It was a very long drive. Chidi had never left Owerri and so never experienced long drives. The car was very cosy, with air conditioner and tinted glasses. Chidi looked at Pastor Justice and considered that even in his wildest dreams, he never imagined he would seat so close to a pastor like him. Pastor Justice called his wife on phone and told her about Chidi. He motioned for Chidi to get closer to him, but Chidi remembered the electric experience he had moments ago and was scared. So, Pastor Justice touched him on his face and reassured him. At Pastor Justice’s touch, Chidi felt a father’s love and no electric anointing and moved closer to him. He thought of his sister and his parents and his brother and wondered if their stories had been changed.
“Lord, up until now, it seems that our prayers have been going unanswered. I pray that now that we have made this ultimate sacrifice, it won’t be in vain and You will bless my family,” he prayed under his breath as tears streamed down his eyes.
“You know, you should not be worrying about anything. You cannot love anyone more than God would love the person,” Pastor Justice said to him, making him wonder if the pastor heard what he had said to God.
Chidi felt very hungry as all he had to eat was a little plate of soaked garri the previous day’s evening. But he felt very reluctant to ask for food. He slept off a few minutes later.
It was a few minutes past 6 pm when they arrived at the pastor’s house. The house was a very large duplex with an even larger compound space decorated with nice flowers and a mango tree. Chidi had never seen a more beautiful house in his life. For a second, he wondered how many families would be living in the house and remembered that someone as rich as the pastor would have a house to himself. A woman and two children came to meet them. The boy’s name was Adebayo and was a year younger than Chidi. The girl’s name was Adebisi, a year older than Chidi. They all looked pretty and well taken care of, much more than the rich children in Chidi’s former school. Pastor Justice hugged the woman dearly and gave her a peck on her lips and both of them entered the house. Adebayo hugged Lawrence.
“Uncle Lawrence, welcome, how was the programme?” Adebayo asked.
“Mind-blowing. You really missed,” Lawrence replied cheerfully as he handed Pastor Justice’s suitcase over to Adebayo to carry inside.
Adebisi greeted Lawrence and then moved to the lady at the front seat and spoke with her.
“I need to quickly go and drop her and return the car,” Lawrence said to Adebisi.
Adebisi led Chidi inside the house. Chidi overheard as Pastor Justice and his wife discussed.
“Did you not resolve not to touch the sacrifice?” Pastor Justice’s wife asked.
“God asked me to take him in to train him in ministry,” he explained.
Once inside, the children gave their father a long hug as if they had not seen him in ages.
“Bayo, take Chidi inside to freshen up and give him a change of clothes,” Pastor Justice instructed.
Adebayo led Chidi to a well-furnished room. He also showed him the bathroom.
“You’ll be sleeping here,” Adebayo said.
“Alone?” asked Chidi.
“Why not?” Adebayo asked.
The room was much bigger than the room apartment that his entire family cramped inside. It had its own toilet and bathroom which meant that he did not have to share with anybody. This was unlike his house where some tenants messed the toilet up. Adebayo left him briefly in the room and returned shortly after with toiletries and a t-shirt, shorts, slippers and boxers.
“They are all new?” Chidi asked.
“Yeah, they’ve never been worn. Please, be fast. We are waiting for you downstairs. I hope you will be able to find your way. And I hope you don’t mind disposing your old clothes at the waste bin there,” Adebayo said as he left the room.
Chidi had never worn new clothes in his life. He also wondered as Adebayo asked him to throw away his ‘special occasion’ clothes that he had worn for Sunday service. He looked at his clothes and the ones Adebayo kept for him. He began to see his clothes as rags.
The bathroom and toilet were very neat and water flowed from every tap. The water was colourless and odourless, unlike the ones that he was used to. Chidi bathed quickly, rubbed the cream that Adebayo dropped and wore the new clothes. He felt fresh and different. He looked around his room more. Then, he sat on his bed. He touched the neatly laid blanket and the feeling he had the previous day came back to him – the feeling of being wrapped in a soft and warm blanket. That was his first time of touching either a bed or a blanket as he usually slept on a mat or floor. And that was when he remembered that he was to go downstairs.
