"Hurry up! We're going to be late," George yelled, from the driver's seat of his mercedes. Moments later his wife and kids came racing out of the house towards the car that was preemptively parked facing the yards gate and the engine deliberately left running. It was a Sunday and the Mwenya's as the did every other Sunday were headed to church.
The Mwenya's were a young, modern African family. George was in his early 30's, a lawyer on the fast track to making partner at his law firm. George was of average height he wasn't so tall that he would stand out in a crowd yet not so short that he would go completely unnoticed; he was slender in build indicative of an athletic background with a skin tone that was characteristically dark it appeared bluish earning him the nickname 'the dark knight' among his colleagues at the law firm. George had an easy going, mild mannered demeanor evidence of a very confident and self assured individual; his easy going nature made George friend to all. Unlike many of his peers George didn't drink and opted to play recreational football on the weekends instead, which was the heritage of his christian up bringing.
Evelyn, George's wife, was in her late 20's and was a nurse at a local government clinic. Evelyn flirted with the thin line between being chubby and obese; she was what most would consider short in stature; Evelyn wasn't particularly light in complexion but as compared to George she might as well have been caucasian; Evelyn being born and raised in rural Zambia was not too bad looking for a village girl but she wasn't going to win any beauty contests in the big city. Evelyn's circumstances made her quite insecure about her appearance and she often felt undeserving of her elavated station in life, so much so that Evelyn often felt she had to prove herself to herself and her peers. As a result Evelyn unlike her husband was quite the chatterbox and owing to her low self-esteem would take offence at the slightest provocation, which resulted in her slighting even the closest of friends and family. She had gained notoriety in her extended family as the 'live wire', when she and George's mother got into a heated argument about the order of the utensils in her kitchen.
Together George and Evelyn had two children Esther and George jr. Esther was eight and much like her father was mild mannered; Esther was slender and of fair complexion; owing to her terrible eye sight Esther wore spectacles. Esther was a reclusive child who was often found buried in a book. Esther showed exceptional intelligence and self control.
George jr. On the other hand was the families miscreant. He was four and much like other children his age was a handful and was always up to no good. George snr, Often accredited George jr's behavior to his mother often commenting "he takes after you" whenever George jr had gotten himself in trouble which was met with the "boys will be boys" response from Evelyn.
They Mwenya's packed themselves into the luxury vehicle and George drove them out to church. A short road trip later and they Mwenya's had arrived at 'Jerusalem gold family church'.
Jerusalem gold family church was among the new crop of mushrooming progressive churches in the city, which is a convoluted way of saying it was unlike conventional churches such as the catholic or adventist, it was set apart in its traditions, customs and appearance.
The church itself resembled a gaint circular Warehouse or a small stadium with high set stained glass windows, its grounds comprised, on one side a vast car park and several supporting buildings. Amongst others were a pastor's office, a small youth center, a recording studio and several small classrooms. On its opposite side was a basketball court and a small football pitch.
the inside of the church was a testament of opulence, it resembled a large auditorium not unlike the thousand seater auditoriums known to host large concerts, the seats were made of the finest fabrics, the alter had blue velvet carpeting and the pulpit was made of the finest wood painted white with patterns of gold.
The running of the church was under the charge of one arc bishop 'chanda the commander'. Chanda the commander was a middle aged man in his late 50's, he wasn't a particularly tall or handsome man but he was honest. The self proclaimed arch bishop often adopted a fake nigerian accent with which he delivered all of his sermons and although his methods were unconventional the word of God was at the core of all his sermons. 'One commander' as he was known by his congregants was a man after God's own heart who loved his congregants and they loved him.
Another distinctive attribute of the jerusalem gold family church was it's choir, who played gospel rhumba music that often left the christ faithfuls unabashedly dancing, as though they were at a rhumba concert as opposed to a house of God.
On this particular Sunday the Mwenya's arrived late and the service had already began. Evelyn and the children quickly followed George out of the car park towards the church. They were met at the steps leading into the church by several ushers who passed each other looks of disapproval at the sight of they Mwenya's. Among the ushers was head usher known only as 'aunty judy'. Aunty judy was an overweight busy body who took pleasure in bossing everyone around. Aunty judy began "mr. Mwenya what a pleasure for you to join us," she paused for effect, "20 minutes late," she added. "I do apologize ma'am but we encountered some car trouble," George replied. " We going to have a hard time finding you a place to seat," Aunty judy continued. "But worry not there's always room in the house of the lord," aunty judy finished. Aunty judy then proceeded to bark several instructions to her subordinates and one of the ushers promptly led the children away to Sunday school, held in one of the classrooms at the side of the church, whilst George and his wife were quietly led into the church via a side entrance by aunt judy herself. The sermon began just as the Mwenya's were taking there seats. The arch bishop commander chanda went on about how giving was more blessed than receiving and he urged everyone of his congregants to donate to the church so that the church may be empowered to do God's work. After a lengthy sermon the arch bishop ended with an announcement. Commander chanda was going on a vacation for two months and a young pastor was set to take over his duties in the duration he would be away. He then motioned to a young man seated behind him to join him at the pulpit, "may we give a warm jerusalem gold church welcome to the apostle Meschak a true prophet of God," the bishop announced. A young man dressed in an all white suite and white dress shoes got up and stood beside the minister. At the sight of the new pastor the congregation clapped three times in unison, the women especially where astounded by the young pastor's boyish good looks which left them ululating. A church official took over from the bishop and gave that weeks announcements and closed the service with a prayer.
The choir sung the congregation out of the church whilst the congregants exchanged pleasantries. As George and Evelyn stood at the entrance of the church amidst several other church patrons, a spritely young usher brought the children to them and handed George a note, uttering "here you go mr Mwenya these are the Bible verses the children are meant to memorize for this week." It was all Evelyn could do to stop herself from ripping the young woman's head off.
The incident with the usher was enough to get Evelyn's motor mouth running and the return car trip was characterized by Evelyn voicing her discontent. "What a rude usher," Evelyn ranted. "How can she only address you, like i wasn't even there," Evelyn continued. "The young girl was only doing her job dear," George replied trying to console his wife. "No why you defending her the must be something going on between the two of you," Evelyn persisted. "What!? that's absurd, she is young enough to be my daughter" George retorted in disgust. "Give me that note, I want to see what's written on it" Evelyn said grabbing the note from the cars center console. "Happy now?" George inquired sarcastically. "No" Evelyn replied. "Come on sweetness you're over reacting again, trust me I love only you, I can't even recognize other women when you're around." George said trying to put an end to Evelyn's tantrum. "and what if I'm not around?" Evelyn inquired with half a smile. To which the both laughed in unison acknowledging how petty Evelyn was being.