09

**MYRNA NZAOU**

We were all sitting watching my father on the flesh speaking, he was responsible for building us up this Sunday.

Dad: I would like us to open our Bibles for a moment to read a passage. The scripture is in the book of Daniel in chapter 8 from verse 8 to verse 12. Any reader to help me please, if he has the ostervald version it will be fine.(Bible version because he There are several versions, the most common of which is the Louis Segond "LSG").

A brother: (Rising with his Bible open) The word of God declares in the book of Daniel 8 beginning in verse 8 "And the goat grew exceedingly; but when he was mighty his great horn was broken, and in its place , four great ones arose toward the four winds of the heavens: and out of one of them a little horn arose, which grew much larger toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the land of glory. grew up to the host of the heavens, and caused part of the host of the stars to fall to the ground, and trod them underfoot, and even rose to the chief of the host, took from him the continual sacrifice and brought down the abode of his sanctuary. And the host was delivered up with continual sacrifice, for sin's sake, and the horn cast down the truth, and it did and prospered." Amen.

Daniel 8:8-12 CSB

Dad: Thank you my son, God bless you. When I was preparing this message, I paused for a moment on this text to read it again and again. I learned several lessons from this passage but given the time, we will not share them all. So the passage tells us that the goat grew extremely and became very powerful. To grow, it means that we were first small. The goat we know, that is what is not good, people who commit evil and here I am not talking only about non-believers but even within the house of God, there are goats. The Lord also says in the book of Matthew, that in the end, he will separate the goats from the sheep in order to give each his sentence. While some, the sheep that have done good and walked in his ways will go to his right hand; the others, the goats who have not acted according to his will will go to his left. And each will receive what his works have produced.

But let's go back to what we said at the beginning. So I was saying that to grow, you first had to be small. We all know how small things, at the very beginning, seem to be cute and without strength, we always enjoy looking at them until these things grow and give us white hair. We have our children as proof.

The congregation laughed. More particularly the parents who were certainly imagining the thing, each thinking of his own offspring.

Dad: (smiling) Oh we all know that. It's not just about the parents, even those who have little brothers or little sisters know this very well.

Sara: (shouting) It's the truth dad.

We all laughed before we resumed.

Dad: (continuing) There you go. Likewise, the evil one when he approaches us. He looks tiny, devoid of strength. It's so small that you think it's harmless, and what's small is cute. We forget that, like our children, everything that is small ends up growing. The goat in our text grows extremely tall and later in verse 12 we are told that he came so far as to overthrow part of the army of heaven and pushed even further by defiling the sanctuary of the Lord while overthrowing the truth which ends up stalling. But how did we get to this level? The lion cub of the beginning that we found all beautiful and without strength has become a lion. Make no mistake, beloved, the devil no matter what size and shape he takes is very dangerous. It is important to remain on your guard and watch in order to discern its presence when it comes to you.

Because when he decides to face someone, believe me, he does not make a gift. The word of God also reveals to us in the Gospel of John 10:10 "that the thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy...". See the warning that the word declares to us. The thief is the devil and when he enters someone's life it is with very specific goals, he is in no way someone's friend. He approaches and begins by stealing things from you, your prayer life, your meditation life, a little-a little, he takes your peace, your joy, your health. But he doesn't stop there, the Bible says he "cut the throat" other versions have "killed". It kills what you were supposed to do, things that God had planned to do with you for a while, maybe a project, a business, a child, a marriage whatever. Whatever the object of the massacre, he does not in any case give him gifts, he cuts his throat. And the worst of it all is that the thing is happening before our eyes but we can't do anything about it because we ourselves have given it access. The Bible ends by telling us that he “destroys”. How many families? Schools? Of churches? Hasn't countries been destroyed because someone hasn't been careful? Look at the chaos that reigns in the world today, the consequence of the distraction of our ancestor Adam. He gave access to the devil who destroyed the world.

Someone will tell me that can't happen to me because I'm "spiritual". (Smiling) My friend, let me tell you, the devil doesn't care about your spirituality. If he was not afraid of Jesus himself, the God made flesh, and went to tempt him in the desert, it is not you and me with whom he will not do it. The devil is afraid of no one and no one is safe from his attacks whatever your degree of consecration, if the devil has decided to attack you, he will do it. Here is why we must be very attentive and not be distracted. Let us always walk in the ways of the Lord without ever straying to the left or to the right. Let us remain and hold as firm as possible on this narrow path on which we have chosen to walk by putting into practice the prescriptions of the word of God and by listening to his Holy Spirit which he has placed in us to guide us because these are the only pledges of our salvation...

