“As from today, you are expected to represent Christ. You are an ambassador of Christ. Never again will the name of God be soiled through you.” — Venerable Tayo Aduloju, talking to Bode George, February 26, 2011, at the Christ Church Cathedral, Lagos.

For instance, if Lenin was not at St. Petersburg when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out in 1917, the history of the defunct Soviet Union would have been different from what it is today.

Grace in my own understanding is an exemption from natural law and consequence. Grace enables a suspension of punishment and retribution and it is a gift from God that makes a life exceptional where it is abundantly available and utilised. It is easy to confuse mercy with grace as they are very similar; grace is the more encompassing of the two since its wheels are often times turned by mercy. Grace can bring dividends of favour, exceptional benevolence and turn situations round.

What is happening in the Arab world today reminds me of a piece I did on this column, entitled, ‘This Stinking Democracy.’ I was wondering whether ‘democracy,’ like they say of ‘virtue’, is strictly ‘its own reward.’ Or whether a system of government must be truly provident for it to be worth the name ‘democracy.’

Along with food and water, one very essential basic need of man, and animals, come to think of it, is light. We thank God for day light which is available free to all living things. What would we do without it? When you think of the very poor results of our efforts in Nigeria (via PHCN) in supplying our citizens with man-made light, you can’t help but be grateful to God for His high quality light which costs us nothing, is harmless and convenient wherever we happen to be. What’s more, He doesn’t discriminate between the rich and the poor when making it available to us.