It was two months and two weeks since Chidi had come to live with Pastor Justice. Examinations were very close. After Saturday morning devotion, Chidi asked Pastor Justice if some friends that attended both their school and church could come over to their house to study with them. They were to come with Adebayo after the Saturday’s set-up in church.
“There is no problem,” Pastor Justice said. “But I want you to help me organize my study, arrange all the books and clean the place thoroughly. Please, don’t forget and don’t get distracted. I’ll spend a lot of time there this evening after dinner. Chidi, don’t forget.”
That day, Chidi did not follow the family to church. All the family members left the house very early and Chidi was left to do the house chores. As Pastor Justice left, he reminded Chidi about organizing his study. When everyone had gone, Chidi wanted to do what Pastor Justice had asked him to do but he thought of a movie that he and Adebayo watched the previous evening. Pastor Justice had called him out to run an errand when he had not watched up to half of the movie. By the time he was done with the chore, Adebayo was done with the movie. As Chidi slept that night, he kept wondering about how the movie went, as the movie was very interesting. Chidi could not wait to complete the movie and so he switched on the television to watch it.
When the movie ended, Chidi checked the time and found out that it was almost time for Adebayo to come home with their friends. He did not want them to come and find out that he had not done any chores. So, he quickly cleaned the house and washed the dishes. When he was done, he rushed and freshened up. He did not want his friends to see him dirty. Immediately he was done, he heard Adebayo come in with his friends. Chidi planned that as they studied together, he would excuse himself to do what Pastor Justice had asked him to do but he got carried away. Chidi remembered that he had not done the assignment that Pastor Justice had given to him only when his friends were about to leave the house.
As Chidi thought about the fact that he had forgotten to do the work, he heard Pastor Justice drive in with Mrs Justice. Chidi’s friends met Pastor and Mrs Justice as they were leaving and they greeted them. Pastor Justice blessed them and they left.
Chidi thought, “How can I avoid the problem I am in? Well, since it’s still an hour before dinner, I can do the work. Usually, Pastor Justice spends this time in his bedroom with Mrs Justice and so won’t notice if it’s been done or not. Only that he will definitely ask me if I have done as I was asked to do. I have to lie to Pastor Justice and then I’ll rush and do the work.”
Just as Chidi had thought, immediately Pastor Justice saw Chidi, he asked Chidi if he had organized the study as he was asked.
“Yes sir,” Chidi replied.
Pastor Justice was about to leave when God spoke to him. He is lying to you. If he does not stop lying, his ministry will end even before it begins.
“Are you sure?” Pastor Justice asked Chidi.
“Yes sir, I’ve done it,” Chidi said.
“Alright then, you won’t mind me going to inspect the place and see how you did it,” Pastor Justice said.
At that moment, Chidi involuntarily shut his eyes and thought. “It is unlike Pastor Justice to ever ask to inspect any house chore that I ever did as I always add perfection to my duties and everybody trusts that I’d always do a good job. Why then did Pastor Justice decide all of a sudden to inspect my work if he does not know that it has not been done?”
He opened his eyes to see Pastor Justice staring at him. He knew immediately that Pastor Justice knew that he was lying. He wondered how.
“I’m sorry. I have not yet done it. But I’ll do it soon, I promise,” Chidi confessed.
“Why then did you lie?” Pastor Justice asked.
Chidi felt very uneasy. Pastor Justice looked at him for some time.
“How can I make sure that Chidi does not think of lying again? The punishments that I usually give my children will never work on Chidi, as a result of his background,” Pastor Justice thought.
He thought about giving Chidi corporal punishment. He was not a fan of it and never used it on any of his children but he felt that it was the only effective punishment that could be given to Chidi.
“Chidi, go outside and pluck a branch from the mango tree and come back,” Pastor Justice instructed.
Adebayo saw Chidi as he cut a branch and stripped the branch of its leaves.
“What are you doing?” Adebayo asked.
“Daddy asked me to pluck a branch,” Chidi said.
“What for?” Adebayo asked.
Chidi gave him a surprised look, “Cane.”
“Daddy does not beat ever, no matter what,” Adebayo said looking confused.
Chidi shrugged his shoulders.
“Okay. What did you do wrong that makes him want to flog you?” Adebayo asked.
“I lied to him,” Chidi replied.
Adebayo gave him an astonished look.
“You don’t ever lie?” Chidi asked.
“Why will you lie to someone you love? How would you feel if you are the one being lied to?” Adebayo replied.
Chidi took the cane to Pastor Justice at the parlour.
“Kneel and raise your hands,” Pastor Justice instructed.
Chidi knelt, raised his hands and closed his eyes, as he expected strokes of the cane to land on his body.
“Chidi look at me. I did not ask you to close your eyes,” Pastor Justice said. “You know, if you had just told me that you were yet to do as instructed, I’d just have asked you to go and do it immediately. Why did you feel the need to lie?”