He had been talking for quite a while before we prayed and moved on…

Gaël: (Looking at the photos of December 31 in Sara's phone) When you see how you were undermined there, you feel that it was only strong there, huh.

Loïc: Show a little.

Gaël: (pointing) Look.

Loïc, Japhet and Adam had leaned over to look at the photos in question.

Japhet: And really they were very beautiful, huh.

Sara/ Me: (laughing) Thank you.

Adam: You just feel that there was fire in the room that day.

Sara: (smiling) These are things you can't talk about. You just have to live. You see the verse in the book of Corinthians that says "Things which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, things that God has prepared for those who love him". Is not it ?

Them: (in chorus) yes.

Sara: (widening her smile) There you go. That was it. What we experienced on the 31st, eh! Only God can make things like because...

And there she began to tell what had happened that day in the smallest details. Finally, as long as she had been lucid because, for all those who were present that day and connected to the Spirit, we had had several times, times of disconnection from reality to be in ecstasy which means that each had more or less his own memories in addition to the general ones. As you can see, we weren't in the same denomination with the others, so we didn't spend the holidays together. Each was more or less busy in his church with the respective programs. We had in turn explained how we had lived these times each in his denomination.

We were still talking when we listened to an insecure "Hello" behind us. We all turned around to find Ethan, the leader of the tiger gang and the most popular guy in the whole school. He was standing with his arms along his body, his head tilted slightly and his gaze rather blank. He looked confused and not at all confident, which was not his habit. As far back as all the images of him that I might have seen him in high school or outside could send me back. He had never seemed like this. Besides, he had come to our corner and was standing in front of us, all alone? We all watched him surprised for quite a while because it was hard to realize it.

Me: (pulling myself together) Hello. (jostling Sara to make her react) We greeted you, answer.

Them: (in chorus) Hello.

Me: (smiling weakly at him) Sorry for the reaction, you surprised us a bit.

Ethan: It's okay, I understand. Can I talk to you after class? It's quite urgent but as recess is about to end, we won't have time to do it.

Me: (caught off guard) Uh

Ethan: Sorry, this is really important.

Me: Okay.

Ethan: At 1 p.m., right here if you want.

Me: No problem.

Ethan: (grateful) Thank you. I won't bother you any longer. See you later. (To others) Goodbye.

Us: Goodbye.

He turned and left leaving us all surprised by what had just happened. We were all looking at each other trying to figure out why he wanted to talk to me. In addition he had said that it was urgent and important. We had talked about it until the bell announcing the end of recess rang...

Glin, glin, glin…

It was the end of class, I was putting away my things when Sara called me.

Sara: Are you going to go on her date?

I do. I want to listen to what he wants to tell me. You heard, he said it was urgent and important. Besides, he looked weird.

Sara: He's still weird anyway.

Me: (smiling) That's not what I'm talking about. Didn't you notice he looked sad and a little stressed?

Sara: You know I can't watch it for long. I didn't notice anything.

Me: (closing my bag) Alright.

Sara: In any case, I don't feel it. I'm not comfortable with him suddenly wanting to talk to you. Besides, since when did he first talk to you?

Me: If you want, you come with me.

Sara: (stepping away) Who? Never. I'm not going there. If you want to go, all you have to do is go yourself and tell me about it afterwards.

Me: (standing up smiling) Scared, you're not even ashamed.

Sara: It's always the scary ones who live long in horror movies, the brave ones die at the start so I'm scared piang, but I'm not going there.

We walked out of class laughing. Sara really was a case. All the loudmouth she made ended when she was in front of a tiger and more particularly Ethan. In this context, she became more shy than me, it was really very funny to see.

Me: You're at least going to wait for me to get back together, aren't you?

Sarah: It depends. Are you gonna last?

Me: I don't know since I don't know what he wants to talk to me about.

Sarah: Alright. Anyway, if it takes more than an hour, I'll leave.

