Being British born and bred, with a Nigerian heritage and now living in the United States, I consider myself multicultural. Of course through the years as I transitioned from one place to the other, I picked up the different tongues and ways of speaking, and today I have a mixture of them all. Therefore, it always tickled me when after speaking with people I was meeting for the first time, they would cock their head to the side and very nicely say…”I perceive an accent, where are you from?”. My answer always is “what are you hearing?”, then I listen as they try to guess…I hear some Jamaican or some Island some would say, and some correctly pick up the british in me, while every so often, some will correctly guess my African heritage (but not necessarily pinpoint it to Nigeria). Depending on the answer they give me, I would then go on to explain and confirm what it was they were truly hearing, and either claim my British or Nigerian heritage.
What makes the above information interesting is that in the grand scheme of things, neither am I British, nor Nigerian. My forefathers did not originate from either of these places, but rather were refugees that ran into them to escape persecution. History as we know it today, neglects to reveal to us where we originated from, prior to running into and populating these present day land masses. Why is this important to know? Well, Jeremiah 29:14 says ” And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive”. We need to know where we came from to know where we are going back to!
One of my goals is to expose and teach the next generation as much as I can about the truths of the bible. For them to carry on the torch from where we left off, they need to know who they are and from where they came. One of the many resources that is being used to give them exposure is a book by R.H. Charles called ‘From Babylon to Timbuktu’. This is an amazing history book that gives very detailed information about the journey of the children of Israel all the way into captivity and beyond, using bible references to corroborate and confirm the information. Below is a summary of that book and our history as written by 16-year-old, very bright, up and coming writer Daniel Brown as seen from his perspective. I urge you to get a copy of the book and read it with your family, you will be blessed. The next time someone asks where you are from, let that be an opportunity to remember The Most High’s promise to return us back home. In the meantime, please enjoy Daniel’s excerpt.

Until next week, shalom and stay blessed!

Nikki

From Babylon To Timbuktu by Daniel Brown

FromBabylontoTimbuktu