it was a rainy morning in Lagos Nigeria, and I needed to go to work, the dark clouds had gathered again after the first rain and it started to drizzle, I was already running late and no boss in Nigeria understands ‘it was raining’ as an excuse to either come to work late or not come at all especially not in Lagos, what to do? I looked at the time it was 7:30am already, work resumes at 8am, I walked into the rain and commanded it to stop until I get to work, the drizzling stopped almost immediately but the dark clouds kept gathering, I knew I had to hurry to work.
I took my bag , got to my bus stop and hopped into a yellow bus that was going my way, I was very happy I didn’t have to wait for transportation for too long, the bus kept moving and stopping at the usual bus stops so many could alight , half way to work, it was only three of us in the bus, the bus conductor alighted pretending to go after a passenger [that’s what we call them in Nigeria, I don’t know the English word for people who helps the driver collect passenger’s fare in your country, does such things exist in yours? Laughs Nigeria is unique for many things I guess? Laughs!] immediately the driver parked behind another car that was in queue in a gas station, this was done without seeking passengers permission , usually this act is frowned at in Nigeria because many people are impatient, always rushing to one place or the other to start their daily business, we expect every driver should either have a tank full of gas at the start of work or a reserve gallon of gas somewhere in their car trunk, don’t look at me like that, it is a Nigerian thing to keep gas in their trunks, yes we know that isn’t safe but we do it anyway,
Both the conductor and the driver knew we would complain reason he snuck out, this queue was longer than usual due to the recent fuel scarcity, another hour wasted, we hissed and sighed and complained yet no one could leave because we all had paid the conductor and driver only kept apologizing, he promised that if we could find his conductor, we would leave sooner, laughing out loud, typical of a Lagos driver, we spent an hour waiting our turn and once we were done, the conductor returned and we moved, this time the rains started to pour down heavily and I was an hour late already, I alighted at my bus stop and ran under the fly over bridge that linked the stadium to Costain bus stop, it would take me another fifteen minutes to get to my work place on foot and because of how heavy the rain was, I could not walk under it, I’ll be totally drenched in it, I thought of what to do then I prayed under my breathe “Dear Holy Spirit, please send me an angel with an umbrella” to be frank this prayer was done absent mindedly and without giving it much thought,
Then I lifted my eyes and I saw an elderly man of about seventy years of age, standing under a tree yet holding an umbrella over his head, I did not give it much thought, I just ran and went under his umbrella “welcome” he said and gave me a bright smile,
“Good morning Sir’’ I greeted “which way are you going to? sorry I came unto you like this, I am in a hurry to get to work ” I both asked and said.
“Sure, I am going that way!” he said pointing at the direction of my work place, I was so excited, at least I know He will get me to work without getting drenched, we got moving and we talked about random things, when I got to the gate, he stopped and asked if he could take me in, I replied I was fine at the gates, the security man had an umbrella in waiting for staff and would take it from there, we said our goodbyes and I thought to myself in a split second
“what is an elderly man doing standing under a tree when he had an umbrella with him? And why this early?”
Then it hit me! He is an angel! in that split second, I turned back to check, and he was gone, He had disappeared!
And the Holy Spirit said “of course he is an angel, remember you asked me to send an angel with an umbrella? The prayer was answered.”
Wow! God took me seriously even when I didn’t understand what I asked for and it was an immediate answer to my prayer, how much the Holy Spirit loves us!
I was overwhelmed, I tried to remember our conversation and I couldn’t remember much, he asked for my name and he smiled knowingly as though he already knew, I asked where he was going to and he kept pointing to my own direction as if he didn’t have a destination of his own, I asked for his name and he called a Yoruba name that ended with KUNLE “something something KUNLE” I can’t remember clearly now, I remember he said he was going to do business with an Igbo trader thereby rescuing him from the hands of a Yoruba man who had a bad intention or something like that and some other things I really cannot remember but that would be the first time I would come across an angel in his human form that helped me out or even beard a Yoruba name.
These things I write is true.