My 68th Birthday Meditation, By Richard Akinnola

When l remember…

In my year one in secondary school, Acquinas College, Akure, we had a football match with a rival school, Oyemekun Grammar school and a riot broke out. A large stone that could have landed on my eyes and rendered me blind, fortuitously landed on my forehead;

When l remember…

The attempts on my life during the military regimes, culminating in my abduction in October 1996 in front of Concord press by the Abacha goons and how l escaped being shot;

When l remember…

That the ADC plane from Port harcourt that crashed in Lagos on November 7, 1996, killing all 144 persons on board, was the same plane l boarded from same Port harcourt to Lagos few days before the crash;

And so many of God’s miracles and deliverances these past 68 years, I’m a product of His grace and mercy.

As l open chapter 68 of my book of life today, I’m mindful of three places we all take for granted.

First, the hospital. Here, some live on oxygen, the air we take for granted. Here, many don’t bother about wealth or chasing of dreams but just to get well and hope for the pains to go away.

Second, prison. Until you lose your freedom, you would not appreciate what freedom means. By the way, not everyone in prison is guilty of any offence. Many are there through miscarriage of justice by our corrupt law enforcement processes and crooked criminal justice system.

Third, cemetery.
The cemetery is no respecter of persons. All the wealth, sirens, oppressive attitudes all end there, bodies consumed by worms. All the long convoy of cars, abuse of power, your handsome or beautiful body that you worship, all end here.

Then, you wonder, why all the fighting, pride, recrimination, malice, when all end here?

Once you realize that no one would leave here alive, on a day like this, as one celebrates life and God’s grace and faithfulness, one is mindful that we cannot live for ever. So, apart from your relationship with God, what legacy are you living behind? Selah