Elder Femi had not seen his friend Gad since he took ill. After the encounter he had with Elder Gad’s wife, he made up his mind not to visit the house again. As he was passing through their street, he saw elder Gad, sitting at the front of his house, so he decided to go and meet him.

When he went closer, he was surprised at what he saw. Elder Gad was a shadow of his old self.

“What is this? Is this what the sickness turned you to?”

“My brother, you have seen me o. I was already gone, if not for the mercy of God.”

“So this is how you are and your wife locked you inside the house. She prevented us from rendering help. Ah my brother, you don’t have a wife. I say you don’t have a wife.”

Elder Gad contradicted him. “On the contrary, I don’t have just a wife, I have a virtuous one. If every man will be lucky to have the kind of wife that God gave me, then our homes and even the church will be a happy place.”

“It’s alright. Are you aware that I came to visit you, but your wife insulted me and chased me out like a criminal?”

“My wife, insulted you? It is not possible. If it is your wife we are talking about then it is understandable. Someone that could slap a pastor’s wife, what can’t she do? My wife is not perfect but she is sensible and reasons well.”

“I hope you are not trying to insult me?” elder Femi asked in anger.

I didn’t insult you I was just trying to buttress the fact that my wife cannot insult you.

“She didn’t allow me to see you when I visited, is that not an insult?” elder Femi asked.

“She was just like a hen, trying to protect her chick. I needed rest and she tried to ensure that I get it by all means. I knew that she must have informed you that I was resting.”

“No matter what, she is supposed to have done it in a polite manner. That woman is growing wings. I might be forced to cut it for her.”

“Femi, I don’t think that I am understanding you anymore. What do you mean by you will caught my wife’s wings?”

“I am so sorry. I don’t really mean what I said. I am just trying to say that I didn’t like the way she treated me.”

“It’s okay but can we leave my wife and discuss issues that concern us. I actually have something to discuss with you.”

“It’s alright. I am all ears. But before you say it, I want to quickly congratulate you, on our victory. I know that you are already aware that pastor Ephraim is on transfer?”

He stretched out his hand to shake elder Gad but he ignored him.

After waiting for a while he put down his hands, murmuring to himself that it’s like the sickness has affected elder Gad’s brain.

“It’s alright, you can go ahead and say what you wanted to say,” elder Femi told him.

“You heard about my illness, though you might not know the real cause or what I passed through. I don’t wish even my enemy to pass through what I passed through these few weeks. All the same, I thank God for his mercy and deliverance.”

“We thank God for his mercy o. If not, our enemies would have laughed at us. Pastor Ephraim would have even said that it was because we were fighting him. God has put them to shame.”

“Femi, listen to me. Let’s not try to be stubborn about this problem we are having with our father in the Lord. It is only a stubborn fly, that follows the corpse to the grave. One can do anyhow to his fellow man and go scot free. But no one tries nonsense with God. It is true that we have people that claim that they are servants of God, who are just deceiving themselves, yet there are real servants of God. Pastor Ephraim is a real servant of God. My sickness was as a result of the way I persecuted him. It was revealed to me while I was in the hospital, I had to go and apologize to him. Thank God that he accepted and prayed for God to forgive me. That is why I am alive today.”

Elder Femi shook his head and smiled bitterly.

“Gad so you have allowed them to brainwash you. Let me ask you, this thing you are living, is it life? It would have been better you died. At least you would have died in an honourable way than this mess you put yourself in. Ah! Who did this to you? Who deceived you in this manner?” elder Femi mocked.

“God forbid I will not die. I am redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Femi, I will advise you to repent and ask God for forgiveness. Also go to Pastor and ask for forgiveness. I have delivered the message to you. I will also search for how to see other people and talk to them, so that the blood of anyone will not be on my hand.”

“This is madness,” elder Femi said, as he stood to take his leave.