The prodigal child

When God answers a prodigal child…

 I want to do good to please You… But, I want to do evil to gratify my flesh, too… My relationship with you has no compromise, it takes a toll; You want all of my body, spirit and soul. Falling in love with You was the best experience, but my love for you has waxed cold. You are too perfect, too mighty, too awesome,you deserve someone better. I can’t even love myself, I’ll disappoint you… To. The. Letter. It’s not for the lack of trying, I try to fit your standards, I try to be righteous… to love You… to be holy…  but I just can’t… I just can’t…

Yourself? Is it about you or about us? Our love, our relationship, our friendship? Your righteousness before me is filthy. I first loved you even before you loved me, even before you existed. I am Love. You don’t understand me.

The more I struggle to, the further I get from you. But religion gives me a better offer; it offers me fig leaves, put me here and you over there making me believe I don’t need you anywhere. I try to be “Christ like” but when I compare myself to you, I fall short and I’m overwhelmed, I fail everyday and it hurts me knowing I hurt you.

I will make you righteous, I give grace and faith.  Did I not save you? Why don’t you trust me anymore? You sin because you are proud, you want to work to sustain the salvation you received for free, you want to boast in yourself forgetting obedience is a fruit of your love for me, you cannot do it on your own.

Father, think about this; why would the maker of the heavens, creator of the universe who sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and calls each star by name, angels bow down and worship him “holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, who is to come” want to be my friend? You even died for me?  You ask little for all you have given me even that, I cannot deliver. I feel like screaming out, are you seeing my struggle? I want to give up, I’ve lost my way, I cannot see you.

Child, you are human, here today gone tomorrow like the flowers of the field, I knew your imperfections even before you were a clot of blood, but I promised to keep you, all I want is your will, not your effort. Just accept my love, when you do, you will love to obey me and do what pleases me, stop trying and struggling. I loved you even in your sinful state, how much more now that you are my own? Come to me, I will change you and make you what you have to be. I will perfect you for me, we will move from glory to glory, I stand knocking on your door, allow me back into your heart. I have always and will always love you.

You love ME?/Yes, You!

 But I am a sinn…/No,  I became sin that you may become righteous .

 I have a load of sin in …/No, you have Me in you.

I was…/ No, you are Forgiven.

 I did some bad st…/ I don’t remember.

You… Don’t?

As far as east is from west that’s how far I have removed your transgressions from you. The sins you repented from, I have forgiven and forgotten. Your help comes from ME, maker of all. I will not allow your foot to be moved. I keep you, I do not sleep or slumber. My arm is not too short to save you. I am well able to. I am with you always. I AM.

Always?

To the very end of the time.

I was DUPED, Chapter 2

Case file 101– The Circle Adventure

In case you missed the first chapter, you can read it here

Sunday-Monday

The pity party started, my friend said it was okay, at least we weren’t harmed. Everyone told me I should “fama Nyame”(Leave it to God), my mum offered to buy the phone for my friend, I refused. I gave AB my phone as compensation, she refused, she said I should forget about it bad things happen.

Tuesday(Enter Detective Achere)

The pity party was over, I needed the money back. I called tonaton to report the case, I wanted them to match the ip address of the thieves(They had pulled the ads with those numbers down but I still had the link) to new posts. They said I needed a police report. I called tigo and asked for the process of getting numbers last dialled on a number, they said I needed a court order. I went to the police station in my area to report but they said I should report in the area the thing happened (Circle), I explained that all I needed was a police report for an investigation, they said I should go to Circle. The “fama Nyame” advice was slowly sinking in.

Wednesday-Thursday

I hadn’t slept since the incident happened, I hadn’t calmed down to think properly. I prayed and told God, I will “fama Nyame” but he must help me find the thieves, God is omniscient and omnipresent. I tried the 057 and 026 numbers again, they were all off. I finally managed to sleep for 3 hours.

Friday(I will look for you)

I was up and on the internet again, I was looking for similar ads and patterns just in case the guy decided to post again (They usually ask for very low prices and use new numbers). He uses tonaton and Olx, I found a suspicious post selling an htc one m8 for GHS1400. I called one gangster cousin, I narrated everything to him, he agreed to send me to Circle in case it was the same guy. We went to Circle and I decided to pass by the Nima police station to report the case. I was directed to a police station at Circle(I didn’t know about their existence). The policewoman on duty said I shouldn’t worry and she gave me the number of a policeman to assist me. I went to meet the guy at busy internet, it was a fake phone and it wasn’t even him. The policewoman said I should come back on Saturday.