Everyone was seated at a long table surrounded by six chairs at a room close to the parlour. That was Chidi’s first time of seeing a dining room. On the table were plates of rice, stew with different types of meats and fish, chicken sauce, fried plantain, egg and salad. There were bottles of water and juice also. The aroma from the food reminded Chidi that he had not yet eaten anything since morning.
“Come on. We’ve been waiting for you. I was wondering what took you so long,” Pastor Justice said.
Adebisi motioned him to take the seat beside her and then proceeded to dish out his food. Mrs Justice prayed a thanksgiving prayer for the food and everyone began to eat. However, Chidi did not eat immediately even though he was very hungry.
All the years that his father worked in an eatery, his father could not afford any of the food sold there. His mother sold tomatoes and pepper and yet poured so much water in the stew she made just for it to be enough. He did not know the taste of chicken. Fish was eaten on special occasions such as Christmas. And here, he was being offered good food to eat. He remembered his prayer the day before for a meal, for which he drank just a little water. Once again, tears began to flow down his eyes.
“Does he talk at all? I don’t remember him saying anything?” asked Adebisi.
“I don’t know. He has not spoken a word to me either,” Pastor Justice laughed.
“He has. He asked me some questions which were annoying,” Adebayo said, laughing too.
“Come on guys, the young boy just left his family. You won’t expect him to blend in immediately,” Mrs Justice said as Pastor Justice laughed.
Mrs Justice proceeded to ask Chidi about his background. Chidi told her about the place he lived, how his father lost his job and all his negative experiences. Lawrence joined them in the table while Chidi was still speaking. The thought of Chidi eating only garri with impure water almost made Adebisi to throw up.
“I’m very sorry for saying all these here. But you people asked. All this time, I never knew it would be possible for someone like me to eat good food but here I am. I am just wondering how my family is surviving and I pray that their sacrifice yields fruit because we cannot continue like this,” Chidi said.
“How about your sister? Did she receive her healing?” asked Lawrence.
“I believe so, but I don’t know for sure. As at the time my father took me to the altar, she was as ill as ever. Miracles were happening everywhere. prophecies were being proclaimed, it just did not seem to reach us. My father had to act out of desperation for a change.”
“What class are you?” asked Mrs Justice.
Chidi looked at her but did not say anything.
“You go to school, don’t you?” she asked.
“I dropped out last year after my junior WAEC,” Chidi said.
“Why?” she asked.
“No money to continue. I was helping my mum to sell in the market.”
“Okay, please, let’s stop this depressing talk. Chidi, please, tell me how the programme was?” Adebisi asked.
“Nothing that I have ever witnessed before,” he replied.
Meanwhile, Pastor Justice signalled to Lawrence, that the time was already late and Lawrence called his wife to tell her that he would pass the night at Pastor Justice’s house.
“Yeah, I know it must have been wonderful. I have attended lots of my father’s programmes, of course. I need more gist. Did you have a personal encounter or something?” asked Adebisi.
“I can remember every word that he preached but all my mind was in seeing my sister healed, nothing else. So, I don’t think I had a personal encounter.”
“So, what made you to make the promise to God?” Pastor Justice asked.
Chidi looked at him and smiled. “You were preaching about Seed of Love and I felt like it was a good message for stingy rich people. And at that moment, I began to remember times I did not help people when I had the means to…
“One thing about when Pastor preached… And this is not just about me. Almost everyone felt that way as I was opportune to hear different people discuss the sermons. Whenever Pastor spoke, it was as if he was talking to you directly, like you’re having a conversation.
“So it was to me that day. As I thought about those times that I didn’t help, he said, “You might be poor. And think, “Well, I don’t have money to give.” But you have energy and time. Some crippled are even helping out more than those with legs. You have something of great value but you prefer to hoard it and then pray, “God, please, bless me”. And God is saying “I have already blessed you. I have given you all that pertains to life and godliness in that little seed of kindness.” Sow the seed!” And so, I began to cry and ask God for forgiveness and made the promise to use everything I had to serve Him. At that time, I had a strange feeling, like I was wrapped with um… What do you call that soft wrapper on the bed?”
“Blanket?” asked Adebisi.
“Blanket. I felt like I was wrapped with a blanket,” Chidi said.
“How do you not know what a blanket is?” asked Adebayo.