Me: Oh. What is he going to tell me that will take up to 1 hour?

Sara: I don't know myself. Anyway, I already told you. Come on, I'll accompany you a bit to the level of the seconds corridor and I'll go and wait for you with Sophie.

Me: Alright.

We had walked to the place in question and had separated. She had left to meet Sophie. And speaking of the latter, returning to class three weeks ago, she told us that her father had found work in a company. We were so happy that we even danced for joy praising our God who had answered our prayers. Our God was a faithful and able God. He was a God who had ears to hear and whose hand was not short to act. Things were going to be back to normal for them and we gave thanks to God. She also told us that the 100 miles we had given her had helped them a lot during this period and we were happy to have been able to act on their behalf.

I kept walking towards our prayer corner and saw Ethan sitting by himself staring at a spot. He wasn't particularly looking at this place, it was just like a sort of bridge to think about. It also seemed that he was lost in thought. He looked…..sad. The truth was that since I had known him, good to know was a big word. Let's just say that since the time we've been crossing paths and seeing each other in the halls of high school, I've always found him sad. Even when he was laughing with his friends or anyone else, there was always that little hint of sadness in his eyes and his smile didn't reach his heart to spread to the rest of his body. And today more than the other days, this sadness was visible.

I had looked at him for a moment before moving closer.

Me: Hello again.

Ethan: (coming out of your thoughts by turning his head towards me, sketching a weak smile) Hello again. Sorry, I didn't hear you coming. I was lost in my thoughts.

Me: (smiling) It's no big deal. Have you been there since?

Ethan: 10 to 20 mins. I got out of class early. Please sit down.

I had done it by removing my backpack to put it on the table where his was also.

Ethan: Thanks for coming.

Me: It's nothing.

We were both quiet for a while. He was opening and closing his left hand without controlling it. It looked like a nervous twitch, and from the way his body looked stiff, you could tell he was. It was quite strange to see him like that. It was the first time he seemed nervous.

Ethan: (breathing) You must be wondering why I tried to see you and talk to you, when in the time we've known each other we've never exchanged more than a simple hello between the two of you.

I nodded, shaking my head.

Ethan: I know it's weird and believe me it's weird for me too. I thought for a long time and hesitated a lot before coming to talk to you, but you see, only you can help me because I don't know how to do it.

Me: What is it?

Ethan: (hesitating) I, I want to accept Jesus.

Me: (not expecting it) Huh?

I thought I hadn't heard correctly. He said he wanted to accept Jesus? Ethan wanted to accept Jesus? I couldn't believe it so much that I couldn't believe it. My whole body expressed this surprise and he understood that my reaction was not voluntary.

Ethan: Is there a problem?

Me: (in shock) Do you want to accept Jesus? You?

Ethan: (sad look) Isn't there room for someone like me is that it? I thought you were saying that Jesus didn't make a difference and received those who wanted to approach him. I just wanted… Anyway, let it go, I knew it wasn't a good idea (stands up taking his bag) I'm sorry to have wasted your time and thank you anyway for coming.

He turned around and started walking dejectedly in the opposite direction.

Me: (pulling myself together) Wait.

I got up and went after him.

Me: (catching up to him) Excuse me, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just didn't expect it. I'm sorry if I upset you, that was not my intention. Excuse me (staring into my eyes and doing the same) please.

Ethan: Alright.

Me: (smiling weakly) Would you like us to go back and sit down so that you can continue to explain things to me so that I can properly help you?

Ethan: (After a moment of staring into my eyes) Alright.

We went back to where we were and he put his bag back next to mine on the table.

Me: (in a more pleasant voice) You said you wanted to accept Jesus?

Ethan: Yes. But I do not know how.

Me: I see. Can I at least know why? I mean what made you decide to do it?

Ethan: (looking into my eyes) For you.

Me: (frowning) For me? How so ?

Ethan: I mean it's because of you. Do you remember your intervention in our class last month?

I do.

Ethan: That day, when you spoke, I was touched, your words echoed in my heart and I wanted to get up to come forward when you called the others. But (looking into my eyes) I was scared.

Me: Were you scared?

Ethan: Yes.

Me: But why?

