebrities have accepted this challenge which goes with making a donation. This Ice bucket challenge has raised over $40 million for ALS research! How. Amazing.

Now I am writing this post because I have seen a lot of people hating on the challenge, especially Nigerians, because some Nigerian celebrities have taken part in this awareness and fundraising challenge. I couldn't understand why anyone would hate on a good cause in the first place so I took out some time to read what people had to say. To say the least, some of the words that have been used in addressing these celebrities have been downright disgusting, but I will address three main points that people have been making.

1. "Nigerian celebrities just like to hop on the bandwagon and do what is popular."
      This is a challenge where you are nominated and have 24 hours to participate. All the Nigerian celebrities I have seen partake in the challenge have been nominated to do so, and in turn, nominate other Nigerian celebrities. It is a challenge that has become popular, and the more people do it, the more it becomes popular. It is also a challenge for a good cause. A great cause. ALS doesn't choose who it affects. We probably have people dying in Nigeria from ALS and dont even know it. If we can bring the awareness of this disease home, and contribute to the finding of a cure, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Bandwagon to save a life? By all means!

2. "We have more pressing issues in our country. Why aren't they raising awareness or money for Ebola? or Bringing back our girls?"
   First off, let me give you an example. Eldee, long before he accepted the Ice bucket challenge, has been posting about Ebola and how to get educated about it. Look at his facebook and instagram. That is just one person. Secondly, there is no denying that Ebola is out there and awareness needs to be created about Ebola. Ebola has been on the news - local and international. Almost every body now knows symptoms and causes, and has a rough idea what the disease is, not because celebrities were posting about it, but because it was killing people at a rapid rate and gained global attention. ALS doesn't have this kind of attention. This challenge is what has brought this disease to the limelight.
     The girls that were taken from Borno haven't been brought back. We can pray and trust God, but physically, I doubt that there is anything we can do. Or, is there? You want to rally and stand in the streets, and you want the celebrities to join you. The government doesn't even care about the families of the victims enough. You think they will care about P-Square standing in the streets demanding the girls be brought back? Meanwhile, half the people go because a celebrity is going. Why do you have to wait for a celebrity to go? To take pictures and say you saw them yeah? Why can't you leave them behind and just go and rally?

3. "So many places in Africa do not have water, and yet the nigerian celebrities are dumping water on their heads."
    The amount of water people are dumping on their heads is not going to save the world. If they didn't dump it on their heads, they'd probably flush it down the toilet or take a shower with it. It's not like they are building wells and jumping in them. People that live in places where there is no water have a problem that a bucket of water can't solve. They need wells, bore holes; sources of water that are not temporary. Now, can we raise awareness for them and build these wells, or bore holes? Absolutely! Why not? But if that bucket cannot get to them, but can raise awareness for a disease that is killing people, why not raise the awareness?

I think that as Nigerians we hold celebrities to a standard that we ourselves cannot even reach. When last did you transport a bucket of water to a village where people had no water? When last did you do something to raise awareness for ebola? When last did you try to make a change? Yes, celebrities have A LOT more influence that the lay nigerian man, but why must the responsibility always be on them? Have you asked yourself? Was it a celebrity in America that started the Ice Bucket Challenge? Someone wanted to see change, and carried it on his shoulders to start something that would bring about the change. $40 million has been raised from people dumping ice water on their heads. Our country is part of the change. But you mad?

We want our celebrities to do everything. Where are WE? If you want a challenge for awareness and fundraising for Ebola, or the girls that were taken from Borno, START SOMETHING. Come up with a plan and put it to action. That is not 2face's responsibility. Neither is it Don Jazzy's or Genevieve's. It is yours. It is mine. If we want change, we have to be the ones to bring it. If we started a challenge to raise awareness or money for a cause in our country, what's to say that they wont join in? I bet you'd want them to hop on the bandwagon if it was yours.

It's amazing how quick people are to attack the characters of these celebrities and call them names. I can't tell you the kind of alarming things I have seen people write about these celebrities, all in the name of them accepting the ALS challenge. I think it's just wrong. First of all, there are so many things that we don't know about these people. Yes we know they buy the latest cars, and they live the most luxurious lives, but what they do behind the camera's and TV's with their money, we don't know. How do you know they don't contribute to other causes? I'm not saying that they do, but because we don't know, the judgement is uncalled for. Some of them even have foundations to help in different ways in our country.

