King Charles III and the Prodigal Son – A Lesson for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

There are these videos I see a lot on social media, where a treat is placed in front of a child but the child is instructed not to touch or eat it while the parent steps out for a few seconds. Most times the kids in these videos sit in bewilderment like “seriously mum you place my favorite snack in front of me and I’m supposed to just stare at it without touching?” Some kids actually resist the urge to eat and they wait for the parent to return, while for some kids the mental torture was just more than flesh and blood could bear. 

You know, there is waiting and there is WAITING. There is a waiting where truly you can’t do anything about the situation and you just have to fully depend on God to send help. Then there’s a waiting where you see a way out of your situation right in front of you but you have been instructed by God not to dare take that option. God does this a lot of times; putting a bait in front of you yet demanding that you show restraint. Trying to be Eve’s advocate here, what was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil doing in the Garden of Eden? Why put it there in the first place when You know it can potentially destroy mankind? Also, why did He put the Ark of the Covenant within reach yet no one was to touch it, even if it was about to tumble over and get smashed to pieces? And why on earth did He put all these hormones and chemicals inside of us yet He says not to satisfy the urge to have sex before marriage? Those are the kinds of WAITING that this blog post is about. 

So you see, the biblical prodigal son was just like the kid who couldn’t resist the urge for the good life. His wealth and riches stared him in the face everyday, yet he was expected to serve his father diligently, and not touch his inheritance until his father had died. The problem was that dad was as healthy as an ox and didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon.

Then there’s Prince Charles. I bet you can imagine what it feels like coming to the realization that you are the crowned prince and heir apparent to the throne of England, yet you live everyday in anticipation not knowing when exactly you will become king. Charles knew he had billions of pounds to inherit, also assets ranging from estates and artwork, to jewels, and cars. Yet year after year he waited for the right time and the right way for him to ascend the throne. Meanwhile someone at the backside of Lagos is presently plotting his father’s death so he can inherit his old Suzuki bike!

At some point in his life King Charles  might have guessed that mum would die by the time he’s 30 years old, 30 comes and goes and then he’s thinking ok maybe when he’s 40, that didn’t happen either, then a few years later mom falls from her horse and he’s like “omg is this it”; but momma jumps right back up again! This was Charles life for decades until the queen eventually died and he ascended the throne last Saturday at the age of 74. That is WAITING!

There’s more. He did not wait passively, instead he stewarded while waiting. He served in the Royal military, he was a patron, and member of more than 800 charities and organizations, he was an environmentalist and advocate of climate change, and he undertook official duties and engagements on behalf of his mother. Year after year he did these things. 

The prodigal son on the other hand (let’s give him the name Broda Bernard), had a problem with waiting and stewarding. He worked a nine to five job with his dad, but also had his own personal agenda. He had a clear vision from God for world domination and endless wealth, and a fail proof business plan which experts had helped him put together. I mean he was as ready as ready could be. Before long, he started to detest his job and began to lag behind in his work. He would miss deadlines and generally leave his work undone, until he could no longer endure and he resigns from work to start his own business.

I know I’m annihilating your favorite Sunday School story, but stay with me, I’m going somewhere.

Broda Bernard starts his business which did very well for a number of years. I mean the guy was balling! Sales were going off the roof and expansion was going fast. Until a few years later when things start to go south.  He tried all he could to save his company, from hiring skilled workers to bringing in investors, but none of these things saved his company which eventually folds up. Then when he became borderline pauper, he comes back to his senses and returns to his dad to SERVE just like he should have in the first place. 

The difference between Broda Bernard and a lot of entrepreneurs today is that unlike him, we are not introspective enough to know where we goofed, instead we put the blame on innocent ‘village people’. 

Now i need to put a disclaimer here, if you’re already a business owner facing challenges, I’m definitely not asking you to pack up your business and go back to work for your former boss. No, that’s far from the point I’m trying to make here. Parables are not meant to be taken literally, they are simply stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson; and the lesson here is not to go back to your former employment, but to ask God pertinent questions, to follow His instructions, and redress the mistakes in the past, if any. 

As an aspiring business owner, stewardship and waiting for God’s timing are things you must experience as you journey your way into entrepreneurship. The Bible says in Ecclesiastics 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. In other words, God is saying “Whitney, I know the door seems to be wide open for you to walk out of this situation, but I need you to hold on, don’t walk out that door just yet. There is a process i need you to follow. I need you to stay committed where you are now till I give you the green light.” Truth is you cannot escape process, no one can. It’s either you stay patiently to go through it all, or you jump the gun but be forced to go through the same process in the future, which by the way is always more difficult than if you went through it at the right time.

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So you see, it’s not enough to have this brilliant business idea or a clear vision of your future, you have to wait for the starting gun to go off.

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And the starting gun doesn’t always go off at the same time for everyone, so do not compare your race with another person’s. Another thing you should know as an aspiring Christian entrepreneur is that stewardship never ends. While you may be leaving your earthly boss, you are actually stepping into a higher calling where God is the owner of your ‘idea’ and in essence your full time Boss. He said to Adam and to Noah ‘I am giving you this place called earth, I want you to replenish it’.  Meaning man must see to the optimal performance of earth’s systems. As entrepreneurs, Christian entrepreneurs especially, we must not think financial gain alone, we must think ‘replenish’. We must nurture the earth, improve on what we met, solve real problems, and leave the earth a better place than we met it. 

In conclusion entrepreneurship is awesome but let time take its course on your dreams and aspirations. You might have the right product but the right timing is just as important. Don’t truncate the process in front of you. Life is a journey, and even though time and tide wait for no man, wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast – William Shakespeare. Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, And he who hurries with his feet [acting impulsively and proceeding without caution or analyzing the consequences] sins (misses the mark) Proverbs 19:2. 

Has this write up inspired you in one way or the other? I’d like to know how, please leave a comment, I like to know that someone is being encouraged by my ramblings 

Gbemisola Ademola – Adebayo, Mission Entrepreneur, MD Hegai & Esther