The next morning being Sunday, I was in church by 6:00AM to clean and arrange chairs. Lawson my partner, was absent when I got there. That was unusual, he normally get to church before me. Lawson lives few poles from the church unlike me whose house was a bit far. My thought was that he would join me later, but that never happened.

Sunday school commenced, followed by main service. At the end of service, I did not see Lawson and that got me worried.

“Lawson is sick,” I told myself. I quickly rushed down to his apartment. On getting there, his door was locked.

“What exactly is going on?” I asked in confusion. I decided to dial his phone number and luckily he took the phone call.

“Lawson, I’m at your house. Where are you?” I queried.

“I’ll be home in a jiffy,” he answered from the other end of the line.

After a few minutes, Lawson came back beaming with smiles. He was clutching a bible which indicated that he was coming from church. I could hardly allow him open the door before asking him where he was coming from.

“I’m coming from church,” he answered brandishing his bible in my face.

“But I didn’t see you in church. That’s why I am here.”

“Dear brother, I have changed church. My new church is where I am coming from. Where you not there yesterday, when Justine was heaping insults on me?” he continued, raising the tempo of his voice.

“It is not as if that was the first time he was doing that. Should I continue taking that rubbish from him?”

“You are talking of Justine’s insult, is yours as much as mine?” I cut in.

“That is you. You want to take the insult but I can’t. Look at yourself, the most talented singer in the team. Churches out there are looking for your type to employ but you chose to stay with Justine.”

“I am in church because of Christ. Remember that I am not working for Justine.”

“That is your business then. Allow me live my own life the way I want,” he snapped at me.

“It is not all about you. Consider others too. How do you think Pastor and the church members will react to this your decision?”

“I don’t care how anyone reacts. I have been to both Pastor and coordinator to report Justine’s negative attitude to singers, and most especially you. All they said was that we should exercise patience with him.”

“Don’t you think they are trying to give him time to see if he will change? They might not want to hit on him so hard to avoid being accused of sending someone out of church.”

“No problem then. They should continue giving him long rope till he succeeds in sending every other person out of church.”

Lawson brought out a white sealed envelope and waved it at me. He said that was an appreciation token given him for ministering in the church he went to. He opened the envelope and brought out some money, counted it and it was ten thousand naira.

“Have you seen it? N10,000, just for today. That is not all. The pastor offered me a monthly salary, if I agree to be their member.”

“What was your response? I hope you told him that you have your own church?” I asked him, sounding agitated because I could not afford to lose Lawson. He has been a good friend and a source of encouragement for me in doing the work of God.

“I should tell him what? You must be out of your mind. Am I a general overseer or a pastor? Do your church members appreciate the services I was rendering? I would not have even bothered much about that if Justine was not adding salt to the injury. Now, a new breath of life is coming my way and you want me to reject it. Am I cursed?”

“But this is too sudden. It was just yesterday that you had a quarrel with Justine. Today, you already have a new church where they are appreciating your service to the point that you have decided to become their member. Everything is happening so fast. Have you been planning this?”

“Never! It is true that this particular church had approached me for a contract of singing in their church; I did not give them a positive answer. If I had the plan of changing church, I wouldn’t have come to rehearsal yesterday.”

I thought of his response to my latest question and felt that he was right. “ But if that was the case why the sudden change of mind?” I asked him.

“My brother, Justine caused it. I cannot leave a place where they are begging me to sing and stay where my worth is not valued. There is so much politics in the praise team. I can’t continue with that.”

“You want to leave because there is politics, if every good person leaves, who will correct things? Lawson please reconsider your decision. You are one of the few outspoken persons we have in praise team.”

“Kingsley, there is nothing to reconsider. My mind is made up.”

“Anyway, let me give you a candid advice. In a situation like this, the best thing to do is to consult God. Justine’s insult is not a good reason to leave church. The monthly salary is also not a good reason. I strongly advise that you seek God’s face concerning this matter. Let it not be that the devil want to pass through Justine and cause you to make a mistake that you will regret.”