Ethan: From what people would have said and thought. I mean I am Ethan NDZAMBA, the most popular boy and playboy in high school. Wherever I go my reputation precedes me without my wanting it and before I even speak to say anything, I have already been given a label. Who would have believed in my good will and my desire to repent? You yourself didn't believe it just now.

I had lowered my eyes, gripped by a slight feeling of guilt. He was right, people would have reacted like I did earlier. It was crazy how we ourselves often contradict ourselves. I no longer knew how many years ago I had prayed for him and his friends so that the Lord would touch them and change their lives. Now that he had made it and sent it to me, I had shown disbelief as if I doubted God's ability to change his life. It was actually as if I thought you had to pray just to do it without ever seeing it happen or else as if I thought deep down that God had criteria for selecting people he could save and should save and that Ethan wasn't one of them. This observation saddened me and I took the resolution to act well the next time.

Me: (apologizing again to him for my blunder) I'm really sorry for my blunder earlier, I reacted very badly.

Ethan: I don't blame you.

Me: (smiling) It's for people like you that Jesus paid with his life on the cross and I'm sure he would be very happy to welcome you into his house and I'd be happy to see you there conduct. Sure if you still want to do it and want me to show you how?

Ethan: (weakly responding to my smile) I do.

Me: The Bible says that if we confess our sins to the Lord and are willing to forsake them, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. She also tells us that "If with your mouth you declare that Jesus is Lord and if in your heart you believe that God raised him, you will be saved. For whoever believes in his heart, God declares him righteous, he who who affirms with his mouth, God save him". Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again for your sins and has the ability to forgive your sins.

Ethan: (looking into my eyes) I believe so.

Me: And are you ready to recognize him as Lord and savior of your life?

Ethan: (still staring at me) Yeah. I want it.

Me: Alright. If you truly believe him then give me your hands (which he does and places his two hands in mine) And repeat this prayer after me.

I had spoken words that he had spoken after me. He had recognized that he was a sinner and that he was separated from God because of his condition. He had admitted that Jesus Christ had died and risen for him in order to wash and purify him of all iniquity and that he accepted to receive him as Lord and savior of his life and that henceforth he was ready to walk in newness of life. on this new path. After that I had prayed alone for him, I had recommended his heart, his life, his family, his studies, and everything that concerned him to the grace of God and may God never leave him alone again and accompanies me on the path that was his. After that, we both said "Amen".

During the whole process, I had my eyes closed and when I opened them, I noticed that it was also the case for him and that he even cried while doing it. I looked at him with a tender smile on my lips, he looked much more peaceful than before. He finally opened his eyes and quickly wiped away his tears, turning his face away from mine. He was embarrassed to have cried like this in front of me.

Me: You don't have to be ashamed of me you know. Crying is natural and feels great.

Ethan: (face to the side) I'm not allowed to cry, it's for the weak.

Me: (handing him a Kleenex) Here. (Taking) I could never see you weak because you will have cried, on the contrary, it shows that you are a completely normal person who has emotions like everyone else. Besides, if there's a boy in this school who embodies and exudes strength, it's you.

Ethan: (staring at me again) That's right, do you think so?

I do.

Ethan: thank you.

Me: Nothing.

Ethan: (changing the subject) Is it over or are there other things to do?

Me: The only things left for you to do is get taught so you can grow in the arms of the Lord. You are officially a child of God

Ethan: Thanks for everything.

Me: You're welcome. It was a pleasure and an honor for me to help you. You will need to find a place of worship where you can join several other people who can help you to boost your faith and grow in the ways of the Lord.

Ethan: I understand. Do you think I can join you?

Me: You who?

Ethan: You and your friends.

Me: (surprised) Here in high school?

Ethan: Yes.

I was surprised again. Ethan who wanted to join my gang? It was truly unrealistic. He really wanted to change his life, what a turnaround.

Me: I don't know, I'd have to talk to them first.

Ethan: I see. I know it's weird that I want to do all these things, I assure you that I find it hard to believe myself. That's why it took me more than a month to come and talk to you, but I really want to change. I want to be like you. The truth is that I have always envied you.

Me: (surprised) You envied us?

