₦airaland Forum

Royver:
I don’t know how to tell this story, so I’m just going to tell it and leave it for you to figure out because I’m tired of thinking about it and I want it out of my system. My name isn’t necessary, it’s just enough to let you know I used to sweep the Catholic Church down the road every Tuesday and Thursday for the past two years. I do it as a kind of penance for my sins; I don’t know…it kind of gives me grace. I feel peace doing it. I’m a four hundred level medical student so you don’t think I’m some bum with nothing better to do than sweep churches. I don’t belong to any church group and I’ll be the first to tell you that sweeping gives me asthma attacks. So why do I do it?


Like I said, it makes me feel peaceful. Gives me grace.


Anyway, enough of me and on to the real issue here.


Going to church every Sunday is okay for most folks. The bible did say to keep the Sabbath day holy and all that. There’s nothing wrong in going to church only on Sundays. I do it myself. The Tuesday and Thursday thing is usually done after the mass. But it is on these days that I meet the strangest of people.


There’s the girl that comes every Tuesday and kneels before the Blessed Sacrament, crying her eyes out and holding a picture of her family. I know because I have spied that picture more than once when sweeping close to her. Guess she’s got family issues. There’s the guy who comes to the church soon after mass and sits beside the statue of Mary only to open his engineering textbooks and project works. He’s been driven out countless times by the parish priest but he always finds a way to sneak back in when he thinks no one is looking. I guess he needs supernatural help in his studies. I don’t know if it works for him though.


There’s the old woman who comes for mass without fail and then kneels in front of the altar until she goes to sleep. Literally snores. After about thirty minutes she wakes up, makes the sign of the cross and goes home. Dunno what that is about. I guess it’s between her and God.
There are pious people and pious looking people. There’s the girl who comes and prays real hard after church only to go outside and put on flashy makeup and head for class, always on skimpy and very sexy attires. There’s the guy who says extra prayers while I sweep past him and then when he thinks no one is looking he drops some spare change into the box for the poor.


So many characters. But this story is not about any of them.


There was this guy I noticed right around three months ago. He came to church when the mass was over, when the church was completely empty and then he entered the church. I knew he was doing something there but I could never really catch him at it. The moment I came in he would either go out and wait until I finished sweeping and left for lectures or if it looked like I was going to stay longer, he would give up and go home. If any of the other characters I mentioned was in the church, he would stay outside until they left. He was very persistent and never ever missed a Tuesday or Thursday. I couldn’t tell whether he came on other days or not and I didn’t have anybody to ask. I noticed he would come in looking a little gloomy and down in the dumps and then leave feeling recharged, relieved, happy. But I was quite sure the happiness wasn’t from prayer. He looked…there isn’t any other way of saying this…high. Like he was high on some drug. Whenever he came out his eyes would be wide open, his nostrils flaring, his breathing faster and he would grin at all and sundry and then move on his merry way. I began to suspect there was more to it than met the eye with this customer.


One day curiosity got the better of me and I decided to find out what Mr. Super happy was up to. I came to church as usual when the service was about rounding up, waited for them to finish, then began to sweep out the church. I made sure to wake the old woman sleeping at the altar and she thanked me and went home. I inspected the statue of Mary and luckily the engineering student as nowhere to be found today. I swept out the church and went outside and sure enough he was there, the mystery man, waiting patiently for me to leave. I nodded in greeting at him and he reciprocated with a small smile. I then proceeded to start sweeping outside the church. My plan was to keep sweeping around until he felt I wasn’t noticing and then I would sneak into the church and observe him.


As soon as I moved some distance off to the back of the church, sweeping like my life depended on it and raising not a little dust, my suspect went inside. I waited a little bit, timing it just right because I knew from experience that he spent an average of fifteen to twenty uninterrupted minutes in the church before he was done. I gave him ten minutes during which time I had inhaled enough dust to make a vacuum cleaner jealous. I started wheezing a little bit but I kept up the good work, making sure he thought I was very busy. And then I dropped the broom and tiptoed back to the entrance. If I walked right in he would see me instantly so I went on my knees (hey, I was really curious!) and crawled on my belly into the church, using the side pews to hide me from being seen.


