Legacy

He saw his mother struggle for many 
years as a believer 
She was fed fat with all sorts of junks 
many peddle as the gospel 
Sometimes she would come home 
with special soap and instructions 
for her children 
Sometimes she would come home 
with oju-olongbo (Cat's eyeballs) for 
them to swallow in the middle of the 
night 
(The charm was said to help people
gain awareness and agility especially
as regards motor accidents
Sometimes she would take a blade)
 and a substance and put incisions on 
their bodies 
There was a time he suddenly had 
severe neck pain that lasted for 
many days 
His mother ran to a man who strangled 
a chicken and cooked it for him to eat 
for his recovery 
Yet his mother would claim to be a 
staunch Christian 
She would make all the children to 
commit scriptures to memory and 
insist they have to be in church on 
Sunday 
He also watched as his mother's 
sphere of influence grew steadily 
through the years 
Many of the other women in the 
church facing challenges of any 
kind would come to his mother and 
his mother would stylishly introduce 
them to her alternative 
(Don't tell anybody) 
Many people in their church knew 
what his mother was doing to augment 
her Christian walk within the church 
but they all turned a blind eye
It was called applying wisdom 
The enemy does not rest, the Bible 
says he was always roaming about 
and roaring like a lion seeking whom 
to devour 
Wisdom dictates that one fortify himself 
or herself against the wiles of the evil one 
His mother especially have a saying, 
"Atakoro wo inu ado, ko'le mu omo re wo 
(The one who can escape into a gourd 
cannot do the same for his or her children)
 In essence, she has been fortified and 
the race was for her to fortify her children 
against the evil of this world 
As a young man, he started dabbling into 
charms as a teenager 
His father employed a local security man 
who had a lot of "charms" There was a girl 
in his class then that he was infatuated 
with He didn't know how to befriend her 
He told the security man 
The man gave him an object to swallow 
The man said it was "Ikiya" (Confidence)
The day after he swallowed the object, 
he approached the girl and they became 
friends 
It was so easy 
He saw the efficacy of the charms and 
decided that was the way to go 
Why struggle through life when that 
alternative was there for the taking? 
He was given something to swallow
when he wanted to start having sex 
like the other cool guys in their area 
The thing makes it easy for girls to 
say yes to him He was given something 
to ward off evil spirits, especially from 
ladies who steal one's aura through 
sex 
He was given something for his memory, 
to help him academically 
By the time he graduated from secondary 
school, he was no longer going to church 
and he found himself keeping the company 
of certain types of people whose language 
and realities match his 
His friends had changed, the company 
he kept had also changed he met a lady
She was a witch 
The herbalist he consults for charms and 
other spiritual work introduced her to him 
The herbalist told him she would be his 
spirit guide into success because she 
belonged to the initiates 
The herbalist made it known to him that 
the lady had chosen him and he 
shouldn't say no for his own good 
The lady was twenty-two years old 
He was twenty-five He took the lady 
home to his parents 
His mother went off on her own 
consultations and came back saying NO 
His mother said she was told the lady 
was a witch and her son can never 
marry a witch in her lifetime 
He tried to explain the situation to his 
mother but his mother wouldn't listen 
It became a big issue 
One morning, while they were still 
dragging the issue He woke up to 
discover he had gone blind 
His mother said it was the lady 
The lady said it was his mother 
They started carrying him everywhere 
Nothing worked 
The lady left him 
His mother became weary 
He cried himself to sleep every night 
He was not given the chance to live 
the life he had tried as much as 
possible to prepare himself for 
All the spiritualists they consulted
came up with nada 
Eventually, he was carried to a grove 
The groove was his parent's last resort 
He stayed at the grove for six months 
until he lied to his mother during her 
visit that they were planning to use 
him for ritual 
He felt they had deliberately abandoned 
him there 
His mother took him back home 
One Sunday evening, at about 5pm, 
a preacher came to their house 
He was a brother in Christ who 
came to his mother's church to 
minister 
One of the youths told him the 
family was facing many troubles 
and brought him over 
He was in the room when he heard
the brother's voice 
He didn't know the person was a pastor 
He only heard the voice and was curious 
to see the stranger who came into their 
house 
He called aloud to his siblings to come 
and guide him to the sitting room 
When the young pastor saw him, he began 
to pray in tongues 
Just like that 
They had not even been introduced yet 
Suddenly, he heard his mother screaming 
somewhere in the room 
He couldn't tell exactly what was going on 
He felt two hands on his eyes 
He heard the words "Set him free in 
Jesus name" 
Something welled up inside his tummy 
It was as hot as fire
He screamed and fainted 
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes 
He could see as clear as day 
His mother was on her knees weeping 
as if she had been whipped and 
confessing her sins 
The youth that came with the brother 
was lying prostrate, slain by the spirit 
His younger sister was praying in a 
strange language and moving about 
with her eyes closed 
It was the last thing he imagined he 
would see when he regained his sight 
He dragged himself to his knees and 
started to cry 
He seriously felt a warmth and power 
beyond his ability to comprehend 
It was as if hewas being cuddled by fire 
He told the brother he wanted to  give 
his life to Jesus 
The brother led him to Christ 
His father also said he wanted to give 
his life to Christ 
The brother led his entire family in a prayer 
of repentance and restoration 
Ironically, he was the same age
with the brother 
As they chatted as celebrated the miracles 
of healing and restoration later during
that visit, the brother told him a bit of 
his life story 
He realized that at about the same age
 he started consorting with demons, 
the brother received the gift of 
the Holy Spirit and started taking his 
walk with God seriously 
While he progressed in works and 
ways of darkness 
The brother progressed in walking in 
the light 
One key factor was the brother's mother 
Just as his own mother was influential 
and used her influence to do "good" by 
helping church members who were in 
distress to apply wisdom 
The brother's mother was instrumental 
in his walk with the Holy Spirit through 
her own walk with the Holy Spirit 
They became close friends 
The brother was one of his sponsors 
when he decided to go to a bible college 
The more he got to know
the brother, the more he realized the 
power of parental influence over a child. 

PS: What are your children seeing in you, 
which path will they tow as they grow? 
Who are you emulating? 
Jesus is the model of eternal life 
In HIM is the father's expectations 
fulfilled for your life