I was yet to recover from the shock of the encounter with my landlord when Mr. Ikoku, an elder in my church,gave me another heavy blow. It however changed my life for good.

“Bro Iyk, how are you?”

I turned and it was Mr. Kalu; A very rich man who just joined our church. He was a humble man who plays with everyone.

“I’m fine sir.”

“Please, do you know of any auto mechanic around here, who can quickly check my car.”

“Let me help you out; I am an auto mechanic.”

“A mechanic… in this church…. Tell me that you are joking,” he acted as if he heard strange news.

“I am very serious sir. That is what I do for a living.”

“But elder Ikoku told me that no member of this church is mechanic.”

“There must be a mistake somewhere. Elder Ikoku knows that I repair cars. I have even repaired his Toyota cars,“ I replied with smiles.

“You mean that Elder Ikoku is aware that you are a mechanic? This is unbelievable.”
He looked up and saw elder Ikoku walking towards our direction.

“Thank God. He is coming.”

“Good afternoon sir,” we chorused.

Bro Kalu didn’t even allow him to respond to the greeting before confronting him on the issue.

“Sir, you told me that none of church our members is a mechanic.”

“Yes I did. Do you have contrary information to that?”

I was dumbfounded. I wondered why elder Ikoku would stand before me and say that no member of our church is a mechanic. I quickly pinched myself to confirm whether I was still alive or I was a ghost.

“Yes sir. Iyke told me that he can repair cars. He also informed me that you are aware.”

“I could remember, you asked if any of our Christian brother is a mechanic and I answered no. Is Iyke your Christian brother?” Elder asked without blinking his eyelids.

Mr. Francis stood mouth agape. I was watching like a moron.

“But sir, he is……” Mr. Francis stopped the statement half way and kept quiet.

“He is what? You want to tell me that he has been coming to church isn’t it? Now listen, every one you see inside the church is not a member. Some people pass through the church but the church does not pass through them. This young man standing here is one of them.”

“Sir, my name is in the church register,” I quickly reminded him.

“Thank you for that that piece of information. But have you ever thought of heaven’s register? Is your name there?”

He turned and faced Mr. Kalu.

“Kalu listen to me. This young man joined our church few years ago. The first day he came, Pastor introduced him as a mechanic. I was so happy that I quickly moved to where he was standing and had a handshake with him. I introduced myself to him and informed him that he would be my car repairer. Am I telling lies?” he asked me.

“No sir,” I answered slowly.

“I have this culture of patronizing my brothers and sisters in the Lord. It was paying off until I met Iyke. I regret ever doing business with him. If you request to see him, he would tell you that he is coming right away. You may not see him in the next one week. If you are in emergency situation, don’t bother contacting him. He would never answer you. A truth that I will not withhold from you is that he is good at his job. Any car that he touches comes back to life. But Iyke will frustrate you before giving you that result. The last thing that he did that made me abandon him was that he collected money from me to buy parts for my car. I waited for his return to no avail. Even when I called him on phone he didn’t mind me. In fact, he stopped coming to church for that period. I had to contact another person to repair the car.”

“Sir, you mean that he neither repaired the car nor returned the money to you?”

“I think that you should direct the question to Iyk. He is in the right position to answer. As you are looking at him, he is as cunning as a fox; the only truth in his mouth is good morning. He has dealt with every car owner in this church to the point that they avoid him like a plague.”

“I am so sorry sir, let me explain to you what happened.“

“Save the explanation for yourself. Are you the only one that has challenges? You are not trust worthy; Period! Don’t justify yourself. The sooner you change your ways the better for you. The mechanic handling my cars now is very reliable. If he tells you that he is coming, you are sure to see him not later than the next 30 minutes. If he is not chanced he would tell you. But your case is different. You would be aware that you are not chanced to attend to someone, yet you would tell the person to wait for you. You are a specialist in frustrating people. What you don’t know is that what goes around, comes around.”

“If that is the case, It means that it is not safe patronizing our church members,” Mr. Kalu said but Elder Ikoku refuted that.

“You are wrong. Our church members are reliable. My tailor is a member of this church. Same goes to my driver, security personnel and even the workers in my company. Iyke happened to be a Judas among the twelve. That was why I told you that none of our church member is a mechanic. You are a new convert, I never wanted Iyk’s attitude to drive you away from the church or make you conclude that our members are fraudulent.”

“Do you know that I was so happy when he informed me that he was a mechanic. But with all that I have heard from you, I can’t risk doing business with him. What do you think sir?”

“I think that you should still try him. Trial alone will convince you. However, beware! of heart attack.”

Elder Ikoku made a move to leave but I held him and begged for forgiveness.

“Please sir, forgive me. I am truly sorry for my actions. Watch me from today, there must be a change.”

“Iyk listen attentively. This matter is not as easy as you think. The character is deeply sited in you. So, the first step is for you to give your life to Christ. Surrender totally to him. He alone can give you the power to overcome this deadly behavior. Another step is to make amends. You have hurt many people. If you watch yourself closely, you will discover that your character is getting worse each day. I am afraid that one of the people you dealt with might have laid a curse on you. However, your deliverance is in your hands. I love you and I have been praying for you. God has already placed in your hand all you need to succeed. The only thing remaining is for you to sincerely seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

Watch out for the next episode