One night in mid 2011, I was in the “common room” of the hostel block where I lived in the university; to watch a football match. As at this time, I was a final year student. The match was an “el-classico” between Real Madrid and Barcelona; and you could imagine how packed the common room was.
The hall was so filled up that there were no longer chairs to sit on. Therefore, those of us who arrived a bit late had to stand behind. As our custom was, we usually switched off the lights so that we could feel as though we were in a cinema. That way, we could enjoy whatsoever we were watching.
Mid-way through the game, somebody shouted “Snake!, Snake!” Everybody began to run out. Remember the lights were turned off; the room was dark and jam-packed. Everyone was running, not just because of the snake, but because it was dark and you never knew if the supposed snake was just underneath your leg.
Those thoughts ran through my mind within seconds and I wasn’t even close to the door. There was only one exit and as a result, people began to fall at the mouth of the door as everyone attempted getting out fast. It resulted to a bit of a stampede.
As I scrambled my way toward the exit, it became glaring that I wouldn’t reach the door as fast as I ought to. By this time, the thought was coming so strong into my mind again; “the snake could be close to your feet right now.”
Adjacent the exit door was a wall with a very small window close to the ceiling. The window was so narrow and high, it was far above my head. On a normal day, I wouldn’t dare to jump through that window. It was too high. But when the thoughts of the snake increased in my mind, I never knew where the motivation came from. I just found myself jumping up, grabbing the window, pulling myself high and scaling through to the other side of the wall; landing at the courtyard.
All these -from the moment the snake alarm was raised to the moment I landed in the courtyard, was about 20 seconds. How could I have done such an incredible thing within a few seconds? Something must have pushed me inside. Of course, something must have chased me right? My word! I was motivated.
Interestingly, we all got to find out that the snake alarm was just a false-alarm. The guy who raised the alarm just played a prank on us. You could imagine how mad at him we all were.
However, that day, I discovered I could do something I never imagined I could even try. I did it without preparation. I had this un-tapped ability in me already but I never knew until something came up.
That’s how it is in life. Everybody on earth has un-tapped abilities that are yet to be expressed. Many people have potentials that are yet to manifest. The reason is simple; they are not challenging themselves enough to bring out those potentials.
Dr. Myles Munroe (of blessed memory) used to tell us that the graveyard is the richest place on earth. His reasons were simple. That’s where you’ll find books that were never published, songs that were never written, stories that remained untold and visions that never saw the light of the day.
I could jump through that window because something challenged me inside. In life, you have to challenge yourself. In physics, we are told that an object will always remain at the same spot until a relevant force is applied to it.
Similarly, life will always be stagnated of anyone who will not challenge himself to move forward. You cannot be great because you are gifted. You will only become great when you manifest yourself in areas of your gifting.
~Isaac John Akagu
-excerpt from my book: Unleashing the Star in You.
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