David just excites me. There is always something new to learn from him. In I Samuel 17, the Bible records his amazing victory over the Philistine champion and giant, Goliath.

What most people miss is, the biggest fight David won that day was not the fight against Goliath but the fight against his own. How many of us abandon a dream or passion because it makes our family, bosses, colleagues, lovers or friends uncomfortable?

Proverbs 29:25 (NLT) says “Fearing people is a dangerous trap but trusting the Lord means safety”.

Let’s look at the David and Goliath story again and see how many obstacles David had to cross in order to fight Goliath:

I Sam. 17: 28 says ‘But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was very angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”

Eliab was just a jealous brother. The prophet Samuel nearly anointed him as king but God obviously preferred David and he couldn’t handle it. He was so jealous, he couldn’t see the great opportunity that was before them. If David kills Goliath, no member of their family will ever pay tax again. Secondly, he will become son-in-law to the king. His chances of progressing in Saul’s army will shoot up. His father’s few sheep” won’t have to be so few after all. Eliab also knew David had been anointed as Israel’s next king and yet he makes no effort to win his heart. Are we amazed when we don’t hear of him in David’s ranks when he reaches the throne? It’s amazing how many people allow their own family to destroy them.

Second battle David had to win that day was King Saul. This is where most of us stop. We don’t want to appear ridiculous before our bosses so we shelve that great idea. David already had a job as Saul’s harper and that won him enough respect but deep down, he knew he could do more. How do we react when a vacancy is advertised in our jobs? Some people spend their time worrying about whether their bosses will think they are ungrateful or unhappy with their current positions whilst others just go for it. Just go for it. What is the worst that can happen? And even more importantly, “what is the best that can happen?”

The third hurdle that David had to cross was David. He was a ruddy young man, standing among some of the most experienced warriors in Israel’s history. Compared to some of them, he was just a harp playing, shepherd boy from a poor family that only owned a few sheep. He could have beaten himself with his own words and shrunk back into his shell. He didn’t do that.

We have to stop seeing ourselves by what the world defines us to be and start seeing ourselves in the light of who God says we are. Don't stop you. Don't let them stop you.

One of my favourite Bible characters is David. He is one I can relate to on so many levels. I think for our purposes, what most of us share in common with him are- HIS PAIN and HIS CREATIVITY.

The first time we hear of David in the Bible is in I Samuel 16. We are quickly informed that he is a shepherd boy, who spends his time in the bushes with the sheep. At first glance, it looks like a normal job for a young man till we quickly realize, he is in the bushes because he’s not wanted at home. His is a son who has been reduced to a servant. His father Jesse doesn’t count him among his sons… or if he does, was quite embarrassed to present him to the prophet Samuel. To put it simply, David was an abandoned young man, who received more love from his sheep than from his family. We are not surprised when we learn later that, David will fight and kill lions and bears to protect his sheep. His herd was all the family he really had in the world. We can conclude that David had pain. True but he focused on his talent and his job but never on his pain.

For the creatively endowed, those moments of pain and rejection can be your best friend if you put your mind to it. What better place to rehearse, discover and learn new moves if not where there is no one. If you play your harp to sheep, you can afford to make mistakes and not be embarrassed about it.

I remember the story of the two friends whose girl friends broke up with them at the same time. One jumped over a bridge to end it all. The other wrote about his love experiences and quickly became a bestselling author. What do you do with your pain?
One other thing we learn from the David story is, when God is on your side, the distance between the wilderness and the palace is actually very short. David never attempted lobbying anybody. He was just focusing on his sheep and his music. Yet in just one chapter, he gets secretly anointed to be Israel’s future king and also recommended to be King Saul’s harper.

I believe God has appointed people like Saul’s servant who recommended David and the Prophet Samuel all over the world to look out for his children. His only requirement is that we be so good at what we do that we won’t embarrass him when we stand before kings. Christians with mediocre skills are an embarrassment in every sphere of society; especially when they are rather loud about their faith.

