I'm grateful to God for giving me this opportunity, every day's a blessing and we have to live it to the fullest. Appreciate the little and great things alike, be at peace with our neighbours, let the Golden rule direct our steps as much as possible and when we sin due to our oversight and frail human nature; learning to ask for forgiveness and forgiving those that have erred against as in equal measure.
I live in Nigeria, statistically speaking, Nigeria is the most populous black(African race) Nation on the planet. This country is blessed with countless Natural resources; Oil, Tin Ore, palm and other agricultural products, lime stone etc, a country like this with infinite potential is suffering, not simply by the hands of our corrupt leeches called Politicians but to an even greater extent, the churches and mosques.
This subsaharan west African nation has more churches and mosques than any where else in the World, including Israel and Turkey where I guess the two religions became prominent.
Depending on your source, Nigeria ranks amongst the highest when it comes to corrupt practices and where do we rank when it comes to religious activities? Well the internet won't help you understand this part, you have to experience it to understand the situation.

The top 10 religious countries in the World were as expected, Islamic countries that live with Sharia laws but wait, four in that list appear in the most corrupt countries in the World with Nigeria at the top of the list and only missing out on the religious list due to the country being split into two religions. I wonder what Jesus or great Prophet Mohammed would have to say about this.

So let's come back to Nigeria, depending on where you are/family you were born into, your religion will either be Christianity or Islam, most of us here don't have the " luxury" to choose our religion or not practice any in fact. I was born into a Christian family and technically coerced to accept that a guy died for my "sins" over 2000 years ago, that I'm suppose to accept everything I read from the Bible no matter how bogus it may sound and if I do these two things in particular, my soul will gloriously ascend to heaven when my time here is over.

I convinced Myself I was the Devil

As a kid growing up in this setup, it shockingly didn't sit well with me. From a tender age, I actually felt all of it was a load of crap; so bad that I started to think ill of myself. I saw how other kids my age were overly enthused by church activities and felt perhaps, I was the son of the devil or diablo himself for not feeling so deeply about it.
As time went by and I started experiencing the world with my own eyes and reasoning, I believed strongly in my initial reasoning that perhaps these religious practices that are being forced on me are in fact all a load of crap and slowly felt less bad about myself.
I couldn't and still can't wrap my mind around how people in my society still cling on to these archaic beliefs that only lead to strife, conflicts and unwarranted divides.

Imams are living Lavish, Pastors Buy Private jets

Nigeria is currently going through an internal civil war that the international community may never pick up on; its a war between The "North" and "South" or better put Islam and Christianity. From my own end of the spectrum(the Christian divide that was forced on me), there's apparently a plot to Islamize the entire country judging by the pattern of religious killings that have been occurring in different locations. In my opinion? Well we(Christians and forced Christians) are miles away from the truth. Its all political and someone's making a lot of money from it.
Perhaps in the past religion had caused wars and strife but in these days? Let's face it, Money is the only god. If it were truly a religious thing, we would see Imams and Pastors really stepping in; not the weak ass media briefs and "words of comfort" to bereaved. Pastors won't be buying private jets while their members suffer, this isn't what Jesus preached.
I remember a story in the Bible when Jesus had been addressing a large crowd of about 5000 people, during his speech(Did he have a mic back then?), he noticed that the crowd were weary and hungry, so he did a quick Miracle and fed the multitude with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. As bogus as this story may sound, it points at a particular trait of Jesus(who a christian should model his life to be like) that he cares about his audience, that their physical state is as important as the message.

The Opposite Of Jesus

Today we have the exact opposite in Nigeria, we have pastors willing to milk their audience for their own benefit, we have pastors who build expensive schools that only the elite can afford, we have "men of God" who perform all sorts of "miracles and exorcisms" on camera to show off their "Power". Amongst the various stories in the Bible I grew up hearing, I also learned that Jesus never showed off his power, he blended seamlessly into the crowd, I like to think a carpenter that can gather 5000 people to listen to him should have been a known face, yet he wasn't and this is evident in the fact that Judas had to kiss him before the Roman soldiers could identify and arrest him prior to his murder.

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There is a God

A big one, greater than the entire Universe and this mighty being is watching and laughing at us puny beings as we do our utmost best to destroy ourselves. Sometimes he props his head out and we experience his works, we see him in the skies and hear his voice in the sound of a new born crying, we feel his warmth and sometimes chilly breath in the climate/weather, his sweat is the rain, he keeps the solar system in orbit and directs the activities of the universe. God is everything.