In a bid to get a good price for a taxi ride from Ogba to Ikeja the other day, I told the driver to stop overcharging me because he assumed I have money. After successfully beating the price to a reasonable amount, I hopped in for the short ride.
I remembered that I had snacks in my purse. So I brought it out and started munching on it.
Then the driver started his story.
He said he picked a lady up some weeks back and that she was a very cheerful fellow. For everything she bought --from Gala to IceCream, she bought some for him as well.
Oh. Sorry. Please, have some. I offered him the half-eaten snacks.
He refused the offer and said he wasn't referring to what I was eating. He said he was just trying to have a conversation.
Anyway, he continued.
He dropped the lady off and was about to speedoff when she pleaded with him to wait. He didn't tell me if he charged her extra. But he waited. Patiently in front of the Opebi home where the lady was visiting her boyfriend.
She came out a few minutes later, according to him, disappointed. Her boyfriend was not home.
To cut the long story short. The lady confided in the taxi driver. She told him her boyfriend was a multi millionaire. But he was too tight fisted. She wished he would spend more on her.
That was how Baba taxi driver said he offered to help. He told her where and when to meet him. According to his version of the story, the lady came to his house and he gave her a ring and other items to rub whenever she was going to meet her boyfriend.
It worked. He said.
A few weeks later the lady testified to him that the boyfriend has signed 500k cheque in her name. A gift he has never given her before.
The taxi driver cum "Babalawo" said she generously gave him 25k as appreciation for his help.
He encouraged her to keep "rubbing the ring".
A few months later he was told by the lady that her boyfriend was sponsoring her "abroad". She again bought expensive things for him upon her return.
The taxi driver then suggested I try him. It is not good for beautiful ladies in Lagos to be walking around broke. It was then I realised my error. My "araroro" gave the baba an impression that I was another Lagos hustler.
Okay. I said to him. You have told your own story. Let me share mine.
Then I started to narrate how I experienced God's redemptive power and grace. The whole time I was speaking Yoruba. I ran words backward and mixed it with English. At the end of the day, I made my point.
Money is not everything. It is overwhelming to keep hearing strange things people do to make money, and more money.
The baba's magic ring will fail one day.
The only power I know that never fails is the name of Jesus.
I ended my story.
Are you a Christian? I asked him.
His response almost sounded like, "I am a certified christian." He called the name of the group he belongs.
Who am I to judge? The Lord knows those who are His.
The point of this story? We need to rid ourselves of every timidity hindering us from making our faith public.
Take me back seven months ago or so, I probably will just giggle at his story and give him a "high five" for being a brilliant marketer.
But as I listened to him, I realized it is about time we all also learn to counter such satanic advertisement with the goodnews of Christ. No one is perfect right? But God's love must never be kept secret.
Don't miss the moment. Shalom.
Yours growing in grace,
JE.
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