Adrian was standing at the corner, his hands were in his pockets when he came out of the shadows.

          "I'm really sorry about how Pastor Abel treated you." He paused and looked into my face. "I, well.......we heard everything. " He pointed to a group of people by the shed. 

My eyes shut immediately, a wave of emotion stormed at the root of my sternum. But I tethered it and glanced at Adrian's comforting hand on my shoulder.

             "It is well. Come lets sit over there." He pointed at the waves of water coming ashore on the beach.

           We sat on the two logs of wood that lay carelessly on the white beach sand. Words were not exchanged, we just sat in silence staring at the sea waves.

Later,  I stole a glimpse at him. He was busy drawing in the sand. Few seconds passed before he spoke up. "About the sightings you were talking about, do you care to share?"

I told him everything about the previous night. He nodded, and advised I seek God's guidance. "If God really spoke to you, he would speak again." he paused and tossed me a quick gaze.

"Although, I doubt God will appear to you as an icicle shaped man, but He is the all knowing, so, I'd say wait." His words were comforting especially from a stranger.

Gently, he slowly took my hands and prayed with me. A little calm sat at the center of my storm.

He recommended I fast. I took his advice and fasted and prayed as much as I knew how to. As I fasted, my visions became foggy, so I added weed to the fast and then viola, it became clearer.

        Iced glazed being appeared  to me again on the seventh day of the fast and repeated same words. Right there and then, I knew God called me to be a voice unto the nations.

Same being physically appeared to me everyday for fourteen days from that first night. It showed me other visions which turned out to be true.

Sixty days from the first encounter with the mighty being, we had our first church service inside my one room apartment. Adrian and I. We kept it quick and short not lasting more than twenty minutes.

Our second Sunday debut had Brenda,  Adrian's wife in attendance. From there, I forced Nara to become part of our growing Church.

            Weeks turned to months, and it was still the four of us. At a point I became discouraged, but Adrian advised we rent a small storefront to attract more members.

Heeding his advice, we found a store two streets away from pastor Abel's church. It didn't go down well with him. He swiftly sent us so many cease and desist letters and even accused us of stealing his church members.

After a while, the church increased it's membership doubling our number from four member congregation people to eight in total, including my then girl friend Nara. 

I knew she only attended because stipends she got from the church. Christianity was never Nara's thing, she preferred her deities and shrines to the church thing. 

        Fast forward, multiple months after our debut, things still looked gloom. Adrian and I sacrificed our lives and resources for the church, yet everything stayed stagnant.

One year into the church opening, it was still eight people, the other two were a drag.
We had to beg them to come to church, gave them monetary gifts to induce them to be consistent,.....well...that didn't yield much dividends. Plus, no other person ventured into the church.

After multiple forms of the evangelism, prayers and even covenant sacrifices to other mega churches, nothing worked. I was so frustrated I began to nourish the thought of a plan B.

My uncle Baba Tolu, had repeatedly asked me to come for cleansing and supernatural help to enhance the fortunes of the church. At first I declined. But as things became dangerously bad, I yielded to that temptation.

     On that night,  I asked Adrian to accompany me to my uncle's place. Although, I hid the original intent of the visit from him. It wasn't difficult to convince him to come on for an evangelism outreach to my uncle who was a juju priest.

Of course, the guy immediately agreed. Anything that would make the work of God excel, Adrian was all for it. As long as it was about Jesus, Adrian was all in. 

That night, we visited Baba in his sanctuary as he preferred it to be addressed. His shrine was located at the center of the street. It wasn't hidden or camouflaged. He practiced his trade in the glaring eye of the public, without shame or fear. Matter of fact, everyone in the neighborhood knew about him and extolled his gift.

We got in late at night for the fear of people identifying us. Baba didn't waste time channeling Shukura after educating us with basic instructions. 

       The following Sunday, the Love circle church  as it was previously known had over a hundred people in attendance. It was amazing, unbelievable and fulfilling, just like magic. I didn't even know where those people came from, but it didn't matter as long as the church expanded.

Yet, the uneasiness in Adrain made me doubt if he would stay with me. His gloomy countenance and unusual silence troubled me extensively. He went from an active assistant pastor to a passive one. His zeal and fire died, like fire extinguished with chilled water.

And after the glorious, explosive service that day, he called me aside and began ministering to me.

"Pastor Fems," He rasped, hesitant at first but soon found his words. "You well aware that God cannot share his glory with anyone?"

I nodded in order to facilitate the conversation.

His eyes ran over me quickly before he continued. "What you have done is wrong." He pointed an accusing finger at me. "You used Shukura's power to augment God's work."

I scoffed, turning my eyes away from him.

"God does not need help."He continued.  "If he gave us this mandate, he will give us the tools for it!"

My eyes violently rose to his face. "What kind of nonsense talk is this now?"

He didn't waver in his message. "God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows,......."

I hissed before he could continue. "And what if I consulted Shukura? So what?" He gaze flattened before another light of defiance rose in them.

"What's the matter with you sef?" Did you not witness miracles, healings, deliverances and even correct prophetic insights today?" I pushed. "Do you not see that finally, we are growing?"

His fiery gaze descended on me. "With the powers of Shukura?" He shouted, feet stomping.

"Maybe." I replied. "But God wouldn't want his servants to die of hunger.  Moreover, He's doing what he promised to do." I retorted.

He shook his head and  his shoulders slumped with a veil of disappointment on his face.

          "And," My very deliberate steps bridged the gap between us. "Better keep your voice down!" I warned, glancing over my shoulders. Most people were still in church hanging around for no reason at all.

