It was 5:30 a.m Tuesday morning and Richard was going to be late to work. Today of all days.

He woke a bit earlier to avoid the usual traffic build up but everything seemed to work against him. When he got to his car, the engine did not start. He was shocked because his mechanic just serviced the car 2 days ago. After about 5 minutes of fiddling with everything under the hood, the engine eventually spurred to life.

‘Thank God’ he muttered as he put the gear of his silver Honda Accord 2005 in reverse and made to drive out of the gate. He took a mental note to call his mechanic to properly adjust any loose bolts or nuts.

‘Oga!, Oga!!’ his security guard shouted as he had reversed out.



‘What again?’ he thought to himself as he slowed down to hear him out.

‘E be like say the back tire don flat. Your rim go spoil if you drive am like this o’ Yusuf said

‘God!! Why me? Why today of all days?’

Richard could not help but think that God had abandoned him on the day he needed him the most.

As the head of Sales of a fast growing company, Richard could not afford not to meet the set target. The month of November had been rather slow and with 10 days left, he and his team could only pray for a miracle to be able to hit the target. He had to pull all the stops and eventually got to schedule a sales pitch with a multi-national that he had been pursuing for a while. They generously offered to come to their office for 8 a.m. on Tuesday and now here he was going to be late for a meeting that took him 6 months to orchestrate.

‘Oya now, make we change am sharp sharp.’ He said to Yusuf as he stepped out of the car rolling his sleeves. He does not joke with having a good spare tire since he had once been stranded on Third Mainland Bridge at midnight without a spare.

About another 10 minutes passed. He and Yusuf were sweating but had changed the tire. That done, he began his journey to work. Trying to find the best route devoid of traffic, he turned on the map on his phone.

‘Oh God!’

Every route was blocked.

The only way he could get to work in time was to turn his car into a chopper and cruise over the thousands of Lagosians that he was certain will be cursing out at each other.

‘God!! Why me? Why today of all days?’

He had no choice but to join the queue of other rather slowly moving cars. He tuned to the traffic radio station and got the update that there was an accident about 20 minutes ago. After an hour and half of slow moving traffic, he got to the point of the accident.

A trailer trying to avoid the curfew set for 6a.m. was definitely over speeding and lost control. In a bid to avoid running into many cars, he swerved and climbed a car that stopped its movement. The truck completely crushed the boot and the back seats of the car leaving only the front section untouched. The scene looked like a snake swallowing it’s prey only to stop halfway. Only one of the three lanes was accessible to motorists.

Richard drove off once he was passed by the emergency services that were on the scene to sort out the challenges the accident created. He got to the office an hour late but Paul, his colleague, had already informed him that all the individuals scheduled for the meeting, both on his team and the multi-national, had not gotten to the office so Richard was less tense.

After making his cup of coffee and looking over his slides one more time, his team and the members of the invited coy walked into the conference room that had been set up. They were all caught in the same traffic jam.

Everything worked like magic from that point on or so it seemed.

He went through his pitch and answered all questions easily.

‘Thanks for the amazing pitch Richard’ said Sheila, the team lead of the multinational. ‘ I believe this is the solution to our current challenge. However, my line manager, Eric who will make the buying decision, travelled for a conference and will return in 3 weeks. Then, you’ll get our reply. Good day. ‘ immediately she said this, she and her team stood, shook hands with other members of Richard’s team and left.

Richard was speechless. ‘3 weeks?’ He thought to himself. 3 weeks was way too long and didn’t fit into his plans of hitting his sales target for November.

‘God! Why me? Why will the decision maker travel now of all times?’

The rest of the day went rather slowly and was uneventful.

Sitting in his couch at home, exhausted and watching the news rather uninterested, he sighed and said under his breath ‘Why me’

A voice then spoke to him: ‘This morning, when your car refused to start and the tire was flat, your car was meant to be involved in that accident but I needed you sharp for the presentation so I stalled you from getting on the road.’

I also planned Eric’s trip to coincide with your presentation for a simple reason you’ll soon find out. Have faith, never doubt me’

Richard woke suddenly.

He had dozed off thinking about the stress and strain of the day. He thought deeply about what he heard in his dream and said a thanksgiving prayer for all that happened.

It was at this exact point that the accident was shown on the news, the car crushed by the truck was also a 2005 Honda Accord model but matt black in color. There were no casualties and he was glad about that. He wondered if it was his car that was involved, he might have not been in the right frame of mind to make the perfect sales pitch.

While he was still thanking God, an email notification dropped on his phone. Apparently, Eric had gone to cut a deal at the conference he was attending. The multinational will need to purchase 3 times the initial quote and they were willing to sign the documents before the end of the week to get things started.

Richard was speechless and knelt in awe.

3 things you should never forget

1. God is very interested in every aspect of your life. He wants you to be successful in even the smallest section of your life.

2. Logic does not win all the time. Do all you can, work hard, talk to important people but never forget the place of the grace of God in your goals.

3. In all situations, be grateful and thankful. The attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude always opens doors.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Is 55: 8-9

Source: http://www.24hoursreporter.com/2018/11/26/why-me-why-today-of-all-days-by-mobolaji-atolagbe/

Cc
Lalasticlala
Mynd44
Seun
dominique

Gratitude is everything!