Regrets||✓✓

17.3

I felt so much lighter. So much better. There was no more guilt or heartache or pain. Being touched by God felt great, and after my baptism, I felt certain that I had done away with the old Naija.

After school that day, I crossed to the other side to check the address written on the poster. Then I ran there. It wasn't that much of a distance, anyway.

I recognized the place as the church we used to attend when I was much younger. The doors were wide open, so I went in. Someone was playing the organ somewhere in the church, and the melody of the song gave me a tingly feeling that I was in the right place. A man in a tee-shirt and black jeans came out through one of the doors beside the pulpit. "Can I help you, young lady?" He shouted.

"Yes," I shouted back, "I'm here for the, uh, Baptismal Class. It holds today and I was wondering if I could join...?" I saw the man smile. He motioned for me to follow him and I did.

We walked down a long corridor. On our left was a huge garden, with trees and plants and flowers of all kinds. The scenery was beautiful. After a while we entered a room brightly lit with candles. There were about fifteen people there, sitting in chairs arranged in a circle. He led me to an empty chair and nodded at a young lady standing in the middle. "Let's bow our heads for prayer." The other bowed their heads and I quickly did the same. "Heavenly Father we thank you for the grace to be here today, be praised mightily in heaven. Take all the glory, Lord. We pray that today as we start today's class you will work wonders in our lives, and our baptism would not be unto damnation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen."

"Amen," they chorused, and sat in silence.

"Welcome to today's class! I hope we all had a splendid day yesterday," the lady asked. "For those of you just joining, my name is Esther, and I'm one of the teachers of this baptismal class." Esther wore an A-line floral dress that swept the floor, blue denim jacket, big framed glasses, and her hair in a messy bun. She looked at me. "I see a new face. Please introduce yourself."

I shrunk back into my seat, scared. Everyone was watching me and I felt stupid for coming here in the first place. But I remembered who I was doing this for, took a deep breath and Rose to my feet. "Good afternoon. My name is Naija, I'm seventeen and I'm here because I made a grave mistake and I believe that only God can save me now." I bowed awkwardly and sat. Esther smiled. "Well, I can assure you, Naija, that at the end of these classes, your soul will be saved. Welcome again."

That day's topic of discussion was very broad, but I was sure to write everything down. "Let's start with a story," started Esther, "of two children, David and Anna. It was David's birthday, and their father had just gifted him a new football. David was very excited, and so was Anna. David begged to go out to play with the ball. Their father agreed, as long as they obeyed his rule to only play it in the field behind their house.

"Everyday after school, David and Anna would play with the ball, but one afternoon, it rained. After the rain cleared they went outside to play. Anna complained that it was too muddy, and told her brother to let them play in their neighbor's field instead. David agreed. They ran over to their neighbor's field and started to play. Anna kicked the ball a little too hard and it crashed right through their neighbor's window. David and Anna were scared and quickly hid in some bushes.

"Their neighbour, Terra, came out to see what had happened. She saw the children hiding in the bushes. 'Why are you hiding?', she called, and watched as the children sadly came out of their hiding place. They sobbed as they explained. 'So you disobeyed your father? You remind me of the first people God created, Adam and Eve..."

Esther talked about the fall of Adam and Eve and the result of their disobedience. Someone asked if God had truly loved them, because if He did, He wouldn't have sent them out. Esther sighed and smiled. "God is holy, loving and just. On one hand, God loves us and doesn't want to punish us. But on another hand, God is just and must punish sin. Adam and Eve knew God's rule, but still disobeyed. They broke God's rule, and there are consequences when rules are broken."