First Time Experiences

by Joseph Olalekan Adenuga

Sometime ago we listened to our delectable and very inspiring TM Mobolaji Adenubi as she gave her ice breaker, she made a profound statement that will not leave me in a hurry, she said “All life is about movement”; indulge me to add to this statement today using the words of Ellen Glasgow that “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward”.

Growth is very essential to life and indeed there is a vast difference between growing up and growing old. But that is a talk for another day. There is no vacuum in life, you are either growing or you are deteriorating. First time experiences are sets of events, circumstance, people etc that we encounter for the very first time. It is highly correlated to growth because it has the potential of changing our skills, our capacity, our profiles, our story and even our history. These experiences can transform us from who we used to be to who we eventually become afterwards.

I have watched my daughters grow from babies to infants and to being toddlers and now you may refer to them as children as it were; but the excitement of seeing them take their first step is remarkable, regrettably though I only saw that of my first daughter. And gradually as they grow they feel their way through life. If you observe closely at children growing up, you would notice that almost everything catches their attention, from dropping of spoons, closing of doors, toilet flushing, turning-on the TV to even PHCN holding and releasing the power at will or the mosquitoes that crave for some taste of their unadulterated blood. These events are seemingly new to them and they love to engage in order to understand it better.

New experiences have a way of registering itself in our brain, activating some of our cells making some of our organs to suddenly become conscious of something that they have usually ignored. Learning how to ride a bicycle for instance, improves some of the organs for better balance; it develops some parts of the brain. The same goes for learning how to drive, it will initially secrete several hormones in the body until the body gets used to it and after a while it becomes a routine and almost a reflex action. Speaking for the first time in Toastmasters you bet is indeed a worthwhile experience; one thing I can guarantee you is that, every opportunity you have to speak is a different challenge entirely, all first time experiences.

All these experiences do not leave us the same way; they in fact transform us from who we were into who we eventually become after the process. Indeed a conscious effort to growth can be exhilarating but also rewarding.

As adults in this room I dare to ask, when last did you have a first time experience? When was the last time you met someone for the first time, or take a route for the first time, or deliberately going to a place for the first time? Thanks to toastmasters, we would have the privilege of some of these first time experiences, nevertheless, I challenge you today, to be more deliberate about your first time experiences, go to new places, learn a new dance step, try out a new food, if you can swim, learn how to drive, if you can drive, learn how to sail, go sky-diving, skiing and the likes. The most important thing is that you take deliberate effort in your first time experiences and watch yourself blossom as you grow.
(An award winning Toastmasters Speech)

Throw That Jonah Overboard

by Joseph Adenuga

This story is one of the familiar stories in the Bible. The swallowing of a man by a big fish is very intriguing. However, the most phenomenal part of the story is not the swallowing of the man, but that the man stayed in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights?! Awesome!

You could imagine looking at the eyes of a little child in Sunday school hearing this story for the first time. The child would gaze in such amazement and wonder; imagining the chances of survival in the belly of a fish.

I would like us to look at this story again but this time in a rather uncommon perspective which I have been relishing recently while meditating.

Jonah 1:1-16

¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
⁴ But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
⁵ Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 

... a ship going to Tarshish; ...

Our lives are like ships set out for a particular destination (perhaps no destination at all but drifting through life). Some people are boarded on a "relation"-ship setting out for a successful marriage; some are boarded on a "career"-ship, and if you are like me, you are boarded on a "fulfillment"-ship. Whatever ship you are boarded on at every phase of life, the key element is usually that there is an end in mind (the destination). This end is what the bible refers to as expectations in Proverbs 23:18 (KJV) “For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off”. It is important in the different “-ships” of life to have an expectation (destination). This can be likened to vision, goals and the likes. But I won’t go into all that now.
Tarshish is an allegorical expectation or destination of every man. We all pay and plan to go to Tarshish. We are hopefully boarded on the right ship to Tarshish to sail through the sea of life. We are in no doubt aware of the risk of traveling through this sea yet because we are in this ship, we have a measure of belief and hope for safe landing at our destination - Tarshish.

... to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD

This phrase shows us that the problem wasn’t that Jonah was going with them to Tarshish, but that his going to Tarshish was not in line with Gods ordination; in other words, leaving Gods presence.

