Episode 2
Kofi Stone accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour after he encountered a group of Christians on an evangelism mission (that’s what happens if we don’t confine the gospel to the Church Auditorium). He joined the Church and got married to a fine ‘Christian Sister’ but that did not mean life wouldn’t come at him.
He and his wife were childless after several years of marriage and he did not understand why that should happen. When they introduced Jesus to him, they called Him the “Tumi Wura” – one who had the power to do all things. So why was He not answering their prayer? That was his second argument against Jesus on the cross.
This is the reality of the Christian Life – it is not a difficult-free life. As a matter of truth, the invitation of Jesus to his disciples had a phrase “… take up his cross and follow me”. Note here that Jesus did not say “the cross” but “his cross” meaning, it’s a customized cross. What I may endure in my journey with Jesus might be different from what you may have to deal with.
When we sing “with Christ in the vessel, I’ll smile at the storm”; don’t we recognize that there’s actually a ‘storm’ somewhere? Or when we sing “though painful at present, twill cease before long”; we don’t expect the pain? It is not really about what we go through but the assurance that whatever it is will definitely end except that our timelines are different from God’s.
Kofi Stone expected the Church to stand with him and his wife in these moments but no, they made matters worse. I’m sure some said he was receiving the punishment for all the evil he had committed in the past. The ‘Christian Brothers’ who were eyeing his wife long before he joined the Church will now blame the woman for choosing an ‘ex-sinner’ over them and posit that her situation would have been different if she had chosen them.
Why are we like this? We go out to bring them in with the WORD and come in to drive them out with our character! You wonder why we get new members every Sunday but our numbers actually don’t grow? Ibi plus 1 minus 1 we dey do. Ewuradze nhu hɛn mbɔbɔr.
Well, Kofi Stone did not give up on his faith in these moments but held on till his wife finally conceived. Hallelujah!
So why did he still end up on the cross a sinner?
Written by Claude Ennin
