Never Stop Singing

Like every Sunday I had spent on the university campus, this Sunday was no different. 8 am and I was dressed to the nines and cramped into the uncomfortable seats of the amphitheatre huddled up to withstand the biting wind, sometimes I wondered was this tradition or belief? But still I came. After a brief opening prayer, Timi took to the mic, to begin the opening praise session, as a member of the choir myself I understood the gruelling practice that came with leading the praise session. Timi and his four back-ups would have spent at least 8 hours in the previous week perfecting the routine. Such rigorous practice was not helped by the fact that as a student fellowship we could only afford crackly mikes and very, very substandard instruments, the drum-set sounded like pots and pans and the keyboard like a strangulated cat, but we didn’t let that deter us. Wires criss-crossed the stage in haphazard lines that spoke the fact that they had been hastily connected at 6 am that morning just to be disconnected at 10 am. Whatever sound produced by the singing team was quickly dispatched out of the amphitheatre to the open air surrounding it because the theatre was semi-covered.

We all stood to join in the singing despite the shortcomings I have hitherto listed. We had all learnt to ignore such things. Contentment actually comes from not having everything. So with great gusto we joined in the singing led by Timi. Timi being a guy of great exuberance had us dancing and clapping with such enthusiasm that MJ could not rival, supposedly. All was going well till we got to on of my favourite songs which has only one line sung differently over and over. “Lord you are an awesome God.” Maybe to signify how ecstatic he was Timi attempted to come down off the stage to join the crowd with this one. With the microphone in his left hand and his right lifted up to heaven he sang, “Lord you are an awesome God.” He took one step down the stage singing, “Lord you are an awesome God.” Unfortunately the wires I mentioned earlier had become wrapped around his foot while he had been dancing and singing.

As he tried to take the final step down, those wires gripped his foot so hard, it almost seemed as if a hand was wrapped around it. They pulled him back sharply so that in mid-descent from the stage he was dragged into a horizontal position for a split-second with his feet suspended over the stage and his upper body over the concrete floor. The next second with a resounding crash, he landed fully prone on the concrete floor. The back-ups sang on “Lord you are an awesome God.” While we waited to see if Timi had been called to heaven. Moving his mic hand to his mouth he sang “Lord you are an awesome God.” Raising himself on one knee he sang, “Lord you are an awesome God.” And finally fully upright he sang “Lord you are an awesome God.” And went on with the program as if nothing had happened.

After the program we checked him over to ensure that he was okay. He was fine. I haven’t seen Timi in years, but the message of his actions stay with me. Don’t wait till you are declared fine till you start again; don’t wait till you rise again before you continue; in short never stop singing.