"This is another True Life Story of my life".
This memorable incident happened in Asaba a town in Delta State of Nigeria. The incident happened to me (Mr. Christopher, my elder sister Clementina and my younger brother Augustine). We all are siblings of the same parents. We suckled breast milk and left for one another consecutively
Our house was situated few metres away from the famous River Niger. On that faithful day, my mother being a trader, went to the market to sell her wares, which was mainly food stuffs. My father who worked as a Chief Security Officer has gone to work in Bendel Textile Mill LTD. now known as Delta State textile mills, Asaba.
As my parents have all gone away, I quietly sneaked out of the house, leaving my siblings, Clementina and Augustine behind, and headed to the River Niger. When I got there, I tried to swim, but no one to tutor me on the nitigrities of swimming exercise.
As an inquisitive young man, I tried to help myself by searching for shallow spot that will not be Dipper than my knees. Fortunately, I found one and started swimming, until I got tired. Later I rushed home to spread the good news to my siblings.
When I got home, I broke the good news to my siblings that at last I have finally discovered a shallow spot, where we can always swim without any risk of getting drowned. My siblings were very very excited. When we got to the river, I realized that I could not recognize the exact shallow spot.
I instructed my siblings to wait for me while I use one of my legs to search for the spot. Alas, the unfortunate happened. My legs slipped off, and I fell into a very dip end of the ocean with a depth of equivalent of more that 40 feet
Since, I cannot swim, I started struggling and gasping for breath. Instead of my siblings to call for help, my elder sister jumped into the river to rescue me, and the water swept her away into the river, and the water channels pushed her to where I was struggling.. Both of us started to struggle for our lives. Ironically, my younger brother insteady of running home to inform our parents or call for help, out of love, he also jumped into the river to rescue both me and my elder sister and he also got swept away and was flown to were we both were struggling.
At this time, things had fallen apart and the center could no longer hold. We both gathered together, clutching our hands in a circle, while the channels of the river intensified and we were moving on a high velocity heading to the center of the river.
One thing happened and It baffled me. I recalled vividly noticing that all the crowd within the river banks, both those that were swimming and those having their picnics had all ran away to the up land. Unfortunately, they were all watching to see how three siblings of the same parents are going to die.
We were hopeless and happless since everybody, including adults around had abandoned us to our faith. However, I was not despaired. We were struggling, but still hanging on to one man which is "Almighty God" to do his miracle. Before we could say jack, God lived up to his name as a "Miracle Working God" by sending a fisherman with his son to come and rescue us. According to the fisherman's son, he looked afar, and saw multitudes of people at the high land of the river, and wonder what was happening to warrant such huge spectators.
When he informed his aged father, the father asked him to speed up the canoe to the spot, because it seemed something was actually happening. The fishermen rushed to where we were still struggling and hanging on. By the time they got to where we were , the wave of the river had already thrown us up three times ( which superstitiously symbolises that the river is sending us down beneath.
When the fishermen finally arrived, the son was able to grabed me, and placed me into their canoe. But I quickly bekoned on him, demonstrating with my hands that two of my siblings were still underneath the water. He then plugged into the river and searched for my elder sister and luckily he found her and took both of us to the river bank were our protruding belly, full of water were being pressed to extract water out through our mouth, nostril and ears.
As I regain consciousness, I quickly reminded the fishermen that my younger brother was still underneath the water. The fisherman's son reluctantly ( being tired) went back to the river and searched thoroughly and luckily found and brought my younger brother off shore lifeless. But after the water was expressed from his protruding stomach, he had a breath of life again.
Mainwhile, news has already reached my mother in the market. I was told that she fainted when the sad news got to her.
But in a switch of faith, while she was being resuscitated, another news this time around ( Good news) got to her that her three children has been rescued alive, then immediately she regained consciousness. The whole streets and avenues was agog with joy. When the news also got to my father, he rushed home to hear both sad and the happy stories of what transpired. He immediately send some men to rush to the river and brought the fisherman and his son to our house.
When they came, my father who was happily excited directed that the two fishermen be given a rousing well. They were consequently accommodated and entertained with sumptuous foods and drinks. In fact, they were camped for three days. When they insisted that they must go, my father rewarded them with enough gifts both in monetary and material tames.
Now look at three of us, if not for God Almighty who miraculously sent the fishermen to salvage a hitherto a very hopeless situation , we should not have been hear today being grown up adults, happily married with our own kids. So, my fellow Hive platform members please join me to appreciate the good works of Jesus Christ.