I wished her farewell but she beckoned unto me to see her off. I gave Kris to her mum, excused myself and followed my friend to her car. Her friend got inside the car while she bore her heart to me. I learnt what she had been through this past year since we last saw each other.

My heart went out to her and I understood why she was dressing differently. I praised God for her life and before I waved them goodbye, I learnt that the surname of her friend was really Agba-e-yanijẹ which meant elders do not violate or cheat. One of those Yoruba dialect-issues.

On return to my table I discovered that the ladies were no longer playing the bible game. They were discussing other social issues. Kris was awake and I requested to play with her in the children’s section. Iyabọ consented and for the next twenty minutes or so, I ran after an eight-month old who amazed me with her crawling skills. We played with the blocks, crawled under the bridge and went through the tunnel. The experience rejuvenated me.

I returned to the table and Iyabọ thanked me. “Watching you play with her was beautiful. One would think you were her mother.”

“Thank you.” I responded.

Joyin: Iyabọ, like you, I hope to have a girl first.

Iyabọ: Thank you. I think it’s best to start with a girl. That way the child can be useful at home.

“I beg to differ. Boys are equally as useful.”

Iyabọ: Not in my house. My brothers were useless. My mum, my sisters and I ran our house.

“It’s how your parents trained your brothers. My boys are very useful, but I admit, I trained them that way.”

Jọla: You just have to make sure that you convince Tayọ (Iyabọ’s husband) to make your sons participate in domestic chores.

Iyabọ: While he’s busy running all over town arresting people, it’s not likely.

Jadun: So what? His job is different from his home. Which one takes priority? Deinde and I have already discussed that. Tell Tayọ, if he doesn’t do it, I’ll arrest him myself.

“Now I get it. So you are Tayọ’s wife.” (Tayọ was Deinde’s colleague and Deinde was Jadun’s fiancé).

Iyabọ: Yes I am. I’ve heard a lot about you from the Jays.

Jọla: Tell auntie how you and Tayọ met.

Iyabọ: He gave me a speeding ticket.

We all laughed.

Iyabọ: We ran into each other the following day at a restaurant and he paid for my lunch and gave me money to pay my ticket.

“That is sweet. Neat romance.”

Joyin: Unlike Deinde who refused to give Jadun a ticket and requested that she go out with him instead.

Jadun: He couldn’t give me a ticket, besides, that’s not why he stopped me. He stopped me to warn me that my passenger tire was bad and I would lose it if I didn’t do something fast.

Jẹyọ: So why did he conveniently ask if you were African, if you were a Christian, which church you attended, whether you were engaged or seeing someone, the kind of food you found enjoyable, whether you were available for dinner?

Jadun: You make it sound like he asked those questions on the spot. One thing led to another.

Jayọ: Things usually do. Jẹyọ is just messing with you. So is your ex-father-in-law coming for the wedding?

Jadun: Yes and don’t you start about me being tied to him or stuff like that.

Joyin: That’s all she’s been talking about all afternoon.

Jọla: Iyabọ, Kris is chewing her fingers, time for food.

Iyabọ proceeded to nurse Kris and I had a flashforward into the future.

“Breastfeeding has a mommy effect on me. I was just visualizing breastfeeding my babygirl in months to come.”

Joyin: You sound like mummy. She used to claim her babies each time she saw you breastfeed.

Jọla: Well, see what her claiming has done, her faith has manifested.

Jẹyọ: Auntie, while you were gone, I drafted a life calendar. What do you think?

“It’s beautiful!” I replied. “You went as far as 80 years I see.”

Jadun: Why 80? I am going to live till 90 years.

Jọla: Why ninety? My years shall be uncountable.

Joyin: God said the days of man shall be 120 - Genesis 6:3. That should be everyone’s goal. What's with the uncountable?

Jọla: Psalm 91 says with long life I will satisfy him. I shall live as long as I want. If I choose to live till 150 years, it’s up to me.

“You’re right. It’s your choice to make.”

Iyabọ: What about kadara (destiny)? One cannot change destiny? What if one is destined to die at say 60 years?

Jẹyọ: We make our appointment with death, unless we allow somebody else to make it for us. Technically, no one is destined to live long or die early, it’s based on our choices.

“Iyabọ when did you become saved?” I noticed that the Jays smiled quietly.

Iyabọ: Auntie, what do you mean by saved? I am a Christian, I go to church, I read my bible.

‘I mean, did you at a point in your life receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Iyabọ: The Jays and I have discussed this before. I don’t believe I have to go out in front of everyone at church or say a sinners prayer to be a Christian. As long as I read my bible, live a good life, believe in God and go to church, I am fine.

“Let me rephrase my question. Do you believe God is a Holy God?”

Iyabọ: Yes.

“Do you believe that human beings are sinful?

Iyabọ: Yes

“Do you believe that there is an eternal penalty for sin?”

Iyabọ: Yes

“Good. Do you believe that Jesus Christ paid the sin penalty for every human being?”

Iyabọ: Yes

“Very good. We’re almost there. Do you believe that Jesus Christ alone is the way to God?

Iyabọ: No.

“I see. Why not?”

She got up and placed Kris who had fallen asleep while nursing, in the car seat then replied; “Because God created us all and He wants to save us all. Everybody does not know about Jesus. Everybody will go to heaven if they are good.”