I was still on my belly and crawling towards the altar when I heard the sweetest sound. It was like a choirperson was singing somewhere, probably from a music device the man was carrying but the voice were so clear and beautiful that I had to assume the device was really high tech. The sound was sending sweet shockwaves through my body and I made up my mind there and then to ask him to transfer it to my phone after I was done spying on him. As I got closer, the voice became louder and then I had the eerie feeling that it was not coming from a music device, it was being sung live. I raised myself to my knees and peeked over the pew.


Think what you like, but I’m telling you right now that guy was standing on air. I mean he was literally standing on nothing a few feet above the ground, his two hands clutched to his chest and his mouth open wide. He was the one doing the singing and from the altar a light was shining towards him. I blinked once or twice in case it was a reflection from the sun outside or something, but no. That light was coming from the altar! I didn’t know when I let out a small cry of alarm. The guy turned around startled and I saw his mouth and eyes were filled with light.
I got to my feet and ran faster than I had ever run in my life. I ran through the door like a bullet, not screaming, not having enough breath to scream, not realizing I was having a full blown asthmatic attack. Not until I collapsed near the fence of the church from sheer exhaustion and lack of oxygen. The air just couldn’t get through to my lungs, my chest was so tight. I raised my head and looked around to see if anyone could help me…and saw the guy standing in front of me. I couldn’t even scream though I was scared silly.


He smiled and knelt beside me and put his hand on my chest. Immediately my lungs opened and cool wonderful air flowed in. I breathed in once, twice and soon I was alright again. I sat up and gazed at the man in front of me. He didn’t look so frightening anymore and the light had gone from his mouth and eyes.


“You nearly scared yourself to death there.” He said. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on people?”


“I’m sorry sir.” I said immediately. He laughed.


“It’s okay. I’m just glad you are alright.”


“Are you, like, an angel?” I asked.


He smiled again.


“You have a good heart. Keep up the good work. The Lord really appreciates it when you do things for him from the depth of your heart and not because you are being forced to do it.”


“Okay.” I said. I didn’t know what else to say.


“I have to go now. Tell Eunice to call home tomorrow and tell Matthew that if he wants to pass he has to return those books to their owners.”


“Okay.” I repeated.


Then he strolled to the church gate, his hands in his pockets and entered a bus and was gone.


I didn’t even ask his name or number.



The next day I went to church. I waited until the girl with the family picture came into the Blessed Sacrament and I went to her.


“Excuse me please, are you Eunice?” I asked.


She looked at me curiously.


“Yes, do I know you?”


She had a nice smile when she wasn’t crying so much.


“Em, I was told to tell you to call your home today.”


Her eyes widened. “By who?”


“One guy like this. Sha call home.” I said and moved towards the statue of Mary where the engineering student had settled in for his early morning study.


“Matthew?”


The guy nearly jumped out of his skin. “What?”


“I was told to tell you that if you want to pass you have to return those books to their owners.”


Matthew looked at me for a few seconds. The next thing I knew he was on his feet and had me by the collar of my shirt.


“Who are you?” He shouted. “Are you calling me a thief?”


I was about to respond when we both heard a loud cry and we turned around to see Eunice on the phone crying and kneeling and shouting
“Praise God for healing!” Then she cut the call and ran towards me. Matthew released me as she fell into my arms and hugged me tight.
“God bless you! My father and mother are going to be alright!” She smiled through happy tears. “Who are you?”


“Me?” I gasped. “No, I’m not the one…there was this guy yesterday…”


“You must show him to me tomorrow!” She shouted and the parish priest appeared from the hallway. Matthew was looking at me strangely. Suddenly he picked up his books and things and hurried out of the church. The parish priest sent me and Eunice out as well and shut the door.


The strange man never came back. I came the next day with Eunice to see him, no show. I came the day after that and the day after that day but till now he has not returned. Eunice and I are currently in a relationship. Don’t laugh, I’m trying to keep it as godly as possible but my goodness she is wonderful wife material. She's so kind and caring. She makes me so happy and we study wonderfully well together. She’s an accounting student by the way. I have a feeling that she’s going to be a big blessing to my life and we are going to share a future together.



I guess I just want to say, Thanks bros.
Thanks, God.