Blog - The Juggling Prawn

Hang In There.

Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it. Tupac (Me against the world; lyrics) At some point in life, you must have asked yourself at least one of these questions; why do good people die?why do bad things happen to good people?why do good things come to an end? Life is an exhilarating adventure that can bring us joy, excitement, and unforgettable memories. However, it can also throw us unexpected curveballs that challenge our resilience and adaptability.One moment, a man can be jumping with excitement and the next few hours, he gets interred.Two extremes, isn’t it?It feels like nothing is certain.Take a look at what is happening globally – COVID-19.Late 2019 was filled with loads of merriment but here we are – LOCKED DOWN. When I think about the uncertainty of Life, the Biblical story of Job comes to mind.It is a good motivation to trust in God (apologies to those who still don’t believe there is GOD).He was a very wealthy man and he was righteous too.Job was living his life and God was pleased with him. Pleased enough to use him to show off to Satan.Satan, being good at what he does best, told God to take away all that Job had and see if he would still be faithful.God permitted Satan to take away all Job had – his wealth and children. He was even afflicted with a terrible disease. This got me wondering.Why does God allow bad people to succeed in doing bad things to good people? He definitely has His reasons, yeah? Just know that when your village people* are scheming on your matter, you won’t be there. And their plan can still go on.But let’s leave the talk about village people for another day. To be very honest, I don’t think I’ve been able to build my faith to the point where I would have to say amen to every prayer said by a man of God. I can’t be the only one who analyses statements of a prayer before saying amen.I have been told several times not to apply logic when dealing with GOD. Well, I am trying. One day, I was in a church service and the pastor told us to pray. He dropped quite several prayer points but the one that struck me was;“Dear brethren, tell God to use you to do whatever he likes”. At that moment, I opened one eye slowly and scanned the whole church.I was looking for someone having the same thoughts as I had going through my head.I found none.Or maybe some were using other subtle methods to analyse, without opening their eyes. It’s a good prayer, yeah. After all, we are supposed to live for God’s purpose.But all I could think about was the story of Job.Don’t ask if I finally said that prayer. It’s between God and me. Job was living a good life. And he didn’t bargain for what happened to him. He was not even aware a decision was being made on his life.This is why we always pray against every evil plan by the enemy on our lives, isn’t it? So, Job lost everything. But he remained faithful.In the end, God restored everything to him in multiple folds.Yeah, shame on the devil. Bad things happen to good people. Good things come to an end.But bad things end too. So how do we live through all the uncertainties of life?I think we can only hope (for the best) and have faith. HOPE?Yeah. That should do. Hope is simply keeping the flame burning.I believe hope should be the kernel of life.It is not going to keep bad and notorious things from happening to us.It just conditions our mind to wade through those bad things so we don’t become miserable before the good happens.It increases our chances of surviving hard times.It helps to knock out the negatives while creating a positive mindset. It will be hard to act blind to all the troubles of the world but when you have a positive goal, you try hard to ignore the current rough paths and forge ahead. Life will throw a lot of things at you: You can use those things to your advantage and ignore those that can cause hindrances. You know what they say about the world throwing lemon at you and you make lemonade out of it. I wonder what one is expected to make out of bitter kola. Just make something. You have to believe in your goals always. This will strengthen your hope in your journey.We don’t know for sure how life is going to be after COVID.But we can decide how we want it to affect us. So live your life. Be happy. Pray against the devil.Wash your hands always and sanitize them.Maintain good hygiene.And always remember that bad things come to an end too. But what do I know?I am just a prawn trying to maintain positive vibes while I juggle through life. *village people: the antagonists (bad belle people).

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What to expect, while expecting.

So the weather is the type suitable for making babies.You look at her sheepishly and she gives you that shy look and blows you a kiss with her tongue pointing to the side.(Ladies, you all know that pose).The atmosphere is dehumidified but the room is getting hot.Heartbeats are racing like some type of coronary horse race.You both start to exhibit the behaviour a magnet shows to a metal. It’s sweaty with several pumps.The grounds are fertile.Episodes of JIZZ and the egg (I hope I never have to explain this)The seed is planted.And…BOOM!!!A baby is expected… soon. Do you think you know where this writing is going?NO. I bet you don’t This isn’t about what you’re expecting. This is not some erotic case file. We all expect something all the time. Well, most of the time.Christians expect Jesus to come soon and then, eternal life.Muslims expect to go to Jannah, the final abode of the righteous and Islamic believers. Benjamin Disraeli has got to be the most realistic man on earth when he said, “I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best”.Some people will say he’s a pessimist. But, I’m not here to judge what is right or wrong.‘He was clearly expecting something while expecting’. Now let’s back it up a lirru bit. …okay.Wait!, let’s take it back to the beginning. The beginning of creation, according to the Bible. God created the heavens and the earth. He saw it and they were good.He went further to create Man. That was good too.God gave man the free will to choose between wrong and right (I know someone who would ask why I put wrong before right).God expected man to be sensible to do the right thing.God knows everything before it happens, yeah?So maybe while He was expecting Man to choose right, He also knew Man coulddecide to do ‘things men do’. I keep wondering if the apple Eve collected from the serpent was the green or the red one.’I also keep wondering if it was the same apple Eve gave Adam to bite from or another apple entirely from the forbidden tree.If it was the same apple, you can’t tell me that wasn’ t the origin of “Love insharing”. So, Man made his choice and we know where that got us.Remember the story of the jism and the egg? (Please, don’t ask me still). A man and a woman copulate. They know what to expect- Pregnancy.They also expect a baby to be out in about 40 weeks.The baby might decide to sneak out before the 36th week or just chill and continue to throw kicks for a few more days after the 40th week. Several pushes, (God bless our women) and the baby is out- beautiful daughter or fresh boy (or both).Our baby is expected to turn out good (well, all kids are good, ain’t they?).You want an ambition for him (or her)… that’s your expectation. But he could be nursing other ambitions.Don’t be dismayed, just support him with prayers and hope he doesn’t become a drug addict or the kind that will see the house with the occupants in it. We voted for our leaders because we expected them to deliver.Whether they did that or not, you be the judge of that.I love the fact that we expect something good from them. I also like how we put in some shock absorbers with statements like “our leaders are useless still”, and “they are all the same”. Now you get the point. You have expectations and you also know they can screw up. Dear Kings, the doctor will always tell you not to stress your wives when they are heavy with the unborn baby.That shouldn’t be a problem at all. It is expected.The doctor will not tell you that your wife can wake up and start craving roasted corn and coconut at 2 am during agbalumo season.Frustrating, they say it is but, I wouldn’t know because I’ve never been in that situation.If it’s true, I know I will experience it someday. Leonard Snart (aka Captain Cold), a character in the TV show, The Flash, stated four rules of planning. I won’t subscribe to the last rule.That last rule shouldn’t even be an option if you were already expecting while expecting.There should have been a backup plan.So I will replace that last rule with; executing the backup plan. In life, we have to take the good with the unpleasant.You just might be lucky to have it all good.Keep expecting and back it up with hope… and prayers. Enjoy what you have. Don’t raise your hopes too high…or maybe you should.You might be part of the lucky few who have ALL their wishes fulfilled. But what do I know? I’m just a happy CRUSTACEAN trying to find my bearing amongst men.