Through My Life's Love Journey

We all have had our fair share of the heartaches and heartbreaks and as funny as it may sound, but I’m actually glad they happened as these times have thought me  a lot about myself, people, love and life in general. No doubt love is great and as a matter of fact, it’s a wonderful feeling but the excruciating pain its ripple effect inflicts on us makes it dame easy to change that smile we once had to an upside down frown, which I believe logically explains why there’s such a thin line between love and hate. However, I am most appreciative of these moments and they are actually one of the major high notes of my journey through life but what I still find hard to explain is how something that brought so much joy can change so quickly to cause us angst and make us cry so badly.

Who am I? I am that guy, that individual, a bad boy turn good and swiftly growing to be the man he was created to be, who hasn’t just been heart broken by women he gave his heart to and loved unconditionally but has also broken a couple hearts to, so I guess that qualifies me to talk about love as I’ve been through it all; the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the matters of the heart. Growing up as a kid, all I ever wanted was to love unconditionally and sincerely but I still can’t remember how and when I managed to loose myself, my priorities and goals as regards relationships, only to fall in love with a selfish and heartless me, who activated the beast mode in me and hurting a couple pure and innocent soul in the process and just before you castigate and bury me alive, love already did, trust me.

You know, love knows how to fight its own battles and it’s true what they say about karma fighting back and hunting us when we least expect, and that dude if he was human must have hated my guts so badly, as he had a first row seat to my life and never hesitated to pay me an uninvited visit each time I got my hands dirty after a fair game of card. Apparently, I have always had to learn the hard way and hardly got away with anything I did wrong. I have had to pay back in full and double sometimes and that basically explains my recent records of the heartaches and heartbreaks but thanks to grace, I haven’t given up on love and never will. Through my life’s love journey, I have learnt a lot about women, life, love, hate and relationships and I’ve come to understand so much as regards putting my cards plain on the table and keeping my hands clean if I don’t want that same fire I’m igniting through my lies to turn back to burn me.

Love is kind and patient and a loving heart, pure and tolerant, it makes excuses for the one it loves. However, let’s be careful not to abuse its privileges or we watch it turn back real quick and aggressively that is, just like a rattle snake whose tail has just been stepped on. The truth is, for every good heart you allowed to cry attract a million chocolate boxes to another who’s just playing with yours and anticipating the day to say goodbye. Life is a bitch, isn’t it, but so are your words if they don’t percolate with the truth. The way you lay your bed, so you’ll lie in it. If you give me lemons, I’ll bring some vodka and we can mix it up and start a party, that’s what love is meant to be about; helping and complementing each other. You can’t leave others in the dark and expect to be shown the light. If you throw jabs at me, you can be rest assured that there’s someone out there heading your way with a knockout punch.  Whatever you sow is what you reap, period.

You know, I’ve spent quite a number of years as an ignorant kid sagging my pants as I walked through the surface of the earth and most of which I had the choice of dressing right and staying sharp but I chose to act immature regardless. Through these times, I’ve also had the opportunity of finding peace with the old selfless me that wouldn’t hurt a fly but my ego had to meet the tiger in me and that got things pretty messed up. Now what am I trying to say? We are filled with choices each day and solely responsible for the consequences of whatever decision we choose to take. God wouldn’t force His will on us despite being the creator of the universe and neither will life. You are as good as your last decision because that gives birth to the next phase of your life so be careful when making these choices.

I will like to conclude by saying that love happens to define our existence in so much way than we actually think, it is the true essence of life itself and we are nothing without it. Even the creation of the earth and everything in it, which includes us of course, was done out of love and you’re dead the moment you cease to exude it.  However, the funny thing about it all is that there is no manual to how to love, it happens naturally. Any love forced is lust and headed for the bin. Through my life’s love journey, I’ve seen people been cheated on and hated for been too caring and loving, and on the other hand, I’ve seen people been loved and cherished for lying and treating their spouse like a piece of trash, it's just funny, the ways of love. You know, I’ve heard a million definitions to this four letter words I've spent the last couple of minutes talking about, but if only we look deep enough, we would realize that it’s only love that can truly explain itself.  Just be you, be ready and love will find you. True love I say is you finding that part of yourself that says I’m ready. We don’t find true love, true love finds us.

