"It is nice to be important but it is even more important to be nice."

~~Dwayne Johnson AKA the Rock

“If you had one week to live”, remarked the Sr. Program Manager at Google, Tolu Odelusi, “your priorities will be different”. Having worked at three of the leading companies in the world, Motorola, Apple, and Google, the 4.0 GPA former student is much too familiar with the rat race this world allures us to.
 
I am a volunteer with Connect Silicon Valley, formerly known as Silicon Valley Prayer Breakfast. We have been very fortunate to have the best speakers in the nation to speak at our annual conferences as well as at our quarterly network meetings. It was at our quarterly networking meeting on September 11, 2019, that I heard Tolu speak. Tolu’s talk was mainly on identity.
 
Tolu shared with the audience beautifully how he came from a humble beginning in Nigeria. With a lot of hard work, he was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to attend college in the US. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. said, “There is nothing more expensive than a missed opportunity.” Well, that is something that Tolu will never have to worry about. He ceased every opportunity that came his way and he did it with hard work and excellence. He completed his undergraduate degree, graduate degree and MBA with flying colors. Tolu knows how to exercise discipline and focus on success.
 
Tolu said, “When we anchor in God, the identity we have, transcends everything we do and have.” He continued challenging the audience by asking, “Who are the models of your life? Who do you aspire to be like?”
 
As for Tolu, he defined his identity clearly. He said, “I am a beloved child of God.” One would assume that the first thing that he would say would be “I am a Sr. Program Manager at one of the leading companies in the world, Google. We generate X amount of revenue. X amount of people report to me and so on. Yet, that was not Tolu’s perspective on life.  He went even further by elaborating the key words, “beloved” and “child”. He said, “I am beloved, because, I don’t need to attain anything else”. That is on its own enough. He also said, “I am a child, because I am not the master of my life.” Tolu is certainly OK being #2 in his life. He is very OK to give God the leadership role in his life.
 
Lastly, Tolu reminded us that there is always formation taking place in our life. He asked another thought-provoking question, “Who are you becoming?” Every day, we are changing to become someone. Are we forming to be more like Christ, who certainly was anchored on God 100%, or are we forming to be like the world participating in a non-ending rat race?
 
“And what do you benefit, if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul.” ~~Matthew 16:26