A Spark Of His Benevolence

It was my first year in college, and I had just resumed for the the second semester. I opened the hostel room where I will be lodged for the rest of the semester.It was a room for four students, and I was the only one among the four that had resumed. I walked into the room, went straight to my bed corner, dropped my bag on the floor, and sat on the bed and wondered what awaited me the rest of the semester.

Life in Enugu was a bit different from the life I was used to in the federal capital in Abuja. Unlike most parts of the country it was religiously more stable and tribally more homogenous, but it lacked good security and economic prosperity, and hence it had a high crime rate and that plagued the city.

I reached for the light switch, turned it downwards to switch it on, and as I did, I realized it was dead. I tried this several times to confirm, and yes it was indeed dead. Night was approaching, and I didn’t want to sleep in the dark---no not on an Enugu campus. So I quickly went out of the room to a near by kiosk to buy a light bulb but the trader said he had ran out of light bulbs. I went to another, and he didn't have any. I checked the third and fourth kiosk, and they didn't have it either. This got me thinking.

I went all around the campus and it seemed all the kiosks had ran out of bulbs, too; but I was so determined not to sleep in the dark room that I went out of my way and went outside the campus walls in search of a light bulb---still no bulbs. This was very strange. Well, I gave up and went back to the campus, and to my room. I accepted my fate---I will have to sleep without the light this night, and continue the search the next day, hoping to make it through the night. I fell asleep.

Though I was asleep, I felt a bit of discomfort as if something was not right. it was about 3.am in the morning, and I thought I heard some whispering in the dark, this further troubled my sleep a bit, but I was not sure what was going on. But I knew these were my neighbors from the next room, and tried to make out what the whispers were about. I got up and walked over to the next room, and found the guys there gathered on the balcony, discussing something.

It was an odd time to find guys in a discussion, it seemed. When they saw me they looked at me in shock and awe, as though I was some alien.“O boy, u dey there?” they asked, meaning If indeed i had been in my room. I answered, “Yes O, Wetin happen?” I meant what was going on.

And they began to narrate their ordeal with an armed bandit just an hour before---some robbers has just ransacked their room, beat them up, and took all their valuables. The robbers split up in two---some of them went through the rooms taking away belongings, and the others stood in front of the hostel rooms, and some of these stood right in front of my room.

So the only reason they did not come into my room was because it was dark, and they weren't sure if someone was in. This kept them from taking the chance to find out. 

I was saved.

My thoughts immediately flashed to memories on how my light bulb had died the night before, how I went through all that trouble seeking to buy one, and found none. I thought of how unlucky I was to have slept in the dark. But here I am hearing this frightening tale.

I felt overwhelmingly fortunate. I was in such a shock I didn’t know how to thank the Lord, and I couldn’t explain why He did that for me. At the time, I wasn’t even that spiritual or that prayerful even, yet He was watching over me.

So, guys, we never know how much our disappointments could actually be a blessing: the Lord watches over His own. 

Over the years, I find myself reminiscing on this miracle through future experiences as it formed a bedrock of reference for my trust in the Lord.

And this was just a tip of the iceberg of yet many more mind blowing and heart warming experiences that followed. Praise God!