Terah

His Father was on the farm in his native country
one day when a man appeared to him
The man was human and was dressed like a farmer
The man walked up to him, greeted him and told
him to leave his country as soon as possible for 
another country
The man didn't say why!
He didn't know why he didn't press the man any further
The man asked him if he had anything to eat on the farm
He quickly dropped his cutlass and ran into the hut
By the time he came out of the hut with the breakfast
his wife prepared for him
The man was comfortably seated under the shade of
a kola nut tree
He didn't ask the man who he was or how he came to know 
where to look for him on the farm
The Farm was a huge expanse of land that belonged to his
family
His Father had twelve children
Eleven of them were educated and lived in the city
But his Father didn't give him  the opportunity to get
an education!
According to his Father, the farmland would be totally 
abandoned and taken over by land grabbers and strangers 
unless someone was placed there to watch over it!
He was the one left in the past while the others moved
on to the future
He hated it!
Hated the fact that he wasn't a lawyer or a doctor
It wasn't as if his siblings who were educated really
made money but education bequeathed upon them a certain
level of respect and prestige which he envied!
The farm was a cocoa farm on one side and a kola tree
plantation on the other
That morning, he was almost at the Kola tree plantation
when he remembered a trap he set for some grass cutters
at the Cocoa Plantation
If he didn't check the trap on time, the game could
be rotten by the next morning!
So he turned his bicycle around and rode to the '
cocoa plantation!
The traps had caught nothing!
But he stayed there anyway, weeding and cultivating
the small section of the farm where he had 
planted maize and cassava.
It was a bit of a puzzle to him that the Old man
knew exactly where he was!
But he didn't ask the man any questions!
He felt this excitement bubbling in him, like a 
child meeting a very important personality for 
the first time!
He was just filled with sheer joy!
They ate together, talked about the farm and certain
farming practises he employed and why
Then as the man was leaving, he said, your traps
have caught some games! 
All seven of them!
I wonder how you propose to carry them all home!
He didn't really process what the man said until
after the man had been gone for about twenty minutes!
The excitement started winding down and he remembered
the traps!
He rode carefully towards each and to his amazement
they had all caught big games!
He really didn't know how!
The traps were meant for big rodents, not antelopes
and deers and gazelles!
But those were exactly the things he caught!
Big games!
He had to haul off each catch to the hut with his
bicycle one at a time!
He then proceeded to gut them for ease of transportation!
He got home very late that evening!
Practically everybody in the community came to see
his catches!
It was a day like no other!
Later that night, he made up his mind he had to 
obey the old man and leave the country
All the signs he saw pointed to the fact that
the man was at least a sage of some kind!
He was 27 years old, single and unattached!
He called his relatives the next day and told them
his decision, he made arrangements for the management
of the farm and said his goodbyes!
A week after the visitation at the farm he left home!
He had no idea where to go!
He simply went to the motor park and took the first
bus carrying passengers across the border
He made no research and asked no question!
He just walked blindly into the unknown!
The Journey took several days, eventually, they landed 
in Lagos Nigeria!
One thing the man told him was that he must
not live too far from the sea!
When he saw the sea, he told himself, that would be it!
He had some money and was able to lodge in a hotel
for the night!
The next day, he set about getting a small room to 
rent!
After getting the room, he moved in started looking
for work!
He had no problem with dirty work, nobody knew him
and he could not even speak the language
He got his first job in constructions as an
unskilled labourer
He began integrating himself into society
By the age of thirty, he got married
His wife was a Nigerian lady, a food vendor,
who sold food at construction sites
They didn't really marry!
He talked to her, they started seeing each other,
they had sex, she got pregnant, she cried, he
followed her home and met her parents.
She moved in with him afterwards!
He promised her they would do a proper wedding
but they really couldn't afford one!
She delivered the baby, a boy!
He kept waiting for the mighty things to happen!
He had obeyed the old man
He was living close to the sea
He left home
Where was the big breakthrough!
Where was the money?
Where was the comfort?
Where was the old man?
Everything was fast becoming a blur
It was as if he had been deceived, conned into poverty
He found himself stuck as a labourer into his forties
His bones weary, his life dreary, his hopes drooping
He had left a huge farm at the word of a mysterious man!