Here is a ship or a life as it may, with an expectation, hoping everyone on board is in line with the vision, yet there is a Jonah. Jonah could symbolize many things but I wouldn’t make any claim on what Jonah could be or not, I would simply let us see the impact a Jonah could have in a purposeful ship such as this one. This people on board have planned their trip, paid their dues, done all that they should do on their own part to get to Tarshish, but unknown to them, they have a Jonah on board.

... LORD sent out a great wind on the sea

This phrase is particularly important as it purports that God himself will stand on our way to Tarshish if we have a Jonah on board. Suddenly life becomes difficult, our seemingly secured ship starts to rock; Tarshish starts to appear an arduous destination to reach. Our experience does not seem to correlate with the stories of people who have been on this same ship in the past. Have we not prayed? Did we not plan? Is it not the right time? Questions may begin to flood our minds like the tempest we experience on the outside. Life has become stormy; yet all these because we have a Jonah on board.

... every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.

Instinctively, we start to try what we know. We pray more, adding fasting to it. We even use our acquired skills and knowledge trying out things at least to stabilize our ship en route Tarshish. Yet Tarshish is not in sight.

This people went spiritual, and when this seems to have been exhausted with no progress in sight, they must have said to themselves “Heaven helps those who helps themselves”. Now they started throwing valuables into the sea in the name of applying the principles of Physics.

But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

Interestingly, this attitude of Jonah has made him famous such that people that sleep unnecessarily are nicknamed after him. All the while Jonah was asleep! Sometimes the problem is somewhere in the least expected part of the ship “fast asleep”!

¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. ¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
¹² And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
¹³ Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

Now by drawing of straws, they have identified the reason for the storm – Jonah; yet they were afraid. Sometimes we now know the Jonah yet we are afraid. In fact, Jonah himself told them the solution – get rid of me, and you will get rid of the storm – this still didn't seem like an option to them.

¹⁵ So They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down. (MSG)

You need to throw that Jonah overboard! All the effort, all the spiritual gymnastics, all the valuable resources they lost...all they needed to have done all this while was to throw Jonah overboard?

If your Tarshish does not seem to be in sight, if the sea of life seem rather unkind to you with raging storm and tempest, if you probably have lost valuable resources hoping you could stabilize your ship to Tarshish; yet all this is not yielding result? Look for that Jonah, scan through the ship and fish him out, don’t be afraid, throw him overboard.

Know this for sure that you cannot get to Tarshish with a Jonah on board! Throw him overboard now.

3 Wrong Reasons to Start your own Business

by Joseph Olalekan Adenuga

Running a business is like riding on a roller coaster. Although it is fun and exciting, there will be times when you’ll be scared and feel powerless. During the bad times there isn’t much you can do, other than to keep on pushing forward.

Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual futuristic process that involves calculation and an instinctive exercise of foresight.

Business is an occupation, if you would spend over eight years in school to become a competent doctor, over four years to become an accounting trainee, why would you think you can start your own business without first learning the trade.

In the next couple of paragraphs, I will address three wrong reasons to start your own business.

Lets begin with the first wrong reason, which is to become wealthy. To this I say its either you are naive or you are simply not good at mathematics. A research from the University of Tennessee released in 2012, showed that 60% of businesses fail at the 6^th year. These are even the odds on the business being alive how much more being profitable so much as to bring wealth to the owner.

My advice in this regards is that if you are an employee, spend less than you earn and invest the difference regularly because statistically, the chances of being wealthy from your own business are broadly lesser than being employed in a large corporation.

In addition, the second wrong reason is to have more time for self and family. Thinking you will have more time starting your own business is quite erroneous. Right now if you are in a job, you probably are focused only on a tiny segment of the business while other segments are handled by other people. For example, if you are a teacher, you teach so well that the school demands your service so much you hardly have time for yourself. You decided to start your own school thinking this would give you more time to focus on stuffs about yourself. Wrong. Now you would not only have to cope with teaching, you will have to face recruiting, training, managing and firing other teaching staff, you will answer to regulatory bodies regarding school and curriculum accreditation, you will attend to the government regarding tax, not only for the school but also for the property on which the school runs, you will have to answer to the different unwelcoming attitudes of parents and many more issues you didn’t bother about as a teacher, all in the same 24hours you had previously. Now tell me would you have more or less time for yourself.

