One day I went to my father’s house to check on my brother after three months of distance. On getting there I met my step sisters and as I was greeting them the youngest of them Rashidat ran to me. She hugged me and whispered.

“My mommy is wicked. He chased brother Taofeek out of the house in the middle of the night” I was shocked, “Don‘t tell her I told you okay?” she said and ran back to the room.

I sat on the couch and was thinking about what Rashidat had told me. My step mother walked in smiling.

“This is an august visitor, wow! I am surprised at your rapid growth how come?” she said with an excitement look on her face,

“Your mother must be feeding you with lots of proteins and fats,” we both laughed.

She sat on the couch facing me, we exchange greetings and I went straight to the point

“It’s been a long time I heard from my brother so I thought I could check on him today”

“You mean Taofeek?” she asked, “I haven’t seen him for about two months now. He left this house after stealing my expensive gold chains. Even today I am still looking for him to have the policemen arrest him.”

Without hesitation I stood up and looked straight into her eyes.

“God will judge you,” I said and walked out of the house. She was shouting like a mad woman behind me but I didn’t listen. Days grew into weeks, weeks into months and months into years but Taofeek could not be found.

My mom and I went everywhere we could to search for him but he was nowhere to be found. The crave of seeing my brother once again made me learn how to pray to Jesus Christ, move closer to God and have faith in Him that one day I will get to see my brother alive and healthy.

After 25 years of hope, in January 2018 someone invited me to Ghana to minister in her church as a guest speaker in the church’s annual convention thanksgiving service. Because the twenty five years of my relationship with God has made me an evangelist, I travel to all parts of the world to preach gospel. I landed in Ghana on a Saturday evening from Nigeria and I slept in the reserved hotel provided by the church.

As soon as I entered Ghana the Holy-Spirit told me I would be returning home with a special gift. I smiled as I thought of the honorarium and rebuked the taught immediately.

The hotel I lodged at and the hospitality I received from that night till Sunday morning was indeed special. Finally, the programme began and I was called out to preach. Everywhere I go to preach I like sharing my story but often times I share it without mentioning my Muslim name and my brother’s name.

I did the same thing in this programme too but as I was about to end the story the resident pastor of the church’s other branch who was also invited to the programme stood up and walked up to me on the altar. He looked straight into my eyes and said.

“Taoreed?”

Who could this be? I asked questions in my heart within that few seconds one of the thoughts that ran through my mind was: the only person this could be cannot be a pastor. To break the silence I spoke in tongues and I eventually said.

“Taofeek?” He threw his arm around me and hugged me tightly as we wept together.

The whole church was excited; they were applauding, whistling and shouting “Hallelujah”. They quickly understood what was going on. The choir master picked up the mic and gave us an emotional worship.

We went on our knees at the same time and worshipped God with tears of joy. The whole thing was getting too emotional so the Resident Pastor of the Assembly signalled one of the ushers and we were ushered into the ministers’ room. The Resident Pastor continued the service. Immediately after I stepped into the room I remembered what the Holy-Spirit had told me earlier.

“You will be returning home with a special gift.”

I smiled, “My God I thank you for this special gift you gave me” I said audibly. Taofeek looked at me and said “Glory be to God,” we closed our eyes and prayed together. After the prayer I asked him, “How have you been? Where have you been? How come you are now a pastor?” he took a deep breath.

“I will answer all your questions,” he said, “but wait, how is my Mum, is she still alive?”

Tell us: Did you expect Taofeek to be a pastor?