On a particular night, I noticed my mobile phone had lost network signal, so I couldn’t make or receive calls with it. This was rare but not unusual, and was usually solved after switching off the phone and putting it on after a period of time. On other occasions, it was resolved on its own. So I let it be. The night prior to this I had received a few prank calls and flashes which, for some reason (probably the quick succession of the calls), I felt were coming from a group of young people somewhere, but since I was house-hunting and had given out my phone number to a few estate agents at the time, I took it as part of the collateral damage that comes with searching for a place in Lagos. The following day, I noticed the signal remained off all morning, which was strange, given the length of time it takes normally. I switched off the phone and put it on again, and waited for quite a period of time to no avail. Remembering that I had a property to visit, I left the office by 11:30 a.m. to do so during my lunch break. The phone was on but without network signal. I decided to use my office mobile line to call my personal mobile line to check if it would have any effect. The call went through, but the phone in my hand was not ringing! Someone picked the call, answered, and then dropped the line. I thought to myself could it be a crossed call? Well it happens sometimes I concluded. I caught a taxi to the property.

A few minutes later, I called my number again and someone took the call. This time I impersonated a friend and pretended to be asking for the owner of the phone, the person on the other end pretended to be me, and promised to call back in a few minutes. All the while the mobile phone in my pocket was still without network coverage. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, so I decided to inform the Network Service Centre. I thought of impersonation or identity theft, and why anyone would want to do that. I decided to call my Account Officer at the Bank just to be sure. I asked her if anyone tried to confirm a cheque and the lady started wailing literally. Apparently she just finished confirming a cheque of over 1.6 million Naira presented in Abuja with an irregular signature, to some engineer 10 minutes earlier. I couldn’t recognise the name. That would have put paid to my rent payment. She said she called my number and I had confirmed the cheque. I calmed her down and asked her to call the Abuja Branch, in case the person was still within the premises. She did so, and as she did, I prayed to God that no devourer should eat my bread. She called back within a few minutes praising God. The person who dropped the cheque became jittery after dropping it with the cashier, and had left the counter. I praised God for His deliverance! A few minutes later she called again to say the man in question had returned to pick up the money and was detained! It was undoubtedly the Holy Spirit that prompted me to call in the sequence and at the time that I did. If I had called the Bank five minutes later it would have been too late. I later discovered that three cheque leaves had been torn from the cheque book I usually lock in my office. Praise be to God who surrounds His people as mountains, the Great Shepherd who will not let His flock be devoured by wolves, my shield and buckler.