Finally, the third wrong reason is to be your own boss. When you work at a 9 to 5 job you have one boss that you have to report to. Whatever your boss tells you to do, you do. You may not always like what he or she is telling you, but at least you only have one person (worse case 2 people) bossing you around. If you decide to start your own business, every one of your customers is a boss. If you think one boss is bad, think about having 100. Whatever they want, you have to do. If you don’t, your bosses (customers) won’t be happy, which means you won’t be in business much longer. As a fact, your staff, suppliers, and even your landlord all become your boss.

So, becoming wealthy, having more time for self and family and being your own boss are certainly wrong reasons to start your own business. 

Am I against entrepreneurship? Certainly not. I support entrepreneurship to the core but, the overconfidence of the average wannabe entrepreneur might plunge them into a lifetime mousetrap if care is not taken.
(An award winning Toastmasters Speech)

Me in Minutes

by Joseph Adenuga (Ice breaker at Seaside Toastmasters club-2nd February 2013)

Using the words of Robert Frost “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

On the seventeenth day of April, thirty-two years ago, it was a good Friday, I was born into the Adenuga family. My father is a retired soldier and my mum is a retired teacher. We are four, two boys and two girls. I have two elder ones and one younger sister.

I lived with my grandmother for the first four years of my life. I spoke the Ijebu language as my first language. At four years old, I could only speak and understand the Ijebu language, this must have given my parents concern and they decided it was time for me to leave for Lagos. This wasn’t a welcomed idea for me as I resisted it by every means I could. Thankfully, they succeeded in bringing me to Lagos.

I was enrolled at Command Children School, Bonny Camp in Victoria Island where I had my nursery and primary education. The first few years in school were quite eventful; I didn’t understand English, so I was a bit aggressive with my classmates. Well, I found mathematics less burdensome with respect to language so I deliberately increased my aptitude for numbers to cover up my deficiency in English. Consequently, I won several prices in mathematics all through primary school and even secondary school as well.

From Command Children School, I proceeded to Ijebu Ode Grammar School for my secondary school education. UP JOGS!!! Concluding my secondary school education I chose to study Geophysics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun state where I earned my Bachelors degree. I completed a Masters degree programmed in Petroleum Geoscience from the Institut Francais du petrole in France.

I am a Christian...I believe in Jesus Christ.

I am a husband...I am married to an angel, Omodele,...so heaven is my home...I consider her to be a born and definitely qualified and trained educator. Of course, this could equally mean that I am her permanent student. We have been married now for six years.

I am a father... We are blessed with two children, I call them princesses, Ileriifeoluwa (the promise of God’s love)-who will be 5 in August- and Iyanuoluwa (the wonder of God) -who will be 4 in September-...maybe you didn’t figure out, she is the wonder of God as she was conceived barely three months after the delivery of her sister...I guess that makes me a top striker.

I currently work as an Exploration Geophysicist with a multinational oil & gas company and I have been working for over six years now.

I am an investor...I study and carefully develop investment skills and act promptly on calculated risk opportunities as well. I have been investing in the stock market since I was nineteen. I know some of you may be wondering if I was hit by the last stock crash, NO...but that is a story for another day. I am gradually learning the real estate investments...I know some few tips, but would not claim to be a master yet.

I am a mentor and dream coach...I consciously impact essential life principles to people fortifying them for the challenges of life. There are people younger and older that I try my best to ensure that they fulfil the best life has to offer them.

I blog as well...and my blog address is joadenuga.blogspot.com. It is titled Precious Possession; you may want to see if there are one or two things you can learn from it. Besides, this speech will be posted today, so get your copy.

I am an intending author...my goal is to publish my first book this year, we’ll see.

I am a farmer at heart...I love the concept of farming especially animal farming, raising livestocks...chicken, goats, pigs, cows, rabbits, grasscutters, snails, fishes and so on...I equally love pets, you need to see the expression of my wife whenever I talk of the possibility of having 10dogs!

For sport, I walk, I take long walks, short walks...ok...and I also play tennis. I try to play at least once a week on the average.

Finally, I speak Yoruba, English and French. I can mutter some words in Igbo, Hausa, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, German and recently Chinese.

A statement that could summarize a guiding principle for my life is that the quality of a man’s life is not in the duration but in the donation of it.

That is Me in Minutes, Mr Toastmaster.

Welcome Home Son

I remember writing that I just entered a new season in my life and that I would gist you later on. Well this is the gist. 

