Jax Okiro

WARNING: The audio in this video clip is harmful for your hearing and can damage your ear drums!

I recently heard Jerome Rex speak on the topic ‘Sound Creates’. One of the cool things about the talk was the video clip that he showed beforehand which showed how different frequencies affected the surrounding area.  It is known as a Chladni Plate experiment and it’s really, really cool (see video clip below).

What they do is put a plate with sand granules on top of a speaker through which they play different high frequencies. As they increase or change the frequencies, different pictures start forming in the sand, hence Jerome’s topic – Sound Creates.

WARNING: The audio in this video clip is harmful for your hearing and can damage your ear drums!

While this may be fascinating, it’s not really anything new.  “And God said let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).  And all throughout the account of creation, God spoke and it happened – Sound Creates.

Consider the music that you choose to listen to. Think about how it affects your mood or the vibe around you. Do yourself a favour the next time you get to go to a restaurant and pay attention to the type of music that subtly plays in the background. A friend of mine used to own a restaurant and said when business was slow and the restaurant was empty, they would put on nice soft music to help patrons relax and stay longer. If however they were busy, they would put on fast paced music to get patrons out and new ones in – Sound Creates.

So you may not be able to bring forth sound on the same level as God did, or evoke the same emotions that skilled musicians do… but what are the sounds that are coming from your mouth? The next time you wish to say something about anything to somebody, consider this:

What will you create today?

Is it a sign of the times, or is it peer pressure or is it just down right laziness? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know far too many people who are unhappy or dissatisfied in their respective workplaces. The reasons for their unhappiness are as varied as the number of the complainants.

I recently heard an employer comment on how sad this is, and he followed this up by saying that he encourages his employees to be free to leave should they ever get to that place. In fact, he went as far as to say, ‘do yourself a favour; quit’ because it’s in the person’s own best interest. This is a very interesting sentiment that had me asking the question: Why would anyone deprive themselves from doing what they really and truly want to do?

The fact is if you have bills, you have to pay them and to pay them, you need to work; whatever that work may be. But what if you could do what you’re truly passionate about (what you would really love to do)? Would you do it? So what’s stopping you? Have you ever considered becoming an entrepreneur? Well, maybe you should. You’ll spare yourself a whole lot of frustration and be a lot more fulfilled.

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur though, and maybe you have to stay where you are because you can’t find anything else. Does that mean you should be miserable for the rest of your working life with that employer? Well, if you choose to, you probably will but you don’t have to. Consider this question as posed by the employer I mentioned: If you could run the company you work for, how would you do it?

Now I’m asking you, how would you do it? Let me suggest that everything you just said or thought about, is the key to your success and happiness in your current place of work. This concept I learnt, that of “intrapeneurship”, where you manage your area of responsibility as if it was your very own business, and the rest of the company’s success firmly depends on your success.

This requires quite a paradigm shift for someone who’s been unhappy in their workplace. If however you can manage to adopt such a perspective, it’ll allow you to become more creative, pro-active and entrepreneurial (except it is internal hence I should really say intrapreneurial) in your area of responsibility. Will you get paid more? Probably not. Will the things that frustrated you change? Not likely. Will you view your job and the workplace the same as before? Absolutely not. It’s impossible for you to remain the same.

Who’s to blame for my and your happiness in the workplace becomes highly irrelevant when we consider that the Bible encourages do our work as unto God and seek His approval. In the end, your boss may never change his ‘whatever’ attitude, or you may never be responsible or possibly give an account for how your workplace should be run, but you are accountable for your own actions and will be held accountable for them.

Now leave your boss alone and go check yourself before you wreck yourself.

There are too many men these days that are weak and not manly enough. They need to grow a pair and become real men! There are too many brothers who have sacrificed this God-given manly right and succumbed to the guise of a ‘fashion driven metro-sexual industry’. Dude! You need to sack up. And to all my manly macho brothers, well done! Forget pink! Keep it real!

Now having said all that, I don’t care how manly or macho you are or may think you are right now, I’m convinced there was a time when you were quite a wimp. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Remember that time when you woke up in the middle of the night and needed the toilet badly but didn’t want to get up because you were too scared of the dark and you wet your bed instead? Or that other time when you watched that scary movie and you were so freaked out that you didn’t want to close your eyes to fall asleep afterwards? Or how about that time when you got mugged and you were so scared that you couldn’t speak, think or even move? Remember that? No? Well then you’ve had some other experiences where you were so scared that you simply couldn’t move – literally or figuratively. Fear does that to a person.

Many times our fears are unfounded though and often just an illusion of our imagination that seem so real that they leave us paralysed. It’s important to remember though that the devil specializes in the area of illusion and will vigorously try to convince us that our fears are real. I therefore do not think it’s a coincidence that the Bible encourages us to put on the helmet of salvation (knowing who God is, what He did for us and who we are in Him) and on another occasion to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Now you may be a very macho dude, much more than I am or ever will be; well, good for you! The reality, though is that without putting on the armour of God, operating under the influence of His Holy Spirit and having the love of God firmly rooted in your heart, you will succumb to the devil’s Jedi mind tricks.

Brothers, if you want to impress that special lady in your life, you’ve got to make sure that you get creative, pull out all the stops and go that extra mile. You can’t just settle for that run of the mill kind of date if you want to make a lasting impression. So ask yourself this question: What will set me apart from any other brother who tries to catch her eye? And the answer to that question and then some, is probably what you’re going to have to do to be like Neo in the Matrix – the One.

One of the most memorable dates (at least as far as I’m concerned) that will boost your ranking in the esteem of any lady you’re trying to impress, has to be a full moon picnic. With the moon shining brightly and adding just the right amount of romantic ambiance, a fantastic view and some of her favourite eats will surely add to to the ‘impressionability factor’.

Did you know the moon doesn’t actually shine? Oh, I’m sorry… this blog isn’t actually about dating but actually about moonlight. Truth is, there is no such thing as moonlight. The light we see from the moon is really a reflection of sunlight. This reminds me that like the moon, we have no light in and of ourselves and in fact, we can only really reflect Son light. In John chapter 1 verse 4, the Bible talks about Jesus like this: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” and it goes further in verse 9 by saying “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

Trying to shine and reflect the light of God’s Son is a futile exercise if you aren’t in Him and He in you. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can totally submit ourselves to Him for a makeover that will be a true reflection of His image.