My initiation to church service started when I was invited to join a motley choir when I was about 22 years old. Motley because, well… nothing strange about it except for those who invited me were "𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒐" people who drink a lot and light up weed almost every night they meet. For me during those nights at the 𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒐 (literally street corner -our HQ of sort), there was no escaping the 𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙮 glass that went around but the burning stick skipped me. Every time. The guys were tolerant of this newbie nice chap. I told them it’s not my thing. I was doing coke, then -the real thing.

Apart from singing in the mass, we did bible study, too. Who taught us? We did. And our own experiences.

I was a young adult, a fresh college graduate, new in corporate world. I reckoned that as long as you did service to the church and to God like we did, it was ok to do nasty things like drinking and getting high ’til the moon be no more. Giving a good balance to it, so to speak. But when I got older, I learned that you "can’t put new wine into old wineskins."

We all have grown old and become family men. I don’t know if there were wineskin transformations by the roadside but these guys, to this day, still do various works for the church, especially for the poor. I guess God works in ways I don’t understand and He employs methods I can’t make sense of if I tried.

I remember with fondness my friends and our kind of fellowship. I reckon those nights at the 𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒐 were a sort of formation or foundation classes for me. Or maybe not. But God used them for His purpose and I am grateful.

Cheers to you, my ol’ friends.

#MyCafeNotes