He had suffered lack and shame and pain for just too long
He retreated into the bottle
Drinking himself into the grave
Whenever his wife dares to question him
He would beat her up and take out his frustrations on her
He wouldn't have married her if not for the instruction he
followed so foolishly
He wouldn't be in a strange country married to a strange woman
raising a son who knew nothing about his country or
his people!
He also didn't understand why his wife had only one child!
One child! How?
His Father had twelve!
He would have married a second wife but he was too poor
to do so
He felt duped and he hated his life!
God had led him in the wrong direction
and dumped him right in the middle of nowhere
It was a hard life!
And then the worst possible thing happened
His son became a born again Christian and started attending
a Pentecostal church!
It was the very height of it!
He was an orthodox Christian and had never had anything 
to do with
the "hand clappers" and "pentecrazy" people
He told his son to return to the Church
His son at 16 told him "You beat my mummy and I cannot
go to the church of the person who beats my mummy"
At 16!
He beat the living daylight out of the boy
But his son was adamant!
Before he knew it the boy was speaking in tongues and
praying for sick people
His son was acting like a proper bastard!
It made things more complicated between him 
and his wife!
Eventually, he took his wife and son to his village
They went immediately his son graduated from 
secondary school
He wanted them to see that he was not a poor man
He was just poor in their country!
They spent ten days in his village and then 
returned to Nigeria!
His son had gained admission into the university 
to study medicine!
The admission pleased him, especially because his son
got a full scholarship and he didn't have to pay a penny
On the second Sunday in the month of April 2013, 
his son came home briefly from school
They were having lunch when he suddenly felt a 
strong sharp pain
in his heart
The pain was massive as if something was forcefully
pulling his heart out of his body!
He fell down and died!
Immediately he saw himself seated in his Farm
Roasting a grass cutter and eating roasted maize!
The Old man walked towards him casually and 
sat down opposite him
The Old man said "I set you on course and you
set off! But since then you had just grown bitter
and angry! 
You didn't seek me, you didn't even try to get
to know me! You just sat there, acting as if you
were lost and I had to find you over and over again!
When you prayed, it was not to get illumination,
you lived your life like a child who had no real
clue about the things of the spirit!
I must tell you I am very disappointed!
Your duty was to produce your son,
You are like Terah, and your son like Abraham
I have a huge task I have assigned to him among
the heirs of salvation!
He will bring you great fulfilment and honour
But you must seek me and then I will show you the way!
I will make you a good father and a joy!
Do you want to stay here on the farm or 
come with me?"
"I will like to stay sir, I am still roasting my game"
he replied
"Okay, said the old man, I will be leaving now, take
your game home and enjoy it with your family"
The Old man left!
He woke up in the mortuary!
He had been dead for four days!
He was stark naked, smelling of chemicals and had 
cotton wool in his nostril
He removed the wool, found something to wear
and walked through piles of corpses back home
He got home around 4 AM in the morning
He met his son and the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
in his sitting room
They welcomed him as if he was returning from the
office
His wife was lying down on the couch when he came in
She crumbled to her knees and started crying!
He hugged her and started crying too!
He didn't know why! The tears just gushed!
Afterwards, he told his son he wanted to 
become Born Again!
He and his wife were led to Christ and filled with 
the Holy Spirit
His son said "When you died, the Holy Spirit told me to
call the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt. He is a friend,
a brother and a mentor!
While we were praying together, the Holy Spirit said
He will bring you back home and that you will yield your
heart to him once you come back!
We wanted to come to the mortuary to pray for you but
the Holy Spirit said NO!
He said you will walk back home by yourself!
He also said "You will give us a message"
He told them the vision he had!
He told them the whole story from the beginning!
It was a fascinating eye-opener!

PS: Destinies are still being painted on the canvass of time!
Many of us in the quest for money, fame and fortune
forget totally that Spiritual relevance is not synonymous
with riches and fame!
Some of us have abandoned "the cause" in the pursuit
of the "effect"
We have majored on the minor
We have placed our priorities on the irrelevant!
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and Its righteousness
God is placing people in strategic places on the map of eternity
for the purpose of actualizing his plans in the world of men
Beware lest you dance with the crowd and lose your way
This event happened in 2013 April
The young man is now a medical doctor and a 
minister of the gospel
His Father and Mother are also waxing strong in the Lord