Thread by @RevYinkaAdeleke

YINKA GOES TO SCHOOL
After my ordination in 2006, I felt that I had embarked on a path of life that was outrightly divergent from my previous dreams of academic glory and scholarly acclaim.
[A thread]
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I had finally reached a state of equanimity about my academic prospects. I had no more ambition in me for academic stardom or desire to break new grounds in the field of medicine. I was done with schooling, or so I thought.
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However, shortly after my ordination, Pastor Tope Opaleye encouraged me to try to seek admission once more into an institution of higher learning. His logic was that I had done what God wanted of me, so it should be possible to move forward in other areas of life.
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At first, I told him NO.
I had been disappointed so many times that I didn't want to try again.
I told him that, at least, I could communicate well in English, so why did I still need to go to school?
He should just let me be!
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But his rejoinder was that being a dropout would limit the scope and impact of my ministry and that I ran the risk of people assuming that I only went into ministry as a last resort when nothing else was working for me.
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So, I raised the issue with my family and we agreed that I should try once more. However, I was determined that it was going to be the very last time that I would ever attempt to secure admission. If this didn't work, it meant higher education was not in God's will for me.
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At that point, it was just a few days to that year's UME, but I was able to buy a late form.
I was academically rusty at that time and so indifferent about the whole thing that I felt I could not rise to my usual high standards.
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So, I applied for Zoology at the University of Ibadan (since the cutoff mark for it then was 200 and I felt that, even on my worst day, I should score up to 200).
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I didn't prepare for the examination at all.
Gone was the cocky, determined, laser-focused, high-performing Yinka. This was a defeated man just going through the motions. My heart was no longer in it (and I guess that was God's aim all along).
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On the examination date, I sauntered into the hall with a bottle of Viju Milk Drink in my hand. We started the examination and I did what I could and then left the hall as soon as the examiners allowed me. I didn't have high hopes for my performance.
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Surprisingly, when the results were released, I scored 280.

Everybody around me was thrilled.
This was way better than anyone expected and I was advised to change my chosen course of study to, yeah, you guessed right, Medicine & Surgery again!
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They felt that with such a high score, and my excellent SSCE results, getting in this time would be a walk in the park.

But I had walked that road before and been disappointed. I had put my hand on that door and been so severely burned that I had PTSD.
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I don't know the logic behind it, but I just felt that in God's grand scheme, my desire to be a doctor was somehow antithetical to His plan for me in ministry. So I chose not to go down that path again lest I forfeit my final chance to go to school.
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I did change my course, but to Human Nutrition (in the Faculty of Public Health). I had a dear friend and sister in that department, Bolanle Oguntoye, who had been on the admission-seeking journey with me for 3 years and who had been such an enormous support system for me...
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...in my low moments. When I told her about the dilemma of switching to another course, she advised me to come to her department, and I did, since all I wanted was just a degree - I no longer cared whether it was an MBBS, a BA or a BSc.
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I did get admitted to study Human Nutrition at the University of Ibadan (#2 on the merit list behind a dear brother, Toba Aladirin who is a medical doctor today).
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But it was a pyrrhic victory for me. I had sacrificed so much for my dream, which I failed to achieve; and when I eventually got the consolation prize, it was bitter-sweet in my mouth.
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I only went through the motions in school because I was a full-time student at UI while also being a full-time resident pastor of a fast-growing assembly in UCH, dean of a bible school, director of the media arm of the ministry and a church planter.
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I will continue the story of my early days of ministry tomorrow, but today, Day 17 of #40DaysOfGratitude towards my 40th birthday, I want to thank God for finally allowing me to get a higher education, despite all my rebellion and hard-headedness.
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Father, I am grateful!

#JourneyTo40

© Adeyinka J. Adeleke
26/04/2024
Ibadan Nigeria

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