At least 15 Christians were slaughtered by extremists using guns and machetes during Holy Week observances. Homes were torched; survivors fled into the bush.
“On Palm Sunday, suspected militants reportedly killed at least 15 Christians in a raid near Jos, Nigeria. Attackers on motorbikes used guns and machetes to target the farming community, leaving many injured and homes torched. While three suspects are said to be in custody, the massacre highlights escalating land and religious tensions in the country’s Middle Belt.“
My grandkids call me Bacca Ricky. It’s a title and name that is very, very special to me because I hold my children and grandchildren as exceedingly precious and as miracles.
So here’s a few things I want to pass along to them that l hope they will find useful in their journey through life.
A Bit About Prayer
I am an imperfect follower of Christ. I cuss occasionally and stumble often in this walk through the world. I try not to get preachy too often but just the other day I heard someone say, “Prayer doesn’t work”.
He’s right. If you think prayer is an app on your phone or some magic words that you say to make stuff appear, then no it doesn’t work. But that’s not what prayer is. God isn’t Amazon and Jesus isn’t your UPS driver delivering orders to your door, 3 day delivery guaranteed.
Prayer is a wrestling match with the Almighty, not a friend request on Facebook. It’s not about getting something, it’s about being something. Prayer is a hard admission made to your Maker about the desperately wicked condition of your heart and asking Him to help correct that situation daily.
It’s not a wish list thrown up into space. It’s not a lunch order off a menu given to your waiter, Jesus, expecting him to ask, “Would you like fries or cottage cheese with that?”
Prayer is asking God to turn you inside out and upside down. It’s opening the door to your heart and allowing your Heavenly Father to illuminate the dark corners in there and fill the empty spaces with substance.
Prayer is having the honesty to ask the Creator of the universe for a resurrected heart and a majestic character, not for a pile of money, a new car, a better job, or a cuter girlfriend/boyfriend.
Prayer is earnestly asking for the wisdom to know what’s right and the courage and strength to carry it out. Prayer is seeking to do God’s will, not whining for Him to do yours.
It is praise and thanksgiving.
Pray with the tongues of men and of angels. Pray for others.
Those kinds of prayers work.
Bacca Ricky’s Little Tips
Seek God daily, first thing in the morning. Take long walks as often as possible. Nobody gives a shit. Work harder. Control your appetites. Go to war with evil. Make your bed in the morning. Life isn’t fair. Get over it. Know when to bend – but never break. Don’t fear change, fear the same old same old. Cherish your family daily. Stir some pots and ruffle some feathers from time to time. Grow something. Be loyal. Wash the dishes after dinner. Get a good night’s sleep.
Finally, when you are ready—but not until you are ready—find a like‑minded partner, get married, have children, and build a home and life together. This is happiness and success. This is a perfect reflection of God’s love and His desire to create and have a family.
Next, we’ll conclude our quest into Your Life and What Comes After.
Jesus knew His purpose and He knew how to live according to God’s great purpose. He also understood that one of the most important skills to practice in life is focus.
Luke 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem…
Jesus’ mission was to be the obedient servant God needed for His grand plan of saving the world to work. Jesus needed to get to Jerusalem, which was a very important part of the plan, so He “steadfastly set his face” to reaching His destination and His goal.
That’s what it takes to accomplish anything worthwhile in life – focus. There will always be a thousand distractions trying to pull you away from your purpose, but the people who are able to ignore those time-thieves are the ones who do great things.
Three Week Focus Challenge
Here’s a plan that I’ve found to be very helpful in steadfastly setting my face to get something useful done – I call it my Three-Week-Focus Challenge.
Step One Take a look at the six things you wrote down earlier: three things you like to do and three important life skills you want to get better at.
Step Two Pick the one that really stands out as something you are excited about getting to right away. Let’s say you choose learning to cook.
Step Three Be specific about what you want to learn or do by coming up with a “learning‑to‑cook” project. Example: I will learn the best ingredients and how to cook Eggs Benedict for breakfasts, Reuben sandwiches for lunches, and Beef Wellington for dinners. (Yum, sounds good.)
