
Her sweaty hands were steady on the steering wheel. Her eyes were focused on the road like a flint...very unyielding to any slight change in course. Her forehead was turned in a forward vertical direction. Her whole body moved according to the direction of the soft cadence of the wind. It was as though a musical beat in the far distance some miles in front was calling her name...yet she couldn't quite hear any audible sound. But behind her it felt as though an *onigangan had been hired to beat his *"dun dun" which was loudly warning her of ignorance and calamity in front...warning her that she knew not where she was going and that she knew not the disasters of a lonely highway. She was on a highway to no-where, yes...but let it be so! Not even the sound of the loudest talking drums with descending pitches could talk her out of this.
She had tried to do this forty-one times. Alas, the 42nd was a success. "I will run away...far far away...where no one will ever be able to find me. I have had so many daggers come through my clothes." She smiled tiredly, but with confidence. "I am tired of people and their plots. But most of all...I am sorry I was ever born, for my story is a hopeless plight." The sun heard her speak, yet it kept shining like nothing was happening...it got neither darker nor brighter. No, not a tear was shed. She had shed all the tears from her soul already, and she had nothing left to shed.
"No, now what? Who's chasing me?" She peered into her left side-view mirror. "No mama, no! I'm not going back home!" Her mother was chasing her and catching up now. There were some more cars behind her mother's. Then she saw their faces. Her husband, her brother, her father...and Wunmi, her best friend. They were beside her now. She started crying. "I'm not alone."
They were seated on the grassy meadow now, all exhausted from the long chase. *"Omo mi atata," her mother whispered into her ears. "We will never let you go. We're all in this together. But you see child, there may be a time when you are really physically alone...but you will not be alone, for even in the valley of the shadow of death, God will be with you. His mighty rod and His staff, they will be your comfort." That's when she understood the message...that there will never really be an unaccompanied highway. There will always be someone there with her.
.
* Onigangan: skilled drummer
* Dun dun: Talking drum
* Omo mi atata: My darling daughter
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This story illustrates a self-explanatory truth. Whether we know it or not, there will always be someone with us.So let us dance to the revelation that we are not alone. Whatever your plight is, place it in the hands of the One who created the sun. God never left you, not even once. In Genesis 16 when Hagar, the Egyptian slave, was running away from her mistress Sarai, an angel of God met her and said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? Go back to your mistress and submit to her." Thats when she gave God this name, "You-Are-The-One-Who-Sees-Me" (El Roi).
*Master Potter, You are the One who sees us*