Fikeveni

Relationships are at the core of our civilization! We cannot build anything without relationships. Whether for business or pleasure, we always need to cultivate relationships in order to achieve intended goals. Those with tumultuous lives, more often than not, have tumultuous relationships. They do not possess the ability to manage expectations within appropriate frameworks; they do not have proper boundaries! Eastern cultures struggle with boundaries, because the demands made by family, friends, and strangers on an individual are not made within mutually beneficial relationship ecosystems. Plus, eastern cultures form relationships around social activities centered on consumption, instead of activities centered on production. How we manage our relationships can be one of the main ways that we can best manage our time: our most important resource.  One of the best ways to think about relationships is to use visual devices. One such device is to think of relationships, and the bounda...

Some may take issue with the title of this article because of the “Easter” connection to paganism. Most publicly recognized holidays have pagan roots or connections, Easter to the god of fertility and Christmas to the god of the weather. I chose to ignore names and focus on the festivities surrounding the holidays. Names given are important, but not as important as what is done. In my opinion, a church that conducts easter egg hunts is embracing the god of fertility far more than one that calls their Sunday service, Easter. So whether it is Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, preaching Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and raised from the dead should be central to the activities surrounding this well recognized and celebrated weekend.  Churches are packed like sporting events during Easter weekend because people who ordinarily do not go to church decide to attend. Plus, those who have friends and family visiting from out of town are more likely to invite them to tag along on Resurr...

Choosing a life partner is not an easy thing, because so much of the process feels unintentional and out of our control. I had the thought that my wife would be my wife when I first met her, but that thought left me as soon as I started contemplating its plausibility. The second time the thought that she would be my wife came along, I do not know how or why, but I felt I was ready. My pastors, mentors, family, and friends helped solidify my feelings.  Who you have around you at the time makes a huge difference. I was not sure if my wife was “the one” or my “soulmate,” however I was sure that my life needed her in it and that her life needed me in hers. Life is a journey that needs us to have companions for the voyage. We have to know who to partner with in order to accomplish our dreams, face life’s challenges, grow as people, and contribute to the world.  I chose the term “life partner” because that is how I see my wife, and that is what I was looking for. I knew that I neede...

Africa is a land that has the most raw materials, arable land, and future business opportunities. The things that plague Africa, are things that plague the people and not nature. The richest parts of the continent have the most strife, and the common people, who just want to enjoy their God-given rights, pay the heaviest price. Geopolitical unrest and the improper use of natural resources has caused starvation, disease, and lost generations. We need to look at the values and beliefs that have enabled the outside: colonialists, religious extremists, and corporate interests, to destabilize an otherwise promising continent. This is not to say that there were never any problems originating from within Africa, but it is to say that those problems, and all others, have been accentuated or weaponized by those who want the resources for close to nothing.  We need to start believing in the power of competence over the power of corruption. Many Africans believe, wrongly, that prosperity come...

According to the book of Genesis, God made the earth and saw that it was good. He made man, said that it was good, but saw that it was not good for man to be alone. So he made women, who together with man, would make humanity good; “man and woman, he created them.” This means that a woman is a gift to a man, not in the possessive sense, but in a complementary sense. The only problem is that men have forgotten that God gave them women. They do not grasp the fact that a woman is an equal and a gift from God that they cannot own. This means that no man can give a woman to a man and no man can “take” a woman. Men and women are to be one flesh brought together by God for His glory and the betterment of the human race. We’ve forgotten that God has gifted us with each other.   Things go wrong when we forget the giver of the gift. Saul forgot that before Samuel came to tell him that God had chosen him to be king, he was just a handsome man from the tribe of Benjamin. God made Saul kin...

One of the biggest moments to occur on the Oscars’ stage came at the Oscars of 2022. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for a joke Chris told about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. At first, it seemed like a stunt, but after Will Smith took his seat and started yelling at Chris, everyone knew that it was real. How could such an episode happen at the Oscars, an event filled with regal class? The answer is simple, and it is not because the two people involved were men or that they were black. This has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with emotionally driven impulse. This is about not being able to wait until you can use your words at the right time, on the right platform.  Most people have been talking about what’s wrong with Hollywood, the Smith’s, black people, masculinity, comedians, and the world, instead of talking about how best to respond to the incident. The reasons why this public display of violence took place are not complex and they come to light when we explore p...

A lot of the attention and/or pressure that the church receives from the state or secular culture, today, comes from the history of an inseparable church and state. Even though we have come a long way since when the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church were one, we are still paying the price for all the damage done. This is one of the reasons why we have activists, representing various groups, working hard to change church doctrine and practices.  The church, as an institution, has failed to address human rights issues in the past, due to fear and political affiliations, and this has led to people believing that doctrine was the issue. The scripture is filled with love and the right kind of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We can have different backgrounds, possess different gifts, fall short in different ways, but be united and equal under God through Christ. We are one body of Christ instructed to show we are His disciples by our love. The church needs to interact with the secul...

Death is a serious subject that humanity has been obsessed with for generations. Its significance is undeniable, but in my opinion, it gets too much attention, especially from African, Middle Eastern, and Asian societies. The death obsession is crippling and keeping us in an infinite loop of birth and death; neglecting the important in-between. There are far too many festivals and events surrounding death.  This is not to say that funerals aren’t essential, but to say that they should play second fiddle to celebrations where the people are alive. People live their lives in service to those who have died and those who have reverence for the dead. This also leaves room for those who control society through the use of death as an instrument of oppression, to have free reign.  An obsession with death makes a society focused on the past, and not the future. Most resources, emotional and financial, go towards serving the dead. This then translates to holding on to terrible ideas onc...

In the quest for pleasure and happiness, often we find pain and suffering, with one of the ways being through what popular culture has termed the baby momma. Having a baby momma, or baby daddy, is a sure fire way to guarantee strife, especially if your baby does not live with you. We need to recognize root causes of pain and suffering in order to avoid the symptoms. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a whirlwind of drama, because we tend not to understand that pleasure is meant to be shared with those that you have already committed to, and those that have earned your trust and you theirs.  Growing up, we learned about sex before marriage and sadly, the main point that the Sunday school teachers and preachers emphasized is that it is sin. Although that is true, it does not motivate us to stay away from having sex before marriage. It does not provide adequate incentives. We would have been better off hearing about some of the horror stories from couples (and their children) who had...

“Two heads are better than one,” or its variation, is a saying that almost every culture around the world knows and does its best to practice. It is not only used in reference to collaboration, but in reference to governance. Most companies, enterprises, and/or systemic groupings of people need to have two heads. These are the symbolic, advisory head and the administrative, operational head. In the non-C-suite way of corporate governance, it is simple, we have a chairman of the board serving as the symbolic, advisory head and a president serving as the administrative, operational head.  It gets a little confusing in the modern C-suite systems of corporate governance where you can have the chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer roles. To avoid any confusion, it’s best to look at governance from the perspective of the people being governed, not the people doing the governing. If you’re a member of the executive committee, the chairman is the symbolic, advisory ...