Nothing Lasts Forever; Pain Especially

The presence of pain focuses our minds on the present. The now.

Things are a little different with happiness, though. Happiness can make you focused and present, but it makes time run like a hamster on coffee.

Pain, instead, reduces time to a standstill. It makes us think whatever we are feeling or whatever sad situation is happening to us at the moment is all there is. Prolonged emotional pain is like a nightmare where you are shouting, kicking, struggling - all in the bid to wake up and escape your nemesis - but nothing is working.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-10 echoes the theme that nothing lasts forever. This is a true constant. The problems of today always become the tales of tomorrow, if we still have our lives (one more reason to be thankful for our breaths). Lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost fortunes, marital problems, ill health, etc... will all be stories of the past - stories that'll end up on a good note if we persevere and try not to get swallowed up by the intense pain in our lives.

So my plea is for us to hang in there. By "hanging in there", I mean we should labour to take our eyes of our pain. Even when it gets dragged back, let's take it off again. It would surely get dragged back again, but we must not get tired of taking our eyes off it.

How do we take our eyes off? Well, I do that by reading, taking walks, staring at sunrises, gawking at sunsets, watching comedy shows (and cartoons), drawing, writing, listening to music and podcasts, gaming, etc. Yours may be different from mine, but we all have ways of taking our minds off things. I do not recommend drinking (I mean alcohol, c'mon), trolling, self-mutilation, shopping (burning through your bank account will lighten your wallet, but not your heart), and similar activities.

Those with spiritual leanings have an advantage of seeking a spiritual angle to their situation and trusting God to make relevant lessons apparent as well as making things right in His time.

So, yes... let's try and hang in there, okay?

** Photo used is "Pain" by Lien C. Lau and made available under a CC BY 2.0 license

Harrow County #2 - Twice Told

The Harrow County series is still as creepy as ever.

Emmy's interactions with the haints (or spirits) of Harrow County continues in Volume Two of this fascinating graphic novel. The village folks call on her to solve supernatural cases and Emmy always answer their call. This new development leads to a mutual and beneficial arrangements between the haints and the humans. In a way, Emmy has become the spiritual detective or spirit guardian of Harrow County.

But not everything is going on smoothly, there are some haints who don't want to associate with Emmy or conform to her new way of doing things. Nevertheless, they comply with Emmy's non-violence pact and try to keep away from humans.

Unfortunately, the newly-bought peace is shattered when Kammi, Emmy's long lost sister, arrives at Harrow County. Most think her arrival is to unite with Emmy and leave. How wrong they are. A spiritual storm is brewing with Kammi's continual presence in Harrow County as all hell is about to break loose.

Harrow County Volume 2 has a lot more pace compared to Volume 1. There is more story progression and less worldbuilding, which makes for a light, fun read. I have already spoken highly of the art in my review of the first volume and I am glad to say the quality is still superb with gorgeous, antique-y panels that are as creepy as I've come to expect from the illustrators. If you are a fan of the horror genre, you may want to look up the Harrow County series.

The Africa Study Bible Is Finally Completed

The Africa Study Bible project has been in the pipeline for many years now. The Africa Study Bible is a vision to present the bible in a way that is uniquely African so that the African people will derive more value from it. It is not a secret that most of the modern study bibles were written from European and, or American perspective.

The unique thing about The Africa Study Bible project is that 90% of it is done by Africans from different countries. I have been privileged to have a peek at some of the work and the quality is amazing - I saw African proverbs being used to illustrate difficult aspects of the bible as well as relevant articles that deal with issues unique to Africans.

The Africa Study Bible (ASB)has been completed and a Kickstarter campaign will be launched in about four days time. I will be posting the links as soon as they are active in case anyone wants to support the project.

The app is already available (please note that only the book of John has been made available).

Android users can download here.
iOS users can download from here.

Also, I have been presented with an opportunity to submit interview questions to Mathew Elliot, who is the Project Director in charge of the work. I personally don't have any questions to ask, but if you have any for him, please let me know before the 18 April 2016.

I will be posting updates as soon as I get more information.

To read more about The African Study Bible (ASB), please go to Oasis International.

How To Control Your Anger Before It Controls You by Albert Ellis

How To Control Your Anger Before It Controls You is an in-depth look at one of the most misunderstood emotions. 

More than any other negative emotions, the authors of How To Control Your Anger Before It Controls You, Albert Ellis and Arthur Lange, say anger is the one we mostly want to keep because it sometimes seems justified and right for us to be in that state. They write:

When we experience depression, guilt, shame, or anxiety, we usually upset ourselves about something that we think we did or some characteristic we have that we think is the cause of our disturbed emotion. As a result we try to change ourselves. However, anger usually involves the externalizing of blame. When we become angry, we usually consider the source of our anger to be outside ourselves. We would not be angry if other people did not do the stupid things they do. If we think the causes of anger are outside ourselves, the solution to our anger problems appears to us to be changes other people have to make. If the external cause of our anger is not going to change, we remain trapped in our rage.

How To Control Your Anger Before It Controls You is a book on anger management, focusing how to control it before and after it's taken roots.  It shows us how the root of anger is linked to negative thinking patterns and how to think yourself out of it. How To Control Your Anger Before It Controls You is an in-depth look at one of the most misunderstood emotions. 

Many thanks to Kensington books for review copy.

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