It was another sunday morning in the same Church, the same Pastor & only few changes in the faces of the Church members, Emeka was sitted at the same corner of the Church which he sat 8 months back. The only notable difference was; instead of sitting amongst his peer group like way back, he was sandwiched amongst his family members, few neighbours and other well wishers. This group wore bubbly faces and were so anxious to incorporate the rest of the world into their galaxy of felicitation. To Mrs. Chinwe, the Pastor was taking ages to drop the bombshell while Emeka kept his mind focused on his 3 staged moves. His elder sister who was sitted next to him gave him a nudge and deported him from his fantasy back to the Church
"nna ke buno?"
"Aunty biko apumaka"
Emeka replied in a blush while she chuckled at the little boy who just couldn't conceal his feelings at this moment, he was like a room with opened windows without curtains.
At about 15 minutes later, the Pastor finally made the long awaited announcement and the drama that followed was such that wouldn't be forgotten in a hurry by whosoever witnessed it. The Georges' immediately plunged into a jubilee trance as they subconsciously covered the distance between their role and the altar while Emeka unleashed his stage one moves. His elder sister however remained with the neighbours and other well wishers, safe guarding the bag of rice, cartons of Juice and can drinks that the Georges' came with. The rest of the Church members sang songs of praises with the choir group as they waited for Emeka and his entourage to register their readiness at the altar which would terminate the keyboard players before the commencement of the testimony. Emeka who was the core of this drama was enjoying himself, swaying to all directions, shuffling his feet alongside the rhythm and came to a halt at the altar with a creep walk as the drummers rolled their drums to a stop. The microphone was handed over to Mr. George who held hands with his wife while their 3 male children and 2 nieces surrounded them at the altar.
"Praaaaaaaaaise the living God!"
"Hallelujah!"
responded the Church and this repeated itself before he continued
"As most of you already know, my name is Mr. George and this is my lovely wife, Mrs. Chinwe George"
The old man in his late 60s announced and coughed roughly, thanks to his dry throat that had suffered intense nicotine injection.
"The Lord is good, all the time. There have said that admission is hard in this country and many people did not go to school again beca... gbehe!... gbehe!...."
He beat his chest hard and cleared his throat again while Mrs. Chinwe parted her husband lightly at the back. He paused for a while then continued
"I remember that day when Pastor prayed for my son and his friends before the exam, i just look at it like na usual, my son tell me that people have write jamb plenty times and still no get school, so i tell him to write next year again because his result no good. But you see? Amen? Amen! God saw the suffering old man that i am, and bless my family. That the same bad result did not only give him school now, it also give him University inside Abuja which he did not apply for"
A lady from the congregation stretched a 'praise the Lord' which triggered a thunderous 'hallelujah' before they allowed Mr. George forge ahead.
"The Lord tell us in Jeremiah 29:12, i will listen to you, he has listen to us and i know that my Lord will watch over this boy inside the University because he say so in Psalm 32:8"
Immediately, the choir group ignited another series of praise songs while Emeka activated his stage 2 moves as a good number of the congregation stood up from their sits and followed the Church's rhythm by clapping hands.
With the testimony by this Old man of his son who failed the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations and yet secured admission in the university, 10am service in the Pentecostal church located at Nubia Street, Afikpo road, Enugu, crawled to a close and by 12:10pm, a lot of her members could be seen with little hampers of Juice and can drinks under the scorching November sun, trying to get away from the Church premises.
