Never Say Never

There is a phrase abi is it adage that says “Never say Never”. I now believe the adage. When someone narrates to me, an incident that happened to them which sounds like something from a Nollywood or bollywood all I do is gasp and say ahhh... eheh… o tio…pele... etc

But something happened to a very careful me last weekend that I still can’t believe.

Ok, last Sunday – I woke up at 8:15am and realized that I will be late for church. The previous day had been an enjoyable/painstaking Whitewater rafting experience (again). I came home in the wee hours of the morning with pain in my shoulders and bum. I had unconsciously told myself I was going to make it to church the next day – ( Mom, see I remember some of the lessons u thought me) – “if you have the power to stay out late last night then you have the power to get up early in the morning to go to church ” ( my mom use to say)

My church is about 30 mins from home and I was already 25 mins behind normal Sunday schedule. Maybe, I should have just gone back to sleep and go for the 11am service but the angel in me just wanted to get church over with and get back home for 11am so I can have all the day to myself. Hence, I rushed to get ready for church, known that i will miss praise and worship but at least I will be on time for the sermon.

At 8:53am I got into my car. Mind you Church started at 8:30am. I started the car, turned on my AC because it blazen HOT, inserted my ipod into the FM transmitor and Yinka Ayefele voice was heard by my neighbors. I jerked the gear in reserve and off to church. I was on a mission to make a 30 mins drive into 15mins. Normally, on my way to church I usually stop for gas, but as it was that I was REALLY late, I decided to skip this ritual and make it to church before the sermon began. Shebi I can get gas on my way back.

Got to church in 20 mins - Went inside and sat in the balcony - after church, of course some people came over to say hi
“Ah, Allied you came in late. I saw you when you walked in”
“Allied kilode to pe de?” said another (Allied why did u come late?)
“I wasn’t that late – I came in during prayer.” I answered
I remember coming in when the pastor was praying. Don’t these people close their eyes? Emi o mo pe mi lo wa so ni church – (I don’t know if you are here to monitor me in church).

We sha said our goodbyes. I ran into another close friend T. with her beautiful baby. She apologized for not coming to my cousin baby’s naming. She then asked if we can visit my cousin A. Since A lives close to church it did not pose as a problem... That was how T. changed my agenda for the day.

We drove to my cousin house – To get to cousin A’s house, we had to go through the back drop of civilization. That is to say we saw nothing on our way there.

At 4 pm my friend T. left and cousin begged me to stay with the baby so she can go out to dinner and catch a movie with her husband. I agreed. They came back home at 11:30pm. Not to mention how pissed I was cause I have to go to work in the morning (I work in another state – so my commute is an early one). I got into my car at 11:45pm and turned on the AC and switched the song on my ipod to “Why me” - like my spirit knew that I will be asking God that same question in 5 mins.

As soon as I made the turn out of their complex, I remembered that I still hadn’t bought gas and my indicator was already in E (empty) since morning. Not to worry there are numerous gas stations on the highway. (so I thought)

On the highway, the first gas station I saw was closed. Okay – shebi there is another one down the road, I passed the second one and that one too was closed. Omo see how I started praying. I switched to gospel song to see if that would help God remember me – (The bible says enter his court with thanksgiving in your heart)

To cut the long story short – my car stopped in the middle of the highway. I kid you not when i tell you i started talking to the car - "baby, come on now – don’t do this to mummy" “Baby just start so i can get you off this road, you don’t want anybody ruining your perfect body do you?" “God please let her start" As if the car heard me or God pitied me (I will go with the latter) my car started. I changed into the right lane fast enough for it to stop again in another minute. Now I was on the last lane but still it is not a safe place. This highway is christen the 3rd most dangerous highway in the US – I know compared to Nigeria, it is probably the safest. My car stopped in the middle of the dark highway at 12am in the morning. I had no phone (I purposely left it at home because I was waiting for a call that I know will never come – Let leave that for another blog)

To be continued…