By Funso Aina
When last Saturday, I arrived from Israel en route Jordan, I did not know that the entire Middle East had exploded in a conflagration of ‘Epic Fury,’ instantly becoming an intercontinental ballistic missile firing range.
Apparently, in departing the Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, earlier that day, at precisely 3.30a.m (1.30a.m Nigerian time), I had escaped the closure of the Jordanian airspace by barely an hour or two!
It was not until I landed at around 12.45p.m Nigerian time (I flew Ethiopian Airlines so from Amman, I had a stop over in Addis Ababa, where I connected a flight to Lagos); and switched on my phone that the enormity of what I had missed hit me like a gale of cold water in the harmattan!
I thought the phone was going to disintegrate from frantic messages from family and friends who knew I had gone on pilgrimage to the holy lands of Israel, Palestine and Jordan. They wanted to know if I had returned safely. There were also many missed WhatsApp calls.
Right there on my phone, I was already getting news alerts on how the US and Israel had started bombing Iran, and how the now deceased Ayatollah had wasted no time in responding in kind.
The first call I made was to my children, and to JP1 (I am now ‘JP2 btw,’ LOL). On hearing my voice, he could not contain his emotions. He it was who reminded me how I had also narrowly escaped the fire at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, almost a week before, which grounded all international flights for about two days (I flew on Saturday, the fire broke out on Monday).
I was like: Wow! Just wow! But JP1 was not done. In thanking God, he broke out in a song – not one of the popular spirituals, but Fireboy DML’s ‘Ise Oluwa ko s’eni to ye, bi mo sese mi o mo,’ which roughly translates to: ‘God’s ways are not our ways, He is a miracle-working God, and it is only His grace that sustains/keeps us.’
I was like: ‘Baba agbalagba, at 84, you mean you are into Fireboy DML?! I am sure he knows Ruger, Kizz Daniel, Tems, Asake and Ayra Starr sef (lol)?’ But seriously, I thank God for narrow escapes, and the life-changing experiences in the Holy Lands, which I will be chronicling soon.
Many thanks to everyone who expressed concerns, and those who did not; may God’s grace and mercy always follow you all the days of your lives.
