Dr Freaks Journal - Those Born Again Days In School

My friends painted a celestial picture of a particular fellowship in school and only a soul who had a date with the devil himself could have turned down those tempting offers. Great music. Beautiful ladies. To crown it all, free food!

1993:


In days of yore, when "Men" were "Boys!" I must have been in my 200 Level at the time. Was I a "church boy?" Not really. Was I a "bad boy?" I'm actually not a good judge of character so I may not be in the best position to pass a verdict in that regard. Long and short, "monkey no fine, but him mama like am."


I was staying in the notorious "Hall 3", University of Benin at the material time. The same hall that produced "Aro's" (a slang for notorious youngsters) like "Basket Mouth" (the renowned comedian) and a host of others.

 I had earlier in my first semester opted for "Ekosodin" (a neighbouring village that provided shelter for many students) but by a twist of fate, I found myself relocating to that notorious Hall 3 after few weeks. I did not even wait for a refund. 

A gist for another day.


Interestingly, Hall 3 turned out to be good choice after all! 

I met and made good friends. I learnt great lessons and had wonderful encounters. Of immediate relevance and importance is my "fellowship" experience. Prior to the time under reference, I doubt if I had ever been to any of the campus fellowships and or churches. Some friends had been on my case, having turned down the repeated and consistent invitations to their fellowships/churches. Not that I was the "baddest" boy on campus, I was not just down with religious engagements then. 

My friends painted a celestial picture of this particular fellowship and only a soul who had a date with the devil himself could have turned down those tempting offers. Great music. Beautiful ladies. To crown it all, free food! The idea of beautiful ladies was not as appealing as that of getting to eat free food. I eventually bowed to pressure and elected to honour their invitation. How I looked forward to that Sunday morning fellowship/service. The venue was "The Basement." It was a memorable service! 

The message was explosive. The music was scintillating. A good number of the men and women in the congregation were gaily dressed in ribbons and flounces. Guess what, I was tempted to join the fellowship at the end of that encounter. It was altar call time and I willingly submitted myself. I forgot to add that we were encouraged to leave our room numbers for obvious reasons. Shortly after, I was reunited with my boisterous roommates.

 The message hit my soul "sha," I must confess, such that I resisted the temptation of going back to my 'B&H' (whatever that means) for some quality hours (please note that the writer has since quitted "bazzing").


Few days after, as I stood at the end of my block "bazzing" myself away, a pretty babe approached me and my friends and behold she was looking for a "brother!" Guess what, she was looking for 'Bro Olakunle'. She was sent from 'our' fellowship to 'follow up' and encourage me to stand firm. Well, she had just caught me in the very act, but I attempted to do some damage control which came rather a bit late. However, I observed that she seemed unruffled and that even made me feel guilty and a little uneasy. I managed to mutter some words "...you know that I just gave my life and I'm still battling with some old habits." She was like it's okay can we just go through the scriptures together. 

We shared some scriptures and when it was time for her to take her leave, she made a startling revelation! Since she is a bit taller, she leaned over my head and whispered something to me. "Do you really think I'm perfect? I'm just a new convert like you. Sis 'X' is my roommate and she only delegated this task to me." At that point, I got the message! God have mercy on my poor soul. I didn't waste a second. I swung into action! I extended an invitation to my preacher to the hottest joint on campus -'Dreams' and she consented. You needed to have seen the way Sis was gulping Austino's chilled 'small Stout'. She took Stout, I had Gulder and I washed it down with my 'B&H'. The rest they say, is history.


For strange reasons which I can't remember now, I stopped attending that fellowship and that "daughter of Eve" too disappeared.


Thank God, years after Olakunle has come to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and personal saviour. No more 'B&H'. No more 'sister from  fellowship'. 

Old things have passed away and all things have become new. Innit?