Where do I go from here?
Who else do I need at the moment? I am home and I know it. Many of my
acquaintances (though few) have told me I can’t live in this world alone. Every
man is dependent on another they say, but I stood up in the middle of the
service to ask the question……… who have I been depending on?
Born into a family that my
mother wasn’t even sure who my father was; you’ll know I had lesser dependency
level compared to you. She was so poor I’m still tracing if she had a family
she came from. I grew not knowing any cousin, uncle or aunt, just no relative
at all. To me I look like no one and no one cared to look at me in respect of
resemblance. My existence was daily and the menial jobs I did earned a living.
Sincerely I had no life and I should be close to twenty six years of age.
Growing up with a
mentality that I am not equal to others made me a slave in my nation. The
luxury of houses with windows and children sleeping on mattresses were
assumptions I could never imagine. I never wore a new cloth in my life till
four weeks ago. I always had some people who could look at me and dash me their
rags. I started enjoying the status and lived within those confines of poverty
and pains. To me that was reality. From one incomplete building to another;
craving in the midst of mosquitoes and ants, I build up my immunity to little
illnesses like malaria and typhoid. I fed on what human despise and munched
waste in houses during occasions around the corner. All the people around me
knew me for one thing……. Hakuna is strong.
The strength that I needed for
survival lied within me. I thought I was respectful because I called everybody
uncle and auntie, even primary school children.
They later gave me a name on the busiest street in gwarinpa where I
sleep (matata). I was a nobody, no lineage, I didn’t know my local government,
I don’t know my age, I don’t even know my surname. What a life to live. I spoke
three Nigerian languages but none fluently. I understood English a little but
can’t speak correctly that much. I envied people that went to school and
sometimes I stay at the gate of the Gwarinpa School to spy at transformation in
the process. There was something about the environment that I noticed and that
was “everyone that went in came out differently”. Thus one night I jumped the
fence of the school to find out what really happens there. I saw a hall with
chairs and table and a wall with something white. On this white board was written
GOD.
I kept the picture of this word in my mind even though I couldn’t
pronounce it. Then one faithful evening I saw that picture on a signpost and
asked a woman at our marijuana joint how to pronounce it and she spoke it out.
I kept the word in my mind for twelve good months and i know one day I would
have an encounter with this person that causes transformation inside that
school.
One faithful day, in the
midst of hunger and frustration, some set of people were doing their
ministration and they were sharing food and cloth to people. I was invited into
their midst and for the first time I had new clothes. They gave me eight shirts
and three trousers. They took me to a barbing salon and asked where I stayed.
They took me away from the shanty house I lived in and brought to a better
place. They fed me with good food and for the first time I entered into the
luxury of what I always assumed. I cried so well that night in joy. At the end
of the day I asked Brother Paul to tell me in all sincerity who they are. And
he told me they are children of God. Immediately I knew I had to meet their
daddy. I was amazed what God has done for me to allow me meet his children. I
told them my experience about how well I have been looking for their dad. And
that I have kept HIS name in my heart for over a year now.
They looked at me and
started crying. They all hugged me in tears and told me to kneel down. I asked
what we were about to do and they said we are about to talk to our daddy. I was
so happy and thus I knelt down. They said all the wonderful things in the world
to HIM and told me to tell HIM whatever I wanted to tell HIM. I asked where he
was and they answered he has always been around. He has been waiting for me to
talk to HIM ever since but as I wouldn’t notice him, he sent them to me. I
looked around and saw nobody and in all curiosity I told HIM, God please show
you to me. And this was the message I got. He said I should walk into their
toilet and look into the mirror and whatever I see there……. That is God. To my
surprise the image was me and that led me to church to meet the senior pastor.
My brothers and sisters,
now I have given up everything to God and the rest of the story I guess you
know. I now live in a good place. I have good food to eat and joy unspeakable
is my housemate. I am covered with peace of mind and the grace that surrounds
me in amazing but the reference in this story is eighteen people attend this
particular church on my street and none of them ever came to me to tell me
about their God our God. The almighty God sets all things in motion and expects
to see the actions of men towards one another.
Now that I’ve known God as
my father also I am no longer fatherless.
He gave me the Holy Spirit who is
teaching me all things. I now know the good from the bad and discovered all
through those times that I was suffering God was always with me. Those times I
slept in the midst of mosquitoes; God covered me, when I felt I have never
eaten all day, I was fed spiritually. Those happy days in my penury God told me
a joke. And when he discovered I wouldn’t come closer he sent me to the school
if the church wouldn’t come to me.
Think about these for a
minute, are you truly a reflection of God in your office, in your house, at
school, even in church or wherever you find yourself. Don’t think you are too
special to have found God that so many people are looking for. Talk about God
to someone today and if necessary do more than talk. A candle looses nothing by
lighting another one. God loves you so you should love others also
