THE DAY I TOOK AN ISRAELITE JOURNEY

It's funny how life throws shades at us, especially in times when these shades are terrible enough to make us feel at our lowest. However, I have come to understand that sometimes, not all of these shades are bad, some yes could be lessons to learn from, while some are blessings in disguise, and at the end of the day we will be even more grateful for passing through that horrific experience knowing it provided us an avenue to have gotten the blessing we experienced. I have been in such situations a few times, and I will be sharing one which as much as I can remember is the most recent of all which really got me to my knees; like I literally knelt down in appreciation realizing what the lord had done for me.

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Last year my church was preparing for its annual youth convention which is usually one of the biggest programs in history. On the weekend of the convention, we held a rally which was meant to be the last form of publicizing the program. I had gotten up early after a hectic work activity the previous day, I wasn't even feeling my body but decided I would push myself to church for the rally which I had already calculated would end by 10:00 am and I would come back home, and rest for the rest of the day. However, I ended up getting home by past 3:00 pm broken. Almost everything went sideways that day, except my life which was spared.

When I got to church and the bus was ready to leave with everything else in place, I started having a running stomach, but I said to myself, I will just hold it and ease myself after the rally. It wasn't anything serious at that time, so I thought I could hold up. Midway into the rally it became very serious, and I knew I needed to go, although I first decided I would just stay in the bus while others were sharing flyers and dancing outside, but then again my stomach would not let me stay put. I decided to check if there was some place I could go to ease myself very quickly because it was becoming even more severe, Thankfully there was a factory nearby, and I begged the security personnel to let me use their restroom. Looking at my face it was obvious I really needed help that day, and thankfully they were kind enough to render help.

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By the time I was done, I immediately came back only to find out everyone had gone, and the worst thing about it was that it would take about 300 naira to get to church, and 450 naira to get to my house using a public bus (now it will take almost a thousand naira) and I was having nothing on me to get a public bus talk less a cap, it was my first time reaching that area, I didn't even know my way back. My phone was with me, but I had withdrawn all the money in my account the previous day, and I was even owing my network provider so I couldn't make a call for help. It was then I knew I needed to figure out a way out anyhow, I really don't know how to beg for assistance, or talk less begging strangers, so I used what was left of my data to Google map the area and get a direction which was a 45 minutes drive from my location.

I started my Israelite journey and I didn't bother to even stress myself walking fast because I didn't eat the night before and needed to conserve energy as much as I could. The sun was out that day and I started sweating profusely for someone who hardly breaks a sweat. I got to church nearly four hours later hoping to speak with those with me and give them a piece of my mind. But I couldn't after reaching church only to see people on the floor. I asked what was going on, and I was told two of the buses were involved in an accident and the bus I was in was one of them. Later on, I realized the guy who took my space in the bus was badly injured, breaking his shoulder bone, and dislocating his elbow in the same hand. I nearly burst into tears, from being angry to being grateful for my life.

The guy that was injured is my friend who is a sickle cell patient. It has been over a year now with millions spent by the church and his dad who is a doctor but there has been very little improvement. Because of his condition, surgery is not advisable, and each time we talk I can't help but imagine it would have been me. Although I had to go through the pain of taking an Israelite journey, I will always prefer that pain to the pain my friend has to bear every day. Taking painkillers upon painkillers which has now gotten used to him. Sometimes he would say he would prefer poverty over the pain he was in which got me a lot too realizing it would have been me.

THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO HIVE LEARNERS PROMPT FOR WEEK 79 EPISODE 1