In times of great stress, be strong and courageous

EACH Wednesday evening at 8pm I host a Zoom Complin service that reaches out to Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda and the Congo in Africa, Honduras, Barbados and Canada, Spain, Norway and Britain.

Complin is where we say night prayers at the end of the day and where we read a psalm and a set gospel with a short homily.

We listen to some music and at the end we pray for the world and each other and share exciting stories of the week.

The wonders of Zoom came about during the coronavirus pandemic.

I am co-founder of a rugby charity now named Growing Seed Foundation. We commenced 19 years ago where we would bus 150 boys and girls aged from six to 18 from the slum areas in Lagos to the British International school where, for four hours, we would train in hot weather (similar to the temperatures experienced this week in the UK).

We bought in top UK coaches to train the trainer and through the years many young people have acquitted themselves well at senior level in representative national teams.

We encouraged friendship between Christians, Muslims and those of no faith but all united in the love of rugby.

During covid more poor people died of starvation in Nigeria than of covid due to curfew restrictions. This prompted Growing Seed to start an organic farm on 21 hectares of virgin fertile land in the Delta region by a river, training subsistence farmers.

Sadly, I learned last month that one of our outstanding boys that I coached as a young boy called Solomon, while serving with the Nigerian army was shot and killed in a skirmish with Boko Haram. That saddened me greatly that such a young promising life could have ended so tragically.

But Christians believe that through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus that we are granted eternal life.

There are many promises of Jesus that we can read in the Bible that if believed gives us hope. Hope fills us with joy and peace — Romans 15:13.

There may be people of no faith or those with plenty of money and successful careers who are yearning for something in their soul that money cannot buy.

We all have to face judgement or be accountable for our lives at some time. In life we experience both successes and failures.

One of my heroes is Barnes Wallis of the bouncing bomb fame. He adopted empirical engineering as the best way to learn. That is, we learn from our mistakes.

Ultimately, the strength to turn failure into success does not come from will power alone. Philippians 4:13 declares: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

We remember that God’s grace is greater than our greatest failure. God is merciful, forgiving and loving.

When we fall or in times of distress, we are commanded to be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed by failure, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” — Joshua 1:9.