Title: Wealth of Experience
Author: Chris Christian
Publisher: Shekinah Media House, Surulere, Lagos
Year: 2016
Pages: 84
Reviewer: Henry Akubuiro
No man can be greater than his experiences, and God depends on experiences to introduce and sustain men in the path of destiny, says Chris Christian, the author of Wealth of Experience. What’s more, we need to go through life to be part of it.
No matter the number of books you have read and your number of contacts, Christian’s book makes us aware that there are things only experiences can teach, for the way of success is made in tested path. One indubitable fact he wants us to take home at the end of the day is that experiences keep record of how we live and all we achieved through such life.
Some of the author’s references are derived from biblical verses, but he stamps his authority on the book with inspired thoughts typical of his writings. In this way, you get a feeling you are reading the work of an intellectual schooled societal dynamics.
According to the author, sometimes, God depends on what happened to us to teach us what we are meant to know, “There are always unique experiences for unique people. It is possible to predict how far we can go in life through our personal experience,” he writes on the second page of the book.
Christian acknowledges that he made numerous mistakes in life because of the limited knowledge he possessed at a point in time. “This is why I chose to write many books so that the younger generation can be blessed from the painful experience I have had” (p.3). It is practical experience that makes men appreciate grey hair, he says.
In Christendom, we learn that the difference between a seasoned believer and others is his experience. Many of us gnash teeth when things are going wrong and deny God. Unknown to us, some of these ordeals are sanctioned by God “because of what He must make out of us”. Some experiences can be ugly and frustrating, but they go a long way in putting us in shape.
Also, one can forge his destiny through one’s experience. Writing in the second chapter on this topic, the author enlightens minds on the imperative of experience in helping men to interpret and arrest their future. Every great story, he pens, is told in great experience.
An aspect of this chapter dwells on the practical life of a eunuch. One himself, Christian avers that there are special assignments God can only accomplish through eunuchs because of their consecrated and devotion. This book teaches us that those who are made eunuch by God have more grace to function in their vow of celibacy.
Experience gives men understanding, we are taught in the third chapter. This is because there are certain things we need to go through be who we are or access certain revelations. Surely, the crown of testimonies men wear is made in their testimonies, the book says.
The author, still in this chapter, redirects us to our families to dig deep into our backgrounds. This is borne out of the fact that certain lineage experiences repeat themselves. One example he cites is that of Abraham and his barren wife Sarah, who went on to bear Isaac who was to marry a barren wife Rebecca, who later gave back to Jacob, who, also, married a barren wife, Rachael. Christian tells us that “nothing happens for nothing”.
Wealth of Experience is a book that equally sheds light on how experience enlightens the eyes of men’s understanding. The import of this verges on the point that there is so much we can’t know until experience enlightens the eyes of our understanding. The eyes of a circumcised heart, he says, see beyond the ordinary. For experienced men, this book assures us there is no blindness.
The author also examines the power of contact in Wealth of Experience. Nobody remains the same after a tangible contact, for contact, he says, imparts people and influences their destinies. Also, destinies can be established or mired through contact.
“There are so much God can’t accomplish in our lives until we make certain contacts,” he asserts. While some contacts come to you, the book adds that there are some contacts you must humbly. For God stores rich blessings in rich contacts, the kind of people you are ordained to meet is determined by the kind of destiny you have.
It is important, too, to learn by experience. Hence, Wealth of Experience hints on the need to identify with your teacher by paying adequate attention to all we are meant to learn. We must strive to battle of ignorance, it adds, nay there is need also to learn from the pain of mistakes, for failing is part of rising: the way to success is made in tested paths.
Remember that experience makes true witness, echoes the author, and there is glory of a broken life. God, we are told, produces and stores glory in pain. Wealth of Experience, written by an author inspired by a weird millennium teeming with rich experiences, beckons on you to take relish its repository of wisdom.