“I am sorry, sir,” Chidi apologised.
Pastor Justice gave Chidi some strokes of the cane on his back. Chidi was used to being flogged and did not expect to feel much pain but each of the strokes caused him a very sharp pain. He stiffened a cry by biting his lips to avoid shouting. He brought down his hands to rub his back.
“I said raise your hands, Chidi!” said Pastor Justice.
Chidi raised his hands again. Tears flowed down his eyes.
“Chidi, if you don’t quit telling lies, you are going to destroy your ministry even before it begins,” Pastor Justice said to Chidi. “You can stand up.”
“Thank you, daddy,” Chidi said.
“Dispose of the cane and go and do as I asked, immediately,” Pastor Justice instructed.
Chidi forced himself to eat during dinner time as he had lost appetite. Mrs Justice noticed that Chidi’s eyes were red and that he avoided eye contact with everyone.
“Did I miss something?” she asked Pastor Justice.
“Why don’t you ask your son?” he replied.
“Chidi, did your father punish you?” she asked and Chidi nodded.
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I lied to him. I didn’t do what he asked me to do and I lied that I did,” Chidi answered.
“What was the punishment?” she asked.
“He flogged me,” Chidi answered.
“Oh really?” Mrs Justice said as she looked at her husband, surprised.
He gave her a ‘What else?’ look.
“Okay, apologize to your father,” Mrs Justice said to Chidi.
“I have done that,” Chidi said.
“Yes, I know. I figured. But in this house, after you complete any punishment, you have to apologize in front of the entire family,” she said.
Chidi remembered Adebayo’s story of the day their sister was punished and Mrs Justice said to her, “You know what to do.”
“Daddy, I am sorry,” Chidi said.
“For…” asked Mrs Justice.
“For lying to you,” Chidi said.
“Are you sorry for lying to me or for lying?” Pastor Justice asked.
“I am sorry for lying,” Chidi said.
“Okay, now you have to promise not to lie ever again with everyone here as a witness,” said Mrs Justice.
“I promise not to…”
Chidi became tongue-tied and was unable to complete his statement.
He felt like someone in a new world with very high standards. In the world that he knew, telling little lies was not so bad. He remembered the lies that he told to save his parents from creditors, to save his siblings from punishment and also to save his classmates in school. In fact, children who always told the truth were either wicked and loved to see their fellows in trouble or had a grudge against the one that they snitched on. And there was no one, no matter how honest, that would not lie to get himself or herself out of trouble. He was not sure whether he could keep up with the standard of the pastor’s family and could not say with certainty that he was never going to lie again, even though he felt remorseful. Adebayo and Mrs Justice were very surprised at Chidi’s inability to commit to turning a new leaf.
“No pressure, whenever you are ready, make the commitment. But before then, I am stripping you of everything non-essential to you. You are not to watch television or to operate the computer, or visit any labs. Do you understand me?” Pastor Justice said.
“Yes sir,” Chidi replied.
After Chidi cleared the plates and washed the dishes, he went inside his room and waited for the evening devotion. Adebayo entered his room.
“You know, once you make the promise not to lie anymore, the ban will be lifted,” Adebayo said to Chidi.
“Bayo, you don’t understand. It is easy for you not to lie, but I feel like I will be lying if I say that I will never tell lies again,” Chidi explained.
“Don’t you have the Holy Spirit in you? He is there to help you.”
“I know. But pastors that lie sometimes, do they not have the Holy Spirit in them? I just don’t have the faith right now. In future, maybe. Please, give me time,” Chidi replied.
Just then, Pastor Justice entered the room and motioned for Adebayo to leave.
“You know that I love you right?” Pastor Justice asked.
“Yes sir. I know,” Chidi replied.
Chidi brought everything of value to him and gave them to Pastor Justice. As he did, he remembered when his mother had asked him to bring out everything that they owned to sell, just to survive. Pastor Justice exchanged his phone with a Nokia torch phone, saying that he might need to make calls. He also left him with his prized possession, a sound recorder.
“Anything that you are not allowed to handle at home, you are not to handle them at church or school, do you understand?” said Pastor Justice.
“Yes sir,” Chidi replied.
With a phone, though not one that he could browse with and his sound recorder, Chidi hardly felt the effect of the punishment. He was not used to the life of having everything he wanted, in the first place. That was until Christmas holiday time when he could not spend time with Adebisi at the playground. He could not watch an interesting movie that Adebisi wanted to show him. He could not play video games with Adebayo or join him at his workshop. His holidays became boring. The spiritual books that Pastor Justice usually gave him to finish at a limited time were his only companions. Adebisi returned to school after the Christmas break without being able to spend enough time with Chidi and that hurt Chidi very much. However, he still did not commit. He felt he needed to prove to himself first that he was capable of being completely honest with everything before he confidently made the commitment. So, he avoided telling lies as much as he could such that everyone in his school and church saw him as an absolutely sincere person.
