WHEN THE CORPSE STARTS SMELLING

There is this saying that when the corpse starts smelling, even the best friend runs away. This write up is a true life story that will teach most men about the realities of life and help them plan how to live their lives. When you have money, friends, brothers and peers will like to associate with you. People you don’t even know will trace you to your house, office or business site to tell you how your great grand father is related to their great grand mother from your maternal home. Some will tell you that they are related to your uncle that was born by your father’s great grand mother. You will hear different kinds of stories, everything boils down to making you know that you are related in one way or the other in order for them to get close to you. But when you don’t have anything, no body remembers you, and you are on your own, even your best friends will abandon you. That is true.
This young man Zidy was born in the mid seventies to an average family of civil servant parents. His parents managed to put him and his other siblings through the university. It was not an easy task seeing him and his brothers and sisters through the university as both parents retired when only their first child was out of the higher institution. Their parents went through thick and thin to see all of them through the university. It was in this kind of background that Zidy went through before he could be called a graduate.

When Zidy got admission into the university, he made up his mind that he was going to be successful in life. While in the university there were a lot of peer pressures to drag him into cultism, but he religiously rebuffed the entire attempt to initiate him into the campus cultism because of the kind of parental upbringing he had. His father was a disciplinarian to the core. He made up his mind that he wanted to come out with a very good result as this would help him get a good job after school.
After hard work and dedication to his studies, denying himself of all youthful pleasures in school, his efforts were rewarded with success as he came out the best graduating student in the school of business administration where he finished from.
After his compulsory youth service as required by the Nigerian government he came to Lagos in search of job opportunities. He was blessed with a good job and he started earning income. Low and behold his house became the meeting point of his people, relations and friends. Come there every weekend people keep on trooping in and out of his house. There were always enough to eat and to drink as Zidy is actually a very generous man. A lot of his relations were coming to him for one assistance or the other and he kept on solving their problems even at the mercy of his own immediate needs. He helped most of them to secure profitable employment in his place of work and other places. At that time he was liked by all and spoken well of by all.
On this fateful day, the story changed as he lost his job in a very unfortunate and pitiable way. One of his close relations, infarct his brother from the same village went to his employer and lied against him and his appointment was terminated as a result of that false allegation. The most deplorable of it all was that he was a benefactor to this same brother that lied against him.
When Zidy lost his job, some of his close friends called him and encouraged him to take it easy. There were a lot of promises of assistance in one way or the other. But all those promises were not to be kept. His best friend (as he thought) promised to be giving him a particular sum of money every month until he secures another job to assist him ease of the burden of unemployment. The first month passed and the story changed. This so called best friend does not even pick up his calls not to talk of replying his text messages when he sends any. His house that used to be a converging point for all became as quite as a grave yard. Even those he risked his own needs to assist in the past abandoned him in his most trying period. Life became so hard and harsh for him and his young family.
He was left with no option than to give his life to Christ. He started worshiping with a church that prays powerfully and since then his life has known meaning. Though he has not got another job, but he is very sure that God who started the good work in him will follow it up to its fruitful completion. God has been providing all his needs and has been taking care of his wife and children. People who see him wonder how he is surviving, but the truth is that it is by the grace of God almighty. The lessons to learn from this story are as follows;
• It pays to serve Jesus.
• Do not have trust in any man.
• Do not build your treasure here on earth as one day this world will pass away.
• Trust no body even the person you call your best friend because he is your friend only when there is money and things are moving well with you.
• Put your trust in God because “WHEN THE CORPSE STARTS SMELLING, EVEN YOUR BEST FRIEND WILL RUN AWAY”. It’s only God that can stand by you to turn your situation around.