Submitted to His Will by Christian Alafia Cole
My friend told me a story a while ago about a man who was tasked with demolishing a strong wall. The man spent months with a heavy hammer, hitting the wall as many times as he could, to bring the wall down, and eventually, succeeded. I wondered what point he was trying to make. I patiently waited for the interpretation of his story, which he softly and quietly explained to me: each and every knock on that wall was important, as it helped in the process of the demolition.
This story stayed in my mind and I pondered its meaning for a very long time. It reminded me of my personal life. Many years ago, I had the drive to become an international businessman. While pursuing my dream in life, I had a call from God to serve. Despite my desire to be an international businessman, the call transformed my mind into a battleground. However, the voice of God stood out and I had to submit to God’s will.
In response, I engaged myself in personal evangelism. I devoted myself to becoming a businessman for God by constantly sharing the gospel. Though I was not able to buy and sell material things with the aim of making profits, I believe that wholeheartedly living into my calling has been eternally profitable.
I was reaching out to young people for God by teaching and sharing the gospel. Just as in my friend’s story, I became the man demolishing walls. The hammer became symbolic of the Word of God, and the wall represented the lost souls. Most of the time, it’s very difficult to impact people just by introducing them to the gospel once. However, if we stay committed and invite them in with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will be able to transform them.
During my time as a businessman for God, I was privileged to meet a boy named Desmond. He was abandoned by his mother and was living with his grandmother. His grandmother did not believe in sending children to school, so while Desmond was now at the age to attend school, his grandmother did not allow him to go. As a community, we explained to his grandmother the importance of education and begged her to allow us to send him to school. She agreed but it was a really challenging task for us because Desmond did not want to go to school due to what was modeled at home. Even when we enrolled him in school, he was so reluctant to go. Most mornings he would leave home with the idea of going to school but then find somewhere else to pass the time, and later return home as though he went to school.
There were several times that we would look for him and find him in the streets doing something else. We always tried to talk and encourage him to go to school but all our efforts seemed fruitless. There were times when he even tried to get us to physically fight with him in the streets, even asking us “Why are you after me about this? You aren’t my parents, you are strangers.” Countless times Desmond would see us and run away, just because he did not want to go to school. Though we tried time and time again, there was not much we could do.
Recently, I found out that Desmond is now using drugs. This news broke my heart. I could not help but think of all the times we tried to give him an education. But, I was not discouraged. I still saw this as an opportunity to reach out to him and help him. I have reached out, and I am still in touch with him, constantly trying to talk him out of drugs, and for Desmond to know the transformative power of the gospel.
I am grateful to God, as Desmond is now part of our Men’s Rehabilitation Program for young men who are seeking change and working towards overcoming their addictions to drugs in the Kroo Bay community.
Submission emphasizes the importance of yielding to God’s plan and authority in our lives. For a person to stay committed, they must have trust and faith; believing that what they are committing to is ultimately good and purposeful. This often involves surrendering our personal desires and plans, trusting in what God has ordained. I continue to submit myself to God as a man holding a “hammer”, breaking down walls with Him.