Japan fans brought their own blue garbage bags to a World Cup match. No stadium rule required it. They brought the bags from home. They do this at every tournament, in every stadium, win or lose. Nearly 80 years of deliberate education built this habit.
Tokyo, with 13 million residents, is one of the cleanest megacities on the planet. It achieved that after most of its public trash cans were removed following a 1995 terror attack. The bins never fully came back. The streets stayed spotless anyway.
The explanation starts at age 6, long before anyone thinks about football. In Japanese schools, students handle all the daily cleaning themselves. Four days a week after lunch, they spend 20 minutes scrubbing classrooms, hallways, and bathrooms in a session called "Soji." The broader program is "Tokkatsu," meaning "special activities," and Japan built it into the national curriculum in 1947 while rebuilding the education system after World War II. Over 12 years, a student completes nearly 2,000 of these sessions.
The lesson is direct: if you use a space, you take responsibility for it. The stadium section belongs to you for 90 minutes. Leave it better.
At the 2018 World Cup, Japan fans cleaned the Rostov Arena stands after losing 3-2 to Belgium in the final seconds. They had been 2-0 up. The team's dressing room, also spotless, held a note that said "thank you" in Russian. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the dressing room had 11 origami cranes and a thank-you note in Japanese and Arabic.
Grief doesn't suspend the behavior. A camera doesn't trigger it. Nearly 2,000 cleaning sessions completed before age 18 makes it automatic.
Japan has run this system since 1947. The stadium section is just a classroom with 70,000 seats.
If you’re going to pray this night, you have to decide in your heart now.
Trying to decide to pray when the time to pray comes is why you don’t pray.
Make up your mind now
On Hypertension,
Maybe the problem isn’t salt. Maybe it’s what your body is missing.
Everyone keeps shouting, “Reduce your salt!”
But new research just turned that advice on its head.
Yes, sodium can raise blood pressure.
But guess what lowers it even more powerfully?
Potassium.
Here’s what the study found:
— Doubling sodium increased BP by just 2 to 4 mmHg in men
— But doubling potassium lowered BP by 7 to 10 mmHg
— Even with high sodium, potassium still dropped BP by 5 to 7 mmHg
Potassium reversed the damage even in a salty environment.
So while you’re busy skipping salt, your body is screaming for potassium:
— To relax blood vessels
— To support your kidneys
— To regulate your heart
— To help insulin work better
— To pull sodium where it belongs, out
Less than 2% of adults are getting enough potassium.
And it shows in the stroke wards, dialysis clinics, and hypertension charts.
Here’s where to get it:
— Ugu
— Zobo
— Avocados
— Beans
— Garden eggs
— Coconut water (fresh, not bottled)
— Unripe plantain
— Bitterleaf
— Okra
Eat those like your blood pressure depends on it, because it does.
You don’t have a salt problem.
You have a mineral imbalance problem.
Don’t forget to reach out for a well-structured meal plan. Share and tag your friends.
@Cr7Godbrand I truly can relate with you as an embryologist. You just hit the nail on the head.
Not many people may accept that fact, but it's just the sad truth.
Yet, another sad truth is that it will continue. It's just biology and genetics in action.
There is a rising pressure in this generation. A pressure to “do something for God.” A pressure to “start something.” A pressure to “not waste your anointing.” A pressure to “step out before it is too late.”
And for many, that pressure is not coming from the Holy Spirit. It is coming from comparison, from expectations, from platforms, from voices that equate visibility with calling.
Let this be settled.
Not every believer is called to start a ministry.
Not every anointing is for pioneering.
Not every grace is for building a platform.
Some are called to be planted. Deeply planted. Faithfully planted. Quietly growing. Strongly rooted in a local church, serving, building, strengthening, and maturing within a body.
And that is not lesser.
That is biblical.
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Scripture says God sets members in the body as it pleases Him. Not as pressure dictates. Not as trends demand. Not as people suggest. As it pleases Him.
That means your place is not discovered by pressure. It is discovered by divine placement.
And when God places you, He sustains you.
But when pressure pushes you, you will spend years trying to sustain what God never started.
This is where many are exhausted today. They started something out of excitement, expectation, or persuasion, and now they are carrying a weight that grace never authorised. They are building without clarity. Leading without conviction. Labouring without peace.
Because they responded to pressure, not to calling.
Let us bring Scripture into this.
In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were not roaming around looking for where to start a ministry. They were in a local church. They were serving. They were part of a leadership community. Then the Holy Spirit spoke and said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
Notice this.
They did not appoint themselves.
They were not pressured into starting something.
They were not compared into ministry.
They were not shamed into stepping out.
The Spirit spoke.
The church discerned.
Hands were laid.
They were released.
There was clarity.
There was witness.
There was alignment.
There was no confusion.
If God is calling you to start something, you will not need ten voices pushing you into it. There will be a deep persuasion within. There will be alignment in your spirit. There will be confirmation through Scripture, through godly counsel, and through the witness of the Spirit. It may be stretching, but it will not be confusing. It may require faith, but it will not require you to violate your peace.
God does not lead His people by harassment.
God does not guide His children by anxiety.
God does not reveal calling through intimidation.
The Spirit leads.
Now hear this clearly.
Honour is not slavery.
Submission is not the suspension of discernment.
Loyalty is not the abandonment of divine conviction.