“That’s the issue. Where did you get that information from?”

Iyabọ: I don’t know. From different sources I guess.

“That’s fine. Well, let’s focus on you and leave everybody else out for a brief moment. Since you believe that Jesus paid the sin penalty for you, would you receive his gift?”

Iyabọ: I don’t want to pray one sinners prayer and confess all the sins I have committed or go to church and kneel down at the altar to pray and cry or something like that.

“You don’t have to. All I want you to do is decide whether you believe in your heart that Jesus paid the price for your sin, whether Jesus rose from the dead and whether you’re willing to make Jesus the Lord of your life.”

Iyabọ: Sure. I can do that.

“Splendid! Please do me one more favor and say this after me, “According to God’s word in Romans 10: 9-10, I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, therefore I am saved.”

Iyabọ recited the confessional after me and the Jays each hugged her afterwards. 

Jadun: By the way, what you just said was the sinners prayer. Those who told you, you had to confess your sins before God would listen to you were wrong.

Iyabọ smiled and responded “Thank you, thank you all. Tayọ is going to be so happy. He got saved two months after we married and has been on me to do this. I just didn’t want to be a fanatic.”

Jẹyọ: Oh don’t worry about it, everyone’s a fanatic. It just what they’re fanatical about that differs.

Kris stirred in her sleep.

Delaja returned. Shaking his head as he sat down, he declared Ara ndabira (Ara is performing wonders). She's trying to get me confused. She has all these documents proving that she was innocent, the real culprit was brother Ezekiel. Anyway, I have forgiven her. I don't want to uproot the past and start doing detective work all over the place.

Jẹyọ: Işeara may be right, that brother Ezekiel is a thief. But he's also sly. He gets simple brethren to do his dirty work for him.

Delaja: All I know is I will never loan out money I cannot give away.

Jayọ: Never loan money period.

Jadun: Jesus said lend me your boat, sometimes you have to lend, it’s more of knowing who to lend to or borrow from, than making an issue of lending.

Delaja: God must punish that brother Ezekiel. This thing affected a lot of people.

Jẹyọ: God doesn’t need to punish him, he will punish himself. The wicked gets caught in their own wickedness.

Joyin: Proverbs 14:32 and Proverbs 22:8.

Delaja: Please let’s discuss something edifying. If I continue to think about it, I’ll have a headache.

Jayọ: If you still feel that strongly about it, take the issue to court.

Delaja: I don’t like the stress of court, plus Christians shouldn’t be going to court anyway.

Jọla: That’s only non-Christian religious courts. Going to a secular court is okay.

Delaja: I just want peace.

Jadun: Delaja, meet Peace (pointing at Kris asleep), Iyabọ’s daughter.

Delaja exchanged greetings with Iyabọ and spoke kindly about Kris.

Jayọ: Laja funrarẹ, kare ọmọ oniwa tutu (peacemaker, the gentle one)

Delaja: My sister, life is too short for me to stress over money. I just let go and let God. Kosounto lọ soke, tio walẹ (Nothing goes up that does not come down).

“That is a good decision Delaja. It’s better to place it all in God’s hands than to stress, fuss, fight or strive.”

Joyin: The Lord’s servant must not strive.

Jẹyọ: Apostle, pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet Joyin! You have a scripture for everything.

Jọla: I am thinking of going to bible school as well. Joyin makes me look ignorant.

Jadun: I know what you mean. I must understand Greek and Hebrew.

Jayọ: At this rate, I’ll have to go to bible school too.

Delaja: I believe everyone should go to bible school at some point. Either attend a church that has a good bible study or go to a good school.

“There are some correspondence programs for the dedicated.”

Iyabọ: That’s what Tayọ is doing. Every weekend, he pulls out his concordance and bible dictionary, studying. One day I asked him if he was thinking of becoming a pastor because all he could seem to buy was bible stuff.

Jadun: Maybe he is called.

Iyabọ: Eh, otio (no), how can I become a pastor’s wife? Nobody is calling him.

Delaja: It’s an honor to be a pastor’s wife, why don’t you like it?

Iyabọ: No. God forbid, with all the stress of ministry, it will not happen in Jesus name.

Jẹyọ: Joyin, look, it’s Segun.

Joyin: He has a different girl with him. Somehow he’s convinced himself that I will get jealous or something.

“I still wish you hadn’t stopped calling Alex by his first name just because Segun pulled a tantrum.”

Joyin: He kept on saying I didn’t love Alex, the reason I chose Alex was because Alex was his dad's name, blah blah, blah. So I said I’ll stop calling Alex his first name and call him by his middle name Patrick.

Concluded in part 5
 
Derbrah writes courtesy of Agape for All Ministries. Author retains copyright.

Jadesọla’s restaurant is a drama ministry of the Yoruba Christian Women (YCW), an international faith-based non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. Similarity of names and stories are coincidental. Feel free to copy for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires permission. For more information on YCW write Jesutoyin Ajikẹ-King (toyinking@yahoo.com).

Robot  # 1 | 19.08.2008 00:17

I wished her farewell but she beckoned unto me to see her off. I gave Kris to her mum, excused my...Read the full article.