At a point in my life, I was a very zealous young Christian, constantly seeking knowledge that no pastor appeared willing or able to sufficiently give to me. My eagerness led me to Bible College, after which I was eventually by my church, put in charge of a fledgling community church. But this was not my life vision. Even though I loved to advise and encourage people, I was not cut out to be a church pastor, at least not yet. I was certain God required more of me; especially as no other part of my life was going on impressively. I resolved thereafter to focus more on the task of unraveling the purpose of human life and especially of my life, which was certainly not going enviably at all.
I have in my life passed through scary medical situations and even more frightening financial situations from which anyone’s survival should defy rational human explanation. But I remember the amusing quip of a very scared pastor which says: “without passing through a mess, you cannot have a message “. I have passed through sufficient mess to preach thousands of messages and nearly completely convinced the purpose of my life may be an encourager. I have indeed seen nearly everything.
I wrote the first version of this book, I believe purely from divine interference. The version was compiled from personal notes and observations made from various challenges life had led me through. The book was published under a pseudonym; because I wasn’t sure I wanted anymore to be associated with religious writing. That done, I set the book aside, refused even to promote it and happily carried on with my other interests, the divine call being done with.
I have formal qualifications in civil engineering, software technology and also journalism. The engineering degree I acquired at the age of twenty and set aside about fifteen years later because I thought it was no more sufficiently challenging. I needed something which interfaced more with the world around me rather than with a specialist niche. I needed an enjoyable occupation being convinced nobody was ever created to live an unhappy life. I believe every human being has a unique skill, something that nobody else can do in the same way as you can, and if you can find it, you have found the purpose of your existence and life will consequently become easier to live. My most enjoyable skill is creative-writing and I made certain it would be an important part of whatever I committed myself to, a decision I believe divinely placed after a circuitous life journey.
After reading this book, I am sure you will want to ask if I eventually achieved the financial goal, I projected. No, I did not. This is because I started with a goal and ended with a vision that set the goal aside, for a while. The perks were equally rewarding – I could more easily fund my several community-oriented projects, which include ongoing support to a local orphanage. I was also able to write more than thirty books over a space of only nine years, some of them for big-name foreign publishers. An abridged record of my adventure into writing books, I urge you to read in my literary autobiography titled Gathering the Words. I must mention that more than ninety percent of my books were written after I turned fifty, an age at which most people think their productive years are already behind them. I still write at least one book every year, living the most liberating and liberated life I could ever have imagined.
Undoubtedly, creative writing will not be your liberating skill, primarily because you need to be an extraordinary writer to earn any money at all from writing books. Yours could be sports, or catering, music, pastoring, dressmaking, teaching, care giving …or whatever your conversation with God eventually places in your heart. How would you know you have found this liberating skill? If it is not something that excites you beyond the expected monetary rewards, you still need to keep searching.
The title of this book may need a bit of explaining. My definition of a high-powered life is one that is constantly receiving guidance from God. My definition of a Christian is one who is constantly guided by the Bible and consequently of God. When you decided to read this book, what were your expectations? Did you imagine it may turn you into a high flying business owner jetting around the world in your private plane? Yes, the little knowledge I have given here could enable you to do that, but it will take a great deal of work on your part to arrive at that goal. Becoming an entrepreneur is not always about wheeling and dealing and making a lot of money and I love this definition given by an organization known as Enterprising Oxford:
“It is not just about starting a business or spinning out a company from research. It’s all a mindset or a way of thinking. Entrepreneurs just think and do things differently… Being an entrepreneur can mean knowing your industry inside out and being able to exploit that knowledge to create new opportunities. Being entrepreneurial can mean sharing ideas freely and celebrating so-called failures as learning and growing experiences. Being entrepreneurial can mean simply thinking outside the box and expecting the unexpected.”
What were my reasons to again revisit a book I abandoned for more than eight years? I thought initially to reply that I don’t know the reason, but that would be quite untrue. I do, and it is again purely divine intervention. I offer this book as a testimony that all the principles I have mentioned in the book work.
Rotimi Ogunjobi January 2020
Available on January 15, 2020
Ebooks : Kindle (Worldwide) . Bambooks.io (Africa)
Printed books : Amazon (Worldwide)