Saturday

It had been a week now, I went to the police station at 12pm, I was disguised and sent to the place where the Chinese phones were offloaded and sold(the den of thieves). I didn’t see the guy there. I realised this method won’t work.

Monday (I will find you)

I was up on tonaton and Olx again and Google too. Doing some keyword searches then I found it, another post selling an iphone 5s gold under a name containing Abass. It was around 6pm, I sent the police a whats app message that I think I have the guy. I made a male friend call, they said the phone was available.

Tuesday (I will come after you)

Around 11am, I asked the police how far. He said he made a girl call,they had agreed on a price, GHS 1400, for an iphone 5s gold, the people kept calling to meet but he scheduled it for the following day,  I said NO! we had to meet them now.

1:00pm

We planned to meet them at Eddy’s Pizza at 2pm, but the police said it’s never one guy, they move in groups with motorcycles. They will get there earlier to check if you were alone so we should wait.

2:00pm

They kept calling the girl, she didn’t pick.

4:00pm

We got to Eddy’s Pizza, the girl called back with the excuse that her boss sent her. The iphone guy said he had left. She begged him to come back. We went with three policemen all dressed as civilians. Two policemen were in the next restaurant, we were at Eddy’s Pizza and the macho policeman was  sitting outside. The stage was set.

6:00pm

We kept calling him, every time he had a different excuse; he was at Kanda, he was at kaneshie,he was in traffic. He suggested we met at Vodafone, the girl refused.

We waited.

The first motorcycle came to pass around 6:15pm, the second one came to stop in front of Eddy’s pizza. It was a different guy,he alighted and told the motor rider to wait for him. He called and asked her girl to come out. She went out, went into a corner with the guy.  The moment the guy gave the phone to the girl to inspect (the original one they show you), the macho policeman standing there took the phone from her hand, searched the guy and found on him a box with a fake iphone. I checked the imei number of the original iphone, it was the same as the one they tried selling to me. The other gang members started coming around,they were 5, but they were afraid of the police. They wanted to cause confusion and the police marched all of them to the station.

Long story short 

I had my money back by Wednesday afternoon, GHS1700. My father didn’t teach me “fama Nyame”,he taught me to stand for what I believed in. The thieves underrated me and my computer science degree and the fact that I went to private school for 9 years, but I no bore.

To God be the Glory.

NB: In case you get duped in Circle, look for the Circle police station and report the case. It’s by the filling station by the first overhead after busy internet.

 

I was DUPED!

Case file 101 – The Circle Adventure(The misadventures of Achere)

A friend, let’s call her AB, wanted an iPhone 5s. I called a few friends to help me get one (my friends are always selling phones). Most of the people who I knew were selling had run out, then one friend called saying he had got one and gave me a number to call, I called the person and we agreed to meet at the mall. You see, I didn’t know my friend got the number off tonaton.

We met the guy, the phone had touch issues so we told him we didn’t want it and headed for circle to buy it at Freddie’s corner. The guy, let’s call him Uche, said he had other iphones and would meet us in circle. I told him it wasn’t necessary. Now, I used my number to call everyone except Uche,  no one  knew that number I used for Uche.  On the way to circle, I saw a 057 number calling me,thinking it was Uche (he had a 026 number), I picked about to tell him I didn’t want the phone anymore when I heard another voice. This guy, let’s call him Abass, said he was selling an iphone 5s gold for GHS1700(Last I checked, before the cedi decided to fall, that was a good price for an iPhone). We agreed to meet at busy internet.

Saturday 1:50pm, Busy internet

We got to busy internet and called him, he said he had sent one of his boys who was coming from Abeka. They had a shop in Achimota.

2:30pm, Busy internet

His boy finally arrived, let’s call him Obidi, and showed us the phone. AB checked the serial number and imei number to make sure it was original, it was.  Then Obidi said we would have to add 100gh because his boss sent him to bring me the phone. I got confused, the phone was GHS1700, he would have to discuss that with his boss.  He called his boss, I spoke to him and said the best I could give him was 1710gh. The boss said I should explain it to him to clear any confusion, I had given him the money and had the phone in hand. The guy refused the 100gh, so I took my money back and gave him his phone. We took like two steps then he said its okay, he will take the money like that. We agreed on it, I was running late so I flagged down a taxi, we sat down, switched the phone on just to see an android version of an iphone. The guy swapped the phone last minute and gave us a fake one. I told the driver to turn around, when we got there, the guy had left. I called him to tell him that I had left something in the envelope so he should bring it back, he said okay.

