Power of Prayer

I was deputed at Lagos, Nigerian capital as country manager by an Indian I.T. company based at Mumbai sometime in the year 2005. I was supposed to develop company’s business in the whole of African continent as part of my assignment. I had very unusual experience on the very first day I landed in the city of Lagos. My sponsor who happened to be an Indian made arrangements for my stay in the guesthouse which was located in Northern part of Lagos. From the airport, I proceeded straight to the guesthouse. I was carrying a packet containing my passport,visa and an air ticket to Doha in the front pocket of black colored suit which I was wearing. It was a long journey from India and as such I was very tired. As I reached the guesthouse, I got down from the car and asked the driver to offload my luggage from the dicky of the car. The driver of the car who was a Nigerian helped me in offloading and carrying the luggage to the guesthouse. The driver luckily understood English so I had no difficulty in communicating with him. The housemaid in the guesthouse was Nigerian but she was trained to cook Indian vegetarian food. I thanked my sponsor for taking care of my food habits. There were two other guests from Indian origin who were staying in the same guesthouse. After I finished dinner, I went into my room and started making preparation for my next day’s visit to the clients. It was 10 O clock in the night and since I was very tired, I switched off the light and went to sleep. Next day, I woke up at 6 O’ clock in the morning. Suddenly, it did strike me that I must check my passport and visa. I searched it in the front pocket of my black colored suit which I was wearing the previous evening but I could not find it there. I became tense and started searching everywhere but I did not find the trace of it anywhere. I tried very hard to recollect where I could have kept it, but I failed to remember. I was very nervous and did not know what to do. I was in an alien country without passport and visa. I had heard that it is very unsafe to live in Nigeria. I could not imagine, what could have happened to me if my passport falls in the wrong hands. I lost all hopes of getting it back. I thought for a moment I must pray to God as last resort. I closed my eyes and prayed to Him for 5 minutes to help me get back my passport. By now, everybody in the guesthouse came to know that I had lost my passport. When my sponsor came to know of it, he telephoned me and said, “Don’t worry, I have contacts at the highest level in labour ministry, I will soon arrange a duplicate passport for you.” But I was not satisfied. I was cursing myself for being so forgetful as not being able to take care of even my passport. I was not in a mood to visit the customer but since I had fixed the prior appointment with him, I had no option but to honour the commitment. After an hour or so, while I was sitting with the customer discussing business, I got a phone call in my cell. It was that of my sponsor. He gave me the good news which I could not believe. He said, “Somebody whom I know has found your passport outside the guesthouse”. When I returned in the evening., he narrated the whole story. It runs like this.

“ At about 8 O’ clock in the morning, a car was passing through the road facing the main gate of guesthouse. As the car approached the main gate of guesthouse, a screeching sound came from the car. The owner of car who was sitting on the back seat heard the sound. He asked the driver to stop the car. He opened the gate on the left hand side and peeped outside to see if something had stuck in the car tyre. At that moment, he noticed a small packet lying on the side of the road. He picked it up and looked into it. He found my passport inside the packet in which my sponsor’s name was written. He coincidently knew my sponsor and immediately telephoned him and informed him of what had happened. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Even till date, I have not been able to find answers to the following:

· My passport was lying the whole night and morning till 9 O' clock the following day on the
roadside but nobody noticed it. How come?
· How come that car develops snag exactly at the point where my passport was lying.
· How come, the person who found my passport knew my sponsor and he was quick to hand over the passport to my sponsor.
Was it a coincidence. I don't think so. After this incidence, my faith in God has increased tremendously.