I spoke to someone who has a passion for the suffering families in Borno. Today, I saw someone on facebook who is interested in starting a cause for wells in places where people have no water. These are amazing causes that will benefit our country. Start them. If you fail, try again. Let your passion lead you. Let the potential results motivate you. Forget about what Mavin Records, Banky W or Iyanya is doing. Focus on what YOU can do to bring about change. If we all worried about ourselves more than we worried about others, change would come! If you can't make a change in your immediate environment, by all means, make a change thousands of miles away. A life is a life, no matter where in the world it is saved.

The person who started the ice bucket challenge didn't need fame or money. All he needed was a passion for ALS awareness, and willing participants, and he used whatever means he had to bring it to the fore front. Be your own voice. Be the change you want to see. We are all accountable to God. Not each other. :-)

That's your responsibility... as i do it.

***~shanpepe~***

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THEIRS, OR YOURS?

     If you go to school or went to school in a college town, you know exactly what summers are like. It's quiet, less rowdy, and campus seems like a ghost town. For a university of about 58,000 students, that is what I was expecting when I headed for the international student services office at UF a couple of weeks ago. However, it was everything but a ghost town.
     There was a ton of orange and blue everywhere, people of all ages walking, talking and laughing, and as the red hand turned to a white man and I crossed the street, the voices only got louder. I had taken summer class last year and I didn't remember this many people on campus at one time. Ever. Just then the sun shone really bright and pierced my eyes so I tucked my forehead under my palm to get some relief, and as I looked down I saw a sign with a big arrow pointing right that read "Preview." I smiled and thought to myself "These poor freshmen just about to start college have absolutely no idea what they are getting into. They are going to really hate it." Right after I thought those words, something inside me asked me "Who says?"

     If you didn't know already, I earned my undergraduate degree at a small christian college in PA, and although I loved my professors and a few friends, it wasn't my ideal college. There were a lot of things I didn't understand or agree with that were happening administratively, and if I had to do it all over, I'm certain I would go with a different institution. Lets just say that my undergraduate experience was very much less than fulfilling. My graduate experience at UF however, was the opposite. If I could do it over, my undergraduate degree would have the University of Florida at the top. Even with my fulfilling and pleasurable experience at this institution, I looked at the freshmen coming to summer preview and was instantly overcome with a sense of doubt that they would enjoy college. Simply because I didn't.
     It's amazing how quickly we attempt to project our reality on others. Or even vice versa. It doesn't work for someone, so they try to give you all the reasons why it won't work for you. Someone had a bad reaction to something, so they tell you all the bad things that happened to them. Maybe it was a college that they didn't get to with a high GPA and try to convince you that applying is a joke. Maybe they're an expert or something and quote a 95% chance that this is not the right thing for you. Yadi, yadi, yada.

     Reality can be a weird concept to wrap our minds around, but one thing we need to understand is that just like finger prints, no two are the same. We may have some shared experiences or little things in common, but our journeys are never identical. Someone else's reality should not define your perspective on life or the way you live it. God's plans for you are awesome and true, and sometimes it may not seem like it, but thats why we have faith - to believe when we start to doubt. All it takes is for one person to tell you its impossible. Then one more. Then one more. Then just one more. And sooner or later, you start to believe it. Don't let people tell you how you will fail because they failed. Don't let people tell you how you won't make it because they didn't. Don't let people dictate to you how life will go, because they just. dont. know. Refuse to let anyone but you write your story. Your legacy will have only your name on it, whether or not it is one worth remembering.

     That I didn't have the best college experience doesn't mean others won't. That was my reality, not theirs.

"You dont have to know the future, but you can trust the one who holds it."

Thats theirs or yours? ...as i do it.

~***shanpepe***~

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INVALID EXCUSES...

For the first time in my life, I felt naked. Totally, completely naked.

Because I didn't know this man. I had never met him. Yet in a crowd of thousands of college students, he was speaking to me; countering my every argument with a solution. Who exactly was this man, and how did he know this?

I sat and listened to him as he spoke. He spoke about Moses and going into the promised land. He spoke about the many excuses Moses made when God told him very clearly what he wanted him to do. God had an answer for every question, a solution for every problem, and a rebuttal for every argument. Moses wondered how he was going to do this - God said "I will show you." When he wondered who would go with him - God said "I will be with you." When he complained about a lack of resources - God said "I will provide." When he didn't think he could do it - God said "You can do all things." And when he didn't think he could see it through - God proved that his grace was sufficient.

