A Nigerian pastor has reflected on his earlier days as a young Christian, admitting that what he once regarded as strong spiritual devotion ended up affecting those around him.
In a Facebook post, he recounted how youthful zeal and limited understanding led him to believe he was being targeted whenever neighbours complained about his habit of praying loudly in the early hours of the morning.
He explained that he used to wake up very early to pray out loud, considering it an important part of his quiet time with God.
However, he later came to understand that his early morning prayer routine was disruptive to people living nearby.
He also revealed that his father often stood by him at the time, insisting that he should be allowed to worship God in the way he understood then.
In his words: “In our younger days as Christians, we out of zeal and ignorance tormented people and when they reacted, we thought we were being persecuted.
‘I could wake up early in the morning to supposedly have a rich quiet time, but turned the supposed quiet time to annoying noisy time.
‘The times became so noisy and annoying that all those in the compound except those who sleep so deeply were disturbed.
‘We lived with our cousins then, but their love for me and probably the fear of hearing me blasting in unknown tongues could have contributed to their silence.
‘But my late mother wasn’t the type that could be silenced that way. So, she complained and talked about how I disturbed people from sleeping early in the morning.
‘God being merciful, knowing that childishness was my problem, allowed my late father to defend me.
‘Late Papa told Late Mama to leave the boy alone.
‘He told her that if the way the boy could pray to receive answer from God, was to put his head on the ground and raise up his two legs, then let it be.
‘In one occasion in my fourth or final year on campus, I got up early in the morning and went to the laundry part of our hostel to pray.
‘That supposed quiet time unknowingly became reasonably loud and my hostel then being Eni Njoku among the Franco Hostels in UNN, dominated by engineering students, one or few of the students could not take the annoying noisy time that early morning.
‘Hence, without coming there to meet me, they from a distance started throwing stones in that direction.
‘Fortunately, the place was somehow protected, so that the stones couldn’t reach me easily, but the sounds of landing stones made me know that quiet time had turned to an annoying noisy time.
‘If any of the stones landed on me to cause an injury, it could have been considered persecution, while in reality I was the one “troubling” them and they decided to also trouble the troubler.
‘Now, I can’t even trouble Her Majesty while in the same room, because my Quiet Time, no be noisy annoying time anymore.”
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