“Because up until today, I have not laid on a bed or touched a blanket,” Chidi replied.
“You know, what you just said sounds like a personal encounter to me,” Mrs Justice affirmed.
Pastor Justice stood up from his seat to where Chidi was seated and motioned for Chidi to give him his hand. Chidi looked at Pastor Justice. He knew that he was about to have an electric experience again and was hesitant. As Pastor Justice took his hand, Chidi felt a surge of power much greater than that of the first time Pastor Justice touched him. Pastor Justice asked for his other hand. He reluctantly gave him his other hand and felt his body vibrate under the power of God. He let out a muffled shriek. It was as if his body was on fire.
“Open your mouth. Speak out,” Pastor Justice instructed but Chidi had nothing to say.
Pastor Justice, still holding both of his hands, gently raised him from the chair and led him to the parlour.
“Chidi, open your mouth,” he said again.
Chidi opened his mouth to speak, still not knowing what to say. He heard himself speak in a language that he did not know. He tried to stop speaking but he could not. After a while, Pastor Justice left his hands but he still felt enveloped in the power of God as he spoke in tongues. He heard as the family prayed and sang for more than an hour, after which Pastor Justice instructed that he was to be left alone in the parlour. He laid down on the floor and was unable to stand or say anything that was not in tongues. After a while, he felt wrapped in a blanket and then, he slept off.
Chidi woke up early the next morning to find himself lying on the floor of the parlour. He sat up and prayed a brief prayer. Immediately, he felt the anointing in his hands. Just then, the entire family and Lawrence came to the parlour for morning devotion. Mrs Justice prayed a short prayer and then Pastor Justice asked Chidi to sing some worship songs. All the songs that came into his mind were Igbo songs and he was unsure that they would know them. Then, he remembered the first song that Pastor had sung on Sunday that had charged up the church, ‘Hallelujah’.
As he sang, he felt the anointing in his hands again. The family joined in harmony and worshipped God. After singing the song for some time, Adebayo led the family in some prayer points and then Adebisi stood up to preach. She taught on ‘Maturing in Christ’ from Hebrews 6. When she was done, Pastor Justice laid emphasis on some points that she made. He prayed for the day and blessed everyone. After the prayer, they began to discuss the plans for the day.
Pastor Justice instructed, “Bayo, bring out a change of clothes for Chidi. Chidi, you have to prepare quickly because you’ll be going to be registered in Bayo’s school today. You have to study hard as the school resumed last week. Honey, do you mind dropping them?”
“Sweetheart, remember, I told you of a meeting early this morning in church,” his wife replied.
“Okay, no problem, I’ll drive them. Please, when you get to church, help me find out the extent they have gone on the Haiten Project and tell my secretary to send the mail I told her about. Also, I’m to meet the prayer team by 10 am. Tell them that I’ll be a bit late but they should begin. I’ll join them later. Okay?”
“No problem, my love,” she said.
“Lawrence, please, take Bisi to a computer centre to complete her school registration and then, take her to her training centre. This is actually her last week here.”
“Okay. But little princess, you have to prepare on time. I promised my wife to see her and my kids before she goes to work and my kids go to school,” said Lawrence.
“Okay. I too want to see them. I’ll miss my babies so much,” Adebisi said.
Chidi prepared quickly and wore the clothes that Bayo brought out for him. It was a white singlet, white shirt, black trousers and black shoes.
He helped out with some house chores. The family ate breakfast quickly. Mrs Justice packed lunch for the family members. She also gave Lawrence food for his family members. Everyone left for the day’s duties.
As Pastor Justice drove the boys, he instructed, “Chidi, you might write an admission test. Bayo, give Chidi some books that he can study with. And Chidi, note that you’re not to consult any of the materials during the test. Examination malpractice is not condoned in my family. Understood?”
“Yes, pastor,” Chidi said.
“Chidi, you know, you calling me pastor is much too formal. People are going to ask about your relationship with Bayo. What are you going to say? He is the son of Pastor Justice? I prefer you to call me father and see the members of my family as your family too,” Pastor Justice said.
“Okay daddy,” Chidi replied.
Immediately, Chidi remembered the last three days he had sat under Pastor Justice as the latter preached and wondered how he could call someone as him, ‘father’.