I listened as this man spoke, and it was all just a beautiful message UNTIL he said "God is calling you to something. What excuses are you making?" It was at this moment that I realized that it all made sense. THIS was the reason why everybody was talking about Jubilee.

I had come back from christmas break earlier, and it was my last semester of college. Jubilee had happened every other year that I was here but this year, 2012, every one I had a conversation with asked me if I was going to Jubilee. I was tired of explaining that it was a little bit too expensive for me to afford at the time, and I had no sponsors, but I explained as I was asked anyway. As the weekend of February 18th 2012 got closer, I stopped by the chaplain's office one day to just say hi, and yet again, there was a conversation about jubilee. By this time I had my explanation memorized to the t just because of how much I had given it. It had become a speech. So again, I pulled it out the front of my memory, and it was so compelling it could have received an applause. He looked at me plain as day and said one sentence. "Sese, don't let money be the reason you don't go to Jubilee."

I felt defeated in my attempt to pitch my lack of finances. One person saw my excuse as irrelevant and suddenly I felt some type of way. I tried to brush it off and went back to my apartment. It wasn't 5 minutes after I walked through the door my roommate called me and asked me if I was thinking about going to Jubilee, cause everyone had been asking her about it but she didn't have that money at this time. This was when I realized that this wasn't coincidental. Maybe, just maybe, God needed me at Jubilee. It sounded funny but I decided to take a chance. My roommate and I went out looking for support. We had to write these long essays on why we wanted to go, and I didn't know how writing "because God wants me to" was going to get me three hundred and something dollars, but hey, if he wanted me to go, he'd get me there. Less than a day later, my roommate spoke to a professor about jubilee in a casual conversation just like I had with the chaplain, and he volunteered to sponsor both of us fully. Like, all of it. He was paying almost $700 for me and my roommate to go and sit in a huge room at an expensive hotel for two days with thousands of other college students, listening to speakers, and singing songs. Almost too good to be true.

Jubilee weekend was finally here. Friday had gone by, saturday had gone by, and it was now saturday night. We were going to leave sunday morning, and I started to lose hope. I felt like God wanted me at Jubilee and I was expecting something great to happen to me; something divine; something big; I had just a few hours left, and... nothing. My spirit was dampened. I had done this all for nothing.

As my roommate and I walked around the various organizations' tables before the last session for the night, I remembered I had come for Jubilee before in my freshman year, and Compassion International was usually there. So I asked my roommate if she had seen them and she said no. I randomly asked someone else at another table and she said "Oh, right there by the main auditorium entrance." So we walked over there. On the table lay all these pictures of kids that needed to be sponsored, along with pens, bracelets, and other things Compassion. Precious kids from all over the world - some older some younger; kids that needed just one person to make a commitment to be a part of their lives and support them not just financially, but spiritually as well. As I read the information, I read that sponsors were required to give a minimum of $38 a month. I asked the young man at the table if there was anyway a I could sponsor a child with a little less than $38 monthly, and he said the only way was to make a one time donation. Unfortunately. So I turned and asked my roommate if she would be willing to split the cost, and she said she honestly couldn't make the commitment at the time. So we thanked them for their time and walked into the auditorium for the last session of the night and ..... finally.

This man had been speaking about Moses, but the minute he asked the question about what God was calling us to and what excuses we were making, I realized he was talking to me. Every excuse he had up on that screen, I had just made a mere 20 minutes ago. I didn't know how I was going to sponsor a child, but God was saying He would show me. I was looking for someone to make the commitment with me, but God was saying He would go with me. I didn't have the resources to make a $38 commitment every month, but God was saying I will provide. I walked away thinking I couldn't do it, but God was saying I can do all things. In that moment it was clearer than a writing on the wall. This was why God brought me to Jubilee.

As the speaker made the alter call for people who wanted to answer God's call and stop making excuses, I knew what I needed to do, and it wasn't to walk up to the alter and accept that call. It was to walk outside the auditorium to Compassion International, and accept that call. So I got up, walked straight to Compassion's stand and told the lady with the biggest smile ever, that I would like to sponsor a child. I had the opportunity to choose whichever child I wanted, and I picked a child that had been waiting 10 months and was in need of immediate support. After that session, I went back to my hotel room, and couldn't waittttt to become a part of this little boy's life! I pulled out a pen, a sheet of paper, and wrote my first letter ever to Jhon Jairo Rojas Tamayo in Columbia.