Ethan: Yes. (hugging a weak smile) It's hard to believe isn't it? Yet it is the truth, I envied you. Throughout my life I have always played a role, the role of Ethan NDZAMBA the bad boy. I had to create a reputation for myself in order to assume this label that had stuck to me and that I couldn't get rid of. Because of that, I had to hide my emotions, my feelings and feelings, I had to stop being the person I really wanted to be to embody the person everyone knew and admired. I just wasn't allowed to be me. Just Ethan, with no artifice or role to play. I was greatly troubled inside struggling and fighting with all of this. And I saw you and your friends being at peace, living a simple life without all these frills and I envied you because deep inside me (touching his heart) Here in my heart, this is what I always wanted . This is what I have always aspired to without achieving it. And today I took my courage in both hands to try to talk to you about it because I really want the life that you were telling us about the other day in class, if Jesus is the one who does it then I want to follow him all my life, I want to be like you.

I was really touched by his revelations. He looked so determined and sincere that I even wanted to take him in my arms to tell him that it was also God's desire for him.

Me: Alright.

Ethan: (not confident) I know I'm asking a lot of you, but would you like to be my guide, because I don't know if I can do it alone.

Me: (surprised) Do you want me to be your guide?

Ethan: If you can't, it's no big deal, you've already done so much, I'll manage on my own. It's just that when we talk about piety, you're the first person we think of and I thought you would be better suited for that, but hey, like I said, it doesn't matter. I will look for someone else.

Me: No, let's see. I am here and it would make me really happy to help you and accompany you in this wonderful adventure.

Ethan: So you agree to be my guide?

Me: (smiling) I agree to be your guide.

Ethan: (hugs me) Thank you, thank you Myrna.

I was so surprised that I hadn't reacted and I was frozen in his arms. He had noticed it and had hastened to release me.

Ethan: (embarrassed) Excuse me, I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry.

Me: (smiling weakly taking one of his hands in mine) It's not a big deal. You don't have to mope.

Ethan: Thank you. Tell me would it be a problem if I want to receive some basics before going to a church?

Me: It's better to go to church because contact with other brothers and sisters will help boost you more, but that's not a problem. If you want, I'm here and I'll give you the necessary basics.

Ethan: (grateful) Alright and thank you.

Me: (dropping his hand that I've been holding mine for a while to search my bag and take my laptop) We'll have to make a program and for that I'll need your number so that we can set it up together.

Ethan: Alright.

Me: (handing him my phone) Here, put your number please.

Ethan: (taking) It's not locked?

Me no. Go ahead

He had put his phone number before giving it to me. I saved that in my contacts before ringing his.

Me: It's mine.

Ethan: (recording my number) okay.

Me: That's your WhatsApp number right?

Ethan: Yes.

Me: Okay.

Ethan: Thanks again for listening to me Myrna.

Me: Nothing.

Ethan: You can go.

Me: Alright. (Rising, taking my bag from the table) I'll let you know about the program and if you have any questions or anything else, don't hesitate to write to me.

Ethan: (Standing up as well) Alright.

I turned and walked away from him with my backpack and my phone in my hand. I had taken advantage of watching to see if I had received a message from Sara because in the end, I had been talking with Ethan for over an hour. It was for a good cause, so it didn't matter. Sara had indeed sent me a message informing me that she had left with Sophie and Japhet. It had been about thirty minutes. It didn't matter, we were going to write to each other a little later anyway. I left the gate alone and went to point to the road to take a taxi. After 10 minutes, still nothing. The taxi drivers wouldn't take me. A car had pulled up in front of me and when the window rolled down, Ethan's face appeared to me.

Ethan: Can I drop you off?

Me: No it's fine, don't worry about me.

Ethan: (insistent) I insist. It's because of me if you stayed until this time at school and your friends left so I have to drop you off. It's the least I can do. (Opening the door on my side) Come on up please.

Me: (capitulating) Alright.

I had taken off my backpack and climbed up front with him after he had removed his belongings from the passenger seat and put them behind.

Ethan: What neighborhood are you going to?

Me: at the mebiame city.

Ethan: (seeming to think) Mebiame city, mebiame city. Ah yes, the district that gives to the pk5 there?

I do.

Ethan: I see.

Me: Won't you take a detour?

Ethan: No, don't worry. I am going to owedo (city) I can go there.

Me: Alright.

Ethan: (turning on the ignition) put on your seat belt please.

I had. The car was air-conditioned, so he had to roll up the windows before driving and go from there…