I come from a village that’s so small; a village where everybody knows everybody, a village where everybody loves somebody.
You can call it a small village, but for me, it is a big family.
Some years ago, there lived in my village two sisters, Ada and Aku, with their only brother Amadi.
Amadi was my very good friend, and through him I became very close to their family.
They lost their parents to an unknown disease at a very young age, but we all became a family to them.
Due to my closeness to their family, there were things I knew about them that a lot of people didn’t know about.
One of such things was their closeness to a particular strange man. A man I never got to know his real name, and nobody knew where he came from.
But whenever he came into our village, he would always lodge in my friend’s house. He became very close to their family, and he loved them so much.
What even made him stranger was because he possessed supernatural powers, the kind I have never seen before. And because of his love for my friend’s family, he started using his powers to solve problems in my village.
He would heal people, and cure all kinds of incurable diseases. He did so many great things in my village that we all fell in love with him.
Whenever he was out of town, we awaited his return same way we would await the arrival of rain during our planting seasons.
My friend’s family were glad that through them our village found a miracle in him. That reminds me; we popularly called him a miracle worker since we didn’t know his real name.
So one day, the miracle worker was out of town, and my friend Amadi became sick. It was a strange sickness, one that deferred all medical treatment.
We tried all we could to get him back on his feet, but it only got worse.
We waited for the miracle worker to show up, but he never did. My friend was dying, and we didn’t know what to do.
One day, our village head gathered a group of young men in our village and sent them out in search of the miracle worker in all the neighbouring villages.
For days they kept on searching but with no result. On the day they were set to return, a miracle happened. They stumbled on him. The miracle worker was found.
They narrated to him all that had happened, and how his very good friend Amadi was sick unto death. But to their surprise, he refused to go with them. He rather asked them to go, that he will soon join them.
They left in frustration, and reported back to the village all that had happened.
My friend Amadi and his two sisters couldn’t understand why the miracle worker had to act that way.
But they decided to wait for him. They were convinced he will show up, and further convinced themselves that maybe something important had stopped him from coming immediately.
They waited and waited, but he never showed up.
The more they waited, the more Amadi’s condition got worse.
That Friday afternoon, the whole village was covered with a cloud of mourning when the news of Amadi’s death was announced.
We all cried until we were out of breath. We all mourned, but there was no one to console us.
There was nothing else left to be done, so my friend Amadi was finally buried amidst wailings and lamentations. It was a sad day for me. My friend was gone.
We all had questions in our minds, but Ada and Aku had more.
Why did he treat them that way? Why did he leave them at a time they needed him the most?
These and more were the questions raging in their minds until that early Wednesday morning when they heard a knock at the door.
Ada opened the door, and there he was-the miracle worker. She was motionless. He was still. And for about a minute, they stood there, staring at each other without a word.
Finally, with tears dripping down her cheeks, she muttered to him-“Why?”
“Show me where he is” he quietly replied.
Ada was furious. “He is dead. He is buried. Four days gone” She screamed. “How could you?” she continued. “We watched you do this for everybody else, but when it got to our turn, you turned your back on us. Why?”
He kept silent. His head was bowed down. But he replied her again and said-“Take me to his grave.”
Ada was about lashing out again on him when Aku interrupted her. “I will take you to his grave” Aku said.
Aku immediately left with him for the grave, and Ada followed them from a distance.
On their way to the grave, Aku couldn’t help but notice that the miracle worker was shedding tears.
But she couldn’t understand why. If he loved them that much, why didn’t he come early enough? Why now? These and more were her thoughts.
When they got to the gravesite, a lot of people were already there, for news of his arrival had already filtered, and they all wanted to see what would happen.
But he turned to Ada and Aku, and he said to them-“I am ashamed the two of you still do not know who I am after all these while.”
“Listen”, he said to them, “I am not just a miracle worker when people are sick; I’m also a miracle worker when they are dead.”
There was silence everywhere. But he still continued-“Are you not aware that I am not just a miracle worker when there is still hope, but that I’m also a miracle worker when all hope is gone?”
Ada turned and looked at Aku and it was obvious they were confused as to what to say, so they kept quiet. But he wasn’t done yet, so he continued.
“I am not just a miracle worker when there is light at the end of the tunnel; I’m also a miracle worker when there is darkness at the end of the tunnel.”
At this point, we could all sense anger in his voice. “I am not just a miracle worker when the skies are blue; but I’m also a miracle worker when they are grey” he continued.
“Get the stone off the tomb” he finally screamed at them.
But someone in the crowd replied and said to him-“He would be stinking by now.”
Ada whose faith at that point had come alive responded in anger- “Do whatever he tells you to do. Get that stone removed now” she thundered.
Four hefty men immediately stepped forward, and they rolled the stone away. In that instant, a miracle happened.
Amadi my friend rose from the dead, and he walked out of the tomb.
When we saw him walking out, we all ran away, thinking it was a spirit.
But when we heard him calling out our names, we had to stop running. He was indeed back to life. A miracle had truly happened. We were dazed!
The miracle worker then turned to all of us, and he said to us-“I am not just a miracle worker when there is still time; I’m also a miracle worker even when it is too late.”
Maybe you are reading this right now and you are about giving up on your dreams, on your goals, on a loved one, on a project; maybe you think it is all over for you.
Listen, it is not over yet.
You can still achieve your dreams. You can still meet those goals. You can still come out of that situation. You can still start that business. You can still rise again.
Keep hope alive; for your dead Amadi is about to rise up again.
My name is Tochi, when I write, miracles happen. But more miracles happen when I coach you in writing.
N.B
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