Corban is a Hebrew word adopted into the Greek of the New Testament and left untranslated. It occurs only once in the Bible and it means a gift or offering consecrated to God.
This story is a series weaved around the story in Mark 7:11 in the Bible, enjoy!!!
Corban – Episode 2
Jide showed a great interest in church activities that his friends usually called him a church boy, this was alright by both mother and son.
The bible has rightly said that a child will continue in the path he is trained when he grows up. He was usually seen going off to church in the evenings after school with his bible tucked under his armpit, whistling a hymn; not that he read the Bible in church either, he simply didn’t feel complete without it in his hand.
By the time he was in form four, he had grown into a smart serious-minded boy who took his education as important. His father usually told him stories of how easy life was in his days for anyone who took his education seriously, he would then proceed to lament his poor result in his class six exam which had disqualified him for a chance at higher education, he wanted more for his only child and was willing to spend his last kobo to see this achieved.
Of course, life was gradually changing and one would need more than passing an exam to move on, so he enrolled Jide in a tailoring shop that belonged to one of his friends, Jide resumed there after school, weekends and holidays.
It was while working in this shop that his interest in cloth and textile materials began and grew. His boss, who had noted his interest and hard work, started taking him along to textile factories where he bought several materials for his customers.
By the time he finished his WASSCE at eighteen years, he had been entrusted with the job of going around the textile companies, bargaining and getting materials for the shop in large quantities. Indeed, he was a blessing to his boss whose business also grew during this period.
His results came out and he passed quite well. His pleased father made efforts and helped him get admission into the College of Education where he studied for three years. Even though he didn’t tell his father, he wasn’t interested in school anymore, he knew what he wanted to be – a textile manufacturer. He simply spent those years in the college to get his father off his back as regards to education.
While studying, he worked at a textile company part time as a clothes distributor and marketer, this fetched him money as well as the needed knowledge on how to go about the business. After his certificate was given him, he began to work full time in the company, which had by now seen his seriousness and diligence and didn’t want to let him go. He began to go on trips to farms and machine factories within and without the state in search of equipment, chemicals and tools for production. Things were looking up for him and money was flowing in. After working for three years and being promoted over and over, he decided it was time to set up his own factory. It is to be noted that all along, he hadn’t neglected his service to God or his family.
It was on one of his trips to Lagos in search of a new machine for easier cloth printing that he came across Bode.
Bode Ajose was a textile company proprietor in Sagamu. He had recently broken off from his boss and was seeking to establish his name as a respected clothes dealer. His trip to Lagos that day was to search for another electrical chemical-mixing bowl to add to the two he had on ground. God was blessing his business and the need for more equipment had to be met. He was also the pastor of a church and was usually on the lookout to add members to it.
That day, unknown to Jide, Bode had been watching him as the latter went around checking and pricing goods. Being a jaded buyer himself, Bode recognised Jide as shrewd and extended his hand of friendship although older. He liked hardworking young men and always sought to increase their potential.
Of course, this was only part of the reasons, for he longed to use such men in his budding textile company and church. Jide, seeing only advantages in such a relationship, gladly accepted.
Watch out for episode 3
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