Step Four Define and write down how your project will add value to the world around you. Example: Learning to cook these delicious dishes will bless my family and friends when they eat them, and also give me the beginnings of a valuable new skill for a possible part‑time job or full‑time career in the future.
Step Five Steadfastly set your face to work hard on your project for three weeks, six days a week, in every spare hour of each day. Make it deep work, where you have no distractions—no phone, no social media, no TV, etc. You focus on completing your project until it’s done. You think about it, you dream about it, you make it your everything for three weeks, six days a week.
It Works If You Work It
When you work on your three week project, you have to have a quiet, private place to work with no distractions for 1-3 hours. When you’re in your work space set a timer for 30-50 minutes and focus completely on the tasks that will get you to completion of your three week project. After the 30-50 minutes of complete focus, take a 10 minute break, then do another 30-50 minute session. If you do 3-5 sessions like this, six days a week, you will be astonished at how much you will get done.
Depending on how involved your project is, you may complete it before the three weeks is over, or you may have to take a couple of days off, and start a new three week period on that project and work it until it’s done.
This doesn’t mean you ignore your other necessary tasks and responsibilities. It means you really set you mind to finishing a project in an area of your life that you have set as important and meaningful.
I hope you find this focus method useful, I came up with it and use it in my own life because I was having trouble really focusing on one thing at a time and this has helped me a lot. You should try it and make any changes you want in order to fit with your own life and goals.
It would be easy to allow the war in Iran distract us from the horrific persecution going on elsewhere in the world, but let’s not allow that to happen. Our adversary is still busy all over the globe killing, stealing, and destroying. Because he knows his time is short.
Pray for our brothers and sisters who are being relentlessly persecuted for their faith in our Lord, and do what you can to help.
Nigeria
Over 50,000 Christians killed since 2009, new report finds
A Nigerian rights group (Intersociety) reports that 52,250 Christians have been murdered since the Boko Haram insurgency began, with 18,000 churches and 2,200 schools burned. The violence continues into 2026 with over 1,000 Christians killed this year alone.
UK lawmakers warn of “persistent and entrenched” anti‑Christian violence
British MPs echoed U.S. concerns, noting that more Christians are killed in Nigeria each year than in all other countries combined. The debate highlighted killings, kidnappings, and legal suppression targeting Christians.
China
China intensifies crackdown on underground churches
China has escalated arrests of pastors and Christian lawyers, including revoking legal licenses for those defending persecuted believers. At least 18 members of Zion Church are detained, with experts warning the crackdown is now a national security priority for the CCP.
North Korea
Under Kim Jong Un’s renewed term, religious freedom worsens
North Korea continues to be the world’s most dangerous place for Christians. Open evangelism is impossible, and Christian radio broadcasts into the country have dropped by 80%, further isolating believers who already face imprisonment or execution if discovered.
Captain Elias set out across the open sea with a heart full of purpose. Ever since he was young, he dreamed of exploring uncharted waters, mapping hidden islands, and discovering new wonders that could help sailors travel safely. His ship, The Northwind, carried tools, journals, and a crew who believed in the mission. Every sunrise felt like a fresh invitation from the ocean itself. Elias wasn’t chasing treasure—he was chasing understanding. And with every mile, he felt more certain that his journey mattered, not just for himself but for everyone who would follow the maps he created.
Not far behind him sailed a very different kind of captain—a pirate named Brack. Brack didn’t care about discovery or helping anyone. He wanted gold, power, and fear. His ship, The Black Fang, cut through the waves like a hungry shark, always searching for someone weaker to take from. While Elias studied the stars and currents, Brack studied opportunities to grab whatever he could.
Set Sail
When sailing the seas of your life, it’s important to have goals—but what’s more important is to combine your values with your goals. Being a successful thieving pirate is as much a goal as being a successful explorer—but there’s a difference, isn’t there?
