ABSTRACT WRITING

Many wonder why abstract comes first in a write-up, even though it’s the last thing that is done. This is because an abstract is a summary to the whole work. With a good title and content of the abstract, it gives the reader a clear cut of your whole work and it will determine if it is worth reading or not. Putting up a good abstract involves thinking outside the box and coming up with something unique, it’s all about discovery. In writing an abstract there are some certain things you must put out into consideration:

a. Write your paper first. Even though an abstract comes at the beginning of a work, it acts as a summary of your entire paper.

b. Review and understand the requirements for writing your abstract. Know whom you are writing for, the style and flow of writing. If there is a particular font for your type of writing; adopt it.

c. Consider your audience. Abstract are written to help readers find your work.

d.  Determine the type of abstract you must write. Information abstract are used for much longer and technical research while descriptive abstract are best for shorter papers.

COMPONENTS OF AN ABSTRACT

a. Identify your purpose. Why did you decide to do this study or project? How did you conduct your research? What did you find? Why is the research and your findings important? Why should someone read your entire essay? 

b. Explain the problem at hand. What problem is your research trying to best understand or solve? What is the scope of your study; Is it a general problem or something specific? What is your main claim or argument?

c. Explain your methods. Discuss your own research including the variables and your approach. Describe the evidence you have to support your claim. Give an overview of your must important sources.

d. Describe your results (informative abstract only). What answer did you reach from your research or study? Was your hypothesis or argument supported? What are the general findings?

e. Give your conclusion. What are the implications of your work? is your result general or very specific?

ABSTRACT ACCEPTABILITY

a. Abstract should speak to the theme of the conference/write-up

b. Submit to the right thematic area

c.  Choose a catchy title to attract reviewers

d. Present strong background to demonstrate understanding of the problem

I will find time and write on some of the reasons why some abstracts are rejected, common problems and unnecessary information we include.

FIRST FLIGHT

Today 21-2-2016 history was made in my life. It might be nothing to so many people, but it was really a wonderful experience for me. In the past, I use to always get calls from friends and family, wanting me to come and pick them up from the airport. I was always happy going to the airport to pick them up; seeing all the classy people and the kinda things that go on around there. A week ago, i over heard my boss at work talking about a retreat that would be coming up in Enugu. I never paid too much attention, because I had no interest of visiting Enugu; even though I knew there are benefits attached to the retreat.  Low and behold, few days ago I was told that am to represent my boss at the retreat and my ticket and hotel reservation has been paid for. It all sounded unbelievable; but am here enjoying the classic luxury at Golden royale hotel. Let’s not talk about the fun, so I don’t get anyone jealous. I had a kinda bad experience flying; seems the pilot wasn’t that good at flying and landing, but we survived by God’s grace. Virtually everyone was complaining inside the flight, and a lady was throwing up. It was my first time and I really didn’t know much about flying, so I just held myself and pretended all was fine; though i was drowsy so many times. In all it has been a good experience and I look forward to flying more, and having a better experience of course. Well it’s going to be five days of retreat for me and I have a presentation to make, I think I would stop here and share more of the experience when am chanced. I have a lot to read. To all my readers that haven’t been on a plane, I wish you good luck. There is always that first time and yours is coming soon. #Smile

THE HEART OF WORSHIP

Surrendering often means being defeated, and no one wants to loose. Surrender evokes the unpleasant image of defeat in a battle, forfeiting a game, or yielding to a stronger opponent. The word is almost always used in a negative context.  We would rather talk about winning, success, over coming, and conquering than yielding submitting, obeying, and surrendering. But surrendering to God is the act of worship. It is the natural response to God’s amazing love and mercy. We give ourselves to Him not out of fear or duty, but love, because He first loved us.

            Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about. Paul said: so then, my friend, because of God’s great mercy to us….. Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his sacrifice and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. True worship brings God pleasure; when you give yourself completely to God. Notice the first and last words of that verse are the same: Offer. There are three hindrances that stop us from surrendering totally to God: fear, pride and confusion. We don’t understand how much God loves, we want to control our own lives, and we misunderstand the meaning of surrender      

            We find it difficult to trust God, because we don’t know him better. Fear keeps us from surrendering, but love cast out all fear. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier surrender becomes. God says He loves you, you are never out of his sight; He cares about every detail of your life; He gave you the capacity to enjoy all kinds of pleasure; He has good plans for your life; He forgives you; and He is lovingly patient with you. God loves you infinitely more than you can imagine. When we finally submit to Jesus, we would realize that He is not a tyrant, but a savior, not a boss, but a brother, not a dictator, but a friend.

            Another thing that hinders us from surrendering to God is pride. We want to have control of everything; we want to be like God; which will only make us to end like Satan. We are humans and we can never be God. The reason why many are still struggling, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us. We weren’t God and never will be. We are humans. We accept our humanity intellectually not emotionally. When faced with our limitations, we react with irritation, anger and resentment. We want to be taller or shorter, smarter, stronger, more talented, more beautiful and wealthier. We want to have it all and do it all, and we become upset when it doesn’t happen. Then when we notice that God gave others characteristics we don’t have, we respond with envy, jealous, and self pity.

            Surrendering is not for cowards or doormats. Likewise, it does not mean giving up rational thinking. God would not waste the mind he gave you! God does not want robots to serve him. Surrendering is not repressing your personality. Rather than its being diminished, surrendering enhances it. C. S. Lewis observes that, the more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become because He made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own. Surrendering is best demonstrated in obedience. To say yes lord, to whatever he asks of you. To say no Lord is to speak a contradiction. Surrender is best demonstrated in obedience and trust. 

PLANNED FOR GOD'S PLEASURE

God did not need to create you, but He chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his glory, delight and purpose. The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. He wanted you alive, and your arrival gave Him great pleasure.

The moment you understand that you were created for His enjoyment, pleasure and it is the first purpose of creation, you will never again have a problem of feeling insignificant. We often forget that God has emotions too. We were created in Gods image; the same way we get jealous, angry, pity, sorrow, and sympathy as well as happiness, gladness, and satisfaction. God loves, delights, gets pleasure, rejoices, enjoys, and even laughs!

            Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. Many a times we tend to misunderstand worship to be the slow songs sang during the church service, and call the fast songs praise. Everything that is done during the service from opening prayers, songs, testimonies, offering, preaching and all other activities are acts of worship. Even in our daily activities; the little things we do that are not sin that gives pleasure to God, are acts of worship.

            Worship is far more than music. If the instrumental of music is played, we can’t just conclude what type of music it is unless we hear the wordings. The genre, style or instrumental of a song can not be used to conclude what type of music is Godly or not. The words of a song determine if it is godly or not.

Sometimes after attending a church service, we complain that we didn’t enjoy today’s worship. Worship is not for your benefit; it is for God. God derives pleasure in the worship of believers. So long as we come to God with genuine hearts to worship Him; He derives pleasure in every bit of our worship. Worship is not part of your life; it is your life. We were created to bring pleasure to God, and every activity we do with a sincere heart; is an act of worship so long it brings Him pleasure. From the way we pray when we wake-up in the morning, eat, greetings, work, route, praying before sleeping; are all forms of worship as long as it is done with a genuine heart.

HAPPY VALENTINE

Santos Valentino popularly known as St. Valentine was a roman bishop who lived in the 3^rd century. He was captured, tortured, imprisoned and beheaded for preaching the gospel. The first time he was imprisoned, he encountered a prison warder whom his daughter was blind and epileptic. The warder said he would only believe that, he is a true man of God if he could heal his sick daughter. They brought the sick girl to him; and by the grace of God she was delivered. Santos went about preaching the gospel and secretly engaging Roman soldiers the Christian way. He was reported to the then emperor (Claudius) for it was believed that marriage reduced the strength of the men. He was arraigned before Emperor Claudius. The emperor liked him from first sight, but when he preached the gospel to the emperor, he was ordered to be beheaded for going contrary to their law and customs. This is just a brief story about the man that is celebrated every 14^th February. Santos died for three reasons:

1. Because he was secretly engaging Roman soldiers.
2. Sharing the gospel with the roman emperor.
3. Refusal to deny his faith.

