Tomorrow, 20TH July, I will be 58 years young. For me the years have come too quickly. Was it not only yesterday when I was playing gutter to gutter at South Suntreso? Was it not only yesterday when I was playing and dancing in the rain naked with other silly boys in the K line, C line and J line neighborhood of South Suntreso? Was it not only yesterday when my playmates and I went hunting birds and reptiles with catapults? And we were not hunting these for food but for the mere fun of it. Was it not only yesterday when I used to join my friends to go searching for mushrooms on cold mornings? Was it not only yesterday when I used to join in the game of hide and seek under the full moon? Oh yes, it seems like only yesterday but I know it was not yesterday. 58 years have come and gone (that is 58 Christmases come and gone) and they seem to have passed so quickly. I have been fortunate because the years have been kind to me. I am a late bloomer and a lot of things came to me later than it did to other people. I gained insights into life when others have lived a lifetime. I got into the dating game in my mid twenties when others do so in their teens. I discovered what I really needed to do with my life in my mid 40s when most people do that in their twenties. But later or not, thank God that I did not go through life totally asleep. The years have brought me joy and suffering, happiness and pain, love and betrayal, failure and success, humiliation and honour and for all these and more, I thank God. And I thank God even more when I look back on my life and discover that nothing has been a waste. No experience, no matter how painful or humiliating or pointless, has been a waste. No encounter no matter how insignificant or regrettable has been a waste. No mistake, no matter what the consequences, has been a waste. Nothing has been a waste. Even the opportunities I missed have served to redirect my paths. I can say that God has worked everything for good. It is interesting that today; I can be looking forward to my birthday. You see, there was a time when I did not know what birthday was. For the first 15 years of my life, I did not know what birthday was and I did not bother. I did not see or hear anyone celebrating his birthday in the home I grew up in and so there was nothing in my world to make me celebrate my birthday. In fact I didn’t even know my date of birth and it didn’t occur to me to find out. Then when I was 15, I had a dream. I was walking home from school, South Suntreso L/A Middle School, and three men joined me on the way and started chatting with me. In my dream, I knew that these were the same three men whom Abraham had welcomed to his home on the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I don’t remember what we talked about but they walked with me right to the gate of my house and then they said, “Kobena, happy birthday.” Then I woke up. Even in my awake state, I could still hear the echo of their voice, “Kobena, happy Birthday.” I got up from my mat and hurried to my mother’s room and said, “Mom, give me my baptismal certificate.” It was the first time I was asking to see that document but for some reason, my mother did not ask me why I wanted to see it. She just got up from bed and went to the drawer in which she kept important documents and gave it to me. I opened it and checked the date of birth and there it was July 20. I checked the calendar hanging on the wall and it said the day was July 20. I said to my mother, “Mom, today is my birthday.” She responded with excitement and said, “Then you should have eto and an egg.” And that is how I got to know my birthday. Now, I know that come tomorrow, many people are going to call to wish me happy birthday and to pray for long life for me. And that is what I have a problem with. I do not pray for long life and I do not want you to pray for long life for me. If you must pray for me, pray for a fulfilling and significant life for me. For I believe that it is not how many years you live but what you put into those years. So, pray that the day I cease learning and stretching myself, the Lord should call me home. For a human being who stops learning is dead whether we bury him or not is another matter. I am 58 and my hunger for information and knowledge is at its highest pitch. And my happiest moments are when I learn something new, something I did not know before. The day that hunger for knowledge dies, life will not be worth living anymore. So, don’t pray for long life for me. Pray for a life of learning and exposure to fresh knowledge daily. Pray that the day I stop taking joy in serving others, the Lord should call me home because if what we do is not in the service of others, it is wasted. Service to society and to mankind is the secret to eternal youth. Without service, we are dead. We are made to serve and when we fail to see this, we cheat ourselves big time. Real life is a quest for capacity and opportunity to serve and when we are no longer interested in serving others, our lives are not useful for anything and we may as well be dead. So, pray that when I stop taking joy in service, I am not permitted to live another day. Pray that the day I cease being thirsty for God and his righteousness, the Lord should call me home because when the hunger and thirst for God and for his righteousness dies, nothing else matters. If you will pray for me on my birthday then, pray that the day I cease giving more than I receive the Lord should call me home because those who take more than they give undermine their humanity. It is more blessed to give than to receive and anyone who does not desire that kind of blessings is dead to what real life is. Pray that the day I wake up with an entitlement mentality that I deserve another day and fail to see life as a gift and favour, the Lord should call me home because when life is not received as a gift and favour from God, it is not worth living. Those who are joyful are those for whom every day is a wonder and every day is a gift. They are the ones who embrace life in all its ups and downs and still maintain their joy and their optimism. Look at children. When they wake up, it is Christmas and call for celebration. And now on the occasion of my birthday, let me give you, dear listeners, my blessings. May you blessed in the city and blessed in the country. May you be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. May the Lord grant that the enemies who rise up against you be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. May the Lord bless everything you put your hands to. May the Lord grant you abundant prosperity and open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to bless all the work of your hands. May you lend to many and borrow from none. May you always be at the top and never at the bottom. And may the good God bless our nation Ghana and give us free and fair and trouble-free elections in December.