The Bullet Riddled Testimony
So I went to church this weekend, and discovered that, for the most part, the Baptist church here in Lagos was not all that different from a Baptist church back home. But there was one thing that could not have happened anywhere else…
The preacher approached the podium and asked for one of the members to come up and share a particularly moving testimony. Nothing too unusual here, I thought, but I had no idea what was coming. So this Nigerian guy comes up to the stadium and proceeds to explain what happened to him.
The man started his testimony by explaining that his family lives in Lagos while he works in Abuja, the nation’s capital. This past weekend, he decided he would drive home and pick up his daughter from summer school. Afterwards he was simply going to spend time with his family. The father proceeded to pick up his daughter from the school and was driving across town to Victoria Island (where I stay) when he noticed a disturbance in the road ahead. Evidently he observed that there were people on the side of the road next to a group of vehicles. He simply assumed that there was an accident and that people were being dragged to safety. But as he got closer, he realized that there was no accident at all, and that the people were being subjected to an armed robbery. Unfortunately he realized this too late, because soon the armed robbers had their AK-47’s trained on his vehicle. They motioned for him to stop, but the father made the split second decision to gun it. As he rapidly tries to accelerate away, the robbers open up their guns, riddling the SUV with bullets. The father forced him and his daughter as low as possible in the car and just kept driving until they ran into a bush somewhere down the road. The father sat up and realized that they had driven far enough from their assailants that they were relatively safe. The father took the time to look around the car and observed that the window had four bullet holes in it, his side of the car was shot up, and that both he and his daughter were bleeding. His daughter had been shot in the arm, and he had only been grazed by a bullet in the side. He quickly drove his daughter to the hospital where she now recovers from her injuries. The man simply wanted to Thank God that they survived the incident and that his daughter will make a full recovery.
Now how is that for a church testimony? There are a couple of things that I found particularly shocking about this. First, this happened in broad daylight. Secondly, this happened on a Friday on the nice side of town when there was probably plenty of traffic. Third, the father tried to run AWAY from the men with automatic rifles. Ever since I have been here, people have explained that armed robbery is just one of those things that happen here, and that you just give them what they want so they will leave you alone. Otherwise they might feel the need to try and shoot you. But hey, you never know what you will do when you are in that sort of situation, especially when you have your daughter in the car with you and you realize she was going to be in danger no matter the outcome.
Surprisingly, this testimony tied in with the Sermon for the day. The message, if I may summarize, was Do Your Part to Make Lagos Less Screwed Up. He proceeded to tell people to not abuse power or management, to not take bribes, and to not do ‘favors’ for undeserving people. But on top of that, he gave a history lesson. He spoke of the Lagos of his childhood where you could put your goods and a price list on a table outside your home, and people would leave the money on the table and take the goods without any risk of getting ripped off. He was probably exaggerating, but it emphasized the point that Lagos’ descent into mayhem and lawlessness was both rapid and recent. The answer to this downward spiral was naturally Jesus. The lack of Jesus in the community was the reason these things were happening. This I found interesting, because Nigerians seem to be the most religious people I have ever encountered. But as most people know, being religious and being a Christian are too different things. So maybe the preacher was right after all.
The preacher approached the podium and asked for one of the members to come up and share a particularly moving testimony. Nothing too unusual here, I thought, but I had no idea what was coming. So this Nigerian guy comes up to the stadium and proceeds to explain what happened to him.
The man started his testimony by explaining that his family lives in Lagos while he works in Abuja, the nation’s capital. This past weekend, he decided he would drive home and pick up his daughter from summer school. Afterwards he was simply going to spend time with his family. The father proceeded to pick up his daughter from the school and was driving across town to Victoria Island (where I stay) when he noticed a disturbance in the road ahead. Evidently he observed that there were people on the side of the road next to a group of vehicles. He simply assumed that there was an accident and that people were being dragged to safety. But as he got closer, he realized that there was no accident at all, and that the people were being subjected to an armed robbery. Unfortunately he realized this too late, because soon the armed robbers had their AK-47’s trained on his vehicle. They motioned for him to stop, but the father made the split second decision to gun it. As he rapidly tries to accelerate away, the robbers open up their guns, riddling the SUV with bullets. The father forced him and his daughter as low as possible in the car and just kept driving until they ran into a bush somewhere down the road. The father sat up and realized that they had driven far enough from their assailants that they were relatively safe. The father took the time to look around the car and observed that the window had four bullet holes in it, his side of the car was shot up, and that both he and his daughter were bleeding. His daughter had been shot in the arm, and he had only been grazed by a bullet in the side. He quickly drove his daughter to the hospital where she now recovers from her injuries. The man simply wanted to Thank God that they survived the incident and that his daughter will make a full recovery.
Now how is that for a church testimony? There are a couple of things that I found particularly shocking about this. First, this happened in broad daylight. Secondly, this happened on a Friday on the nice side of town when there was probably plenty of traffic. Third, the father tried to run AWAY from the men with automatic rifles. Ever since I have been here, people have explained that armed robbery is just one of those things that happen here, and that you just give them what they want so they will leave you alone. Otherwise they might feel the need to try and shoot you. But hey, you never know what you will do when you are in that sort of situation, especially when you have your daughter in the car with you and you realize she was going to be in danger no matter the outcome.
Surprisingly, this testimony tied in with the Sermon for the day. The message, if I may summarize, was Do Your Part to Make Lagos Less Screwed Up. He proceeded to tell people to not abuse power or management, to not take bribes, and to not do ‘favors’ for undeserving people. But on top of that, he gave a history lesson. He spoke of the Lagos of his childhood where you could put your goods and a price list on a table outside your home, and people would leave the money on the table and take the goods without any risk of getting ripped off. He was probably exaggerating, but it emphasized the point that Lagos’ descent into mayhem and lawlessness was both rapid and recent. The answer to this downward spiral was naturally Jesus. The lack of Jesus in the community was the reason these things were happening. This I found interesting, because Nigerians seem to be the most religious people I have ever encountered. But as most people know, being religious and being a Christian are too different things. So maybe the preacher was right after all.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 6:08 AM
2 Comments:
Wow that's interesting (see why I hate guns??). I don't think guy was exaggerating though. I've heard similar stories from the parents of a safer Nigeria.
Good call, T. Calling oneself Christian and acting like a Christian are two very different things. But, let's keep the faith that one day we will all see a better world. When do you get home again? I'll be in Houston on the 8th.
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