Overhaul

Overhaul

He had to reach out to the pastor for help

He didn’t know what was wrong with him

He thought it would get better, it didn’t

Ever since he was in secondary school, he noticed the problem

Everybody told him it would eventually go away

His mother told him his father was like that

Too shy to look a woman in the eye

His father’s friend was the one who approached his mother on his father’s behalf

His mother said she couldn’t believe it at first

But it turned out to be true

According to his mother, it was a blessing in disguise

She knew he would never cheat on her

How would he?

His mother said his father was so shy that on their wedding day he almost fainted when he was told to kiss the bride

His mother was right

His father’s shyness was on another level

When he was in primary school, he was always weary of bringing his friends home

Whenever his father saw a stranger (No matter how young or old such a person is), he would quietly leave the sitting room

He wouldn’t say hi or respond to any word of greeting

He would just disappear into his room

His mother told him that in the early years of their marriage

She played a prank on his father to make him a little bit more socially inclined

On his 30^th birthday, she organized a surprise party

When his father returned from work

He found almost sixty people hidden in his sitting room shouting “Surprise”

He looked at them, looked at his wife and walked out!

He didn’t come back to his house for two weeks

It took his mother one week to discover the hotel his father lodged in and another week to convince him to come back home

His father was a genius otherwise

He worked as a nuclear physicist with the federal government

His mother on the other hand was very outspoken by nature

She was so much of a talker that she owned a wedding planning and event management company

She was a highly skilled and in-demand event compeer

She emcees wedding engagements, wedding receptions and couples events

The contrast between his father and mother was extreme

He had two siblings

His younger brother was a little bit more social

But he stammers badly and the flies into rage at every slight provocation

His only sister, the last child, took a little after their mother

Especially in her looks

But socially she was extremely reserved and very sensitive

If she had a minor disagreement with anybody, she would take offence and keep malice for weeks or months

Many of her friends are no longer on good terms with her

He was 37, his younger brother was 35 and their sister was 33

They were all graduates with great jobs

He had a first class in mathematics and a Master’s degree in Data Science

He works with an international social media company as a data scientist

His younger brother studied Accounting (First class honors) and is a chartered accountant

He owns his own Accounting and auditing firm

His sister studied electrical engineering (First class honors) and had a Master’s degree in Software engineering

She was an expatriate with an international company based in Cyprus

They were raised in one of the elite estates in the country

They were irreligious

During the Christmas break of 2015

They all returned home to spend the holidays with their parents

On his flight back to the country he met an elderly man who wouldn’t stop talking

The man lamented incessantly about the state of the estate of his elder brother

He said he was traveling home for the burial of his elder brother who died at the age of 80

And that his elder brother was an Air Vice-Marshal who had four children

All the children schooled abroad and had great careers

But none of the children was married

The man said it is a curse for a parent to die at such an old age without witnessing at least a wedding ceremony of one of his children

As the man talked on and on

It provoked some thoughts within him

The man was practically describing his family

His father was almost 72 years old and his mother 68

None of the children were married or even in any relationship

Were they cursed?

Was there something wrong with them that they needed to address?

He ruminated on the issue for several days before he decided to reach out for help

Who was he to talk to?

He went on Facebook

He scrolled and scrolled until he got to the page of a bespectacled pastor

The pastor had a Nigerian name and looked trustworthy

He sent the pastor a chat message via Facebook messenger

The pastor responded

They talked on and on

He asked the Pastor where he was so that he could come and see him

The Pastor told him he is a missionary in Jordan, (Middle East)

Jordan?

“Who can you recommend for me to meet in this country and discuss my issues?” He asked the pastor

The pastor gave him a phone number

The next day he called the number

The voice at the other end of the phone was polite

They agreed to meet at a neutral location

He got to the location early, he wanted the opportunity to assess the man he was supposed to meet with

He was told there were many diabolic preachers all over the country

He didn’t want anything to do with brain washers and hoodwinkers

Two minutes to the agreed time

A young man in Jeans and T-shirt walked in

He didn’t look religious at all

He kept looking at the door, hoping another man in suit and a pair of trust worthy spectacles would walk in

His phone rang

He picked

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt was the one calling

They looked at each other

He was not impressed at all, the young man was way younger than him and he needed an old head not someone he was obviously smarter than

It was too late to escape as planned!

