TRIBUTE FROM: Engr. Obinna Chigoziem Nnamani.(Nwashilube)
The dream to study a professional cause, and grow to my definition of accomplished career person, was first fired by admiring very deeply, big uncles who returned home during festive seasons, while growing up at my grandmother's watch in Umuario Okunino Udi; at top amongst them was FOC,. he, for me captures, encapsulated, represented, and above all embodies a calm, cool, calculated, & a peace, that always arrests/humbles my very restive/restless teenage rascality.
But it was my primary 6 class teacher, Mr. Calistus Amanoh, who as a tenant at 'Never You Loose Hope', with his praises of me, acting like a catalyst that created that early fondness you extended to me, and came to a crescendo, when i almost gave up in my quest to be at Agbebi school of Engineering, due to Jamb frustrations: but at your Lagos residence, you said, and i quote:
*"bia nwokemu, i am confident, that you have all it takes within you, to score high and enter that department",* .. you also went ahead to encourage me financially; and as God will have it, i got in on merit list in my next/4th attempt.
In Agbebi school, every student's dream is to finish top, and aspire to be in any of the blue-chip companies,. this very dream pulled me in more to you, and even served as part-launch pad for your son, Obinna to join me at same Agbebi Engineering college, hence strengthening our ties.
The news of your call up, came to me as a rude shock, but i take solace in that: When a bee stings you, not only is the bee’s stinger left in you but also part of its abdomen and digestive tract, as well as nerves and muscles. This massive abdominal rupture kills the bee shortly after it stings.
That is what happened when Jesus died on the cross. In his enduring hatred for God’s Son, Satan thought it would be a great idea to have Jesus betrayed, arrested, beaten within an inch of His life, and then crucified and put to death on a Roman cross. The devil said, “This is my moment. I am going to sting Him. I will have a role in His death. When He dies, that is the end of Him.” Everything went according to Satan’s plan, and like a bee, he flew off thinking he had succeeded.
But everything went according to God’s plan as well, and the sting of death was its own defeat. As 1 Corinthians 15:54–55 says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Where is the sting of death for the believer? It is ripped out, because at the cross, Jesus took the stinger out of death. This is a great truth. As Christians, we no longer need to fear death because our souls will live on forever with Christ.
Bye Uncle FOC☘️