ADVERSITY IS FOR ADVANCEMENT. A few days ago, I was watching the Rwandan president Paul Kagame, talking to our governors and he said something very profound. The tragedy they faced in Rwanda 20 years ago, no matter how painful and regrettable it is, left them better. It has helped them more as a nation even to aspire to become better and soar higher probably more than any other event in their history. He said when they were in that tragic season they went so low that they couldn't go any lower. The only way out was to go up and ever since they came out of it, Rwanda has been going higher and higher. Those words have not left my heart and it is amazing how true it is that we many times allow the tragedies we face to ground us and stop our progress but tragedies are never meant for that. Every challenge if wisely handled, must spur us into a forward movement and make us better. Everyone of us, faces Challenges, you are not unique. In fact challenges make champions but how we respond to those challenges is what differentiates between being average or becoming a super achievers. You will never rise higher than mediocrity without first overcoming challenges. Let me make this clear; challenges are inevitable, but whether you surmount or succumb to them is optional. Hurdles and barriers should never keep you from achieving your desired destiny, they should serve as the litmus test to prove how badly we want to succeed. Going beyond the barriers by wisdom, fortitude, confidence and faith is the truest indicator that we are destined for success. True heroes are not mere champions at the running track of life but first at the backyard of insignificance where they win the battles of the mind, the battles of the heart and the battles on the planning table. Always approach adversity as a teacher in the school of life, with essential lessons necessary for well- balanced and all-rounded growth. The next time life confronts you with impossibility and and the mockery of the opposition of success, remember that success and failure are both presented together. Sometimes failure introduces success and if you don't understand this principle, you will constantly discard the sweet because of the tasteless sweet wrapper. Don't give up on your baby just because the birth water is messy and smelly. Don't worry about the protruding tummy that at times will embarrassingly announce your inconvenience. The waiting, the travail and the price you have paid should not allow you to throw away the baby with the birth water either! What you need is sometimes contained within what you don't want, people you don't like could actually be designed to bring out the best in you and the healing you need is mostly through the bitter pill you must first swallow! Uncomfortable situations sometimes come bearing with them the eventual comfort we aspire. This is not just knowledge that you must know, it is wisdom that you must apply! People who succeed understand this one principle; to get the gold you must dig through the mud. To get the diamond you must be willing to break through some very hard rocks. While everyone else complains and grumbles about the good, the bad and the ugly, remind yourself that there is no fish without a bone, there is no meal without cooking and no arrow moves forwards without first being pulled backwards. There is no tall building without a deep foundation and there is no exuberance without endurance. There is no gain without pain, there is no testimony without a testing and there is no fame without shame. There is a secret that great people rarely say; a great man may fall seven times but he rises up eighth . Don't waste the afflictions you have endured in your life thus far. Every day of this year is a roofing tile on your life, handle it with care, place it strategically and interlock it with each other: you cannot afford a leakage! your good and your bad experiences are all designed by God to work together for your good so that by being a complete and firmly grounded person, you may become whole, lacking nothing, and with nothing missing and nothing broken! This year, Try harder, go further, dig deeper, engage the extra mile, if you want what others don't have you must do more than they are willing to do. Do more than you are paid to do and soon, you will be paid more than you do! Bishop

Keep on, keep on

Keep on steppin' 'til you reach higher ground
Can't nobody turn you 'round
Step on up you can claim the highest star
Straight ahead, it's not very far!

Keep on, keep on

With the strength of your mind you can be set free
You can overcome your past
Search deep inside and you will see
Time has come at last!

Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on (repeat)

You can make it if you only try
Don't stop reaching 'til you touch the sky
Life has many ups and downs
Plant your feet on solid ground! keep on!

Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on (repeat)

Through the strength of your mind you can be set free
You can overcome your past

Search deep inside and you will see
Time has come at last!

Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on (repeat)


Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on just
Keep on pressin' on
Sky is the limit and you know that you can have what
You want, be who you want
(Repeat)

Listen, I can't let nobody keep me from reachin' the
Top!
Don't you give up for nothing keep on 'til you get by!
Reach, reach, reach you're almost there!
If you have a goal, set it in your mind!
Reach for it, say to yourself, this will be mine!
K-e-e-p, pressin' o-n spells keep on, keep on pressin'
My friend!
Ain't no half steppin' you've got to keep on pressin'!

Keep on, keep on