Lawson rushed into my house and threw some papers on me in excitement.
“Kingsley please, when will this season of pleasant surprise cease. I am yet to recover from the huge sum of money you transferred to my account, now it is landed property. When the real estate company called me on phone to come and collect the documents for a land I bought from them, I called them scammers. Today they brought the documents, I demanded for evidence of payment, only to find out that you made the payment. So, I am now a land owner in Lagos. God bless you brother.”

“The Law, you deserve whatever you got from me and even more.”

As we continued the discussion, Lawson’s phone ranged but he ignored the call. The phone ringed two more times but he was not willing to take the call. I became curious to know who the caller was.

“The Law, why are you not taking your call? Who is the caller?”

“Who else will it be, if not your president?”

“Bros you are sounding funny. Is he not your president too?”

“He does not have what it takes to be my leader. That aside, please, warn him to steer clear of my path. He is becoming a nuisance.”

“You are being too hard on this guy. He has been extending a hand of fellowship to you. Try to be fair by accepting it,” I pleaded.

“I am not interested. You have decided to be his friend; that is your choice. Allow me to follow my heart. However, you have to be careful; Justine is never a friend. I wonder why you chose to forget everything he did to you so soon.”

“You are right, Justine is not my friend. But he is my brother in Christ. I am only showing him the love of Christ. The truth is that Justine was not the source of my ordeal.”

It was like the Lawson found the last statement I made very amusing so he started laughing. I kept watching till he had his fill. Afterwards, he told me that I don’t know what I was saying.

“You need to hear this, there were some unseen powers that did not want me to manifest. I don’t know where they were operating from, but they were out to stop me by all means. It is now clear that my blessings were embedded in the church; my destiny helper was there. Little wonder that there were fights to make me leave the church. Justine hated me for no just cause; all he was fighting for was for me to leave the church. When I begged people to invite me as guest artist in their church, they never agreed. Rather they would present the option of permanent employment. The consequence is that I would become their member. Even an employer insisted that I must become his church member before I could qualify to work for him. You can see that what was pursuing me was far bigger than Justine. He was just a tool of distraction. Thank God that I did not mind him.”

“So Justine never did any harm to you. He was a saint?”

“I am not exonerating him from blame. He has his own fault in the matter. He allowed himself to be used by the devil. Unfortunately, he was used and dumped. All I was stressing on was that Justine was not the fuel that threatened to burn down my house. He was just the container of the fuel. We were all worried that the innocent container was causing nuisance by occupying space in my kitchen. Whereas, we should have concerned ourselves with how to remove the deadly substance inside. If fuel is removed from that same container and is washed very well, it can be used to fetch water and kept in the kitchen. I remain eternally grateful for the Holy Spirit for opening my eyes.”

“Kingsley, let’s call a spade a spade. Justine’s major challenge is pride. That was why he was fighting everyone.”

“You are correct. It was not only pride, anger was there too. But fortunately God has started dealing with him. By the time God is through with him, He will come forth as gold. That is why we need to concentrate on our own lives and straighten our relationship with God. I told you how anger nearly ruined me. Thanks to God for his intervention. The Law, has it ever occurred to you that there are things in your life that you need to let go. What I’m about to say may not be palatable to you, but I owe you the truth. You have two major challenges which are anger and un-forgiveness. The best time to deal with it is now. Go to God in prayer and ask him to help you overcome those deadly traits.”

“Hmm you have just spoken the truth, though it is bitter. I pray that God will help me.”

“Do you see why I love you? Your humility amazes me. That is why you double as a friend and brother.”

“Thank God! I thought that Justine has taken over,” Lawson joked.

“Never! Your place is secured. You have fulfilled the scripture of sticking closer than a brother when it mattered most. It is not easy to forget who valued your presence when others saw you as a nuisance. Naturally, we will always remember who related to us politely when others lightly esteemed us. That is why I will always remember my 28th birthday, when you walked in with that branded nylon containing suit and perfume. I knew that you added that perfume because your sister in the Lord mocked me that I don’t know how much perfume was sold in the market.”

“Are you still remembering that incidence?” Lawson asked me.

“Of course. I will always remember because I am a human being. Just that I am not hurting. It rather makes me grateful to God because it reminds me of where he picked me from. At least now I can freely engage in discussion with people without being mocked. Do you remember that the offence I committed against Sandra was that I told her that I love the scent of her perfume? I further requested that she should remind me of the name.”

I was seriously engrossed with what I was saying without knowing that Lawson was laughing at me.

“You are laughing at me isn’t it? You are not serious at all.”

“Sorry I will not laugh again. But what was her response to you when you made the request?”

“What kind of question is that? Were you not there?” As I said that, he busted out laughing again.

“You are still laughing. I will soon drench you with cold water.” I threatened.

“Ok no more laughter. But I want you to remind me exactly what Sandra said on that day”

“Alright I will repeat the exact words she used: ‘Kingsley, I hope you are not taking my perfume for a Vaseline. I know that you love Vaseline so much’ that was what Sandra told me.”

“But what is the connection between you and Vaseline?” Lawson asked me as he was choking with laughter.

“Wait for me.” I ran to the fridge to get cold water before I return, he has fled.

“Why are you running? Come let me explain to you the connection I had with Vaseline.”

At that point, I joined in the laughter. Vaseline used to be the only cream I apply on my body. Not because I loved it; it is just that it was affordable. I never knew that people around had noticed. On that day, I attempted to raise my shoulder a bit higher than it ought to be by discussing about perfume. Sandra promptly called me to order and placed me where I belonged.

“You better come inside. It is only a sinner that that runs when no one is pursuing him,” I called out to Lawson jokingly.

Few minutes after Lawson came in, Vera rushed into the house weeping.