The whole idea of Valentine has gone wrong. 14^th February has been marked for valentine’s remembrance; called lovers day. People engage in all forms of morality, all in the name of valentine. If we look closely to what Bishop Santos Valentino lived for, we would understand that the whole idea has gone wrong. We spend 14^th February expressing love to people we so much care about, or giving gifts to people that will pay us back. So many things are exchanged this day which I wouldn’t want to go into. 1 John 4:7-21; tells us about the God kind of love. The right way to celebrate this day is by showing love to someone that can’t pay you back. Preaching the word of God to people we care about.

            Emulate Santos from this day. Preach the word of God regardless of the person; never deny Christ for any reason, and show love not only today but always to people that can’t pay you back. Love is sharing, caring and giving. Happy valentine to all my readers, I trust you will affect someone’s life today through sharing, caring and giving; and also sharing the word of God.

            

LIFE IS A TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT

So many metaphors have been used to explain how life is. Life is described as a mist, a fast runner, a breath, and a wisp of smoke. The bible says, for we are born but yesterday, our days on earth are as transient as a shadow. To make the best of this life, we most bare two things in mind; first, compared to eternity, this life is brief and earth is a temporary residence, we wont be here too long so don’t get too attached.

            Imagine yourself as an ambassador sent to an enemy nation to represent your country. You would have to learn their language, be polite and friendly enough to be able to accomplish your mission. But suppose you got too comfortable with the foreign country and became loyal to them, preferring them to your country. Your role as an ambassador would be compromised. Instead of representing your home country, you would start acting as the enemy. You would be a traitor. The bible says we are Christ ambassadors. Many Christians have betrayed Christ and His kingdom. They have concluded that since they are on earth, it is their home. It is not. The bible is clear: friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Gods warns us not to get too attached to things around us because they are temporal. We are told: those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.

            It is only when we remember that this life is a test, trust and a temporal assignment will the appeal of this things lose their grip on our lives. We are preparing for something much better. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. The fact that earth is not our home explains why as followers of Christ we experience difficulty, sorrow, and rejection in this world. It also explains why some of Gods promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unanswered, and some circumstances seem unfair. In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us feel significant amount discontent and dissatisfaction in life. Longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity; we are not completely happy here because we are not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.

WHAT IS LIFE?

The way we see life differs from one another. If you ask a group of people what life is to them, you will end up getting different answers based on their perspectives about life. We attribute life to different metaphors and circumstances around us. Some people see life as a race, so they are concerned about speed; some see it as a marathon, so they see it as thing of endurance, while to some it is a battle, and they are so concerned about winning.

            When you see life from Gods point of view, you would come to understand that life is a Test, Trust and temporary assignment. God placed us here on earth to test our endurance, patience, character; that is why we face so many challenges in life. The way we handle wealth, illness, success, and people goes a far way to ascertaining how we pass or fail Gods test. Adam and eve were tested, David failed God’s test several times. Ruth, Esther, Joseph and Daniel passed their test. There are little things we come across in our lives that are test, but we overlook them. God can use even the smallest of things to test us.

            Life is a trust. Everything in heaven and on earth and everyone belongs to God, when God created Adam and Eve He gave them charge over everything. When you start seeing life the way God sees it, you will understand that everything you have belongs to God, and the more you have the more God has placed responsibility on you. To whom much is giving, more is expected. Our families, wealth, careers and everything around us are from God and He has entrusted them to us; the way we handle them, determines how God will entrust us with more or less.

            We are here temporary. Many have forgotten that we are here on a temporal base; they are so busy accumulating wealth, property, and missing out on their main purpose in life. When we start seeing everything around us as a test, trust and temporal, we would be more focused on finishing strong.