TIME AND CHANCES

I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, not yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill;…but time and chances happeneth to them all……ECC 9:11

Everyday looks normal as I read through the sermon note I had jotted in church on Sunday; it is important to position oneself to experience the golden moments that life presents which can only occur when we have learnt to recognize opportunities. In otherwords, everyday is pregnant with its own diverse kinds of opportunities and it’s when we make use of our own life-presented opportunities that we can truly experience our golden moments. How will a Bill Gate succeed if he didn’t plug into the need of fixing the deficiency of the I.T world? Why will a Nelson Mandela attain respect and amass global recognition if he had neglected the freedom fighting opportunities of his kinsmen? Why will an Ali Baba be referred to as the Don if he hasn’t recognized the need for comedy to be an industry in the entertainment circle? Why will an Otunba Gadaffi make the most irritating substance produced by man as a means of livelihood? Time and chances I guess or perhaps I should call it effective use of opportunities lurking around. This understanding therefore helped me to define TIME and CHANCES as the effective use of individual owned opportunities for maximum profiting.

As available diverse opportunities seems to be, do I need to position myself to maximizing them I asked myself still staring at the note as I carefully studied the characters Pastor Sola Osunmakinde had used as examples in the sermon. David, Saul, Ruth, Rebecca all had a common factor on the path of meeting with their chances which was the act of offering selfless service as I had written…(“David took food to his brothers and found out about Goliath”, “Saul went out looking for his father’s ass before he was arranged to meet Samuel”, “Rebecca had gone to fetch water for the house before meeting Abraham’s servant” and Ruth stuck to her mother-in-law and of course Boaz opportunity manifested”)…Then like the flashlight of a digital camera would appear, my eyes opened to the fact that these folks never met their opportunities or chances unprepared.

CASE 1:-Assuming Rebecca had gone to the well to fetch water and had forgotten the drawer at home, wouldn’t she had gone back home to pick it up? Would the stranger have been patient enough to wait for her? And eventually would there have been a discussion?

CASE 2:- What gave David confidence aside the fact that he had so much trust in God? Oooohh, I remember he had killed many dangerous animals with his sling or perhaps his hands in the forest while watching his father’s sheep. What if he didn’t know how to use a sling? Would Goliath have been killed? 

 CASE 3:- What if Ruth got tired to continue with the journey with her mother-in-law?  What if she didn’t have any agricultural experience, would she have gone gleaning in Boaz field? Maybe she would have had to enroll at a fashion school upon their arrival at Naomi’s village in order to make ends meet.

CASE 4:- Why did Kish send Saul to look for the missing ass? Was there no other son or could it just be because Saul was capable and had a track record of successfully executing assignments overtime? What process did Saul use in selecting the accompanying servant? Could he have done a comprehensive study of his father’s servants to know who should be the task partner? No wonder the servant fortunately helped him in locating Samuel the prophet God used in changing his story.

Certainly there was an amount of preparedness prior to the opportunity manifestation presented by each day for the above personalities; an opportunity they never knew was coming.

Have we learnt enough to pounce on the ready available opportunity for growth and manifestation? Are we really positioned, qualified and ready in terms of skills/personal development for the utilization of our time and chances? Have we exhibited the required love and selfless service attribute in our daily quest for survival? ..... All these questions I asked myself as I sat down pondering. Well as you struggle to find the truthful answers to these questions, don’t ask me what my answers and decisions are. However, don’t be surprised if you find out that I wake up one day and decide to resign from work, it could be that I have smelled the aroma of possibilities from far away and I quickly want to position myself by preparing before it catches me unawares…………

God bless the Man of God for that mind blowing message that has helped me in making some decisions I have been afraid of taking, God bless my friends Funmi Olusesan and Akeba Samuel for inviting me to church on this special day(which was my first time inattendance then)……

Yes TIME AND CHANCES indeed happens, but only those who have unconsciously prepared would enjoy its golden moment.


Written by Olukokun Adedeji