Hardships are known to drive man to two extremes. There are those who turn to God for bailout when hardships hold them captive. Then, there are those who dine with the devil as a solution to their problems, using very short spoons.
A Nigerian clergyman who was very passionate about his calling suffered serious persecution. He was hardly able to put food on the family table, pay school fees and meet other basic needs of his wife and two kids. The hardship continued for a long while but he persevered in his pastoral assignment.
A couple of months ago, his faithfulness was rewarded. The senior pastor of the church whose headquarters is in the United States of America came to visit one of the branches based in Abuja where he participated in a three-day conference organized by the local church. At the end of the gathering, the visiting pastor felt the need to pick a pastor to go on a kind of sabbatical that would last for three years after which he could be considered for a permanent stay. The lot then fell on the dedicated pastor.
There was joy among his family members. At last, their suffering was coming to an end. All the travel papers were swiftly put in place and he was US-bound before long. He was received at the airport by the protocol officers of the church and lodged in a hotel in Chicago. Minutes after checking him in, they departed.
After freshening up and taking his early dinner, he strolled down the lounge and settled in a sofa to relax before retiring to bed. It was on a Saturday. Then, his eyes caught a young pretty black American lady who was perambulating apparently in search of patronage. The JJC then walked up to her. It was not clear where he got the idea from in his first night on American soil to accost the lady.
Without much ado, he struck a deal with the lady and in no time, the duo ended up in his hotel room where they had a bout that stretched into the late hours of the night. He paid the lady handsomely and she departed. He had just a few hours left to shake off the jetlag and prepare for the church service the next morning.
Clad in a fine three-piece suit, he was picked by a protocol officer and chauffeured to the magnificent church auditorium where he sat among fellow pastors. Then it was time to introduce him to the huge congregation. Beaming with smiles, he walked up to the altar and began to savour the new environment. After the senior pastor extolled his qualities back home in Nigeria which was the basis for his being picked for the US assignment, a lady in the choir got pissed off and interrupted the Nigerian pastor as he screamed “Praise the Lord” to kick-start his remarks. The interrupter turned out to be the hooker who had a session with the new pastor the night before!
“Are you kidding me? It’s not gonna happen! This guy can’t be a pastor in this church. I was in bed with him just last night and we had a groovy time together!” she announced to the congregation.
Although the American society is perverse, the entire congregation was stunned. Stunned not only because he committed adultery but also that he did so on the very first night of his stepping on a terrain that should be strange to him. The pastor wished the ground would be kind to him by opening up to swallow him.
The senior pastor who facilitated his relocation to the US was too amazed and disappointed to allow him to stay a day longer. He was promptly bundled into the next available flight to Nigeria and he is currently ruing his misadventure alone. This is because his wife who had been dreaming of joining him in the States has taken their kids and abandoned him.
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