The Shift

I was at the airport as a 13 year old! 
We were seeing my old man off! 
He was migrating to Germany to study 
for his Ph.D. 
He was leaving my mother, his beloved 
wife and partner of twenty years behind 
with five children to seek for greener 
pastures It was a very emotional day
My mother was a born again Christian 
We were attending one of the 'dont touch", 
"dont eat", "dont go to the village",
"beware of relatives"," fear the devil",
"suspect everybody" kind of church! 
She was always on a turban, without 
earrings and was all bones due to a life 
of fasting
We waited while he checked in his luggage, 
he came to give us hugs and final "I love you talks". 
My older sisters were crying! 
I have never had a bone of sentiment in me! 
I was dry eyed! He was a good dad but he had 
promised to buy me a bicycle when he returned 
from his trip
He was a secondary school principal and we 
could barely feed at the time. 
My father told me several times that without 
the trip to Germany I can never have the bicycle
i craved.
He also said we can never own a house of our own 
or have good clothes to wear! 
I didn't understand why they were all crying...
They ended up being right 
The German trip did not lead to utopia! 
It made things better for a while  
(I did get my bicycle! That is a story for another day) 
So while we were hugging and promising him 
to take care of one another and miss him, 
a man was wheeled in!
He was paralysed from waist down 
He was being taken for medical treatment abroad 
His wife was with him 
She was looking gaunt and deflated 
They obviously had money 
They were both in their thirties 
His mother was also with them 
She could barely hold herself together 
The misery was obvious
A man was also with them 
He was trying to calm the young man's 
mother down He had an authoritative air 
about him 
The mother kept saying "He was fine three 
days ago. I spoke with him! He was fine! 
This is the work of his father's people! 
It is about his late father's will!"
I will give them everything if they will set my 
son free How can a young man suddenly get 
afflicted like this! Nobody could diagnose 
what was wrong with him I told about the 
message they left for me two weeks ago 
This has nothing to do with medicine 
Let us go and plead with them"
A woman also on the queue overheard 
their conversation 
She was wearing Jerry curls 
Her fingers were painted red 
Her lips were painted red 
She looked like the picture of "Delilah" or 
"Jezebel" in my book of Bible Stories 
She approached the family and introduced 
herself hush like!
After a few minutes, 
She walked over to the wheelchair 
She held the hands of the young man on 
the wheelchair and started praying in tongues 
My mother was put off immediately 
(In our church, those speaking in tongues 
must do so in reverence and there must be 
an interpreter)
We see all the tongue talkers as sacrilegious 
and practising spiritual jingoism! 
The way she was dressed was undeserving 
of the Holy Spirit! 
An unholy vessel speaking in tongues! 
The contrast was sharp Our religious 
sensibilities were highly offended 
She was playing with fire!
After about ten minutes, she lifted up the 
hands of the young man and said 
"I set you free now in the name of Jesus!
 I release you in Jesus name! 
Rise up, you are healed!" 
Then she dropped the hands! 
The young man stopped shaking all over 
Then His neck stood still! He exhaled!
Then his body began to unravel 
He lifted his hands
Then he propped his body up with his 
hands by the handle of the wheelchair 
His wife wanted to assist him 
The "Jezebel" woman signalled to her to 
keep off
 Everyone in the airport watched 
It took minutes He got on his feet and ran!
Then his body began to unravel 
He lifted his hands 
Then he propped his body up with his hands 
by the handle of the wheelchair 
His wife wanted to assist him 
The "Jezebel" woman signalled to her to 
keep off 
Everyone in the airport watched 
It took minutes He got on his feet and ran!
He shot out of the wheelchair like a bullet 
Then he returned like a bolt of lightening 
Wow! 
His mother fell on her knees with tears 

His wife just stood there with tears 
streaming down her face 
The man with them was too shocked to speak 
The young man was completely healed!
My mother and my family were the greatest 
indirect beneficiary of that event which 
happened at Muritala International airport 
in 1993. 
The impact of that miracle was a 
spiritual tsunami in our home! 
My mother started questioning everything 
We started studying the Bible ourselves
Within a year we changed churches 
My mother had been stirred 
My mother permed her hair and started 
praying in tongues 
The dimensions of the supernatural became 
a reality in my family My mother embraced 
the gospel She was my example of living 
in the spirit and by the spirit
Don't be hard-hearted or stiff-necked 
When your theology encounters the Holy Spirit 
Don't insist on being right 
Your mind must always be subject to 
the Holy Spirit 
Many of us have become Pharisees 
Finding fault in the light because we 
have a tradition to keep 
Please, let us do better