“Talents oh yeah!” The MC of the day would shout, ‘oh yeah!’ the congregation would shout back, standing up carrying hand bags, containers of sweets, plastic bags of  various merchandise or simply bricks of money on top of their heads. This part of the church service was one that we would anticipate, the time that you would take stock of your business “talents” and give away a portion that you would have decided to the house of the Lord, or all of it if you were just extra, I was extra by the way.

OK, so let’s explain this concept a bit; well the way that I understood it at least. At my church at the time, we had a programme called “Talents”. This programme encouraged people to use their hands and resources to generate an income. It was meant to empower believers not to mourn and complain about poverty but rather use the different talents that the Lord had blessed them with to generate an income to take care of their families and in specific years raise funds for church projects. The idea was find something that you are good at and make money with it. So here I was in my 3rd year of varsity using my baking talent to make money. I would bake muffins and sell them at my residence, from door to door I would walk with my church friend who was selling snacks.

One Saturday evening as we were doing our usual rounds, we came to a room of guys who were having the time of their lives: smoking weed and other things I couldn’t identify, they were about 13. These boys were already high and laughing at anything any one of them would have said. So when one of them came to answer the door, they were all laughing saying there was no one at the door. When he opened and they all through the fumes of smoke saw that there was indeed someone by the door they all burst into laughter again saying there was someone. I laughed with them, “You guys are having a good time hey?” they all laughed “yeah, yeah yeah”. I was holding my large container of muffins in front of me “I’m selling muffins, I’m sure you would love them, I made them myself”. One of the guys, lying on the floor, lifts up his head, eyes wide open and asks on top of his voice “ARE THOSE SPACE MUFFINS?”

My heart starts racing, firstly I don’t know what space muffins are, secondly I want them to buy, they are many(13), if they buy I wouldn’t have to walk to the rest of the rooms, my muffins would be finished and I could go to my room earlier than usual to bake another batch to sell at church the next day. My mind races to a sermon that my pastor had preached before “The power of your words”. In that sermon he had said that we can change our circumstances by speaking what we desire into being, just like how God created the entire universe by the simple words “let there be…… and there was…”. Jesus turned water into wine by speaking, the wind and the storm stopped at his command”. I almost shout it out loud “you regular muffins are now space muffins”. Just as I was about to reply, I was faced with a dilemma: If I say yes, would this be a lie? If I say no, would this be lack of faith? This entire conversation with myself lasted about 5 seconds, I was laughing with them through it.

Stay with me at the door, help me decide what to do here. Please comment on what you would have done if you were in my shoes. Faith and principles come to loggerheads often in my world, do you relate?

Part 2/5 next Wednesday #TBC #StoriesGalore