Two years and many letters later, I have never failed, even once, in being able to support this little boy. Gods promises rendered my excuses irrelevant. Everyday I am reminded that one of the biggest blessings came into my life by God taking from me, instead of giving to me. Everyday I am reminded that living life without a purpose is meaningless. If you want to live life without a purpose, quit your job, quit school, sit at home all day, watch TV. But purposeful living involves much more than just yourself. Its more than just doing what makes you happy. It is choosing to make a difference where you can, no matter how little.

If God is calling you to something and you're making excuses,  be reminded that God's promises make your excuses invalid. Answer God's call and dont ask too many questions. An obstacle to us is only but an opportunity for him to show us just how much he is able.

That is invalid excuses... as i do it.

~***Shanpepe***~


For more information about Compassion International, click here.
For more information about Jubilee, click here. 

BUS LESSONS...

One of the things that I greatly appreciate in my life right now is Aldon, my car - and thanks to my uber amazing parents. When people try to tell me how blessed I am to have them, I respond by asking them to tell me something I dont already know! Blessed doesn't even begin to describe!!

Many people might say it's just a car, and there are many more reasons to consider myself blessed. I agree, but I'd beg to differ at the same time. You see, the struggle without a car as an international student in this country is real. You ride the bus... everywhere - To the grocery store to get some groceries and then have to ride a cab back cause you bought way too much stuff; to the mall to shop; to go see the movies; to the hospital when you're sick; to the restaurant to get some food; to the airport with your huge suitcase(s). You ride the bus EVERYWHERE. Heck if buses went through drive through's I'm sure we'd do that too.

I had to ride the bus for many years (and still do), and whether you're a regular on the bus or not, you understand that its a public means of transportation, and therefore, you get to see, come in contact with, get rubbed on, get spoken to, or even sneezed on by random people. I have experienced some of these and observed some. Thankfully, getting sneezed on is one that I observed rather than experienced, but there is a lot of other things I have observed on the bus, and one particularly bothers me immensely.

On a bus full of people, with other people getting on, someone (or some people) have their bags or stuff on seats and deliberately refuse to pick them up consequently leaving people standing.

We live in a world where the value of people and human life in general is plummeting at a rapid rate and the value of things just seems to be on the rise. In this modern day, the value we have for fellow human beings is restricted to family and close friends. People who we don't know or are not familiar with don't get any respect if they don't earn it. People who we dont know or are not familiar with come in contact with us, and we simply dont care about them because "hey, I don't know her/him." People who we don't know or are not familiar with get on the bus and need a seat but our bags need a seat way more than they do. I cannot tell you just how sick this makes me. Words fail me.

Whatever happened to loving our neighbors as ourselves? Whatever happened to treating others the way we want to be treated? Move away from the bus scenario for a little bit. Look around you, and at the news. A teenage boy gets shot because he was playing his music too loud. He couldn't be asked to turn it down? A plane goes missing and one speculation is pilot suicide. He wanted to kill himself and taking 236 (#?) innocent people with him was the best way to do it? A man catches his teenage daughter sneaking around with a boy she's supposedly dating and the way to remedy the situation is a fatal bullet to the male teen?

Now think about yourself. Everybody knows how you're treating people that you love and care about, but how are you treating complete strangers? How are you interacting with people that you know nothing about? How is your communication with a random person impacting the lives of others around you? Regaining the value of human life in the nations can only begin one person at a time. We are human and we err, and no one is completely innocent of deliberately treating someone negatively. But change cannot come until we all make up our minds to see people as valuable lives, and not just simply as people. Until we understand that a persons comfort is more important than a bag's, there's no moving forward.

I don't know what bags you're placing in peoples seats in your journey. I don't know if you see bags being placed in peoples seats and ignore them even when you have the authority to order them to be removed. Random strangers deserve to be treated as valued human beings. Whether you know them or not is irrelevant. Whether they are kind to you or not is irrelevant. Resolve in your heart to be the image of Christ to people regardless of their affiliation with you. How you treat the people already in your life is important. Anyone can be inconsiderate, have a nasty attitude, and a smart mouth. But your true test of strength of character is how you treat people that are not in your life; how you treat complete strangers.

That is bus lessons... as i do it.

~***shanpepe***~

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