It was 2pm and the bell rang signalling the end of classes for the day. Students spilled out of their classrooms to trek the 1 km road to their dormitories for lunch.

Garri, fried fish and sugar was on the menu for Wednesday, and it was one of the special delicacies for the boarders. Everyone of them trooped into the hall in orderly fashion. As expected of them, And.eager as well to be in the dining hall before 2:45pm when lunch will be stopped for the afternoon. Siesta to be observed.

Lotu had experienced a bad day in school. After incurring the wrath of one the female teachers for passing a snide comment on her, he had been matched to Vice Principal’s office where he had written a statement and it had been filed in his records for future reference for.misdemeanor

“I need to get to the hostel on time to eat. I pray I will make it to the dining hall o.and Oga Ude won’t be at the door.” Lotu thought to himself as he hurried along the dusty road, the fiery forces in his stomach driving him insanely on. He took a quick glance at his wristwatch, it was 2:35pm.

“Lock the door!” barked the senior warden, Baba Ayedun. Time was 2:50pm. “anyone just coming should go to their hostels to observe Siesta, they are late for lunch and its past time for lunch” Baba Ayedun declared with an air of authority, his nose thumped up as usual.

Lotu was one of the students cut off from lunch that afternoon. He was furious as a.pack of.wolves, whose meal.had just been snatched by a pride of lion.

He stormed angrily to his dormitory, B4 up, undressed and tied a towel round his loins as.he sauntered round the hostel looking for what to eat. While undressing, he gave his shirt to a junior student to go wash for him and spread.outside. Siesta Started 3pm and it was to end 3:45pm. Lotu sauntered back to his bunk after exchanging banter with his friends and classmates, and he stopped in shock.

“where is this junior student!” he roared like a wounded lion. He spotted.the boy where he was trying to dodge under his wrapper, and he said, “before the count of 3 come out here!” “1! 2!” The student scrambled out of hiding, mumbling incoherently. “what did I ask you to do” he demanded from him. “how dare you have the effrontery to drop my shirt on my bed after instructing you to go wash it! You must be a buffoon! Get me my belt! Hold that locker idiot!”

“B4up is my next destination, after which I will get.home to see Sheila before the Siesta is over” Oga Tasere thought to himself has he trudged his way from b3 down to B4. Quietly, like a ghost he moved. That was amazing to the students that he could.move almost silently and be upon you in an instant before realizing it. Legend had it that if Tai Solarin enters a hall, he can, with uncanny ability pinpoint a whisperer and administer punishment to that offender. And the higher you class, the higher the strokes of cain you will receive.

“Stupid boy! Idiot! Never in your life must.you do that!” Lotu screamed at.the junior,flogging him at the same time. All of a sudden, he felt that a thousand eyes were boring into him, and particularly felt an eye, drilling him intensely.

Oga Tasere trudge up the staircase to B4 up and he heard the unmistakable sound of belt been applied on someone. And of course he could hear someone shouting angrily. “that must be a year three student, someone will be.dismissed today” he thought wryly to himself.as.he entered the dormitory.

“Lotu!” it was a silent hiss from other students in the hostel. No one was bold enough to call out his name that Tai Solarin was right behind him. Everyone froze on their beds, with bated breath at what the turn of.events will be.

Oga Tasere walked.into the hostel silently, his worst fears confirmed. Indeed, a senior was flogging a junior student. For whatever reason, he cared less. Specific instruction had been given on student ze one Home hostels that seniors must not flog junior students no matter the provocation. He approached.quietly, he heard the desperate warning signals that the boys were trying to communicate to the senior student. But he was so consumed in his anger, he failed to hear and he failed to notice that the hostel had gone deathly quiet. And like a sentry on duty he stood.behind him, watching.

Lotu all of a sudden realized, that the whole hostel was silent unusually, and that a thousand and one eyes were looking at him. He managed to steal a.peep over his shoulders, and his blood ran cold like Eskimo ice. Without a word, he raised his two hands up, as if a gun was pointed at him, and he dropped his belt.

Oga Tasere was impressed by his act of surrender, and he thought otherwise in calling the warden to match him out. He approached he’d.him, and gave him 6 heavy lashes of his walking stick, stooped.and picked up his.belt, and quietly left the dormitory.

Lotu, hands raised in the air, frozen on the spot when the first lash hit him on his buttocks. And 5 more followed. “go to your bed” Oga Tasere ordered him. He gathered his towel round his waist, got.on his bed and uttered this statement, “eyin boys e da o!” And with that he fell asleep immediately.

Later during the evening assembly at 7pm. Tai Solarin referred to the case while addressing students on the ground, “i came upon a senior student flogging a junior student in B4 Up today. I would have had the student expelled, but i liked the way he surrendered without any fuss. Here is his belt here, which he has forfeited. I didn’t bother asking for his name, i administered his punishment to him right there and then…”

Are you reading this story and having a good laugh at it? Really its worth the laughter. But ask yourself this question, are you totally surrendered to God, not holding anything back?

Hey, you want to flip the tab right! Pause right there, you going no where.. 🙂 The truth hurts, and then heals. What God wants from us is absolute surrender to him, and let him deal with us, like Lotu did in this story. And, God does not go the way of pain except when absolutely necessary for your own good. God does not deal in partial surrender. King Saul was not in total surrender to God’s will, he lost his kingdom to a man after God’s heart in person of David.

Having no personal agenda of your own is key in God’s scheme of things. when you realize that what you, and all you will ever be, he made it available for you, and not of your own self. Perhaps you ask, what of those who don’t know God and they are apparently successful. Very good one question. But let me ask you, have you thought of the deeds they are doing behind the scene that is making them more prosperous?? Okay let’s not go in that direction.

What am i driving at, God owns you and everything you have. He has 100% investment in you and he expects returns always. He is not one of the shareholder, neither is he in the majority shareholder. He owns all!

So, your skills, talents, money, resources, everything you have, all have one agenda, which is to serve God the master. We abide in him and his word abides in us, he is the vine and we are the branches. Jesus said, “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me..” It’s not until you make a big how at helping someone or doing something for someone who makes you feel good. It’s in what you do quietly, unseen that is honored and honorable. The homeless man, the hungry fellow by the roadside, the man wearing the same weather-beaten jacket to work every day, the sad eyes hiding behind a weak smile, the broken in hospital, the helpless. The list goes on and on.

Are you surrendered to God? In totality or partially? Its not an easy decision, but its the most simple decision you can ever make in your life. Do you know why? He is your FATHER, unlike any other father you ever had.

 

NB: Please before you go, will like you to join me in prayers for a dear friend and brother, Sope Alabede one of those who witnessed the story shared above. He was involved in a terrible car accident about 8 years back on his way to school and he became a paraplegic. Right now, he has terrible bed sores on his buttocks and in need of skin grafting to avoid cancer and further life-threatening infections. A group of his friends, and old school mates have gathered together to raise funds for him to do the surgery. He needs N3.5m ($15,000), and that drive is pretty much active on whatsapp and its been managed and accounted for by trustworthy friends i have known over the years. A go fund me page has been set up as well to that effect and this is it; http://www.gofundme.com/mshac8 Naira contributions are being paid into 0004760912, Arojojoye Abimbola Anthony, Sterling Bank. Please pray for his quick healing and be of help as well if you can. My heart grieves me seeing him in this condition. But i trust God, Sope, that your healing will be complete and the lost years will be restored to you, and your pains and anguish will be a testimony of what God can do in the life of the man yielded to him, through the thick and thin. Amen.