The young man sat down opposite him

They began to talk

They talked to each other about each other

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt almost looked irreligious too

It took him about eight minutes to warm up to the young man in Jeans and T-shirt

He opened up to him

“This and this and this were the problems

I wanted to know if we were under a curse and how to lift the curse”

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt told him about Jesus

He said “Mankind was truly under a curse

But a born again Christian is not under a curse

Jesus became a curse for the born again Christian to live in liberty

But those who do not believe in Jesus are still under a curse and would forever be under a curse”

“So what do I do?” he asked

“Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior?” The young man in Jeans and T-shirt asked him

He didn’t know why, but he said “Yes”!

It felt like the right thing to do, plus, he could always walk away from the whole thing if Jesus didn’t solve the problem he was hoping to solve

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt led him to Christ

He became born again

And all hell broke loose!

He started crying

He couldn’t stop crying

It was as if all the evil things he had ever done in his life were suddenly impressed upon his conscience

He cried until his handkerchief was soaked and his shirt was drenched

And he didn’t even notice that he was in a crowded place

He cried for almost a quarter of an hour

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt sat calmly opposite him

When he calmed down, he asked the young man in Jeans and T-shirt if he wouldn’t mind coming to his parent’s house with him

The young man In Jeans and T-shirt shrugged

They drove in a convoy to his house from the location

The drive took about 50 minutes

When they got to his house

They saw his father and mother in the garden just outside their mansion

He told the young man in Jeans and T-shirt that his father didn’t take kindly to strangers

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt said: I have a gift I will like you to give Daddy

He: What is that?

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt said “Receive the power of the Holy Spirit and start speaking in tongues”

He smiled and said “Let me take baby steps, I will get there someday”

He walked towards his parents

As he walked, he suddenly left as if he was floating

The wind was doing somehow within in tummy

He didn’t pay any mind to it at first!

He got to his parents, his Father extended a hand towards him

He took the hand

His Father started laughing!

Not a smile or a short laugh!

Deep embarrassing and insane laughter!

Like the laughter of a drunk!

His mother was shocked!

His Father had never ever in their almost 40 years of marriage laughed like that!

Their father always behaved like a shadow

He doesn’t want people to know he existed!

His mother got alarmed and rushed towards her father

“What is going on?”

His mother touched his Father

She was knocked unconscious!

His father continued to laugh hysterically

The laugher attracted his younger brother and younger sister

They rushed out of the house to the garden

“What is going on here?”

As soon as he saw them, he wanted to tell them not to touch him, or their parents

But he couldn’t!

He wasn’t laughing but something was welling right within his tummy

It felt like electricity, like the roar of boiling water

His sister touched their mother

She screamed! And continued to scream as if something was pinching her

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt had walked close to them by this time

His younger brother walked towards the brother in Jeans and T-shirt

“Sir, please what is going on here?”

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt said: The Holy Spirit is having a blast

His brother: I don’t understand sir

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt extended his right hand for a hand shake

His brother took it!

BOOOOOOM!

He brother started shaking and crying

The brother in Jeans and t-shirt walked up to him and said “Why are you so stubborn, why are you clenching your teeth and trying very hard not to speak in tongues? If you had spoken in tongues willingly we would have avoided all these drama! Please go ahead and unclench your teeth!”

He didn’t even know his teeth was clenched!

He opened his mouth and fire fell!

His Father (still holding on to his hand suddenly stopped laughing), looked at the man in Jeans and T-shirt and said: I will like to be saved and baptized

(How he knew about being saved and baptized was a puzzle, when he was asked, he said that was the only thing on his mind at the time)

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt removed Father’s hand from son’s hand and led him to Christ!

As soon as they stopped praying, his sister came to the man in Jeans and T-shirt: I will like to be saved and baptized too!

He led her to Christ!

His mother and younger brother also followed suit!

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt stayed with them till late in the evening

He told them about the new life and what it means

He admonished them to attend a Pentecostal church close by

The next day he returned with a pastor and they went to a flowing river to get the family baptized!

Ps: *He got married a year later, In France (2016)

He said he met the girl on a train, he was praying in the spirit and she chatted him up

She was also a spirit filled Christian

they have a son

*The sister married a year later (2017)

She met her husband at a local fellowship she joined in Cyprus

they have a son

*The brother got married in April 2018

He was part of team sent from a big church to start a youth church close to his house

A lady joined the church two weeks later

One year later he married her!

*Their Father is still alive and strong

He is more social and accommodating than before

*Their mother is still in the compeering business

She organizes Christian couples seminar twice a year

***Preaching the gospel without the power of the Holy Spirit is ineffective at best

This is why there are many believers who would say “I don’t know if I am born again or not”

I have met many of such, who seemed unsure of their salvation

Nobody forgets a divine encounter

Nobody doubts a divine encounter

Nobody backslides after a divine encounter

Pray for power today and walk in it