You can respect leaders, receive from them, learn from them, and still not obey every suggestion they make about your life. A leader can see potential in you and still be wrong about your assignment. A pastor can desire expansion and still misplace people in roles they were not called to carry.
You must not convert someone else’s excitement about you into God’s instruction for you.
Your calling is not decided by who believes in you the most.
Your assignment is not determined by who is most persuasive.
Your ministry is not born because people say, “You can do it.”
It is born because God said, “This is what I have called you to do.”
And until that is clear, remain where God has planted you.
There is no shame in staying planted.
There is no shame in growing quietly.
There is no shame in serving faithfully.
There is no shame in saying no to opportunities that do not align with your conviction.
In fact, it takes maturity to remain where God is feeding you when there is pressure to prove something elsewhere.
Lol, Wizarab.
Christianity forbids it. The leader of the church must be blameless, and part of that is being monogamous:
“An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife…” — 1 Timothy 3:2
But there’s a deeper reason: younger believers are meant to model the elders:
“…not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” — 1 Peter 5:3
This is why church leaders are to be blameless, because they represent Christ, and the church models them as they model Christ.
Therefore, if monogamy is part of the requirement for an elder, and the church is to model them, then we are also meant to model their monogamy.
Finally, Christian marriage is between a man and a woman. Jesus said:
“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female…?” — Matthew 19:4–5
This is because marriage models the union between Christ and the Church.
And we know there is only one Church.
Wizarab, Christianity forbids polygamy.
As a pharmacist who works with HMOs, I'll tell you two things:
1. If a doctor prescribes Galvusmet for a patient (N10k per sachet), most HMOs will tell the pharmacy or hospital to cost a cheaper brand (N2-5k per sachet).
It's not that we don't want to give you the best drugs.
Your HMOs don't want to pay expensive bills.
The only people they agree to pay a lot of money for are high-end staffs (which isn't common).
2. Because a medication is cheaper doesn't mean it's substandard. Most produce with different formulations and cost, which means medications can't be the same price.
Augmentin and Fleming are exactly the same drug, but they don't cost the same.
@osemagnum What many people don't really understand is that miracles are unexplainable acts of God. That's why it's called a miracle.
If you can explain it, then it ain't a miracle.
@Possible_Ngoke This was a discourse we had in church today during the Sunday school class. This was exactly my point.
Many struggled to accept that church workers (choir, ushers, etc.) shouldn't be paid unless there's full-time employment for certain people.
It’s scary how a lot of people here can’t separate ethnicity from residency. Lagos is a state, not an ethnic group. Anyone born, raised, or living in Lagos is a Lagosian.
Being a Lagosian does not automatically make one an indigene of Lagos. He asked a simple question: “Am I a Lagosian after being born and raised in Lagos?” He did not ask if he was an indigene of Lagos. And yes, he is a Lagosian because they are two different things. Every indigene of Lagos is a Lagosian, but not every Lagosian is an indigene of Lagos.
Regarding Whether Christians Can Drink Alcohol
Brethren, we must follow the whole counsel of God, lest we be guilty of unfaithfulness.
There are two points to consider.
Firstly, can we make a biblical case that merely consuming an alcoholic beverage is a sin?
If we try, it would be our word against God’s.
In Deuteronomy 14:26, God instructed the people:
"And you shall spend the money for whatever your heart desires—oxen, sheep, wine, or strong drink, whatever you wish. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household."
This was God licensing—not drunkenness—but recreational consumption in His own temple.
The Bible does not stop there. All the Old Testament patriarchs drank alcoholic wine.
For example, Noah drank wine and became drunk (Genesis 9:20-21), and wine was part of celebrations throughout Israel’s history.
We also know that Jesus drank wine (Matthew 26:29; John 2:1-10).
But the biblical evidence that really settles this debate comes from Paul’s instructions regarding elders.
An elder must be blameless, yet Paul said he must not be given to too much wine (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7):
"...He must also have a good reputation with outsiders. He must not be a lover of money. He must not be a heavy drinker..."
Notice: it says “not a heavy drinker” (or “not given to much wine”), not total abstinence.
Finally, on this first point, non-alcoholic beverages are less than 200 years old.
This means that for nearly 2,000 years, Christians historically drank alcoholic wine.
Sincerely, what case can we truly make for total abstinence in the face of Scripture and history?
None, really.
Secondly, cultural and personal considerations matter.
For example, Baba Adeboye would likely avoid drinking vodka publicly.
Why? Culturally, it is frowned upon, and someone of his status doing it could affect the conscience of millions of weaker believers—or those who consider it sinful.
This echoes what Paul cautioned in 1 Corinthians 8:13:
"Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble."
The context in Corinth was that most meat sold in the markets had been offered to pagan idols.
Some Christians thought eating it was sinful; others did not.
Paul personally agreed with the latter but instructed believers to act in a way that protected the faith of weaker brothers.
This, I believe, is the only valid argument for restraint regarding alcohol: discretion and concern for others.
I would also add that flaunting drinking beer on social media is probably not the best—not the drinking itself.
This is a personal - cultural argument, at least from my viewpoint.
Lastly, on a personal note: I choose not to drink alcohol because my conscience tells me it would be sinful for me.
That is a personal conviction.
Scripturally, however, we cannot claim that consuming alcoholic beverages is inherently sinful.