3:05pm, Busy internet

We came back to busy internet and waited for 30 minutes, he didn’t come. I called him again and told him to come, he laughed. I told him, I will look for him, I will find him and come after him. He cut the call, I called again and the phone was switched off. I called Uche and he was still asking if I wanted to meet him in circle. I asked him about  the guy he sent to bring the phone, he said he didn’t send anyone.

I laughed and looked for a chair to sit down in case I felt like collapsing.

I had been duped.

To be cont’d…

 

Marriage? Wait a minute

** Happily eating at a friend’s wedding reception **

Woman: How are you? You are all grown up!

Me: I’m fine auntie (In Ghana, every older woman is an aunt).

Woman: I hope we will be attending your wedding soon.

Me: -_-

 

You approach me at a wedding to ask if I will be getting married soon expecting me not to take offense. I wonder how they will feel if …

 

** Eating happily at her friend’s funeral **

Me: Hey auntie, hope you are having fun at your friend’s funeral

Woman: Hmm, I’m sad oh

Me: Oh don’t be, you are growing old too,  we will be attending your funeral soon ^_^

** crickets**

…nah, never mind.

I don’t get some adults, they give too much pressure to get married. It’s quite annoying. And that thing they say that your biological clock is ticking, if you don’t marry fast, you will end up an old, bitter lady who lives with cats( I don’t even like cats).

Ideally, you are supposed to live with your spouse till you both die, shouldn’t a girl at least relax and make sure they want all that? In our part of the world, an unmarried woman is a shame to her family and society. Some young girls try to avoid this by rushing into marriage to avoid being tagged by society as unsuccessful and not  fit to be called women because they are without men. Nonsense.

Let’s forget the fact that marriage is a life long commitment, and they just want to eat and dance at your wedding. Are they ready to foot the bills? Will they help you own a house, get you a good paying job, pay for your baby diapers and take them to private schools? No? They don’t even bring gifts when they are attending the wedding. Some of these people are not even happy in their marriages, instead of advising us so we don’t make the same mistakes they made, they are ready to help us rush into marriage. Why should a person rush into marriage and be sad the rest of their lives? What’s the difference between a sad married woman and a sad unmarried woman? One isn’t judged by society, psyche.

We also have the people who are scared they are growing too old and they end up marrying anyone who comes their way after their expectations aren’t met. It’s better you stay single than settle for just anyone because of society(yes, I said it).  Of course, you have to set realistic standards.

Marriage is a forever thing, divorce messes things up. Why don’t you allow us to take our time, find the right person, and marry at the right time?    Better to be single and happy and let society hate you than marry, be sad, have dysfunctional children and let society be happy.

Accra living no be easy

Ahh, yeah, trying to get away yeah.. Accra living no be easy

I started the 9 to 5 life and its as hard as predicted, if not harder. There was a time I had to work late, I got home and asked my mum, “How do you people manage this 9 to 5 life every single week day? I am tired!” She said, “You just started.” Way to go mum 😦 But point is, its tiring papa.

Trying to make that money, trying to get that honey, chale no be easy

EI! I may not have the right to complain because my work environment is relaxed and casual (My boss just wants the job done, God bless her soul) but its not easy. Staring at the computer screen for hours, getting confused over lines of code you wrote yourself,
someone said “Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” sigh. And the weekends? They are even more stressful than the weekdays. I’m here listening to Efya’s Accra living, Let’s go(I don’t even know the title) and “Accra living no be easy” finally made sense to me.

Some times you gotta go, somewhere to cool your head, breeze in the air, sky so clear, no worries to bother you there

Petrol prices keep rising, food keeps getting expensive, kelewele has become a luxury etc etc I won’t even talk about the government, them tire me.Always on the job, having meetings, trying to catch bugs reported by clients, replying to emails, it never ends chale. But as Efya said, I need to get away (I think that’s the title of the song).To where? I have no idea especially now that vacationing in Ghana has become so expensive, but the president said Dubai is cheap, let me see if my 350gh can afford it. So who will get away with me?

C’mon let’s get away, Volta, Sunyani,Bolga, Dubai. Let’s go, I don’t care where we go, C’mon let’s get away, let’s go, let’s go

(Inspired by Efya),
The Chicken Slayer