He flinched at my rebuke. But persisted. "God is not mocked. Whatsoever one sows, that he will also reap. Galatians 6:7."  He completed a verse in bible that I hated so much.

I grunted at his stubbornness. He was just too ridged to be a pastor. People didn't like these kinds of non-flexible preachers.

           "You are nothing but a mood spoiler." A hiss escaped my mouth. "Look at all the money we made today," I pointed at the cash in the offering baskets. "And the gifts, plus the accolades, yet you are not happy. Poverty is a disease!" My right palm hit the table involuntarily. I was just too angry.

He shuddered and stepped away from my, eyes raised in surprise.

"But you know what?" My fingers pointed forcefully at him. This poverty disease sometimes could become a state of mind, and that is even more difficult to cure."

I angrily grabbed my own share of the donations for the day, tossed his on the table and turned to leave, but he called on me again. "Fems, please consider God's wrath. Can we......?" His finger moved from me to him. "Stand against the almighty?"

I boiled in anger, my fiery eyes roasting him by the second.

       "Shut up! Just .Shut. Up!" I yelled, swirling around to his position and bunching my fists to keep me from hitting him.

Aware of eyes on me, I ended the threat and made my way back to my exit point.

Nara hissed across my head as I made it to the door because she was at right by it. She stared Adrian down as if she was taking a repeated snap shot of his full form.

        "Plus, He's always acting holier than thou. Nonsense!" A long dragged out hiss followed her words, then, walked out with me.  Adrian didn't even acknowledge her, he just stood there and watched. 

         Offerings and tithes for that day exceeded expectations. It brought in huge amounts of money. By the next Sunday The church grew even bigger, doubling the one hundred members to two hundred in couple of weeks and hauling in people with substance. We moved into a bigger space.

I rented a bigger apartment for myself and Nara after we had a quick wedding at the registry. Adrian declined any changes to his living arrangements. Him and his wife decided to keep their status quo which shifted more money my way.

      Members came and left,  but the harvest remained big. We also started serving as prayer house where people would come only because the needed prayers.

As a sharp guy with an economist as a wife, we placed a price tag on that, charging the prayer seekers more money than the regular members. You know what the say, strike the iron while it's hot.

        But all of a sudden, I got sick. Debilitating sickness at any eye popping speed.
Unusual symptoms of excruciating pain in my chest and back, coupled with incessant coughs.

I tried to self medicate. It worked for a while then came back like a monster.
I couldn't get in two words without getting choked by the wicked cough. My strength began to fail, a few steps became a burden.

     Various doctors visits  gave me the worst news of my life. Lung cancer!

My world shattered! My thoughts were consumed with the threats of death. Honestly, I thought I was going to die, I'd lost hope on my ability to fight off the cancer.

Yes, I smoked most of my life, so yes, the diagnosis wasn't even a surprise, but the speed at which it was ravaging my body was a deep concern. 

        Then, my daughter Yemisi's death compounded my problem. She was my first, I loved her beyond words. I couldn't bring myself to understand what happened. And it wasn't even up to a year since I made the deal with Baba Tolu.

It was difficult to believe that my deal with the Shukura entity had any effect on what was suddenly happening to me, so I brushed it aside and faced my woes.

But the agony of losing a child killed me a million times and left me closer to my grave.

Her death which stemmed from an accident which never should have happened shattered my world. Yet, at the back of my mind, I had this continued nagging feeling that I owed a debt.

Even though I didn't know how or when to pay Shukura, I for some reason believed she'd taken her sacrifice.

A stiff price indeed.

I mourned my Yemisi like my whole world was over. Nothing mattered to me anymore.
Dealing with Yemisi's death and going through chemo made me pray daily for death. I just wanted to be at peace with my mind and body. Suicide, soon became a daily food for thought.

 As all these chaos was going on Pastor Adrian stepped up to the plate and managed the church excellently well. I saw his determination and commitment, I then decided he was the best person to take over the church.

Committing those souls in his care was one of the noblest, selfless things I'd ever done in my entire existence. It was the one time I sacrificed my greed genuinely.

I had called him the day I had the worst of the disease and begged him to take over the church. He hesitated and humbly declined, but I insisted.

Months later, the church was signed over to him. And that acceptance didn't come easy. To show him that I was spiritually mandated to hand the church over to him, I asked him to pray about it, falsely convincing him that the Holy spirit instructed me to hand it over to him.

He wasn't me, he wasn't greedy, he didn't even want it , but I persuaded him to take it . I was so grateful to God for placing Adrian by my side.  He was useful to me on so many levels.

After that, Nara and I moved to the village when all medical help failed. Funds were ran out and our daily sustenance became a struggle.

We moved to my late fathers house. And because I was his only surviving child, it was just a smart thing to do. At least we didn't have to worry about rent over there.

         As resources for medical care became a wish than reality, we resulted to herbs and native medicine. It didn't do much, my appearance became a scary picture even to myself.

Years went by, death refused to do the needful. I still wasn't able to provide for my family. Nara became my light, she handled everything from food to even raising the kids. I will forever be indebted to her.

   
 One day, I sat in my tiny living room and flipped through TV channels, until Adrian's image captured my eyes. I curiously chose that channel and sat back to watch.

The man was so beautifully dressed in his three piece suit, preaching to a sea of people. I wiped my face over and over again in shock, gulped down the water in my cup as if I was competing with the cup. Warm breeze suddenly filled the room, making it smoking hot.

I squinted at the screen to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me.

And truly, It was Adrian.  All cleaned up and fresh, with well lined beard and curly short hair.