ORIENTATION OF A KING III

Kunle Smith stared at the map in his hand and considered his son’s face. Eti’s thought patterns were

vividly spelt on his face, just as Kunle had planned. The map was a prototype of the Lagos Island blueprint. Kunle knew the roads too well because he had grown up on these same streets. He could walk around these streets in blindfold and name every turn.

“Which path do you want to take?” Kunle asked his son without taking his eyes off Eti’s face 

“Dad” Eti observed the map as his teenage mind searched desperately for the shortest route to arrive the finish line.

Today was fun Saturday for the Smith’s and Kunle had come up with a fun way to yet again teach Eti an important lesson that would be essential in his walk with God. Earlier on in the week, Kunle had made copies of the map from an old Lagos State Diary. He then traced three lines for probable race routes from Start Line to Finish Line. The Start line was at Marina and the finish line was at TBS. 

The women in the house had gone shopping at Shop Rite.

“Route B” Eti finally spoke, trying hard to conceal his excitement at finding the route with short cuts. 

Kunle smiled, knowing he had his son right where he wanted him. “All right then… remember the emergency dial on the phone if you get stuck, but it should be easy” 

“Sure dad” Eti replied, taking one more look at the route with short cuts 

“Let the race begin”… Kunle strolled off as Eti tore away with youthful excitement. Eti got to the end of the first turning and observed that his dad was just strolling towards his own end of the street. Eti didn’t pause to ask himself why, he had a race to win… If he won, they were going for go-cart racing the next day but if his dad won, He would have to summarize the book of Psalms. 

Eti’s first challenge was the human traffic along Mandilas… unknown to him; human traffic was heavier here because of wholesale distribution done by marketers in the numerous complexes that lined the street. No sooner had he negotiated the street did he encounter more human traffic. 

All the short cuts on the route that he had chosen were crowded by buyers and sellers trying to close sales because sunset was fast approaching. His frustration bore his young heart weary but the thoughts of summarizing the book of Psalms urged him on. At every point Eti stopped to look at the map, he felt like he was losing time so he memorized the route and tucked the map into his pocket. 

Two hours later he arrived under the horses outside TBS and found his dad sipping a can of coke. 

“Dad, how did you get here before me?” Eti asked with short gasps 

“Catch your breath” Kunle smiled at his son and tossed a can of dew at him.

Eti caught it but wouldn’t open it. He kept staring at his dad, trying to catch his breath “Dad, did you cheat?”

“That wasn’t and will never be an option” Kunle replied… still smiling “Son, you chose the route because it had short cuts right?” “Sure” Eti paused “You knew?”

 “I traced the routes didn’t I?” Kunle smirked as he drew his son near “In your haste to arrive first, you picked that route not realizing that there would be other factors like human traffic…” Eti raised his brows in surprise

“Son, short cuts are the most traveled routes in life but they seldom guaranty early arrival…” Kunle continued “If you want to arrive exactly where and when God wants you to arrive in life, you have to follow His way, even if it seems like it’s a long route”

“Are you saying you knew I would lose the race?” Eti puzzled 

“I made you lose the race son” Kunle hugged his son “I wanted you to learn that the race is not to the swift or the strongest… but to whoever follows God’s proposed way… there are no short cuts with God” 

“Not fair dad” Eti sulked 

“Come on” Kunle tickled “summarizing the book of Psalms will be fun… it would be your introductory classes on poetry” 

Image courtesy of Fuse MQ Enterprise