Are you skilled enough to stand before kings or are you nagging, hurting and complaining instead of rehearsing. Focus on God. Focus on your job. Focus on your talent. DO NOT focus on your pain.

Life is War. This is a common inscription you find on cars and trucks all across Accra; and I surmise to say the commonality of it indicates its universality: Everybody fights this war called Life.

Many times in the book of Joshua, God tells Joshua “only be strong and very corageous”. In the New Testament, Paul writes to the church in Corinth and says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling of strongholds”. Did you notice Paul just said we have a “warfare”? It is ridiculous to go through life thinking everything must just fall in place. It never works like that. Show me someone who didn’t fight and I will show you a bummer.

Quite recently in my life, I was feeling low. I was feeling so low I had to raise my head to see the bottom of the pit. Yes, that low. Those are the times when you want to sing “I feel like a motherless child”. I don’t know if you’ve ever been that low but trust me, it is not a good place to be. Just when I felt I was never going to win this war, I heard the Holy Spirit clearly, “if you don’t fight this war, nobody is going to fight it for you”. That was my wake up call.

Sometimes, we just want to bury our heads in the sand hoping by the time we raise our heads, the problems have solved themselves out. No. It doesn’t work that way. You have to fight. If you are a Christian, you have to “war with the scriptures”. Never allow the wrong to become the norm. King David once said, ‘even though I fall seven times, I rise seven times’. In other words, he had no quitting sense. We all know the saying… Winners never quit and Quitters never win. It is your responsibility to fight this war called Life until you win.

Let me share a secret I learnt a while back with you. After struggling to beat looming deadlines, I had a frustrated art director who had a client service person breathing down her neck tell me “look, I choose my battles”. Wow what a deep thought.

Many times in life, we focus on winning a battle and in the end, we lose the war. What we forget is that a war is broken down into several battles but not every battle is worth fighting. When the (in)famous french footballer Zidane head-butted Materazzi in the world cup finals, he allowed an unnecessary battle to distract him from winning the war. He got red-carded and his team lost. He could have focused on winning the match and pressed charges against Materazzi later on.

We all have Materazzis in our lives. They goad us till we want to lose our cool. We’d love to show them what stuff we’re made of. My advice, look beyond them and see the bigger picture. You have a world cup to win.

This morning King Solomon took me to a farm. What I learnt was so refreshing, I thought I should take you along because you might enjoy it too. No, we’re not going to a flower farm. There are no tractors and combine harvesters here. It is old school oxen, manure, yokes, hoes and cutlasses.

Proverbs 14:4 says “without oxen a stable stays clean but you need a strong ox for a large harvest”.

I like a clean stable. I like to have my space, my time, my thing. One of the main reasons why I quit my job in advertising to pursue photography as a career was because in advertising a lot depends on other people. Somebody must have a problem, somebody must bring a brief, somebody must distill it into a creative link, somebody must plan your time, somebody must organize research, somebody must approve final artwork, somebody must provide the budget, somebody must produce the commercial well and on time, somebody must remember to place the ad in the right medium and at the right time… I can go and on but after depending on too many people (most of them unreliable in Ghana) to turn great ideas into reality, I got fed up and all I wanted was to be boss of my creativity. I wanted a clean, manure-free, hay free, stench-free stable. I became a photographer.

Within a few weeks as a photographer, I learnt if I really want to grow. I need to employ other people; even if on part-time basis. Allowing other people into your life either in a professional environment or at the private level is not easy for anyone. Other people come with their manure, their need for fresh hay everyday, their stench. This is as true about the house help as it is about your knight in shining armour or the queen of your dreams.

The secret is what you focus on. Don’t focus on the stable because you’ll see how messed up it has become since that ox came into your life. Focus on the harvest their helping you create. Too many people divorce over nothing. Of course, if you focus on trivial issues they become giant issues in your mind.

So do you want a large harvest or not? If yes, you know what to do.