CHARCOAL FOR THE BROKEN FINGERS (Birmingham, UK)

People often say God helps those who help themselves. But I say, God helps those who cannot help themselves. I am a firm believer that it is impossible to succeed in our life’s calling if we constantly focus only on what we can or cannot do ourselves. Challenges become insurmountable when lose sight of the power of the Master who called and equipped us for His divine task. We are buffeted by life’s constant vicissitudes – sometimes rather unexpectedly! But God also sends unexpected help just right in time.

Feeling beaten and battered, worn out from jet lag, stressed out and sleepy, I wasn’t very confident I could start speaking the evening of the very day I arrived in Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Though completely stressed with extreme sleep deprivation, I had a new sense of power and wellbeing like never before the very moment I stepped on the platform. I was then reminded that:

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At every given point in time, God sets a people in motion – people, ordinary people like you and myself with an extraordinary message to His people in a manner that would stair hopeless hearts with hope and draw souls closer to Him. And so in the first quarter of 2014, another ‘missionary journey’ started. God sent me with the “Beyond the Breaking Point Series” to tell the world about His gift of Hope. This time around I started my 2014 journey beyond the shores of Ghana to the United Kingdom.

Having just ended the 50th Anniversary celebration of the University of Ghana Seventh-day Adventists ca few hours earlier, I boarded the TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320, I was given an aisle seat at one of the emergency exits. That meant it could not be reclined. Seated next to me was a woman with her baby of a few months old. This baby cried more than halfway through the the 5 and hour flight from Accra to Lisbon. And to worsen the case we could hardly move just because the space between our seat the one in front of us was just too narrow.

HOPE AMIDST THE CRASH (Manchester, UK)

Touring Manchester United Stadium at Old Trafford, it dawned on me quickly that this great football club did not attain their present status on a silver platter. Amidst the glitz and glamour, the numerous flashy cups and trophies any tourist would notice that the greatness of Manchester United has grown through some of life’s greatest tribulations and trials. Since its inception in 1874 this Club has fallen and risen through severe and excruciating vicissitudes of life.

Walking through the Munich Tunnel below the South Stand, I was particularly struck by memories of the fatal plane crash on February 6, 1952 in Munich, Germany which claimed 23 lives including eight players, officials, journalists and others. The eight players who died included Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor, and Billy Whelan. Many of those who survived could never play again.