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The picture above is one of the most popular sites to visit in San Francisco, USA but from 1934 to 1963; it housed the most dangerous prisoners in the United States. This particular house was built on a rock which makes it impervious to criminal escape. The records claimed that nobody has ever escaped this prison alive but there were rumors of several attempts and some Hollywood films suggest some possible escape from this fortress. Alcatraz is the name of this site and it is popular called The Rock.

Every time, I look at this picture, my mind immediately conjures up the words of Jesus about a house built on the rock. Jesus vouched that this house is impervious to any uncertain threat or calamity. Uncertainty is one of the most feared elements of any human being; almost everyone has a hidden question about tomorrow: The African leaders that hold on to their position longer than they promise is afraid of what it is like not to have power; the wealthy man that keeps on making wealth is bothered losing everything; the salary worker heading for pension is bothered losing his standard of living and the list goes on.

Imagine living in China and the news that filtered in this morning; “A powerful typhoon toppled houses, flooded villages and forced nearly 1 million people to flee to safety on China’s eastern coast before weakening into a tropical storm Monday”. You worked your entire life running out of your house from 6a.m. to beat traffic and return by 8 pm because of the same traffic; you use your proceeds to build your dream house and the storm takes it away. In the United States, we hear of Hurricanes like Katrina; in China, we hear of earthquakes and typhoons; in Sudan, we hear of genocides and in India recently, we heard of terrorist attacks.

What you hold so dearly today can fizzle out tomorrow but Jesus gave us a panacea to this issue; “build your house on the rock”. Jesus did not exclude this uncertainty from happening to you but makes you understand the preventive measures. Jesus did not say “IF” the storm comes, Jesus said “WHEN” the storm comes; he emphatically points to the fact that the storm would come but you have the potential to prevent it. In Nigeria, we are mostly too self involved to understand what it means to face natural disaster but the funny part is that a disaster does not really warn you, it just happens.

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say? (47) I will show you what everyone is like who comes to me and hears my words and obeys.(48) That person is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the floods came, the water tried to wash the house away, but it could not shake it, because the house was built well. (49) But the one who hears my words and does not obey is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation. When the floods came, the house quickly fell and was completely destroyed.”

There is a parallel story in Mathew 7: 24 – 29. It’s not about reading, understanding, analyzing or hearing the words of Jesus but doing them. The implementation is always the most difficult part for humans. Last week, I put up a typical example of the parable of the talent for Nigerian work force; I gave them a chance to double their talent. Well, it is important to truly understand the meaning of talent, it is impossible to be exact about their value, and different kinds of talent were in use during Jesus time. However, even the lowest value for a talent puts it as worth several thousand denarii (an old Roman Silver coin), and a denarius was the usual payment for a day’s labor. So a talent was the value of many years of work by an ordinary person.

The parable tells of a master who was leaving his home to travel, and before going gave his three servants different amounts of money. On returning from his travels, the master asked his servants for an account of the money given to them. The first servant reported that he was given five talents, and he had made five talents more. The second servant said that he had received two talents, and he had made two talents more. The last servant who had received one talent reported that knowing his master was a hard man; he buried his talent in the ground for safekeeping, and therefore returned the original amount to his master. The master called him a wicked and lazy servant, saying that he should have placed the money in the bank to generate interest. The master commanded that the one talent be taken away from that servant, and given to the servant with ten talents, because everyone that has much will be given more, and whoever that has a little, even the little that he has will be taken away. And the master ordered the servant to be thrown outside into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I truly understand the man with the one talent; he was scared of losing his money just like most of us are. Despite the fact that he was paid every month by his master, he was still scared of losing his money, he was not concerned about what he could possible gain by trading his one talent. He was so scared that he had to bury it not understanding that the storm may come and the one talent may not be enough to get him out of the crisis. He did not understand that the lessons you gain from implementation is more valuable than the talent you have at the moment. Even if he had lost the one talent, he would have learnt something from the experience and the conversation with the Master would have been different. The Master would definitely not be able to give any more talent to the guy with the ten talents.

The more we watch our fellow colleagues succeed by taking their destiny into their hands, the more we become prisoners of our own flesh (envy sets in). If you bury your talent, it would eventually be given to the guy that traded with his own. Those that build their house on the rock know that the rocky foundation takes time to build. A tiny step in the right direction all you need to start the process; if you know that one day, you would have to own your business (no matter how small), you have to start building the foundation while working; you have to test your power of influence. There is still room to be an exclusive agent of our car vacuum cleaner in your sphere of influence and get the chance to double your income. The following companies have been taken:

Mobil

Zenith, Island Environ

Visa Phone, Island Environ

Bank PHB, Island Environ

Etisalat, Banana Island

Alcatel-Lucent

FIN Bank, Island Environ

Kaduna Town

Glo Warehouse, Ikeja

PHCN, Island Environ

If you are in any of these companies and you are interested in obtaining the car vacuum cleaner, you could contact me by clicking HERE and you would be directed on whom to meet. If you don’t know anything about the deal, you may click HERE. If you are still interested in sharpening your intrapreneur skill to build a rock foundation, please, click HERE.

Have a wonderful week!