Why don’t you tell me instead of asking a question you know I cannot answer?

I didn’t say you should give me the answer right now.

But he needs immediate answers

Did he tell you that?

If he didn’t say so, I am saying so right now, after all, you called it our shared grief. Me and my family are also grieving the sad passing of Pastor Nomthi. And we need immediate answers.

You don’t need immediate answers when you are navigating a thorny wilderness but a guide

I don’t understand

Why did the fathers say it is too late to cry when the head is off?

Do you enjoy making simple things complex or what? I told you I didn’t understand your last statement and you’re complicating it with another one. How can it ever be too late to cry when the head is off? The matter of lateness does not arise because the mouth goes anywhere the head goes. Tell me why you need a guide when you’re navigating a thorny wilderness. By the way why did you choose to call our shared grief a thorny wilderness?

The answer is simple. When Pastor Bimbo Odukoya passed away, it was a wilderness of shared grief. With Pastor Nomthi’s recent passing, the scale of grief has increased. That’s why it is a thorny wilderness. It is wilderness raised to the power of thorny!

Mm. Thank you. Can you please maintain this style and not complicate things any further? Tell me what I want to hear.

Thinking and reasoning in a thorny wilderness can be very tough because of the discordant tunes they stir up in the mind while faith acts as an anchor that whispers hope and assurance. Faith lets the mind drift to yonder place and the images procured in the process transmits a certain earnestness to the body to keep it moving. Those who have no might, may increase strength because faith has tethered the ship to the anchor that keeps the soul, steadfast and sure while the billows roll.

What’s this? Are you singing or what? Are those not lines from some hymnbook?

I am not singing; I want to pray?

Pray? Why?

My soul is afflicted by our shared grief on the passing of Pastor Nomthi and I want to do what a wiseman said when one is afflicted.

What did the wise-man say?
Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Why? Because praying helps keep faith alive. And faith is that guide anyone navigating a wilderness, whether thorny or otherwise, needs.