On the 7th of October 2012, the pastor talked about going deeper in our relationship with God. This message struck me like I was an unbeliever, I started reflecting and asking very important questions about my commitment to the things of God. I felt horrible as it was becoming clearer that for almost 7 years now, I have been living the life of a convenient and regular Christian. Whatever demanded extra time or effort, I simply shrugged to one side and move on with life.This theme of meditation went on for days and into weeks and more messages confirmed God nudging me to change my ways. 

The last straw that broke the camel's back was when I got a call from my spiritual father and pastor. I haven't seen him for years now, but we have been communicating. He called me from Calabar where he is currently posted and he asked me what church I was going. So I started telling him how we attended DAYSTAR Christian Center for a while before we started attending The Elevation Church. I explained to him how the change of where we now fellowship is in line with the vision of DAYSTAR. 

He continued by asking what is my assignment in the church. I immediately sensed God actually knocking my head big time! I reluctantly told him how we have for a long time now been faithful church attenders and tithe payers. He then told me that while he was praying, God told him to tell me to come back to Him. He further reminded me of an encounter we had at the church office when I was in school. Back then he was concerned that I was becoming too involved in church assignments that it might be affecting my academic performance. I recalled smiling back to him and humbly telling him I was the best student in the department, grade-point wise. He also told me how he wasn't so surprise about the testimony of my job when I shared it with him over 6 years ago, as he was certain that God is a faithful God. Instantly, I remembered the comments I had in my just concluded appraisal...oh my God...it was the worst comment ever made about my performance! Clearly the comments were unjustified and over-rated...but now I can see the link between my commitment to His assignment and the attainment of my goals. The last thing he said to me before hanging up was "Go back to God". 

Friends, God cannot be clearer to me than this. I felt chastised and resolved to turn around immediately. I got home and confessed my sins (of omission) to God, I acknowledged that I have been living a personal and private Christian life. I have strategically avoided opportunities to be committed for God's service. I asked God to restore me and redeem the lost years, indeed the canker worms have eaten a lot, the harvest is really lean.

Since then I have taken several conscious step to remaining relevant and available to be used by God. An unconscious person is as good as dead, so also is an unconscious Christian, he/she is as good as a dead Christian. It is very important we live our Christian life consciously. 

Things have really changed now as God is really my top priority in the scheme of things. 

I recently had a confirmation as I woke up on the morning of the 12th of November with smiles all over my face. I had a dream..yes I am Joseph; in the dream I found myself worshiping with some people I couldn't figure out who they are, but after co-leading a particular worship song, most of the people suddenly recognized me and they were saying things like "Ooh...so it is you, yes I know you"...I felt so glad that I could hear in my Spirit as I was waking up...."Welcome Home Son!"

INFORMATION AGE....?

Bonjour mes amies,

Ca fait long temps, vers 5 mois ! (I am only practising my French).

How is life with you?

I recently entered a new season of my life....I will gist you more about this later on.

I have been perplexed by the “information age” drive going on around.

I recently received a business card from someone and all I saw was:

Front side – name, interest and roles

Back side – twitter, linked In, Facebook, Blog, email and phone nos

I was quite impressed. I guess networking these days is faster and easier with social media profiles as listed above.

I am almost there, social media wise, I can’t just get to sign myself up on twitter! (somebody please encourage me)

Someone I mentor asked me to proof read his first book and write a testimonial for him that would be published in the book. After sending the reviewed documents and testimonial he asked me a question I felt I have never been asked before. “How do you want to be addressed?” And I simply said “Joseph Adenuga.”

Then he said “Just like that”, at this point I figured I needed to give it a second thought so I told him to call me back so I can reflect on it.

After meditating for some couple of hours, guess what I came up with?

Joseph Adenuga

An Enthusiastic Dream coach, experienced geoscientist and a seasoned speaker

What do you think?! I really felt uncomfortable singing my own song.

So, finally I now know what to write on my personalized business card after all:

Front side

Joseph Adenuga

Dream Coach, Experienced Geoscientist, Seasoned Public Speaker, Staunch Investor

Backside

Facebook – Joseph Olalekan Adenuga

Linked In – Joseph Adenuga

Blog – http://joadenuga.blogspot.com

Email – joseph_nuga@yahoo.com

Phone nos – 08038075789

So what will yours look like?