Kay Magnate

Frank Edwards - Under The Canopy (Official Music Video)

If there is any Nigerian gospel artiste whose songs I find soothing and reassuring after those of American Don Moen, it has to be Frank Edward. It was a sheer delight watching him performed during Emzor Pharmaceuticals’ annual thanksgiving held at the popular City Hall in Lagos Island in 2015. His mastery of the guitar and silky voice combine well to give room for both meditation and a sort of connection with the heavenlies. Aside having a collection of his inspirational songs, that was the very first time I saw him play live at any event.

Nicknamed “Rich Boy,” Frank Ugochukwu Edwards was born on July 22, 1990 into a family of seven in Enugu state. He learned to play the piano from his father and began singing at the age of ten. In what appeared to many as unusual, young Edward became a born-again Christian quite early in his teenage years.

A staunch member and keyboardist in Pastor Chris Oyakhilome-led Christ Embassy Church and Love World Music Ministry, the contemporary gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist is presently the founder and owner of Rocktown Records, which is home to enterprising young recording artists such as Gil, Divine, King BAS, Nkay, and David among others.

The artiste personally relieved his rise from a street boy to stardom to participants at the inauguration of the Calvary Bible Church in Lekki recently. It was so inspiring!

Hear him!

“Ten years ago, I was hawking on the streets of Enugu for my mother. We were so poor that we could hardly afford to eat. But, my mother always took me to church. She always told me to serve GOD, and that is how I have lived my life. Even when it was difficult to eat, I have always lived a life of worship. That is me. That is my life!

When I started singing, and my songs were being played everywhere, I had all kinds of offers. At a point in my life, I was in South Africa for a program and some promoters came to me and said, ‘Frank, your songs are so good, and we would like to promote you, take you all over the world. However, you mention the name JESUS too much in your songs. But if you can try and replace JESUS with GOD, we can do business together’.

 Brethren, that offer was very tempting. You would think, ‘What is the big deal about replacing JESUS with GOD?’ So, I called my mother, and told her about the offer. She said, ‘Don’t mind them O! Don’t do it! Holy Ghost Fire will burn all of them.’ So, I told them NO!

Today, GOD has taken my music all over! It is a beautiful thing to see white people, Americans, singing my song, Igbo songs that they don’t even know the meaning! GOD did it.

Sometime ago, we were concluding a programme, and I was looking for a camera man to snap my picture with a renowned praise and worship leader Don Moen. Eventually I got someone to take it. As I posed with Don, he looked at me and said, ‘Oh, Frank Edwards! It is you! I need to take this picture with you!’ And he took his phone and showed me, ‘See, I have all your songs on my phone’.

We took the snapshot. After then, he said, ‘Frank, I saw online that you have a studio in your home. I would like us to do collaboration together. I’m gonna come to your house for the first recording, and you will come over to mine in U.S. for the finishing.’

At that time, I thought to myself, ‘Me, the same street boy in Enugu, to do collaboration with a Gospel legend like Don Moen? Only GOD could have made it happen. Live for GOD. Praise Him and thank Him even when things are not as you would have loved them to be. Do this, and the change will come! Live a life of worship”

That was the testimony of Frank Edward at the Church that day. Awesome, isn’t it?

That is not all!  Needless to say the proposed one of a kind album duet between Moen and Edward has been wrapped up to produce a five-track extended play recently in the United States. One of such hit track is “Ka Anyi Bulie” (Let Us Lift Him).

It would be recalled that Edward’s debut album, a 14-track album, ‘The Definition’ was released in 2008. This was followed shortly by ‘Angels on the Runway’ his second album in 2010. ‘Unlimited’ album arrived a year after that and Tagjam was released in November 2011.

The former Enugu Street boy has been described as Nigeria's hottest Gospel Rock artiste of the moment. His rising profile also came to the fore when he appeared on the live performance of Sinach's classic "I know who I am" video in 2013.

In May 2011, Rich Boy was nominated as the GOSPEL ARTISTE OF THE YEAR at the 6th Annual Nigeria Entertainment Awards (NEA). He won the award of the BEST GOSPEL ROCK ARTISTE in the first annual awards and also won West Africa Best Male Vocalist in 2012, Best Hit Single at the love world awards 2012 as well as three awards at the Nigeria Gospel Music Awards (Male Artiste of The Year, Song of The Year and Best Male Vocal).

His last album before the collaboration with Don Moen, “Frankincense,” caught everyone unaware when it topped Beyonce and Adele's albums within few hours of release on itunes album chart.