What you do isn’t as important as who you are while you’re doing it. So definitely set some long‑range and short‑term goals for your life, but keep in mind that those goals may change over time.
The kind of person you choose to be should remain at the center of all of your goals and achievements in life. Don’t be Pirate Brack; be Explorer Elias.
Have A Guiding Mission
Write out a short mission statement for yourself and refer to it often, every day is best. Your mission statement will be your compass as you sail the sea of life. It will keep you focused on the kind of person you work to become.
Here’s mine. Yours will be yours alone, so this is just an example:
To live in the presence of God, to bear His image to the world around me, and to add value to His creation.
To do my best to follow the example of Jesus Christ in character and action, to look every day for His return and the resurrection of the dead, the rescue of creation, and our glorious eternal life together with Him and His people.
To never stop learning, exploring, and developing myself in skill and wisdom.
To do hard things.
To question and challenge the comfortable status quo, starting with myself.
To wage war against darkness, hopelessness, and nihilism.
To help others in my family, faith, and community to have great hope, be well taken care of, secure, inspired, and challenged.
“In Esther we see how God governs the events of the world in secret, guiding all things to His appointed end, even when His name is not mentioned.”
Charles Spurgeon
“The Book of Esther is a record of wonders without the miracle; God is everywhere present, yet nowhere visible.”
Matthew Henry
“Though the name of God be not in Esther, the finger of God is; His care for His people shines in every turn of the story.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“Esther teaches that courage is not the absence of fear but the decision that something else is more important. In her, we see how one life, lived faithfully, can change the destiny of a people.”
The more I look at life and the world all around us, the more crystal clear it becomes to me that none of this is by chance. God’s fingerprints are all over His creation—visible to all who choose to open their eyes.
This world isn’t a confusing mix of random, scattered coincidences. There’s a grand purpose, and we’re moving toward a definite conclusion.
Like a bus moving down the road, get on board, find the seat with your name on it, and play your part in the journey.
Culley sat at the chessboard with his palms sweating just a little, staring at the neatly arranged pieces like they were waiting to judge him. It was his first real game—no more practicing with apps or moving pieces around alone in his room. His opponent sat across from him, calm and confident, while Culley’s mind raced. What if he messed up? What if he made a move so bad everyone watching remembered it forever? After what felt like an hour, he finally reached out, nudged a pawn forward, and sat back with a shaky breath. At least he’d started.
But something surprising happened once that first move was made. Culley found himself studying the board more closely, noticing patterns he hadn’t seen before. Each move he made helped the next one make a little more sense. The game didn’t feel like a giant wall anymore—it felt like a puzzle he could actually solve. With every decision, his confidence grew. By the end of the match, Culley wasn’t just proud of how he played; he was excited to keep learning. Chess wasn’t scary anymore. It was an adventure he was ready to keep exploring, one move at a time.
Rumble
A little while back I talked about a blog article by a writer named Dan Kent from a couple of years ago titled “Why Did David Pick Up 5 Stones?“.
Here’s a little bit from the article:
“Don’t stand around waiting for God to act, or for God to win your battles for you: don’t stand around watching for what God might do: rather, show God what you can do. Gain wisdom, gather knowledge, develop skills, give the Lord something to use as he rumbles through the earth unfolding his glorious will.” Dan Kent
“Show God what you can do.” Don’t be afraid or hesitate to take action, to develop skills and to make yourself the very best you can possibly be. That’s what God desires and that’s how you put yourself in the flow of His grand plan: “…give the Lord something to use as he rumbles through the earth unfolding his glorious will.”
Devise your way, and God will direct your path—if you choose the way that is right and fits your good desires, talents, and interests.
Get Started
Here are some ways you can do that starting today:
Write down three things you really like to do, like play baseball, dance, sing, write stories or poetry, or build models – whatever they might be, write down the top three. Take your time and really think about this.
