There are More for us than are against us.

One sunday morning when I lived in the UK, Gigi and I were taking a bus to go attend a church we’d been invited to. As we boarded the bus, I was happily humming a hymn, can’t remember which now. As I hummed away quietly, this beautiful caucasian woman smiled at me and hummed along. I think I remember her having black hair and being middle-aged. She did however look a little rough, and tired.

She drew nearer to coo at Gigi who was in her pram and asked if it was okay to ask if she’s a girl or boy. I rolled my eyes at her and said of course! She is a girl now, will be a girl tomorrow and forever in Jesus name. She gave me a knowing smile and that started what will make an eventful day, one I remember sharply till date.

After that initial question, the woman will go on to talk about how one isn’t sure these days and ask where we were off to. Told her we were on our way to church. She asked if she could come with us, and had to tell her I hadn’t been to this particular church and didn’t know what to expect. Also told her it’s a predominantly Nigerian church which might be foreign to her but no matter what I said, this woman was bent on following us. I told her it was quite far which it truly was. We were going to take another long bus ride after the already long one we were in but the more excuses I gave, the more intent she was.

At this point I wasn’t sure anymore, there were a number of thoughts running through my mind. First of which was safety; hers and Gigi’s. Was she alright? Did she need some kind of care, this is a stranger I’m drawing near my daughter, what if something happened? My mind was weighing all of these when we alighted from the bus and I noticed she had luggage. I asked her about it and only then did she begin telling me about herself.

Apparently, she was returning from burying her mother. It all made sense at this point - this was a woman grieving. All my fears became sympathy as I listened to her and made our way through the city center. As we walked, she would stop to listen to lone singers across the open spaces and give them alms. We eventually took a taxi for the last leg of our trip and found the church.

After hearing her story, I’ d stopped thinking about myself and just wanted her to find whatever it is she was looking for in that moment. I stood by her as we made our way into the church and made sure the ushers knew she was with me. People were looking at us funny but I didn’t care. As the worship songs went up, this woman burst into tears and asked to hold Gigi, of course I handed her over and she almost squeezed the life out of the poor baby in a long embrace. lol

The lady would go to take a smoking break during the service and eventually leave me before the end but we exchanged numbers before parting ways.

It all started with the sound of a hymn.

I often ponder on the intersection of evangelism and civility… evangelism for the disciples and apostles in modern day would look like them preaching in public places, inside aircrafts and on buses. Today however, christians are told to show Christ in their character and this will transform the people around them. While this is true, the great commission is actually to PREACH the goodNEWS. While society is more advanced and I don’t advocate for breaking laws or infringing on people’s privacy rights, I can’t cease to think about the implication on the spread of the Goodnews.

I mean, no one takes our permission before flashing all manner of things in our faces in the name of liberality. From unwarranted and provocative show of body parts to inking and piercings that would scare an adult not to talk of children. I’ve seen people malhandle their body in such a way that you can’t tell what they are anymore. These forms of appearances are a harassment on whoever doesn’t want to see them but we dare not talk or we’ll be labelled. Do you see that tolerance goes both ways?

Anyway, the focus of my writing this morning is to encourage you to shine your light unapologetically as a child of God. Even the most depraved people are looking for light, care, support, mercy, answers and most importantly, peace. They would gravitate effortlessly to whoever can give answers to their questions; this is why the devil tries so hard to silence the voice of truth.

Sing about your faith publicly, write about your faith publicly, profess your faith publicly by any means possible. As long as you don’t break any law, child of God, shine your light!

You’ll be surprised how many people need it.