And with all that said, allow me the honor of introducing to you his latest work and which also happens to be my personal favorite gospel song titled, "Under The Canopy" which was premiered as part of the celebration of Rocktown's 7th anniversary. 

The video for this highly acclaimed single was released in December 2016.. 

Enjoy it !

Visit: http://www.citypulseng.com/2016/06/frank-edward-inspirational-story-of.html

Kay Magnate

I Curse The Day We Met

Follow my blog with Bloglovin: God has created us wonderfully and yet so beautifully but many sadly have decided to recreate themselves to be cruel and heartless all in the name of wanting to acquire material things that are bound to leave just as fast as they came. It is just sad how we chase after riches, selling our soul to the devil in exchange of a mirage that seems to be there but really isn’t. And the truth is, nothing without God grows to stand the test of time and the only thing that grows without hard work are weeds. You can’t grow to become a millionaire overnight and expect to awake the reality of it in the morning without severe future consequences. Trust me, those that actually became true millionaires overnight must have put in countless hours of hard work over the days, weeks, months and even years and the good Lord decided to finally bless and crown their effort, making a testimony out of it.

You know, they didn’t just get their riches duping someone or from a wardrobe that spits out money like a rapper spitting out rhymes. And by the way, you should journey through the pages of our favorite music acts among many others and see how rough they must have had it making a penny from a craft they know so well and are dedicated to and then you’ll realize that making a dine isn’t ‘beans’ and yet some plant the seed, water it, have it harvested and even fry some plantain to go with it all overnight.  What is happening to the youth of our generation? Back in the days, our fathers could count the number of people getting their hands dirty and were so in a haste to make money but these days we can hardly single out a youth living right and not getting his hands dirty, all for the love of money, women and fame just to mention a selected few.

Lamentably, I turn to the pages of the dailies while surfing through my favorite blogs and all I can see are failed parents and I wonder how things got this bad.  Apparently, they’ve worked so hard to breed a bloodsucking generation and you can find on my pages for the first time, a scenario where hard work isn’t awarded for, because they obviously failed us regards. However, all blames shouldn’t be directed to them because I’m sure they put in work over the years and did their own honest bit to raise heavenly children but they refused to yield to their teachings. Moreover, there’s a popular Yoruba adage that says that one should rebirth oneself even after birth and guess what that is simply trying to say is that you should re-enroll yourself back in self-schooling even after graduating from the school of parenting and that I’ll like to call the school of life that totally gets you prepared, guaranteeing you to walk on the right path so you don’t fall off the wrong side.

In other words, there’s no excuse for failure, you’re the only one worth been blamed for your circumstances and I pray it isn’t too late before you start seeing all that you love and chase about so lustfully are just vanity upon vanity that the devils digs your grave with and he sure doesn’t need your permission as you already lost every right and bargaining power the day you crawled to him just like the snake that you are living among men.  And unfortunately and maybe fortunately for me, I seem to have a couple friends or better still, use to have a couple friends walking this lane as I recently just denounced the last one of them and if not for the God in me, it will be right to say I curse the day we met but then of course, who am I to blame?

The truth is that we all make mistakes and I’ve made mine and we can still make amends by deciding to retrace our steps and live right as long as we are still breathing. No doubt, money is good and we all want it but know without a doubt that there’s a problem the moment the hunger is more than a three square meal can quench and I admonish you run to God; the ultimate doctor to cleanse and heal your soul that very minute so you don’t lose it running after earthly pleasure that amounts to nothing but regrets and pain eventually. Deplorably, many have used their children, parent and other loved ones for rituals all to drive the latest wipes in town and many of which have ended up losing their lives changing gears doing a hundred and eighty on the third mainland, cruising in the same automobile that drove them to the devil in the first place but now living the reality of it. Ostensibly, you can’t eat your cake and have it, it’s either you choose life or death and while you’re at it, be sure to know that there’s an extension to that in the afterlife.

And by the way, my pen is in a really good mood and will be leaving you with a third option of living life in death on earth but have in mind also it doesn’t count as that makes you a perfect example of a living dead and you can as well purchase of your casket because you are dead and ignorant to the truth. I love money you know, but love my life even more and wouldn’t trade it for the finest girls in the prettiest bikinis or even a mansion on the Bahamas and a couple billion Naira notes to my name. The bible apprised that we seek first the kingdom of God and every other thing would be added unto us and that’s exactly what I’m doing and you should be doing. Let us not be too impatient, I know how hard it is to struggle through life each day without a penny to your name but I also know how harder it will be to stupidly enjoy life like you think you are now and manage to only get a glimpse at what heaven looks like if at all you’re lucky enough to get a million yard close on your way to the unfortunate end your purchased for yourself out of greed, impatience, foolishness and total disregard for the scripture. A word they say is enough for the wise so think twice before you roll that dice. God bless!