Now write down three things that are necessary skills in life and work that you may not be good at but that you want to learn and get better at. These are school, job, and life skills—like getting better at math and science, learning about carpentry or cooking, learning to swim, or how nutrition works best.
Now you have six areas you can work on and focus on in your daily life. Keep a little notebook with those things written down, read them regularly, and think about how to develop those skills, then get busy developing them.
Some or all of these six things you write down may change over time, but if you really think about them before writing them down, you should have a pretty good idea of what your skills and natural talents are. These are the things that you can apply to being God’s partner in His work in the world.
Luke chapter 2 recounts when Jesus was twelve years old and traveled with His family to Jerusalem for Passover—something they did every year. But this time was different. When the group started heading home, Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with relatives. After a full day of traveling, they realized He was missing.
They rushed back to Jerusalem and searched for Him everywhere. Finally, they found Him in the Temple, calmly sitting with the teachers, asking questions, answering theirs, and amazing everyone with His understanding. When His parents asked why He had stayed behind, Jesus said something both simple and huge: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”
About Your Father’s Business
Jesus started at twelve years old by learning the Scriptures, by being curious, by putting God first, and by daring to push the limits in order to understand the deeper things of God and life.
Make your heavenly Father’s business your business, and follow the example of Jesus. Jesus showed us what God’s business is.
2 Corinthians 5:19a God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…
God’s business plan is to bring His creation and His people all the way back to Him, and Jesus kept busy doing exactly that. Wherever He went He taught people about God’s love and purposes. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, fed the hungry, shined light in darkness, and brought hope to the poor and needy.
Grow, Learn, Develop
Even though Jesus knew His Father’s business early in His life, He didn’t stay in the Temple forever, He went back home with Mary and Joseph and obeyed them, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” That means Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially.
He learned and developed character and wisdom. If you want to know what you are supposed to be doing in your own life, remember these two things;
Your calling and purpose in life are not about what you do; they’re about what kind of person you choose to be.
As you continue to learn, grow, and develop in the knowledge of God and the world around you amazing paths will open up for you.
Next, we’ll talk more about rumbling through the world.
Callum had been saving his allowance for weeks, tucking away each crumpled dollar with the quiet excitement of a kid who finally felt old enough to make his own choices. He’d planned to split it in half—keep some, give some—maybe to one of those charities for people in faraway countries he saw on TV. But when the first big March snowstorm hit and he saw Mrs. Halvorson’s walkway buried under a heavy drift, the idea came to him as naturally as breathing. She was nearly eighty, lived alone, and always waved to him from her window. Helping her felt like the right place for his “give‑away” half to go.
So Callum marched into the hardware store, allowance clutched in his mittened hand, and bought a brand‑new snow shovel—bright red, sturdy, and just his size. That afternoon he trudged across the street and started clearing Mrs. Halvorson’s walk, pushing the snow aside in long, determined sweeps. When she opened the door to thank him, Callum just grinned and said he was putting his savings to good use.
The second part of the Great Commandment, after loving God completely, is to love your neighbor as yourself. What does that mean, and how do you do that?
Who is your neighbor? Well, your neighbors are those close to you—people you see every day, your family, and your community.
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
It’s the same as saying, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule.
Try some of these ideas in your daily life to practice loving and giving to others.
First thing in the morning, think of one nice thing you’re going to do for someone you see every day, and then do it.
Pray for a growing heart to love others, not a growing bank account. Pray for a shiny new heart, not a shiny new car.
Let someone else get in front of you in line if they need to.
Smile at folks, even if you don’t feel like it.
Listen more than you talk; that’s why God gave you two ears and only one mouth.
Tell your mom and dad, and your sister and brother how much you love and appreciate them.
Shovel snow off your elderly neighbor’s sidewalk.
Kindness and Forgiveness
To love your neighbor as yourself can be hard sometimes, but it’s always simple. The Apostle Paul puts it clearly in his letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Love God completely and treat others as you would like them to treat you. This is the not-so-secret key to plugging into God’s forever plan right now.
