Missing

About 17 years ago 
On a night like this 
I was walking to church for the 
crossover service 
With two friends '
One was male and the other 
was female! 
We were going to a church at 
Eleyele in Ibadan 
We were at Agbowo junction 
A policeman stopped the three of us 
He searched us
The lady didn’t have anything on her 
I had some money 
The other guy has some money 
and a lot of firecrackers (bangers) 
The policeman arrested the three of us 
He said he found bangers on 
the two of us 
He showed his boss the 
confiscated bangers 
The boss said we should be locked up
I looked at the policeman 
I didn’t say a word 
The other guy was begging 
The lady with us was begging 
I was just looking at him 
I didn’t say anything! 
Not a word! 
The boss said he should throw us 
in the cell 
The other guy was thrown in 
The lady was told to sit behind 
their desk
I was about to walk into the cell 
The police officer said “Don’t go 
into the cell! 
I have removed your name from 
the report!” 
I stood there 
The boss said “Why did you remove 
his name?” 
The police officer said 
“He didn’t have 
anything on him! I lied” 
That was how I escaped!
My friend paid ten thousand 
Naira as bail 
He was released at around 11 pm 
We got to church just in time to 
shout “Happy New Year” 
That was the last time I went to 
crossover service with someone 
who is not a close family member 
The following year, the friend was 
arrested again!
This time he was going to church alone 
I had hinted him that we will not be 
going together 
He was arrested at Sango bus stop 
Many witnesses saw it 
That was the last we saw or heard 
from him 
The police denied arresting him 
His name was not logged into any 
police record in that area
He just disappeared into thin air 
Days led to weeks 
Weeks became months 
He was declared missing 
We all feared he had been killed 
Time ticked 
In 2013, about ten years later 
I was pastoring a church in Ikosi-ketu 
One of my parishioners delivered 
a baby boy 
I went to name the baby
A young man came to the venue 
of the naming ceremony begging for food 
I couldn’t believe who I saw 
Dressed in a red shirt and a pair of 
tattered black knickers 
It was Him! 
I called his name 
He looked at me and stood still 
You could have mistaken him for a 
mentally unstable person
But he wasn’t mentally unstable 
He was just afflicted 
Apparently, he and some other suspects 
broke out of the “Operation Gbale” truck 
the day he was arrested and ran into a bush! 
He didn’t want to go home because 
they had collected his student’s ID! 
(He followed the others and
Somehow came across someone or 
something that made him lose his mind! 
Some people said it was a strange leaf 
in the forest, others said something 
must have been used on him! 
I didn’t know all this at the time!) 
When I called his name, he stood still 
and then he called my name!
I hurriedly named the baby and 
took him to my parish which was about 
ten minutes' walk from the venue of 
the naming ceremony! 
He cleaned up and ate 
He couldn’t stop crying when he 
saw that I was married with children! 
He had lost ten years of his life and 
somehow wondered from
Ibadan to Lagos! 
Of course, his hair was full, locked 
and untidy He was malnourished 
But he was not mad! 
Something happened to him 
Something strange that robbed him 
of his ability to make sensible decisions 
He was a student of Engineering at 
the Polytechnic Ibadan, Eruwa campus
When he got missing! 
He was a nobody when he got restored! 
I didn’t have the phone number of his 
folks I called another friend in Ibadan 
named Sunday 
Sunday informed his mother 
His father had died shortly after he 
went missing! 
His mother came to Lagos with 
Sunday the next day
After their reunion, he insisted he 
would rather stay in Lagos than return 
to Ibadan with his mother 
His mother had relatives in Lagos 
She took him there 
He started working in a factory in Ikeja 
Sometimes he did night shifts 
Sometimes he did day shifts 
He was determined to make
up for lost time 
He wanted to make something of his life 
He worked hard and saved religiously 
In 2015 he opened his own android 
accessory outlet 
He thrived 
He got married in 2017
 The lady was from their neighborhood! 
She got pregnant for him and he 
married her low key!
They have two children now 
His business is thriving and he drives 
a good car which he also uses for Uber! 
If you see him, you wouldn’t know what 
he had been through 
He is way better off than some of our friends 
who didn’t lose a day but remained in one 
spot waiting for manna from Heaven!
I promised him the day he recovered 
his senses that Jesus was the one who 
healed him and if he gave his life to 
Jesus, the Holy Spirit will set him on 
course for success in life! 
He believed me! 
He had followed the Holy Spirit from 
that day till now I offer you the same 
gift today
If you will commit your life to Jesus and 
commit your ways to the Holy Spirit in 2020 
You will walk upon the gale of the wind 
with confidence 
The Holy Spirit is the eternal assurance 
of success for every citizen of Zion! 
I have walked with him since 2007 
I have all things in Him!
Set your course today 
Be deliberate 
Be intentional 
Don’t build your dreams on the sand 
The wind is coming! 
Don’t build your goals on promises of men 
Men will fail 
Only Jesus can satisfy 
Without Jesus, life is void! 
Come to Jesus now! 
Come to Jesus and reign! 
Happy New Year! 
#GSW