Arriving the Pastor’s House
As they stepped into the compound, three small children darted out running after a ball. They screamed in delight as they pursued the ball which later landed in front of Johnbull. Deftly, he tracked the ball and kicked it back to the onrushing kids. Johnbull had been a footballer in his high school days. Those were the days when life had a meaning. He attended an Ivy league school and had passed with flying colours. Among his colleagues, he was in pole position to make good in life.
Apart from being a footballer, he was the best in real life painting and cartooning. He was that gifted. After the fiasco with Fidelis in the Commission and LPO business, he operated a cold room where he was selling frozen fish. The shop was located in the heart of Ikeja and many thought it was going to be a fruitful one. But, mysteriously, Johnbull ran into a brick wall and the business tumbled. In less than 8 months, he found himself borrowing to sustain the business. The road became so rough, that one morning, Johnbull got fed up and left the business. He discovered he had incurred a heavy loss that practically left a deep hole in his pocket.
That faithful day, he packed his belongings and never returned. Someone later came along and rented the shop. Surprisingly, the new owner had no blushes. Johnbull later applied for and secured a job with a leading newspaper at the time—the National Times. There, at least, he did not have to leave his home before 5.30 am as was the case before. The National Times newspaper presented a golden opportunity for him to assert his talent—which he did for two years– brilliantly. Johnbull became the leading cartoonist and rose to the position of a features editor.
He would later win a prize in his second year as the star writer and cartoonist of the year. Then, all of a sudden, without warning, he suddenly decided to quit on his own accord. Nothing warranted that move which instantly sent him back to the streets! Shocked, his General Editor at the time, one Malam Farouk Muhammed pleaded with him to have a rethink. But Johnbull had made up his mind and insisted that his action was final. Why did he resign? It was a simple encounter he had with a certain International businessman who claimed to like his writings and wanted to set up a private newspaper for him to handle. Excited, Johnbull did not process the suggestion thoroughly and jumped at it.
The thought of making big money overwhelmed him. The man had promised him full support, including paying eight months’ salary in advance! That was how he threw his lucrative job away. Those who heard it were confused. They wondered what could have informed that decision. At only 29, Johnbull who ought to have been more careful lacked foresight. No sooner he left the job than the man who promised him heaven vanished. He became inaccessible and for a long time—nearly eight months—Johnbull never set his eyes on him again. Such was the case that even the so-called payment of salary was never fulfilled. At a point, he was prompted to report to the Police. But his friends laughed at him. He was asked if there was any contract binding himself and the fellow at which he replied in the negative. Sadly, in this difficult world, mercy is a hard word—and scarce. Johnbull felt like shedding tears. His confidence sagged and he was now frightened. Regretfully, he couldn’t believe that he had made the wrong decision.
The problem was that he did not reason outside the box—neither prayed about it. Had he done any, perhaps the story may have been different. What was the hurry about? Johnbull could have held on to his job and still engage the businessman. He was too quick to jump the boat. Another angle to his strange act could be his prayerless background. Johnbull had been born into a Muslim family and he grew in that sense till adult stage only attending mosque for occasional reasons. He wasn’t the serious type which accounted for some of his disastrous mistakes.
Maybe, a mentor in his life from that early age could have made the difference; the mentor could have cautioned him that there was no hurry in life—and that those in a hurry sometimes miss the road.  Johnbull depended only on his wisdom and understanding which was narrow. Well, the elders had said it: ‘experience is often earned and not acquired’. So, there was nothing anyone—be it a mentor –told Johnbull that would have saved him. That’s why, truly, it is agreed that children are the product of the circumstances they find themselves! They grow up from birth to find themselves either a Pentecostal, Muslim, Grail Messenger, Celestian, the Apostolic church, Baptist or catholic; this accounted for why Johnbull did not know how to pray in times of trouble; perhaps one of those men of God would have ‘seen a vision’ for him to soft-pedal!.