Kay Magnate

Peter's Experience

Today just like every other day is a day the Lord has made and I am here to talk to you about divine increase and we’ll be using Peter as our case study. And to set the ball rolling, I want us to know that the Almighty is a God of increase and He is interested in our increment. He created us into a world of no lack; a world that has all we need and would ever need to succeed and have a fulfilled life. He is interested in our prosperity and never wants us to fail. But then, you also need to realize that you are not qualified to experience this level of success and all the good and wonderful things that He has made possible for us through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ on the communion table unless you belong to His family.

The fact still remains that He loves sinners but the sin in them is what He hates and as long as we live in sin, we can't fully appropriate His blessings. So therefore, let’s make up our mind today to live aligned to His ways so that we may begin to experience divine increase like Peter did. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need. God is interested in your increase. He created human being in His own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground".

The truth is, God wants us to flourish and as long as we seek him, we’ll find him. Now let’s take a look at our case study for a minute, Peter was someone that experienced God's divine increase. He labored all through the night but couldn't catch even a single fish. He worked really hard day and night and didn't have anything to show for it but Jesus stepped into his case and his story changed. Now the question is, why did Jesus figure him out from so many? First and foremost, Peter was a chosen vessel of God. You know, it wasn't as if he was the only fisherman there but he was a vessel unto honor fit for the master's use. Apparently, he is a royal priest, a holy nation, God's very own possession. Jesus knew that he could show others the goodness of God, for he called him out of the darkness into his wonderful life and if you take time to study the scriptures well, you will realize also that he was a man of character.

You know, before God can give you anything, He has to see your character is that which glorifies His name. Basically, you must be a man of integrity to start with. In addition to that, you must be humble, diligent and trust worthy just to mention a few. If you don't have a good character, you cannot be a vessel unto honor fit for the master's use and He cannot deposit the oil of increase in your life. According to the bible, Jesus discovered that Peter had the tendency to do the work of the last hour. He had commission and the basic truth is that we all are commissioned to go out into the world to save souls; to go and turn around destinies but it's so sad because people are no longer committed to carry out the works of the creator. However, Peter’s case was different as Jesus saw commitment in his life. He knew he had worked so hard but was still so dedicated to his purpose even though he had nothing to show for it. Now the ultimate question is, how committed are you to God's work?

And moving on from that, I want us to realize whatsoever we have is what God will use to our increment. Moses had a rod and it was with this rod that the Israelite were set free. Let us also remember the poor widow whom all she had was just a pot of oil which she gave to Elijah and not knowing that little gesture of hers was going to provoke a supernatural transformation in her life. You know, she didn't know the pot of oil was going to change her destiny, thereby transporting her from a level of poverty to prosperity. Now let’s look at Peter, He only had a boat and that was what changed his story. Jesus wouldn't have been able to borrow his boat if he didn't have one, would He? Ostensibly, whatever you have is what God will use to your increment so don't under-mind whatever you have no matter how small or big it may be, it will someday come to serve its purpose. Furthermore, let us not forget that Peter was also dedicated and Jesus saw the leadership trait in him. While Jesus was in his boat teaching, Peter sat down and that only shows that he was a hearer of his words.

Truth be told, God will not deposit his anointing into you when you're too busy for Him because He knows that you wouldn't make use of it well. You have to dedicate yourself and your time to Him. Be a part of his kingdom and see how things would turn around and begin to work for your own good. I want us to realize that Peter didn't just get the miracle we all read about today. He didn't just wake up one morning to experience that life changing encounter he had with Jesus Christ. You need to realize that he had struggled and worked through the night but still couldn't catch a fish. He had someone on a sick bed at home and also had his children's school fees that were yet to be paid. In other words, he wasn't going through the best of times until Jesus stepped into the case and changed his story. Now tell me, what is that thing troubling you that seem so hard or maybe you're the hardworking type and yet you have nothing to show for it? Well, I want you to know that God is able to turn your situations around and just as Peter's story changed when Jesus stepped into his boat, the Almighty will visit you today and give you a new song. Amen

Kay Magnate