PART 17

“MY FATHER’S FARMLAND”

©?Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

Eight months had passed and Ola was drawing close to her Expected Day Of
Delivery. She had successfully hidden the pregnancy from her siblings. For
those eight months, she did not give them the address of her new place. She
tried to do video calls with them occasionally where all she did was smile
back.

Ope had complimented her on several occasions that she was becoming fat
and fresh.
Sukki, on the other hand, had been indoctrinated into the new lifestyle of the
Church he joined after leaving Pastor Ayo. He had been taught that “All his
sins in the past, the present one he was committing and the ones he was going
to commit in the future had been taken care of”. Sukki, therefore, was able to
continue in the sin of fornication once in a while.
However, the church made dissecting the Word very important. In 8 months,
Sukki had read the New Testament 2 times. He was told the Old Testament
wasn’t important.
The Senior Pastor of the Church particularly liked Sukki and in no time, he
had made Sukki the youth leader. He had given Sukki a three-bedroom flat
and a car. The Senior pastor encouraged Sukki to go back to school, and with
his connections, Sukki gained admission to do a part-time course in one of
the State Universities. Sukki was so happy he had found a place where he
could serve God and his sin; past and present was not a big deal.
His pastor advised him to go home to see his father.
Sukki travelled back to his father’s place but met bad news. His father had
been hospitalized for about two weeks…
Ola had been having serious contractions for days. She had been in and out
of labour for two days. At that point, she had sent a message to her siblings
as she noticed she was losing strength. Oba and Ope were shocked to see Ola
pregnant. Ope kept proclaiming curses on Sukki. She wished she knew his
identity.
Ola gave birth after 26 hours of painful labour. She gave birth to a beautiful
baby girl, but suddenly she started bleeding uncontrollably…She passed out.

Meanwhile, Sukki was in the same hospital visiting his father. His father was
happy to see him after 8 months…
“ Father, I am sorry for my absence. I met Jesus and I was scared you would
disown me …”
“ Hmmm… Jesus… Destiny can not be averted!” Sukki’s father had said
“ What do you mean Father? Sukki asked
“ Hmmm, Ifasunkanmi, Even as a herbalist, your mother and I had a delay
in childbearing for 15 years. Your mother got tired of the concoctions I was
giving her and without my permission started attending a Pentecostal church
far away from us. In 1 year of attending the church, she got Pregnant and by
prophecy, the pastor had told her the baby in her womb would become a
pastor and own a big church. So if you have started following Jesus, I am not
surprised…” Sukki’s father had said…
“ Me, a pastor?” Sukki reasoned quietly.
He spent a short time with his father and paid the necessary bills.
As he stepped out and saw Ope. He froze on the spot, he thought Ope was
Ola. He didn’t realize Ola was a twin. He was surprised she didn’t recognize
him, but he thought it was possible she was rushing out to get something…
She looked worried…
Sukki stepped back to the reception to find out what her problem was.
“Her twin sister was bleeding after giving birth and she just passed out. The
bleeding has stopped but she is yet to gain consciousness.” A nurse said
“ Can I see her please, I am a Christian… I would love to pray for her.”
The nurse initially refused but on second thought, she took him there. Sukki
saw Ola lying unconsciously with oxygen plugged into her nose. Sukki sat
beside her and knew this was strawberry.
“ How come she gave birth? Was she pregnant after my intercourse with
her?” Sukki reasoned silently
Sukki knelt beside her praying for her. He prayed with tears flowing from his
eyes. He begged God to please restore the life of the innocent girl…

After about 15 minutes of groaning in prayers, Ope and Oba came in. They
didn’t know who the stranger was, but they joined him in the prayer.
Sukki decided to end the prayer. As he stood up, he introduced himself as
Pastor Sunkanmi. He said he had heard about her from the nurses at the
reception and out of compassion he had come to pray for her.
Oba and Ope expressed their appreciation. Sukki asked for Oba’s phone
number as a way of checking up on Strawberry later. They both exchanged
numbers.
Sukki stepped out and when he got into the car, he wept sore.
“ If only his parents had trained him up in the way of the Lord if only someone
had taught him about God, maybe His life would have turned out better…”
At that point, he felt he knew what he had to do…
He was going to start up his own church to train and teach people the right
way. He had learnt enough from his pastor in eight months…

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