A STORY FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH by Bishop Emmanuel Ade Badejo/Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese I was a month short of 15 when I finished secondary education at St Kizito Minor Seminary Ede. Being too young to go on to Major Seminary, I went to teach in a primary school in Ifon Osun, Osun State. The headmaster, laughed at my small frame and age and put me in charge of sports, as he said, to be playing ball with the children. I was determined to accomplish something respectable. I set my sights on winning something important at the next inter schools sports to which we had been invited. We had never won anything before so I decided to target the relay race definitely the most prestigious of all. Mine was not an empty dream. I had a daredevil runner among my children whom I had named rabbit because of his talent. Perhaps wind would have been a more appropriate name. Rabbit could outrun anyone I had ever known. I know not how he does it but he would simply crouch and take off and you could never catch him. So, we trained and trained and I knew that for the relay race no matter how many yards we would lag behind were behind, rabbit would catch up and win it for us. I made friends with him and he promised not to fail. The great day came and in the presence of a huge crowd of all the teachers, parents and students around. My school won nothing all afternoon. Finally came my joker, the 4X400 invitational relay. We lagged behind on the first 3 legs. In the cloud of dust I could see rabbit trembling for the pack to arrive. Then he took off. Within 50 yards he had caught up with the pack and the dust thickened. At 150 yards he had overtaken them all. Then I joined the loud cheering. No controversy, rabbit arrived first and even continued into the bush to thunderous applause. I proudly received everyones congratulations and ran to greet my prizewinner To my utter surprise, the second place runner was announced the winner. No, no, I shouted in protest. Many supported me. Everyone saw that rabbit came first. I was hysterical and so was rabbit. The officials tried hard to calm me down and then explained. Rabbit indeed came first but he came with no baton. What! Then I saw our third runner still holding that glorious piece of wood. Rabbit broke down in tears. But the race was lost and gone. Faith is like that baton. Do you have it? Know your faith, live your faith, Spread your faith! Appreciate the gift of your faith. Deepen your relationship with God. Do charity. READ THE BIBLE: Luke. 18:8, Matthew.8:1-12, Hebrew. 11, 1Timothy. 6:12, Roman 12.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 03:29:01 +0000
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